Auto Dealers Never Thought to Staff Their Virtual Showrooms

The cartoon above is a fair representation of most dealership websites (aka virtual showroom) prior to the COVID pandemic. For years automotive manufacturers and retail website providers told auto dealership managers that their virtual showroom was important. Conversations around the dealer's virtual showroom centered around having great vehicle photos, robust model descriptions, brand consistent colors, mobile friendly designs, and fast page load times.

We now know that the most important element for a successful virtual showroom was overlooked. Dealers forgot to staff their online store.

Prior to COVID, if a consumer visited a dealership's website and had a question about the selling price of a vehicle, no one was around to answer them. The website page had a button called "Get ePrice" or "Get Best Price" but when the consumer clicked the button, they were told to fill out a form and someone would get back to them shortly.

The same was true when they wanted to get a monthly payment or value their trade. The implied messages were consistent: the virtual showroom was not staffed with someone who could answer common retail automotive sales questions.

Dealership managers reading this article should not get defensive. Neither should they attempt to blame someone for the automotive industry's unilateral decision to chase consumers instead of talking with them online, in the moment. Prior to COVID, almost every call-to-action button on a dealership's website popped up a form despite the fact that less than 40% of the consumers completed this "take a ticket and get in line" mentality.

Auto manufacturers and large data management firms know there is big money involved in selling leads to dealers. Millions of dollars each year are spent on training dealers on how to chase leads, often using a BDC model. Yet when a consumer walks into a physical showroom, the auto industry built a retail sales process that makes sure someone is available to answer their questions within minutes. The COVID crisis has revealed just how short sighted our industry has been regarding online shoppers.

We Need To Rethink Our Variable Ops Structure

The cartoon has a very powerful message that will be hard for some dealership managers to acknowledge. Hundreds of dealers, prior to COVID, had sales associates standing on the lot waiting for the next "up" which was called an "open" sales floor. Hours could pass with no visitor activity, yet it was deemed important to staff their physical showroom, just in case someone arrived.

Now, post COVID, dealership managers are realizing that hundreds of people each day are coming to their virtual showrooms with simple questions that are not being answered in real-time by a human being. For the first time in automotive retail history, the popular operating mantra of "just get them in" no longer works. Staffing models must change to properly handle visitors in the dealership's virtual showroom.

The Upside Is Huge

The dealers who are reprogramming call-to-action buttons to start conversations instead of popping up a lead form are seeing that they can DOUBLE or TRIPLE the number of sales conversations each month.

It took a pandemic for auto dealers to realize the power of conversational commerce.

Companies leading the charge to transform dealership websites into conversational selling tools include LivePerson, CarNow, Gubagoo, Conversations by Dealer Inspire, ActiveEngage, and Talk Options.

I am now actively involved with dozens of dealers to transform their website designs, online engagement strategy, and virtual staffing models. My process is website agnostic and can work with any digital retailing platform. The process looks like this:

1. Simplify website designs (read my last article with a great cartoon)
2. Convert CTA buttons to conversations using technology providers listed above
3. Create a clear marketing message to drive consumers to digital retailing tools

In less than 60 days, dealers can transform their virtual showroom into a selling machine, and yet many dealers will fear this change. Why? Because managers are addicted to measuring success by lead counts instead of sales appointments. Dealers fear reducing the number of CTA buttons on their websites. There is also complicated politics involved with BDC teams and open sales floor models.

Appointments will increase when dealers answer consumer questions in real-time instead of chasing them later. I estimate that dealers speak with less than 20% of the consumers who have a question on their website and press one of their outdated CTA buttons which display a lead form.

No other retail model would accept that level of customer service.

Dealers who want to embrace the changes made clear from COVID are invited to review my 60-Day Digital Retailing Mentoring program and discuss my strategy as it applies to their dealership. You can send me an email to: brian@brianpasch.com to schedule a call.

I will also be conducting a full-day workshop on Digital Retailing Merchandising and Marketing at the 2020 Digital Marketing Strategies Conference (DMSC) in July. The entire conference will be focused on sharing the best practices and new strategies that dealers have developed as a result of the COVID crisis. The conference will be the epicenter of change management discussions for automotive retail reimagined.

Dealers can save on their registration and premium ticket by contacting me for a special promotional code. You can also call or text me at 732-672-2356.