Digital Dealer - June 2018 - 44

COMMUNICATIONS

By Chaya David
Customer Engagement
Manager,
AutoLeadStar

APRIL 21-23, 2015 * TAMPA, FL
APRIL 21-23 * TAMPA, FL

Don't Be Shy - The Tough Questions
You Should Be Asking Vendors
You know the
feeling- that
giddiness you experience
when you think about
your future together. The
daydreams about the
things you'll do and
places you'll go. Your
nervousness that other
people won't like them as
much as you do. The
apprehension that it is
too good to be true, and
you're bound to be disappointed. The hope that
this is the one, and that
you're destined for a
great future together.
That maybe this vendor
really is everything
you've hoped for.
The beginning of a relationship with a vendor
is very similar to that of
a new romance. You try
not to let your imagination run too wild, but you
can't help but feel an
excitement about this
new person, or company,
in your life.
But like with any
relationship, beginning
to work with a vendor
can be nerve-racking.
After all, you are about
to invest a lot in them,
and you aren't sure if it is
going to be successful,
or if you are potentially
making a mistake. All
you can think about is
the disappointed look on
your GM's face when it
doesn't work out.
To combat these
44

JUNE 2018

nerves, many dealers
have a set of questions
that they ask every single
vendor before even entering a serious conversation with them. These
might include:
How much does your
product cost? What types
of success have other
dealerships like mine
seen with your product?
Can I back out at any
time? What is the onboarding process like?
Those are the easy

I be assigned a dedicated
account manager? What
type of reporting do you
provide? What metrics
do you track, and how do
you provide me with this
information? Is the tool
optimized for mobile?
In our romance example, these are all the
types of questions that
get answered on dates
one through five. But
actually starting to work
with a new vendor is a
lot more of a commit-

BEFORE YOU TAKE THE PLUNGE AND
SIGN ON THE DOTTED LINE WITH A
NEW VENDOR, MAKE THEM ANSWER
SOME TOUGHER QUESTIONS.
questions. Just like you
have these questions prepared for every vendor,
every vendor has prepared answers to them.
This type of discussion
has become a part of the
standard give and take
between dealer and potential vendor partner.
In order to be sure that
vendors aren't simply
giving canned sales
pitches, dealers like to
(and should) push them
to answer some more
difficult questions. These
types of questions could
include: How often can I
expect to hear from you
once I am on board? Will
D I G I TA L D E A L E R . C O M

ment than a few dates
in coffee shops- it's a
real investment! On top
of the cost of the product, staff needs to be
trained, other tools need
to be tweaked, and new
systems might need to be
put in place. Before you
take the plunge and sign
on the dotted line with a
new vendor, make them
answer some tougher
questions. By getting as
much information from
the get-go, you'll set
yourself up for the best
chances of success.
1: HOW DO YOU
ENSURE THAT WE ARE
GETTING THE VERY

BEST RESULTS?

This question applies to all vendors, no
matter what they do. You
should demand the same
type of focus and drive
to improve from your
vendors that you do from
your staff. A/B testing is
one way in which your
dealership might try to
optimize your marketing
tactics. For example, you
send the same email with
two different subject lines
to see which one gets
a higher open-rate. The
reason why you conduct
these types of tests is to
ensure that you are doing
as well as you can- after
all, why should you be
satisfied if you could be
doing better? If there is
room to improve, you
want to be taking advantage.
In the same way, your
vendors should be transparent in how they A/B
test their products and
processes. If a vendor
seems to adopt a "set it
and forget it" type of attitude, you might be wary
to move forward with
them. Your sales process
cannot function optimally
if your CRM could be
improved. Your website is
not fully optimized if one
of your tools is not working as well as it could.
Asking a vendor how
they A/B test, and if they
are willing to tweak their
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