Was there a DealerRefresh.com Meetup 2008? How did that go?

I read all the posts and wanted to comment on a few:

Alex - my wish is that we as an industry get together to establish communication standards for websites to talk to CRMs. The benefit of doing so would be to leverage real-time web activity. i.e. major buying signals all over the place. Easier said then done, but I'm using the Law of Attraction here. You have to put it out there.

Joe - I think your best website providers will be small shops of 1 - 3 people who approach the task like a fine art and fine science.

Shaun - You are correct, SEM is easy to learn, and doing so does give the ISM complete control. One issue I have with SEM providers is that they pad their numbers too much. A year ago, I sat in a presentation where they offered x amount a clicks for $1.50 a piece. The rep did not like it when threw down on the table a spreadsheet showing that I'm getting them for $0.58 cents a click.

The next big thing will be Mobile Marketing IMO. GPS and the phone is merging right now. Garmin just came out with a phone. Position-based marketing will be amazing. Until then, it'll just be new features on what we already have.

Why are dealers singing a different tune about eBay Local Market this year? I haven't read anything unfavorable about until this.

Interesting little teaser there, Mr. Edward Brown!!! You certainly piqued my interest...at least enough to do a quick search for some more information.

Since you are reluctant to spill the beans here on DealerRefresh, I will take it upon myself:

The Dealerflow solution is targeted at the nation’s 21,000 new car and light truck dealerships. Addressing some of the industry’s most problematic areas, Dealerflow says it will help dealers reduce turnover, increase worker and team productivity and better manage multiple dealership locations. Dealerflow says these improvements will translate into enhanced customer satisfaction, higher profitability and a more loyal workforce. “Dealerflow will fundamentally change the way dealer companies are managed,” said Brown. “We see it becoming the lifeblood of getting things done at well-run dealerships.”

Dealerflow’s product is being designed to model both single store dealerships or multi-dealership groups. The software will include multiple forms of communication, including instant messaging, mobile text messaging and email. In addition, the software will include its own content management system. “Each department will have their own blog,” he says. “The way that we’re doing syndication of posts is such that you can go to any point in the organization and indicate which groups the post is for.” It will also include applications for human resources administration.

Well, maybe that doesn't exactly spill the beans!!! Apparently Mr. Brown is a little skittish when it comes to describing his concept.

You can read more by clicking my name or this link :

Nice review Jeff and I'm still sorry we didn't get to meet up in San Fran. I have to agree with you that the convention layout in San Francisco is less than ideal.

Alex is correct in stating that many vendors are as lost as the dealers they're trying to do business with. After sacrificing nearly 8 years of my life to Reynolds and Reynolds I of course had to go by their booth to see if anyone I know still works there. I did see many old friends but, everyone seemed lethargic, uninspired or generally deflated. I don't know how their web division is going to survive. They're losing clients in big numbers at a rapid pace and there's nothing new to their product. I attended Ralph Paglia's ADM reception and he told me that ADP is eating Reynolds lunch on the DMS side as well.

My flip-flop vendor award goes to Dealer.com. It's almost as if they themselves don't remember that they started building websites with heavy flash (I am glad they've turned this corner though). I'm also amused by Total Control Dominator. If a dealer really wants total control of their SEM efforts they simply need to spend some time learning Google AdWords then Yahoo and MSN. That's total control!

NADA 2008 left me wondering what the next big thing is going to be. Right now it's more of the same or variations of what already exists.

All the best,

Shaun

Andrew Wright - I feel your frustration. I was at NADA for the single purpose of exploring the various offerings. You've influenced my next posting on Dealer Refresh: The 2008 CRM Wish List - where we can all list what we want.

I am also from a multi-store, single-BDC dealer group on the East Coast. My needs may vary from yours a little, but I'd be more than happy to talk to you off of Dealer Refresh. My email address is axsnyder [at] checkeredflag [dot] [com].

If anyone else wants to help me with the wishlist, please shoot me an email.

Jeff -

Great 30-second rewind...wish I could have made it.

Thumbs up to the Hispanic awareness, vAuto & seeking out quality web development professionals.

(Post more pics!)

@Joe: no, you my friend are not an idiot. Agree completely that you should be able to expect more from the website vendors. Been in your shoes before doing IT at a dealership and finally couldn't take it anymore... started my own software company. But not to solve the website problem...

Jeff, nice post. I love SF too, but agree it's not the best venue for NADA. Having to hoof it all the way to Bill Graham Civic Auditorium for the keynotes is a bit much. Although Jay Leno made it worth the hike!

Also agree that once again there was not much new. It was my sixth straight NADA. CRM, inventory control, ancient DMSs on terminal-emulating PCs. Hmm.

Next year at New Orleans, however, there will be something new... something that could be the next big thing. It will help dealers manage what some believe is their most important asset... their people. Can't say more than that for a few months yet, but keep an eye out for DealerFlow.

Keep up the good work, Jeff. Love your blog.

Jeff:

I love the site. Good recap of NADA. I didn't go and I never have been. Frankly, NADA seems to have to turned into a big technology expo which can all be discovered and explored on the net. San Fran may be a nice city but it is a long way to go for us East Coasters. Whenever I go to manufacturer meetings it is always nice when they have them in Chicago (good central location and a great town).

vAuto is pretty awesome. We have been using it for about six months and have seen an incremental improvement.

The one thing I have yet to find that you have eluded to in other posts that may have justified a trip to this years show is a good CRM (including ILM) system. There just doesn't seem to be an easy to use all in one package that can operate efficiently. By that I mean integrate with my DMS without creating a bunch of duplicate names, redundant, concurrent processes, etc. I also need enterprise level functionality. I have four franchises in three locations with three store numbers in R&R, yet I have a centralized BDC that handles all electronic communications. I am working with R&R to consolidate my name file. However there just doesn't seem to be anything remotely close to "seemless" integration. Even R&R's ERA doesn't seemlessly integrate with Contact Management. The Daily Work Plan scheduling process is really complicated. Bells and whistles are nice. Plain looking systems are fine too. I just want a system that my less than tech savy associates can use effectively and easily. In addition, we want to implement an automated plan for continuous communication that is based on logical, easy to put together client collections. In a nutshell, I want a system that can "seemlessly' execute our processes. There always seems to be obstacles in the way. We need a system that we can easily tailor to do exactly what we want. If anyone saw anything good with regard to CRM's, please let me know.

Great info Joe! I would love to speak with you if you had a few moments of your time. Not trying to sell you anything but to show you a few things.

Let me know!

We've out grown our in-house site and we went to san fran looking for a custom web site.

I've got 30,000 uniques a month that are my "captive audience". Of that number, 1-2% buy from us. My market is the 98% that went somewhere else.

I'll summarize my findings.

Don't ask for a CMS (Content Management System) to keep your site fresh. "Fresh? What do you mean fresh?" Would you run the same ad in the newspaper ad every week and just swap out the cars? Is this PRESIDENTS DAY? Do we sell a sh*t load of iron today? I’ve got 1,000 uniques a day. Do we want to create a sense that today is a special day to buy that car (on your d*mn day off?) Does our site look different? No! Hello CSS web design people! Is anyone awake out there?

Don't ask for email harvesting ideas if they haven't already thought of it. You can get all the custom features you need as long as it sits in one of their templates. Oh, and if any of your custom features make sense (and they don't offer it) we must realize that we can't have it because they know better because they run all these tests and we all are so... LOST!

I was amazed at how "rigid" these web providers are. Every single dealer wants to "accessorize" their site; a few (intellectual leaders) want a custom site. The current solution is to fit the dealers into their platform, rather than engineer a platform that lets the dealer walk his way up the upgrade ladder. Someone shoot me, am I an idiot?

Dealer.com has this Vermont aura around it and I was convinced that they had it all figured out. I expected a flexible platform that would accommodate dealers of all intellects. To my amazement, Dealer.com was the most rigid (or should I say "least flexible") of my 1st tier picks. The rep saw my custom check list and broomed us! It was a nice broom! hahaha...

In all sincerity, before I entered the San Fran arena, BZ is the company that I cared for the least, one week later; they're still working hard to engineer in all of our ideas. Kudos’ to the BZ team for at least trying.

There are others that I won't name.. Nope, I have to mention eBizautos.com. This is a lesson in how to kill business.

eBiz is rippin up the SERPs and I would have enjoyed the chance to talk to the team roaming the floor (they had no booth). I don't need a booth, just a cup of joe, a laptop and 60 minutes with an intelligent soul is all that's needed. I called eBiz's office and spoke to a not so friendly phone rep (name withheld) and she couldn't understand why I needed to speak to someone in person. After 30+ minutes of giving lip service to my ideas, I could tell I was loosing her and I re-asked to get in touch with one of the reps at San Fran. and have them call me. No call. Too bad. Next.

I haven't included all of my experiences, just the ones that p***ed me off. Gotta love the net!

Joe

Ryan

Who in the world is lightnup in the first place?

Jeff

That is what I heard, the Nada in San Fran was not a good location compared to the others in the past! I heard there were more Vendors than dealers out there. The turn out was not very HOT!

I like what you mentioned "I overheard several discussions where dealers are searching for quality SEO vendors. Does this mean dealers are catching on to the snake oil SEO vendors in the past and are now fed up with it?" It is true the dealers out there are starting to learn the logics of SEO! I am not bashing any competition out there as being a vendor myself, but at TK Carsites we educate the Dealers on what SEO is all about and we stand for what we do.

The hispanic marketeers! This is huge! But remember to check into them fully first. There are so many different dialects of spanish throughout the United States that you got to make sure they are targeting that certain area for their dialect may be different. LA spanish to Miami Spanish community and so on can have a difference in the spanish dialects. If switching your site to be a spanish site and not knowing, the spanish community in your area would not understand it. Just a little heads up.

But again, thanks for the great info on the NADA~ Sounds like you had a lot of Fun!

Good God I'm sick of Lightnup.

I am a strong believer in VAuto and their pricing tool. I have used it for the past year and a half and my dealership has been the #1 Selling Certified Honda Dealership in the nation for over a year now. Dale is a dynamic guy and I am definately drinking the VAuto Koolaid (spiked with a lil Grey Goose!)

As for NADA this year I have to agree that there wasn't anything truly groundbreaking. I didn't find that next thing we are all searching for to revolutionize the industry. I did find all of my great friends, great parties, and generous vendors willing to wine and dine.The NADA Women's Dealer Breakfast had a great speaker/comic and the Honda party at City Hall was breathtaking. Cobalt had a nice party as usual and the Bel Air Partners Elite Dealer Dinner was an amazing event. Blue Flame 6 put on a fun bash too and I have to say the most innovative concept at NADA this year may have been the concept of the "threesome" party.

Great seeing you Jeff!

Jeff and Mark, perhaps the comment that "dealers are STILL LOST" has something to do with the meager representation of Hispanic marketeers at NADA 2008.

Since we're talking about a group whose long term vision often suffers from a "make this month" mentality, maybe a look at the present and not too distant future might jog dealers into taking consistent action in the Hispanic marketplace and the marketeers will step up in numbers at NADA 2009.

The current cumulative buying power of over 43 million U.S. Hispanics is close to $900 million and is forecasted to eclipse the $1 trillion mark in the next two years! While I haven't seen numbers estimating how much of this will be spent in the automotive sector, Hispanics adults are also more likely to purchase a vehicle in the next 6 months as compared with the general public (16% versus 12%).

Many dealers in "gateway" cities such as L.A., Miami, Houston, NYC and others may have caught on long ago, yet the Hispanic population continues to grow at faster rate than any other minority community in the U.S. and is moving into areas of the country not previously considered to have a sizable Hispanic presence.

In many states much of the growth is happening amongst 2nd and 3rd generation families as compared to growth generated through immigration and while assimilation increases the use of English as a primary language among Hispanics, an affinity for the use of Spanish is often shown in complex transactions, such as the purchase of car.

Language preference, age, education, income, country of origin, and length of time in the U.S. are just some of the factors to take into consideration when marketing to the Hispanic population and dealers willing to jump into this market will indeed need experienced partners to show the way.

While being shown the way though, dealers will need to make a commitment to the market by hiring Hispanic staff to serve customers in all areas of their organizations or run the risk of losing out on the opportunity created by effective marketing and generating a negative perception of their dealership among the Hispanic community in their area.

I agree with you Jeff... this industry is so ready for the next big thing.

DMS is sooo 80's, CRM is sooo 90's, websites too, 3rd party leads, eBay Local and AutoTrader are sooo early 2000-2003. Is it just me or is the pace of things accelerating?

Answer this though... bring along the next big thing... for argument's sake, what if it was transactional website capabilities (shopping carts for car dealer websites... ) how do you get the industry to engage? How do you get your dealers to get excited? Love to hear the ideas.

Mark Bonfigli wrote:

"I agree with Jeff, not enough hispanic marketeers for sure!
Being brought up in an "Argentine" household and all of my direct family from South America and Italy I think it has given me a better perspective on our market and the needs of the hispanic dalers we serve. Much more needs to be done so thanks Jeff for bringing up this topic."

Gee, maybe that's why AutoTrader.com now owns AutoMercado.com, the #1 all-Spanish online automotive marketplace (even the listings are in Spanish, unlike AT's competitors) and is integrating it into their solutions to help AT dealers better market to this rapidly growing segment of car buyers.

Brian - yep, I'm drinking the vAuto Kool-Aid....but it tastes better than Kool-Aid

Jeff - I had not looked at eLeads in months, and then saw their program again at NADA. It looks like they've added some cool features since I last looked: more campaigning stuff, call center stuff, and read-email notifications. I need to take a deeper look at them though - every time I sat down at their booth something came up.

I agree with Jeff,
not enough hispanic marketeers for sure!
Being brought up in an "Argentine" household and all of my direct family from South America and Italy I think it has given me a better perspective on our market and the needs of the hispanic dalers we serve. Much more needs to be done so thanks Jeff for bringing up this topic.

Mark Bonfigli | President, CEO

Dealer.com, Inc
[email protected]

Jeff,
O.K. I will try not to derail the thread. I know what your getting at with the data scraping and all the false traffic to sights, I.E.
Disclaimer on autotrader stating that their stats are probably not accurate.

Alex I take it that you use V-Auto? I am curious if anybody else is drinking the V-auto Kool-aid? I have been intoxicated from it the last few months. Dale's book "Velocity" is a must read!

"Dealers are STILL LOST!"

I have to agree with that Jeff. So are a whole lot of vendors! It almost seems like the bigger the vendor, the more lost it is. There are a few diamonds in the rough though. Dealer.com's Total Dominator looks strong (I'll be using it soon), we did enhance our Call/OneCommand package, DealerSocket and eLeads have made some nice strides in the CRM race, and yes, vAuto rocks! Unfortunately most of the other vendors I met with seem to be just trying to keep up with competition.

Nice write-up Jeff. Sorry to those of you I missed - I didn't get half of what I needed to get done.

Quick update...

Month to date compared to Jan 08 and Feb 07 on all relative stats I listed previously: down 10% - 20%

Maybe Im just in a market area similar to Lao's. Will update soon with precise numbers.

Lao,

What market do you work in? In Hampton Roads, VA the Cars.com participating dealers (as a group) have seen a 37% increase in the amount of calls to their dealerships and a 22% increase in the amount of emails. This doesn't even include the increase in traffic to their websites and the "print the ad/write down the info" walk-in customers. I just use phone calls and emails because we are typically only judged by those conversion rates. I'm pulling data from the first 11 days of January 2008 versus the first 11 days of February 2008 in Hampton Roads. That shows a significant increase in traffic the week after the game. I bet this increase in traffic only grows since the Super Bowl was just the beginning of a $200 million 2008 Cars.com advertising/branding campaign.

"Like auto trader and others, the gig is up for their providing the solution of delivery of customers to the store, at least in this economy"

I agree with this. We have been experiencing much more ROI from targeted local SEM. Is the internet classified model changed that significantly in the past 2 year period? Have others experienced this?