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Social media gurus nailed in Onion parody

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#11
Customers WILL be your friends if you treat them right and work for them. Ie follow up, schedule service appointments, send birthday cards. and you can do ALL that through social media, Heck Facebook tells you their birthdays, you dont even need that info in your crm! If your customers (someone who is spending 5,10,20, 50 k) with you doesnt want to be your friend, you have done something wrong. Especially if your friendship is making their lives easier.
 
#12
Jeremy Brown said:
Customers WILL be your friends if you treat them right and work for them. Ie follow up, schedule service appointments, send birthday cards. and you can do ALL that through social media, Heck Facebook tells you their birthdays, you dont even need that info in your crm! If your customers (someone who is spending 5,10,20, 50 k) with you doesnt want to be your friend, you have done something wrong. Especially if your friendship is making their lives easier.
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Customers can be "friendlier" if you do all those things or be "buddies". I also have customers and I have some that are more than just a client, but friends is a misuse of the word. I go watch boxing with my friends, hiking, get a beer once on a while, etc. But we should never equate a business relationship with a pure friends relationship. I keep that in my mind, that no matter what I must deliver my product better than my competitor.
 
#13
Yago, I have always developed a good repeat and referral business. I actually have people, outside of my family, that like me and enjoy working with me. That isn't the same as somebody "liking" you on facebook.
As an Internet Director, I didn't have time. I still don't believe that it contributes enough to sales to justify the time and money. Like they say in the bajou, "If the dog don't hunt, it don't eat".
 
#14
ddavis said:
Yago, I have always developed a good repeat and referral business. I actually have people, outside of my family, that like me and enjoy working with me. That isn't the same as somebody "liking" you on facebook.
As an Internet Director, I didn't have time. I still don't believe that it contributes enough to sales to justify the time and money. Like they say in the bajou, "If the dog don't hunt, it don't eat".
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Being friendly is better than being an asshole, but that kind of works in all aspects of life. I don't disagree with that, being friendly is part of being a good professorial finding common ground with your clients. But my point to which you agree is that it will not contribute in most cases to a large portion of the sales for the dealership. Buying the right cars, reconditioning at the right price, and selling for a good value will weight a lot more.
 
#15
Buying the right cars, reconditioning at the right price, and selling for a good value will weight a lot more.
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I agree. It doesn't matter if it is new or used. They want to know that you have the vehicle and what you will sell it for.

A vendor that sold the store license plate frames, key chains and the like was in and I showed him a new model that just came out. He really liked the vehicle and I offered it to him for $200 over net.net. He came driving up in one from a competitor that he didn't even do business with a couple of weeks later. The guy had the nerve to tell me, "business is business". My GM said replace him even if you have to pay double.

As recently as May, Dataium, a consulting company that monitors online vehicle shopping behavior, found that of 20 million visitors to dealership Web sites, just 120 arrived there directly from a Facebook link. Of that microscopic number, only a handful left contact information to become sales leads, Dataium found.
 
#16
yagoparamo said:
Nor they want to be "family".

When dealers use that on TV I wonder if they think anyone believes it.
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This is a line we started using recently, though only in more social settings. Of those that do come in-I've had a great reaction to it...but I deliver on it too. A fireplace and a jovial envirnment help the feeling, as does the 98 years of family history at the dealership on the walls and our honest up front demeanor. However, I wouldn't suggest as an advertising message. As Targeted Marketing when it is followed through on is the only way it works.

I won't say Social Sells Tons of Cars, but if you do it wrong or not at all-what opportunities are you missing? If reviews tell a customer's side of the story and responding is key - what about their interactions with the dealer on SM channels?
 
#17
I won't say Social Sells Tons of Cars, but if you do it wrong or not at all-what opportunities are you missing?
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Years ago, I was GSM in a store back home. I remember walking my factory rep into the customer waiting room for a cup of coffee. As soon as we got in there, several old guys in khaki work clothes or jeans started giving me a hard time. This was the normal morning ritual. It sounded like a conversation out of the movie "Gran Torino". As we exited the room, the rep wanted to know why I allowed these guys to hang around the dealership. I explained that one of them had a section of land under sugar cane and a sugar mill, one owned the local TV station and another had the largest oil field service company in the State. Any one of these men could have bought the dealership and never missed the money. The harder they were on me, the more they liked me. Each of them sent us business, every month, and they were all sure sales. This was a close knit community and I knew many of these people. This was a Dodge store, too. We were number one in the zone and the only market that outsold Chevy and Ford. I had a lot of salespeople that were not afraid to knock on doors. They were selling 24-7. This is social I understand. I don't see how you can duplicate that on Facebook.
 
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