posted on September 09, 2009 13:17
A few years ago, many of our customers scoffed at those online RV wholesalers who sold “paper units” only on order, often shipping directly from the factory to the consumer at markups that made it very difficult to compete with on the open market. Then, a couple of years ago, one of those dealers became the largest volume dealer for a major manufacturer. Today with the continued tightening of floor plan financing, the evaporation of available used inventory and the public’s increasing comfort in ordering online – some of our customer are reconsidering the is this model or at least a hybrid version of it. Could this be the future of the RV dealership?
Lately we’ve had more than a few dealers ask us to setup “virtual showrooms” on their sites. More of a catalog of what a customer can buy from a dealership vs. what is on that dealer’s lot at this very moment. This approach certainly has some benefits including showing customers what a dealer carries, better (read bigger) inventory presentation, better search engine optimization and lastly but perhaps most importantly, our Virtual Business Development Agents can generate a lead off of a “virtual” listing just as easily as they can off of a specific stock number on the lot.
Of course it raises all sorts of questions about the display of inventory online, pricing, giving quotes via email, your manufacturer’s agreements and more. But, despite it all, it has one other major benefit: those units are not sitting on your lot until they are sold. Then you take delivery, perform a PDI, finish the paperwork and financing and send them across the curb on their way home with a happy customer.
There are a few best practices I think dealers should consider before they begin in order to ensure that everyone (including the consumer) has a positive experience:
- Don’t “Fake It”. Be careful to manage your “catalog” to show only units you can get. Don’t use an online catalog to “fish” for leads that you need to switch to another product because it’s not longer available or something you can’t sell.
- Focus on the Lead not the Sale. Don’t mistake this for a “sales engine”. Instead, think about it as a lead generator and make sure you have the sales processes in place to convert leads into sales.
- Back it Up. Make sure your sales team and managers understand not only the ordering process from the manufacturer but the expectations of the customer. It takes both to convert a lead into a long term, happy customer.
The good news is that if you’re already a MyRVAdvantage dealership, our new inventory showroom can be easily configured to support a virtual showroom. Your account manager can work with you to set this up and our Live Agents can help you generate real qualified leads from it. The idea is so exciting that we’ve been talking about ways to extend our showroom functionality to allow consumers to choose from a list of options, update prices, and submit request for quote all from the site or through our business development center.
In any case, it’s something to consider for your dealership and could certainly help you sell more units in the years to come.
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