The Hidden Online Car Selling Phenomenon by Ralph Paglia on the Dot Com Insider. On The Road With Ralph by Ralph Paglia Editor's Corner Forum Industry Insider Events Calendar Resources Head to Head Ralph Paglia currently serves a CRM Program Consultant assigned to work with major Car Companies in North America. In this capacity, Ralph draws upon over 20 years of experience working in Automotive Retail and then working with hundreds of dealers during consulting engagements where his mission is to find ways to use the Internet and Information Technology to sell more cars and make more money. The Hidden Online Car Selling Phenomenon By Ralph Paglia Since the title of this column has something about "on the road", we will start by outlining the travels that brought me the insight to write this particular article. We left Albuquerque on Tuesday morning and headed up to Detroit to work on developing an Internet Sales initiative… On Wednesday evening we left Detroit to head over to New York to work with another OEM client on finding ways to sell more (specifically) used cars by leveraging the Internet… Spent the weekend in NYC because going home to Albuquerque didn't make much sense when we had to be in Philadelphia on Monday and Tuesday to work with a team crafting a complete set of Web Brand Management strategies… But, the real treat came when we flew to Chicago on Tuesday evening for the Wednesday launch of a new series of seminars centered around eBay Motors. The eBay Motors' seminars are designed to show dealers and ISM's how to use eBay Motors to sell more cars. Since we had spent the last Thursday and Friday working with a very sharp team of experienced used car marketing gurus on using the Internet to accelerate used car sales, the eBay Motors seminar fit right into the "finding a way to make it happen" mindset I was in… Although I had worked since day one on the eBay project, helping to define the seminar objectives and designing the way we worked with eBay Motors, it was not until I sat in that Chicago Hotel conference center and listened to dealers tell their stories and discuss ways to become even more successful, that I really began to grasp the magnitude of this phenomenon. I listened to dealer after dealer talking about selling so many cars through eBay Motors that they had begun to reduce other types of advertising and promoting their used cars! What a great problem to have… Traditional advertising had become less effective because you can sell so many cars on eBay Motors. The turn-out in Chicago was a lot more than we expected. There were about 65 dealers in the room, a bunch of trade suppliers, the eBay Motors team, and my colleague from Reynolds Consulting Services (Larry Kraus), who was facilitating the seminar. The material covered was a real eye opener… For me, it did not take long to see that eBay Motors offers an incredibly powerful sales channel that thousands of dealers are becoming very successful in using to grow their sales volume. I spoke with dealer after dealer at the seminar, each selling between 5 to 100 vehicles per month using eBay Motors. The national numbers are almost mind boggling. eBay Motors has surpassed every online lead source in producing actual sold units in less than two years. There are nearly eight million car buyers visiting eBay Motors every month… This is 3.3 million more visitors more than the No. 2 ranked site. http://www.dotcominsider.com/hiddenonlineralph1.html (1 of 3) [4/30/2003 11:08:37 AM]
1. The Hidden Online Car Selling Phenomenon by Ralph Paglia on
the Dot Com Insider. Editor's CornerRalph Paglia currently serves a
CRM Program Consultant assigned to work with major Car Companies On
The Road Forumin North America. In this capacity, Ralph draws upon
over 20 years of experience working inWith Ralph Industry Insider
Automotive Retail and then working with hundreds of dealers during
consulting engagements where his by Events Calendarmission is to
find ways to use the Internet and Information Technology to sell
more cars and make more Ralph Pagliamoney. Resources Head to
HeadThe Hidden Online Car Selling PhenomenonBy Ralph PagliaSince
the title of this column has something about "on the road", we will
start by outlining the travels that brought me the insight to write
this particular article. We left Albuquerque on Tuesday morning and
headed up to Detroit to work on developing an Internet Sales
initiative On Wednesday evening we left Detroit to head over to New
York to work with another OEM client on finding ways to sell more
(specifically) used cars by leveraging the Internet Spent the
weekend in NYC because going home to Albuquerque didn't make much
sense when we had to be in Philadelphia on Monday and Tuesday to
work with a team crafting a complete set of Web Brand Management
strategies But, the real treat came when we flew to Chicago on
Tuesday evening for the Wednesday launch of a new series of
seminars centered around eBay Motors. The eBay Motors' seminars are
designed to show dealers and ISM's how to use eBay Motors to sell
more cars. Since we had spent the last Thursday and Friday working
with a very sharp team of experienced used car marketing gurus on
using the Internet to accelerate used car sales, the eBay Motors
seminar fit right into the "finding a way to make it happen"
mindset I was inAlthough I had worked since day one on the eBay
project, helping to define the seminar objectives and designing the
way we worked with eBay Motors, it was not until I sat in that
Chicago Hotel conference center and listened to dealers tell their
stories and discuss ways to become even more successful, that I
really began to grasp the magnitude of this phenomenon. I listened
to dealer after dealer talking about selling so many cars through
eBay Motors that they had begun to reduce other types of
advertising and promoting their used cars! What a great problem to
have Traditional advertising had become less effective because you
can sell so many cars on eBay Motors.The turn-out in Chicago was a
lot more than we expected. There were about 65 dealers in the room,
a bunch of trade suppliers, the eBay Motors team, and my colleague
from Reynolds Consulting Services (Larry Kraus), who was
facilitating the seminar. The material covered was a real eye
opener For me, it did not take long to see that eBay Motors offers
an incredibly powerful sales channel that thousands of dealers are
becoming very successful in using to grow their sales volume. I
spoke with dealer after dealer at the seminar, each selling between
5 to 100 vehicles per month using eBay Motors.The national numbers
are almost mind boggling. eBay Motors has surpassed every online
lead source in producing actual sold units in less than two years.
There are nearly eight million car buyers visiting eBay Motors
every month This is 3.3 million more visitors more than the No. 2
ranked site. http://www.dotcominsider.com/hiddenonlineralph1.html
(1 of 3) [4/30/2003 11:08:37 AM]
2. The Hidden Online Car Selling Phenomenon by Ralph Paglia on
the Dot Com Insider.After working for over 8 years on finding ways
to sell more cars using the Internet, learning about what dealers
are doing with eBay Motors has been an epiphany. Of all the
vehicles listed by dealers on eBay each month, the majority of them
result in a sale The most successful dealers have developed
detailed processes regarding how they list their vehicles, along
with multiple pricing strategies. Several dealers spoke about how
some buyers bypass the online sales completion process and go
directly to the dealer to buy the car. This means that eBay Motors
has the best sales ratio of any form of online car selling
Interestingly, the dealers who were at the Chicago seminar were
there to learn how to become better at the process of selecting
vehicles and listing them. The Chart below illustrates the Total
Used Car market in the USA,and who is selling them 26%Private
Sales36%Independent38%New Car Dealers We should point out that the
vast majority of the vehicles listed for sale on eBay Motors are
from dealers (not private parties). As we studied the processes
that successful eBay Motors dealers are using, we soon realized
that if an Internet Manager applied these same processes to their
own web sites, and the listing of their vehicles on other sites,
they would increase their leads and sales closing ratios. For
years, we have struggled to get dealers to take a decent photo of
the used car they are putting on their web site. Which has helped
create the success of Dealer Specialties, AutoUplinkUSA, Rolling
Monroney, and CARad Successful eBay Motors dealers take OVER 12
photos, many of them showing close-ups of the car's features and
accessories. Heck, if we put that many good photos of our used cars
on our dealer web sites, we'd sell more used cars!The "selling
stories" that eBay Motors dealers craft and post on their vehicle
listings would, without a doubt, help sell more cars through dealer
web sites and other online marketing channels as well. Over and
over, we saw that these mega-successful eBay Motors dealers were
executing marketing processes that would improve results from all
online sources of vehicle inventory listings.If you are an ISM who
is responsible for your dealership's web site, it is important to
understand that as we look at the WebTrends Site Traffic Analysis
reports for hundreds of Automark dealers throughout the country,
the number one, most visited part of each dealer's web site is
their inventory sections. Three years ago, the biggest draw for
customers was always the New Vehicle Inventory Today, we are seeing
more and more site reports that show the Used Vehicle Inventory
drawing more visitors than New. Meanwhile, somewhere in the USA,
every two minutes a dealer gets paid in full for the car they
listed online at eBay Motors.This much I can guarantee every
Internet Manager reading this article; if you attend one of the
eBay Motors seminars, and apply the vehicle inventory listing
practices taught there to all your online vehicle inventory,
especially your Automark web site, you will sell more cars. Plus,
there were several Internet Managers at the eBay Motors seminar in
Chicago that use eBay Motors to sell an additional 5 to 10 units
per month The smart ones put the "spiff" units on eBay and collect
the $500 bonus Times 5.If you would like to attend one of the eBay
Motors online selling seminars, you can enroll online at:
http://pages.ebay.com/ebaymotors/services/motors-university.htmlHere's
some of the upcoming cities and dates for eBay Motors
Seminars:PhoenixTuesdayMarch 18 Pasadena, CA TuesdayApril 1
HoustonFriday April 11 Dallas/Fort WorthTuesdayApril 15
DetroitThursday April 24 Columbus Friday May 2 Cincinnati Friday
May 9 http://www.dotcominsider.com/hiddenonlineralph1.html (2 of 3)
[4/30/2003 11:08:37 AM]
3. The Hidden Online Car Selling Phenomenon by Ralph Paglia on
the Dot Com Insider.MiamiWednesdayMay 21 Tampa/St. Pete Friday May
23 Austin/San Antonio Friday August 1 Philadelphia Friday August 15
Dallas/Fort WorthFriday August 22 AtlantaFriday November 7
Baltimore/D.C. Friday November 14 Besides learning how to sell more
cars and make more money, eBay Motors hands out some very nice
materials, tools and manuals.In addition to the eBay Motors
seminars, Reynolds Consulting Services now offers a new
in-dealership training and consulting program based on the proven
success of our Technology Assisted Selling (TAS) formula. By
working directly with the Automark Web Services Team, eBay Motors,
MSN Autos, KBB Classifieds, Yahoo! Autos, and CarsDirect.com we
have been able to develop a consulting process that helps dealers
define their Web Brand Management Strategy with a sharp focus on
dramatically increasing their sales of used and Certified Pre-
Owned vehicles. As an ISM, when your dealer commits to an
Integrated Marketing Program, not only will your lead volume rise,
so will the quality of those leads We have seen several dealership
installations where we had to make adjustments because the ISM's
were getting too many incoming phone calls from car buyers in
response to their initial personalized email response.Happy
selling, and when thinking about how you respond to leads, remember
this: "What you send the potential buyer is as important as when
you send it"Ralph Paglia Reynolds Transformation Solutions
[email protected] Cell:
505-301-6369http://www.dotcominsider.com/hiddenonlineralph1.html (3
of 3) [4/30/2003 11:08:37 AM]