Email Price Quoting, You Decide!
by Cory L. Mosley
One of the major arguments swirling around the Internet community for some time now has been the debate over emailing price quotes, so being of the philosophy that it is better to think for oneself than to simply be told something I offer you the reader the opportunity to decide. The scenario we will be examining is sending a price quote to a customer as the first email communication you send them without any qualifying. They call it the “Ben Franklin” approach, also known as pros and cons. Let’s take a look at a few of each.
Pros
1. Gives the customer what they want
2. Could equal a quick sale
3. No appointment is necessary
Cons
1. Will generally always cost you gross
2. Decreases appointments
3. Does not increase your chance of making the sale
All of these things are true and do work for many dealerships, however the reason the major issue exists is that all of the things mentioned go against the core fundamentals of selling. The foundation of sales is based upon the ability to control the process and to keep the prospect on the “road to the sale.” Everything we know about sales tells us that if we do everything the customer wants (or thinks they want) then that hurts our sales and gross profit in the long run. While philanthropy is important in business so is profitability and the flip side of the pricing coin is when we email price quotes prior to qualifying what price is the right price? It is irrefutable that any selling price less than M.S.R.P. results in the loss of gross. When we match Pro 3 against Con 2 we realize that everything we know about car sales tells us that the more customers that physically come in to the dealership the higher our closing ratios will be, so why position yourself to be at a disadvantage from the start? There are 2 major reasons, fear of engagement and the desire to take the path of least resistance (which is the cousin of fear of engagement). If we have a lot of leads and can email every lead a low price then all I have to do as the salesperson is sit back and wait for all my low gross deals to come in. Outside of my theories lays another irrefutable sales fact; you cannot operate at maximum sales efficiency and profitability if you’re not selling from a position of strength.
All I ask is this, make sure whatever your strategy for providing pricing to your Internet prospects is, that it is based on the most effective way to benefit you and the dealership and not simply the easiest way to sell a car.
I welcome your feedback on your pricing strategy at feedback@mosleyautomotive.com
