Buy Here-Pay Here Web Sites: The Promised Land?

June 2008 - Dealer Business Journal

As a child of the '60s and '70s, I will tell you that I love technology and embrace it when and where I can. Those who know me, know I own every gadget known to man and am always searching for the next best thing.

I grew up in a world where a color TV (with 3 or 4 channel choices) was the norm. Our family had the first VCR (OK - Betamax). We even had Pong. The reason I prefaced this article this way is I want there to be a technology solution to every problem. I want there to be a gadget that makes life easier. I want to have technologies in the workplace that make us more productive and efficient. But alas, I feel there is not such a gadget, device service or technology. There are, however, wonderful technological tools and the Internet is one of the best or is it?

The Internet has been touted as one the most significant technological advances in our time, and based on the amount of time spent there I might be inclined to agree (I think they said the same thing about television).

The Web is a way to reach multitudes of people instantly and do so 24 hour a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. It also does this at a VERY low cost. This is all true, and the computer will certainly be the device of choice for information and entertainment in the future. The bigger question is how can we use it now, and how well does it do the job?

The vast majority of my buy here-pay here dealer clients have an 93operational94 Web site for car sales. The majority of buy here-pay here customers have access to a computer and to the Internet. The challenge is how to get the customer to the Web site, make an easy-to-navigate Web site and answer customer questions without giving everything away.

Gee, this sounds like a combination of television and the telephone. It is very similar except TV ads are thrown in the customers faces and Web sites must be found. Dealers must drive customers to the Web site through ALL marketing channels. The Web site address must be simple and short and to really hit a home run must be easy to find via search engines. My wife ran an online business for years and whenever we wanted to take a trip, we just shut off search engine optimization and our company went from page one to pages 5 to 10 and beyond. The phone stopped ringing. Does anyone really go beyond the first few pages of a search? What is on page 83,402 anyway?

One big question is to show current inventory or not show current inventory. It takes time, effort and energy to keep current with your new inventory and remove sold units but it makes it easy for the 93typical94 salesperson to discuss with a customer who responds to the website. I have some really good dealers who put up a "representation" of the inventory just to whet appetites. These dealers have good sales people who can talk to the customer, set an appointment and sell them when they arrive. This is the same ability necessary for any incoming call whether from a billboard, the radio, TV or a direct mail piece. Remember none of these media actually sell a car; they provide an opportunity to sell a car.

The second item of concern is the online credit application. Without discussing the regulatory issues and the requirements to have a compliant application, are you really going to approve credit online? Probably not. This application should much more resemble a traditional "5 liner" than a complete application.

Have you ever filled out an entire application online? It's maddening! Once an application has been completed and submitted comes the next (and most important) part of the process 97 the response. The initial response (electronic) should be immediate. The follow up phone call should occur as quickly as possible (2 days is TOO long). We did a study in several of my Twenty Groups last year to see how well dealer Web sites were working. The results were NOT good. We found 5 percent did not function at all and another 10 percent had serious flaws. We found that 25-30 percent did not respond or responded so late that a deal would have been missed. This equates to almost half of the Web sites visited were ineffective, inefficient, non-working or all three.

The last point I want to make about Web sites is that the goal of creating one to attract customers should be one to enhance sales, meaning the Web site creates incremental sales. Too many of my dealers sell 1-5 cars a month directly from their Web site (the number should be higher), and worse than that, they don't sell more cars than they did when they didn't have a Web site. The only thing these dealers have done is create an additional expense.

In conclusion, I believe you must have a Web presence. It is the future of communications. You must keep the Web site operating and up to date. You must show representative inventory or the actual real time inventory. You must have a form of communication for the customer whether it is a SHORT application or just an inquiry e-mail. You must react quickly to the customer. And the last advice I would give is to give Internet leads to your BDC (Business Development Center) or an Internet associate and not give credit to the sales staff. If you give them credit for these sales, the staff will not have the hunger or desire to sell additional cars and you will have effectively lowered sales volume while increasing overhead. That is a losing proposition.