So far, the response to RedNumbat has been all positive. Although a handful of dealers still hate the idea of empowering the consumer to make an informed decision. That will change, one way or another.
I came across a great blog from Cathy Healy about the change (or reluctance to change) in the retail car business. Cathy is a longtime industry insider and her opinions are dead on!
http://cathyhealey.blogspot.com/
That's all for now. We will keep bringing new dealers into the 'Numbat network, and soon RedNumbat will be the destination. Period.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Monday, September 8, 2008
How do you help an industry that won’t change?
Late in 2006 I developed software to help car dealers automate the request-for-quote process on their websites. The simple interface allows website visitors to search inventory, select a car and instantly receive an actual price, not MSRP and not invoice, but a bona fide purchase price. Up to now, the only way to shop for a car on the internet is to visit a website, fill out a contact form and wait for a salesperson to call or email. It took some time, but by late 2007 I was ready to start peddling my idea. I went to dealers in New Jersey and New York showing them how they could satisfy and get contact information from more of their online visitors, build a database of email addresses for marketing purposes, and gain an edge over their competition.
I had spoken with literally hundreds of consumers and I asked them; if they were in the market for a car and knew of a website where they could search inventory in real-time, select a car, and receive an immediate purchase price, would they use it? The response was a resounding, yes, they would use it. Armed with this feedback and having ‘mystery shopped’ hundreds of dealers who failed to deliver a “Quick Quote” I figured my product would be an overnight success. I overestimated the willingness of my market to change. Wrongly assuming that car dealers would embrace the opportunity to actually reap the benefits of the ‘net, and provide a satisfying customer experience, I pushed on finding the odd dealer ready to change.
My company is called RedNumbat, the ‘Numbat is a little unassuming icon added to a dealer’s homepage that proclaims “Click me and I’ll get your price in seconds!” Customers began to click and get their prices. I spoke with them, and they were surprised and delighted to actually get an instant price without having to talk or email with the salesperson. Although many thought it was just a ‘come on’ from the dealer, they gave it a try anyway. Were the dealers right? Did customers actually prefer going to the showroom and dickering over price?
Dealers fear that they won’t make any profit if they have to post prices on the internet. They would rather do business the old way, where a guy wanders into the showroom and then worn out after negotiations, he “takes it home today”. Those days and those guys are running out. By most accounts 90% of car shoppers will access the internet prior to making a purchase. Customers are routinely better informed than the salespeople they do business with. Gone are the days when a car buyer walks in knowing little about the car, the financing, the warranty, the accessories or the trade-in value. In fact, profits are going down on the sale of a new car, and they have been for years. However, customers truly don’t expect a dealer to lose money selling a car, indeed if a dealer treats them with respect and is “in the ballpark” on price, the customer will buy. Surveys have shown that car buyers identify price as the third most important criteria in their decision to buy from a particular dealer.
So, should a dealer fear reduced profits by giving out prices over the internet? No more than they should by advertising a price in the newspaper or on the radio. When I sold cars back in the 80’s, we had a policy of not giving out prices over the phone. The customer had to come in if they wanted a price. This strategy never made for a warm first meeting, but we got some of them to come in. Today, if a dealer stalls, or fails to provide a quick quote when asked, the customer will move on. Contrary to dealer belief, the customer isn’t left thinking that you are concealing ‘the lowest’ price. The opposite is true however, and the customer believes that the reason for not giving a price is because it’s the highest. So, the dealer who doesn’t give out a price doesn’t even make the customer’s ‘short-list’.
Car dealers spend a tremendous amount of time and money driving people to their websites. They talk the talk at the factory meetings. They say it’s time to leverage the internet to increase sales. But deep down they long for the old days. But they can’t have it both ways. That is, the dealer wants to turn the website shopper into a walk-in shopper who can be manipulated, bullied and ‘stuffed’ into a car. They cannot, the best they can hope for is to convert the website shopper into a walk-in buyer. And the way to do it runs counter to decades of dealership culture. Instead of stonewalling and wearing the customer down, today’s dealers need to address questions promptly and recognize that customers don’t always want to build a relationship with them. Relationships will follow, but the time to ask for an exclusive relationship is not at the point of sale. You earn a relationship, you don’t ask for one on the first date.
I hope that dealers begin to take this seriously. The current internet car shopping model is broken, badly. Just try it. Whether you wind up a so-called content site, a manufacturer site, or a dealer site the exercise is the same. You click the button that says “Free Quote” and you fill out a long form. You hit ‘submit’. You wait for a reply. And 30% of the time, a reply never comes. Can you imagine BestBuy.com not giving you a price on a new camcorder? Or Amazon.com making you wait for a call to get the price of a book? It sounds absurd I know. But this is how it is in the retail car business, and very few dealers within this business are ready to change.
If car sales were going well, I could understand a bit of resistance to change. But this year automobile sales are dismal. There will no doubt be fewer dealers next year than there are this year. Domestic vehicles are worst hit. Interestingly, the domestic dealers are the most reluctant to change. I have spoken with hundreds of dealers over the years. And right now, morale is at an all time low. Competition is fierce. Profits and sales are down. And many of these dealers will ride this wave to insolvency, rather than try to change. Perhaps it’s a certain pride, or maybe there’s a code among dealers that providing transparency in pricing is the kiss of death? But I don’t think it’s either.
We’re now up to almost 50 dealers in the NY metro region and things are starting to turn. A marketing campaign aimed at the car buying public is raising awareness of the ‘Numbat and the service we offer. And now a consumer can actually visit our web portal and get up to three quotes from one or more dealers with just one-click. To the lay person, it seems so normal, but to the vast majority of car dealers it seems so strange.
I had spoken with literally hundreds of consumers and I asked them; if they were in the market for a car and knew of a website where they could search inventory in real-time, select a car, and receive an immediate purchase price, would they use it? The response was a resounding, yes, they would use it. Armed with this feedback and having ‘mystery shopped’ hundreds of dealers who failed to deliver a “Quick Quote” I figured my product would be an overnight success. I overestimated the willingness of my market to change. Wrongly assuming that car dealers would embrace the opportunity to actually reap the benefits of the ‘net, and provide a satisfying customer experience, I pushed on finding the odd dealer ready to change.
My company is called RedNumbat, the ‘Numbat is a little unassuming icon added to a dealer’s homepage that proclaims “Click me and I’ll get your price in seconds!” Customers began to click and get their prices. I spoke with them, and they were surprised and delighted to actually get an instant price without having to talk or email with the salesperson. Although many thought it was just a ‘come on’ from the dealer, they gave it a try anyway. Were the dealers right? Did customers actually prefer going to the showroom and dickering over price?
Dealers fear that they won’t make any profit if they have to post prices on the internet. They would rather do business the old way, where a guy wanders into the showroom and then worn out after negotiations, he “takes it home today”. Those days and those guys are running out. By most accounts 90% of car shoppers will access the internet prior to making a purchase. Customers are routinely better informed than the salespeople they do business with. Gone are the days when a car buyer walks in knowing little about the car, the financing, the warranty, the accessories or the trade-in value. In fact, profits are going down on the sale of a new car, and they have been for years. However, customers truly don’t expect a dealer to lose money selling a car, indeed if a dealer treats them with respect and is “in the ballpark” on price, the customer will buy. Surveys have shown that car buyers identify price as the third most important criteria in their decision to buy from a particular dealer.
So, should a dealer fear reduced profits by giving out prices over the internet? No more than they should by advertising a price in the newspaper or on the radio. When I sold cars back in the 80’s, we had a policy of not giving out prices over the phone. The customer had to come in if they wanted a price. This strategy never made for a warm first meeting, but we got some of them to come in. Today, if a dealer stalls, or fails to provide a quick quote when asked, the customer will move on. Contrary to dealer belief, the customer isn’t left thinking that you are concealing ‘the lowest’ price. The opposite is true however, and the customer believes that the reason for not giving a price is because it’s the highest. So, the dealer who doesn’t give out a price doesn’t even make the customer’s ‘short-list’.
Car dealers spend a tremendous amount of time and money driving people to their websites. They talk the talk at the factory meetings. They say it’s time to leverage the internet to increase sales. But deep down they long for the old days. But they can’t have it both ways. That is, the dealer wants to turn the website shopper into a walk-in shopper who can be manipulated, bullied and ‘stuffed’ into a car. They cannot, the best they can hope for is to convert the website shopper into a walk-in buyer. And the way to do it runs counter to decades of dealership culture. Instead of stonewalling and wearing the customer down, today’s dealers need to address questions promptly and recognize that customers don’t always want to build a relationship with them. Relationships will follow, but the time to ask for an exclusive relationship is not at the point of sale. You earn a relationship, you don’t ask for one on the first date.
I hope that dealers begin to take this seriously. The current internet car shopping model is broken, badly. Just try it. Whether you wind up a so-called content site, a manufacturer site, or a dealer site the exercise is the same. You click the button that says “Free Quote” and you fill out a long form. You hit ‘submit’. You wait for a reply. And 30% of the time, a reply never comes. Can you imagine BestBuy.com not giving you a price on a new camcorder? Or Amazon.com making you wait for a call to get the price of a book? It sounds absurd I know. But this is how it is in the retail car business, and very few dealers within this business are ready to change.
If car sales were going well, I could understand a bit of resistance to change. But this year automobile sales are dismal. There will no doubt be fewer dealers next year than there are this year. Domestic vehicles are worst hit. Interestingly, the domestic dealers are the most reluctant to change. I have spoken with hundreds of dealers over the years. And right now, morale is at an all time low. Competition is fierce. Profits and sales are down. And many of these dealers will ride this wave to insolvency, rather than try to change. Perhaps it’s a certain pride, or maybe there’s a code among dealers that providing transparency in pricing is the kiss of death? But I don’t think it’s either.
We’re now up to almost 50 dealers in the NY metro region and things are starting to turn. A marketing campaign aimed at the car buying public is raising awareness of the ‘Numbat and the service we offer. And now a consumer can actually visit our web portal and get up to three quotes from one or more dealers with just one-click. To the lay person, it seems so normal, but to the vast majority of car dealers it seems so strange.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
RedNumbat unveils the next generation automotive website for online car shoppers, allowing for immediate price quotes on multiple vehicles with 'one-c
RedNumbat, the company that pioneered the automated quote process for automobile consumers has introduced its latest version streamlining the car shopping process and empowering the consumer. All the comparison price shopping can now be done in less than a minute from any computer!Glen Gardner, NJ (PRWEB) September 8, 2008RedNumbat, the company that developed the first automated pricing software for consumers and car dealers announced today that online car shoppers may now receive multiple quotes with just one-click! RedNumbat's proprietary software allows online car shoppers to search dealer inventory, select vehicle(s) and receive an immediate price quote on up to 5 cars, without ever having to speak with a salesperson. Joseph Antley, CEO and founder of RedNumbat says "Consumers have long complained that the current system of getting an online car quote was both frustrating and unsatisfying, and now shoppers can actually do the all of their comparison shopping without making multiple phone calls or trips to the dealerships."Using the RedNumbat search engine, found at www.rednumbat.com consumers may select up to 5 different vehicles from the same or different dealerships. And then with just one-click, receive prices that they can actually buy the car for! While there are literally hundreds of websites offering free price quotes, only RedNumbat delivers an immediate price direct to the consumer. Instead of generating 'leads' to sell to the highest bidder, RedNumbat works with the best dealers in specific regions to provide the most competitive pricing to today's car buyer. When a customer's request for price is received, there is no delay, no waiting for a salesperson to call or email. Just an email containing a great price on an actual in-stock vehicle which will be honored upon presentation to the dealer.Consumers have long complained that the current system of getting an online car quote was both frustrating and unsatisfying, and now shoppers can actually do the all of their comparison shopping without making multiple phone calls or trips to the dealerships.Mr. Antley said "We are proud to 'first to market' with this consumer-friendly product. The multiple car search, select, and price model has been in development for some time and offers an alternative to traditional automotive websites that purport to offer a free price quote". He added that the dealers in the RedNumbat network are those that value their customer's time, and believe that transparency in pricing is the future in the car business. Progressive dealers know that consumers don't have the time or appetite to drive to a dealership, haggle over a price and then repeat-sometimes several times. The RedNumbat pricing tool can also be accessed from a dealer's own website and automates the 'request for quote' process, allowing the dealership to reach and satisfy more of their online visitors. RedNumbat is bringing on new dealers every day in specific markets to support demand and provide a comprehensive selection of vehicles.
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Green things are happening in 'Numbatland!
RedNumbat is preparing to launch our newest search-the all new, industry first GreenNumbat! The GreenNumbat will allow online car shoppers to narrow their search using a variety of parameters including MPG (miles per gallon), Annual/Monthly fuel cost, or EPA SmartWay designation! So cool, for sure.
We will be releasing the GreenNumbat by month end, and invite you to stop by www.rednumbat.com and check it out!
Save gas, get a green car. Save time, get RedNumbat!
We will be releasing the GreenNumbat by month end, and invite you to stop by www.rednumbat.com and check it out!
Save gas, get a green car. Save time, get RedNumbat!
Friday, May 30, 2008
"But how much can I buy the car for?"
That is the question. There are a multitude of sites out there in cyberspace that will provide MSRP and even dealer invoice. And while these numbers are important to a car buyer, they still want to know "But how much will I pay?". We all know the price the customer will pay is going to fall somewhere between MSRP and invoice, but where largely depends are many factors; demand, vehicle age, time of the month, sales trend, buyer desire, and yes, the negotiation skills of both parties. Customers feel they lose this battle, as they only buy a car every few years where their salesperson is selling cars almost every day! But the point is the sale doesn't have to be a winner/loser game.
RedNumbat takes the guesswork out of this whole process. Dealer sets fair price, customer feels comfortable, buys car, goes home happy. Whew.
RedNumbat takes the guesswork out of this whole process. Dealer sets fair price, customer feels comfortable, buys car, goes home happy. Whew.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
But what about the car dealers?
I have spoken with quite a few dealers over the past few months about this service. Some get it, but many are worried about giving out prices to internet shoppers, they wonder what will happen. Will the customer 'shop' the price? Uh maybe, probably, that's what 'shoppers' do. But if the price is reasonable, easy to get, and the dealer followed up quickly then he is going to get the sale. Not rocket science. The worst thing a dealer can do is make an internet shopper jump through hoops to get a simple price. Funny thing that when surveyed after the purchase, customers generally rank price as the 3rd most important criteria for making the decision to buy!
Some dealers already know this is the wave of the future (or more appropriately, the wave of the right 'now'). What if Circuit City took all their prices off their website? Would customers call or drive on down to the store to get the price on that 42' LCD TV? No they wouldn't they'd just go to BestBuy.com and get a price. Does anyone think that's what car shoppers do now? If you said yes, you'd be correct.
It's just a matter of time before all car dealers open up and give the consumer what they are looking for.
Some dealers already know this is the wave of the future (or more appropriately, the wave of the right 'now'). What if Circuit City took all their prices off their website? Would customers call or drive on down to the store to get the price on that 42' LCD TV? No they wouldn't they'd just go to BestBuy.com and get a price. Does anyone think that's what car shoppers do now? If you said yes, you'd be correct.
It's just a matter of time before all car dealers open up and give the consumer what they are looking for.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Why RedNumbat, why now?
A lot of people ask me "Why RedNumbat?" and "Why now?".
There has never been a better time to launch this product than right now. Car sales are down, and the online shopping experience is disappointing, at best. Internet shoppers want information quickly and we don't like going back and forth with a salesperson who is reluctant to (or not permitted to) give out a price. RedNumbat allows shoppers to pick a car, and in seconds recieve an actual price that they can buy the car for, period, all from the comfort of their home, or wherever else they surf the 'net.
That's why we started RedNumbat, to satisfy internet car shoppers and to help dealers reach their online audience.
Most of the big car shopping websites merely collect your name and then sell your name to as many dealers as they can! So you wind up buried with emails and phone calls and still don't get the info you requested when you clicked the "Click Here for a Quick Quote" button. Hmmm...
There has never been a better time to launch this product than right now. Car sales are down, and the online shopping experience is disappointing, at best. Internet shoppers want information quickly and we don't like going back and forth with a salesperson who is reluctant to (or not permitted to) give out a price. RedNumbat allows shoppers to pick a car, and in seconds recieve an actual price that they can buy the car for, period, all from the comfort of their home, or wherever else they surf the 'net.
That's why we started RedNumbat, to satisfy internet car shoppers and to help dealers reach their online audience.
Most of the big car shopping websites merely collect your name and then sell your name to as many dealers as they can! So you wind up buried with emails and phone calls and still don't get the info you requested when you clicked the "Click Here for a Quick Quote" button. Hmmm...
The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch on CNBC
We had a lot of fun here. RedNumbat was identified as a 'Big Idea', and invited to participate in a new segment on CNBC this year called "The Elevator Pitch", they loved our concept and thought it would interest their viewers; it did! We got a ton of calls from customers, investors and dealers looking for more information.
I have attached the YouTube for our segment...check it out!
I have attached the YouTube for our segment...check it out!
Internet Car Shopping 2.0
Have you tried buying a car online lately?
If so, you've found that not much has changed in the 10+ years that car dealers have had websites! The internet revolution has completely missed the retail car business. The websites are no more than the YELLOW PAGES.
Step 5. Feel regret for providing your contact information
Is there a better way? Yes.
If so, you've found that not much has changed in the 10+ years that car dealers have had websites! The internet revolution has completely missed the retail car business. The websites are no more than the YELLOW PAGES.
Step 1. Fill out a contact form requesting a price
Step 2. Submit your information
Step 3. Wait for a phone call from the dealer that rarely comes
Step 4. Sift through all the auto-responses and solicitations cluttering your inboxStep 5. Feel regret for providing your contact information
Is there a better way? Yes.
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