Automotive Digital Marketing Professional Community (ADM)
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To Photo, or Not to Photo? First you have to know why you list online.
I am new to ADM, and my experience isn't with an auto dealership. Just hear me out because what I will tell you will change the way you think about how you list inventory online.
I've worked for a large RV dealership for four years. We had 1600+ units in inventory at one time spread out over four locations. When I started there, I knew nothing about selling. What the company would do during the Summer time is hire interns. They would go around to the locations, and photo the inventory. I was fortunate enough to have an awesome mentor who taught me the selling system. After about ten months, I took on the Internet duties at the location I worked at. As a company, our Internet sales alone was $11 million the last year the business was privately owned. Now, I know you're thinking that RV's and auto's are two different things. The fact of the matter is this, the same system and listing principles apply to anything that you're listing online. I was also an Internet Manager for a start-up boat dealership. During our first three months in business, I personally sold about 40 units, representing just under 700K in inventory, all from the Internet. Yes, there were some used cars/trucks in the mix.
Why do you list vehicles online?
To sell them
What does a buyer have to do in order to move along in the buying process?
They have to assume ownership. This is the critical element that is involved in effectively listing online with the intention of selling. If this element is not met, you still have a lot of work to do before closing the deal. Effective photos and a great description will allow the listing to work for you. This is my secret to how I sold so many boats in a very short period online, and I didn't know squat about boats. The other two sales personnel, who each where 20+ years in the boat industry, would provide me with the description. Customers that would call, already had assumed ownership, and where hot on the boat. I handled their objections, questions, and the best part negotiation.
I wanted to share with you all the secret to making your online listing work for you. To photo, or not photo? If it's on your lot for sale, everything gets photos done.
I've worked for a large RV dealership for four years. We had 1600+ units in inventory at one time spread out over four locations. When I started there, I knew nothing about selling. What the company would do during the Summer time is hire interns. They would go around to the locations, and photo the inventory. I was fortunate enough to have an awesome mentor who taught me the selling system. After about ten months, I took on the Internet duties at the location I worked at. As a company, our Internet sales alone was $11 million the last year the business was privately owned. Now, I know you're thinking that RV's and auto's are two different things. The fact of the matter is this, the same system and listing principles apply to anything that you're listing online. I was also an Internet Manager for a start-up boat dealership. During our first three months in business, I personally sold about 40 units, representing just under 700K in inventory, all from the Internet. Yes, there were some used cars/trucks in the mix.
Why do you list vehicles online?
To sell them
What does a buyer have to do in order to move along in the buying process?
They have to assume ownership. This is the critical element that is involved in effectively listing online with the intention of selling. If this element is not met, you still have a lot of work to do before closing the deal. Effective photos and a great description will allow the listing to work for you. This is my secret to how I sold so many boats in a very short period online, and I didn't know squat about boats. The other two sales personnel, who each where 20+ years in the boat industry, would provide me with the description. Customers that would call, already had assumed ownership, and where hot on the boat. I handled their objections, questions, and the best part negotiation.
I wanted to share with you all the secret to making your online listing work for you. To photo, or not photo? If it's on your lot for sale, everything gets photos done.
Replies to This ADM Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Justicia Wroblewski on -
I think what you are saying is important. But more than just "to photo, or not to photo?" think it's the quality of the photos that is important. I visit many dealers, and before I visit, I try to do research on the dealers. One thing I notice time and time again...the photos stink! (and websites, descriptions, etc.) Don't get me wrong, there are stores that do a great job...but more often, than not, the photos stink. You have to make sure that the photos are good quality, taken in the right setting, and give the potential buyer something to get excited about...so they can "take ownership" as you put it!
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Permalink Reply by David DeSantis on -
I absolutely agree that quality is an issue. I believe that dealers have to understand what the objective of doing the photos is. Then they can look at the quality, and determine if it is going to achieve the result they want.
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Permalink Reply by Wei Yang on
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I definitely agree that GOOD photos and lots of photos are key. Our personal data suggests that most people that visit my website are on broadband so bandwidth is not really an issue anymore - at least not for photos. Which makes me wonder why some of the larger but more outdated classifieds players out there are still holding on to the 4 to 16 photo restriction and only show the itty bitty tiny versions of the photos...
Of course, photos are just a part of the overall selling tools. Like the others said, video, virtual tours, social marketing, and other tools when used correctly can also help a lot as well.
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Permalink Reply by Steve Frischer on -
I think the question of "to photo or not to photo?" really isn't valid anymore. You have to have photos to compete in this marketplace. Now however I think it needs to go a step beyond, aside from photos, you need videos, and you need a compelling description of the vehcile, not just the standard VIN explosion.
For the best example of this look at what has happened to real estate listings online. All have photos, and those that don't often rarely get a second glance. But it's not just having photos, it's having good photos, showing multiple angles of all rooms, playing up the best features, just like you would with a vehicle.
Then you add video on top of that, such as a virtual walk-through, or in the case of cars, a virtual walk-around. In this day of age of everything-on-demand, photos should be the cost of entry when it comes to vehicles, with videos very close behind.
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Permalink Reply by ROBERT CRAFT on -
Photos are key. JD Powers says 61% of used car buyers spent 8.6 hours on the internet shopping for Used cars last year. I PRICE MY CARS $1000 OVER COST.and let them go,because that is a customer you may have never seen. Some will drive up to five hours to buy your car!
Check out this site http://freeautomotivemarketing.com/default.aspx
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Permalink Reply by Philip Zelinger on -
Hi David,
First - cars and RV's are the same thing! The reason is that people have universal habits that transcend the product that you are selling - or rather that they are buying - so your experience and success are absolutely applicable.
That said - photos are absolutely the cornerstone of painting a picture to differentiate your product from someone else's - real or imagined - but I would add that today's Internet bandwidth and newly developing video technologies - both automated such as is offered by SiSTeR Technologies Video CarLot and self generated such as is easily produced using the VinSolutions picture and video camera - suggest that if a picture is worth a thousand words imagine what a video is worth!
NOTE: I am not taking away from the value and importance of a picture - just looking a little further down the internet super highway for tomorrow's solution.
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