Many of you who read my material are convinced I’m against packs and charging full retail in service, etc. The reality is I’m not actually against either. Whenever I’m working with a client who utilizes those strategies, I tell them if it’s working to keep doing it.

I’m also quick to point out that they need to be ready for the change, because change is coming. It’s going to become tougher and tougher to run your business the old fashioned way.

In a recent article published in “MSN Money,” Alison Spitzer, of the Spitzer Auto Group states “Today, customers find the car first, then the dealership.”

Part of finding the car means finding the car they want at a price they want to pay. Allison could just as well have said, “They find a price and then they find a dealership.”

If you don’t believe that’s so, drop all your photos and pricing from your website, Auto Trader, etc. and just put stuff on your website telling the consumer how great your service is and see what happens to your traffic.

The following quote from the article tells the real story when it comes to today’s consumer and where pay plans are heading.

“Today, buyers call or walk into a showroom already armed with a car’s invoice price, competing dealer bids and discounts from the manufacturers, and can get updates on their cellphones while standing in the store. They can access online reviews of the salesperson and dealership.

That has led many dealers to eliminate commissioned pay, price new vehicles closer to their own costs and station more staff in front of computers, where they are rewarded for generating sales quickly and in higher volumes, rather than trying to talk a customer into buying a more expensive model.”  (Read FULL ARTICLE)

I’m going to state this one more time. I’m not against packs as long as they are working for you. I do question whether they are really working or not.  As my good friend Marvin Barnes has always said, “You can justify anything you want to justify.”

The more the industry moves towards non-negotiating and not paying on gross, the less of a need you will have for packs.

The showroom is no longer the showroom. The Internet is the showroom. Today’s consumers go there to look at photos and to get a price. That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs