Archive for July, 2010
Finding the right vehicle for your family
Thursday, July 29th, 2010
There are a lot of special considerations when looking at a vehicle for your family. Not only will it be responsible for getting you around town, it will be responsible for your family’s safety and convenience. Making a final decision will take some careful consideration; here are a few questions that can get you closer to your answer:
What’s the cargo? This will have the biggest impact on the style of vehicle you look at. If you have to get a large group of children to and from school, appointments and other events, a minivan might be your best option. If you have kids but also a lot of cargo like pets and groceries, perhaps you should look at an SUV. If you have a smaller family, consider a car as the most practical means of transportation.
Where will you be driving? Let’s face it, gas is not cheap! However, before you jump head first into a hybrid, consider your driving style. If you’re driving mainly around the city, a hybrid might be best for you. However, if your normal trips consist of a lot of highway driving, look into a smaller engine vehicle. Either way, understanding your driving habits will help you out tremendously.
What is the safest option? When it comes to your family, safety is usually your number one concern. Purchasing a vehicle should be no different. Once you have the style of vehicle picked out, look at the safety reports on which one is the safest. There are generally yearly reports, with breakdowns for each type of vehicle, so do a quick search online and find out what is the safest.
How much can you afford? Notice that price is the last talking point? I completely understand needing to fit into a budget but by finding a vehicle that fits your needs first, you will be much more satisfied with your purchase. Also, when looking at the price tag also consider additional costs like insurance and maintenance. Another quick search online will show you the best vehicles to insure and maintain. This can ensure that your new vehicle purchase really does fit into your budget.
Hopefully these tips help you find a vehicle that gets your family safely where they need to go for years to come. If you have any questions on finding the right vehicle for your family, please let me know at: cihde@ewaldauto.com
Tags: automotive, Automotive Advantage, car buying, car dealership, car sales, Ewald, family, Milwaukee, new cars, Oconomowoc, used cars, vehicle purchase, Wisconsin
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Buying a car is not just about price
Tuesday, July 20th, 2010
Let’s face it: cars are expensive. No matter how you slice it, purchasing a new vehicle requires a significant investment. With that in mind, most people go into the car buying process trying to figure out how they can spend the least amount of money possible on a new vehicle. While this is completely understandable, there may be a better way to go about the process than to focus on money.
When I work with someone I start by asking them what the absolute essentials are for their vehicle. If they have children they will need additional seating, if they tow something a lot they will need an equipped vehicle or if they haul a lot of gear they will need an appropriate amount of space. By starting with the absolute requirements you are able to take your desires out of the equation for a bit and focus on what kind of vehicle you actually need.
Once the requirements have been listed, we take a look at their current vehicle. What are some of the things that they absolutely love about their current vehicle? On the other hand, what do they dislike about their current vehicle? This list will help you immensely when picking out a new vehicle. It takes you away from and empty list of options and allows you to focus on the key features you desire.
With your requirements, key features and absolute no’s in place, you are able to start looking at what kind of vehicle you are looking to purchase. However, instead of looking at a long list of possible options, you have a small number of vehicles that will fit your criteria. Although you have not focused on price during this process, you should still walk away with the greatest value.
The reason I recommend this style of shopping to my customers is because it leaves them driving away happy the majority of the time. Instead of looking for a vehicle that matches certain price criteria, you are able to search for a vehicle that you will be happy driving off the lot. And while it may seem like you would pay more by using this method, the opposite is usually the case.
How does this method compare to your style of shopping? What have you found to be the most effective way of walking away from a sale happy? Has focusing on price ever caused you to walk away unhappy? As always, I invite you to reply privately at: cihde@ewaldauto.com
Tags: automotive, Automotive Advantage, car buying, car dealership, car sales, Ewald, Milwaukee, new cars, Oconomowoc, vehicle negotiation, vehicle purchase
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How do you shop online?
Wednesday, July 14th, 2010
The majority of consumers have probably bought something online. Whether this is a small item or a large purchase, online shopping has become the norm in our society. As someone on the other side of the computer, selling instead of buying, I have noticed a difference in how people shop when they are online, compared to shopping in person. However, I have yet to nail down the exact differences between the two.
The biggest difference I have noticed in online shopping is the role that anonymity plays in the process. As a car dealership, when someone comes into our store to get a quote on a vehicle, they are usually a fairly serious shopper. However, when people ask for the same quote online, they generally seem to be very early in the process of shopping, if they are truly in the market at all. It seems that not having to look people in the face makes it easier to seek out the information you are looking for.
The other large difference that I have noticed is that online shoppers are almost always price shoppers. As a dealership that sells on overall value, it has been difficult to translate this onto the internet. Generally if we do not have the best price online, we potentially lose the customer without them getting a chance to see how we do business. As much as we would like to sell to people based on our relationship with them, we realize that we must adjust our online strategy in order to stay with the times.
Besides these glaring differences, there is still a lot we need to learn about online shoppers. One of the biggest questions we have comes from when we have the same price as our competition. With price out of the way, what makes consumers purchase from one company over another? Is it based on ease of ordering? The website of the company? The timeliness of the response? Without a doubt we wish we had the answer so any insight you can provide would be greatly appreciated!
Besides that, we want to better understand what brings people to us online. We track our advertising and search results but we haven’t nailed down what makes us earn your click over our competition. When you’re shopping online, what makes you click on one ad or link over another? Do you do research or pick the one you think looks like the best fit? If you can share how you shop online, I would greatly appreciate it! We are always trying to learn how we can better serve our customers. As always, if you would like to respond in private, please feel free to reach me at: cihde@ewaldauto.com
Tags: automotive, Automotive Advantage, car buying, car dealership, car sales, Ewald, Milwaukee, Oconomowoc
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Getting employee feedback
Friday, July 9th, 2010
I was very excited when the opportunity came along to spearhead an employee feedback campaign. While some may view this additional responsibility as an unneeded burden, I view it as a true value-add. Too often, I see companies moving forward with little insight into their employee’s thoughts on the state of the company. To have a chance to gain meaningful feedback from our employees is a true gift.
There are several things I want to make sure we gain from this feedback. First, I really want to make sure that the questions we ask of employees are focused enough to target specific areas of improvement. However, I also want to make sure that our employees have the freedom to report what they truly feel needs to be changed or adjusted within the company. These may seem like opposing guidelines, but I think asking direct, yet open-ended questions will get us there.
Beyond that, I also feel there needs to be some sort of measuring process to the survey. It is important that once we know how our company should improve, we have a process to understand whether initiatives are improving or not. Although this may also contradict the direct questioning, I think we can combine a rating system with those questions to get a broad understanding and the direct reasoning behind that response.
With both directives, I feel it will also be absolutely imperative that employees feel that they can openly share information and communicate. To do this, I want the survey to be anonymous, however, this presents a problem. The easiest way for us to communicate with all employees is through email and it would be difficult to have employees email back an anonymous response. A physical survey or one online would be the next best option but there is no way to track whether all employees provided their feedback. There doesn’t seem to be a perfect solution, but I’ll find a way to navigate the best one available.
The final step in my plan is really the most important. Once I have the information, what will I do with it? How will I ensure that the responses lead to actual change? This requires buy-in from senior leadership, but it also requires that there be criteria for what will be worked on and what won’t be. Once we identify what needs to be worked on, we will have to set-up timelines and start moving forward with what the employees want to see happen at the company.
I truly believe that by opening up this sort of communication we will become a much stronger company. Has your company used this sort of feedback system? What has worked best for you on the giving or receiving end? What has worked best to implement actual change within the company? I would love to get your feedback and as always, please feel free to send me a private response at: cihde@ewaldauto.com
Tags: automotive, Automotive Advantage, car dealership, employee moral, employee retention, employees, Ewald, Human Resources, managers, Milwaukee, Oconomowoc
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