Day 5

More Autobase training today. I think I'm just about done with it for now. I have a fairly good grasp of the concept. I just need to concentrate on the things the strictly relate to the Internet and BDC. I'll be meeting with the Special Finance Manager on Monday to discuss those tasks I need to be doing right now.

The individual who used to do the CRM (Customer Relationship Managment) portion of this job was fired before she had a chance to sit down with me and go through all her current tasks. Unfortunately, there was no written process to pass along, and the management allowed her to create the process on her own. So they don't know where everything is, or how to get to it. So we'll have to spend time figuring it out.

I met with the Who's Calling rep. For those unfamiliar with this, Who's Calling monitors all the incoming calls to the dealership. It's a nice program when it's used to train those individuals who do not answer the calls properly. From what I've seen, most dealerships don't handle incoming sales and service calls properly. A lot of money is lost in dealerships just in this area. And many dealerships who have Who's Calling installed don't take the time to monitor the calls on a daily basis, so the program becomes another waste of money. I'll be monitoring the calls from now on since I'm going to be responsible for helping to increase phone-up sales.

I now have over 100 resumes for the Appointment Coordinator position. Next week I'll email all the applicants to leave a voice mail message based on a small script and choose those whose telephone demeanor meets my standards. Then I'll setup the personal interviews for next week.

One of the tasks the past CRM person did was to explain the CSI survey to all the deliveries. It was determined by Management that this was just one more person the customer had to see in an already long sales and delivery process, so we're going to let the salespeople complete this task. I'm going to hold a sales meeting on Monday to do some training for how we want it done.

I also started preparing for the Managers meeting on Tuesday to begin discussions on how we want the BDC to begin. It's a ways down the road yet, but we should start thinking about it so in case I find some people in this current hiring process, we may be able to start it now on a small scale. The BDC is nothing you want to start big right from the start. Build slow and small, and you'll have a better chance of making it work.

Well, I'm off for the weekend, which is a welcome thought. See you next week.

Day 4

Today I completed more Autobase training. There are a lot of modules to go through, especially to understand the management and BDC part of the program. I'm getting a pretty good handle on it.

The Careerbuilder.com ad went in this morning, and I already have 84 resumes, which isn't unusual. There are a lot of people looking for work that will take just about anything. I'm starting the Appointment Coordinator at $10 per hour for the first 90 days, then I'll review how well he/she is doing to warrant an increase.

I met with the Autotrader rep again to continue our discussion on the program he's putting together for us. I should get a full proposal by Tuesday of next week.

Tom Stuker's organization called me to see about setting up our BDC. I didn't tell her that I'm experienced at it, and was hired to do it. I told her to give me a call back next week to talk further.

One of the areas I need to improve on is the number of phone-ups to appointment ratio on the showroom floor. The salespeople don't do very well, which is typical in most dealerships. I was going to do some training this week, but since it's the end of the month, I thought I would wait till next month.

The Manager's and I will be having a meeting next Tuesday to discuss how we want to start the BDC. I don't want to jump in head first since that's the easiest way for it to fail. You need to start slow and grow as you go. I'm thinking to start with following-up on sold and unsold customers, and lease turn-ins. Then we'll work up to taking phone-ups, setting service appointments, etc.

Over the weekend, I'll send out a bulk email to all the applicants I've received resumes from giving them a small script to study. Something like this:

"Hi Mr. Jones, this is Mike calling from Fresard Pontiac, how are you? I'm calling regarding an internet lead we received from you regarding a new Pontiac G6. What I'd like to do is set an appointment for you to come in to pick out your new G6. What would be a good time for you, mornings or afternoons?"

Then I'll have them call my direct line and send them right to voice mail to leave a message using this script. This will give me a chance to hear them on the phone, and call back the ones I want to work with.

Talk to you tomorrow.

Day 3

Well, the network tech got me back online today, so I took the opportunity to complete some Autobase training. I completed a total of five courses and should tackle another three tomorrow.

Normally when I setup an internet department, I install AVV Webcontrol as the CRM program. It is the easiest to use with the nicest interface, and as compared to Autobase which is a total showroom system, Webcontrol is strictly for the Internet department.

I learned that Autobase has some new internet features that may compare to Webcontrol, so I want to learn as much about it as I can. Plus as a trainer, I may need to help our salespeople use the program more effectively. So my training will take several more days.

One of the many things I liked about Webcontrol is you could setup a bunch of emails in advance that went out a scheduled intervals. As long as you didn't contact the lead, he/she would keep getting emails to keep your name in front of them. They would stop once they got contacted. I hear Autobase now has that same feature.

I put an ad into Careerbuilder.com for an Appointment Coordinator today, so the resumes will be flooding in over the next two weeks. According to past experience, I'll probably get at least 100 resumes to choose from. Online classifieds is the best way to hire someone, since many job shoppers will use their computers to find a job more than they will the newspaper. I'll be able to do some interviewing the first of next week.

Things are moving along well. I've accomplished a lot over the past three days. But the road is still long, and will probably get winding along the way. Mangement is very supportive, which makes my job a whole lot easier.

See you tomorrow.

Day 2

The day started by meeting with the General Manager to talk about what our next steps would be. The main reason I was hired was because the dealership felt they were losing sales, and in a down market needed to take steps to recapture them. So the areas we wanted to concentrate on were:

• Internet leads for new and used vehicles
• Phone-ups
• Lease renewals
• Website

During the initial stages, we want to develop the internet department, and continue in the planning stages for the BDC. How big the BDC becomes will be determined by what we want it to accomplish. And I feel the BDC is a much bigger job. So we'll take one step at a time so we can do things right.

All the dealership salespeople have computers on their desks logged into Autobase. But they are not allowed to use the internet. The dealership is worried that they'll abuse the system, so they've eliminated it completely. The only ones who have direct and unlimited access to the internet are myself and the General Manager.

Well, today my firewall kicked in so I couldn't access the internet. I need to wait till tomorrow for the networking guy to come in and fix it.

So I spent time visiting with the current New and Used Vehicle Internet Sales Managers, updating them on my plans and gathering information on what they were currently doing with the leads. I'll get more indept in gathering realistic facts and figures probably the beginning of next week. There's no sense making any plans without current data.

I also met with the Autotrader rep to put together a package for the dealership. He'll probably have that ready by the beginning of next week.

I need to put an ad in Careerbuilder.com to hire an Appointment Coordinator. I have had great success setting up Internet Departments by starting like this. I realize that the only way to make sure every lead is handled properly is by putting someone totally in charge of them. Salespeople hate using the phone and usually cherry-pick the leads. Plus they don't do a really good job of following-up. So by setting the appointments for the salespeople, they can concentrate on what they do best - close deals. My department can handle all the rest of the work.

Tomorrow I'll need to start learning the Autobase system. They have a really good University online, so I'll spend most, if not all of the day studying.

Until tomorrow.

Day 1

Well, the first day was a long one. After getting myself settled in my office, learning how to use the phone system, setting up my email accounts, I decided to jump in head first by researching what is currently taking place in the Internet Department.

I started by meeting with the current BDC Manager, who over the weekend decided to quit this position and sell cars. So I talked with her for about two hours so she could explain what she actually did. This left the BDC department with no one in charge, which is ok since it really wasn't being run like a professional BDC. It will actually allow me to start with a fresh business plan.

After this meeting, I met the with current Internet Sales Manager, who was handling all the internet leads, but really wasn't running it like a business either. This dealership uses Autobase and OneSource as their CRM programs, which I'm not so familiar with since I usually install WebControl in all the dealerships I've developed. So once I get setup with my login information, I'll go through and see how the leads are handled. I hear that Autobase has a new internet module available for it, so that will be one of my calls tomorrow.

As I interviewed the current Internet Sales Manager, it looks like 75% of his leads are being emailed information instead of calling. This is the reason that his grosses are so low. His philosophy is if someone asks to be responded to by email, which most of them do, you should honor their wishes. But anytime you do it that way, it takes longer to make the sale, and the price you're going to send him will be low. So this is why I'm a big believer that if there's a phone number attached to the lead, the contact is made by phone within 5 minutes of that lead coming into the CRM program.

The dealership is currently selling 45 used vehicles per month. I'm sure I can double that by getting them into AutoTrader. I'll contact them for an appointment tomorrow.

They are using a search engine marketing program which runs $3500 per month. We're already at the top of all the search engines, and really don't get many leads from the website. I may just cancel that program and use the money to develop a small BDC to start.

They're also signed up with Who's Calling which runs about $700 per month. It's a great program if it's used as a training tool, but I don't think most dealerships actually listen to the calls and train from them. I'll think a little more later on whether we can use this program effectively. No sense spending money on something that won't be used productively (profit-generatingly).

It's been a long day, so I'll sign off for now. See you tomorrow.

Building an Internet Department

Tomorrow I'll be starting as Director of Internet Operations at a dealership in Detroit, Michigan. This will be a great opportunity to take a dealership that is currently selling approximately 8 sales a month and building it to become a profit center. There is also talk about building a BDC, but that will be determined once we get going.

For the next several months, I'll be posting a day-to-day diary of my progress. I hope you enjoy the journey with me.