Instead of complaining about selling cars to Internet shoppers and customers think about the benefits it provides for the car salesman. Sure we would like every customer that steps foot on the lot to be the one that hasn’t used the Internet to look for a car, but that is a rare breed today. In fact there are many reliable sources that say over 90% of the customers that visit your new car dealership have been to your website and looked at your inventory. Some say that number is closer to 96% and so the chance of having a true Fresh-Up is quickly becoming a thing of the past. Sure we still get them, but the statistics are telling us that those customers only consist of 4% to 10% of a new car dealership’s traffic.
It wasn’t too many years a go that those numbers were practically reversed and only 10% of our customers were shopping on the Internet. That may sound like a crazy number, but the research is solid and even those that tell us they didn’t go on the Internet really did (remember Buyers are Liars). Before you get too upset or angry you should also realize that there are some perks for the car salesman on the floor.
Customers that submit leads to your Internet Department through your own website, the manufacturers website or any number of 3rd party leads are only in the neighborhood of 20% to 25% of the potential customers that have been to your website. Therefore the perks for the car salesperson on the floor is still talking to what we call Fresh-Ups that have not submitted a lead and since they are not lead submitters to your website, they haven’t submitted leads to any of your competitors either.
These customers may have prices they have gotten from any number of other sources that car shoppers can visit, but at least they are talking to you face to face rather than through email. It’s very likely (over 90% likely) that they have visited your website and decided to visit your dealership over your competitor. These customers pulling on to your lot are car buyers…REAL CAR BUYERS.
This over 90% group of customers wants to buy a car from you or they wouldn’t be there. They have usually decided on the make and model before they arrived or they saw a used car on your website they liked. These customers are perks for the car salesman that went to your website looked at your inventory and came to see you to buy a car today!
More of these customers are being closed on their first visit because they did their homework, they made a decision and they are giving you the first shot at selling them a car. It used to be that dealers were only closing 10% to 15% of their floor traffic, but I have seen some closing ratios in the 30 to 40 percentiles and higher for new car dealerships. That means more car sales with less showroom traffic, which is a perk for the car salesman.
What does this mean for the car salesman or car saleswoman working the floor?
It means you have car salesman perks that allow sell more cars with less ups, more time with real customers rather than spend more than an hour with the customer that needs to visit three dealers. These are real car buyers that want to buy a car today, but it’s not a sure thing you still need to do your job. You need to be a Car Sales Professional that listens closely to their customers, treats them with respect and make them believe that you are working for them. These customers can still be turned into shoppers, be-backs and I have to think about its, but if you do you job you will sell a car because theses are car buyers that selected your dealership over all the others they the visited online.
Later, Fresh Up on the Lot
KB