CONFESSIONS OF A MYSTERY SHOPPER - PT 7

Imagine that you run a restaurant.  

Out in the dining room it’s nothing but surprises: you open each day with no idea how many people are going to come through the doors, what they are going to order, whether you have too much or too little staff or food on hand, etc. etc. etc.  Anything goes, and that’s what makes it fun.

But back in the kitchen there must be order and process: if the kitchen is not systematically organized and operated the dishes will not make it out to the dining room on time (if at all) and the restaurant will crash. 

The dining room makes money out of chaos (and the more the better), the kitchen makes money out of order.

I think the dining room is analogous to a dealership’s sales floor.   And Internet-based car sales is the kitchen.  An Internet department (whether it is standalone, integrated, BDC, or whatever) requires process, method and consistency in order to supply the dining room (new and used car sales departments) with qualified customers.

One of the most difficult things I have to do is tell DPs, GMs, and SMs that, if they want to establish a bona fide Internet-based sales program for their store, they must first 1). Make the commitment to embrace system and process, 2). Put these systems and processes into place, and then (and this is the really difficult part) 3). Leave them alone! 

I tell them, “Do NOT, under any circumstances, change the plan, rip out the process, restructure the department, gut the program or otherwise re-org in any way for a minimum of 90 days.”  For many guys this part is the hardest because it runs so contrary to their nature and culture.  But experience has taught me time and time again that it is absolutely essential if their freshman Internet-based sales effort is to take root and grow.

Which is why it is so gratifying when we see a store actually make a plan, stick to the plan, and succeed with the plan.  I have one in my Region right now that, with great difficulty, resisted the urge to upset the apple carts during the critical first 90 days. They committed to change, launched the program and steadfastly stuck to it.  Today, less than 180 days into this noble experiment, their average lead response time is well under 30 minutes, their closing ratio is already up 1.1%, and their share of eLead RDRs (leads to this store closed by this store vs lost to a rival area Ford dealer) has jumped 15%.

I love happy endings.  :-D

CONFESSIONS OF A MYSTERY SHOPPER - PT 5

I just discovered that in the past sixteen months I have launched more than 225 mystery shops.  Wow.  I didn’t realize there had been so many.

You’d think after 225+ mystery shops a guy should have some profound observations and conclusions to share about mystery shops, right?  I don’t know about the profound part, but, yeah, you’re right, it seems that a person should have some observations and conclusions to share.

So I’ve spent the last couple hours ruminating and writing down things that currently stand out in my mind.  Here they are, in no particular order of importance. Feel free to add some of your own or challenge these.

1). The view from out here in shopper land is way different from your view down in dealer land.  I thought I was a pretty good template writer and process builder when I was an Internet salesman; I now see that I wasn’t nearly as good as I credited myself for being.  It took this new outside perspective to show me that.  My advice: seek outside opinions when tweaking your process and content.  Our industry is famous for singing only to its own choir.

2). When a fresh eLead arrives we don’t and can’t know what it is.
- Is it a new car inquiry from someone who actually wants a used car?  
- A person whose lease isn’t up for a year and is just window shopping?  
- A 14 year old kid building his fantasy Mustang on your OEM’s site?  
- Someone hopelessly upside down in their current vehicle, still hoping for a miracle rescue?  
- Someone who thought they were registering online to win a free iPad? 
- A buyer? (Yay)!  But also a grinder?  (Boo). 
- A “Get me bought” with a 500 Beacon?
- Someone who is actually bona fide ready willing and able to buy something today?   
- Or one of at least 1,336,749 other possibilities that can be to added to the list above?

Until a connection with the sender is established (if it ever is), we can’t know what that eLead represents.  Therefore, doesn’t logic say that the only smart way to respond is to attack the lead from all sides using every tool in our arsenal?

Very, very few (maybe 2%) of the dealerships I have shopped do this. Instead, most make some timid outreaches for a day or two and wait for the lead to reveal itself. Meh.

3).  You’ve heard this before: He who responds the fastest wins.  He who responds most often wins. He who responds using the greatest number of media (email, phone, text) wins.  He who responds using all of the above wins big.

4). Let’s say this is a pretty typical Day 1 – 5 Internet response schedule:
- Day 1 – Send a first quality response (FQR) email, make a phone attempt, maybe send a text.
- Day 2 – If lead is unresponsive, send a quality email, make a phone attempt, maybe send a text.
- Day 3 – If lead remains unresponsive, send a quality email, make a phone attempt
- Day 4 – If lead remains unresponsive, send a quality email, make a phone attempt.
- Day 5 – If lead remains unresponsive, send a quality email, make a phone attempt.

With some variations, we all agree that’s pretty much how it should be done, right?  So how come my shopper almost never, ever gets follow-up that even closely resembles this?

If your current Internet salespeoples’ workload and/or work schedule prevents them from being able to accomplish the above, you have a problem with your workload and/or work schedule.  If your workload and/or work schedule provides them the time needed to complete these tasks and they are not completing them – you have a problem with your people.

Bonus info:  Ford Digital Team consultants have access to new car days-to-the-sale data for each of our stores.  In my region, 35% - 50% of all sales take place within 5 days of an eLead’s arrival.  Doesn’t logic say, then, that making sure your people are giving prospects complete coverage Day 1 – 5 is primo importante?

5).  We still think we are selling cars via the Internet.  We are not.  Whether we realize it or not, we are in the eCommunications business instead.

6).  It doesn’t seem to matter if a store has a BDC, a dedicated Internet sales department, or just hands eLeads out to the sales floor.  My shoppers get equally bad service from all three!

CONFESSIONS OF A MYSTERY SHOPPER - PT 4

Are you still debating whether to employ text messaging in your eLead response process?  This story may get you off the fence.

One day a couple weeks ago, as I do most days, I was sitting in a General Manager’s office reviewing his store’s recent mystery shop. 

When I told him the Lead Response Time (LRT) was a disappointing 5 hours 36 minutes he immediately went to his CRM to verify.  To my surprise, the CRM said the response time was 41 minutes.

Hmmm, OK.  So, was the First Quality Response (FQR) an email or a phone call?  (In Ford-world, only an email stops the clock).  It was an email, and a manually written and sent email at that.  (In Ford-world, autoresponders and other auto-sent emails do not stop the clock).  So everything checks out to support the 41 minute LRT story.

Then the problem is on my end.

My mystery shoppers always have gmail.com or yahoo.com email addresses and I have all mail to these addresses forwarded to my main Inbox in MS Outlook.  When I opened the mystery shopper’s Gmail account in a browser I discovered that the LRT was indeed 41 minutes!  So, either Google did not forward the email to Outlook for 5 hours, Outlook did not pull down the email for 5 hours, the email floated in cyberspace for 5 hours, or some combination of these events took place.

All of us have experienced occasional problems with our electronic communications: the email that appears in our smart phone but never makes it to our PC, the email forwarded by a friend today that doesn’t arrive until tomorrow, emails from trusted senders that unexplainably go into our Junk/Spam folder and escape detection for days/weeks/forever.   It happens every day.

With a fast Lead Response Time being so critical (is there anybody reading this who does not believe that LRT is critical?) a 41 minute response time perceived by the customer to be a 5 hour 36 minute response time can be fatal.  So why not take an easy preemptive step to insure that your prompt LRT is recognized?

Send a text message.

In the example above, imagine that the salesperson, after sending his FQR, sent a quick text message to the shopper saying “Hi ________, Joe at ABC Motors here.  Got your request, already replied.  Check your email.  Let me know if you do not receive.  Thanks.”

What a difference that could have made!

At the very least I would have seen that text (and how do you NOT see a text message?) and made a mental note that the dealer had contacted me promptly.  At most I would have gotten the text, immediately checked Outlook, and when no email was seen, called/emailed the dealer or checked my webmail to hunt down his missing response.

Granted, not all leads come to us with a cell phone number (or a phone number at all).  But when we do get a cell number, why not utilize it?

Here’s some quick tips:

 - If you don’t know if the prospect’s phone # is a cell phone or not just go to www.whitepages.com/reverse_phone and find out. Takes 20 seconds.

 - If it is a cell number, and your CRM is incapable of outgoing text messaging, go to www.joopz.com and send a free text-message from your computer. Now you have a record of the text that you can copy and paste into the prospect’s profile in your CRM.

You can do the same with Google Voice but I prefer the way Joopz messages appear in the smart phone’s window.  Experiment with it a little bit until you get things to appear the way you like.  And did I mention that Joopz is FREE?

At last November’s Digital Dealer Conference I heard a presenter state that the average email receives a reply in 48 hours – and the average text message receives a reply in 4 minutes.

Which do you like best?

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CONFESSIONS OF A MYSTERY SHOPPER - PT 3

This week a wonderful thing happened.  I got to see real salesmanship in action.

Here’s the set-up: I only mystery shop Ford dealers, and I almost always mystery shop for an F-150.  But this week I got the wild urge to do something different.  I had two stores to shop so I sent the same request to both: the female shopper clicked the “Get  Info” button on a specific 2012 Ford Focus in the dealer’s inventory and, in the Comments/Questions box, wrote “Does this one have a sunroof?”

Here is how Store # 1 replied:

Mystery Shopper,

This particular Focus doesn't have the sunroof.  There are only a couple hatchbacks in entire country with sunroofs right now.  Is there any other design that  you want, or did you want me to notify you when we come across one?

Dealership Salesman

Ouch!  He pretty much shut me down, didn't he?  He said “No” to my question (This particular Focus doesn't have the sunroof), then told me “No” again (There are only a couple hatchbacks in entire country with sunroofs right now), then drove the ball back into my court (Is there any other design that you want, or did you want me to notify you when we come across one?).

In this situation, the shopper’s path of least resistance is to simply hit “Delete” and walk away from both this dealership and further interest in the 2012 Ford Focus. :-(

So imagine my utter surprise and delight when, a few minutes later, Store # 2 replied like this:

Good morning Mystery Shopper!  

Thank you for your inquiry on the 2012 Ford Focus.  I did check the availability on this unit and as of now it is available.  We do however have customers looking at it, but no strong deals as of yet.  You asked if this unit had a sunroof, but it does not.  It is a beautiful vehicle and very well equipped for an SE.  I don't think you will be disappointed with the new Focus.  Have you have the opportunity to drive one yet?  If not, can you stop in this morning for a full demo and test drive or would this afternoon be better for you?  Please give me a call and I'll answer any other questions that you may have.  Thanks Mystery Shopper and I look forward to hearing from you.

Dealership Salesman

Wow!  Same car, same shopper, same exact situation but two completely different replies.  Salesman # 2 is so upbeat and smooth and has so much forward momentum going that I’ve already forgotten about the sunroof.  He is selling urgency (…it is available.  We do however have customers looking at it) , he is selling the product (It is a beautiful vehicle and very well equipped…) and he is selling the appointment (Have you have the opportunity to drive one yet? ).  A three pointer!

In this situation, the shopper’s path of least resistance is to go with the salesman’s momentum and accept an offer for a test drive.  (In fact, I’ll bet if she was too busy to come to the store that day Salesman # 2 would bring the car to her home or office instead).

If I can find any fault in this letter (and, sadly, I must) it’s that there is no reference to price or price range.  So he loses a point for that, but otherwise, I think this is a great FQR (First Quality Response) letter.  Anyone agree?  Disagree?

I know without question that Salesman #1 was trying to be helpful and did not intend his reply to come off the way it did.  But, unfortunately, it did.

So here’s an idea: before we hit the “Send” button, let's pause and ask ourselves, “After he/she reads my email, what will the recipient’s path of least resistance be?  To bail on me?  Or  to go with my momentum?”

As my friend Ronnie Cohen used to say, “Are we making it easy for people to buy a car from us?”

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CONFESSIONS OF A MYSTERY SHOPPER - PT 2

Last week, while at a dealer client, and while reviewing the mystery shop I had just done for them, I flashed on a story told to me last year by one of my teammates.  First know that this was a pretty typical mystery shop – the shopper received 2 emails and 1 phone call before the store stopped contact attempts.  Now the story:

Bob was 13 years old, in middle school for the first time, and faced with having to ask a girl to an upcoming school dance.  Like a lot of 13 year old boys he had no experience in this area and had no idea what was expected of him.  So, summoning up his courage, he walked up to the girl he wanted and asked if she would go to the dance with him.

She said no.

Dumbfounded by this unexpected setback, he retreated, concluding that he would either have to find another girl to ask, or forgo the dance altogether.

The next day her best friend pulled him aside and said “Bob, you putz, you don’t give up after the first ‘No.’ You’re supposed to ask again.  And again if necessary. She wants to know that you really want her to go with you.  She wants to be courted.”

The best friend was right!  And to my surprise, I've discovered that’s also exactly how an e-shopper feels.

The dealership that sends my shopper a killer 1^st response email and/or phone message earns the shopper’s undying respect – until the next day, when I hear nothing from them.  Then it’s, like, out-of-sight, out-of-mind.  A few days later, when clearing out the bottom of my Inbox, I come upon that dealer’s responses and think, “Huh – oh yeah, I remember that shop.  Whatever happened to those guys?”

Remember the prospect you accidentally forgot about?  (We’ve all done it, right)?  The one you apologetically called or wrote days later in a panic hoping to save the relationship, and the one who responded with those cruelest of words, “I guess you guys aren’t very interested in selling a car.”  Yep, that’s how it feels out here on this side. Ouch.

Another true story: on two and only two occasions this year, I have had to call a dealership’s sales manager and ask them to please remove my shopper’s info from the CRM.  The salesperson had been calling & writing and calling & writing so much that, not only did I feel courted, I felt guilty knowing that my prospect was really a shopper who can’t buy anything to reward this salesperson for his/her efforts.  Now, that’s follow-up.

Last year at Digital Dealer Conference I attended a session on e-shopper behavior and one of the presenter’s concluding bullet lines was, “They want to be courted.”  Wow!  There’s that word again

So…it turns out that the store that displays tenacity, the one that is willing to ask for the prospect’s business, again and again if necessary, is the one that gets a “Yes” to the dance invitation.

Ask Bob.

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SECRETS OF INTERNET SALES SUCCESS – REVEALED!

OK, the title of this story is intentionally cheesy, but the rest of it is real.  I mystery shopped some Dallas Region Ford-Lincoln eCommerce Elite (Top 100 stores in USA for new Ford-Lincoln Internet sales) stores recently and was surprised to discover that their response processes are similar.  This piqued my curiosity, so I called my DMC teammate in southern California to ask him how the  #1 new Ford Internet sales store in the country does things.  Turns out they work much the same as the top Dallas Region stores do. So what is the #1 Internet new car sales secret of the eCommerce elite 100 stores that I shopped?  They call.  And call.  And call.  And call.  That’s pretty much it.  I must admit, by the time a pleasant, friendly salesperson leaves four voice messages for my mystery shopper I have to answer or return the call, if for no other reason than I feel guilty ignoring them.  You can’t shut four phone messages out of your mind and pretend they never happened.  (Especially if they are compressed into a 4 or 5 day period).  I also now understand something a presenter said at a recent DDC: “Internet shoppers want to be courted.”  He was right.  When a salesperson is tenacious in his/her attempts to get through to my mystery shopper it earns my respect.  When I was an Internet salesman I hated leaving repeated voice messages.  One, maybe two calls and I was done.  I see now that I was also wrong.  Will blowing up a customer’s phone still be in style ten years from now?  It’s hard to say; though I doubt it.  But for today, while we are in the transition phase, it appears we have to cover our bases and employ all mediums, new and traditional.  Just the other day our program head in Dearborn told me recent studies say it takes four phone calls to get through to most prospects.  So there ya go.  The simple secret to Internet new car sales success: email + call + email + call + email + call. (Let's save the text messaging discussion for another day).

A TALE OF THREE SALESPEOPLE

This is a true story told to me in 1996 BC (Before Computers) by sales trainer extraordinaire Diana Ball Cooksey.

Diana was a busy working professional and single parent with little time for projects outside her day to day work and home responsibilities. But she needed to buy some health insurance. So she left voice messages after hours (this is the days before PCs, remember) with three agencies, requesting an estimate/quote and providing her name, the ages of family members she wanted to insure, her insurance purchase goals and explaining that she had little or no time to devote to insurance shopping during the work day.

Agent 1 called the next day during business hours with a message to call him back during business hours.

Agent 2 called the next day during business hours with a message to call him back anytime.

Agent 3 called the next day during business hours and in his message gave her some estimates and a deadline after which these numbers would have to be re-figured.

Diana was busy and did not return the agents calls.

Agent 1 never called again.

Agent 2 called back a few days later during business hours with a message to call him back anytime.

Agent 3 called twice that week with messages offering to meet Diana after hours and/or at her home, if necessary, so she could purchase before the rates deadline.

Diana was busy and did not return the agents calls.

Agent 2 did not call again.

Agent 3 faxed a proposal plus an application and a note offering three times he was available to meet (during or after business hours) with Diana to close the deal before the rates deadline.

Now armed with a proposal/quote from Agent 3 Diana called Agent 2 and asked for a quote for the same type policy. Agent 2 replied the next day that he would need to go over the numbers with her in person in his office and when would she like to come in?

Can you figure out the rest? A few days later Agent 3 was sitting in Diana’s office, after 5pm, selling her the policy.

Oh, and a couple weeks later Agent 2 called to ask if she was still in the market.
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Are we doing everything possible to make it easy for people to buy from us? Or are we Agent 1 and Agent 2?