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Timothy Martell · Jul 9, 2009

Hey Alex,

I was there for the full tour the week after your visit. I too was extremely impressed with their offices. I met at length with most of the department heads. It is no secret that, in the past, I was NOT a fan of dealer.com. I have always disagreed with their SEO strategies (or lack thereof). I can say that after my visit, and many discussions about areas of improvement, I now think they're product is a great fit for 95% or more of dealerships out there. Rick is a genius - perhaps I am biased because it seems we think the same way. I was able to get a lot of insight and sneak peaks at the products that will be rolled out in the future and I can say with confidence that it is a bright one.

But I have to be me and provide objective criticism as well. They blew me away by changing a major pet peeve (url structure) on the spot and pushed that improvement out globally while I was sitting there. For those of you who don't speak geek, they changed am major facet to their SEO effectiveness and did so in an extremely impressive way (Rick couldn't wait to drop that bomb on me). BUT (and I won't completely blame ddc for this) there seems to be a real lack of definition as to what SEO or an SEO service is and what it should entail. SEO is clearly an area that they lack confidence in speaking about. Not one person gave me the same answer to the same questions. Of particular concern is the "Dynamic SEO" package. This product really has no perceivable value whatsoever. It is simply a way to generate gross profit by using the term SEO. No one seemed to have a clear definition as to exactly what you get with this product and when the SEO department head stated that it means that "We will look at the site at least once per quarter and adjust title tags if necessary" everyone in the room seemed surprised by this. This is an area they really need to address. This type of SEO should be standard with ALL websites. Title tags should be created properly from the beginning and not be duplicated (Their new platform ensures no duplicate tags). If you are going to charge a premium for a service like this, then there needs to be transparency. A premium SEO service needs to be just that - above and beyond the typical use of tags and content. It should included a PROactive approach to SEO not a passive one.

They simply cannot currently provide the custom approach to SEO we are seeking and as such we no longer use their service.

Again, I think their product is one of the best values out there. I think the majority of their staff is incredibly talented and hard working.

Alex, you left out the de-stressing area! The swings hanging from the ceiling are awesome! And the in house restaurant rivals some of the finer establishments in town! How about those GIANT cookies! LOL One thing is for sure, Dealer.com is an AWESOME place to work for! Any six-figure job openings for an SEO expert/Car-guy? LOL

Sincerely,

Timothy P Martell
Digital Marketing Director
Albrecht Auto Group

Marlboro Nissan | Marlboro, MA
Woburn Toyota \
Woburn Jaguar } Woburn, MA
Woburn Scion /
Infiniti of Norwood | Norwood, MA

(888) 251-3813

May 19, 2009

Thanks for sharing this, Alex. I've been getting up-to-speed on dealers' handling of social media, and have enjoyed the blog.

May 18, 2009

Alex,

Nice write up, and I too am on the jealous side that you got the HQ tour as well as getting a new design. I'm anxiously awaiting the finished product.

mikedececco · May 18, 2009

Thanks for the beautiful write-up Alex! As always, it was a pleasure to have you with us...

Mike

Gerald · May 16, 2009

Good stuff Alex- Very curious about what you have up your sleeve!

BTW, does DDC offer training to dealers for the work environment? The gym looks like a perfect place to blow off some steam and alleve stress.

Alex Snyder · May 16, 2009

Visiting Dealer.com HQ is one of my favorite business trips to make. No, they don't throw a bunch of "good times" and "perks" out there while you're visiting (even though they aren't too far away from some Canadian craziness). What they have is an amazing atmosphere and energy that is unsurpassed in any other workplace I've ever seen heard of.

You'll find DDC HQ in the heart of Burlington, Vermont. This town can be considered quaint to people from the city, but once you get to know it, you'll find a technologically savvy industry mixed with the fun of college life. Burlington is a young professional's haven. And the scenery isn't terrible!

Don't wear a tie, don't wear slacks, don't even dress business casual - you'll feel very out of place. The dress code matches the one your local gym probably sets and that could be due to the fact that they not only have a gym in the office, but a basketball court, ping pong table, tennis court, and locker room right in the office.

If you think this relaxed dress code and gymnasium hamper enthusiasm for getting the job done, then you're grossly mistaken. The staff at Dealer.com is one of the most driven I know. Everyone there is gung-ho about advancing the company through better supporting their dealers.
Whether you are working in the dot Calm Cafe or developing new products, you definitely feel like a part of the team. Everyone is friendly and even though they're all very busy, everyone is smiling. This is truly a company in its golden days.

Just like the people of Vermont, Dealer.com is very concerned about their environmental presence. The on-site cafe is stocked with organic food, the bathrooms use recycled papers and little water, the parking lot is filled with fuel-efficiency, and the building itself is a recycled converted old production facility that was abandoned over 15 years ago.

This was not my first visit to DDC HQ - I visited Dealer.com about a month after they moved into their current buliling. There was still a lot of construction happening and we were able to fit entire departments in Mark Bonfigli's office - yes, it is a roomy office, but it isn't monstrous - Dealer.com was just a smaller company at that time.

I think I've spent enough time talking about DDC's diggs and should mention why I was there:

All new Checkered Flag.com
Major SEO Push
Some Video Changes
More robust Live Chat solution
Doing more with Specials
Pushing DDC for more service & parts stuff

Those were the only items on my agenda, but we certainly went over a bit more than that:

Total Control Dominator (TCD) future offerings
Reporting meshing/changing
ILM Interface tweaks
How to handle social media
Reducing the amount of pop-ups and click-throughs in DDC's Control Center

Yep, we're redoing Checkered Flag.com again. It will be a departure from your typical dealership website, but those items might not be so obvious right up front - you'll have to wait and see those things for yourself. We've been doing a lot of studying into what other retail sites do and how people have been interacting with the current version of our site to make this "brash" change we're about to launch. There is no set ETA other than "soon".

If you have any questions, feel free to ask away here - or on the DealerRefresh Forums.

P.S. Thanks to everyone at Dealer.com for your hospitality. I had a great time. You are living in your glory days right now - enjoy it and congratulations!

May 13, 2009

Alex’s post makes me think about having an Apple II in first grade and where it has gone since then. I am 30 and I have always enjoyed the evolution of technology. Like I enjoyed Oregon Trail then and COD4 now. People who are not productive do not keep their jobs. People who understand the role of tech in their work and personal lives, and use it wisely, will be successful now and in the future.

May 9, 2009

“doing a lot” and “being productive” are not necessarily the same.

This is so true. Some days I feel like I'm doing a million things at a time but not being very productive. But usually I'm helping other people be productive, so I guess that counts!

May 8, 2009

Right on Alex!

My only comment is "Tweet Deck is cool" except for the annoying sound it plays when somebody tweets or direct messages.

May 8, 2009

Alex's post makes me think about having an Apple II in first grade and where it has gone since then. I am 30 and I have always enjoyed the evolution of technology. Like I enjoyed Oregon Trail then and COD4 now. People who are not productive do not keep their jobs. People who understand the role of tech in their work and personal lives, and use it wisely, will be successful now and in the future. They are already out there, leading a brave new world of multi-taskers right now. I hate doing one thing at once, how boring!

May 8, 2009

I grew up playing keyboards. Not piano, keyboards. I wanted to play 2 or 3 or 4 heck as many as I could get behind at once. Horns on one, cello on another, organ, electric piano, and of course the Mini Moog.(now I am dating myself bad) I work much better under pressure, doing several things at once I think, because of the years of trying to play an orchestra electronically. I too, am addicted to this stuff but my 14 year old son and 16 year old daughter can do everything I am doing with an i-pod headset on, texting with one hand and writing a report in the other while surfing myspace. Their brain grows expotentially and at first I was worried
that they would have some nervous tics or disorder from the overload.
They get straight A's, sing in Chorus and play basketball too. In my opinion, they are fine but it makes me tired.
Kim Clouse

May 8, 2009

I have to share that the military started figuring this out some years back... back in my younger days as a Naval Aviator, they were always preaching "situational awareness" as there were 14 things to think about and do at the same time while flying, and "multi-tasking" was the norm. The younger generation coming into the service today has done much better in this situation and - believe it or not - the multi-tasking they learned while playing video games, using their cell phones, etc - has prepared them well... Don't underestimate these folks!

May 8, 2009

Skip, I'm sort of with you on this one. The concept of social media has really caught on, I'll give you that. I get emails every day asking to join someones network. And, as technologically skilled as I think I am, I haven't played the social media game. I don't have a Facebook page or Twitter. It seems like it takes a lot of time to keep up with everything.

But I do know that goals, planning, and plain old hard work is still the caveat that makes most people successful. I know dealerships that will pay $5000 per month for a website to attract more leads, but still won't do the hard work necessary to convert those leads into sales.

I also know dealerships that have a normal website, buy leads from third party providers and sell just as many vehicles, without the big expense.

Technology is great, I love it. But nothing will take the place of hard work and excellent skills.

May 8, 2009

Great article Alex and I couldn't agree with you more about this generation (as a Mom of 12 and 13 yr olds). The one thing that needs to be pointed out, in my opinion, is what do they do once they have the customer. They have all these ways to communicate and get someone in - but - what do they do then? They may have it all over us 'old folks' in technology BUT they can't look anyone in the eye and have an actual conversation!! I joke with my girls and say "if you are interviewing for a job - if you do nothing else than look the interviewer in the eye and have engaging dialog - you will get the job."
All of this technology creates a "put in - get out" mentality and conversation has gone away.
Maybe. . . we can have 1/2 of this generation speak and the other multi task???

May 8, 2009

I AGREE WITH JON. DOING A LOT OF STUFF AND BEING PRODUCTIVE ARE QUITE DIFFERENT. MANY PEOPLE TODAY CAN LOOK BUSY AND ACTUALLY ARE DOING THINGS, HOWEVER ARE THEY PRUDUCING RESULTS AND ACTUALLY ACCOMPLISHING SOMETHING. WE ALL KNOW IN THIS BUSINESS YOU HAVE TO HAVE RESULTS AND THAT WOULD BE TURNING LEADS INTO APPOINTMENTS THAT SHOW AND THEN BEING ABLE TO CLOSE THEM ONCE THEY DO SHOW. A LOT OF THE THINGS BEING DONE ARE ENTERTAINMENT ORIENTED AND RESULTS ARE WHAT IS NEEDED.

May 8, 2009

You forgot the ipod playing your favorites songs in the same time.
I feel more effective, because I'm feel aware of everything in the same time. I feel connected to the news, my customers, my friends and family.
really, how much time do you really spend conversing directly with your other half compared via phone or email.
I'm a working machine; my laptop multitask, so do I.

May 8, 2009

Great article, but I'm still dazed from my 4 year old son asking me for a DS this morning. He told me "I need it to text Jared." Jared is his 5 year old friend down the street. Both of them should probably learn to read before texting.

In any event, this generation is definitely absorbing and processing multiple forms of media simultaneously, and at earlier ages than ever before. I remember rolling my eyes at my dad because he couldn't master Asteroids on our Atari 2600. Now, my 8 year old destroys me on Wii and looks up cheat codes for games on Google. I'm way too young to feel so old...

These guys are growing up in a world of instant information gratification. I don't think it's a matter of them demanding technology- I think it's more a matter of them growing up in a world where 24x7 technology is so deeply interwoven into their lives that to not have the same relationship with technology in their careers will be unimaginable.

May 8, 2009

Pretty good article Alex. I usually have 10 windows open on my computer to go along with my texting and phone calls from the blackberry and the land line. I have a 17 year old who watches anime while monitoring his very popular blog and listens to music while on Myspace, twitter and the otaku boards. I have a 16 year old who online games and flips between my space and watches T.V. I have an 11 year old who constantly watches cartoon network while gaming on his laptop to adventure quest, exteel, ragnarok and world of warcraft. Finally my wife is a MySpace, FaceBook, Twitter Pro all while checking her favorite website Toxic Ice or playing all manor of puzzle games. I would say that we fall into your scenario. However I can't get my kids to do shit. They are a multi tasking non-productive force to be un-reckoned with and I actually feel sorry if they ever have to accomplish a non-technology task to earn a living.

May 7, 2009

all the cool kids play cod4 on PS3

May 7, 2009

That's funny Justin! We should call it the DealerRefresh Future Training Clan (DRFTC). By the way, my handle is AxPoindexter.

Justin Duff · May 7, 2009

I think we should have a Dealer Refresh clan on Xbox Live. Who's up for some COD4?

May 7, 2009

You bring up a good point Jon. I can only look at my own family and their friends, so we could be the exception, but I certainly see good things!

But like it or not Jon, these kids are your future.

May 7, 2009

"doing a lot" and "being productive" are not necessarily the same. The challenge I see with the generation you have described is that they lack skills when it comes to detail and task-completion. Sure they are busy, but are they producing stuff.

Alex Snyder · May 7, 2009

Your future manager is a multi-tasking fiend. She or he will embrace every form of social media and communicate with staff by email or instant messenger. Technology use will be first and foremost on his or her mind, with an understanding that it doesn't always work perfectly, but incorporating technology into processes is crucial. They will demand it!

I am the oldest of 6 and also have quite a few younger cousins that I'm very close to. They range from 5 years old to 26. The females spend a lot of their free time on MySpace and/or faceBook and are texting fanatics. The males also spend a lot of time playing XBOX Live. They all play team sports, take lessons for a particular musical instrument, read books, and do fairly well in school if they're engaged that semester. They all have a cell phone (except the 5 year old), a computer (or three), their favorite flavor of social media, and over 900 channels of television to chose from along with an arsenal of movies to watch & videogames to play.

When I get into conversations with my parents, aunts and uncles about the comparisons of what the younger generation has and does compared to what they did, it always boils down to amazement at how the kids can do so much in so little time. Some of these kids have been wrongfully diagnosed for ADD because they can't multi-task in school - they don't have Attention Deficit Disorder! But they do their homework beautifully because they can do their school work while watching TV and messaging friends without worrying about a teacher getting upset. They're addicted to multi-tasking. I am too....as I'm writing this article, I'm also watching the news, following Twitter & faceBook on TweetDeck, and responding to emails. I don't find it amazing - I think it is just normal.

When we can't multi-task, we're bored.

My parents, on the other hand, focused on one thing at a time growing up. Playing with friends in the neighborhood or doing homework was pretty much all they could do after school. They didn't have a TV in their bedroom and computers certainly weren't around. They had to walk into another room to use the phone and they also had to stand next to that rotary dialing thing. They weren't bred for multi-tasking.

I'm going to take things a step further. Have you ever played a video game? Yes, you probably have. Have you ever played a video game online with other people working together toward the same goal? If you're over the age of 40, chances are you probably haven't. The current main-stay game on XBOX Live is Call of Duty 4 where you are a special ops soldier for the US and you take on missions to stop terrorism. It is fast-paced and requires that you know your weaponry quite well in order to complete a mission effectively. There are goals and achievements to be made and you have to pay attention to quite a few different things all at once while playing. Then throw another 20 players into the mix and you've got an unpredictable human element compounding all the other stuff going on.

My point is, these kids who are playing XBOX are learning to strategize, memorize, plan, and work with others to achieve a common goal. Sounds like some damn good training to me!

Yeah, there's that gory video game element, but is seeing something in a video game that you can see on the news or in a movie harmful enough to deny these skills that are being honed? I guess that's a different topic for a different blog.

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that there is a gap of misunderstanding between the younger and older generation. I want to point out the good in what our kids are doing today, and say that you need to be ready for what they're going to do to the workforce in the next 10 years.

Next up: Hiring based on which RTS game someone plays.....just kidding!

bpulseadmin · May 7, 2009

WHITE MARSH, Md., May 5, 2009 – XIGroup (www.XIGroup.com), the website industry’s leader in providing the best user interface for car buyers, and a division of Dominion Enterprises, now provides car buyers and car dealers with real-time inventory updates for all XIGroup customers using Dealer Specialties services.

Inventory updates—such as a change in price, photos or dealer comments —made using any Dealer Specialties tool will appear automatically on the dealer’s website(s).

“For years the industry buzzword has been ‘real-time’—now it’s a reality,” said Joe High, XIGroup general manager. “Dealer Specialties is the largest provider of inventory collection services in the industry and we are proud to offer our clients instant updates of their data and photos.”

Al Hess, general manager of Dealer Specialties, said of the integration, “In choosing Dealer Specialties inventory management and XIGroup websites, dealers now do not have to worry about manually updating their website with mid-day price and inventory changes. Those changes on a dealer’s XIGroup website will be seamlessly done through the Dealer Specialties IVM tool. We believe this makes the combined offering between our two companies the most unique in the marketplace today.”

Real-time inventory updates are available free of charge to all XIGroup website clients using Dealer Specialties for their inventory and requires only a confirmation call from the client to turn on the service. Interested clients should call 888-924-6448

About XIGroup
XIGroup is an industry leader in providing website value and customer support. For more than 10 years the company’s proven online services have empowered franchise and independent dealerships by helping them interact effectively with potential Internet car buyers. Easy-to-use, SEO friendly and cost-effective tools and superior customer service are the hallmarks XIGroup. For more information, visit www.XIGroup.com.

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