March 30th at 1:00 PM EST Cliff Banks, automotive's Nostradamus, will be sharing his insights on Refresh Friday.  Tune-in on the DealerRefresh Facebook page for the live broadcast.

We plan to talk about

• CDK's Fortellis project
  
• CDK lawsuits with Authenticom & Cox Automotive
  
• NADA
  
• 2018 Acquisitions
  
• Hot companies to watch
  
• Digital Retailing
  
• Dealers are not going away anytime soon

Join the fun.

If you can't make it the video will be available on Facebook and later on the DealerRefresh YouTube channel.

 

Richard Keith Latman of CRMSuite

Dominion has struck a deal to license the CRMSuite product from Richard Keith Latman.  Does this mean Autobase is going away?

Read the press release from Business Wire

Dominion Dealer Solutions announced today the launch of its new CRM, Dominion VisionTM. The most advanced automotive CRM in the market today, Dominion Vision combines the most intuitive CRM interface in the market with customized reporting and consumer-focused communication tools to create an easy-to-use CRM that will satisfy customers, sales reps and management. Powered by CRMSuite, Dominion Vision is the result of a business partnership designed to integrate CRMSuite’s state-of-the-art CRM technology with Dominion Dealer Solutions’ portfolio of high-performance digital marketing and data-mining software offerings.

Dominion Vision CRM eliminates conventional CRM thinking by combining ease-of-use functionality with user-tailored dashboards. Intuitive technology erases the need for traditional action plans and lineated work flows. Dominion Vision learns about your customers and their preferences – helping your sales people connect with prospects using the best possible method at the best possible time. With real data at your fingertips, Dominion Vision is a true business intelligence tool. Mobility for all users is available via both a tablet-friendly interface and a downloadable mobile app.

“There are many CRMs in the marketplace but Dominion Vision is truly different. From our rich CRM legacy with AVV and Autobase, Dominion has always been committed to the dealer – using the latest technology to build simple and elegant solutions,” says Jack Ross, president of Dominion Dealer Solutions. “Now all of our tools, from DMS to CRM, equity mining to digital products, can work together to help car dealers sell more cars.”

Dominion Vision also includes proactive communication using machine learning to track consumer communications preferences in the form of a virtual, personal assistant, “Olivia.” No longer will customers fall through the gaps. This feature will scan the customer database on a regular basis and communicate via email, text or voicemail with prospects who have not been contacted. Customer responses will be forwarded to the salesperson to re-initiate sales and service communication.

Get a firsthand look at our NADA Booth #3716C. To schedule a presentation of Dominion Vision, please call 877-421-1040 or visit www.transformyourcrm.com.

About Dominion Dealer Solutions

Dominion Dealer Solutions improves dealers’ lives by developing advanced technologies including: reputation and social media management, responsive websites, digital advertising, SEO, SEM, multi-channel marketing, and custom market reports. Coupled with award-winning lead management, inventory merchandising, equity mining, customer relationship (CRM) and dealer management (DMS) solutions, Dominion redefines automotive retail by delivering first-class customer experiences for today’s automotive dealerships. Based in Norfolk, Virginia, every OEM and more than 10,000 U.S. dealers depend on Dominion’s foundation of innovation, integrity, excellence and teamwork to provide them with results at every turn. For more information, visit our website, like us on Facebook, LinkedIn or Youtube, or follow us on Twitter.

About Dominion Enterprises

Dominion Enterprises is a leading online marketing and software services company offering client solutions across multiple business verticals. Our B2B cloud SaaS solutions directly support clients in establishing their online and mobile brands, generating leads, and managing customer relationships. Our B2C web and mobile portals serve the housing, franchise and travel markets and include popular sites such as Homes.com. Dominion Enterprises is headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia and has offices across the U.S.

According to a recent study, 81 percent of recent car buyers polled did not enjoy the car buying experience, with 29 percent indicating they do not trust salespeople.

The car sales process can’t simply be about pushing cars off the lot if you want to remain competitive. Instead, you need to understand your buyer, address their needs and establish a personal connection with each customer.

Brick-and-mortar dealerships have an advantage over Amazon, Carvana and other online retailers fighting to establish their place in the automotive industry, as traditional dealers have the built-in ability to personally connect with customers. However, your dealership is only as good as the people you have working in each department – and their capacity to make meaningful connections with your customers.

Below are a few ways to optimize your human capital, ensure your employees are positively representing your brand and maintain your competitive edge over online retailers and other disruptive business models. 

Shift Your Sales Positions to Product Specialist Roles

An increasing number of automotive dealerships are implementing product specialists to fill roles that were previously sales-focused. While traditional sales roles likely won’t go away anytime soon, product specialists act as brand ambassadors and experts, instead of salespeople who, in the traditional sense, spend much of their energy getting buyers to sign on the dotted line.

With the transition to product specialists, dealerships are seeing numerous benefits – from improved customer experience and higher sales margins to lower employee turnover.

In 2014, Florida-based dealership JM Lexus saw a 27 percent sales increase over the two previous years after replacing sales associate positions with product experts. Other dealerships have followed suit and adopted the product specialist model to help provide their customers with a smooth and transparent sales experience.

In addition to building customer trust, the shift from sales to product specialist roles can also help you attract more quality employees. Today’s job seekers have become wary of the commission-based salaries traditionally associated with many dealership sales roles. So, many dealerships have switched from commission-based pay plans to base pay plus bonus plans - for sales and product specialist roles. Not only will this evolved pay plan help your dealership attract top talent who might not have considered a commission-based plan, but it will also take the commission pressure off your existing employees - allowing them to focus more on your customers’ needs.

Expedite Car Buying

The majority of today’s car buyers spend a significant amount of time researching their potential purchase online – 14 hours, on average. Most consumers research online because it’s faster and more convenient than spending a whole Saturday in the dealership, as customers did in the past. When customers do visit a dealership, they expect to drive off the lot quickly, rather than spending their entire day shopping for a car.

Product specialists are better suited for this “new normal.” They can answer any additional questions the well-informed customer may have, test drive the car with them and help the customer drive home in their new car as quickly as possible.

Some dealerships have also opted to combine their sales and F&Ifunctions of the business, to help expedite the buying process and get customers out the door faster. Although a combined job position calls for a more talented job candidate, there are many benefits to adding this dual role to your dealership.

Not only will a combined sales and F&I role drastically reduce the amount of time buyers spend completing their purchase, it also increases brand trust. By designating one person to fulfill both roles, that employee can more easily build a relationship with customers. Customers will not be handed off from sales to F&I – instead, they will be working with one employee throughout the entire process.

Build Customer Loyalty by Integrating Technology

To help grow customer relationships, dealers are finding ways to leverage technology to make car buying and post-purchase services more convenient. Some sales and service managers have been using mobile technologies to send their customers notifications when their vehicle needs an oil change or other routine maintenance. Dealers can also use this platform to advertise discounts and promotions, driving loyalty, engagement and retention.

Hire the Right People

Along with modifying your job positions, speeding up car buying and integrating technology into your sales process, make sure you are constantly hiring quality candidates to maximize your dealership’s potential. Your talent represents your brand on a daily basis. To find the best candidates in any economic climate,download our eBook, "Planning for People in Retail Automotive."

One of my favorite techniques when auditing automotive dealers’ paid search spending, is to compare the search queries to keyword purchases. The search queries are the exact phrases that visitors are typing into Google (or other search engines). I find it useful to compare the search queries to the actual keyword(s) the dealer is purchasing. For instance, if the dealer is purchasing “Toyota Tacoma”, but the consumer is searching for “Toyota Tacoma stuck in mud videos", then I want to help the dealer avoid paying for those clicks.

I find far too many dealers with runaway paid search campaigns, where the dealer has asked to rank high for various search queries, yet no one is paying attention to what the person is searching for, or what happens once the user clicks to the dealer’s website. Far too often, the paid search agency is presenting high level campaign results that can mask poor performing keywords or keyword groups.

As you’ve read from my prior articles, dealers truly need to start their search-engine marketing with a strong list of keywords and phrases they would like to rank for. They also need to massage that list with a strong negative-keyword list that will make sure their net is not cast too widely.

Dealers may know the keywords they want, but they also need to know what types of searches they need to exclude. Many times, they will want to either exclude vehicle make/model/years of vehicles they do not sell, or instead change their search-terms to more long-tail searches. For instance, instead of purchasing “Toyota Tacoma” they are purchasing “2018 Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro” (directed to an appropriate model landing page, or VDP).

"Far too often, the paid search agency is presenting high level campaign results that can mask poor performing keywords or keyword groups."

Click to expand...

A great way to start building a strong negative keyword list and learning more about the type of questions consumers have, is scouring for “inquisitive search terms”.  What are inquisitive search terms?

They are the famous: who, what, when, where, why and how. You simply go into Google Analytics, and choose the Acquisition menu on the left. From there you select AdWords (you must have AdWords connected to Google Analytics first). Finally, you should choose “search queries”. The Search Queries are the exact searches that consumers have typed into Google, that resulted in them clicking one of your paid ads. For your Secondary Dimension choose “keywords” so you can compare the search query to the keyword you purchased.



Although it may be frustrating to see the type of traffic you are paying for, it can also be very insightful to see what they are looking for.  By comparing the search queries to your purchased keywords, you can get some ideas on future negative keywords to include.  At the same time, you may get some ideas on website content you may want to create.  For instance, if people are searching for answers on how to properly program their Ford Sync systems, you may want to create educational pages on your site, that also make it easy for the consumer to schedule a service appointment.

Give it a try, I promise it will be insightful, and if used properly will improve the performance of your paid search campaigns.  Contact at me if you have any trouble following the instructions above.

 

“Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.” –Mark Twain

As you have already noticed, nearly everyone in the medical field has made the move to wearing scrubs, paper pushers and surgeons alike. My wife occasionally wears them for her profession and loves the pajama-like feel. The other day, I was struck by a young professional’s choice of medical attire. Their scrubs were so tight that you could accurately count their goosebumps. I thought to myself, why the hell didn’t you buy the size for your body?! 

Then it occurred to me. Some people are petrified to admit that things no longer fit. If car dealerships needed to shed their ill-fitting clothes, most would be forced to go naked...

Hoarder’s Closet

Some dealerships hold onto everything. A box full of VHS tapes? Check. A threadbare t-shirt bought during the Clinton administration? Check. Wood paneling in the service lounge? Check. 1986 Dodge Omni GLH? Check. These dealerships will not let go of anything because they might need it down the road. On the admirable side, they’re extremely loyal. On the pitiful side, they are extremely loyal. They won’t let go of ADP/CDK because, during the Blizzard of ’78, the sales rep (long since dead) stayed at the owner’s house. Bob, AKA “Creepy Bob,” is on his sixth lateral move in five years because he arrives early every day (presumably, to drink coffee and harass the female staff). Sure the Budget Lot has never turned a profit, but someday the fresh graffiti on the cars might attract more visitors. Luckily, that Omni GLH is buried in training binders. It’ll be perfectly preserved for when the lights go out.

Aspirational Size

Many dealerships have a self-determined ideal size. At one point, they found their peak and determined that they had the magical size for eternal success. All their friends complimented them on how good everything looked. But, as their business changed (as it inevitably does), they had to get bigger. They had to add staff, inventory, technology, and that new OEM mandated façade. But, packed deep in the staff and management’s psyche, there is an obsession to squeeze back down into that ideal size. Never mind that inventory gets more complex by the day, the way people shop keeps changing in unpredictable ways, and that smoking indoors is illegal throughout most of the US. Someday, that old stuff will fit again. Yes, those pants do make you look fat.

Emaciated Chic

While some dealerships remember what they feel is the right size, others make it a mission to keep things trim. Then trim down some more. These dealerships wonder why they can’t compete and why turnover is so high. Their accountant (who buys from the Audi dealership down the road) thinks they are doing great. They feel great, except none of their technology is compatible with modern devices, their websites make Craigslist look busy, and their business is solely predicated on walk-in traffic. They had their best year in 2001 (along with the rest of the industry), and have kept expenses super lean ever since. All their 20 Group friends ask why they look so sick. Their response is that they still need to lose a few pounds. RIP, Karen Carpenter.

Busting Seams

Another group of dealerships, simply cannot contain their girth. They read a few articles about the most successful dealerships, and wanted to match them dollar for dollar, pound for pound. They spend four times more than what they should (probably with 4X Digital) on advertising, making sure to use only the most expensive vendors. They never ask where their money is going. They redesign their websites every six months, while going through a new CRM every two years. The staff won’t be fired because everyone knows it. Anyone who cares about them tells them they need to trim back, but those people are just haters. If it works for an exclusive luxury group near Silicon Valley, then it must work for their rural Mitsubishi Kia dealership. RIP, Mama Cass.

Rightsizing

We’ve all been told throughout our lives that we’re supposed to adapt. If that’s the case, then we are bound to outgrow things. Periodically, that means permanently retiring those skinny jeans. On other occasions, that means bidding adieu to team members. We expand to build our ranks and bulk up to get stronger. We shed weight to stay healthy while making changes to our habits to prevent us from sickness down the road. It is that adaptability that allows us to sustain.

Don’t let external labels hold you back from looking and being your best. One company’s XL is another company’s Euro medium. Just because everyone is choosing a particular vendor, doesn’t mean that it’s going to be right for you. Just because you’ve always had ten salespeople doesn’t mean that you don’t need more or less to support today’s business. Just because certain pieces of technology and processes were in fashion three years ago, doesn’t mean that they work well together today. Keep discovering what works well with your size and philosophy. If it no longer fits, stop wearing it.

E-commerce has increasingly become a platform for big-ticket purchases like TVs, mattresses and cars. Car buyers can not only complete online before stepping into a dealership, but in some cases, they can buy cars directly from web-based vendors, cutting out the traditional dealership entirely.

Sites like Carvana allow customers to buy a car online and then pick it up, or even have it delivered to their driveways. Meanwhile, behemoth retailer Amazon has started testing online car sales in Italy and recruiting top car executives in Europe – both signs that the e-commerce giant is positioning itself to enter the automotive sales industry in a big way.

Additional disruptive forces for traditional dealerships include the development of self-driving cars and vehicle subscription services. AutoNation, the largest new vehicle retailer in the U.S., has partnered with Waymo, Google’s self-driving car partner, to provide maintenance for driverless cars. Waymo also negotiated a partnership with Lyft for the development of a driverless ride-sharing service.

Another emerging business model is vehicle subscription, which gives customers the option to rent cars on a month-to-month basis. These services are quickly adding more affordable models to their lineups, and users sometimes have the option to change what type of vehicle they rent based on their needs that month. Ford and Cadillac are two brands that currently offer subscription services in select markets.

What Does This Mean for Dealerships?

Retailers across industries are impacted by changing consumer tastes – in general, today’s consumers recoil from strong sales pitches and gravitate toward helpful, low-pressure customer service and customer education. The shift toward online car-buying and other innovative options reveals that consumers are less interested in being sold a car and more interested quickly buying — or renting — a car without the traditional sales pressure.

Despite this shift, seventy percent of buyers report that they still want to visit a dealership to see a car in person, test drive it and learn about its technological features. To retain customers who still prefer walking into a physical dealerships, it’s critical to eliminate sales pressure and adapt to consumers’ evolving preferences.

Here are a few ways traditional dealerships can remain competitive in an age of Amazon, Carvana and other emerging competitors.

Rethink Employee Priorities

Realign your approach to customer service to prioritize experience over sales. An excellent customer service experience is what will close the deal and bring buyers back to your dealership.

Because of the ease of online research, many buyers already have made a decision before they set foot in your establishment. Therefore, the service they receive is the only thing standing between your customers the final purchase. Avoid intimidating guests with high-pressure sales tactics, and don’t let the process get bogged down by involving too many employees.

A commission-based pay plan does not support this shift away from sales and toward customer experience. Take a page from AutoNation’s book, and consider adjusting your compensation structure to a base salary with bonuses. This encourages employees to focus on excellent customer service rather than sales commissions. It also makes it easier to attract and retain top talent. Many millennials seek jobs with steady pay, and they have a variety of options outside the automotive industry. If you want to stay competitive, it’s advantageous to remove the guesswork and offer a strong base salary with opportunities for sales-based bonuses.

Offer Support At All Stages

Another way to drive home your value to buyers is to offer top-notch post-purchase support. An e-commerce website can offer a list of a car’s features, but it can’t offer a face-to-face conversation about how those features work or post-purchase maintenance.

By positioning your employees as the go-to experts both before and after buyers make a purchase, you create more reasons for customers to visit your dealership. For example, BMW has started hiring product specialists, called BMW Geniuses, to help educate customers on cars’ technological features. As car features get more advanced, it becomes increasingly helpful to have designated product experts on hand during the buying process to show customers how to connect with Bluetooth, configure apps and set up voice commands.

Post-purchase maintenance is another way to differentiate your dealership from online disruptors like Amazon and Carvana. Embrace the buying process as an opportunity to build relationships with your customers. This makes customers more likely to return to your dealership when their cars need to be serviced. The more customers frequent your dealership, the more chances you have to strengthen relationships, establish value and increase after-sales revenue.

Looking Forward

Car buying continues to evolve, but that doesn’t mean your dealership has to see disruptive business models as a threat. Traditional retailers across the world are pivoting in order to compete with e-commerce forces like Amazon. By focusing on customer experience and offering support at all stages, you can ensure your dealership is poised for ongoing success.

For more information on how your employees can help you get ahead in the rapidly evolving automotive market, download our FREE eBook, “Planning for People in Retail Automotive.”

A colleague once told me, "I'd rather spend 60 minutes learning from someone who already figured out what I need to know, than spend days, weeks, or months trying to figure it out on my own." This is precisely why webinars have and continue to be so popular.

Problem is that in today's business culture, we are all struggling to find time to invest those 60 minutes here and there to absorb new lessons and curriculum. In many cases, webinars can be painful to endure, offering limited or minimal value.

Introducing, the Mini-Webinar

To help with this, we would like to introduce the Mini-Webinar - an abridged version of the original webinar recording, re-squenced and condensed to quickly get to the key takeaways of a webinar, giving you a chance to spend as few as 5-10 minutes viewing and/or listening to the most important segments within it.

We've already published a few, so if you're a regular reader or subscriber, you've probably come across one or two, and hopefully appreciate the work we put in to each one to help save you time and give you more value. You can locate all mini webinars by visiting the 'mini-webinar' tag here on the blog.

About DealerRefresh Webinars - Live Web Chats

In 2017, in response to repeated requests from dealers and sponsors throughout the community, DealerRefresh began offering Sponsored Webinars. Unlike your conventional industry webinar, however, our approach to these has been to make them more conversational, rather than presentational, which is why we advertise them as Live Web Chats.

In a live web chat, the webinar presenter is asked to come prepared with a branded presentation, but also be open to questions and interruptions from your hosts - me and Jeff, and from live attendees.

For all practical purposes, our goal with these live web chats is to capture a conversation that is authentic and empirical, informative and educational, and most of all useful, so that we may re-purpose the material in video form and in audio form, alas a podcast. The challenge of course with the podcast version is that there are no visuals.

[highlight color="#fc431e" font="black"]
 Go here to learn more about the DealerRefresh Podcast[/highlight]

Before we release the mini version of a webinar, we first release a 'trimmed' edited version of the original recording. Typically this reduces the original webinar about 25%. During the live webinar, there are portions that pertain only to the live audience. By removing these portions, viewers and listeners can experience a slightly reduced version of the original webinar experience.

Even after the live web chat is conducted, you can still sign up to receive access to the full recording. The mini versions of these webinars are made available to all once they are released. The 'trimmed' versions are only accessible upon request.

Sponsored webinar guests include industry professionals, partners, and vendors who bring innovative ideas and solutions to the table, packaged as a marketing campaign and delivered as educational and informative. The goal of course is to provide our audience with key information that can be implemented at dealerships immediately and in a meaningful way.

Get Involved

To benefit from DealerRefresh webinars, keep your eyes peeled for mini-webinar video releases, and announcements of upcoming webinars. When you see one that piques your interest then sign up, whether it's to reserve your seat on the live webinar, or to access the full recording once it's released.

Also, be sure to subscribe to the DealerRefresh Podcast "In the Mix" to immediately receive not only the podcast versions of these webinars, but all podcasts we publish. Simply search 'DealerRefresh' on iTunes, Google Play, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

 

 

When we talk about 'connected consumers' it's usually in the context of a customer's online presence; how they expect - and in some cases demand - transparency and information, especially when it comes to big ticket items. But giving customers information and the tools they want to comparison shop is one part of the equation when it comes to the idea of a 'connected consumer' because, at the end of the day, consumers want a connection with people as much as they do information.


The fact of the matter is, most customers already know exactly what they're looking for when they visit a lot. Either they've seen an ad online or they've already checked out the online inventory. So when they come in, they're not looking for a car exactly, they're looking to connect with someone they trust before they're willing to fork over a substantial amount of money.

[highlight color="#e2562f" font="white"]>> FREE INFOGRAPHIC: Download the PDF Today

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When customers have already done the research on what vehicle they want, they often turn their attention to researching which dealer they want to work with. 1 in 3 shoppers reported they sought out a specific salesperson within a dealership based on positive reviews. Interestingly, cross-shopping between dealerships has become increasingly common. A Cars.com study found that, even while in a dealership, nearly 30% of customers will

continue to read dealership reviews.

Companies have said for years that people are their greatest asset, but today that adage is more important than ever. In an age where customers can look for - and purchase - cars from dealerships across the country, you need to have more than the right cars. You also need to have the right people and a way for customers to know who to deal with once they know what they want.

Skip to the point if you don't care to read the backstory.

I sit back, this morning, amazed at how unreliable email delivery is. It might be getting worse and worse every year. Due to abusive advertisers we all want to safeguard our inboxes from disgusting amounts of delete button presses. And so, car dealers suffer. Car dealers become email losers.

Sure, dealers' practicing carpet bombing marketing tactics with "free" email campaigns can absolutely be given all the "I told you so's" and "you get what you deserve's" that we care to expound. Anyway, my point is not to get lost in a you reap what you sow scenario.

My point is to reflect on a current purchase experience I am going through for my fiancé. Her lease is up soon and we've been shopping. I'm obviously not your typical car shopper, and that becomes quite apparent to my salesperson when asking about cap costs, residuals, and the money factor. They get quite a bit put back when I can calculate a rough payment in my head with those numbers <Alex, stop tooting your own horn> .... But I like to digest the numbers at home and that requires an email to present the numbers lawfully.

The point

Most dealers I have worked with cannot get an email to me. They claim it has been sent, but I cannot receive their emails in my Hotmail, iCloud/Me.com, or GMail accounts. These dealers have had to forward an email to their own personal accounts and then send from there, instead of their CRM, to get something in my inbox.

Their CRM is blacklisted. And the combined forces of salespeople, sales managers, and Internet managers cannot fathom why. And I'm not talking about a single CRM system here. This is across multiple dealerships in multiple states. It seems like every CRM system is plagued by this.

So, dealers, do you have a way to measure your email response rates? I believe this is a key metric that can tell you two things:

1. Whether your emails are getting through
   
2. How good a particular employee is at composing an engaging email.

Are you aware of how much of an email loser you are?

Comment over in the dealer forums

This article serves two purposes:

1. Explain the need for branded search and what it should actually cost and why.
   
2. Show dealers how to inspect what their SEM vendors are doing to determine if they working in your best interest or their own. Enjoy!

Why Do I Need to Buy My Dealership Name? I Have Great SEO

This is one of the most debated topics coming from car dealers using Adwords or Bing SEM. For those of you unfamiliar with what (Dealership) Branded Search is, Branded Search are SEM campaigns that contain keywords and ad copy directly related to your dealership’s brand name Example: “Mondello Jeep Ram”.

Often I’m asked, “Why do I need to Bid on My Own Name?

I already have SEO!” unfortunately there isn’t a one size fits all answer to this question. For some dealers, it may be possible, if you have a heavily restricted ad budget to do without Branded Search campaigns. This is not a fantastic idea as it leaves you extremely vulnerable to attacks from competitor’s looking to conquest you. Branded search (if done correctly) should be a small but key component to any well-thought SEM approach.

How Much Should I Spend on Branded Search for My Dealership and Why?

“How Much Branded Search Should I do?” “What is the amount I should spend?” Those can also be tricky questions. It really depends on how much competition you have in your backyard and whether you are being conquested with SEM by rival dealers, 3rd parties, as well as tier 1 & 2. Other factors include how much budget you as well as your business goals are. Here is an article from Jeff Kershner explaining this looks like.

What is a Reasonable Budget to Use for Branded Search at my Dealership?

If 12% or more of your budget is dedicated to Branded search terms it may be time to investigate. I’m not suggesting that it’s wrong to spend over 12% just ensure the costs are justified and the strategy is sound. You need to understand what you are paying for.

Special situations where more Budget may be required include dealerships where the town name is incorporated into the store name and other similar complications. Additionally, if your dealership appears to suffer from a Brand recognition deficiency adding more budget to this effort could be beneficial.

How much should I be paying per click on my Dealership Name?

When it comes to branded search aim for CPC bids starting at a dollar or less. Why? Because if done correctly buying your own company should be easy and affordable. In some metros this bid may be light however I maintain that starting at a sub-dollar bid is the way to go. But keep in there are those rare situations such as the ones mentioned above where a higher bid may be appropriate. A great way to monitor and inspect your branded search ad quality and investment without adding cost is possible.

We use a great tool from Google called Ad Preview and Diagnosis (https://adwords.google.com/apt/AdPreview) to prevent skewing our dealer’s metrics while still showing them their keywords and how ads appear in context to other dealer’s ads. This is VERY important.

What Branded Search Does Well

Branded Search can be a great way to generate low cost, high-quality traffic and leads for your dealership. Of course you should expect low costs and high conversion, as the people coming to your site through branded ads were actually looking for you! Branded ads offer a great way to share your message and align off-line or other digital branded efforts with your SEM. Unifying your overall marketing message is extremely important and branded search can be highly effective. Branded search should not represent the focal point or entire foundation of your SEM strategy. If it is, you’re doing it wrong and need to make course corrections.

Dealers: This is How You’re Getting Screwed.

I’ve been seeing a growing trend of agencies and SEM software companies (serving dealers) including branded search terms grouped into single campaigns instead of following Google Best Practices which suggest creating a separate campaigns for each theme of keywords.

Why would they do this?

Simple. Branded Keywords can inherently be purchased at lower cost because of their relevance to your dealership website. But some of the purchase strategies employed by vendors make branded keywords insanely overpriced but still lower than model and used car keywords. They use these expensive branded keyword costs to off-site outrageously high bids on model and dealer term keywords. The result is that your campaign(s) look like they’re kicking butt and have a decent cost per click when in fact the majority of the traffic generated is coming from branded terms that you are overpaying for.

This helps to conceal outlandish bids from being apparent it is a largely deceptive practice. This enables agencies to hand car dealers pretty reports or show you 3rd party analytics dashboards that look fantastic but hide tremendously poor advertising practices and high costs. Google says "Your Ad Groups [Should] contain a set of similar ads and keywords".



This dealer has spent 25% of their budget on these 3 branded keywords this over 40% of their total clicks for the month. Are you outraged yet? This is from a well-known Dealer Search provider.

In addition to over-budgeting towards branded term search many PPC advertisers are over-bidding on Branded keyword terms. Dealer’s need to know and understand that if your ad agency is spending over $2/click on your name – there’s likely a problem. With the right keyword mix, match types, and organization we have created branded Search campaigns (not display select, another one of their tricks) with click costs well under a $1.



To help hide costs this Large company has included Branded (in Blue) Geographic (in Green), Dealer Terms (in Red) and Even a Competitors Name (in Cyan) all in the same Ad group??? This is against Adwords Best Practices!!! Look at the enormous variance in cost $1.61 - $5.78 a nearly 260% cost increase with no relation between keywords.

Another sneaky trick I see comes from Dealers using their website provider for their SEM. It often appears that Dealer's homepage meta description and meta titles are sandbagged on the home page so that the provider to generate more Branded SEM cost. This is by far the sneakiest move and harder to spot. Here's how to identify it.

1. Google your dealership name.
   
2. Observe your branded search ad.
   
3. Scroll down to your homepage's organic listing.

If your dealership name is the first thing read reading from left to right, you're in great shape. If it isn't, you might want to have a chat with your Website/SEM company.

I encourage you to talk to your provider and ask them questions about branded search.

When the market is down, sales are declining, and lead volume is lower than normal.  How can your dealership respond, not just to maintain a flat line, but to turn around the trend and outsell the national average? What information is available, and what tools exist, to tackle this not-so-uncommon scenario?

When Morrie’s Brooklyn Park Subaru began experiencing a considerable decline in lead volume earlier this year, they were faced with this exact issue.

In this video with Morries Automotive Group Marketing Director Ben Robertaccio and AutoHook President David Metter, we look at how Ben’s Subaru dealership was able to increase sales and reduce defection rates despite down market conditions and a considerable decline in lead volume.

Talking Points include:

• Hear straight from the dealer’s perspective of how they were able to reduce lost sales by over 50% in just 90 days.
  
• Learn how to define your greatest sales opportunities and losses tied to a specific salesperson, lead or traffic source, model, competing dealer or brand, zip code, & more.
  
• Continuously grow your market share using the latest methods of exposing holes within your dealership’s operations and the sources responsible for lost sales.

 

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A new year and time again for my favorite blog post of the year!

I love to see the constant progress dealers make to improve their operations. The changes in consumer behavior are always fascinating to witness, and the solutions vendors deliver to the industry play a pivotal role in the success dealers experience.

During the last few years, many solutions and strategies have begun to blur the lines of performance improvement. Let's be honest, many dealers and vendors continue to miss the mark.

Many ignore the signals indicating the changes necessary to maintain the competitive advantage needed. Even worse, some are in a stagnant cycle of progress due to the solutions used. Six years of record new car sales has made it easy for some industry professionals to become very comfortable with their ways.

We finished 2017 with a total of 17,230,436 units sold, down 1.8% from 2016's results. Dealers will find it difficult to achieve the same levels of success without paying attention to the changes facing the industry this year.

Many have become complacent. Complacency breeds mediocrity. It's everyone's responsibility to identify these trends and adapt accordingly to ensure continued success.

This year's Automotive Marketing Predictions include ideas about:

1. How dealers will change the way consumers shop and buy.
   
2. How vendors will change the way they show value to dealers.
   
3. How connected cars will be marketed to consumers.

How dealers will change the way consumer shop and buy vehicles.

Subscription-based ownership models will increase.

Expect to see more medium and large dealer groups introduce new vehicle buying alternatives. The new dealership programs will provide a different level of experiences and flexibility that will have a massive impact on the concept of vehicle ownership.

We could see a ripple effect from these models as they change the way consumers handle traditional activities such as insurance and vehicle maintenance.

I had the opportunity to sit down with an old friend, and one of the top automotive professionals in the industry, to ask a few questions about their new car buying program - Kevin Frye, eCommerce Director for the Jeff Wyler Automotive Family.



EM: What were the key factors that led the Jeff Wyler Automotive Family to decide to start the Wyler FastLane program?

KF: Simple. Our goal is to continue to grow and become more consumer-facing every day. Wyler FastLane allows us to provide a flexible mobility solution to our customers that is personalized and convenient while helping us to become more consumer-facing. In this time of disruption, every dealer, vendor, and OEM should be asking themselves this same question before any move they make.

EM: Does your new FastLane program leverage the Clutch platform?

KF: Yes, we are. The Clutch software engine provides machine learning and several years of data to allow us to provide the best experience for our customers. It is important to emphasize that while there are a few dealers that have introduced auto subscription, each dealer is pursuing a different strategy on how to make this work best. This is a very innovative approach that does not come with an instruction book.

EM: How has the internal response been towards the Wyler FastLane program and how do you see this affecting your group's culture?

KF: Everyone that I have talked to about Wyler FastLane is very excited, especially here within the Jeff Wyler Automotive Family. Our culture is to pioneer and innovate to make our industry better, and Wyler FastLane fits into that perfectly.

EM: What other types of automotive consumer behavior changes are you anticipating for 2018?

KF: We are the first, and I believe, the only dealer in the country that has developed augmented reality solutions internally that we are using in the dealership showroom to better engage our shoppers. This past December we were the first in our market to introduce virtual reality test drives on our websites. Why do I share these Two examples? Our consumers’ expectations are rising each year, and our goal is to exceed those expectations wherever we can – while becoming more consumer-facing.

As disruption faces our industry, we must recognize that the best people to disrupt our industry are ourselves. We must do this with strong leadership, and a genuine goal of becoming more consumer-facing in every aspect of our business.

EM: Thank you, Kevin. Appreciate you sharing your insight with the community. Best of luck in 2018, we're all anxious to hear about your successes with the FastLane program. (I would have already signed up if I lived in one of your markets!)

I also believe we'll finally see more OEM's will also introduce their versions of subscription-based buying programs. Cadillac launched their Book by Cadillac last year with minimal fanfare in three markets. Book by Cadillac provides access to several vehicles and multiple swaps (30!) allowed over an 18-month subscription term.

A common misconception is the belief that Millenials aren't buying cars. They are buying cars; they're simply waiting longer to buy a vehicle due to the ride-sharing options available.

Another item contributing to their delay is a simple fact - used car quality is the best it's ever been vehicles are lasting longer, and the average age of vehicles on the road is at its highest point ever at 11.6 years. In California, the country’s biggest car market, Millennials outpaced Baby-Boomers for the first time as car buyers. Millennials’ new-car market share jumped to 28% in 2015.


Car shoppers will expect faster and more relevant results.

When shoppers are ready to buy a new or used vehicle, they're looking for helpful, specific information. When buyers can't find incentive data, lease payments and finance offers instantly, they get frustrated and lose trust.

Dealers need to evaluate their current marketing process and determine its ability to merchandise each make and model available for sale. The most effective automotive marketing solutions in 2018 will provide dealers the ability to accomplish the following activities easier and faster, using one convenient solution.

1. Publish vehicle offers with payments to your website in real-time
   
2. Deliver paid search ads with contextual pricing
   
3. Build responsive body-style and model-specific vehicle landing pages with their respective transactional data
   
4. Create email marketing content for instant campaign delivery
   
5. Distribute merchandised vehicles to your social media channels

Dealers will also realize the importance of relevancy as a cornerstone element of their marketing strategy. Here is several items dealer must focus on in 2018 to gain a competitive edge as consumer search behavior, expectations, and search engine technology changes.

We all need to pay attention to the behaviors that become familiar and accepted as the "new normal."

• Organic click-through rates are important. Highly relevant landing pages with content that solves the user's problems are literally what Google recommends and what they want to see when crawling your website. Your content must match the user's intent!
  
• Dwell Time will remain a high-priority item. This is the time between a user clicking on your search result, landing on your page, and then returning to the search results page. Google watches this time closely on every click to determine the quality of the page. Short dwell times are not good.
  
• Long form content pages rank higher than pages with shorter, less relevant content.
  
• Voice search behaviors cannot be ignored in 2018.
  
  • By 2022 55% of US homes with have voice-enabled smart speakers. (I have four already!)
    
  • 60% of people currently using voice search just started in the past 12 months.
    
  • 40% of adults now use voice search at least once a day.
    
  • By 2020 50% of all searches will be done by voice. Yes. WIthin 24 months.
    
  • I expect to see voice search to be integrated into Google Analytics and Google Seach Console. (Remember when mobile devices were first noticed in the mid-2000's? Watch the same thing happen.)

The push for marketing relevance will be extremely important as each one of these behavioral trends continues to grow in 2018. Longer, specific content which matches buyer intent will improve voice related search experiences.

Mobile-first indexing will improve shopper experiences.

Google's Mobile-first index will be completed in 2018. Pages will now be indexed from the mobile user's perspective - not solely from the desktop user's view as it has always been done.

What does this mean?

Everyone knows that Google prefers responsive websites. Google gave us all plenty of time to prepare for this event over the past few years. You would think more people would pay attention to the things Google says it likes.

Every year, "This is the year of mobile!" is repeated. 2018 will finally be the year mobile-first indexing affects the search results displayed.

Most car dealers won't notice anything different if they're using a responsive website and they provide their users with the same excellent mobile user experiences that mimic their desktop sites.

However, dealers using sites considered to be adaptive, other forms of adaptive platforms, and different mobile structures (m.) may not fare as well as smart kids in class using responsive platforms.

Why?

Non-responsive sites don't always show the same content and may not allow users to perform the same functions. It's that simple!

How should you prepare for site mobile-first indexing?

• Make simpler click paths from home page and lower level page links.
  
• Don't make users click four links deep to get the info they're searching for.
  
• The biggest culprit of poor click paths? Pages showing lease deals, finance payments, and manufacturer incentives.
  
• Fast load times will be a priority - customers remember slow mobile pages and won't come back again.
  
• Easily digestible content formats - unordered lists, numbered lists, interactive content, and more video!
  
• Google wants the same high-quality desktop experience available on fast mobile devices.
  
• Make sure your SEO elements such as page titles and meta descriptions are descriptive and unique.
  
• Google says their magic number for unordered lists is nine bullets.
  
• Show helpful content that answers specific questions and answers. This helps Google find the best content for featured snippets.

Car shoppers will use more online eCommerce solutions.

2018 will see an increase in the number of dealers offering online shopper buying experience. Dealers will add new website eCommerce solutions such Online Shopper, Roadster, and Drive Motors.

Dealer Inspire's Online Shopper sees a 40% conversion rate to lead. 5% of consumers will complete an online credit application and move on to the next steps. Mid-size dealerships using their solution are also averaging one sale per day via Online Shopper. They claim dealers are resulting in grosses that match the dealership average or better.

“Our industry is in the infancy of enabling the consumer to purchase a vehicle online. Expect automated service contracts and paperwork in 2018 from multiple companies including Dealer Inspire.” Says, Joe Chura, CEO of Dealer Inspire.

Dealers want more automation, and these type of solutions can deliver a nearly automated process. This poses an interesting dilemma. Dealers may be seeking efficiency and productivity, but this doesn't exclude them from managing the process and providing an exceptional in-store experience. This will accelerate the path to the sale, not guarantee 100% customer satisfaction.

Used car leasing will increase.

The number of used vehicles available to the market will continue to rise in 2018. In 2016, there were 3 million lease returns. 2017 had approximately 3.5 million lease returns and may reach nearly 4 million used cars returning in 2018. Used cars sales estimates for 2018 are expected to hit 40 million vehicles.

Vehicle quality is excellent, supply will be high, and demand for these vehicles will remain strong as these factors put pressure on new vehicle pricing and incentives.

Lease returns are pushing used car values down and presenting exceptional values for price-conscious buyers. These buyers are not just poor-credit buyers either. Prime-credit used car consumers have risen to 55% of the market, up from 49% a decade ago per Experian.

There are nearly 30,000 independent dealerships in the U.S. market. Independent dealers who specialize in high quality, late-model, low-mileage vehicles will be positioned well to move used vehicles.

Used car leasing will become another option dealers will consider in 2018 as the depreciation is less significant in the monthly payment of a used lease. I also believe this will represent another favorable ownership alternative to younger buyers.

 



 

Used car leases may also provide a new opportunity for customer retention and loyalty. Customer retention rates among lease return owners are higher than regular retail customers.

Plus, vehicle service business is higher among lease customers. 63% of lease customers return for service while only 56% of used car buyers return to the dealership for service.

 



 

Dealers will need to evaluate their pricing management processes immediately to avoid stocking inventory priced unfavorably to the market. Be prepared for sudden used car market pricing shifts before you're buried with losses.

The total number of used cars available to the market combined with the pricing pressures on new car leasing can create dangerous situations for dealers not managing prices consistently.

How vendors will change the way they show value to dealers.



 

Relationships based on trust - at all levels of the dealership. 

It doesn't matter how great your technology is, what matters the most is the relationship with the people using it every day. There is a significant opportunity for any vendor to change the way they approach their dealership client relationships.

Dealer Principals, General Managers, and Marketing Directors are typically strong leaders. They prefer to make decisions based on facts and not emotions. Fear and greed can drive the worst decisions.

I expect to see a different approach taken towards managing client relationships in 2018. Journey Mapping and similar performance concepts will drive these efforts. The result:

• Improve stronger relationship building
  
• More efficient communication processes
  
• Deliver deeper customer paths throughout the lifetime of the relationship.

Vendors who take these relationships for granted and don't support these initiatives can expect to lose business. Dealers expect guidance at every stage, and if they don't get it, they'll look for it elsewhere.

Accountability will reach new levels.

Dealers will face aggressive business objectives in 2018. There will be an increased focus on vendor performance as monthly sales objectives are heavily scrutinized.

This will be accomplished with improved communication processes for the customer journey but mostly from what defines successful performance from the solutions.

A higher level of accountability in 2018 will extend to the dealership marketing staff. Dealers will examine their efficiency and productivity as well. New technology solutions make it easier for marketing processes to execute faster. Difficult questions such as, "Does it need to be done this way?" and "Can it be done faster?" need to be asked.

Trust will play a larger role this year. Dealers are tired of being told they simply need more education. Dealers want to trust the platforms they're using will deliver the results they're seeking. And if they can't, vendors have to be transparent enough to own this fact. Yes, it's a difficult thing to do, but it's also the right thing to do for the dealer.

"Too many vendors are still perpetuating old digital marketing myths." Says Sean Stapleton, CEO, Dealer Teamwork. "The current system is broken. 2018 will be a year of massive change. Dealership professionals will need to work harder and smarter. Half of the dealers will realize their performance won't improve using the three or four vendors with same outdated solutions they've been using. Unfortunately, the other half will continue along their current path, miss their chance to improve, and let their competitors move ahead."

Dealers should expect to see simpler reporting from their own Google analytics and not third-party reporting solutions. The only dashboard you need to view is either in your Google Analytics or, my favorite, Google Data Studio.

Your reporting should include both behavioral and acquisition-type of activity, while also focusing on metrics that demonstrate the value of your marketing efforts.

 

Intelligent automation will alter dealership processes - productivity will be watched closely.

I'll steer clear of talking too much Artifical Intelligence and Machine Learning. These will be buzz words you'll be sick of hearing by the end of NADA this year if you aren't already.

Expect a meteoric rise in the use of both of these terms. (Remember the days of "Big Data"?) There are so few solutions that can base its entire foundation upon the claims of AI and ML. And yes, there are industry-leading data mining solutions use these concepts such as AutoAlert to provide massive value sorting large data sets to help create more opportunities to sell cars.

The marketing environment is making a hard shift. It's moving away from fragmentation to consolidation in products. The winners? Dealers who can use technology differently within a newer operations model that combines different functional roles and simplifies time-wasting activities.

I'm a big fan of the how the technology within the subscription service models can improve our experiences and lifestyle events based on the available data. However, don't be fooled by those leading their value-propositions with claims that are better suited for the Silicon Valley elite.

Some of the most powerful solutions using these technologies include Google's Cloud Platform, IBM's Watson, and Salesforce's Einstein.

Expect to see automotive marketing solutions introduce new functionalities that improve both performance and productivity while also reducing costs. Today's marketing stack must leverage intelligent automation processes. This is how dealers will connect with more buyers easier than ever.

Connected cars marketing will increase.

 



 

Mobile phones became our defacto platform years ago. Our vehicles will become the next platform that connects our lives to the things that are important to us. Connected cars currently create up to 25 GB of data an hour. As this continues to grow so will the opportunities for users to interact with this data without distractions. Expect to see more ways for this data to benefit us via Amazon and Google's voice-powered technologies.

Vehicles will be positioned as a new, third-place for this data interaction to happen. New vehicles will be marketed as providing seamless, safer driving experiences thanks to smarter algorithms and improved ergonomic interior design.

The new measuring stick will be the next wave of premium vehicles which have minimal controls and rely on voice controls beyond basic vehicle functions. Less interaction with controls, zero distractions, and more integration with your cloud data.

Augmented reality will be introduced into the heads-up display to deliver more information. Vehicle updates, destination-based information, and trip-based data will appear to save us both time and money.

Vehicles will know when parts are about to break and even have the ability to order a new part for preventative maintenance. ("Alexa, please order me new wiper blades!") Updates regarding your destination will alert you before of your arrival. Construction and emergency data will notify you of potential changes ahead.

Our connected lives have been based on the goal of providing us with more time. Our vehicles will be able to do this as well. Cars have been able to parallel park for years. Soon our cars will be smart enough to enable "predictive parking modes" and find available parking spots. Vehicles can already park themselves in autonomous mode and pick you up when you're ready.

Expect to see deeper personalization in premium vehicles. Soon our vehicles will have passwords, cloud integration, and even payment gateway access. This will set the stage for wider adoption across more brands and models.

Subscription-based dealership ownership models will also have the ability to connect vehicles with their owners. Consumers will have the ability to connect their profiles to the subscription platforms to create new ownership experiences based on life-events and their daily calendars.

Imagine your current vehicle is connected to your calendar, knows you have a weekend trip planned and automatically recommends, reserves and delivers a replacement vehicle for your trip.

All of these experiences will provide new marketing opportunities. Dealers will have the chance to provide detailed content on connected car experiences that satisfy the "Want to know" need and help drive them to a "Want to do" moment faster.

 

Predictions from the automotive community.

Sean Stapleton Tier 2 adverting will be eliminated by several OEM's!

Danny Benites

• With an impending downturn, getting lean will become as important as getting leads.
  
• Automation keeps winning. As we lean up, dealership operators will be wearing more hats and will rely more on ‘Tap on the Shoulder’ technology in the form of mobile alerts and notifications.
  
• As the data deluge reaches ridiculous levels, dealers will insist on digestible data with limited real-world KPIs.
  
• Expect a continued effort by dealership service departments to finally take an organic search stand against national repair companies that are currently kicking their asses.
  
• There will be only one way for businesses to post on their Facebook page….pay for it.
  
• Vendors that are exploiting holes on Facebook and Google will face challenges from…..well, Facebook and Google. This business is too big for them not to notice.
  
• Rural dealers will unknowingly take power and become bigger targets for larger dealer groups.
  
• The self-professed, hyper-niched Guru Sales Trainer herd will thin. The full dealership, net profit-based dealership collaborators will be more in demand.
  
• Thanks to intelligent and predictive search technology, dealers will gain organic search ground on CarGurus and Cars .com and invade page one.
  
• The hot girls at the search party are named Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant. I predict that the latter will get a sexy name soon. Who has time to type, anyway?
  
• Assigning attribution weight will be a hot debate. Companies will do their best to convince that they have the best way to formulate attribution. They will all claim victory. Last click will finally become an 8-track tape.

Ed Brooks 2018 will be the year that 'Digital Retailing' becomes mainstream - at least starts to become mainstream. Driven by the large dealer groups, by cutting-edge dealers who are always looking for the opportunities change brings, and by the 'disruptors' like Carvana, more and more dealerships will feel the heat and begin adding 'Digital Retailing' modules into their websites. Their success will depend on more the dealership culture and mindset than on technology.

Bill Playford I will try to make an automotive prediction that doesn’t include blockchain. Oh, crap, I just said it.The 2018 forecast calls for more coalition between Tier One suppliers and OEMs to further consolidate efforts on the autonomous driving front.

Look for more action by the telecoms to get involved, as mobile devices will provide the missing link to V2V communications.Forward leaning metro dealers will skip the buy-online investment, and instead lay the framework for fleet management. As OEMs conspicuously move away from the retail model, committed dealers will be proactive in protecting the business they’ve worked so hard to maintain.

Also, look for the conglomeration of rural and exurban dealerships to gain steam, as those are the dealerships that will serve the future of retail. Don’t be surprised if these conglomerates start doing away with commission-based compensation.On the marketing front, machine learning will continue to get smarter.

Look for true nano target advertising from the companies on the bleeding edge. The ability to offer the right car, at the right price, at the right time, to the right audience, through the right media channel is totally possible. Moreover, the technology exists to source the right inventory to make the process repeatable. This will create a seismic shift in advertising, meaning much of the currently wasted budget can be reallocated to other efforts (hopefully, it's directed towards human resource management).

Finally, I'm going to call 2018 the year of the pretender. The language from the vendor community is going to sound the same, but the results will be wildly different. Anyone can put a V12 sticker on a trunk lid, but when it comes time to open the hood, most will still have a wheezing, decrepit, four-cylinder still burning oil.

Dealerships need to start having intelligent conversations when it comes to creating and maintaining vendor relationships. If they do not take the time to do the research, they will be paying too much, no matter how it’s measured.

Joshua Burton Copeland - Simple, dealers that provide an exceptional in-store customer experience will continue to see gains. Dealers that continue to be distracted by "shiny object" products and services will continue to slip and wonder why. Digital retailing will not take off in 2018.

The pendulum is clearly swinging back to an in-store experience from getting everything done online. Dealers should focus on doing a great job in both areas, but concentrate on providing a world-class customer service experience that people will jump online and write about in a review. In 2018 we will see customers traveling greater distances to buy from dealers who provide the whole experience.

Michael Donovan - You will be able to track all of your marketing activities through the Google platform without having to pay companies to do it for you. Oh sorry, that was 2017. For 2018 AI will play a more significant role, and Facebook will be at an all-time high for being able to track vehicle sales back to Facebook marketing efforts.

Owen Moon - 2018 is the year that more dealers will start to focus their marketing efforts on Fixed Ops. This includes attracting new service business, bringing back lost service customers, and turning service customers into sales opportunities more frequently.

Lee Drake - My prediction for next year: Security and SSL is a key change that will influence the successful use of your sites. With the latest changes to chrome, edge and other desktop browsers eventually moving to mobile browsers on Android and Apple if you're not serving all your pages that have input (search, etc) with an SSL certificate by end of next year your customers will be getting pop up warnings not to enter data on your site.

This is HUGE for heavily search based sites on which most of their content sits on a page with some kind of input. If you're not serving them by end of this year with SSL you're probably going to see a dip in desktop browser usage. By end of NEXT year with mobile browser usage.

Thank you for following along for another year. Wishing everyone a very healthy and successful 2018!

What you don't know can't hurt you.

It's a euphemism we all know and we've all used - even if ironically.

According to the experts at the Oxford Dictionary, the saying dates back to 1576 where it appeared in a book titled A Petite Palace as "So long as I know it not, it hurteth mee not.”

While it's a common cliche, the fact is that life experience often proves it wrong.

If you want to see the proof for yourself, you need not look any farther than your sales floor. Because what you don’t know about your salespeople can hurt you.

We don’t often associate analytical tools as the best way to measure the performance of the people we hire to connect with our customers and build lasting relationships. I’m a common sense guy, so if my staff is hitting their numbers and selling cars, there’s really no reason for concern or to take a deeper dive into the opportunities they’re working…right?

Not necessarily.

What I’ve come to accept over the last few years is that when good data is presented in a way we can easily understand, it has a tendency to challenge everything we “think” we know about selling cars. Too many of us think that we are the “Presidents of the I Think Club.” I learned that from one of the truly smart guys in the car business, Gary Marcotte, over 10 years ago and I've never forgotten it.

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Case Study: Tell Lost Sales to “Get Lost” with Traffic Conversion Analysis (TCA)

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Dealers have always been able to see their close rates, or how many opportunities each salesperson successfully converted into a vehicle sold. But there is an entire other side of the story they haven’t been getting – and that’s how many opportunities they didn’t close and purchased a car from someone else. In other words, their defection rate.

When you layer in data that shows defection rates to competing dealers or brands in your market, it gives life to a story we’ve not only never been able to see before, but one we never even thought to look at before.

I sold cars for seven years, spent years as a sales manager, then the General Manager of a dealership and I eventually became the CMO of large dealer group with 1,100 salespeople to account for. It would have been impossible to analyze every opportunity every person in our organization touched – so the first time I saw this data in action I was blown away.

Take a look at the graph below. The blue line shows how many cars each individual sold during this 3-month time frame. The gray lines show you the number of opportunities that salesperson touched that went on to buy from someone else – whether it was a same make competitor in your market (light gray) or from a competing brand (dark gray).



In this example, this dealership thought that John was one of their best salespeople. But when you look at your CRM data with a 3-dimensional lens and layer that lost sale (defection) data on top of it, you start to see the true story behind your “all-star” players. You see how many opportunities John touched that went on to purchase from your competitor down the street or from a different brand entirely.

In reality, Jordan is this dealer’s best salesperson. Based on the opportunities he was working, he sold substantially more than he lost. In fact, out of everyone, he lost the least amount of opportunities. So success doesn’t always translate to selling more cars than you did last month. It can also mean losing fewer opportunities to competitors.

Here’s another example. The screen shot below shows the actual effectiveness of a salesperson as they compare to the dealership overall. So in this case, Jim may only be selling 8 cars a month, but because he’s not getting all the opportunities, his effectiveness is 149% - meaning he’s outperforming based on the leads he’s getting. Bill on the other hand might be getting way too many opportunities and he might look like one of your best sales people, but he’s really only about 47% effective towards closing everything he touches.



Your best salespeople are the ones who consistently deliver HIGH close rates and LOW defection rates. But you need that defection data in order to truly evaluate a salesperson's efficacy.

Of course, if a salesperson has a high defection rate, it may not always be their fault. Maybe they’re being assigned far too many leads than any one person is capable of handling. Or the types of leads they’re working come from providers with low overall close rates. There are all these other factors involved. But the first step is getting the data.

It is a side of the sales world few people even think to consider. But it's one that can highlight salespeople who are able to convert contact into sales more effectively and identify those who might just be approaching every and simply playing the odds - if you approach enough people, eventually SOMEONE will say yes.

What does this insight give to someone managing a sales force? The ability to better direct customers. The insight needed to direct the right sales person to the right situation. Working with someone unsure and needs some extra support and patience? Make sure they're working with one of your top converters. Being able to direct the resources you have more effectively is one of the best ways to improve business.

Without this insight, you're left with a sales force that may work harder; but they won't have the tools to work smarter. That hurts everything from their development and earning power to your bottom line.

By now, we've probably made it clear that the old saying 'what you don't know can't hurt you' simply doesn't hold water. But if you need any further convincing, consider this.

George Petite, the man credited with coining the phrase, is reported as having died "in the prime of his years" and "being then a captain and a man of note". No details remain on the cause of his death, however, implying that whatever it was may very well have been avoided; proving, once again, what you don't know really CAN hurt you.

Many dealerships make the mistake of waiting until there’s an immediate job opening to start the hiring process. Instead, dealers should have a more proactive solution in place that includes continuous job openings and a diverse set of candidate sources. A proactive sourcing strategy offers several benefits – including optimizing job board spending and building a network of quality applicants.

Risks of Reactive Hiring

Most dealerships have a reactive hiring process – they only hire new employees when the need arises. This approach is often ineffective and poses many risks for a dealership’s overall staffing health. With a reactive strategy, dealers limit themselves to what is available on the market at the time – often causing them to scramble and make a last-minute hire from a narrow pool of applicants. In addition to a smaller pool of job candidates and increased competition for top applicants, there are many other negative side effects to reactive hiring, including:

• Holding on to Bad Hires for Too Long - With a reactive strategy, dealerships often keep bad hires for too long to stay fully staffed. The resulting costs add up quickly, from training and salary expenses to productivity losses. Many dealers only try to replace the bad hire when the employee’s poor performance gets out of hand – often causing your dealership’s profitability and overall employee morale to take a hit.
  
• Losing Overworked Employees - When there’s a role open at your dealership, the other employees have to pick up the slack. The longer this goes on, the greater the chances your overworked employees will look for other jobs – ultimately adding to the problem with even more unfilled positions.
  
• Making Hires Too Quickly - The pressure to fill an open position can cause some dealers to be hasty when making a decision with new hires. Without a reliable network of quality candidates, hiring managers might choose a candidate that is either unqualified or a poor culture fit. Making a subpar hire is a short-term solution to a long-term problem that will only cause productivity and employee satisfaction to decrease.

Benefits of Proactive Hiring

In addition to mitigating the risks associated with reactive hiring, a proactive sourcing strategy brings other advantages. Using a proactive approach, dealers can optimize job board spending and create a network of qualified applicants - making the hiring process more cost-effective and efficient.

Optimized Job Board Spending

With a reactive strategy, dealers often make the mistake of buying costly, one-off job board postings to quickly fill a role when there’s an immediate opening. On the other hand, proactive hiring allows dealerships to plan for job board expenditures - allowing for a more predictable budget and transparent insights into each sourcing channel’s ROI.

By recruiting proactively, you can set a monthly or annual job board budget. This will ensure you don’t run into unpredictable job board spending that could hurt your overall profitability.

Proactive hiring with a set job board spending budget also allows for a more thorough understanding of ROI for each channel. Estimate the cost per candidate by dividing the total costs of each channel by the number of quality candidates you receive. You can quickly and easily see which channels are giving you the best candidates for the most affordable rates. This is especially helpful when comparing job boards and other networks that have different pricing models.

Network of Quality Applicants

A proactive hiring strategy also enables hiring managers to build a network of quality applicants. Continuous job postings create a pipeline of quality talent and are much more cost-effective than one-off job postings. Continuous postings are especially useful for high-turnover and high-demand roles, such as dealership auto technicians or sales staff.

Keeping jobs open on your career site and regularly posting on job boards also maximizes your chances of adding qualified passive candidates to your network. Passive candidates are applicants who aren’t actively looking for a new job but are willing to consider a great opportunity when it comes their way. Passive candidates are often highly sought-after but very difficult for hiring managers to target, since they are employed and less motivated than active job seekers. By constantly posting on career sites and job boards, you will keep your dealership in candidates’ minds and maximize the chances of them finding an opportunity they can’t pass up.

Improve Your Dealerships Hiring Strategy in the New Year

Now is the perfect time to rethink your hiring process. With the appropriate sourcing strategy in place, you can save money and hire more quality candidates throughout the year. Here are some of the ways you can optimize your sourcing strategy to support proactive hiring:

• Leverage Multiple Channels - With multichannel sourcing, you can target quality candidates through different mediums and job sites at once. This will allow you to find quality candidates faster, review them more efficiently and ultimately speed up your hiring velocity – helping you secure top candidates.
  
• Showcase Your Employment Brand - A strong employment brand will encourage more candidates to apply for jobs through your career site and job postings. Showcase your brand and culture with each method you use to reach candidates, and highlight what makes your dealership unique in your job descriptions.
  
• Stay in Touch with Candidates - If you don’t have the resources to make a hire right away, you should still make an effort to keep in touch with strong candidates. Invite them to an informational interview or check in with them every few months to see how they’re doing. Showing an interest in them will help keep these candidates in your network until they are actively seeking work.

Anticipating the need for new employees and hiring proactively can significantly improve your dealership – from higher job satisfaction and employee retention to optimized recruitment spending and higher-quality hires.

To learn more about proactive hiring, download our eBook, “Why You Should Always Be Hiring.

From boosting sales to evading obsolescence, selling OEM parts and accessories online can add a lot of value to your new car dealership. Greater value means more customers and better recognition, and INCREASED PROFITABILITY.

Problem is, most dealerships don’t know where to begin.

In this 7-minute video, we break down step-by-step how your team can launch a profitable online parts business with no techie knowledge required.

Talking points include...

• 5 simple steps to launch an online auto parts business
  
• Pros and cons for each online selling channel, e.g. eBay Motors & Amazon WebStore
  
• Strategies and best practices for boosting parts sale

If you want to grow a new revenue channel with e-commerce but aren’t sure how to get started, this video is for you.

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