Hi there, from freezing cold, snow-covered Michigan!
 

Hey guys,

Brand new member here, Hello all.

Work at a Chevy store as salesperson and Internet Manager. Would love to get ideas from other internet managers on things that work to get the customer in the door!

When people want a price quote on a new car via email, do you send it in the first email or how do you respond to that? How is that working for you?

Anna

Welcome to the forum - thanks for joining
 

Anna:

Thanks for joining and posting an introduction. No worries about being new, the site's only six weeks old so everyone's new. :)

Concerning your question, when I was working the Internet Department we always tried to do two things to enhance our chances with a customer that was shopping several dealers.

1. Locate the exact vehicle the customer was looking for a quote a price.
2. Get the customer on the phone so we could establish a rapport.

The dealers in the area were super-competitive - it was almost impossible to compete on price and hold any reasonable margin. We did a ton of Locates and Dealer Trades but that was often the difference that made it possible for us to sell a car.

I learned the hard way not to rely on e-mails - too many were caught by SPAM filters or read by someone else on the account and deleted.

Our Super Mod, Rod, is working the Internet Department at a BMW store in Southern California - I'm sure that he'll chime in with some helpful suggestions. :)

Thanks again for registering and be sure to check out our $100 Gift Card Drawing - the more you post the more chances you have to win. Click here for details.

Anna - two quick questions.....
 

I noticed that you are from Michigan and I'm curious about two things:

• Is the Economy in Michigan as bad as the media makes it out to be?
• What percentage of your business is GM Employee Purchase?

Thanks in advance.

The economy in Michigan really is quite bad. The small town in which I work is actually doing pretty good, thank God for that! Sales were down for me in January but picking up already in February.

As far as GM employee purchases, I would guess that at least 70% of what we do is GM employee.

Talk about competition! Dang, a guy can go anywhere he wants to and get the same price. Gotta make up for it in 'World Class Service'...ain't always easy to convince people. That and they shop the heck out of their trades. We have an absolutely awesome service department here and that helps tons.

The internet thing is getting really tough to compete. One school of thought says to give the person what they are looking for...answer all questions. Give the price right out of the gate. Best price, first time. But then, does the customer print that and take it to the next dealer and say 'Beat this and you got a deal'! Next dealer goes five bucks lower and gets the deal. Heck, I don't know. Would sure like to make a go of this internet manager gig though.

I have secret shopped other dealerships to see what they do and if I was a customer I wouldn't even respond to what they send...canned messages with no pricing or information on cars at all.

Anna

Anna - thanks for the information.

Wow, 70% of your business is GM Employee Purchase - that's incredible. I'd guess that the 30% that don't qualify are still pretty demanding when it comes to price.

Concerning the future of the Internet Sales Department, it will be interesting to watch. I posted in another section about an Ebay ad from a Dodge Dealer that was willing to sell any vehicle for Invoice AND give away all of the Holdback. Is that the future of automotive retailing - selling vehicles at cost just to pick up a few scraps of Factory to Dealer money?

Thanks again for the information and have a great week. :)