Internet Manager Delivers A Single Point-Person Experience For Customers

DrivingSales Customer Experience research revealed that 71 percent of consumers want to work with fewer people in the car buying process. Extreme Dodge Chrysler Jeep eliminates the handoff in moving an Internet lead to the showroom floor.

Jarred Smith began his career at Extreme Dodge Chrysler Jeep 16 years ago. Smith is the rare and highly sought-after and entrepreneurial-minded type of employee. He’s also quite modest about his path to success. “I’m not a good car salesman; I’m just good at reading people,” he said. He sells between 30 and 40 cars a month in Jackson, Michigan.

After just one year of work at the dealership (the year was 2000), owner Wes Lutz made Smith a proposition to take on the role as Internet Manager. The dealership has a longtime reputation for its one salesperson model, where customers can conveniently complete everything from financing to delivery with one team member. As dealerships’ online presence was just taking off in the industry, Smith upheld the one-person sales process by tackling everything relative to Internet and third party lead management, in addition to selling cars.

Today Smith has a team, facility modifications for capturing great photos, and technology to manage what he started 15 years ago. But one thing has remained unchanged: one salesperson from start to finish.

Smith balances a number of automated and manual processes to most efficiently manage lead responses. He utilizes lead life cycles to organize leads and “peppers” these customers with conversational and personalized messaging. He utilizes email and text to communicate with customers and is attached to his mobile device most waking hours.

Mike D. recently reviewed the dealership on Google+.

“I ordered a 2015 Wrangler from Extreme through Jarred Smith and had a great experience. The process began online where Jarred responded to my initial email late one night within minutes and a couple emails later… I had a price quote.”

Smith sees distinct advantages in determining a foolproof process for managing online leads. He shared that one of the best things about Internet leads is that they are usually very specific, indicating the customer has done a significant amount of research before contacting the dealership. Smith is big on keeping it simple: answer pertinent questions first, invite the customer in, and get an application; always while being responsive to subtle cues.

A bit more from Mike D.’s Google+ review:

“Jarred took the time to answer all my questions. I really liked only having to work with one person start to finish and was pleased that there were no games with pricing or trade in, everything was straightforward, none of the “let me check with the manager” games I’ve experienced at other dealers.”

DrivingSales Customer Experience Study also revealed volumes about customer perception of price negotiation. The research showed that nearly 40 percent of customers flat-out do not like to negotiate. Another 45 percent will negotiate if they feel it’s necessary to achieve a fair price. In Smith’s opinion, the industry’s more widespread pricing transparency has made closing online leads infinitely easier; another indication that establishing trust begins online.

As far as Internet and third party lead generation budget goes, Smith encouraged fellow dealership marketers to do some simple math and start with two questions before spending thousands of dollars. How many cars do you have to sell to justify your investment? Do you have the inventory and churn to sell that many cars?

DrivingSales News has interviewed a number of Extreme employees over a series of articles in the last few months. It is increasingly clear that a lean operation like Lutz’s demands accountability and unwavering action from creative and motived staff. Your people are you most important asset to your dealership’s success.

Q: Where did dealer/principal Wes Lutz find this heavy hitter?

A: His very own fixed ops department

Smith started at Extreme Dodge Chrysler Jeep as a detailer. He got his feet wet in the fundamentals of fixed ops with one year of equal time between service and parts.

“It’s been a lot of years since then, but I still use a lot of that information with customers,” he said. “If you want to help a salesperson out in their career, start them in fixed ops. Any salesperson can use typical sales tactics to close a deal. But service before and after the sale is what creates a long-term customer and gets you the next one.”