Automobile dealerships are using texting to communicate with customers, buyers, owners, and within their own dealerships

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When Deal Depot
president Darla Booher
began to implement texting
four years ago as a way
to communicate with
her customers, she used
it strictly as a collection
tool to remind them about
upcoming payments.
That turned out to be a
success, so two years later,
she had her team add texting
as a sales tool.
Today, as texting continues
to grow – especially among
millennials – it has become
an important component for
reaching prospective and
current customers of her
dealerships in Greer and
Spartanburg, S.C.
Booher is not alone.
A large number of auto
dealerships have found that
form of communication
economical, as it provides an
excellent return rate of users
responding to texts over a
phone calls or emails.
“Dealers are feeling more
comfortable with text,” said
Justin Osburn, NIADA’s
Retail 20 Groups Moderator
and instructor for the newly
Dealer course.
“Many are scared not to
use it. They certainly don’t
want to miss the train if
their competitors have
adopted it. With the advent
of third-party vendors that
can answer their questions
about compliance and other
regulations, dealers’ fears
have subsided.”
One of the earliest
providers was Solutions
by Text, a third-party vendor
auto dealerships.
“We could see texting
was going to be the next big
channel in communications,”
company president Mike
Cantrell said. “All you had
to do was watch early
episodes of American Idol
to see texting was going to
become quickly adopted by
a new generation.
“Early on there were about
900 million texts a day but
when cellphone carriers
years, texting went from
two billion texts per day to
currently seven billion texts
per day. It didn’t take long for
auto dealerships to see that
growth and want to adopt it.”
Texting’s expansion was
a perfect storm between
the growth and usage of
smartphones, consumer
insistence as a primary
method of communication
and proof texts are read
faster than any other form
of communication.
Chad Randash, president of
Randash Auto Sales, said he’s
seen that proliferation at his
independent dealerships in
Bozeman and Billings, Mont.
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customers,” he said. “It’s just a better
form of communication.
“A few years ago, we noticed that a
high percentage of prospective customers
were driven to our website from a
mobile application rather than from their
desktop. Nowadays, people carry their
smartphones everywhere. They’re even
sleeping next to them.”
Randash uses a texting platform from
CRM provider AutoRaptor that’s built
into the dealership’s CRM. For the past
three years, they’ve used texting for
sales, collections and service.

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“Auto dealers have found
their customers prefer to text
because it is a platform that is
not as intimidating as a one-
to-one phone call,” NIADA’s
Osburn said. “It’s a complete
change in the sales dynamic
because the consumer is
taking the lead.
“Using their smartphones,
consumers have already
asked pertinent questions
via text and are already three
to four steps into the sales
process when they walk into
the dealership. Auto dealers
are really behind if they’re
not using texting. Texting
has pulled dealers into the
21st century and is giving
customers what they want.”
At Deal Depot, Booher’s
sales force is equipped with
tablets using a Text Now app,
giving the dealership a digital
trail and displaying the
entire conversation for the
sales manager.
Many dealers have found
millennials – those aged
22-36 – are the most
tech-savvy generation of
customers yet, and they
prefer to be connected via
text. That younger generation,
which tends to ask direct
questions and get right to the
point, has adopted texting
and email as their preferred
methods to do business.
A 2014 Gallup poll found
68 percent of millennials
use text on a daily basis,
compared to 47 percent for
their Gen X counterparts
(ages 35 to 55). More
important, 90 percent of
text messages are opened
within three minutes,
according to a 2010
report from SinglePoint
and Mobilesquared.
“Text is the most popular
way to communicate today,”
TextMaxx Pro president Chris
Leedom said. “Phone calls
are not returned and emails
are not opened, but a text is
instant engagement. It is read
in three minutes or less.”
Since her dealership began
to use texts to communicate
with customers one year ago,
Brenna Stansberry, owner
of Park Marina Motors in
Redding, Calif., has posted
a 40 percent increase in
customer response rates.
“There are so many
advantages to texting,”
Stansberry said. “We’ve
noticed people like its
anonymity, its privacy.”
discretion are especially
valuable for customers
making payments to
a dealership.
Bob Mulkey, owner of
Regal Auto Sales, a 30-
year-old operation with
14 locations in Oklahoma,
Kansas and Missouri, uses
texting strictly for collections
purposes. He places texting
at the top of the list for
customer communication.
“At least 50 percent of our
communication is via text,”
he said. “We use email very
little since it only gets a 10
percent response rate due
to people changing email
addresses or going into spam.
Mulkey’s multi-state
operation, which uses
TextMaxx Pro as its texting
platform, now has the lowest
delinquency it’s ever had,
he said.
Leedom said half of
dealership texting activity is
for collection purposes by Buy
Here-Pay Here dealerships.
and less intrusive,” he said.
“Texting can be used as a
payment reminder and can go
out in two minutes, compared
to a labor-intensive phone call.”
All that said, there are
potential pitfalls and
challenges dealers must
be aware of, most notably
regulatory compliance issues.
High on that list is
ensuring consumers want to
agreements are necessary to
avoid large penalties.
Many dealers are aware
they must get consumer
approval to begin the texting
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5. / A U G U S T 2 0 1 8 / W W W . N I A D A . C O M40
conversation. Deal Depot
marketing manager Eric
Siecke, for example, said
he usually gets an opt-
in for texting through a
Facebook lead or online,
and the dealership’s website
asks consumers what
their preferred method of
communication is.
Montana dealer Randash
said he doesn’t mind when
consumers let the dealership
know they’re opting out
of texting. Perhaps their
enthusiasm to purchase
a particular vehicle has
least he knows.
their footing with compliance
issues,” Osburn said. “The
concern initially was who
should have access to text
and what controls need to
be put into place. Another
potential pitfall was ensuring
they communicated the
correct text message.
They also asked if they
needed some type of signed
permission to text.
“In the end, they had
important questions about it,
such as does texting actually
work and is it worth taking
the risk?”
The answer to those
questions seems to be a
resounding yes. The acceptance
rate of consumers wanting
to let a dealer text them is 80
percent, according to Solutions
by Text president Cantrell.
Once consumers agree,
he said, dealers are sending
70 percent of their texts
with photos as well as
loan stipulations and other
important sales paperwork.
At Randash’s Montana
dealerships, texting has
steadily increased with
consumers opting in to that
form of communication.
Currently, his dealerships are
posting 1,200 more texts than
phone calls per month.
“It’s easier to send
paperwork back and forth
that needs to be reviewed
and signed via text than via
fax or mail,” Cantrell said.
“That’s now possible due to
the quality of the smartphone
camera, which provides
a nice image, and overall
optimal ability because the
screens are larger.”
Still, there is something
to be said for the personal
touch. While texting replaces
the pleasantries of a phone
call and allows consumers to
get right to the point, some
dealers miss the days when
customer contact always
meant seeing a face or
hearing a voice.
“Sure, there are many
consumers who would rather
not speak to a person and just
want to ask if we still have
the Dodge on the lot and can
they bring in a $200 down
deposit,” Booher said. “But
I guess I’m an old-school
salesperson. I like having a
face-to-face conversation or a
phone call with customers.
“With that type of
communication, you can
build rapport with them and
voices. Texting is another
layer to getting them to
visit your dealership. It can
create another barrier as
an impersonal, anonymous
to make your dealership stand
out above your competition.”
One problem, Booher said,
is the lack of how-to-text
training in the industry. She
seminars on what type of
dialogue should be used in
a text, how to text, and how
to encourage dealership
appointments and sales
using text messaging.
Ryan Osten, chief operating
of advanced automotive
dealer communication
systems, agreed.
“Some dealerships could
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“Phone calls are not returned and
emails are not opened, but a text
is instant engagement...read in
three minutes or less.”

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7. / A U G U S T 2 0 1 8 / W W W . N I A D A . C O M42
technology,” he said. “There is a science to
Knowing that science, Osten said, is one
advantage of working with a third-party
updates on regulations and new technology.
text platform as well as live chat, video,
Facebook Messenger and Marketplace
services, usually begins the conversation
with a prospective customer via a chat on
the dealer’s website.
particular vehicle, the dealer can get
involved and send photos and videos of
that vehicle by text directly from the lot.
Such applications, he said, “give
the dealership the ability to centrally
manage all SMS conversations between
team members and customers, stay in
touch with customers after they leave
the dealership, provide customers with
up-to-the minute vehicle inventory in a
text, and share rich media content such
as photos and videos with customers to
drive greater interest in a dealership.
Osten said dealerships that use a
managed chat partner “get much better
results,” especially when it comes to
out disclaimers.
“We’re in a customer-centric world,”
all methods of communication: phone,
text, live chat and Facebook Messenger.”
Stansberry, who plans to add text for
the service and collection departments
at Park Marina Motors to provide
reminders for oil changes and payments,
is on board with using an outside
partner – it’s one of her suggestions for
dealers considering adding text to their
communication strategy.
“First, work with a reputable third-
party texting company that can help you
with regulations and laws, especially
state to state,” she said. “Second, train
your salespeople well on how to use
texting. Third, keep your management
team actively involved in texting
to customers. Make sure they are
supervising the texting process and are
willing to jump in, if need be.
“Everybody needs to be engaging, even
me. I’ll text a prospective customer and
ask how the sales process is going. We
want them to feel special and show that
we care.”
But third-party is not the only option.
Some dealerships provide texting
services to their customers in-house.
Jim Juliani Motors in Waterbury,
Conn., for example, began using text
continues without outside help.
“Our sales manager is the point
person who handles all of our texting,”
dealership president Jim Juliani said.
“It’s a form of communication with our
prospective customers that is successful
for us and continues to grow.”
To keep itself safe, Juliani has all
phones registered to the dealership,
All texts are saved for two weeks after a
sale to protect both the dealership and
the customer.
“There can always be a debate over
a verbal conversation,” says Juliani,
“but with a text, it’s in writing and a
legal document.”
Advancing technology is making text
easier to use than ever – which makes it
the preferred way for more and more
dealers to reach their customers.
“With voice detection and auto correct,
a consumer never needs to touch a
button or use their thumbs to text,”
Booher said. “I can be driving down the
road and send a text; it’s that easy. Or
consumers can send a text to us during
work hours without their boss knowing.
“It’s the number one way to start a
conversation with your current and
prospective customers.”
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