Interviewing For Internet Sales Manager Jobs

I recently saw a post on Facebook from a web designer asking the question “How do I respond to an potential employer asking me: What would you do to improve our website?”  This is a tricky question since you don’t want to piss off the person who is interviewing you by insulting the dealership’s website. The flip side is that if everyone is kissing up to the interviewer you will never be able to stand out from the pack.

My advice is to focus on some “facts” about the website and stay away from commenting on the design which is subjective. For example, if a person is interviewing for an Internet Sales Manager job, addressing the question with facts on how they could improve their web traffic and lead flow is always a better tactic than commenting on photos, colors or music.

Anyone who is seeking an Internet Sales Manager job with an automotive dealer should do a little homework on the dealer’s website prior to the interview.  This will prepare them for any questions regarding their ideas about making their Internet department stronger.  Having data collected from the Internet is less offensive than an opinion. Especially when your findings show that the car dealer has been slacking compared to their peers.

Here are some tasks candidates should complete prior to their interview:

Visibility: Type common keywords into Google and Yahoo search engine.  If you are interviewing with a Nissan Dealer in Boston, type in words like “Boston Nissan”, “Nissan Used Cars Boston” and “Nissan Altima Boston”. Create a chart of where their company website ranked for those terms.  You may want to include on the chart any competitor’s websites that rank above their website for those same keywords. 

Traffic: Check the www.alexa.com  traffic to the website and show how their traffic compares to a few of their competitors.   If traffic is low compared to your competitors you should find out how they are achieving such a difference in daily web visitors.

Popularity: Find out how many links are pointing to the website by going into Google and Yahoo and typing in “link:www.yourwebsite.com” and see the quality and quantity of links.   A low number of links could hinder the sites competitive edge.   Compare the number of links to their website to link counts that are for your local competitors.

Quality: Find out how many broken links are on the website using a free tool like “Xenu”.   Broken pages can frustrate users and block new traffic which the owners of the website may not be aware of.   You can see how this tool works and download a free copy from: http://seo.brianpasch.com/Xenu-LinkSleuth-Finds-Broken-Web-Links.htm

Content: See how all the website page titles and descriptions “display” in the list when you go into Google and type “site:yourwebsitename.com“.  Are the page titles unique and do they read like a good table of contents?   If many of the page titles and descriptions in the list are identical, this is a big red flag. Pointing this out in an interview will convey your awareness of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.

Responsiveness: Fill out a lead form with a fictitious name but use your email address.  See how long it takes for someone to call you and email you.  Grade the call as if you were an interested consumer.

Reputation: Type in the car dealer’s name into Google and Yahoo and see if there are any consumer reviews or comments.  If negative comments appear on Google page one, suggest that they hire an Internet reputation management firm to help move these comments off of Google page one.

Form vs Function
 
Let me suggest that that there is some futility in focusing on a website graphical design if consumers can’t find the dealer website in the major search engines.  By focusing on the search marketing aspects of the site, you can demonstrate ways in which you can grow the dealer’s business through better website architecture, better indexing and better SEO which should align your interests with the GSM or GM.

Most business owners would like to leverage their website for increasing sales.  Graphics designers are easy to find.  Finding people who can turn an average website into a lead generator or a sales generator will differentiate you from the crowed list of web developer applicants.  If you do your homework, your interview will be very impressive.

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Tags: automotive jobs, automotive sales managers, hiring internet sales managers, internet sales manager