Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/360137
SOLUTIONS You need to consider something. I mean seriously consider something — because in the daily craziness of our lives, we're failing to properly acknowledge this. Present company included. Our behavior as consumers has changed at a much faster clip than our behavior as salespeople. Problematic? If you're hoping to increase revenue, absolutely. Examine your sales staff's daily routine and tell me how much more time they spend communicating online with their clients — prospective and existing alike — compared to a few years ago. Is it way, way different than it was a few years ago? It is for your consumers. Today, we spend 80 percent more time online than we did just a few years ago. That's according to Google. What's that mean? It means exactly what a Google executive recently said at a conference I attended: "We don't do different things. We just do things differently." Reread that because it's powerful. I'm not a quote guy. I don't cut them out and pin them to my wall. I don't "like" them on social net- works. But this one's different. This one nails the gap many of us have between our sales mindset and consumer behavior. Our mindset often is this: "I want my guys to connect with consumers on the phone." But we're not spending 80 percent more time talking on the phone. We're texting. We're email- ing. We're pulling up our social networks and engaging. Our method of com- munication is less voice and more finger- and-thumb. Can the same be said of your sales staff? I've told you in past discussions about the incredible growth CycleTrader.com has seen in its mobile audience. Two years ago, about 10 percent of the CycleTrader.com traffic was via mobile and tablet. Now it's more than four times that. What I perhaps failed to mention is that desktop traffic hasn't diminished in that time. We're not doing one instead of the other. We're just doing the thumb-and-finger thing more. And more … and more. We're surfing photos. We're texting. We're socially updating. We're viewing short videos. We're constantly snatching online moments away from our real-world responsibilities. With those constant but abbreviated ventures online, how does your sales staff connect with the consumer? I'm just not seeing that, especially socially. I recently finished a study of powersports deal- erships on Facebook, and I can tell you it looks like a Third World economy. There are a few of us who dominate the overwhelming major- ity of bottom-feeders. And yet, recent data I've seen indicates that nearly three-quarters of adults who are online are active on social channels. And what do most of us do about that? We send out two Facebook posts a week. Really? That means we as consumers are probably hearing from our mothers-in-law more than from our dealerships. That's wrong! Especially for some of us! A good friend who oversees a number of dealerships on the East Coast recently asked me how to handle crabby customers online, especially those who express their displeasure with unpleasant store reviews. It's a good ques- tion, but it's not the right one. The right one is this: How do I ensure our online voice is louder than the occasionally crabby customer? First off, have one. Have one that never stops. Have one that is multi-channel. Tex- ting. Facebooking. Tweets. Emails that can be digested in a minute or two. Emails, texts or posts that show me the trade-in just placed on the showroom floor 10 minutes ago. Do you need to tell me it's tremendously discounted? No! Do you need to show me what it looks like so I'll take a long lunch to look at it? Yes! Why can't our sales staff do that? We as consumers live much of our lives online, steal- ing away real-world moments to interact with our interests. If you want to connect with us, you have to join us. We don't do different things. We just do them differently. PSB Neil Pascale is the industry communications manager for Dominion Powersports Solutions, a dealer solutions provider that includes DX1, ZiiOS, Traffic Log Pro, PowerSports Network and Cycle Trader. He can be reached at neil.pascale@dominionpowersports.com. Sales mindset needs to fit consumer behavior THE DEALERSHIP OF TOMORROW 32 • August 11, 2014 • Powersports Business www.PowersportsBusiness.com spending 80 percent on the phone. We're texting. We're email- ing. We're pulling up our social networks NEIL PASCALE