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Posts Tagged ‘Training’

How Costly is Your Haircut? A Guide to Finding Internet Training

Monday, October 24th, 2011

People view the services they receive in different ways. Some want immediate service so they find those businesses that can help them immediately. Some want high-class service with high-class ratings and results so they call ahead and set an appointment. They recognize they can afford to wait.

This is not meant to be a gripe session or make DealerKnows sound cocky, stuck-up, or ungrateful. We are talking about a rewiring of how dealers should go about considering future partnerships… be it Internet training or choosing where to get their haircut. We believe people should expect more from the service companies they choose and not rush to a decision. Patience, they say, is a virtue.

DealerKnows Consulting certainly doesn’t take on every single dealer client that reaches out to us for training. Several factors come into play before we determine whether or not it will be a fruitful partnership for both parties. However, recently, two different clients that engaged DealerKnows for their training needs turned away because we “just can’t get to the store fast enough.”

Let it be known that DealerKnows Consulting is not Supercuts. If you want to partner with an Internet training company that is obviously in such low demand that they can begin training the next day, I believe you need to reevaluate what you are looking for in a consulting partner. We do typically book out 3-4 weeks in advance, but please understand, that isn’t an indictment of our level of service, but a testimonial toward it. If you walk into a Supercuts for a haircut, to save either time or money, understand that results may vary.

We are more of a boutique salon. Every customer is different and every “stylist” here is well-trained to handle your individual, unique needs. That is why those customers that go to a Great Clips will go to any Great Clips and expect the same, average service. Those dealer clients that chose our salon of trainers in the past are now our evangelists. They wouldn’t go elsewhere.

Does waiting three to four weeks really affect the success of your non-existent Internet operation? It is 2011. I know you want to right a wrong immediately, but you’ve waited a minimum 10 years too long (and we are giving you a few years credit here) to get involved in digital so will another three weeks destroy your business? No. But choosing the wrong stylist might. You don’t wait until your wedding day to go dress shopping or the day of your 20 year high-school reunion to get your hair cut for the first time. Aligning with an Automotive Internet training company is no different. It is a process that you shouldn’t take lightly.

The only negative we’ve ever received (beyond the recent “you aren’t able to get here within the next few days so you aren’t in consideration”) was on the DrivingSales Vendor Ratings page where we have top marks across the board, but one person said a “con” to DealerKnows Consulting was that “you have to book in advance”. When someone is sought-after, I assure you it is rarely a bad thing.

If you are looking for a walk-in type service that will likely deliver fast food results, it is your choice. Understand, though, that you might end up walking out having received a real hatchet job and your appearance will look worse for it. So ask yourself… how costly could a bad haircut be? Sure, waiting a little while and setting an appointment or scheduling an event isn’t fun, but you do it – just like at the doctor’s office, lawyer, accountant, dentist, high-end hotels and restaurants, salons, heck, even fortune tellers – because you realize that they are professionals and you’re putting your livelihood in their hands. You can’t walk up to the gate and buy a ticket to see the Rolling Stones. They’ll be sold out. And you can’t complain about the lousy seats you get on the airplane when you were the last to call about tickets.

So as you look for a service to fulfill your needs, be it Internet training or hairstyling, decide how you want to look and feel when you are finished. Some people apparently want Supercuts. We are not Supercuts.

DealerKnows Consulting – 847-456-5130

Tags: "internet sales training", automotive, car dealer, car dealership, consultan, Consulting, dealerknows, dealerknows consulting, internet, internet trainer, joe Webb, sales, Training
Posted in Blog, Internet Sales Training | 2 Comments »

A Heaping of Thought for your BDC

Monday, October 3rd, 2011

Sometimes it is not the skills of your people that cause your store’s numbers to flatline. Sometimes your BDC is fledgling, not because their phone scripts are poor or that the technology is weak, but for the fact that they just don’t see the full impact their role plays in the organization.

When I train a dealership on-site, the first thing I do is impress upon their BDC and Internet Managers that their daily duties are greater than the tasks built out for them in the CRM. I believe that your BDC knows what is expected of them. They know they must answer the phone quickly with a positive tone. They understand the importance of asking either/or questions and going for the appointment. They see the value in being researched and giving the customers the answers to their questions.

The problem they have? They don’t do it every time because they don’t see the value and importance of each opportunity. Over time, leads become so customary that the people handling them don’t attach a true dollar value to each one. As time goes by and leads pour in, they become impersonal to some. It is not difficult for a BDC agent to overlook the importance of every lead and every appointment set, but the sales team is hit noticeably hard when the floor traffic slows down. You, as a manager, dealer principle, and owner must connect the dots and relay the big picture to your appointment-setting team. Sure, you can say that their job depends on it, but I like bringing things a little closer to home. Everyone can be empathetic.

Explain to your team that you know they have the skills to execute their job at a 10 on a 1 – 10 scale, but also know that they don’t perform that way for every opportunity. For every time they give an effort of a 5, they are likely costing the salesperson on the floor a chance to provide for their family.

I tell them “Your efforts, and the energy level and enthusiasm you bring to each and every call or lead opportunity, determines whether or not “Greg” on the floor has to look his son in the eyes while at Target shopping toward month’s end and explain to him why he can’t buy him the toy that he so desperately wants. He has to look like less of a person sometimes in his child’s eyes only because the BDC didn’t give their best effort every time to drive in all of the traffic they could have.”

It is not scripts or tools or templates all of the time. It is the abundance of opportunities that go unvalued. One less appointment set means nothing to your BDC team, but one less sale here and there can mean the world to a salesperson. And to their family.

Relay this. Make sure you put a heaping of thought on your BDC’s shoulders and they understand the ripple effect. Their bad mood or lack of energy and focus truly has an impact on how a good person lives their life. Hopefully they will take more ownership of each and every gift they’ve been given.

Tags: "heaping of thought", automotive, BDC, Consulting, dealerknows, dealership, importance, joe Webb, roles, Training
Posted in BDC/Internet Department Structure, Blog | No Comments »

It’s Not the Length, But How You Use It

Wednesday, September 28th, 2011

Let’s talk about quality, not quantity. It is the only true way to measure greatness. No matter what position you were in, how good you were during it is more important than how long it lasted. It’s not the length, but how you use it. To flesh this out, before there are any misconceptions, I must say that how long you have been in your current role at your dealership is not important. It is what you have been able to achieve.

As I travel around the nation meeting Internet professionals, I’m am starting to see more and more people who are puffing out their chest and walking with a bit of a strut because they are the top dog at their dealership. They must be great because they’ve been there for so long. One individual recently told me “I’ve been doing Internet since 1995 so I must be doing something right if I’m still here.” No. No, you are wrong. If you have been exploring (and commanding) this space for 16 years and you are still in the same position, maybe there is still some room to move and improve. Stagnant water never thinks it’s a tidal wave.
A good friend of mine in the industry always said “Don’t confuse activity with accomplishment. Just because someone has done the job doesn’t guarantee that they are any good at it.” In other words, if you want to walk around with that air of authority and confidence, you better have achieved some impressive results. You better have some statistical, documented data backing up the fact that you are as great as you think you are before you walk around high and mighty. The longevity in a position does not prove that you have been successful at it. It just means that you are serviceable. Just because you have had your Internet title for 10 years doesn’t mean you are an industry leader and captain. It means you’ve been a dedicated soldier. Don’t go giving yourself medals because you have battle scars. You need to have been given them for all of your battle victories.
So, I urge you to be open-minded when you attend these upcoming automotive conferences. Listen and learn at these events the same way even the true industry experts do. The time of servitude at your dealership doesn’t play a role in how well you’ve performed during it. Your success cannot be quantified in years, but with accomplishments. Your 20 years spent in this industry at your desk might have awarded you the ability to come to a conference, but it doesn’t prove that you know all. For a few days in October, I ask you to become a student. There is always room to grow.

Tags: automotive, conference, dealer, dealerknows, internet, joe Webb, length, Training
Posted in Blog, Internet Sales Training | No Comments »

Let it Rain

Sunday, September 18th, 2011

How long do you follow up with your Internet leads? What about your inbound phone calls that you haven’t set appointments for? You might answer these questions with numbers from 90 to 120. 15 to 30. 60 days. Forever. You answer this way because that is the process you built in your CRM. Allow me to tell you that this isn’t happening.

There is one thing a CRM cannot do and that is stop your sales team from taking the easy way out. (That takes management). My team actively mystery shops dealers all year long and the one guarantee we can make is that the majority of leads are flipped to a CRM status that automatically cancels your ongoing follow-up process.

You might have a 90-day process in place, but I promise you that, without management looking, a good majority of your leads are being flipped to “Lost” or “Bad Lead” or “Out of Market” because it is simply too easy for your salespeople to end the cycle. Even if alerts are set up in the system that catch leads switched to “Lost”, it takes someone diligently holding feet to the fire and ensuring leads aren’t trashed for no reason. The path of least resistance is taken with your leads far more often than the lead management process is allowed to do its job.

You must train your people as to why the processes should run. Allow the automated emails (going out with their name on it after all) to fire. Maybe something in a latter email won’t offend, but entice. Maybe the topic of a 75-day email reaches them at the right time and engages rather than annoys. Your salespeople don’t always know their buying trends so they shouldn’t be allowed to cease the processes you put in place.

Over the last year, we at DealerKnows had over 400 mystery shops performed – and that doesn’t include the CRM email correspondence policing we do for our own dealers. We also create and customize templates and long-term follow-up processes for our dealers. Even with this, we’ve seen that the average number of days before all communication from dealership to prospect ends is roughly 8. Eight days is the number of days the average dealership follows up with an Internet lead. Now I know that your processes are built out longer than that, so I urge you to train your sales team to let it go. Training and management will be the only way to stop them from dropping leads early.

Let the ongoing emails do their job. Let the scheduled outgoing phone calls be made. Let the automated alerts reach the customers. Nowadays, it takes more communication to sell vehicles, not less. Let your scheduled follow-up rain down on the consumers until they say no more. Otherwise you are wasting well spent money that could still be converted into a sale. So for that reason, I ask you to… let it rain.

Tags: "email follow-up", "let it rain", crm, dealerknows, dealerknows consulting, email templates, joe Webb, lead management, process, processes, templates, Training
Posted in Blog, Internet Lead Process | No Comments »

DealerKnows Consulting Continues Growth of their Team

Saturday, September 10th, 2011

DealerKnows Consulting is pleased to add seasoned industry professional, Melissa Roberts, to their growing team of Virtual Account Managers.

Melissa Roberts, a former Internet Sales Manager and BDC Manager in Worcester, Massachussets, had recently been a Phone Coach for DealerKnows preferred training partner, Phone Ninjas before coming aboard the DK team. As Phone Ninjas is a service utilized by DealerKnows, Melissa already had advanced knowledge of DK’s core philosophies and training regimen.

Joe Webb of DealerKnows states “I actively sought Melissa for our Virtual Account Manager position. Having someone of Melissa’s caliber that has experience navigating dealerships’ CRM tools and websites is imperative for our clients. I reached out to my good friend, Jerry Thibeau, owner of Phone Ninjas, and we felt there was an amicable way for her to jump aboard the DealerKnows team. Melissa is a phone guru, alright, but her primary goal will be keeping a watchful eye on what our clients are doing and helping truly mentor and train them on the best Internet sales processes around.

A woman in a male-dominated industry such as the car business isn’t always a sought-after task, but Melissa has been very successful on the retail side. In just three years as an Internet Manager, she personally handled all Internet sales inquiries for a multi-line auto group with two locations. While there, she increased the online sales traffic at Diamond Chevrolet by one hundred percent, online service traffic by 300%, and overall Internet sales by 100%. In the past, she created and managed two separate dealership Business Development Centers.

“People like Melissa, with her history of achievements and dedication to being meticulous and passionate about her craft, don’t come along very often and I am excited to bring her onto our Virtual Team. I also imagine that her experience will lend well to handling much of the software implementation we do for our clients so I expect she’ll have the title CRM guru before too long.” Bill Playford, VP of DealerKnows and partner of the Virtual Dealer Training position jokes.

DealerKnows is constantly growing their team and is always looking for talented individuals with true, documented success in retail automotive. As one of the leading training firms in the market, Melissa Roberts will be in a position to truly positively affect dealers on a one-to-one basis for the foreseeable future.

Melissa is excited herself when she says “From the moment I saw the DealerKnows Team in action in 2009, I knew I would soon be a part of it. Not just their best practices beliefs, but the method in which them continually work with their dealer clients in a very hands-on way is a breath of fresh air in our industry. I look forward to adding my expertise to an outstanding team of great people.”

Tags: bill playford, Consulting, dealerknows, dealership, internet sales, joe Webb, melissa roberts, Training
Posted in Articles, Potpouri | No Comments »

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

Tags: "Dealer Knows", activengage, automotive, car dealerships, consultant, Consulting, crm, dealerknows, joe Webb, lead management, live chat, trainer, Training
Posted in Blog, Gotta’ Share | No Comments »

Phone Ninja Training at a DealerKnows Client Adds to the Impressive Results

Thursday, August 18th, 2011

Joe Webb of DealerKnows Consulting reached out to his good friend and Preferred Training Partner, Jerry Thibeau, of Phone Ninjas for another tag team on-site training. Joe was planning on training their Internet team and consult on the CRM and digital initiatives while Jerry would be handling the new BDC phone training. The Internet results skyrocketed quickly, but the BDC growth was slow… but only at the beginning. Now, Jerry Thibeau of the Phone Ninjas has the team at Granger Motors outproducing and outscoring every other Phone Ninja client in a matter of a months. Read this GREAT article from Jerry – http://phoneninjas.com/2011/08/17/2740/

Tags: "Dealer Knows", Consulting, dealerknows, granger motors, jerry thibeau, joe Webb, phone ninjas, phone training, phone-up ninjas, Training
Posted in Blog, Gotta’ Share | No Comments »

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.

Tags: "Dealer Knows", "Driving Sales", Consulting, dealerknows, digital marketing, DrivingSales, facebook, joe Webb, soc med, social media, tactics, Training, twitter
Posted in Blog, Social Media/Reputation Management | No Comments »

The First 5 Emails to Successful Lead Management – Joe Webb

Friday, August 5th, 2011

After mystery shopping countless dealers over the years, some of the glaring needs we see are a basic process for handling leads. Over time, we’ve been able to determine a few of the basic steps your dealership must take when properly managing ongoing follow-up with your potential clients.

Step #1: Give them what they asked for and be generous with the information.

This seems pretty basic, but, still to this day, the good majority of customer questions go unanswered in the first email. It is well known that if you can answer any specific questions the inquiring customer asked, offer multiple pricing options, and give truthful information regarding inventory, availability, builds, prices, and incentives, you are on your way to building trust with the customer.

Step #2: Endear yourself to the customer.

As the saying goes, people buy from people they like. However, in automotive Internet, you need to go one step further. People buy from those they respect and appear willing to go above and beyond to earn their business. This is why so many have seen success stem from performing actions as simple as including a personal picture of themselves in the emails, shooting a quick walk-around video of the customer’s desired vehicle, sending Why Buy from Me’s, and emailing personal video introductions. You can’t build a relationship with someone you don’t know.

Step #3: Detail your process.

In ALL of our mystery shops, the Internet Manager says the same thing. Paraphrasing – “We have a special process in place to make this the best no-hassle purchasing experience for you.” Well that is all well and good, but not EVERYONE can have the best process. And what is your in-store process anyway? Why don’t you tell them what will happen when they arrive? People are submitting leads because they are afraid of the unknown. Put a detailed process of what events/activities will they can expect to transpire when they arrive for their appointment.

Step #4: Build value in your dealership

An Internet shopper can buy their desired vehicle from anywhere. When it comes to new cars, they can get the same car in the same color with the same options/features/specs at the same price or lower from your competitor right down the street. They can get the same finance rate or lower. They can get the same trade-in value or higher from them too. So what really is it (besides your people) that separates your dealership from the rest? What is your Value Proposition? What do you offer that others don’t? Being “family-owned and operated” doesn’t always translate the way you think it does to a consumer. So make sure you have an email template or Value Proposition with something that a customer might be able to attach a dollar value to.

Step #5: Sell the brand

This is the LAST thing you need to do… not the first. The manufacturer already spends millions and millions of dollars selling the virtues of their brand. The customer submitted a lead on that brand so they at least are considering it in the mix. At one point in your lead management process, you will need to re-sell them on the brand, most specifically, against the other makes the consumer is considering. However, this can certainly be one of the latter messages/topics you are sending to your Internet shoppers. They’ve likely uncovered enough to sell themselves on it one way or another in their research phase so focus on Steps 1-4 first.

If you give them what they ask for with multiple options, sell yourself, your process, your dealership, and your brand – in that order – you will convert more Internet shoppers to In-store customers through your email and phone communications

Tags: "Dealer Knows", automotive, Consulting, dealerknows, dealership email templates, email templates, follow-up, handling leads, internet department, joe Webb, lead management, Training
Posted in Blog, Lead Management/Follow-up Process | No Comments »

The Right “Man” for the Job?

Monday, June 27th, 2011

Disastrous results occur when a car dealership sales manager hires someone solely based on one small skill-set the position requires rather than look for someone that can handle all the Internet responsibilities.

Starring – Tyler Jennings and Joe Webb

Another DealerKnows Studios production

Tags: automotive, car dealership, champion, Consulting, dealer, dealerknows, hiring, internet, interviewing, joe Webb, knows, spelling bee, Tim Jennings, Training, tyler jennings
Posted in Funny Videos, Videos | No Comments »