Posts Tagged ‘digital marketing’

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People Don’t Want to “Like” You

Tuesday, August 9th, 2011

You are a dealership. Most people don’t like the thought of visiting you. Through the years, a good majority of everyone who drives cars has had a frustrating experience at a dealership. Maybe not yours, but they’ve had a bad taste put in their mouths by others. They don’t want to be your friend, they just want to be serviced by you.

I don’t believe that in all of my (coughing) years I ever heard a normal person stand up for a car dealership’s reputation as another besmirches it in conversation. I’ve never heard “Hey! You leave XYZ Motors out of this. They are great people – the lot of them!” No. Doesn’t happen. When a dealers’ name is raked over the coals by an unhappy party, it is commonly accepted as unfortunate and realistic. So when you ask someone to “Like” you on FB, is it for reasons personally worthy to a customer?

My guess is, short of thinking they are going to win an iPad/TV or receive coupons for service, many could honestly go without seeing your customer reviews, pictures of happy customers, videos of salespeople, and alerts of the “big sale”. These things don’t carry much weight with most.

Try to tap into what people REALLY care about. Get your dealership involved in the community. Sponsor Little League teams, attend the Chamber of Commerce meetings to network, give to charities and participate in their local events, get involved in the local schools and help run food drives, car washes, etc. Give, give, and give to the philanthropies in your area.

Then… simply document (film, photograph, and blog) all of your involvements. Be a spectator to the events and video your participation. Those are the elements worthy of being shared socially. People don’t want to “Like” your dealership, but I guarantee you that someone in your community feels pretty strongly tied to things such as Breast Cancer Awareness events or the local Special Olympics. THOSE are organizations close to their heart. Your dealership likely will never be. However, if you can just tap into (and honestly serve) those entities that are meaningful to some, you will at least be in the right company. You will start feeling more goodwill toward you because you yourself have given something back.

I’ve accomplished a lot in automotive retail, but I am more proud of the hands I’ve shook and the smiles I’ve made happen when participating in local community events than any metric I’ve reached. If you want to make a difference and be “Like”able, then start by serving the community’s efforts before your own.

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Posted in Blog, Social Media/Reputation Management | No Comments »



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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Posted in Blog, Competitive Edge, Technology | No Comments »



It’s Not an Internet Sale

Monday, December 13th, 2010

There are two ways for dealerships to look at Internet Sales. 

Some believe that an Internet Sale is a customer that originated as a lead and is sold by your ISM or Internet team.  Since it is sold by the “Internet person”, it is an Internet Sale.  Others believe an Internet Sale is every vehicle bought by a customer who was primarily influenced by information/resources found online.  Dealers tend to structure their pay plans based on the first scenario even though industry leaders preach that to properly dedicate your advertising budget, you have to track and recognize the latter.

So… it’s about Sourcing.  Dedicate energy to training your team on sourcing and designing a way to truly capture a customer’s influencing motive.  Was it the radio ad running during lunch times that brought the customer in or influenced their decision to choose you as a dealership?  Could it be your service department that takes care of them so well?  Or might it have been the two hours they spent online before walking into your showroom unannounced, but prepared?  Don’t you feel it is imperative to know this before you set next month’s advertising budget?

Make sure your team is closely monitoring the sources from where your customers are coming.  You must be sourcing correctly before you hold anyone accountable for ROI.  If a lead is from your website’s Inventory page, you want to know.  If it is from your Inventory listed on Cars.com, you want to know as well.  If it is because they are a previous customer, you want to know.  Some will be internet sales and some will not be… we all recognize that.  However, many sales that appear to be your old-fashioned walk-in or phone up could very well be an Internet sale.  You just don’t know it until you source correctly.

Now let me give you ONE exception of something that looks like an Internet Sale, but in my opinion, isn’t.  (And this will end up being another challenge to a website vendor).  If a customer calls into your dealership from the number on your website’s header, I don’t consider that an Internet Sale.  Not unless they were perusing your site’s back pages before calling the number at the top.  We must realize that a website’s header is today’s white pages.  People don’t check the yellow book in their pantry anymore.  They go to your dealership site and pull the number from there.  If a customer calls after only visiting your homepage, I don’t believe you should count that as an Internet Sale – no matter who handled the call. 

NOW – If a website provider wants to figure out a way to have one specific, trackable number on the homepage’s website header, but a different toll-free number on each back-page website header THEN I believe we could truly source website calls as Internet Sales.  Not until.  If you are a website vendor who does this, please reach out on this post.  If you are someone tracking your store’s Internet Sales, I’d love to hear your opinion on what is and isn’t an Internet Sale at your store.

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Posted in Blog, Understanding Internet Sales | No Comments »



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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DealerKnows Consulting Introduces Automotive eCommerce Expert Bill Playford as Vice President

Thursday, June 24th, 2010
DealerKnows Consulting, an Automotive Internet Sales Training firm, officially announced eCommerce expert, Bill Playford, as their new Vice President today.

Joe Webb, President and Founder of DealerKnows Consulting said “I couldn’t be more pleased to have someone of Bill’s caliber and reputation join my DealerKnows team. He brings a level of in-the-trenches know-how that is often unmatched in most automotive digital marketing professionals and he is one of the few that is as passionate about this industry as I am.” 

Vice President of DealerKnows Consulting

Vice President of DealerKnows Consulting

Playford continues, “Joe Webb and I have known each other for several years and fast became friends. We share a deep-seeded desire to change the way vehicles are bought and sold. We understand that people buy cars from people. We also know that with practice and dedication, the car business cannot only be financially rewarding, but also a way to create friends (and clients) for life. These shared philosophies, coupled with our experience with dealers and vendors, will allow us to continue to offer world-class consulting to our dealer clients.”

Bill brings a decidedly different skill set to the DealerKnows team. While spending the last three years working for Trilogy, Bill played an instrumental role in launching three new retail solutions for the domestic and international market. He adds a depth of knowledge of vendor technology, and its effective implementation at the dealer level. Moreover, he brings the experience of working for one of the most successful privately owned technology companies in the world.

Having recently served as Director of Retail Operations for Trilogy’s SmartLeads program, Bill brings intimate knowledge of lead acquisition, lead quality, lead scoring, and lead segmentation. In the process of adding nearly 150 dealers and over 350 franchises to beta test Trilogy’s lead scoring and lead prioritization software, Bill helped dealers develop successful ways to efficiently acquire and convert third party leads. His efforts were reflected in OEM and dealer group adoption of the SmartLeads lead purchasing program.

As the Vice President of DealerKnows Consulting, Bill will be dedicating his time to the Virtual Dealer Training program recently launched by the company’s founder, Joe Webb. “I couldn’t be more excited to have Bill Playford take the reigns of an already successful program like our Virtual Dealer Training. Clients on our Virtual Dealer Training program have been seeing huge jumps in their online business and Bill’s involvement will only help us grow our virtual offerings and assist more dealerships.” Webb says.

“Throughout my career in the car business, I’ve come to grasp that training (or lack there of) is the root cause of many issues that plague both car dealerships and customers, alike. Many new retail hires lack the perspective and understanding that it takes to experience success. Workload, turnover, management shuffles, and egos tend to impede training from within. Expense, consistency, and timing tend to preclude training from outside. Hiring an “expert” to run the operation is often cost prohibitive, or just not practical. The end result is that training is viewed as a good idea, but too hard to coordinate, and thus put on the shelf. “Playford states.

“Since cloning is not yet a convenient solution,” he continues,” virtual training provides the means to train retail staff conveniently, and cost effectively. A dealer doesn’t know what’s going happen in the eight weeks after they book a consultant, and when the consultant shows up. Incentives change randomly, which can radically affect staff availability. Consultants typically aren’t local, and they surely don’t come for free. Hiring an experienced Internet director can be extremely expensive, and may yield mixed results. Virtual training provides the means to get a dealer’s staff on track, and keep them there- all at an incremental cost. With the DealerKnows training program and client base already in place, this allows us the opportunity as a team to continue carrying the torch toward a more progressive way to virtually educate and consult dealers.”

Prior to joining the SmartLeads team, Playford spent six years developing “click to buy” initiatives, catering to car buyers who are no longer interested in purchasing vehicles the traditional way. Over the course of eighteen months Bill’s team at Trilogy developed and launched a web buying service for the nation’s largest publicly traded auto-group, as well as the developed of a web specific, OEM backed, buying service for the international market.

Like the rest of the DealerKnows team, Bill also brings front line experience to the table. Bill spent four years at one of the first Internet dealers in the country. Building on what he learned from the best, Bill was among the first to launch an analytics program to ensure his dealer was delivering the right message to the right customer. His research directly led to the creation of association-specific buying programs, neighborhood level marketing programs, as well as cost saving lead optimization strategies. His pioneering geographic and demographic specific targeting methodology was also noticed by KBB, where he served on its inaugural Dealer Advisory Panel.

Bill is extremely passionate about automotive ecommerce and says his goal is to share his sales, marketing, and product development skills to help dealers sell more cars, and add customers for life.”I’m truly excited to be joining the DealerKnows team.” Playford states. “Having spent the last few years developing technology, I’ve come to the realization that even the best technology cannot reach its full potential if it is not being used properly. After much careful consideration, I decided I to rededicate myself to helping people sell cars.”

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Mastering the Fine Art of Stick-to-it-ivness

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

In my time, I’ve come across many great eCommerce minds working in dealerships across the country. A few are recognized for their gift and contribution. A good majority are unappreciated and overlooked. The rest, no matter how dedicated, work in dealerships with limited resources and management that might seem stuck in the last century. More than likely, if you are reading this, you fall into one of the latter categories.

My advice to you? Stick with it. You are not alone. All experts were once where you are today. Often you feel like, no matter how much you want to grow your knowledge or your store’s online presence, it will go unnoticed. In some cases, you may even have your hands tied from improving your dealership’s online profitability. I repeat myself. Stick with it.

Keep reading the blogs/forums/magazines/e-newsletters. If you must, pay your own way to a conference or seminar. Employ the strategies that you feel will be most effective, even if you haven’t been given the green light. (I’m not trying to get you in trouble, but you and I both know that your boss at the top doesn’t have the know-how to monitor your activity in the CRM so your results will be the only indicator that something is different. If you’re right, you win.)

Stick-to-it-ivness is an art. A fine art. It is the Mona Lisa of resilience. In this industry, as brain damage is thrust upon you and more work is laid in your lap than necessary, staying determined to improve yourself and your store is a tall order. We know how easy it would be to follow the orders from the top… phone it in, essentially. It would be easy to follow their antiquated orders on how to connect with internet customers. You could continue to hit mediocre metrics and be safe. The people in power and not “in-the-know” will let you do (what you know is) the wrong things. You can listen to their old-school demands, turn in an average performance and make them think you are doing your job.

Don’t. Fight the urge. Stick to growing. Stick to improving. Stick to experimenting. Stick to enhancing everything you do and then learning more.

It may put you in the sights of management, which can be an uncomfortable place to be, but if you are as passionate about this automotive Internet landscape as the rest of us, you’ll only end up happier by following the path to improvement. No matter if “the man” has got you down, I urge you to master the fine art of stick-to-it-ivness. It will define you.

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The Dealer Internet Battle Plan promo

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010


The Dealer Internet Battle Plan seminar in Atlantic City NJ is bringing together Jim Ziegler, Joe Webb, Tim Jennings and Ralph Paglia to give a once-in-a-lifetime workshop on the best practices of automotive internet marketing. It is not a joke… you must be thinking, ” Lego my leg… it’s to good to be true.” It IS true. Four of the top auto industry experts in sales, marketing, video, social media, and internet training joining forces on July 6-8th. Don’t miss out! And tell them Joe Webb, the Dealer Jedi, sent you.

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Are Your Emails Being Tivo’d?

Friday, May 7th, 2010

I bought a Tivo the very first month they were introduced in the market. I wanted to be a pioneer before an early adopter. I paid the $300+ one-time fee that was available to be granddaddied into the service for life. Shortly thereafter, they began charging a monthly subscription fee for those jumping on the bandwagon late – so I felt on top of the world for several years (until I switched over the a regular DVR). I haven’t watched commercials since. Never. I will pause a show, find something to do, and return just to fast forward it. I hate advertisements. Now stick with me here as I connect this, as per usual, in my stream of consciousness way.

Dealers ask me to mystery shop them frequently and give them my assessment of their email templates. Over time, I’ve found that dealers are pushing to be more progressive, more professional, in the emails they are sending out to customers.

In the past, emails were sent in plain text, easily read, the occasional spelling error mixed in. Then we began including banners of the dealerships for branding and pictures of the Internet Sales Managers thrown in for good measure. Today, templates have involved into flashy, overdesigned advertisements.

I understand why dealers have paid vendors for these jazzy versions of email responses. They want to appear to be as sophisticated to their consumers as possible and they’re looking for some conformity for all of their templates.

Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but I believe these glittery, some say garish, email template advertisements being sent out (being paid for) are getting your customers to fast forward, to Tivo, past your emails. I check email much the way everyone else does, and when I see a bright, shiny picture to review – or worse, click to “show images” – I click past. There is very little value to me in an email that appears to be nothing more than a template advertisement. It is just like a commercial in need of skipping.
There are some consumers out there, I could imagine, that prefer these snazzy, ostentatious emails, but to most who take the time to submit an inquiry, they want a proper, personal email back. They don’t want something that looks as if it is an automated, showy response that is all glitz, no guts.

This is the same reason why some CRMs allow dealers to decide if they want their emails to be sent in html or plain text format. The same reason other CRMs let the dealers decide if they want to include the “opt-out” message or not to their automated templates.

Don’t get me wrong. I actively train to send dynamic video messages, include fun, personal pictures in the emails, and well-created e-Brochures. However, I also request that there are a variety of templates being sent. Specifically, in the initial emails sent, it is important they get through spam filters which is why a plain text email works best. It also seems that a customer would be more willing to read something being sent from a person than a computer system. (And I won’t even delve into the content being sent – which is just as important.)

So put yourself in your customers’ shoes. Sit in their living room and flip open the laptop. Mystery shop yourself and determine if your emails are coming across as emails or getting fast-forwarded like commercials. Do the templates look like the normal spam emails you receive and automatically delete? If so, change the design of what you’re emailing. Don’t let your prospects Tivo past the value propositions you are sending.

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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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Your Social Networking Resolution

Sunday, January 10th, 2010

Your Social Networking Resolution: What’s Your Plan or What’s Your Budget?

With the new year upon us, it is time we sit down and determine the ROI of our past (and recent) online marketing initiatives. What has worked for you? What hasn’t? What is your social networking resolution?

Are you going to dedicate your financial resources (ad budget) to the failed or fledgling programs of yesteryear or try your hand at all of the digital marketing tactics you read so much about daily? If it isn’t working, at what point do you cut ties, end your relationship with the old school vendors, and spend time on a more worthy venture such as social media?

If you want to succeed on a social networking landscape, you must first put yourself in your customer’s shoes. You must share their mindset. “What is in it for them?” you have to ask yourself. You need to show a benefit to the consumer for joining you on these networking sites. Stop worrying about what is important to you and start realizing what is important to your audience. This is the greatest obstacle for almost every dealer with a Twitter and Facebook account right now. So few have any idea what the hell to do with them! Remember, your customers are likely on these sites for personal reasons so recognize that it is called SOCIAL networking, not “business” networking.

I’ll tell you – to do it right, you must learn how to educate, engage, and entertain your audience with multiple forms of media and user-generated content to increase customer retention, brand awareness, and positive consumer reviews all while creating interactive, VIP-styled discount/deal/contest programs to elicit referrals, responses, and business. By the way, you can’t be too intrusive, pushy, overwhelming, or generic. Let me tell you… easier said than done. The “doing” takes time, knowledge, dedication, and commitment. More than most dealers are willing to dedicate.

A year ago and a half ago, you could say that social media is still early in its evolution and could have spent time figuring out the best practices on your own. Today, it is too late to experiment. You are losing market share every single time another one of your competitors joins the social site community. You no longer have the luxury to play around and wait to find out the best practices of the medium. If you are behind the social networking times, you have to make a resolution. You’ll need to either rededicate some advertising budget to training – someone who can give you a jump start on the best practices of the platform – or farm out your entire social networking campaigns to a company or group able to control your presence in this online marketplace. Or if you wanted to spend even more money, hire a professional to do it on-site full-time. I don’t know anyone who does the latter, but DealerKnows Consulting based out of Chicago and our Preferred Partners around the nation can assist you with your social media management needs.

So I ask you…what is your Social Networking Resolution? Do you have a plan? If not, you better have a budget.

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