OK Mazda Customers

[buzzard1]

I don't know if this trend belongs here or elsewhere.

Many of you have said you didn't like one aspect or another about a Mazda dealer. Or the dealer where you bought your car. Here is your chance to make a change. I know over 80 of folks buying Mazda's look on the internet before visiting any dealer.

When you send your name and an interest about a car or truck to a dealer what do you expect back from the dealer?

What does a dealer need to do to get you into their dealership over any other dealership you can contact or drive to?

What sold you on your car? The car, the dealership, the sales associate, or something else? What if something else?

[NoUse4Aname]

These are things I'd like to see when contacting dealers for quotes online.

Your lowest price, since I send such requests to multiple dealers the lowest initial responder is going to get my full attention. Very little to no haggling, certainly none of that classic 4 square, let me go see if my manager will go that low stuff. We know what the invoice price is, we know what other dealers offer and whether there is factory cash to dealer.

Whether you have the specific optioned car in stock or if you'd have to arrange a dealer trade. Pictures of the specific car. Have a digital camera ready and a smooth process to take and email pictures in a timely fashion.

A same day response from a person, not an automated message. The automated "we'll get to you shortly" responses only irritate me.

The test drive and online research makes the sale. Sales associate/dealer has little positive impact but there is potential for negative. If they're annoying in any way I'd be happy to take my business elsewhere.

Treatment at the dealership is a bigger factor in where the car gets serviced, not so much where it's purchased. Incentives could change that such as free oil changes if you buy at a certain dealer.

[NoUse4Aname]

In my case when I bought the 6, I was using S-plan so price was pretty inconsequential between dealers so service and car availability took center stage. Only thing to bargain on was trade-in value.

James' willingness to take me out for lessons on the mtx, a virtually no pressure friendly sales approach, and availbility of a car with the options I wanted got me to buy from him that day. And you guys gave me near top dollar on my trade-in valuation compared to other dealers I was shopping.

[buzzard1]

I think I posted this in the wrong section but thanks for the replys. I am asking for a reason. If I stay that's my new job, internet. Internet for Chevrolet - Mazda and used cars.

If I do this I'll be off the wall as always. That's the easy part. the hard part will be getting the internet customer to the dealership. There is more to internet sales than providing a price. The customer wqnts a price doesn't want to dick around going to 25 dealers. JUST GIVE ME YOUR BEST PRICE...... I already know if I give you a price 96% of you will shop it. I already know the % of people who say they are interersted in a car that aren't. I really shouldn't say this but this is all public information on the INTENET. Give me your honest name and where you live. In a few min. I'll know if you're buying or renting. I'll know what your house is worth. How long you've lived there. As well as what you report as income. I've violated no laws.

Someone want to give me a name and a city and see what happens?

[NoUse4Aname]

Go for it. Internet sales still has a lot of potential for growth.

I sold my 6 to someone from Maryland over autotrader. And I picked up my Celica from a dealership in Kentucky through their internet sales department.

I had no problem making that drive down there to get a certified used car at the best price. Salesman was very friendly. Would fax or email replies/pictures/etc in a matter of minutes.

He had just sold a 4runner to some guy in the Virgin Islands, over the Internet, from Kentucky!

In situations like that where the car is shipped and you never even see the dealership it's obvious that price is key. Might as well be selling the cars out of a warehouse right next to the plant.

[ZoomZoom Diva]

Is your dealer listed with any services for corporate rates? My employer discount (managed by motivano.com) put my inquiry to buy right into the internet sales department of the dealer I bought my 6 from.

Now, mind you, the price I ended up negotiating was better than the price offered by the corporate rate. Without that referral, the chances I would have bought with another dealer was approaching 100%.

If a large employer in your area subscribes, that gets a lot of people who already want the car pre-referred to you. Plus, satellite offices of other employers also add to the population given to you to sell to.

I do know that a dealer back home uses internet classifieds to sell excess allotments of cars (a BFE dealer doesn't have any use for 19 RX-8's!) They pretty much dealer trade for Tributes and formerly Proteges (I have not heard how their 3 sales are going...)

I am fully aware of the information... someone in my family found I bought my house before I told them...

[MitchG]

Here is what gets me to follow up on an internet quote response:

1) Low price (duh). Or at least a price. I received a couple of responses to my recent M6 shopping that said something like, "we have your car available, come in and we can take a test drive blah blah blah." All this tells me is that their internet sales are no better than walking into the showroom and will be fraught with haggling, etc. The reason I go with internet quotes is to avoid haggling, quite honestly.

2) Only reply with cars on the lot or scheduled for delivery - which I think would be the case anyway. But, I sure don't want the dealer to have done a regional dealer search and then claim that they can get the car for me when chances are they won't know that for sure until we shake hands on the deal.

3) Provide detailed description of the car. In other words, explicitly state the transmission, engine, packages, interior and exterior. Don't just say something like "we have the car you are looking for." I want the dealer to reply with specifics. I had a couple of cases where the dealer said they had the car I was looking for AND included a specific listing only to see that it wasn't the car I wanted (e.g. ATX vs. MTX). It saves us both time if we can be specific up front.

Realize that for internet deals, I am willing to drive a bit of a distance to the dealer so I need to know what they are offering before I invest the time and gas to get to the dealer. So, it's critical to provide as much information as possible in that initial response.

Hope this helps,


Mitch

[buzzard1]

Thanks again for the answers. Hope I don't brake any laws by printing off the whole trend and giving it to my GM and CFO. I love the answers. Plays hand and hand to what I told the GM a month ago. We are not receiving the results we can get from the internet. You have five different people doing the internet. None know what the other is doing. The 30 folks selling cars have a bad attitude about the internet. "You always drop your pants. I can't make any money. it's always a split deal. Internet guy and a second sales person." sales staff. All of this is true.

Everything in the car business is normally based off volumn. You sell a 100 Z06's or 3,000 Mazda 6's the same year. When the model changes and no one has any. Or a model is in demand but short supply. Who gets cars first? When you go to all these dealer meetings Mr. General Manager, and you're walking like a PEEEEEEEEEEEECOCK. Because your store did this and that and everyone knows it and they think it's because of your direction. No one is going to care we sold more cars because we changed the way we sell on the internet, right?

Mr. GM you know what an ad costs in the paper. The purpose of an ad is to generate customers, right? Today we have CUSTOMERS sending us thier name etc. and everyone acts like their a step-child at your dealership.

Hope I didn't insult anyone by that comment! I am color blind. I only see Black, White and Green. Green represent MONEY everything else I do is right or wrong.

Don't worry, I receive my commission check Friday. Being right all the time hasn't gone to my head yet. The check confirms what I need to do next. I am going to manage the internet. If what I do works might try and sell the ideas. Those PEEEEEEEEECOCKS I spoke about. Normally there are several at every dealership. They love to look good. They will spend thousands to do it.

[ZoomZoom Diva]

Well... why are you making people deal with an internet person and a second sales staff? This seems duplicated and wasteful to me. I dealt solely with an internet salesman and then the business manager to handle the business end.

Except for the same things the business manager does in a traditional sale, the internet salesperson should perform the entire role that a normal salesperson would. I would be even happier if the business manager was removed, and a single salesperson handled the process beginning to end.

Of course, my deal broke all of the rules provided below... they had to truck the car in from 250 miles away (it was the only one in the multi-state region the way I wanted it). I provided all the equipment I wanted (I had an EXACT configuration which was non-negotiable), I was given a pricing line (which was negotiated), and bought the car.

Don't knock the peacocks... it's always nice to have eye candy, and I'll admit I like seeing some well dressed cute ones on the floor.

[buzzard1]

Because if I delivered every customer I would work a minimum of 68 hr. each week. Those are the total hrs the dealership sales floor is open. That's with Sunday off.

There are folks in the car business making 100K or more a year. 68 hr, a week isn't worth that!

For you hourly guys thats 28.35 per hr.


Bossman said I start January. We need to work our hours and pay.