Posts Tagged ‘auto dealers’

Social Networking: The Gift of Friendship?

Thursday, November 4th, 2010

(My article from the November issue of Digital Dealer Magazine)

Close your eyes. Right now. Close your eyes. Okay, open them. I just realized you wouldn’t be able to read the rest of the instructions. After you close your eyes, I want you to put yourself in the shoes of your customers. Share their mindset. I know it is hard, but you have to think like them. When you are ready, open your eyes and see yourself the way your customers see you. The way the public sees you. Are you ready? Go.

Okay, open your eyes. My guess, if you are reading this, is that you followed these unnecessary instructions. Good. Now, in your new frame of mind, take a look at your social networking accounts. Visit your dealer’s Facebook account/fan page. Look at yourself on LinkedIn. See yourself on Ning. Review your Twitter posts. Watch the videos on your Youtube channel. Now I ask you…if you were a customer, what would you actually be GAINING from connecting with your dealership on these social sites? Has the dealership shown you a specific benefit from joining together? Is it advantageous becoming a fan of your dealership? Are you entertained by the dealership’s videos? Is it more of a nuisance to be their friend than a worthy addition?

Now snap out of it.  As a dealer, what are you doing with ALL of your social networking sites that make it worthwhile for your customers to connect?  Here are some rules that car dealers should follow when utilizing social media as a way of customer engagement.

  • You need to preface every single connection you make to your public with a truthful value proposition.
  • You must offer Social Networking Friend-only discounts, information, updates, contests, etc.
  • You need to put out information that is of value to your consumer.
  • You should be filling your posts with “How To” videos, pictures of community involvement, interesting staff pics (celebrating your employees is important), discounts, coupons, recall info, interesting videos and friendly (non-sales) advice.
  • Multi-media enriched content, interesting stories, and pertinent information will allow you to engage and enchant your connections provided you post in moderation.
  • Recognize that the power of social networking sites is not first and foremost Conquest Business, but Customer Retention.
  • Don’t be a sales pitch.
  • Don’t post a price.
  • They don’t need to see every new piece of inventory.
  • Don’t overwhelm them with posts.
  • Never ask them to connect more than once. Time won’t change your mind.
  • You need to have convinced them that a connection is worthy before they receive the invitation.

As I’ve said before, it is called SOCIAL networking, not BUSINESS networking.

Institute policies in your sales and service departments where in-store customers are told they will be invited to join and there are financial benefits to doing so. The next day, make sure someone is reviewing those service department RO’s and showroom Sold logs and reaching out to these new/existing customers. THAT is called a best practice, my friends.

Businesses on the social networking platforms have just as much opportunity to turn away customers than attract them. Incessant pleas to follow, friend, and fan can be an irritating proposition for your clients. It is imperative every invite is tracked, offered only once, and that posts are not overwhelming. Much debate has been made on whether or not to drag potential prospects away from your website and onto your social networking pages. My suggestion is to proceed with caution. Your social media efforts should be used to beckon customers to your store… to your website. After all, if your website is the most important conversion tool, don’t make it too much of a priority to convert website visitors to social networking friends. There are a couple of companies I’ve seen recently (ActivEngage and Dealer e-Process) that offer a social networking toolbar at the bottom of your website. These toolbars allow the customer to peruse your soc med pages without taking them off-site. This is a great way to have your customers connect from your website in an unobtrusive way without diverting them from their goal.

You know what you should be aiming for. Find a way to give the gift of friendship. Make sure there is a BENEFIT to them for connecting online, not just for you. Think like a customer and develop a social networking campaign that takes their needs into consideration. Be selfless on the social sites. If you do this, you likely will finally see a profit come from all of your social media efforts.

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Let’s Talk About Text, Baby

Tuesday, September 29th, 2009

(written for the October 2009 issue of Digital Dealer Magazine)

Let’s talk about text, baby.  Let’s talk about you and me.  Let’s talk about all the good things and the bad things that may be.  Let’s talk about text.

Let’s talk about text for now to the people at home and in the crowd.  It keeps coming up anyhow.  Don’t decoy, avoid, or make void the topic ‘cause that’s not going to stop it.  Now we talk about text in the mags and on the blog talk radio shows.  Many will know, anything goes.  Let’s tell it how it is and how it could be.  How it was, and of course, how it should be.

Okay, fine.  I will stop rapping.  I’ll discontinue altering the lyrics to the famous Salt ‘N Pepa song of the early 90’s, but obviously this first verse and chorus above lend well to the topic of text.  Text, or mobile messaging as it is known, is changing the way people communicate across the globe.

In 2008, the Nielsen Company released a report that SMS text messaging has officially taken over phone calls on all mobile devices.  Simply put, more text messages are sent than calls are made from mobile devices.  While calls haven’t significantly reduced in amount, text messages continue to climb.  I’ve recently heard there are more text messages sent everyday than there are people on the planet.   It is high time dealerships address this shift as it is not a trend, but a standard.

Matt Watson, Chief Technology Officer for Vin Solutions believes “Text messaging will continue to evolve as the preferred way to send short highly relevant messages to your customers. Mobile internet usage is quickly growing and text messages with hyperlinks back to your mobile optimized website is a great way to communicate with your customers.”

The steps to becoming a mobile dealer are not near as complicated as you might expect.  As I’ve mentioned before, sometimes all it takes is the willingness to spend a few Hamiltons to make great things happen.
First, you must contact your online inventory tool/vendor and make sure they can convert your inventory to a mobile listing and check if they incorporate in-house videos of the inventory.
Second, have your website provider (or a mobile marketing vendor) create a mobile website for you.
Third, ensure your CRM is able to convert these soon-to-be-generated mobile leads.
Finally, market the mobile text code in the proper advertising to build traffic and interest.  (I’ll address mobile SEO and lead management at a later date, but the above four steps get you into the mobile game.)

I’ll approach these one by one.  Your inventory on the lot must be able to be viewed from today’s mobile device so it must be sized and scaled correctly.  Some mobile codes can take the interested party directly to your mobile website.  Others will direct them specifically to their vehicle of interest while another text code can lead them straight to a specials page.  Much like your inventory, your mobile website will be scalable, but will not need all of the flashy accoutrements your primary website is accustomed to containing.

Mike DeCecco, Director of Industry Relations for Dealer.com, states “Our mobile websites are designed with the end user in mind.  For example, we believe iPhone websites must function very much like an iphone application so users of that device will easily understand how to navigate through.  Also, dealers should find those services that produce their own in-house videos for inventory and build their own mobile websites.  One upcoming trend that Dealer.com has already jumped into will be to offer real human voice inventory videos on iphone mobile websites.  In addition, mobile websites should automatically detect the device of the end user and serve up the appropriate website for Smartphone or iPhone.”

Many shoppers are not carrying around their laptops with them.  They do not have the ability to crack open the shell to their iMac, wifi in, and research a vehicle or a special.  Mobile applications are allowing for instant gratification.  Much like the internet was once considered the primary tool to obtain information quickly, the mobile phones of today have stepped up that process.  Now, decisions are being made and information sought from the point-of-contact.  The moment you grab the consumer’s attention, they have the ability to connect.

As consumers evolve, so must we as dealers.  Understand that if a customer is searching through a mobile application, that lead is hotter than one from a basic lead provider.  Dealers must adopt a quicker follow up procedure to ensure the needs of the consumer are met.  Some new technology and platforms hitting the market are trying to help dealers engage the customers quicker.

“Until now, mobile ILM applications have only provided alerts when an email lead has been received.  Someone still has to sit down at a computer to respond to the inquiry,” said Stan Thomas, CEO of DealerUps.  “With our product, Mobile Mailroom, you can respond to the email lead directly from your mobile phone.  It’s fast, easy and all of the data is captured and pushed directly into our CRM.”

Lastly, it is the dealer’s responsibility to actively market the mobile text codes and mobile inventory to the public.  There is no use having mobile sites and inventory if you are unwilling to drive traffic there in your advertising and marketing initiatives.

As Richard Abronson, Vice President of Marketing and Products for Gumiyo Inc, puts it “Mobile works best when there is a call to action in all of your traditional advertising.  Whether it is a dealer’s signage, newspaper ads, TV, radio spots, vehicle listings and window stickers, there must be a mobile call-to-action with memorable keywords to engage the consumer.  Dealers doing this have received an incredible amount of responses, specifically in response to text call-to-actions on TV, because, while a laptop is not always on when the television is, everyone seems to have their cell phone sitting nearby.”

Mobile marketing is not only here to stay, but Abronson foresees major mobile advancement in the future.  “Peer to peer messaging is a way’s away from being ubiquitous, but I do believe that will be a wave of the future along with being able to scan your mobile screen for coupon redemption for instance.  In the short term, I think we will see more free apps and those apps will be much more standardized.  While screens won’t get much bigger, we will see the speeds increase, pricing get cheaper, and eventually it may be free, similar to email.   You’ll also see more newspapers offering mobile service – print to mobile packages.“

Dealers that are early adopters of mobile web technologies will be at an advantage against their competitors.  Not only should dealers dedicate some Hamiltons to their mobile web presence now, but they should dedicate one good person in their store to be the mobile expert (or “mobile evangelist” as Abronson calls it) to put the mobile provider in place and keep current on the latest text trends.  Doing this will ensure you are a part of the mobile marketing community of the future.  So break out your cell phones and start tapping.  Start rapping.  It’s time to talk about text, baby.

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How to Retain Customers by Creating Your Own Social Network

Tuesday, May 19th, 2009

Every person and their brother are standing atop their soapboxes and preaching the importance of dealership involvement in social marketing.The reason to be active within these sites is very much the same for being online – to be where your customers are.Since there are many ways to approach this medium in the wrong way, I thought I would share just one small tactic of using it correctly.Here is a quick, best-practices tutorial on how to create and utilize just one form of social networking to better the retention of your dealership’s customers.I believe there are limited ways to be successful when creating your own social site so here are a few simple tasks you must complete when diving into this platform.

1)Understand your primary goals for creating your own site – have an objective.

2)Put someone in charge that wants to be active in following up with customers and is willing to update and manage the network regularly.Consistency is imperative.

3)Create a site on www.ning.com and create a color theme that represents your dealership and brand.

4)Upload pics of staff, logos, and any and all videos and commercials you can gather from your own dealer, the OEM, or third-party sites.

5)Have every sales person and service writer create a profile on the site and share a few family photos.Encourage your staff to show their personalities on the site.

6)Train all sales associates to invite their sold customers to the network as they wait for the business office – and help them sign up.This keeps the customer busy while waiting and gets them as a community member immediately.
a) By signing up, tell the customers they will receive service updates and specials as well as the current financing incentives and new model rollout information.
b) If the customer contacts you through this site for information regarding the purchase of any future vehicle, a social discount will be given above and beyond internet pricing.Let them know of the specific benefits for signing up.It must do something for them.
c) Explain the wide demographic of your customer base and encourage them to promote themselves and their own businesses through your site as well.

7)As the customer is leaving, take their picture in front of their new vehicle (or film a customer testimonial), and immediately upload it to the site.Alert your customers that they will be prominently featured.(This will prompt a customer to go online and actually see themselves as stars.)

8) Continue to maintain the site and add as much sticky content (media, pictures) as possible and alert them of every special event, sale, or community activity you involve yourself with.

This will not change the culture of a dealership.It will not solve all of your problems.To do it right takes significant dedication and creativity when it comes to content deployment.You are creating your own mini ad agency, but reaching your own customers only. However, with this medium, the customers are one step removed from a dealership’s online presence where, opposed to your website (which is to appease everyone), you have the ability to target specific people with targeted messages.It will take time to catch on and will initially drive more service traffic than sales.It is, though, the only way to effectively create and utilize your own social networking site.You’ll only get out of it what you put into it.The best part?All it costs is time and effort.That’s right.Everything I mentioned is free.Since it is a format that your customers are likely used to anyway, showing them that you are a part of the same online community (and leading the way) will only help you endear yourself to your customers.Use this task list only if you are interested in keeping customers the old-fashioned way…by making them feel special and continuing the relationship after the sale.

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Genetics

Saturday, December 27th, 2008
(Check out this old blog from my very first post on DrivingSales.com)

I have a distinct feeling that some dealers believe achieving online success may be a flash in the pan. These dealers (owners) must have a chemical imbalance passed onto them from their fathers and family members before them to believe e-commerce is a trend. Many struggling owners learned from an older generation that didn’t have to adapt as quickly to newfound technologies and, therefore, lived well by sticking to tried and true advertising mediums. There is a major problem facing many of today’s owners that has a greater affect on their long-term goals than the economy does. It is their judgment. I can only assume this problem is genetic.

I hear from ISM after ISM across the country that buy-in from ownership continues to be difficult. Dealers just won’t know what they don’t want to learn. Many dealerships have one person handling incoming leads. They buy a few third party leads, place some inventory on an AutoTrader or Cars.com, and have a mediocre website. These dealers achieve their same old 12-14 cars sold off the internet each month – reaching a 10% closing ratio – and feel that they are in the game. Those of you reading this know that they aren’t even in the ballpark. There is so much more that can be gained from dedicating a significant portion of ad dollars to online initiatives and e-commerce training and the proof is in the profits, process, and testimonials of the top dealers.

I write for Digital Dealer magazine and recently left a dealership to start my own digital marketing consulting firm, DealerKnows LLC. The documented numbers I (and my team/department) had achieved there put the dealership in the upper echelon of successful Internet dealers. When I write, it is usually a rant like this where I am trying to accomplish/win an argument or struggle I was having. Through my meandering writing, I’ll find my answer. In this case, I know what the answer is. Genetics.

I was speaking to a close friend and internet professional whose dealer sent out a 60,000 piece mailer. Yes, you heard me correct. A 60,000 piece mailer. $30,000 or so in cost. During my friend’s time there, he constantly warned them that their dedication to paper (consistently spending 70% or so on newspapers, direct mail, etc.) was going to have a negative impact on their bottom line and they didn’t listen. On my few run-ins with this dealer during consulting, I too stressed their need to dedicate more money only. Time and again, they’d spend their money on paper products only to prove my friend and I right. They would have their tri-weekly full-page newspaper ads and their 10,000 piece “customer appreciation” mailers where past customers were told to come in and pick up their free set of steak knives or whatever. They expected their sales crew could convert the type of people that drive 10 minutes for a $3 set of knives – they were consistently incorrect. This $10,000 cost would equal one sale at best. (My friend’s department was responsible for tracking this monthly futility as all quality ISMs and IDs carefully looked at ROI. – $10g spent on direct mail a month would = $1g in profit. Where is the sense in that?)

Very recently, my friend left this dealer – support issue if you can believe it – and, just because this valued employee and his “team” that brought online success to the dealership had left, it doesn’t mean one must give up hope and go back to old tendencies. Direct mail may have always been in their blood, but a 60,000 piecer?! It’s gotta be a problem with the DNA that makes you choose to do this. So I learned the result of their massive mailer was, wait for it, 2 cars sold. That is correct. Two cars. $30g = $3g… maybe. I’d call up and shout out an “I told you so” or a “You still aren’t listening to us?!”, but it’s not their fault. It’s genetics.

Does losing the majority of an internet team (others left once my buddy had chosen to take a leap) mean you must go back to the ways of the wild, wild west? No. Processes were in place. Websites could have been updated. Leads were still coming in. However, this unnamed dealer had reverted back to what they knew. What their family and their family’s family before them knew. They went back to paper.

This, my first blog, is not meant to be a rant against dealer ownership. After all, I still would like to think I have good relationships at my former dealer (though I was recently just denied from filming any more of my car sales-comedy sketches in their place of business – no reason given) This also isn’t a blog to rip direct mail or newspaper – which may have its time and place – (in my opinion – newspaper ads can be printed during big holiday days and direct mail sent once a year). No, I hope this writing alerts dealers to the fact that unwise thinking never benefits them, no matter what their condition. Before I left, my department received 25% of the ad budget toward internet initiatives and would consistently yield over 60% of store sales (and up to 85% one month). Even without us, an upheaval in staff can be survived. Sure, dealerships are selling half of the cars per month they did in their heyday. You’d think they’d want to dedicate their ad money to something able to be tracked. The economy will turn around and consumers will once again walk through your door.

Turning their back to what works in today’s time and gravitating back toward the paper-type advertising in play when their ancestors were alive will not their store survive. (Wow! That sounded like a sentence written by Cormac McCarthy. I’m proud of myself. Written just how I wanted it.)

I don’t like taking an article like this to “the streets”, but I believe, during these difficult economic times, dealers must look in the mirror. They must look at what is within themselves and decide if their decisions (be it caused by faulty wiring or the wrong synapses firing) are what’s really the root of the problem. I think poor judgment (similar to what was described above) has to play a significant part. (60,000 pieces! $30,000?! It serves a dealer right to have a $3,000 or so return on that poisonous investment. You give an internet professional $30g and they’ll turn it into $300g.) It doesn’t take a genius to figure that out. Just someone with good genetics.

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On Your Mark, Get Set, Go

Friday, December 5th, 2008
As most Internet Sales Professionals know, running an internet department is a race.It is a race to see who can respond to the customer the fastest, who can get them on the phone the quickest, and who can bring them into the store first.It is time for Internet Sales Departments to stop being a pit stop and information booth on the road to the sale, but the finish line.

 

Several improvements can be made to your dealership’s Internet department that will increase the closing ratio, volume of sales, and profits. You need the basics if you want to get a quick jump off the line.
Some of the necessities to run a profitable Internet department or BDC are:
Advanced, call-to-action email templates with a solid foundation and structure

An ongoing, detailed follow-up process that reaches the consumer over a long period of time

Successful phone scripts to prompt appointment-setting of internet shoppers and

Competitive pricing

With these (often-overlooked) fundamentals in place, dealers can get off on the right foot and compete with local dealers. However, without someone who has successfully created a department such as this before at the line, most dealers haven’t even strapped on their proverbial running shoes. Let’s face it. The starting gun has already fired and it is never easy playing catch up in a race. Everyone wants to be out in front.

Those dealers that are currently leading the way in online sales and profit realize the creation and management of Internet departments is not a race, but a marathon. Many of these dealers have already embraced live chat, video messaging, transparent pricing, online shopping carts, and specifically-trained internet specialists.

Forums available in the industry offer a wealth of information, but sometimes it takes a person “in-the-know” that will help you reach your stride. However, if your Internet sales efforts don’t get you off to a good start, you could be left in the dust by your competition.

Realize that you must train to run well. Whether it is a race or a marathon, consult others to increase your e-commerce and digital marketing profitability. Checking out this blog is similar to stretching your legs. Consulting a professional or dedicating yourself to the process as others have will get you into the race. Know, though, that while you can win or lose the race, there is no finish line. It all depends on how much you condition your dealership for online success.

 

On your mark, get set, go -

 

Joe Webb

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The Lead

Thursday, November 6th, 2008

- In this clip I wrote and filmed, you will see the three ways that dealerships are handling leads. You will see the wrong way, the DealerKnows way (the correct way), and the worst way.
to adapt smart lead management and positive first responses in your store, contact DealerKnows.

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Will Your Internet Department Sink or Swim?

Saturday, October 4th, 2008

An Internet Sales Professional should be a life raft.You can stop an internet customer from drowning in a pool of builds, specs, and prices.You can save them from visiting one salesperson-flooded dealership after another.

 

Now ask yourself…are you a life raft or are you an anchor?

 

A life raft will answer a question quickly and, more importantly, competently.

An anchor will attempt to drag the customer into the store by giving them either as little information as possible or by flooding them with prices.A life raft offers quality answers after the initial email and gives customers realistic expectations and fair offers.An anchor promises the imminent arrival of a vehicle they have little chance of obtaining.

 

One thing that an Internet Sales Professional (ISP) can be sure of is the internet-savvy consumer knows a price waits for them right around the corner; one website away.More and more, customers demand to have all their questions answered… and sooner rather than later.Vague answers are no longer adequate bait to lure today’s consumer.
 

 

Save them from vague answers, repeated urges to visit, and automated follow-up responses.If you want to be competitive, you have to answer their questions on the first email.Please notice… “email”.Don’t be the person that calls them immediately, even if it is under the veil of “Did you receive the information I sent you?”They are sitting at their computer with their inbox open!They know you did not send anything!You can always call later; but you can’t change a bad first impression.Send a personalized email first.

 

Internet Sales Professionals have the opportunity to separate themselves from the typical salespeople on the dealer floor.These are the very people the consumer fears and want to avoid speaking to in the first place.And let’s face it, we ISP’s are all just glorified sales reps with good word tracks, better organizational skills, and fast fingers.However, customers have higher expectations of us.Johnny Car-Buyer doesn’t want to believe he is talking to a Sales Rep that can type.Nor does he want to be conversing with a technician from a computer store.He wants to believe he is speaking to a knowledgeable friend that is looking out for his best interest.Johnny needs a life raft.

 

Any ISP worth their weight in leads will tell you that directing an internet customer to act is just as easy as a walk-in customer.We all have the same job duties.We all are fighting toward one goal.“Get the customer in.”How we go about this and how we view our job description, though, is what separates you from the next ISP a few miles away.How do you direct an internet customer, you ask?Your first email will rarely spur someone to hop into their car, drive to see you, and drive off with the exact vehicle quoted.Not anymore.A few years ago this was a little more common, but people want all of the information nowadays.They don’t do this solely by collecting prices.Internet customers ask follow up questions.It is how you respond to these questions that determines your worth as an Internet Professional.

Build trust by moving the internet customer one step at a time.Build the relationship, connect with the customer, and move them toward you.This is how you differentiate yourself from other ISP’s and endear the customer to you.Customers want to be guided on their car-buying process.Replying to customers’ questions will give you the opportunity to direct them to the dealership. If handled correctly, you can guide them straight to your lot.You don’t need to light a fire under them in the first email.You simply need to give them reasons over time to see you.It is a process.

 

Some dealers operate by inundating their internet leads with mass amounts of information, whether it was requested or not.This is called the “Info Anchor”.The anchor drowns the customer with builds, specs, and prices, hoping to look like they are being upfront with their information, but, in reality, just trying to save themselves time from following up.You don’t need to purchase ALL of the leads possible. You simply be more thorough with your leads so your closing ratio increases.

 

Like everyone else, I shop my competition.Their initial emails with amazingly low price quotes, attached list of all features and options (and even discounted warranty prices!) are absurd.Even though they are not being vague, they are supplying the customer with too much  information:The Info Anchor. However, try to ask them a follow up question and wait for a response.Continue to wait.Take a nap.Take a trip.Take a coma.You will keep waiting because they hardly ever answer follow ups.They give it their one shot and they’re done.That is when Life Raft (me – and not just because of my size) floats in and saves them.I keep them headed toward land by answering any remaining questions they have.I don’t make their vehicle purchase seem like a too-good-to-be true mirage, but a tangible and reachable goal. An overflow of information will simply numb them from realizing the difference between a fair deal and a nit-picky deal.You will just send them shopping.Doing this is creating your own worst enemy.

Here is my request to all ISP’s.This is what I am asking you to do.
1) Do not give the lowest possible price for a vehicle.Offer a competitive price that reflects the value their vehicle deserves.You are selling something of value.You are selling a motor vehicle that will be carrying their most important commodity – their family.

2) Don’t offer to beat everyone’s deal.You will only send them scavenging for quotes.In latter emails, simply tell them you will stay competitive with other offers.

3) Build value in what you do.Buying a vehicle can be a painful process.You are saving a customer from going through a potentially-frustrating and painstaking process of visiting an endless number of dealerships to get the same questions answered.

4) Tell them the truth.It is a lot easier to remember what you have said to them in the past.

If a customer feels that you have saved them time, energy, and a little money…you have already become their life raft.You have become a real Internet Sales Professional and you have earned the sale.

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