The Open Source Marketer

Recently I bought a new car and I used an online lender to fund the deal. Throughout the whole process I noticed that the lender was using sales techniques that all of us could learn from. So, I am going to highlight seven key points from the experience and examine how we can use these techniques in our own Internet Marketing efforts.

1. Getting Started Is Easy

While I was researching my choice of cars I decided I wanted to walk into the dealer with pre-approved financing. So, as I was shopping on Cars.com I noticed a banner ad that said I could apply online for financing with RoadLoans.com. Unfortunately I don’t remember what attracted me to the banner ad because, I normally never click on banner ads. I know that a banner ad means a sales pitch and like most people, I want to buy but I don’t want to be sold to. Maybe it was just the fact that I was in the market for what they were offering and I transferred the trust I had built up with Cars.com to Road Loans as one of their sponsored advertisers. What ever the reason, I clicked through.

It’s important to note that I had already filled out an online application with Capital One’s Auto Financing, but I didn’t like their rates. But since I had completed their loan application online I already knew what kind of questions would be asked of me. I found that the Road Loans application flowed well and was easy to follow. I had the entire application completed in just a few minutes. I also use RoboForm so that helped the process a great deal as well because I didn’t have to fill in all of the fields manually.

After submitting the application I received an on screen message that said my application was being reviewed and I would be notified by email of my application status. In about thirty minutes I received another email letting me know that my loan request had been approved and that I would be receiving a packet by overnight mail with my loan forms and loan check.

By making the application process simple, communicating clearly what I should expect next, and then following up quickly with me by email they were able to collect my information, keep me engaged in the process, and keep me interested long enough to hopefully secure my business.

2) Using An Automated Reminder Call

The next day I received a call from their automated system thanking me for using Road Loans. The purpose of the call really was to remind me of the benefits I would receive and to keep their name on the top of my mind. As part of the call they used a pre-recorded clip from one of the NASCAR favorites. I don’t know the driver’s name because I’m not a NASCAR fan, but I do recognize NASCAR as a major product label. By including the NASCAR clip in the recording I am sure Road Loans was attempting to transfer some of the credibility that the driver carried to themselves. We can do the same thing when we feature ourselves in photos with other successful online entrepreneurs and experts within an industry. We can also tap into this technique by using certain brands of software or equipment for our businesses.

3) Funding Packet Arrives One Day Later

The funding packet that was promised in my approval email was over nighted to me and arrived roughly a day and a half later. If I had completed the loan application in the morning I am sure I would have received it the next day, but as it stood I completed it in the afternoon and received the packet a day and a half later.

The main take away here is that they delivered their product as quickly as they could. They are probably keenly aware that they are operating in an extremely competitive market place and just because I signed up and they approved doesn’t mean that some other service provider couldn’t swoop in an offer something better. Heck, sometimes the offer doesn’t even have to be better; it just has to be more convenient. In fact, the auto dealers were more than happy to bring up financing options because they get money on the deal and they have an opportunity to try and get you into more car than you intended and add on options beyond what you may be looking for. So, Road Loans knew that it was important to get the packet to me quickly.

We can take advantage of this technique by making sure that we deliver our products or service as quickly as possible. If we have a digital download then we need to make the download available as soon as the buyer has made payment. If we are shipping a product, we need to make sure that we fill the order as soon as possible so that the buyer will be pleased to see their purchase arrive so quickly. This pleasure will reflect on the overall experience and cause them to be less likely to want to return the item. If we are offering a service then we need to provide a follow up call or email as soon a possible so that we can attempt to gain their business before someone else does.

4) Completing The Process Is Simple

Once I found the car I wanted to buy, the Road Loans instructions informed me that all I had to do was fax in a sheet of three personal references, a copy of my driver’s license, proof of insurance, and a purchase agreement from the dealer. Since I knew the dealer would take care of faxing in the documents, all I had to do was bring the license, insurance, and references and they did all the rest. This made the process extremely easy to complete. Let’s remember that at this point I still hadn’t signed anything with Road Loans. They still had to make the process as simple as possible so that I would follow through and not get side tracked. In fact, they even included a references form that I completed and faxed in. By supplying the form they removed the need for me to decide how I should format the information. Without this form I might get all confused with asking, should I put first name and then last name, or last name and then first name. They didn’t want anything to be a barrier to me completing the process. So, they included a sheet of paper that probably cost them one cent to include.

We can use this technique by looking for ways to encourage our prospects to become actual buyers. We can do this by walking through our own processes and identifying ways to remove friction. If the prospect has to click two buttons look for a way to make it one button. If they have to click through three screens, look for a way to make it two screens. Don’t expect that the prospect will bridge the gap for you because they won’t.

5) Automated Up Sell Phone Call

After I turned in the forms to the dealer, I drove away in my new car. That following Monday I received an automated call from Road Loans that thanked me for using Road Loans and told me that the processing of my loan was almost complete. The pre-recorded message went on to tell me that I needed to call Road Loans as soon as possible to add my extended warranty and gap coverage to my loan. The message said whether I accepted or declined this coverage, I needed to call as soon as possible. I listened to the message two times before I concluded that they had carefully combined the information about the completion of my loan with a call to action so they could up sell me with add-ons to my loan and while they told me I needed to call as soon as possible they were not telling me that I needed to call to complete my loan. They just wanted me to call in so they could possibly add a warranty and loan payment protection to my financing.

There are a couple of interesting points to this part of the process.

1. They pre-approved me for thirty thousand dollars when all I really wanted was a loan for ten thousand dollars to twelve thousand dollars. Ultimately I bought a car for twelve thousand dollars so this left me about eighteen thousand dollars of untapped financing. I expect that they were counting on this fact when they offered their up sell items. By having the comparison of a greater financing amount the buyer would be more likely to add on the extras because unless they spent the entire financing amount, they would still be coming in under the thirty thousand mark, which would appear like they were still doing pretty well. Also, who doesn’t want to protect their investments? I never responded to the call, but I’m sure if I had they would have used that line of reasoning on me.
2. They knew that they needed me to respond quickly so they could add on the extras before the final financing paper work was processed, so they tied the loan completion status in with the call to action. By making is appear as though I needed to call in to complete the loan process, they were surely fishing for a desired response from me.

Ultimately I didn’t call them back. The dealer had all the paperwork I was told to provide to complete the loan and I had the dealer’s car. So I was certain that if there was a problem with the process the dealer would give me a call. I depended on the fact that the dealer wanted to get paid and Road Loans wanted to secure the loan so I decided to let things ride.

A few days later I received another call. This time it was a lady from the Road Loans loan department requesting that I fax in one more form that had been missed in the packet. She didn’t mention the warranty or the gap coverage. She clearly was just trying to complete the loan processing and was probably no where near being involved in the marketing process. I faxed her the form and that was the end of it.

6) Building On An Established Relationship

The next day I received an email confirming the loan process had been completed and that I would be receiving a payment book in a few weeks. For the most part there was some other contact information included, but there was no further mention of warranties or gap coverage. It was clear to me that the up sell portion of the process was over and my patience in waiting for the process to complete had worked. By sending me a final confirmation email Road Loans not only informed me of where I stood in the loan process, they also kept the communication channel open for further communications. They expressed an interest in communicating with me and since they continued to provide me valuable information, I was very receptive.

7) Offering The Cross Sell

A day after I received the loan completion email I received another email letting me know that as a Road Loans member I was eligible for a free XM Satellite Radio and Free activation. Again they included a call to action and let me know that this was a limited time offer so I needed to respond quickly. I didn’t respond, so a day later I received another email that detailed all the benefits of having XM Satellite and how I would be gaining a free XM Radio and free activation.

All I had to do was click a link to complete the process. The interesting catch was that XM Satellite service was $12.95 a month and they highlighted multiple annual plans that I could choose from. I don’t know the details of their relationship with XM, but I can speculate that they either get a one time commission off of each new account they bring to XM or they get a recurring monthly commission on active accounts. Either way, they already had an established relationship with me and I was in an active state of buying so they had nothing to loose by making the offer.

This is a classic example of a cross sell. They knew I had purchased a new car so why not offer an easy way for me to “improve” on my new ride. Surely I would be interested in at least considering XM Satellite, especially since I would get a free radio and activation. By offering a related product or service at the end of the buying process they had a greater chance of selling to me than if they just called me up cold. McDonalds has used this trick for years with apple pies and soft serve ice cream.

We can use this technique by looking for ways to offer related products or services to our buyers during or directly after they have completed the buying process. The easier we make it for the buyer to take action on high value offers, the more likely we will be to make the sale.

The phone calls and emails have stopped coming but I imagine that when my payment book arrives there will be additional offers included in it as well. It only makes sense that they would continue to try and market to someone who they have a standing relationship with. Or, maybe they will eventually sell my loan to some other financial provider. This is a common practice among home lenders and it is a way for them to make money on an account today instead of waiting for the money to come in one payment at a time.

Overall the experience was very educational. I was able to identify a number of clean examples of marketing and sales techniques that I could share with you and best of all, I have a new car. So the next time you do business online or otherwise, take note of how things go down and you may be surprised at what you’ll find. Who knows, you might even learn a few things.

Lovin’ my new ride,

Charles McKeever
OpenSourceMarketer.com