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Seven years ago, when I started at Sioux Falls Ford, I knew very little about the car business. I had purchased vehicles before, but was never involved in the internal workings of a car dealership. I was fascinated and absorbed all I could, from vehicle and product knowledge, to how the business was run.
A few months later I was asked to join a forthcoming team of Internet sales consultants. Unlike the rest of the staff, we were to never set foot on the lot. Our job would be to handle all the inquiries from the web. Many of the leads later turned out to be from seriously interested buyers.
The formation of the new team proved a good move and through the spring and summer of 2009, we chugged along. Incidentally, that summer happened to be quite hot in Sioux Falls so being inside was a nice, unexpected perk. The more I became accustomed to dealership life and my sales team, the more I realized a particular trend with my customers. They were reaching out, through the Internet, believing it was somehow safer, easier, and more on their terms. I think many people are intimidated by car dealerships – and with good reason. Some car dealerships are not the best places to shop and as a result, the good stores, like Sioux Falls Ford, get lumped into the same category.
There are the usual reasons people are hesitant to enter a car dealership: not being shown the best deal, undue pressure, and the fear of actually falling in ...