Posts Tagged ‘crm’

Dealership Day Care

Thursday, November 10th, 2011

Sometimes people need to be babysat.  It happens.  Inevitably someone will prioritize something (from attending a wedding to socializing on the showroom floor) over the basic duties asked of them at work.  Or assigned to them in their CRM.

Your CRM is there for a purpose.  For the longest time we allowed our sales teams to carry a notepad in their back pocket to keep track of their customers.  We would trust that they would pull it out once a day, flip through the past few pages, review what needs to take place, and have the necessary notes stored in able to then follow up with the store’s customers.  If not this way, then you had them log all of their opportunities onto an Up Sheet that you would hope they visit once a day to complete some follow-up.  Obviously, these methods fall slightly short of being an “exact science”.

So CRMs (a good CRM anyway) has allowed us to determine the time intervals that are best to follow up with our clients.  They let us choose what method of communication (phone, email, text, etc) to trigger the sales team to utilize.  A CRM gives us the ability to alert our team when a new lead arrives or action actions that must be taken.  We can build out intricate follow-up processes that continue long-term, based on several variables, even when different events occur in the customer’s lifecycle, consistently, on-going, every time.  Well that is all well and good, but it still takes someone to perform a little “dealership day care” to keep the sales and Internet teams using the system to its fullest.

There are two things that salespeople are known for:

Working their pay plans and

Not following up with customers the way they should (or at all)

It’s not their fault.  Our industry seems to magnetically pull in those with self-diagnosed ADHD and lets them run wild in between our walls.  Your sales team loses focus, stops dedicating their energy to the task at hand within the CRM and goes off on a tear about something else.  It requires your Sales Managers to wrangle them up and get them back on point.  This is where your CRM’s dashboard comes in handy.

I often ask dealers, “How do your Sales Managers manage your sales team?”  Let me tell you, nowadays there are no right answers to this question without the words “ensure” “utilizing” and “CRM” in them.  Your managers should be keeping a watchful eye on the CRM dashboard throughout the day to ensure your team is utilizing the CRM to its fullest and actually completing the tasks scheduled for them.  Then your dealership must make it financially rewarding (or punishable) to do so.  If it is 2pm and you see Jimmy drinking his Red Bull and laughing on the showroom floor, take a look at how many of the day’s tasks he completed.  You will see only one of two scenarios.

a)  He’s made only 2 of the 33 scheduled follow-up calls for the day (yet he has time to ham it up with the folks on the floor) or
b)  He made ALL 33 of his day’s calls, somehow miraculously between the times of 9:05am to 9:09am.  Oh yeah, and he left messages on every call.

Your managers must begin “managing” their teams and holding them accountable.  Whether utilization is tracked, measured, and spiffed upon, or simply browbeat into the team, they must start making the calls and emails required of them.  If you want to sell more cars, get your teams to honestly make the calls prescribed for them.  Simple as that.

While your Internet team can fall off the wagon too, it is likely because they can get overwhelmed if they lose any time for the day.  A few leads are missed, an alert isn’t received, a customer comes in that takes more of their time than expected, and there is no catching up.  Unlike the sales floor where the salesperson can just not take a customer for the day and get through all of their overdue tasks, the Internet team has opportunities that pour in…. and never stop pouring in.

The reason our Virtual Dealer Training program was created in the first place is because dealers don’t have the staff or the time to track what their Internet teams are missing. You need someone to perform Dealership Day Care for your Internet teams.  Your Internet Director/eCommerce Director/BD Manager often doesn’t have the time to monitor all email correspondence, but, believe me, it is necessary.  Do you know what your staff is emailing to your customers?  Are they answering their questions?  Are they NOT calling and NOT following up with them?  The CRM allows you to catch these things, but only if you are looking.  While our teams are much more mature than children, they need constant guidance (and positive reinforcement through training) to keep ahead of the class.

It is time dealers do a little Dealership Day Care on behalf of their sales and Internet teams.  You need to maximize the opportunities you are receiving and the only way to do that is to monitor, police, measure, and motivate your teams… through the utilization of your CRM and through consistent training and management.

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“I Am a Nigerian Prince in Need of Your Help”

Thursday, August 25th, 2011

We’ve all received these emails of ridiculously too-good-too-be-true, obviously false declarations from spammers around the globe.  They fill our email inboxes and are quickly dismissed.  They are filled with foolish calls to actions and requests to contact.  Allow me to say that the emails firing from your CRM system are likely no different.

I’ve always been amazed that dealer principles will sit in an office for an hour with their ad agency executive discussing the week’s layout for the local newspaper – “Why don’t we put the 4.9% in the upper right hand corner and color it gold?  You know… really make it pop!” – yet they have no idea what is being sent to the Internet shoppers that submitted leads into their store.  Trust me that more of your down-funnel customers are seeing the emails from your CRM/ILM and DMS then are viewing your Saturday full-page age.

As I’ve been advising for years, we must pay attention to what we are emailing our customers.  The power of email correspondence should not be discounted.  Constant emails asking -
“Are you still in the market?”
“Have you bought yet?”
“Are you still in the market?”
“I haven’t heard from you.”
“Are you still in the market?”
“Call me at this number as I have great news”

- are tactics of the past and you need to begin looking deep into what answers and engagements in your email templates might actually drive action.

Sure, Nigerian Princes and wealthy bankers offering to throw gobs of money into your Fifth Third Bank account from their family’s estate is one way to do it, but the elements in your emails might not be better.  Either the multiple fonts, center justification, endless links, and large colored words will get you sent to spam or simply the way you phrase your words will go disregarded as having no true value for the customer.

Be more intuitive with the emails you send and stop looking like an off-shore pyramid company trying to gain access into an old woman’s trust fund.  You might just get their money the right way.

 

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Give the Customers What They Want – an ActivEngage Interview with Joe Webb

Thursday, August 25th, 2011

Justin Braun from ActivEngage recently sat down and interviewed auto industry expert Joe Webb about his philosophies and beliefs of what is ailing the car business and how dealerships can achieve greater success.  From lead management to live chat, all topics regarding digital marketing and dealership advertising were discussed.  Check out the great article here

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Exercise Your Digital Muscles

Saturday, March 12th, 2011

The automotive dealership functions much the way the human body does.  Each department operates similar to an organ, controlling that given part of the dealer body.  When one fails, it affects the health of the entire system.   Every single employee, solution, and dollar spent must be cared for and maintained.  A dealer’s advertising efforts work much the way a person’s muscles do.  They strengthen the body and get the entire operation moving.  Stale advertising techniques and antiquated marketing tactics can cause a dealer’s sales to atrophy.  These advertising muscles must be exercised, not just when it’s nice outside, but during the slow, lean winter months as well.  Thank goodness for the incoming spring, but your efforts shouldn’t change.

When the economic crunch hit our industry two years ago, we saw many dealers revert back to the advertising methods of yesteryear.  No medium was left unturned (i.e. dug up from its grave).  Some dealers said to themselves (paraphrasing) “Hey, when we were at our best, we were in the newspaper every day, shooting out direct mail pieces monthly, we could be heard on the radio, and had TV spots.”  They cut budgets from each department and recreated their game plan from the mid 90’s.  Thankfully though, many dealers did the opposite.  They dedicated themselves strictly to internet initiatives, buying up leads, focusing on dominating the search engines, delved into social media (even if they didn’t understand it yet) and, in some cases, even overpaid for the newest and best buzzword solutions.  If it was online and quantifiable, they’d spend for it.  Heck, even if it wasn’t quantifiable, but it was online, they’d spend for it…much to their chagrin in some cases.  Few dealers have come out unscathed, but most that took the latter strategy seem to be, not just surviving, but thriving.  Dealers that attacked the online marketplace have been pushing forward.  Others waited to begin exercising their muscles until recently and realize their muscles have atrophied.  They are stuck on a treadmill, not going anywhere fast, just trying to keep their feet under them and stick with the pack.

As we all know, cold weather doesn’t always bring volume sales with it, but springtime is most certainly the best time to flex your digital muscles and try out some new strengthening programs.  During these last couple of months, our industry has been outperforming expectations.  (Our DealerKnows clients sure were doing that as well).  We, as an industry, have been moving units and trying to keep up with the basics of eCommerce:  Keep the website updated, inventory merchandised well, stay atop the search engines, play with social media, and handle leads/calls responsibly.  Well, we already know that we don’t always do these activities perfectly so I implore you to step outside your normal training regimen and focus on some new exercises.  These are the basics that help you strengthen your core.  The goal is to make sure you are properly maintaining your digital self by training on getting better at these basics.

As I sit here mid-March, having just returned from Dallas where I spoke on behalf of the Chrysler Southwest Business Center, with my Vice President, Bill Playford, in Austin for the SXSW Conference, I see some great things happening online. We all see Google changing their algorithms every week it seems.  Some changes are being made that will drastically affect how you are seen on the search engines.  Can I just say – Pay Attention to Your Google Maps and Google Places.  Start now.  Take the time while it is still a little cold outside (if you don’t live in the south) and flesh out your Google Accounts profile.  Explore those tools available to you.

As it is with all conditioning programs (so I’ve heard… I’m in no personal condition to talk exercise for real) that what you put into your body is just as important as the energy you put out.  As you prepare for the warmer months, look closely at the ingredients/vendors you are filling your diet with.  Are these really the right things to be consuming?  Were your eyes bigger than your wallet during the fall and winter months that you may have signed on for unsuccessful or underdeveloped programs/tools?   It might be time to trim a little of the fat out of your dealership diet and see if you can replace it with something organic… homegrown…. Do-it-yourself initiatives.  It’s the living room TaeBo work-out of in-dealership exercises.

Lastly, database marketing is well overlooked at most stores.  If your sales team is no longer busy brushing snow off cars or coffee-clutching, put them on the cycle and have them reach out to past customers.  If it takes you bringing in a new tool to data-mine your DMS, do it.  Auto dealers have endless opportunities for sales, service and parts if they only mined that gold that is sitting in their DMS. This is the Bowflex of internet opportunities.  A vendor and your staff must data mine for your loyal customers’ information, capture email addresses, utilize technology to review buying trends of the customers and develop targeted email campaigns to reach, convert, and attract those customers back into their store.  And beyond technology, just give them a call.  Wish them a ‘Happy St. Patrick’s Day’ personally.  That type of commitment to customer service goes a long way.

So if you are reading this and you realize the leads have remained a little stagnant from the slow winter months, less customers are walking in, and the phones aren’t ringing as abundantly, don’t sit back and wait.  Get up and exercise your digital muscles.  You may find yourself getting stronger during a time when you least expect it.  The digital cardio you perform now will allow you to keep you healthy and give you the energy to keep moving forward in the future.

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What Type of Dealership Are You? Technology-driven People or People-driven Technology?

Friday, January 21st, 2011

It seems as if all dealerships I visit or coach share one of two operational models. They either choose to be Technology-driven people or People-driven technology.

Allow me to explain the two.

Technology-driven people work for those dealerships that have decided to employ the more advanced technologies in their dealerships in a hope that the tools will help make the sales team stronger. This tends to be a top-down philosophy where management makes it a point to cause the culture shift to the progressive and online.

People-driven technology is where the dealership focuses on the utilization of the tools they employ. They don’t bring in the most advanced technologies, but still with those “oldies-but-goodies” platforms that salespeople are comfortable with because the user interface hasn’t changed in years. Dealers anticipate the culture of the store will grow to be more technologically-sound over time as the skills of the employees increase naturally from usability.

Let’s keep this centered on CRMs (though websites can certainly be part of this discussion later). I ask you, do you think that to succeed in the online marketplace, it is better to have cutting edge technology at your store where the employees don’t use many of the functions or is it better to have old-faithful CRM on the desks because the employees know it well and use it to its fullest – even if its fullest isn’t all that great?

I see both sides. I can admit that technology-assisted people, if the software is set up correctly, should outperform people-assisted technology because the better tools allow for more contemporary contact methods with today’s consumers. Strong technology helps take much of the human error out of the equation. Progressive tools will work for you instead of you working hard to make the technology work. (Yes, you don’t have to remind me that management should reinforce the importance of CRM utilization.)

On the other hand, putting in a progressive, new-age, comprehensive CRM or desking software can sometimes be an albatross around the neck of your sales team and destines them to fail. Before you consider switching from an old system to a new, shiny object, ask yourself if the sales team is maximizing the technology they already have. If not, you could likely be in for more of the same (but with a much higher cost for the new tools). Feeling like you need the “latest and greatest” to be successful is a common pitfall that affects sales team morale and your budget, if you don’t train your staff on the importance of the technology.

The technology you employ in your store – New or Old – Futuristic or Dated – should assist with both accountability AND management (if used correctly). Your dealership is your livelihood and the tools AND training you give your team will determine their success and their paycheck. A soldier doesn’t go into battle without first knowing the intricacies of their weapons. A sales team is no different. They must learn those tools or management must make it a requirement to do so. Let me know your opinion. Do you think, in today’s world, a dealer can afford to live without the best tools available? Or is it better to focus on improving how you use what you have and go without some of the new and improved functionality and power?

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The Four Basic Food Groups – DealerKnows Consulting

Sunday, November 28th, 2010

It was around third grade when the teacher pulled the class together and educated us on the four basic food groups.  Much like many a youngster, we were disappointed to learn that Gobstoppers and licorice rope were not on the list of “important foods”, but we all celebrated when we realized that a slice of pepperoni pizza included 4 of the 4 categories.  Score!  We could get all the nutrition we needed from Pizza Hut.

Not too long ago, a fifth food group was added called Oil, Fat, and Sweets.  These are the junk food offerings that may look and taste delectable, but do nothing for us.  As time has passed, I’ve realized that you really can survive on just the basic food groups.  Sure, I definitely dip into those sinful snacks that don’t make their way into the old-school nutritional pyramid – look at me and you realize that – but I’ve still accepted that it is possible for people to get by and even thrive on the basics.

Your online advertising is no different.  There is a ton of junk food out there being advertised to dealers.  They tell you “it will taste delicious if you just try it.”  Or “Take a bite, you’ll love it.”  As we know, though, after looking back at the Return on Investment scale, these little treats just pack on pounds and add to the fat of your online budget.  They are there to entice you and direct your focus away from those “important” digital food sources that help your dealership thrive.

There really are four basic food groups of automotive digital marketing.  These are the four essential items needed to exist and succeed as an online entity.  (And I will not include human capital or training in this mix even though well-prepared people are the most important factor).

Websites (with all the fixings)
CRM
Lead Providers
Online brand advertising/merchandising

1)       Websites (with all the fixings)
These are the Grains of your online buffet of offerings.  It is where energy is created and your online livelihood begins.  You must have an attractive, easy-to-navigate website that acts as your primary internet presence.  It has to be one-click away from everything important to your customers – inventory, pricing, availability, directions, contact info, value statement, specials, incentives and offers.  However, your website cannot do it all alone. The “Fixin’s” must be added on.  Think of them as vitamins that convert this food to energy.  These conversion tools must be readily available on your website.  Some important add-ons, in my opinion, are a trade evaluator, a strong Finance App/Get approved conversion tool, and live chat.  (Quick quote requests on the homepage are just a good place to get mystery shopped so keep them next to your inventory.)

And the second, and most important side item you must have with your website meal is SEO/SEM.  We know your customers are searching and surfing for their next vehicle so you need to be where the people are…. on the search engines.   Much of your SEO is not just from fresh content on your own primary site(s), but from multiple off-site channels – business listings, blogs, video (yes, I included video in with SEO/SEM even though video is one of my own personal favorite foods), press releases, social media, etc.  While SEO, on- and off-site can get your site found on 20-30 (and with microsites more) keyword specific searches on sites, SEM can get you found on 1,000+ so you cannot overlook the power of being in more places.  SEM gives you that added energy.

2)      CRM
Your customer relationship management tool is the Dairy.  It provides the strength to your internet sales goals.  A strong CRM should be able (in this day and age) to do a few key things that will allow you to rise above your competitors.  Your CRM should allow you to create automated follow up emails/triggers set by the minute and hour (not just Next Day or 2 Day options, etc, but by the minute, by the event).  It should allow you to send video (not just links, but embedded, clean-looking video boxes in your emails).  It should be able to have some custom reporting capabilities that measure things such as cost per sale, ROI, average response time, emails opened, appointment show and closing ratios among countless others.  It is the second most vital tool you can have at your disposal and, if consumed correctly, helps your body grow more than any other.

3)      Lead Providers
Protein.  Simple as that.  It gives you the consistent, incoming fuel that lets your dealership keep moving the internet scale of success forward.  In some cases, your websites supply all of the leads your body can handle, but often some basic lead providers (Cars.com and AutoTrader come to mind) give you the added shot in the arm to make you stand tall against any and all competitors.

4)      Online Brand Advertising/Merchandising
Your online advertising is like fruits and vegetables.  An afterthought.  If a child or simple-minded adult prepares the meal – it will be forgotten.  Grown-ups, however, recognize its importance.  Once you’ve taken bites of the first three food groups, you need to advertise your dealership, your specials, your people, your brand, your value proposition, and your inventory to the public and let them know that your online body is open for business.  In ALL of your advertising and marketing, you must be doing everything possible to direct them to either your website or your CRM.

And recognize that you need to fill your dealership with the best vitamins and minerals money can buy.  Taking in the vehicle nutrients that others NEED and actively seek out will empower you.  Brand your body with the right inventory at the right price and market it to the public at the correct price point.  In other words, merchandise yourself using a strong inventory management tool AND a vehicle market analysis tool.  These are the many varieties of the fruits and vegetables you should be putting on your plate.

As I mentioned, you can go online or visit any of the major automotive conferences such as NADA, the Digital Dealer Conference, or Driving Sales Executive Summit and find a menu of delectable dishes to eat.  The exhibit halls alone are a virtual Cheesecake Factory of edible options – some healthy and some not so.  After eating the digital food of choice, some will make you walk out feeling refreshed and powerful while others may make you sit at home holding your stomach and begging to take the hurt away.  Every food can affect you differently.  Some are essential to your survival and some are overpriced wastes of money that will clog your online sales arteries.

I’ve heard people say, after ordering more food than they can handle “My eyes were too big for my stomach”.  Well, dealers are ordering online offerings with their eyes opposed to their stomachs.  So look closely at the food you are consuming.  Are you stuffing your face with the food that will help you thrive and stay healthy in today’s online economic automotive marketplace (or TOEAM – for a worthless acronym that will never take hold) or are you only devouring the digital junk being served to you that has no nutritional value?  Know that it’s okay to nibble at the bad stuff if it tastes good and makes you happy.  Just don’t ever lose focus of the four basic food groups that make your internet sales body strong.

For a full evaluation of your dealership’s diet of digital sustenance, contact DealerKnows Consulting at 847-456-5130.

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Validation and Fruition

Thursday, March 4th, 2010

I’ve actively commented on two other great, current blog posts on ADM.FM – one by Bryan Armstrong and one from Todd Smith. This post is a marrying of the two topics – Vendor Relationships and Social Media Best Practices. Toward the end of this post, you will learn of a specific social media & CRM enhancement that a vendor (Vin Solutions) put into their CRM based on my suggestion – that ties into its own best practice – and something you should get your CRMs to implement as well. Let me preface that this is not a “Pimp Fest” but an experience I recently had that I valued and hopefully gives you a hint onto what you should do/look for in your lead management.

When on the retail side, I trained my BDC team to deconstruct every inbound lead that they received. (This is a practice that is not done near enough in most dealerships I’ve found). I believe in maximizing every lead. You must drill down and read into the lead, picking apart the information they’ve provided and then, by being proactive, search for information about them that will help you build rapport.

Every lead that came into my CRM would be deconstructed. My team would Google search the name of the prospect and search for them on the social networking sites. Now let me preface, THIS IS NOT THE TIME TO REQUEST A CONNECTION/FRIENDSHIP. You’ve done nothing to earn their friendship. This is solely meant to spy (so to speak) and glean as much information about them as possible so you can, in turn, attempt to carefully build a little rapport (without divulging that you had researched them).

This, I believe, is just one best practice that social networking has provided us. This piggybacks off of what Todd Smith of ActivEngage said that dealers are attempting to connect with potential customers much too soon. However, if you implement this practice I taught/teach, it allows you to use these sites as a resource for you to help mold and shape your customer correspondence.

Now let me tie in Bryan Armstrong’s blog about the importance of vendor relations and how having the right, proactive vendor is important.

While on the retail side, I used a very detailed, comprehensive, expensive CRM – that I loved. However, over the course of a year, I submitted 47 tickets for enhancements/improvements. Not for support, but enhancements to be made. Being a hands-on Internet Director that was a self-proclaimed expert in my field, I felt that I was playing the role of the CRM vendor’s eyes on the street. I gave them the much needed, in-the-trenches, experience to help them improve their system for other dealers. Invaluable information. Now ask me how many of the 47 were implemented… NONE. Not one. In a year.

Now I am on the training/consulting side and I get to experiment/play with/manipulate many CRMs and websites. I had a three store group with Vin Solutions and became a fan of their product (much like Bryan Armstrong was touting.) As I said before, I do not want this post to be considered a “Pimp Fest”, but I want to tell you of an experience I had that I valued.
One my own dime, I went down to Overland Park Kansas (from Chicago) to be trained on the Vin Solutions software at their headquarters. I figured, it was worth the money for the trip because I would know how to manipulate the system for my dealer clients – showing them a better return from their CRM solutions.

While training – and if you know me, you know how very outspoken and confident I am – I told them there were 5 things their CRM needed to do, but didn’t. (I expected this to me similar to my last experience where I provided a recipe for an enhancement and it was overlooked.) Vin invited me to their Dealer Advisory board meeting in Orlando before NADA and I attended. As I walked in, Matt Watson, their CTO and code-writing genius, walked up to me and said, “We’re going to show you a bunch of enhancements we are rolling out on our software…oh, and the five things you suggested, they are in there and up and running.” In just a month and a half, Vin Solutions input ALL FIVE of my requests!

There is one specifically I want to hail. One, that I will tout as my own, is an automatic link on every single customer lead’s profile that links the ISM to that customer’s social networking profiles (if they have one) to help deconstruct the lead. It doesn’t take you off the page, but helps you dramatically increase what you know (and can learn) about your e-lead prospects. This is a massive time-saver and a best practice that should not be overlooked. If you don’t have Vin Solutions and have no interest in switching providers, I urge you to contact your current CRM provider and have them create this enhancement for you (in a month and a half). You will see your appointment-to-show and closing ratios rise dramatically.

Since it has been put in, and before Bryan Armstrong left his last post, he told me how that feature – on its first day available to his team – was used to sell an extra car that day. How fulfilling is that for little old me? That is called VALIDATION and FRUITION my friends. I only hope you can experience the same journey with your ideas and vendors married together.

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Saving Deals

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

I recently sat through a vendor’s webex presentation. It was another in a long line of sales pitches looking for some product endorsement and sales referrals. In this case, their product was designed to help dealerships “save a deal”. This technology, embedded into the CRM and desking modules of our lives, have been available for quite some time. The thought-process of looking back on yesterday’s opportunities to make a deal for today has been around forever, though. Nothing new here.

The challenge of “saving deals” has not been the inability to commoditize those deals needing saving into a software, but it is changing the overall mindset of management. (Granted, having a tech solution to funnel this deal info and print it into reports is exceedingly helpful nowadays). First and foremost, the biggest challenge of saving deals is that management simply has never created the processes necessary to make it a standard way of life within the dealership.

Here are the two most effective ways to save deals that I’ve found while involves just a little effort and time from multiple departments.

1) You must institute daily meetings to ensure that no stone is unturned and no customer is lost without trying twice. Your management staff should collectively review the previous day’s in-store and online opportunities (preferably pulling a detailed report quickly from a CRM module that gathers the data automatically for you) and meet every morning. They should hold daily meetings with F&I to determine necessary actions to finish off any unclosed deals and hold a brief 5-minute one-on-one meeting with each individual sales representative to discuss what can be done to convert lost customers into be-back sales.

2) The second most important step to saving deals is having your Business Development Center be the backstop for your dealership. There are ways technologically to ensure your sales people are making their follow-up calls to past and recent customers, but you have no way of knowing if it was the salesperson that may have prevented the deal closing in the first place. Use your BDC staff to act as a Customer Care Center and let them be a second voice at the dealership for your customers. When you have someone else reaching out to your customers, you are ensuring that no customer is being discarded by a salesperson and you are opening another channel for that customer to discuss a potential deal.

So remember, a dedicated policy of saving deals requires effort from your management, F&I, Sales and BDC teams, but it will all be well-worth it come month’s end.

Joe Webb - Automotive Internet Sales Trainer - DealerKnows Consulting

Joe Webb - Automotive Internet Sales Trainer - DealerKnows Consulting

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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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