Those are awesome stats and a real eye opener. I have printed these off and I hink a little art deco would be in place, Maybe hang it where everyone has no choice to read it. Any Ideas?

This one still boggles my mind!

"90% of sales people DO NOT do any follow-up whether the customer purchases or not."

If that doesn't make the case for a strong CRM I don't know what does...

This one reminds me of a guy I used to know when selling VW's way before the days of high tech CRMs. He was one of those hungry salespeople that spent tons of his own money to send birthday cards etc. to every single customer. He sat at his desk in the corner and I would bet that 40% of the people that walked through the door asked for him. I'm pretty sure there was one guy like him in every store in America. He was certainly part of the 10% that really "wanted it". He sold over 60 cars one June when I was working with him.

He could have managed my BDC anyday!

Maybe it's not the economy and gas prices that's the problem... it's follow up! ha!

Seriously though, the vendors in our space are lucky to be able to provide products and services that can help retain customers and make dealers money.

So, I'm a bit confused; is TCD meant only for the automotive industry? If yes, what makes it different than say another SEM platform that does anything or any keywords/phrases??

Thanks,

Andy

Mark,

"If" I was very good at using Adwords and Google analytics, why would a need TCD?
Peter

Agreed, no need for a commercial, although I do feel it is fair to let us try and educate those who might be making some incorrect assumptions about this solution in their posts. I think Alex was onto something when he started the discussion. One thing that has been wrongly assumed is that our solution doesn't offer stages 1 through 5 which its actually does. I think that is what makes this discussion important is that we need to be looking for solutions that blend the need to be dynamic, custom and creative while augmenting that with automated tools to assist with the rest.

Add in things like phone tracking, lead tracking, dynamic inventory ad creation, automated profit center ad creation and you get the best of all worlds. That is really the concept here...to allow dealers to do everything they can do with adwords only do more faster and with better reporting and automation whenever possible and whenever needed to drive the lowest cost sales possible.

Isn't that the focus? Shouldn't we be focusing on what sells more cars faster and cheaper? What sells more parts and service? That's really the point of this whole discussion so if anyone wants to see how these "5 stages" are blended together to make advertising in search engines easier and more effective.

We believe that this is how all search with evolve. Every industry will need highly effective tools to help business owners use previous results/intelligence to make better decisions with automated tools and processes to assist them with their advertising strategies.

In the next 2-3 years you will see more tools like this start to emerge in all different vertical markets. Lets just hope that dealers recognize that trackable results and low cost sales are essential in making advertising decisions moving ahead.

Feel free to contact me direct with any questions.

Mark Bonfigli
President, CEO
Dealer.com, Inc
[email protected]

Richard and I had a great conversation. I think I was a bit short-sighted, when I wrote the article for this thread, in believing things could remain non-denominational when speaking about the third stage in Paid Search. In order to have a productive conversation, we do need to give Dealer.com a forum for speaking highly about Total Control Dominator. I apologize to everyone for calling it a non-commercial post.

I'm not turning the light switch on advertising plugs, but saying that anyone is welcome to speak as they wish toward what Dealer.com has done to raise the bar - in this thread. I'll talk to Jeff later about things for the future in this regard.

Alex,

I am not upset at all regarding the promotions. I really do like the dialogue this post has created. I am sure it has helped some improve their operation. Only think I was tired of was the "spin". I see it enough on cable news.

I will call you though.

Richard,

I think that was uncalled for. I can tell you're upset about this thread - I'm sorry if that is the case. If you want to talk about it, I can be reached at 757 687-3537.

Come now coffee. Let's recap the unintentional posts...

Thanks for the stunning article Alex. You're right, we are the first to pioneer this type of ad buying in force. It really is a revolution in paid advertising and we thank you for the kind words.

To billy's point: "Will address Total Control first. IMO, there is no software that can accurately predict what you'll receive. To define this, accurately means a quality click addressing a specific search. All any software can predict is predetermined by the information search engines like Google supply them. "

This statement isn't entirely true although I can see your point and understand where you would get that information. Most companies do rely on what Google tells them a campaign will expect. We're different. We're using data that is based on the thousands of campaigns we have run for our clients and based on actual results of paid searches coupled with our websites. It's based on years of real world actual usage cases not on what Google tells us we should expect. Very different.

Also, this is a great place to point out that as far as I know we're the only company in the space that actually has Google's teams visiting us up in VT on a regular basis because they feel our technology platform is so advanced. It's pretty exciting to be part of something that!

Thanks again for the great post Alex and your comments billy.

Search is still a hot topic and with dealers continuing to spend the vast majority of ad dollars in media that is statistically proven to be ineffective, its impact will only continue to grow!

Thanks,

Mike DeCecco
Posted by: Mike DeCecco | August 01, 2008 at 06:25 PM

Tom: Great points in your post. If you want to do PPC yourself and be able to accurately measure your results, you should check out TCD. I know.... shameless product pitch... Sorry Jeff. ha!

Posted by: Mike DeCecco | August 05, 2008 at 11:57 AM

Joe:

TCD does both the things you mentioned in your earlier post and much more. In the interest of the spirit of this site, and not to turn this into too much of a sales pitch, let's take this discussion offine. My e-mail is [email protected]

Thanks!

Posted by: Mike DeCecco | August 05, 2008 at 09:38 PM

Hey guys:

All great stuff! This is why these sites are so fantastic because we can all learn all the time from eachother.

Mike, thanks for the insight you bring to the table. We all appreciate it.

To speak to this point..."I can tell you with a high level of confidence that a manually managed program simply cannot compete with these sophisticated systems. The number of calculations and adjustments that they are capable of making in a day are inconceivable for a manually operated platform to undertake. "

The beauty about this statement is it's truth. That's why I must point out that TCD is surely a solution to that exact problem. It is a super simple, easy to use inteface for the novice internet user, that allows them to quickly and easily control the direction of exactly the complex algorythyms an calculations you speak of.

That's the beauty and simplicity of the interface which Google has been raving about during our many meetings in VT.

As always, it's a pleasure to be a part of the information sharing here.

Mike DeCecco

Posted by: Mike DeCecco | August 12, 2008 at 07:46 PM

Billy:

Great question. Our very successful last generation Dominator platform which we are still supporting and have hundreds of dealers using does use technology in partnership with Reach Local.

Total Control Dominator is not affiliated with Reach Local in any way.

Reach Local is a strong search company and our relationship has been and will continue to be a strong one, but TCD is 100% Dealer.com.

TCD is the culmination of years of very hard work from some very talented folks working in our headquarters.

Thanks for the post Billy

Posted by: Mike DeCecco | August 12, 2008 at 10:14 PM

I think there have been many good points here. In response to the above posts regarding Dealer.com and TCD, I think once someone goes through TCD they realize that it is far more than they thought it would be and far more simple too...

I may have missed some comments due to my quick read of all the posts but I wanted to point out that the TCD system does automate the bidding process and very much like artificial intelligence it gets smarter and smarter over time. It actually learns what works for your market and bids at better times and watches what keywords generate more phone calls and leads and focuses on those rather than just simple clicks. Every TCD solutions comes with built in phone tracking so we are actually basing the results off of true lead generating by watching the customer path all the way through the website and phone lines. This also makes it easy for a dealer to judge the true quality of the lead since they can see and hear the calls generated. And yes we do deploy very advanced algorithms to calculate the estimated results and bid and re-bid on behalf of dealers.

The other VERY important aspect is that the TCD system actually dynamically creates ads based on inventory in stock, removes ads as the vehicles sell and reposts new ads as they arrive into inventory. Think about this for a second..... your ads are generated for what you can sell therefor raising your conversion rates and closing rates dramatically!!! You can attempt to do this but at the end of the day you will need 12 people in a room watching hundreds of vehicles, thousands of keywords and measuring the effectiveness of every ad, daytime, nighttime, weekends and more for every dollar spent. A human just cant do it as well. With many dealers achieving 5 dollar leads on TCD and launching highly customized campaigns for specifics vehicles, parts, service and more it would be nearly nearly impossible to think it could be cost effective to go out a learn how to do this instead of taking advantage of such a proven solution that has 6 years of R&D and millions of dollars behind it.

I would love to take this offline and try to avoid the shameless sales pitch (such as above) but I am just as excited as Mike D since this truly is the holy-grail of automotive advertising.

Mark Bonfigli
President, CEO
Dealer.com, Inc

Posted by: Mark Bonfigli | August 12, 2008 at 11:10 PM

Thanks "coffee" for your comments.

Anyone that does want an offline discussion of TCD, feel free to contact either myself of Mark directly.

Mike DeCecco
Dir. Industry Relations / Spokesperson
Dealer.com

Henry,
I’m curious to know if you would have pointed out rule #4 if the comments were promoting your company?
If the answer is yes then “good for you” right is right.(although few could say yes and be honest as well)
I would also like to mention that the Dealer.com reps did NOT intentionally turn this post into a commercial. On several occasions they recommended taking the conversation offline.

Henry,

Wow. I completely overlooked #4. Looks like there should be alot of deleting here. Either that or change the rules. I recommend the latter as its hard to get quality dialogue without a little promotion going on.

Henry Mac - you're right. It just happened that I haven't heard of any other SEM programs like Dealer.com's in the automotive industry, but I thought it was still worth talking about......and maybe raising the stakes a little more.

Billy,
Think Hybrid.

Retain your SEM methods, ADD TCD to efforts, you'll have a 2 pronged attack that will further confound your competitors!

Personally speaking, to do SEM by hand (and do it to its fullest potential) is a full time job. H*ll, just tweaking the copy alone can triple the visits. I'll admit it... I WANT help.

Joe

What is this, a commercial for TCD or Reach Local? For those of us who work in small SEO/SEM companies, there are too many plugs here...

Guys, see #4:

But I do agree with Albert about automation versus "do-it-yourself."

Mark & Mike,
Let me clarify some things regarding my opinions.

While I do acknowledge the benefits of TCD and programs like it, I just don't feel they can take the place of human interaction. There are too many factors involved for any software, system or program to run a campaign the way I would.

There are so many different and unique things I do regarding SEM that I don't see anyone at all doing anywhere. Some of those are methods most of you would scoff at without trying.

While I surely won't say there's noone better, I will say noone has been doing it longer than I. My style, while unorthodox (hence the reason for most of my opinions) has allowed me to take different domestic stores in 2 very different markets in a very challenging market and perform at levels only a few of the import stores in our DG are performing at.

As with most everything else, I'm sure TCD is not for everyone. The percentage of those that would greatly benefit from your product is certainly greater than with most of the others out there.

Guess there really is an oddball in every crowd.

I think there have been many good points here. In response to the above posts regarding Dealer.com and TCD, I think once someone goes through TCD they realize that it is far more than they thought it would be and far more simple too...

I may have missed some comments due to my quick read of all the posts but I wanted to point out that the TCD system does automate the bidding process and very much like artificial intelligence it gets smarter and smarter over time. It actually learns what works for your market and bids at better times and watches what keywords generate more phone calls and leads and focuses on those rather than just simple clicks. Every TCD solutions comes with built in phone tracking so we are actually basing the results off of true lead generating by watching the customer path all the way through the website and phone lines. This also makes it easy for a dealer to judge the true quality of the lead since they can see and hear the calls generated. And yes we do deploy very advanced algorithms to calculate the estimated results and bid and re-bid on behalf of dealers.

The other VERY important aspect is that the TCD system actually dynamically creates ads based on inventory in stock, removes ads as the vehicles sell and reposts new ads as they arrive into inventory. Think about this for a second..... your ads are generated for what you can sell therefor raising your conversion rates and closing rates dramatically!!! You can attempt to do this but at the end of the day you will need 12 people in a room watching hundreds of vehicles, thousands of keywords and measuring the effectiveness of every ad, daytime, nighttime, weekends and more for every dollar spent. A human just cant do it as well. With many dealers achieving 5 dollar leads on TCD and launching highly customized campaigns for specifics vehicles, parts, service and more it would be nearly nearly impossible to think it could be cost effective to go out a learn how to do this instead of taking advantage of such a proven solution that has 6 years of R&D and millions of dollars behind it.

I would love to take this offline and try to avoid the shameless sales pitch (such as above) but I am just as excited as Mike D since this truly is the holy-grail of automotive advertising.

Mark Bonfigli
President, CEO
Dealer.com, Inc

Billy:

Great question. Our very successful last generation Dominator platform which we are still supporting and have hundreds of dealers using does use technology in partnership with Reach Local.

Total Control Dominator is not affiliated with Reach Local in any way.

Reach Local is a strong search company and our relationship has been and will continue to be a strong one, but TCD is 100% Dealer.com.

TCD is the culmination of years of very hard work from some very talented folks working in our headquarters.

Thanks for the post Billy

Mike,
Had a rep for ReachLocal in my office today trying to sell me (someone did try to warn him)

Nothing he said to me today was very surprising except when he told me that TCD operates on their platform.

Hadn't heard this before and was curious as to your response.

To answer Albert, while there aren't that many of us in the automotive industry that do what I do, no software or system can replace the experience and the ability to operate on a "hunch" based on experience and most of all, nothing of that sort can take a risk or chance. Its impossible for the inhuman to act human in that way.

When one of those systems tells me it's adjusting my budget based on a commitment I'll make next week or because my buyer went a little overboard at the auction, I'll stand up and listen.

Hey guys:

All great stuff! This is why these sites are so fantastic because we can all learn all the time from eachother.

Mike, thanks for the insight you bring to the table. We all appreciate it.

To speak to this point..."I can tell you with a high level of confidence that a manually managed program simply cannot compete with these sophisticated systems. The number of calculations and adjustments that they are capable of making in a day are inconceivable for a manually operated platform to undertake. "

The beauty about this statement is it's truth. That's why I must point out that TCD is surely a solution to that exact problem. It is a super simple, easy to use inteface for the novice internet user, that allows them to quickly and easily control the direction of exactly the complex algorythyms an calculations you speak of.

That's the beauty and simplicity of the interface which Google has been raving about during our many meetings in VT.

As always, it's a pleasure to be a part of the information sharing here.

Mike DeCecco

I thought Hal 9000 was burned up by the sun?
all kidding aside wouldn't you need a dealer group such as carmax to make something like that work? I could see where someone like amazon would need to buy many different keywords since they seem to stock the world but many of us only have a franchise or two.
Maybe I am wrong?

Mike, I know of at least 7 to 8 similar platforms/systems, but then that's my job. None of them are exactly the same, all are very similar.

I do not feel comfortable discussing any of this in detail as that is my job and what the company where I work gets paid to do.

And, no I'm not looking for any business out of this. I'm an employee and it is not my job to sell. I was involved quite extensively with consulting work in the auto industry recently, found this site (Jeff does a great job with it), and I continue to monitor it even though I do not have any projects in the industry at this moment (you never now what will come next week). I've become fascinated with the Auto Retail space as it is behind many other industries with regard to the Digital age and marketing approaches/applications.

I'm watching to see how things develop and what path the industry takes. I'm very curious to see what evolves next. This site seems to be a great indicator of the feel of those on the edge of change in the retail auto space and that is why I come here to read and ocassionally post.

Alex,

To me the Stages of Search would more accurately be described as:

Stage 1 - Self managed through the engine back-end tools
Stage 2- Managed campaigns by 3rd party specialists
Stage 3- Software systems that allowed more sophisticated campaign management (a substage of this would be 3rd parties utilizing these tools to manage campaigns)
Stage 4 - Auto driven systems that managed a set of keywords based on pre-determined performance rules - they call these rule-based systems
Stage 5 - Algorythmically run systems that take a set of keywords and automatically optimize, evaluate, re-bid, and re-adjust constantly, utilzing an artifical intelligence system and fractional factorial analysis. This is where we are at today, and where all the big money is playing. These systems are capable of awesome performances, but do have some kinks. These systems are why there are some on-line retail sites realizing over 1000% Return on Ad Spend! Yes, I have personally seen the results.

So I originally miss-spoke (I apologize for that) when I said we are at Stage 4, we are actually at Stage 5.

Reach Local is actually a pre-runner system of a full Stage 5 system, but according to the experts that I have spoken with, it is, in their words - primitive compared to today's modern systems and their capabilities. And, no, I'm not making any of this up. I've looked at ReachLocals system and feel the bigger issue with their program (I'm not totally sold on it being all that primitive) is not necessarily the system, but their business model of how they focus their campaigns.

I can tell you with a high level of confidence that a manually managed program simply cannot compete with these sophisticated systems. The number of calculations and adjustments that they are capable of making in a day are inconceivable for a manually operated platform to undertake.

Alex, that is where Paid Search is today.

Albert:

Would love to hear about what you're talking about including what business what you speak of fits into and the application name etc.

Thanks for the post

Albert - care to explain a little more. Please define stage 4 for us.