Well defined processes is what separates good to great auto dealers.

The most common issue most auto dealers have with their internet sales strategies is the lack of properly defined online sales processes.

Even larger successful auto dealers with many years of sales experience seem to not be quite sure on how to deal with their internet sales department.

I've seen many auto dealers that are extremely successful with their internet sales, but in most (if not all!) cases this success is based on the stellar sales performance of their internet sales manager, or of the one capable sales rep who receives and properly follows up the sales leads that come from the dealer's website.

In order for the auto dealer to sustain a well performing internet department they should understand and document all processes surrounding internet leads. Sure, some dealers may think of this as a waste of their time, but then some dealers thought of the internet as a waste of their time (and money..) a few years ago.

The benefits of putting a process in place and training your employees to act upon it are well documented in several business research papers. In the auto dealer sector the dealerships that have clearly defined processes and operations in place clearly outperform those that do not and stand-out of the competition.

Putting a well defined process in place could offer an auto dealer several advantages:

• Deal effectively with employee turnover:It's not a secret that employee turnover in the auto dealer sector is high. By having a well defined process in place you don't run into the risk of crippling your internet business if you lose a high performer internet sales manager or sales rep.
  
• Evaluate the internet sales team's performance: Probably the most important reason for having a process is because it allows you to measure your staff's performance. No more guesswork!
  
• Evaluate the vendors' performance: This is as important (if not more important!) as evaluating your staff's performance. A well defined process will allow you to measure where you're getting your leads from, how many of these leads become actual sales and at the end of the day you'll have solid data and will be able to know if it's worth it to list your cars or advertise with the A or B portal. No more guesswork!
  
• Maximize your leads:A well developed process will allow your internet sales manager to effectively follow up and monitor all leads you receive through online sources.
  
• Offer superior and consistent customer service: A well defined process will ensure that all customers get the same treatment and all leads are answered in the same consistent and timely manner.
  
• Improve results:  Having a process in place helps quantify and understand your internet marketing tactics and whether they have any impact on your lead and sales generation.
  

How you can start with this

• Firstly and more importantly start gathering existing sales processes at your dealership: If something works for you and brings back positive results then mark it down and use it as a best practice. Ask your sales managers to outline all sales processes in their departments. Then sit down with them and weed out whatever doesn't work or is not needed and come up with one global process that can be used by all your sales reps.
  
• Hire a consultant:If you can't make sense of your process or if you don't have time to fully engage yourself or your sales managers in this task then ask the help of a consultant experienced with internet processes. They can help streamline the gathering of the information and provide you with input on how to improve things by building a custom internet sales process for your dealership.

e²media (e-squared media) is an internet marketing and interactive advertising company based in Edmonton, AB offering affordable internet advertising, search engine optimization, web development and corporate identity services. Over the past 12 years we've worked with many organizations mainly in the Edmonton and Calgary area. We're specialized in the automotive industry and in Internet marketing and web development in general, but we've also worked in several projects for small, medium and large size organizations ranging from website design, flash movies, databases, shopping carts, search engine optimization (SEO) to full Internet marketing campaigns and corporate identity design. For more information on any previous projects, or for client references, please click here to contact us.