Beyond The Net
Online lessons in salesmanship
By Janine Warner
This may seem an old story at first -- at least by Internet standards -- because it's about a guy who buys a car over the Internet, something people have been doing for years.
What caught my attention, however, was that even though Yanier González was the creative director of a website-design firm, he only turned to the Internet out of frustration.
What should catch your attention is that this story is full of lessons about how traditional businesses -- from car dealers in South Florida to national banks -- are still losing customers to the Internet.
González didn't want just any car; he wanted a silver BMW 328ci with the premium package. He liked the nicer wheels and sports suspension and wanted leather seats, wood trim and a CD player.
But he didn't want to pay top dollar. So he decided to buy a used one. He started by visiting every car dealer he could find that sells used BMWs in the Greater Miami area, but by the time he'd hit about 10, he was frustrated.
''Everywhere I went, they were too pricey,'' he said. ``And most didn't have the color or the options I wanted, especially since I wasn't ordering a custom-made new car.''
When González first turned to the Internet, he stayed close to home, checking sites from car dealers in Fort Lauderdale, because he still had in mind that he should pick the car up himself. The Fort Lauderdale sites left him disappointed.
''They didn't have enough information online,'' he said, ``and when I called them, they all wanted me to come in, saying they'd give me a good deal once I was there in person.''
He wasn't about to drive to Fort Lauderdale just to be ''sold'' by yet another dealer who probably didn't have the car he wanted anyway. So, on a whim, he tried one more online option.
''I went to eBay,'' he said, ``kind of to amuse myself. ``And, right away I found exactly the car I wanted -- at the best price I'd seen.''
DISTANT DREAM
One problem: The car was in Texas.
At first, he thought it too risky even to consider buying a used car he couldn't test drive. But when he realized that the seller was a dealer, he picked up the phone to see if the car was really available for $5,000 less than anything comparable he'd seen in South Florida.
''I was able to get someone on the phone right away,'' he said. ``And when they told me it was still under manufacturer's warranty, I figured that managed my risk.''
The next challenge was financing. Despite being a good customer with a mortgage, he wasted two weeks with Bank of America before learning that they would not finance a used car from another state. When he turned to the Texas dealer, it let him know that it wouldn't finance a car buyer from out of state.
A savvy salesman in Texas saved the deal by referring him to PeopleFirst.com, an online financial institution that not only approved him for a loan in 15 minutes but also gave him 5.4 percent -- an even better rate than he would have received from his bank.
Now, all he had to do was get the car to Miami. He searched on Google and found a company in Naples called Wheels on Wheels. For $400, the company's representative went to Texas, picked up the car and delivered it, on a special truck, three days later.
''They dropped it off right in front of my office,'' said González, the creative director at ModernMethod.com.
His biggest disappointment was finding out that he couldn't get out of paying the sales tax by purchasing the car out of state. He got hit with that bill when he went to register his new BMW in Miami.
E-BAY AS TEACHER
If you're thinking about buying a car, you may be interested to know that eBay Motors is one of the most successful used-auto sites online. If you're a business owner worried about losing customers, consider these lessons.
First, local retailers like car dealers face more competition than ever. If you're trying to compete on price, you'd better look beyond the local market.
Second, don't use a website to trick customers onto your car lot. It won't work. Online shoppers are looking for a better sales experience or more competitive prices, not a ruse to get them into a traditional sales situation.
Third, banks and other service providers are going to continue to lose customers if they stick to traditional rules, such as not offering loans on cars from out of state. Change policies to keep up with changing consumer shopping habits, or you'll lose out to online competition that does.
Finally, if you haven't figured it out yet, delivery services, from UPS to Wheels on Wheels, are good bets for continued growth in a world where shopping across borders is easier than than driving to the local car dealer.
First publication, The Miami Herald, Mon, Dec. 16, 2002
