A big thing that is going to rule the future of online solicitations is OPT-IN.  Have you read anything about it yet?  If you haven't, let's start with a guy named Seth Godin:

Every year, tens of thousands of people die because organ donor status in the US is opt in. If you want to be an organ donor when you're dead, you need to go through steps now to opt in. The default is "no."

...401 (k) plans tend to be opt in. If you do nothing, you get nothing.

Talking to the police after getting arrested is strictly opt out. Nothing to sign, you just talk.

Cheese on your pasta used to be opt out, but now it appears to be becoming opt in.

....So, I'd make organ donation opt out, public religious observance opt in, newsletters opt in and smart financial choices opt out. Anything that tricks a consumer into paying for something ought to be double opt in. And without a doubt, email (and commercial transactions of all kinds) are opt in. Smart for both sides.

Click to expand...

What is opt-in email marketing?

It is getting permission to send an email to a customer.  We have a lot of permission systems in our industry typically in the form of Internet leads from third-party sources and our own websites.  But, are you (or your third-party sources) informing the customer you will be marketing to them beyond that first price quote they requested?

• Are you sending a newsletter to your entire database?
  
• Are you sending promotional email blasts?
  
• Are you calling customers after 90 days who didn't respond to one of your emails or submitted another fresh lead?

Let's forget the law for a minute, and just consider the ethics of this.  I guess we say it is perfectly okay to send a bunch of stuff to anyone you have information on because everyone else does it.......right?

According to reporting in iMakeNews, the national average for automotive newsletters opened is 17% and the national average for clicks (conversion) in your email is 5.1%.  If you send one newsletter to 10,000 people that means 1,700 will actually open the email and you may convert 500 to visit your website.  I'm not going to go into all the details of the conversion to a sale stats because I want to ask the question - What about the other 8,300 people who didn't open your email? This has absolutely nothing to do with iMakeNews or any other email follow-up - it has everything to do with YOU!

• Are you sending the right message?
  
• Do your customers even want to hear your message?

Dealers (and manufacturers) like SPAM

I have come to the conclusion that dealers are desensitized to spam.  We love it!  And we think everyone else does too.  Let's send them a mailer, let's send them an email to back-up the mailer, and let's have all our salespeople call the customers who got the mailer and the email to make sure they received the mailer and the email!  Recently, 3 of our manufacturers at my dealer group have asked us to do this around their own promotions.

I don't know about you, but if Best Buy sent me a piece of mail, an email, and called me about the same promotion for the weekend I would immediately have them remove all my information, and IF I continued to shop there, I would do it anonymously.

I might be a little extreme in my mail, email, and call example but I hope it gets you thinking the next time you think of your direct-marketing campaign methods.  We are in a world where the consumer has the choice.  If you want to continue to be a choice you have to play by their rules.

What can you do?

1. Stop sending email blasts to customers who came from third-party sources unless the third-party source told the customer they were opting-in
   
2. Add an opt-in message to your own website
   
3. Inform the customers who buy or service cars with you that you will be sending them additional information in the future
   
4. Target, Target, Target - if they bought a car yesterday, don't tell them they can trade it in tomorrow
   
5. Make your messages consistent with your brand/image/reputation - don't have a brand?...how did Obama build his brand quickly?
   
6. Have a landing page on your website for the email campaign that entices the customer to move to other areas of your site.

I'm guilty of all this spam-stuff myself.  It has actually worked, but is it the best way to market your brand?  What do you think?  Got any other pointers?

When was the last time you thought about the way you greeted a customer?

The greeting is so simple, but often overlooked. I am not just talking about in person, but on the phone as well. It takes just five seconds for a person to form a positive or negative impression of you and your business. In person, the customer will not only form that impression by what you say, but also by your physical appearance. On the phone your only tools are words and tones.



While on my way to train a dealership recently, I had a personal experience that really drove home the power of the greeting. It was late at night and my flight was four hours late arriving. After picking up my luggage, I took a shuttle bus to the rental car agency. As I approached the rental agent, she greeted me with, “You better have a reservation” in a very sarcastic tone. She was obviously having a bad day as well. Well I was in no mood for a disgruntled rental car agent, so in a condescending kind of way I replied back, “Is that how you greet all your customers?” Well now I get one of those looks back (hand on hip, one eyebrow raised, head tilted) and I realize this is not going to end very well for me. Sure enough they have no record of my reservation and I was unable to produce one on my Blackberry. After 15 minutes of argument, I walked in the pouring rain to the rental agency next door. Needless to say my mood had gone from bad to down right ugly. Upon entering the second rental agency, I was greeted by a young man. He had a big smile on his face and said in a thick accent, “Welcome to National Car Rental my name is Bem and I am going to help you with all your car rental needs this evening.” Still disgruntled from my last experience I replied, “I sure do hope so; do you have any rentals available?” When he said “yes” I smiled back at him. The whole time I was there interacting with him, he continued to smile and engaged me in conversation. Turns out he was from Nigeria and was very happy to be here in our country making a decent living. By the time I left there, I was in a great mood even though it cost me $95 per day for the rental; oh and did I mention I was soaking wet? While driving to the hotel I thought about my first experience and wondered… had I used a little charm on the first rental agent could I have changed her mood and saved myself a soaking walk in the rain? Obviously the answer is “yes.” It all starts with the greeting, not just hers to me, but mine back to her. I’ll tell you it’s a lot harder for somebody to treat you rudely when you start off the conversation with a positive upbeat greeting and a smile.

If you consider all the customer touch points in a dealership, it’s real easy to see how important it is that everyone be well versed in the art of a proper greeting. I would recommend that you start by observing how your employees greet customers. That includes your sales department, service department, parts department, operator, receptionist and cashier. Watch how they interact with customers and listen to their recorded phone conversations. Once you have a good picture, start a campaign within your dealership by getting your employees focused on how they should greet customers. Monitor your progress and continue coaching as needed.

As a phone trainer, I listen to hundreds and hundreds of recorded calls each month and I am amazed at how poorly these customers are often greeted. If it’s bad on the phone, it’s usually not any better in person.

So how would I greet a customer? Well it’s not always about what you say, but how you say it.

• Make sure you look your best each and every day. When you feel good about the way you look, you’re more apt to display a level of confidence and professionalism. Remember the way you felt the last time you bought a new suit and wore it for the first time?
  
• Greet each customer with a smile; smiles are contagious. Smile at somebody and see if they don’t smile back at you. Even when on the phone a smile goes a long way.
  
• Make and maintain eye contact with your customers.
  
• Come up with a greeting that is positive, upbeat and just a little different than that of your competition.
  
• Remember that it may be the zillionth time you’ve answered the same questions or transferred a call, but for the person asking or calling, it’s their first time.
  
• Use voice inflections to add more meaning to your greeting.
  
• And most importantly; remember that the person in front of you or on the phone is your most valued possession–a customer.

When in dealerships training, I’ll often take sales calls to demonstrate the proper procedure for handling customers. I just happen to have a few recorded calls demonstrating the greeting I use with actual comments from customers. Please visit the following link to see how a proper greeting can help your dealership create a positive experience for your customers:

Follow this link for some interesting and fun greetings.. http://www.screencast.com/t/OGM4ZmE5Y
About the Author: Jerry Thibeau is a sales trainer and the President of Phone-up Ninjas. His company focuses on helping dealerships around the world increase sales by teaching automotive professionals the proper techniques for scheduling more appointments with phone and Internet customers.