Wouldn’t it be great if converting leads was simple?  The lead would come into your CRM tool, the auto response email would go out, and the prospect would show up at your door knowing what they want, and truly sure of only one thing – that they need to buy a car from your dealership today…Hey, wake up!!

Unfortunately, that’s not how it is or will ever be.  You know the deal – your customers know more about the vehicle they want than your best salesperson, they know they have options, they know what they should pay, and they don’t have a lot of time.

So, how do you sell to these Internet prospects?  The prevailing wisdom is that you don’t really “sell” them at all, but get them into the dealership to sell them once they are there. 

Time for the prevailing wisdom to change

It’s true that closing ratios are higher for prospects that come into the dealership, and that they jump again once the prospect takes a test drive, but leaning too heavily on these statistics will warp how you treat your Internet leads and actually result in decreased sales.  The mentality has to change from simply trying to “hook” a prospect.  The modern Internet prospect – the Web 2.0 Prospect, if you will – expects to do an increasingly larger portion of their automotive shopping online.  They do not want to interface via the Internet, just to end up back at square one in your dealership.  The modern Internet prospect wants to have an Internet Conversation – and you need to be part of it.

What is an “Internet Conversation”? 

An Internet Conversation is just like any other conversation – it just occurs online.  The prospect asks questions, you answer them, expand the conversation, learn more about each other, and – whoa, here comes the really good part – you build trust!  Not trust like best friend trust, but trust like, “I, the Web 2.0 Prospect, no longer loath the idea of interacting with ‘my dealer’.” As much as the industry has done to change consumers’ perception of automotive retail, many consumers are still very uneasy about interacting at the dealership. These same consumers see the Internet as an alternative means to interact with dealers in a comfortable, productive, 24/7 environment.

The dealership should not fight this – you won’t win. You will simply be left behind.  If people can use blogs, Twitter, chat, texting, social networks, etc. via their computer, and now their mobile phone, as a primary means of social interaction and engagement – they surely can use these avenues as their primary method to shop for and purchase a vehicle.   

Facilitating the Internet Conversation

When having an Internet Conversation, you first have to realize that not all Internet prospects are the same.  In fact, R. L. Polk just completed a study of Internet lead generating vehicle buyers that identified at least three distinct sub groups of Internet prospects: First Time Buyers, Loyalists, and Defectors.  These groups actually behave differently relative to automotive lead generation and follow up.  Whereas all three groups use third party websites more than OEM or dealer websites to generate leads, Defectors rely on third party sites the most – 80.2% -- which would make sense as these are clearly uncommitted, “searching” buyers.  With the appropriate data, you could identify these groups and potentially others – simply by asking the right questions.  There are now a number of firms that will provide prospect tracking and provide follow up that is driven by this type of dynamic conversation. 

Polk’s study also demonstrated that the immediacy of the response is not the only variable to consider.  Of course you have to respond quickly. If you are at a party, and a friend addresses you, you don’t walk away and then come back to them ten minutes later and say, “Hey?”  They already will have moved on.  At the same time, it’s no better to acknowledge your friend immediately with a response that is out of context or irrelevant.  Your Internet Conversation is no different.  The Polk Study confirmed that most Internet shoppers require both quick and relevant responses.  In fact, of the seven prospect profiles defined in the study, the two that bought from the responding dealer most frequently – 78.9% of the time - rated quality and completeness of content as more important than immediacy of response. 

Should there be a concern about providing too much information?  Simply stated – no!  Again, if your friend asks you a question, you are going to answer them with the facts. Your Internet Conversation requires the same candor for increased trust and engagement. This, of course, includes the two biggies – price and availability.  All three groups in the Polk Study – First Time Buyers, Loyalists, and Defectors -- rated price as the most important information they would like to receive from the dealer.  If you are not providing this information, you’re not helping your prospect.

Tools to Help your Internet Conversation

One of the most beneficial tools you can use to facilitate an Internet Conversation is online chat. Online chat is, almost by definition, an Internet Conversation, and there are firms that provide these services cost effectively.  Check into this service – it is easy to integrate, measureable, and works.

Compared to the auto responder and a very basic template email, driving Internet Conversations can take time and money.  And, at a dealership, especially in the current economic environment, these are certainly limited resources.  But, going back to our party example, of course you socialize with everyone, but you probably spend more time with some people than you do others.  Internet Conversations should be managed from the same perspective – engage with every lead, but appropriately prioritize some prospects over others.  At your dealership, you can use tools such as lead scoring to prioritize your leads based on how likely they are to close.  Again, measureable, relatively straightforward to implement, and it works.

Today’s Web 2.0 Prospects are not simply generating leads; they are shopping and, essentially, buying on the Web. The initial lead is simply the beginning of an Internet Conversation you need to be a part of.