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Apr 15, 2012

TJYoung

If the employees at the dealership choose to waste their time surfing porn, they are most likely not the right people that will serve the dealership in the long term. In my experience, poor work habits by employees is a reflection of the leadership at the very top of the organization. Painful to hear, but so often this is the case.

The commitment and passion of the employees at any company is directly related to the leaders of the company. If the dealership employees have no respect for their time and the investment made by their dealer principal, there are bigger problems at play.

Internet access is not the biggest one by far!

Apr 15, 2012

Being from a large dealer group you get the 'porn surfers who will literally surf porn with their customers standing just on other side of the screen', the 'youtube sales reps who watch golf all day long', and of course the facebook "look at me, aren't my pics and my life pretty and wonderful... please tell me that"

Social media is a passive endeavour for those who are flaked out on the couch/in bed and don't wish to be marketed to. They are just catching up with friends and gossip. Thats about it. The rest are '1 person companies' holed up in their basement claiming to be social gurus and trying desperately to get us all to believe the world is coming to an end if you don't get on the bandwagon.

Show me a dealer or two knocking them dead in social media, selling cars and loving it.

Good luck

Feb 21, 2012

Jeff, thanks for pointing me to this post. I just shared my experience with a dealer group that had blocked social media access and after I showed how their staff could monetize social media engagement, the light bulb went on in the dealer principal's head.

I wanted to offer DealerRefresh readers who may be interested in participating in a webinar on this topic, to send me an email to: [email protected] . If enough people reply, I will setup a webinar in March and share my presentation that open some eyes on why the chains should come off social media access.

Dec 6, 2011

My dealer, Larry Van Tuyl, thinks Facebook, social media, and even the internet are all just fads that will soon go away. They still think there are millions of people with good credit that think the web is too dangerous to "surf". They believe Americans want to be abused and conned just like we've always done it. We've been told that repeat and referral business is nothing more than a figment of a bunch of "do gooder's imagination. Consequently, after we get through with a prospect we're pretty sure we'll never see them again, unless it's in a courtroom. I sure do hope Mr. Van Tuyl is right.

Aug 16, 2011

Ed - I just wanted to say thanks for the inspiration: IT, oh how I love thee – DealerRefresh

Aug 16, 2011

Ed - I just wanted to say thanks for the inspiration: IT, oh how I love thee – DealerRefresh

Aug 16, 2011

Ed - I want to jump on your first question because you're right, it hasn't been touched yet. And I hope my perspective can shed some light on why you asked this question in the first place.

I have a lot of experience with dealership bandwidth issues from my time with Checkered Flag. Checkered Flag is located in an area with fantastic options for getting more bandwidth. And Checkered Flag was not afraid to put more money into satisfying their employees' technological needs. However, now that I am on the vendor side of the fence I am looking back and asking the question: why did we even have bandwidth issues in the first place?

I believe that Checkered Flag evolved their IT needs the same way many dealerships have: from a security standpoint that was based on the needs of an accounting department. Because there is a lot of paranoia around security (over a huge number of things), and justifiably so in a few cases, systems are strained by bottlenecks. Lots of firewalls, lots of switches, lots of whatevers have all done their part to strain the flow. And increasing the size of the bandwidth pipe really doesn't make a noticeable difference when there are hardware bottlenecks.

On the other side of the fence that I now sit on, IT's first responsibility is usability of the network. It is about making the bandwidth available for employees to do their jobs fist, then patching-up any holes that could be exploited.

So, that is a long way of saying that I have been exposed to two types of IT perspectives: 1 with security as the priority and 1 with usability as the priority. These different priorities make for some massive differences!

With so many technological advances happening so often, and so many changing bandwidth needs, it is probably time every company decide which priority makes the most sense today.

Aug 16, 2011

The factors I am not seeing discussed here are:

1) The bandwidth drain that YouTube and Fb would have on our already thinly stretched pipe...

2) The potentially damaging effect on the dealership as a brand if too closely connected to its employees in a social setting...

Thoughts?

Ed Shaffer

Aug 11, 2011

I am sad to say that we do have all od the social sites blocked on the desktops at work. That doesn't mean that the guys aren't doing it. They are accessing it through their iTouches and phones. It is something that we do have to consider since social is such a hot topic. I don't think that the guys will be on the playing farmville or anything like that so I think that we would be safe.

dinof777 · Aug 5, 2011

We have open access to Facebook and other social sites but block the games on those sites. We found people playing farm-ville and mafia wars instead of working.

Aug 4, 2011

Years ago, we had filters on the sales staff computers. Then we realized we only needed good rules and understanding by the (adult) sales staff. We've had no problems.

Aug 4, 2011

Keep all channels open as a mean to sell more cars! Have your employees share your message with their friends. The more eyeballs on your message the better!

Aug 4, 2011

I have read a lot of studies on this topic and found that when employers lock down these pages, employees will just use their smart phones to do the same.

Aug 4, 2011

Our dealer blocks social media save for the Internet Department that I manage. So 3 employees have use of it. Initially the thought was to connect with Gen Y on their terms for our Scion Brand. In fact the opposite has happened, as baby boomers are embracing it as much as Gen. Y, Millennial and X buyers. So for our initial 1st year in the world of social media, I would have to formulate my opinion that a dealer would greatly benefit from allowing the use of Social media and embrace the needs of the market as well as the future employees that will manage that market. Ultimately driving sales has to come from a systematic approach to managing social media networks and leveraging the benefits on a macro level for all the dealerships departments, not just sales. Connecting with the core values and buying motives of the next generation of buyers will involve adapting the sales to marketing strategies ability in building, supporting, and cultivating relationships outside the physical showroom. Virtual showrooms on a dealers website are a key portal to introducing a dealers commitment to embracing the total relationship cycle by acknowledging the use of social media.

Considering the amount of time people spend on the internet should be a key indicator that social media sites are the hub of where all communication takes place. To support this, I have had more interaction with a new client on Facebook than through a phone call or email. The issue lies with security. Virus’s run rampant among the net and social media has been flagged as a hot bed for the new hackers delight.

James

Aug 4, 2011

We do block social media...we actually block many websites. In my opinion I think it's a mistake. I think it is a great way to communicate with your customers on a much more personal basis. Most of our employees will just use their phones anyways so why not embrace and support it.

Aug 4, 2011

As an HR Manager at a dealership who writes a personal humor blog, writes for an online magazine, and for an HR blog... I would really be two-faced to block my employees from social media. We actually encourage them to sell cars to their Facebook friends. We love the interaction with our customers. Let's be real here... people spend a lot of time on social media. We are being smart to capture some of that time. We track where our leads come from, and I can promise you it works. The one thing we do not allow is trash talking the company. As long as they stay positive... we fully support their social media efforts.

Aug 4, 2011

There's a great Ted Talk on the biggest obstacles to getting work done at work - Social Media isn't the problem. Jason Fried: Why work doesn't happen at work - Login to view embedded media View: http://www.ted.com/talks/jason_fried_why_work_doesn_t_happen_at_work.html

@Dealerrefresh · Aug 3, 2011

RT @Dealerrefresh: Does Your Dealer Block Social Media? Comment right here -->> http://bit.ly/n1SohB

Aug 3, 2011

Does it really even matter anymore if the dealer is on Facebook? Seems to me like we're chasing, chasing, chasing... I'm starting to think we're chasing "nothing" -- just keeping-up for the sake of keeping-up. I know that now we "have" to be there -- but the reasons "why" we have to be there seem to be fading pretty fast. I mean, if a tree falls in the woods, and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? If we dumped our FB page, would our thousands of fans notice? I wonder...

Grant Gooley · Aug 3, 2011

An employee who uses Facebook to distract them from their work is using other forms of distractions as well, like a phone to call their friends.

Facebook will not create a poor worker. Poor results means poor work.

Staff need to be trained on Facebook and how to use it to benefit the dealership. If they are using Facebook in non-work way, then there will be trouble. The same as if you are calling your friends on the dealership phone. Whats the difference?

bpreston · Aug 3, 2011

I haven't restricted social media sites, yet. We have trained our people and encouraged our people to leverage the opportunities that social media, particularly Facebook, presents. However, I have found that the work related efforts are vastly out weighed by distraction and headaches (inappropriate posts, pictures, etc.) We implemented a new network recently and will be restricting these sites soon. Obviously, they'll still be able to check Facebook on their phones, but I think this is much better than browsing for the entire day. Most of our Facebook sales have started from a private message from an acquaintance, friend, or previous customer and these messages are emailed to you.

Aug 3, 2011

Anyone with an iphone is getting "social" on their own terms.

Hovering over the receptionist and distracting her from her work, can't be a better use of time than watching your competitors YouTube channel.

bpulseadmin · Jul 31, 2011

DealerRater Unveils Enhancement to Further Integration of Dealer Reviews with Dealers’ Facebook Fan Pages

July 29, 2011 –DealerRater®, the nation's premier car dealer review website, announced today an enhanced feature of its Certified Dealer Program that will enable dealers to better integrate and leverage online reviews on Facebook. Supplementing an already existing program feature that enables a dealer’s reviews to automatically feed to a custom tab on its Facebook fan page, this new update provides dealers with the ability to post review snip-its directly to their Facebook fan page wall. As a result, a dealer’s reviews will automatically appear on the news feeds of all its Facebook fans on a real-time basis.

“We are excited to introduce this enhanced Facebook feature as it will provide our dealer partners with another powerful tool to showcase positive reviews and promote quality customer service,” said Chip Grueter, president of DealerRater. “We are committed to giving our Certified Dealers the most innovative tools to build, manage and leverage their online reputation, and this latest feature update attests to that commitment.”

With this latest enhancement, a dealership’s Facebook fans can either click on a dedicated Facebook tab to see a listing of that dealer’s most current 10 reviews or view that dealer’s customer reviews directly from the dealership’s Facebook fan page wall. Additionally, as part of this new DealerRater Facebook tool, Certified Dealers will gain ultimate control over the number of reviews that are posted automatically to their Facebook fan page wall per day and can also select the specific reviews that will be posted.

More than 3,900 dealers across the U.S. and Canada are enrolled in DealerRater’s Certification Program. As an online reputation management tool for car dealers, the Certified Dealer Program is designed to help car dealerships reach DealerRater community members while demonstrating an utmost commitment to quality customer service.

About DealerRater

DealerRater was founded in 2002 as the first car dealer review website worldwide. With more than 400,000 people joining the DealerRater user community each month, DealerRater is fast becoming the world’s #1 online resource for anyone seeking third-party information on automobile dealerships. DealerRater features more than 49,000 U.S. and International car dealers, 400,000 user reviews and over 1,000,000 classified ads. DealerRater attracts more than 5 million consumers every year who visit the site to search for car dealerships, read current reviews, write their own descriptive reviews, and find car deals – all for free. Car dealers are rated on the criteria of customer service, quality of work, friendliness, price and overall experience. In addition, DealerRater offers qualified car dealers a Certified Dealer Program as a reputation management tool to help them grow their online presence and achieve higher SEO rankings across the Web. Today, over 3,900 dealers are members of DealerRater’s Certification Program. For more information, visit www.DealerRater.com or call 800-266-9455.

Jul 28, 2011

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Not sure who else is counting what version of the internet we are, but it's an interesting post though. Now, there are 3 key elements that are now dominating: How we interact, where we interact and where our interactions are stored. In other words: Social, Devices and Cloud.

Software is now Social ______ fill the blanks. Media, Marketing, Reputation, Commerce, Exchange, Business and now I hearing stuff like Social TV, Social Radio...the name itself and the concept has endless ramifications. I see the social stuff as Usability trend rather than platform or a service. The fact is that soon EVERYTHING, I mean EVERYTHING will be Social Something or that works thru a social platform.

As far as Hardware/Devices is concerned, it won't matter how or where you get your fix. It will be a matter of platform preference, your TV, your smart phone, your car, your toaster, refrigerator. Running apple os x, windows, linux, android...it won't matter, in fact it doesn't matter much today.

Storage is all about the Cloud. Storage now takes place somewhere except your hard drive. Local storage is becoming obsolete. Think of how much "you" or how much of you is online, SSN, Name, relationships, business transactions, emails. Go back 5 years and trying being sold on the idea and see how much things have changed.

What does it all mean? in general and as a consumer, very sadly is just invasion of privacy, but that's one end of the rope. On the marketing/sales/biz side and to our benefit, we now have access to anybody and their likes, anywhere, anytime to offer, sell and service. Matter if ethics how we use this technology.

So, if i had to agree that such thing exists and label what it represents, I'd say internet 5.0 is nothing but invasion of privacy 2.0.

German Sosa - twiceinteractive.com

Jul 26, 2011

I knew somebody was going to get picky

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