How does your dealerships adapt to change?

Recently, the wife took the kids for a small spring-break vacation before school started back up. Me and the pooch had the house to ourselves for a while.

That Saturday morning, I was inspired: the dog was getting up there in age; she’d been with me a long, long time. She deserved a reward. I decided right then that I was going to upgrade her doghouse – no, build a new doghouse – the best doghouse the world has ever seen!

So I ran to Lowes and loaded-up, and spared no expense. By Sunday afternoon, I had constructed the Mother of All Doghouses: a Skylight, Central Air, Running Water, Carpet so thick the princess would not have felt the pea, and an automatic Treat Dispenser with Unlimited Treats! Robin Leach would have been at a loss for words describing this Ultimate Doghouse.

I was sooooo excited to show man’s best friend! I ran in the house the get her, we strolled out onto the back deck. I proudly surveyed the back yard as she took it all in. She went down the steps, took a good look and…

…went straight into her old doghouse and laid down. She was familiar with her old doghouse; that’s where she was comfortable.

Working with many dealers and a brand new CRM system, I see similar patterns. The paradox is that dealers want something new, something better – something easier to use that will produce improvements and positively affect the bottom line. But as soon as the opportunity is presented, often their efforts center essentially around trying to make their new system into their old system.

It’s human nature: familiarity breeds comfort. As often as we experience “Change” in the automotive landscape, it’s still hard to embrace. So I offer a couple of tips to help ease that transition in your next major process or systems overhaul.

30 Days of Normalization

Set the expectation with the staff that it is absolutely normal and should be expected that any major change will be implemented with a certain level of unease – even fear – but that’s OK. It’s amazing to see how users interact with familiar systems. They can look you in the eye and their hands are moving their mouse to a spot on the screen unconsciously.

With a new system, for a short while, the eyes will need to “search” the screen and your hand/mouse will have to catch-up to your eyes. But with every “click” and every day using the system, familiarity starts to set-in, and comfort will follow. It just takes a little time and practice.

Set the expectation that this “unease” is normal and that it may take up to 30 days for this new system to feel normal, but it absolutely will happen.

New = Fresh Start

You have a new system – explore what it does new and better than your old system! If all of your time is spent looking in the rear-view mirror, trying to make your new gizmo do all the old stuff with which you were familiar, then you might miss the opportunity to do something better.

You made the leap – you signed the contract because you wanted something better – you wanted this change. You now have the perfect opportunity for a Fresh Start. Embrace the change and try something new. Remember the definition of ‘insanity:’ doing the same thing repetitively and expecting a different result.

Expedite Familiarity

One sure-fire way to prolong the unease of a new system or process is to grant access to the old system or process for any length of time. In other words, the longer you let them access the old system, the longer it will take to get familiar and comfortable with the new system. Institute a Clean-Break policy: no longer than 1 week access to the old system. Sooner is even better. Your goal is to be comfortable after 30 days – keep that in-mind if you think restricting access after a day or two sounds like tough-love.

Change is a constant in our business: people, product, technology. Setting the right expectations and properly managing the process of change itself can really help ease frustrations and lead to a better experience in the long run.

Trust me, after I got rid of that old doghouse, my pooch has never been happier.

When was the last time you built a new Dog House for your dealership? 

A brief, but pointedly confused, open letter to Google.

Dear Google,

We, local, online marketers do love you. You have brought us great innovation in organizing the world's information. You have brought many local businesses the opportunity to capture new customers and advertise on a fairly even playing field (budget aside) with the big boys. But, why oh why, would you confuse your user and your local advertisers by removing any reference to dates on your now notorious Google Places + Local Pages (naming confusion intended).

I do give you much credit. I do believe your team is top-notch. I do wish I had folks like Amit Singhal and Matt Cutts on my team.  In this most recent change, however, I am perplexed.

Consumer view:

I use Google to find information… recent, relevant, timely, etc. etc. If I am researching potential purchases and comparing Business A to Business B, how could I not benefit from knowing when a review was made? Maybe Business A used to be abysmal but listened to the consumer feedback and has since changed.  Maybe Business B used to be a shining beacon of consumer satisfaction but made some poor hiring decisions that have since diminished its previous standards of customer satisfaction. But how do I know? Without dates on these reviews, how do I know if a business has improved its service over time or not?

I have been flexible and changed with you from 5 stars to 4 words to 30 points etc., but this change has really hurt me.

Business view:

I need more customers.

I like Google because I can use it to get more customers. I want my customer experience to be transparent. I want consumers to be happy.

How on earth can I engage with my own listing page, understand and participate in a strategy that leaves no reference to time?

Please. Dear Google. Help.

Google, you can contact me with an explanation at [email protected]. I’d be happy to reply using my Android phone.  I’ve included screenshots and links to various businesses affected by this change, in multiple industries.

 

Sincerely,

Brice Englert

General Product Manager
Dominion Dealer Solutions

 



Where are the dates?

 

[highlight color="#fddcaf" font="black"]We're getting some conversation and sharing rolling this weekend with a post by Brian Pasch. He's looking for the answer to what appears to be a simple question. But, is it?[/highlight]

Why Buy A New Vehicle From Your Dealership?

I love working with car dealers to create a comprehensive marketing road map that integrates traditional, digital, and social media marketing channels.

The more I work with dealers, I am finding that the dealers starting point to create a solid marketing plan begins with a simple question. This question seems to be difficult for most dealers and their staff to answer effectively.

The question is simple:
Why would anyone purchase their next vehicle form your dealership?

Create Your List in 3 Minutes - If you can

Before you read any further, take this quick test. Grab a piece of paper and give yourself three minutes to write down 3 or more reasons why a local consumer should buy a car from your dealership.

Do it right now and then let's review what you wrote down; it's not as easy as you might think within a three minute time frame.

If you are really interested in a test, call your sales team together for a quick huddle. Hand out paper and pens to everyone. Ask the sales team to write down five reasons why a consumer should buy a car from them in three minutes.

Let's see what those responses look like. You will find that at least half of the team will not be able to provide anymore than 3 reasons in three minutes. Some will be tongue tied and others will get frustrated. I see this all the time when I ask this question.

Now that you have your responses, there are a few things that can be scratched off your list. Take a look to see if you provided any "white noise" responses from the list below.

Eliminate the white noise

The answers listed below are what I call "white noise" and they don't differentiate your dealership from any local competitors:

• We take great care of our customers!
  
• We offer the best deals!
  
• We treat our customers like family!
  
• We have the largest inventory!
  
• We have the lowest prices!
  
• We are not like other car dealers!

If you included any of the white noise answers in your responses, cross them out. If you read the newspaper, listen to the radio, or watch TV you will see that these statements are used all the time from local dealers interchangeably.

So, without all the white noise, how many real points of differentiation were you able to provide in 3 minutes?

If you did provide more than 3 compelling reasons, you have probably taken some time recently to go through this exercise and already realized your marketing effectiveness had stalled. You needed a series of messages to cut through all the white noise. True?

Why is this exercise important?

Without a clear answer to this question you can't have an effective marketing strategy. Without this list you cannot create a consistent marketing message. Every customer facing employee must know these points by heart to reinforce your dealers marketing message. All their actions should reinforce the "Why Buy From Us" message each day, especially during a phone call!

Share your reasons why...

If you took the time to go back and list 3 or more great reasons why consumers should buy from your dealership, take a moment and share them here in the DealerRefresh forums.

This is a more critical task than you might think. Imagine the power of getting a clear message that was supported in all that you do at the dealership.

Lets get started - click here to share your reasons why anyone would purchase their next vehicle from your dealership.

[highlight color="#fddcaf" font="black"]Let's all do ourselves a favor and participate in this quick test. Feel free to comment around this post/topic below in the comments BUT click here to SHARE YOUR REASONS over in the forum.[/highlight]