Dealer Contact Forms: Why Even ask for “Anything Else”?

Website stuffed with Javascript: ARE YOU INTERESTED IN THIS CAR?

Oh hey yes, I am interested in this car.

FILL OUT THIS FORM:

  • Here is my name/email/phone number
  • Comments? Yes: a thoughtful and succinct list of things you can tell me to help my buying decision

Reply: HELLO ARE YOU INTERESTED IN STOCK NUMBER 9999?

Yes: did you get my list of questions?

NO WHEN DO YOU WANT TO COME TEST DRIVE?

Every time. Every brand. New or used. Why give customers a field on the web form if it never makes it into the lead/CRM?

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It makes it into crm but nobody reads.

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To be fair I’ve had customers switch up their needs/wants prior to first contact after inquiring so reaffirming questions are a good way to know you are showing the buyer the right things.

On the other hand, this just looks like lazy follow up.

What’s even better are those dealer websites that demand for your mother’s maiden name and SSN to “unlock” the price which is MSRP+ADM. Do you really need all of that info to say you want 3k over on a base Camry?

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It SHOULD.

Every time I ask, they tell me they didn’t receive them.

Makes sense. When I’ve told you, for instance, how many I’ve owned/driven, asking me twice “when do you want to come in for a test drive?” seems to lose the thread.

captcha GIF by Scorpion Dagger

Now I have the Manager and Sales Person calling me after we confirmed it was best to text and exchanged a couple messages…

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I am fairly certain that humans are not doing the replying. There’s no way the responses lead to actual sales.

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I am 100% certain the first email is a template reply, it’s when I am clearly dealing with a human who is more incompetent than a robot that gets my blood boiling.

A bot could at least say:

“do I understand correctly that “ ${COMMENTS_FORM_FIELD}?

Ignoring it and talking around it is a truly human skill imho.

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They never read or care to read.

Rather go thru “their own” (read from the car salesman encyclopedia) list of questions.

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What better way to practice secret sales voodoo?

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Slightly orthogonal: can we all please adjust our CRM ticklers for 2022?

Nobody is pitting 12 Honda dealers against each other to sell 1 of their 100 Accords in the next 24 hours. I don’t need auto replies every 4 hours to ask ARE YOU STILL SHOPPING? WHEN CAN YOU COME IN AND TEST DRIVE? DID I MENTION WE HAVE THE BEST SELECTION?

Yes, never, you’re hallucinating again. Just send me 1 reply that answers my questions….

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Trying To Reach You Ryan Reynolds GIF by The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard

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Best meme ever lol

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Just when I thought I could read a thread to completion without feeling stupid and you pull this shit out. Unbelievable.

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I’ve found that many are not using salespeople but BDC people (even third party) that the only goal is to set an appointment. They are usually…not smart.
You also have old school sales guys who can’t make the CRM function well enough to understand it or even understand the lead was anything but name/stock#/phone number.

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Dropping Pythagorus is the nerd version of a thread bomb.

It’s more linear algebra (dot product is zero) lol. I did write code for an early CRM company (before Salesforce), one of the founding engineer got so rich he bought 26 cars at one point including a Ferrari F50, I remembered I went to Vegas and there was a roped off wooden model of a F50 and at work I saw the real deal in the parking garage.

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ACT! ?
ActiveSales?

  • you aren’t
  • it’s a 90 degree turn: two wrongs don’t make a right; three rights do make a left. Same difference
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Yes sometimes the customer is also confused about certain models and what equipment comes on those models so it never hurts to have that Conversation just to make sure.
Right now it’s a very tough set of circumstances for everyone concerned .The dealers don’t like this anymore than the customers. Communication between the manufacturer and Dealer is sometimes also sketchy because the Manufacturers are also having unforeseen delays in production and shipping
The Leasemaster

Form data can be captured with google tag manager