Lindsay Jones, Internet Sales Director, Oxmoor Auto Group

Kyle Mountsier: 0:00This is in the dirt with ASOTU. Alright, so

‍Paul Daly: 0:05

I'm here with my new friend, Lindsay. Lindsay, could you just talk about what your role is and what group you're with?

Lindsay Jones: 0:10

Yes. So I am the Internet Sales Director at Oxmoor Auto Group. And I've been spell that. Oxmoor O x m o o r, which you get a lot of Oh, XE. That's why I want to make sure people hear back. Yeah, a lot of people do misspell that. But I've been there for going on 11 years now. Started in sales. Now I'm Internet Sales Director. So I've seen a lot of the changes. Yeah.

Paul Daly: 0:37

You're in Louisville. You said Yeah, right. Do I say that? Right. Yeah. Okay. I'm a northerner trying to pretend like I'm actually

Lindsay Jones: 0:44

from New York. So I had to be trained how to write.

Paul Daly: 0:47

Okay. Okay.

Lindsay Jones: 0:48

So about how you say it.

Paul Daly: 0:50

I know. I've heard I've heard. So, you said you've been in the industry for 10 years. What did you do before you were in the industry?

Lindsay Jones: 0:57

So before this, I have done sales before when I lived in Texas. But then I did waitressing services service to hospitality, New York. Yep.

Paul Daly: 1:06

What What are this? I love that. Because we often talk about the similarity between hospitality industry and the experience that people should get or what they expect when they come in a store. What similarities do you see

Lindsay Jones: 1:17

a lot, I say that it was similar in building relationships. Like when I waitress there was a lot of building relationships that people came back to want to see are either at a restaurant or come see me, because they liked the experience that I gave him. And I think with car sales, it's the same way, you have to make sure you're building that relationship with them and want to come back over and over again.

Paul Daly: 1:39

And so you're the internet department. So people are coming in through digital means typically, and then it's usually digital communications or phone calls before it's a face to face, maybe sometimes not even a face to face. So what types of things do you deploy through those digital means to help people feel that connection like they would if you're a server at a table or your maitre d, what types of tactics you

Lindsay Jones: 2:01

employ, we do videos for our customers so that they know who they're speaking with. So what I how I train it, as I said, we do these videos so that customers understand we're not a robot, since a lot of service. Video bots, yes, everybody gets a video. So we excited put a face with the name, so they know that they're getting that human live interaction. And then also stress phone calls, because talking to someone on the phone gives a better tone than text or email. But we also stress, if a customer wants to talk through a certain means that's what we focus on with, make sure that they're gonna get the best engagement with that customer and satisfy what the customer wants.

Paul Daly: 2:37

So So video, it sounds like you're saying like, personal communication. Yeah, as much as fast as much as possible. And so tell us about your store, like how many do you sell typically on a month or through the internet department? How many leads you're handling? What are the details? Because people always want the details. What you actually do as a practitioner, so

Lindsay Jones: 2:53

I'm at our Chrysler dealership, and we average around 600 leads per month, selling anywhere between about 70 to 90 cars out of our department alone. That's pretty good. Yeah, that's

Paul Daly: 3:06

it sales, yeah. Sales and do how does the handoff work? When they're coming through the internet department? Do you handle the customer when they come in as well? Or do you flip that to another person, so

Lindsay Jones: 3:16

we work everything prior to them coming in. And then once they come in, we have a sales associate go over the car, we call them our product specialists, since they have all the product knowledge so they can go over that information in more detail.

Paul Daly: 3:28

Tell me about the people that you hire for your department. Where do they usually come from?

Lindsay Jones: 3:32

I actually and I might have a bias because I'm was a waitress, but I like

Paul Daly: 3:37

I had a feeling you might go there. Because if someone was a server, or bartender blog, number one, you know how to work. Number two, you know how to talk to people. If you put those two things together. You actually you're gonna get the work during the day. Yeah. nights a week, right? Yes, there's all these other

Lindsay Jones: 3:53

benefits, too. They're like, Oh, I don't have to work overnight,

Paul Daly: 3:56

or go home smelling like you're working in a restaurant all day. It really

Lindsay Jones: 3:59

does translate well. So I do look for that or just a lot of phone experience or customer service experience. Always good.

Paul Daly: 4:05

What are you do you have any recruiting secrets? Um,

Lindsay Jones: 4:09

I can't say that I do. Other than let's

Paul Daly: 4:11

sounds like she does and she's not going to share them. If you ask me.

Lindsay Jones: 4:15

I think the waitress thing and servers and bartender doesn't seek dead secret.

Paul Daly: 4:18

Yes, good secret no longer. So for the remainder of this year, we just got through q1 inventory starting to loosen up especially with the Chrysler dealers starting to have some cars to sell. What do you see as the opportunity for your department over the next six months?

Lindsay Jones: 4:32

Um, so one thing we have been stressing is they will be a little bit more difficult.

Paul Daly: 4:39

Called objection. Yes. That's just before COVID And they

Lindsay Jones: 4:43

exist still apparently. Just focusing on how to overcome the customer's fears to make sure that we are doing the best customer service for them. But I do think it's going to be a positive change coming so I'm excited to see what happens over the next few years.

Paul Daly: 5:00

Amazing. Well, thank you so much for spending a few minutes. I know you're in there getting all the best practices and a lot of props by the way, everybody's complimenting her stuff from the stage. So thanks for spending a few minutes. You're welcome. Thank you.

Kyle Mountsier: 5:11

Thank you for listening to in the dirt with ASOTU. We love the automotive industry and the people who make it run day in and day out. We would love to connect with you more through our daily dose of fun, a free email that you can sign up for at ASOTU.com That's a s o t u.com. We put our heart and soul into it every day. Thanks again for listening. Join us next time for more Conversations in the dirt with ASOTU

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