What's it like selling SaaS to car dealerships?
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Probably a pain in the ass
Are you selling to individual dealerships or big groups?
Also, what does your SaaS do?
Also, what does your SaaS do?
yeah....far too vague.
It's a company I'm interviewing at, it's marketing/customer journey stuff that helps their sales team. My question has less to do with the product and more to do with the prospect. i.e When I was selling to construction companies I found it very difficult because the guy I wanted to speak with was always standing on a roof.
Just don’t do it. Car dealerships are cheap. ALL OF THEM!
Selling a CRM? For what? it’s transactional and most will never see the customer back.
Inventory management? Sales can do it with pen and paper, parts is still living on green screens.
Email personalization? Just screw off. I’ve never bought a car because of a snappy email.
Selling a CRM? For what? it’s transactional and most will never see the customer back.
Inventory management? Sales can do it with pen and paper, parts is still living on green screens.
Email personalization? Just screw off. I’ve never bought a car because of a snappy email.
it's basically, once someone brings their car in for servicing it uses predictive analytics to turn that customer into a new sale. It does this through emails
Sleazyception
Some of the sleaziest reps out there are in auto, I'd hate to be pitching them.
SaaS what? You're selling a delivery model for software. What kind of software?
It's a company I'm interviewing at, it's marketing/customer journey stuff that helps their sales team. My question has less to do with the product and more to do with the prospect.
i.e When I was selling to construction companies I found it difficult because the guy I wanted to speak with was always standing on a roof.
I've heard that when selling saas to hotels it's difficult because people are incredibly flaky. When I sold insurance saas those people were just straight up insecure liars cosplaying as a financial advisor lol
i.e When I was selling to construction companies I found it difficult because the guy I wanted to speak with was always standing on a roof.
I've heard that when selling saas to hotels it's difficult because people are incredibly flaky. When I sold insurance saas those people were just straight up insecure liars cosplaying as a financial advisor lol
So any time the ICP is a SMB, you're going to have to figure out how to approach the contact. It's the nature of the beast.
That said, hard sell for sure - most have something in place already, so you're either going to have to prove the value of the system you have over what they already have OR you're going to be convincing a late adopter that they're missing out. That said, at least at a dealership, they're generally in an office, not standing on a roof.
That said, hard sell for sure - most have something in place already, so you're either going to have to prove the value of the system you have over what they already have OR you're going to be convincing a late adopter that they're missing out. That said, at least at a dealership, they're generally in an office, not standing on a roof.
Can vouch- DMs are impossible to get to. The solution sounds fluffy af. I’d hunt in happier places.
Does DM refer to department managers?
It pays more than my current role but I'm closing in a pretty relaxed environment right now so I don't want to roll up in a sweat shop and do 100 calls a day or something crazy like that.
It pays more than my current role but I'm closing in a pretty relaxed environment right now so I don't want to roll up in a sweat shop and do 100 calls a day or something crazy like that.
Decision makers- the GMs and dealer principals. If you don’t already have an established network of these guys you’re a dime a dozen. They don’t need you.
It’ll likely be the hardest job you’ll ever have.
Depends on what it is. If there is almost immediate value, then it is probably not that hard.
Well cars are getting more high tech. Car dealerships too. I guess could be more about educating the customers
The only CarGuru reps I know that made it big were there pre-IPO. After that, it’s been the hardest uphill climb I’ve ever seen in Boston tech history.
As someone who's worked at both - incredibly difficult.
Like @Revenue_Rambo said, they're super cheap. And hard to sell to. You'd really have to find the right person on the marketing/ internet team who actually has buying power.
I had SalesForce at the end of my time at a dealership but it was only because the dealer's owner's son was in charge of marketing and tech and convinced his dad it would give us a leg up. I doubt you'd be able to find a handful like him.
If you had to, I'd go with the more newfangled car sales like Carvana. Somewhere where you're not selling to hardass car people who have been successful without software for decades.
Like @Revenue_Rambo said, they're super cheap. And hard to sell to. You'd really have to find the right person on the marketing/ internet team who actually has buying power.
I had SalesForce at the end of my time at a dealership but it was only because the dealer's owner's son was in charge of marketing and tech and convinced his dad it would give us a leg up. I doubt you'd be able to find a handful like him.
If you had to, I'd go with the more newfangled car sales like Carvana. Somewhere where you're not selling to hardass car people who have been successful without software for decades.
I cannot see my traits go from SaaS to car dealership, I think I’d sh*t my pants the first day itself.
But hey. Kudos to the guys who did this.
But hey. Kudos to the guys who did this.
I mean selling saas products to dealerships lol
If you're DownToFollowUp you should be fine. Solve a problem for them, prove results with data/case studies/other dealers using your solution.
There's a lot of this so they're not just relying on what I say
What's it like waking up every day?
Never ending hell
Dealerships are a pain in the ass. Law firms are too. Franchise companies that own chain restaurants or chain hotels are also awful. Dealerships are insanely cheap and hard headed. The luxury ones are typically more open. But you would have to be selling at the enterprise level to have access to that clientele. I know Mercedes Benz did a massive Salesforce deployment. They also called, emailed and used every form of marketing on me for about 90 days when I submitted a car for a trade in quote online.
Ya ever heard the phrase, can't teach an old dog new tricks? Yeah, that.
Any context?
Most likely, terrible.
As someone that is in the auto marketing space, car folks are notoriously some of the most difficult people to work with, and a month or two of slow sales which has been the norm lately with interest rates and such, and the first thing they look to cut is external vendors
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