If a recent IBM Corp. retail survey is accurate in saying that 21 percent of new car buyers and lessees did not test drive a single vehicle before purchase, consumers’ impressions of our business won’t improve anytime soon.
Since the industry seeks to sell tangible items, an inability to get people behind the wheel has ugly ramifications. Buying a vehicle based on price or selection alone may result in buyer’s remorse and even poor online reviews.
Hand-raiser polls such as IBM’s rely on consumers’ recall of their shopping and buying experiences, which can often be shaky at best. Our automotive shopping research, which tracks online activity and not anecdotal recall, shows that shoppers are spending an average of 19 hours doing research and almost always consider multiple brands, vehicles and dealers before showing up at a store.
When I speak with dealer groups, they estimate that consumers change their minds and buy different vehicles than they initially inquired about around 70 percent of the time once they enter their dealership.
A correct dealership sales process focuses not only on the buyers’ shopping activities that attracted them to the store but also on their buying motivation— what is most important to them in a vehicle. And that process includes a presentation and test drive based on their requirements.
If you don’t take the time to learn about your customers, you end up trying to make them fit your vehicles rather than making the vehicles fit them. Top performers will tell you that in a face-to-face interaction, it’s always about the customer and never about the vehicle.
If we insist on trying to sell vehicles (instead of appointments) via e-mail, telephone and online chat without test drives, we are setting ourselves up for low profits, poor online reputations and dissatisfied clients.
Some may argue that this is the future of the industry, but I hope we fight it kicking and screaming. What do you think? Do you look forward to the day when the “virtual test drive” is enough to seal the deal?
About the Author
Jon Quade is one of the most recognized trainers in the automobile industry, given his 8000+ hours on camera and years of seminar experience with OEM clients like Ford, General Motors, Nissan, Infiniti, Lexus, BMW and Hyundai. And, because Jon has held nearly every dealership position there is, he is eminently capable of practicing everything he preaches. Jon joined the Cobalt team in 2009, adding to its already impressive staff of professionals. He has been a top-rated speaker at six NADA conventions, he’s a Professional member of the National Speakers Association, and he’s received both Telly and Aegis awards for training broadcast excellence. His business writings have been published in Automotive News, Ward’s Dealer Business and Car Dealer Insider, and online at AOL, Bankrate.com and SalesGravy.com. You may reach Jon at jquade@cobalt.com or 800.701.7767.
