Posts Tagged ‘consultant’

It’s Good to Do the “Get Around”

Monday, August 16th, 2010

One reason study abroad programs are so popular for today’s youth is that it opens one’s eyes up to new experiences and cultures.  Very often, some of our fondest memories in life stem from vacations we’ve taken.  Travel we’ve made.  It’s expanded our thinking and changed our beliefs about how we fit into our world.  Very few things can have as profound an impact as going from place to place.  Getting around.

Each one of our dealerships are their own separate little planet.  As you move from department to department, you pick up life experiences.  Each different department has its own language, its own lifestyle, its own pulse, its own personality.  As it is with most successful GM’s and owners, the more understanding they have about the functions and functionality of each department, the more well-rounded they become in their thinking.  However, to get to know the departments, it takes a little travel. 

Since we are always grooming each individual in our store to be better, it is imperative that you give employees the opportunity to experience life in other departments, if only for a day.  Make it a requirement.  All new hire orientation programs, regardless of the department for which you hired, should insist each candidate spends time in the dealership’s other departments.  Allow your employees (new and current) to witness what it takes to perform the daily duties required of their coworkers from other departments. 

Dedicate one spokesperson (Department Liason) from each department (Sales, Service, Body Shop, Aftermarket, Marketing, Internet, Management, Finance, Parts) and create an internal ‘Study Abroad’ programs where they can see what goes on behind the curtain.  And for dedicating some of their valuable time to the greater good, the Department Liaisons that are taking the shadows under their wing can be promised the first look when a promotion/opportunity comes up in their department.

Not only does it help build organizational rapport, but it gives your employees the chance to see all the work that goes into operating the whole rather than just the section.  If you do right, you hire everyone with the hopes of them being the General Manager of the future.  If this is true, then you must let them travel throughout the other departments  even if just for a few hours a month or a day a quarter.  The understanding of the dealership on an organizational level will be a true benefit to every employee.

You don’t have to distract them from their focus… just let them see through someone else’s eyes.  Their area of concentration will always be their own department, but if you are an employee looking to grow, or a dealer looking to have your employees love the dealership as much as they love their team, then it’s good to do the ‘Get Around’.

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The Dating Game

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

Here is my newest (somewhat) comedic video, The Dating Game. Created for the Lead to Appointment Show session at the 8th Digital Dealer Conference, it details how dealerships must put their best foot forward when managing a customer’s expectations before visiting instead of confirming their beliefs that they will be meeting with old school car folks.

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Know Your Role

Sunday, April 25th, 2010

For dealers, your store often tells the story of your life. This is especially true for those second and third generation dealers. Every day, your dealership puts on a show for the consumer. The customers are your audience and you are the director. When you open the doors, you are pulling back the curtain for all to see. You’ve brought in the cast and paid their wages. You’ve done your job. Now, are you sure everyone knows what they are supposed to do? While we hire talent to run our dealerships, we don’t always guide them with written job descriptions. We must.

“Places, everyone, places” the director shouts. You have put everyone in position, but can you ensure your cast understands what needs to be done? Do they know what is expected of them? Many of your sales managers and service writers have been given the title and responsibility because they’ve succeeded on the sales floor or as a service tech. They’ve filled in during the absences of other managers and excelled. When promoted, though, few are given quality, written job descriptions detailing what their position entails because we feel they already know what is asked of them. Or perhaps a job description wasn’t provided solely because many don’t know what all to include.

A job description simply states the roles and responsibilities required of the position along with a reporting structure and details involving hours and expectations. It should address future questions, employee’s potential for growth/earnings, functions of the job, skills needed, and how actions will be conducted.

Here are the basics for every job description:

Job Title
Confirm the title of their position. Representative, Associate, Consultant, Specialist, Coordinator, Manager, and Director all mean different things to different people. Having the job title spelled out will deter them from asking for a special designating word on their business cards (i.e. the ever-popular “sales specialist” being chosen over “sales representative”.

Salary Range
This serves as a reference guide to comparable salaries within the industry. Make sure that the starting salary is noted as well as well as mid-range (and high) expectations for the position. If applicable, specify commissions, performance bonuses, percentage of profit, and any potential raises for long-term employment.

Purpose of the Position
Specify the objectives of the position. This section allows you to place a little weight on their shoulders and makes them understand how important of a role they play in the overall success of the dealership and the team.

Job Description/List of Duties
Beginning with the most important tasks first, list every duty required of them to perform their position. As the list continues, detail what their role is in the completion of each task. Are they simply delegating the work and ensuring it is done or is it their personal responsibility to complete it?

Hierarchy and Team
Define who they will be reporting to and what individuals be reporting directly to them. Many new employees come in with the expectation that, due to their title of manager, everyone without the title of manager reports to them. This can be a sensitive situation in those dealerships where the Internet department team reports solely to their Director and that Director reports to the General Manager only. It is best to clarify this “structure” of the departments up front so there is no confusion and specify who is on their “team”. A new employee understanding their supervisory role is imperative to their success and the streamlined processes you’ve created within your dealership.

Ideal Candidate / Skills Needed
The new employee must be told the skills they are going to need to be successful in the position. If there are certain solutions, software, or programs that are imperative they know going in, it is best to detail it here. If they are to have completed certain tasks during their past experiences, describe how the ideal candidate for the position will encompass those abilities.

Hours
We’re in the auto industry and it is well known that we often work insane hours. That being said, it is necessary to assign specific work hours expected for the position and include the dealership’s operating hours as well.

“And Other Duties Assigned”
The beauty of the car business is that no two days are the same. Every customer is different and each day there is a new circumstance to handle or concern to assuage. Including “And Other Duties Assigned” tells the employee they are responsible for those random chores that essentially help “take care of business”. Hopefully, we are all hiring those candidates that are looking to take on more responsibility and willing to fill up that rare free-time during the day with goal-oriented objectives on their own.

This statement of duties should be provided to every new employee on day one to overcome any unforeseen conflicts of the future. After all, it is usually the bad performance from an employee that causes the store to lose a sale or valuable customer, but, in the end, it will be you who shoulders the blame. Preparing a written, detailed job description for each and every position in the dealership (no matter how big or how small) provides total accountability because they now “know their role”.

With their roles clearly defined for them, you are setting them up on a path for success. As the director, you’ve given them their lines, their blocking, and all of the notes necessary for them to perform for the public day in and day out. The rest is up to them to put on a good show.

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Automotive Trainer Creates New Way for Dealerships to Achieve Online Sales Success

Friday, January 22nd, 2010

PR Log (Press Release) – Jan 21, 2010 – Automotive dealers are fighting their way out of the industry’s most economically challenging periods.  With the economy on a slow upturn, dealerships are finding more stability in the market and dedicating themselves to the newest advances in online marketing. 

However, much like the uphill battles facing a myriad of industries, dealers are struggling to compete with those that had instituted internet initiatives in their stores before the nation’s automotive sales plummeted.  Auto industry expert, Joe Webb, President and Founder of DealerKnows Consulting, has created an innovative program to virtually manage the entire Internet sales department’s efforts and implement best practices with the use of web-based softwares, phone tracking solutions, and video chat.  The Virtual Internet Director program ensures that all online advertising campaigns are measured, monitored, and monetized to their fullest.   

“Dealers are getting away from paying the high costs of on-site training.  An automotive consultant will spend a couple of days in the store and drown them in ideas and concepts.  Truth is, it doesn’t always stick.  The teachings of some trainers fades over time.  Dealer employees need long-term guidance, specifically with the Internet departments and business development centers.” 

Joe Webb found success in the automotive industry by personally creating and managing some of the most recognized Internet departments in the car industry.  Webb parlayed his successes on the retail side into a prominent digital marketing consulting firm based out of Chicago, Illinois. 

“I’ve traveled the nation and trained on-site in showrooms.  What I’ve found is that most dealers and their employees need an advocate in their stores daily.  I saw a need to develop a specific training and management program where I can be in these stores virtually…daily.” 

The Virtual Internet Director program as it is being hailed offers car dealers the chance to have a recognized Internet sales expert and consulting leading the team and managing from afar while monitoring up-to-the-minute, real-time online and showroom activities through these CRM (customer relationship management) solutions. 

For a fraction of the cost of in-store consulting, Joe Webb guarantees to put dealerships on the path to online success by reviewing internet correspondence between dealer employees and prospects, measuring the necessary metrics for online profitability, policing the ratios to make sure no e-lead goes unanswered and all vehicles are properly are advertised, mystery shopping the dealer client and their competitors, listening to recorded calls, holding daily calls and video trainings to the Internet department staff, and training on the best-in-class processes of online inventory management. 

“Dealers’ eyes are opening and realizing that it is a breath of fresh air to know that an Internet Trainer is ensuring the success of the departments without the strain of trial and error.  In this economy, dealers don’t have the luxury to spend too much time learning the best processes.  They need help, but don’t often have the budget for it in store.  DealerKnows’ Virtual Internet Director program solves this need.  Basically, a dealer no longer has to worry about their business development centers…it is my job to keep everything growing for them.” 

Webb’s first order of business was teaming with Vin Solutions, an industry leader in offering full-service customer management and website solution software to dealers.  Webb recently became one of the few Certified Vin Solutions Trainers in the nation and believes the Vin Solutions software is one of the few natural fits for his Virtual Internet Director program.

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The Importance of Being Earnest

Thursday, December 24th, 2009
Joe Webb's Automotive Digest blog - The Importance of Being Earnest

Joe Webb's Automotive Digest blog - The Importance of Being Earnest

Dealers — be truthful to your Internet customers. There is a dichotomy in the business development centers and Internet departments of our stores. Many are using their Internet departments to flood the floors and do whatever it takes to bring the prospect from lead to appointment by any means necessary. Others are thinking beyond the sale and creating an entirely new customer-centric experience – based in fact, truth, and value.

This is the Internet age
At this point in the evolution of our dealerships, everyone has an individual or team handling their Internet leads. However, some approach internet leads much the same way they’ve been taught to lure in a phone up. Ask questions, overcome objections and set appointments. We’ve all heard our managers say “Get ‘em in. Get ‘em in. Get ‘em in.”

Way back when…
In the digital age, however, we cannot simply stand by the policies of the past and get them into the dealership at any cost. Too many old pros relied on shadowing the truth to reach their end goal of selling a car and they’ve passed this belief onto our internet teams. With the over-researched shoppers of today, these overused practices of yesteryear are a detriment. Yet, mystery shop your competition and you will still see them mislead and misrepresent the truth to achieve their goal of setting an appointment online.

Do what’s right.
Follow in the footsteps of those dealers that are upfront about pricing and inventory. Unfortunately, I’ve seen dealers still doing the “destination bump” to their internet customers as recently as a few weeks ago. I knew a dealer didn’t have a vehicle in-stock yet still tell me they did. These poor practices continue to negatively affect the entire reputation of our industry. So for your sake, tell the truth to your internet shoppers. Not only are they far too researched to fall for the deceit, but your reputation and trust is destroyed when they catch you in a lie. It damages the way we are all viewed in the industry.

Be upfront in the information you provide your customers and you will see a growth in your sales and CSI. It pays to be earnest.

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Gridiron Greats

Tuesday, October 20th, 2009

It’s football season once again which means thousands of car
salespeople are thankful that their states have laws in place giving
them Sundays off from the store.

Many of us have a passion for football the same way we have a passion
for selling cars. We sit on our coaches in our living rooms
(showrooms) and play armchair quarterback. We call plays. We tell
the young folks how it used to be. What we would do different if we
were in charge…if we were throwing that pass….if that was OUR
customer.

Majority of sales people are the same. They prefer to sit on the
sidelines and talk about what went wrong rather than get on the field
and get their hands dirty. You need a strong sales manager (QB) to
lead the staff onto the field. The question for dealers is: Is it
best to employ a Game Manager or a Playmaker to your sales desk? NFL
teams live and die by the person (QB) leading their teams as does any
owner relying on a manager to bring the profit.

In my opinion, the “Playmaker” is the Sales Manager that can close
that
deal for the big hit. The huge profit. All of the coins. Mucho
gross. A “Playmaker” Sales Manager gets the biggest scores. At the
same time, they miss their targets quite often. Reaching for the big
deal often gets intercepted and they lose customers with their
arrogance. They can win huge games, but they can also throw away the
easy ones.

A “Game Manager” sales manager, on the other hand, still concerns
themselves with gross profit, but never makes the big hits. Their
front-end is a little lower and their back-end a little lighter.
However, their accuracy (read: closing ratio, if you are still with me
on this poor analogy) allows them to close more deals than the
“Playmaker” and the CSI is always higher.

It is the good old “gross vs. volume” debate. It is up to your Sales
Managers. The QBs of your showroom. Will they bring your players all
the way through a season/year with a winning record? Will they have
some amazing wins, but not make the playoffs? It is up to you when
hiring for Sales Manager to make that decision.

Categorize your Sales Management candidates and determine who you want
to play with. Who do you want to coach? Who will make the smart
decisions, not for their own interests, but for the store’s?

I may go against industry trends, but I’d call a timeout and bring in
a Game Manager for my staff.

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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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Response Received

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009

Article from Dealer Advantage (Cars.com newsletter). Written by Brian Hannan after our interview on how to achieve quality, consistent responses from internet leads.

 

 

Email Tactics to Deliver the Customer Replies You Want

Ever wondered why those carefully crafted emails sit unanswered in prospects’ inboxes? So has Joe Webb, and he has a theory.

“Customers over-educate themselves and start going crazy,” says Webb, president and consultant for DealerKnows LLC. “I’ve had a customer break into tears because he had contacted and received quotes from 83 Toyota dealerships. It was the worst car-buying experience he ever had.”

Although sympathetic, Webb recognized the shopper’s plight as opportunity to help the dealership where he worked at the time. He knew he couldn’t buck the trend of car buyers researching online; he needed to set his store apart, in consumers’ minds, from any competitor.

“You have to contact them at the right time, quickly, with the right information in a conversational-style format,” Webb says. To shed some light on the process he developed, Webb shared three tips to help your email cut through the clutter and get the response you want.

1. Ask questions. Many salespeople do most things right,” Webb says. “What they don’t do is try to build rapport with the customers anymore. They try to answer their questions like a clerk as opposed to trying to build up rapport and strike up some kind of conversation.”

An effective response to shoppers’ inquiries does that, he explains, through a needs assessment. The questions can lead to yes-or-no answers, so long as they keep you in communication with the buyer. For example, you might ask:

  • Who’s going to be using the car? 
  • Have you had an opportunity to have your trade appraised? 
  • Since there are new incentives available from the manufacturer, would you like any information regarding lease or finance rates?

In a given market, Webb estimates this strategy is overlooked by most sales professionals – even the top performers. “Maybe one out of 10 will ask questions that a customer will want to give information back for,” he says. “Any question that a customer wants to answer can help you get a dialogue going. They want to hear that you are trying to, through asking questions, offer them even more information. As soon as a person thinks that you’re going above and beyond for them, you’ve usually built a relationship.”

2. Do what you say you’ll do. With your initial email, Webb recommends laying out for the customer your sales process – and then following it to a “T.” He suggests including an offer – one you intend to keep – to call shoppers in a half hour so you can review their request and answer any questions.

“A lot of people will email back or call you just to prevent that call from happening,” Webb says.

3. Be creative. Rather than simply adopting other dealers’ proven tactics, Webb recommends adding something new that makes it your own. Among the techniques he developed:

  • Be the last autoresponse. While competing stores focused on an instant response, Webb realized a fast one would be more effective. Knowing that most people read their email from the top down (i.e., they begin with the most recently received), he configured his replies to go out five minutes after his nearest competitors.
  • Craft a clever autoresponse. For business hours, Webb wrote messages that began with a casual hello, included a commitment to provide the requested information and closed with questions (e.g., What color would you not consider? Is a test drive important to you?). The clincher? He appended “Sent Via Blackberry by AT&T” to each of his replies, five words that drove his response rates to upward of 50 percent.

“I want somebody to think that I’m busy enough, walking the lot,” Webb says, “but that I care enough to get right back with them. It isn’t framed as an autoresponse, but a personal contact.”

  • Recruit the car. Looking for help from your satisfied customers to help drive referral business? Instead of directly asking them to connect you with their friends, family and colleagues, Webb suggests a more subtle approach. On the first anniversary of a sale, he sent buyers a thank you email from the vehicle they purchased, as if their vehicle was the thankful party. Very often, the messages were forwarded to the desired audience because the recipient thought they were cute.

“Since I don’t have hands, just tires, I needed the nice internet guy down at Arlington Toyota Scion to help type this,” the message concluded. “He told me if you are thinking of getting me any brothers or sisters to spend time with in the garage or outside in the driveway, you can rescue them right from his lot.”

Are you following this advice and still coming up empty-handed? Kathy Kimmel, a Cars.com manager of automotive consulting and dealer training, recommends that you mystery-shop your store. You may be surprised to learn the problem stems from how a message is delivered to shopper’s inbox. If your lead management and customer relationship management systems aren’t communicating, even your best efforts will fail to impress.

“‘Dear [Customer Name]‘ may seem like a simple problem of a template field not being populated, but it tells prospects to stop reading and move on to the next dealer’s response,” Kimmel says. “Although we often rely on these automated tools to do our jobs, we must stay in control of the sales process. Shoppers buy from people they recognize as professional and believe have a personal interest in helping them.”

 

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