Helping Jerry Thibeau rehydrate in the Vegas heat at Digital Dealer 21

When it is 104 degrees, do you enjoy:

1. Replacing the shingles on your house
   
2. Laying down some new asphalt for your driveway
   
3. Going to Las Vegas in August...

Aw c'mon, it's a dry heat, right?

Kinda like the inside of one of those convection ovens I suppose. Yes, it was HOT in Las Vegas, and it was even hotter with some of the best in automotive gathering for Digital Dealer 21 at the MGM Grand for several days of learning, networking, and gambling.

Did I say gambling?

Well, if you pursue some of the ideas that I heard, I would interpret that as gambling, but more on that later. And take a moment now to open your Twitter account - I have linked as many of these folks with their Twitter handles as I can throughout this review. While you're at it, follow me @kevinfrye1 if you are brave enough.



Celebrating our 25th Anniversary in Las Vegas

My lovely wife Julie and I arrived early on Saturday to enjoy Las Vegas entertainment and hospitality while celebrating our 25th Anniversary. We enjoyed a great meal and a Cirque de Soleil show that evening, and took advantage of the spa facilities at the MGM on Sunday morning. We did spend some time at the pool as well, and I must share I felt like it was MTV Spring Break in Panama City as the pool was packed.

Without going in lengthy detail, I was not a huge fan of the MGM Grand as a location. While the conference facilities were great, the hotel and casino were fair to ok. Very young crowd due to the cheap room rates. It always seemed chaotic - just ask the folks about the lines for check-in. Speaking of which, even after a hefty tip at check-in, I could not even get an upgrade to celebrate our anniversary :-(



Entering Digital Dealer 21 Exhibit Hall

If you have not figured it out yet - ALWAYS take advantage of picking up your conference badge early on the day before the conference. Thank you Digital Dealer for offering this. It never fails that the morning the conference begins there are long lines of folks trying to get their badges.



With 2 friends I highly respect - Tony Rhoades and Alex Jefferson

If you were groggy when you awoke on Monday morning, I promise you were awake after the mile long walk to the conference facilities. Take a look at how many steps Arnold Tijerina recorded each day at DD21 - I believe it!




Are you "paschionate" about education for auto dealers?

Brian Pasch certainly is - and he has had my respect for a long time as one of our industry leaders. This was a great session to start off with as Brian shared how using machine learning predictability models is key to the dealers' future success. I agree - and we have been testing some solutions with fair to poor results. Why? This is new technology to our industry and I think it is still being refined to work well, be timely, and most important be actionable in a simple manner to our dealerships.

In a modern market where it can be difficult to get our shoppers to identify themselves with a phone call or form submission, using buyer detection technology can give you a competitive advantage by identifying those shoppers who are in the market, and allowing you to market to them.



Brent Wees using his new "switch-comb" give-away

We'es all going to see Brent Wees, how about you?

Canada continues to antagonize us with the antics of Brent Wees and his session "Quiet is the New Loud". Brent nailed it with a brilliant demonstration on how we as dealers are making so much effort to drive traffic to our websites, and then we fail to best work those opportunities.

How did he do it?

One brave dealer stood upfront while he was pelted with "lost opportunities" from every direction. There is great truth in this analogy as we as dealers are constantly spending money to drive more traffic to our dealerships, but would it make sense to better work the incoming traffic we already receive? The answer is YES!

Speaking of Brent Wees - I not only consider him one of the great leaders of positive change in our industry, I also consider him to be a greater person and I am humbled to call him friend.



Enjoying the White party with Mike Roscoe and Erich Gail

If we pack any more C4 in here, this place is going to explode!

Justin Cook with C-4 Analytics and Candace Jordan with Google packed the room with their session "7 Ways to Increase Your Market Share Using Advanced Digital Marketing."

Justin shared a great question - "What slows down your growth? Doing the same thing as everyone else..." then he offered some great tips on how to differentiate your dealership with your marketing.

A few points caught my attention. Are you getting beat consistently by another dealer in your market? Take a close look at the individual models that they are selling, eg. if they are selling a lot of Nissan Altimas each month, but you have few in inventory, how can you compete with them? Using this same situation of a competitor consistently beating you, have you ever went to your Tier 2 OEM site and submitted some test leads from different addresses? Are you not getting leads from zip codes that should belong to you that are instead going to your competitor?

One point shared was to bid against Tier 1 and Tier 2 with your SEM spend to get the first and second positions. Hmmm, are we able to compete with the SEM budgets of Tier 1 and 2? Where does this magical money come from to do this? Overall lots of great info here, even if I disagreed with some.



Courtney Hennessey, Igor Kalassa, Kathi Kruse & Subi Ghosh learning at DD21. Courtney & Pat Hennessey's "Be Less Typical" Podcast is a Must Subscribe!

On your mark, get set, go!

I missed the first keynote as I worked to set-up for my session early Monday afternoon - "Have You Lost Your Mind? The Demise of Common Sense in Automotive."

This was a different direction for me with my sessions in the past, but it dealt directly with a concern I have with many of our dealers today. In our quest to implement the latest and greatest ideas and solutions for automotive, we are often failing to use common sense. The reality is that GREAT business decisions are based not only with facts and data, they are also grounded in solid common sense.



Lindsay Kwaselow, April Rain and Julie Frye at DD21 Exhibit Hall

One example I shared is the endless debate of "can you track ROI with social media?"

The answer is yes! I excited many dealers a few conferences back when I showed how they could build attribution models and see for themselves how they could track a return for their social media efforts.

While it is great that we can use leading strategies to accomplish this, isn't it common sense that social media can help you sell more cars? There is a timeless principle with selling, and that is building and maintaining relationships. With today's modern social media channels and understanding that 78% of Americans have a social media profile, only a fool would fail to understand that you can build and maintain relationships with social media which help you sell cars.



Kathi Kruse, Mike Correra, and Renee Stuart - trio of talent!

If I may - many of our social media leaders have been questioned and ridiculed in past years with their efforts to educate and encourage dealers on how to use social media. May I share my admiration and respect for some of our early social media pioneers to include Kathi Kruse, Kate Frost, Joey Little, and many others.

Thank you for being patient with us as dealers - and I encourage you to continue your efforts to lead and educate in this area.



Shawn Morse and Tony Rhoades debate politics while the others... well

I addressed several key areas of debate in my session, to include "BDC or Cradle to Grave."  The real question is not do we need a BDC?, it is do we need a BDC because we cannot get our people to do what they need to do, which is make phone calls and send great emails.

How do you get people to do what they need to do to be successful?

It's called LEADERSHIP and our industry is suffering a lack of leadership during this key time of transition for automotive. With my military background, leadership was a key fundamental that we were taught and expected to display. Why? Let's go back to common sense - who in their right mind wants to risk their life? If you can get people to risk their life to accomplish a mission, I think you have an idea of how leadership can get people through a difficult challenge. Leadership in today's market will focus on building relationships with our customers with great phone skills before, during, and after the sale.



Always some original give-aways during my session - does John Woodman travel the farthest with his dealership in Hawaii?

Of course we could argue about this endlessly, but let me share the reason why I am so passionate about this. The biggest threat our industry faces at this time is the de-personalization of how we sell cars with "advanced" ideas of how to sell online. We as dealers need to be very cautious about how we implement concepts such as BDC or online sales transaction tools. Ask yourself, are you removing or diminishing the relationship aspect of selling when you implement the latest and greatest strategy or tool into your dealership?

Do you want to transition how we sell cars into a commodity based model where it is difficult if not impossible to build value into the transaction?

In past years we have watched our average markup drop from 3.5% to 2.4% with sales transactions. How much further do we drop in our efforts to have the "optimal" digital presence?
Are we failing to use COMMON SENSE in what we are pursuing today?



Where you sit is a reflection of your motivation - love seeing our Toyota rep - Dave Cayia - sitting front and center at DD conferences

The theme throughout my session was the importance of RELATIONSHIPS in today's market. Your greatest challenge is to personalize the car buying experience in today's digital market. Using the phone is key (funny how that is another TIMELESS skill that sales professionals need to develop and nurture to build and maintain relationships), while also taking advantage of tools like video and social media to personalize yourself behind an impersonal Internet.

Does it work?

Um, it has worked since the stone ages folks - the basis of any sales training course is "If I can get you to like me and trust me you will buy from me..." And why is it suddenly so difficult to teach people how to be great on the phone when our industry has done it for decades in the past?



Matt Raymond and Subi Ghosh join David Villa with AutoDealer Live - great to see you onstage Matt!

Thank you, thank you very much - Elvis Presley, Hilton International in Las Vegas, 1971  Well, I didn't say this as early as Elvis did, but thank you Digital Dealer for inserting dedicated time slots during the conference for "Innovative Products & Service Demonstrations", aka "Exhibit Hall".

If you look at my previous reviews, I have asked for this on behalf of dealers. Why? The most important thing you can do at Digital Dealer is to build relationships with fellow dealers AND your vendor partners.

More on a bit with some great new solutions...



Erich Gail presents "Fortress Dealership" Keynote

Secret agent? Or agent of positive change?

Erich Gail has a great stage presence, and his keynote was spot-on with "Discipline & Math Metrics to Build a Fortress Dealership."

Eric posed a politically incorrect question to the audience with - Do you have the courage to start at start? Meaning - do you have the humility to admit that you don't know everything and that you need to educate yourself on the fundamentals of digital?

Many dealers are afraid to admit that they don't understand many key performance indicators (KPI's) for digital performance and more important how to make actionable decisions based on KPI's. Perhaps having the courage to display humility in starting at start with your understanding of KPI's is the key to future growth for our industry. Well done Erich, and I appreciate your passion for making the industry better.



Shaun Raines interviews Erich Gail with Greg Gifford filming

When you help others succeed, you find success yourself...

Shaun Raines and Greg Gifford with DealerOn were roaming exhibit hall with a camera and microphone to gather short clips of advice from auto pros on how to become better in the upcoming year. I am always impressed with the team at DealerOn with their efforts to give back to the automotive community, whether it is their webinar series hosted by Eliana Raggio, speaking sessions by Shaun and Greg, or these short videos. Thank you for contributing to the success of automotive digital DealerOn!



Jarrod Glandt brings 10x Energy to DD21

The best thinking is done over drinking...

It's true. It's in print right here - or maybe I was drinking shots while taking shots and writing this review just for you. Hippety hop, I think I was bustin' a rhyme right there. Time to wind down with friends and vendor partners over some drinks while building RELATIONSHIPS at Digital Dealer. And after a long day, I had built up an appetite.



Team Jeff Wyler represents with Bridgett Imhulse, Michael Ingram, Cecil Bolling & Jenny Harris

The Jeff Wyler Automotive Team gathered at the Tom Colicchio Craftsteak restaurant at the MGM Grand to enjoy an incredible dinner, first class service, and to build RELATIONSHIPS with each other. Dinner was delicious and worthy of the top 10 rating from USA Today for top steakhouses. We followed up dinner with a great party at one of the SkyLofts hosted by Dealer eProcess and Phone Ninjas and then wrapped up the night at the MGM Lobby Bar. We caught a lot of the folks returning from Joe and Shaun's Karaoke party and ended a typical day in Vegas - maximum fun and minimal sleep.



Ryan Gerardi was filming during all of DD21 - excited to see it

Tuesday? Twosday? DayTwosday?

Time to get a cup of coffee (did I say "cup", I meant "cups"), some breakfast, and start my day with "Content Creation in a Mobile World" with Robert Donovan (DOM360).

There has been a lot of online speculation and debate about Google's next algorithm adjustment, and indicators point to Google favoring websites that have a fast loading speed. Robert shared a great link to test your site at with How speeding up your mobile site can improve your bottom line . How does your site perform?

For the folks sitting around me, none of our automotive websites (different providers) scored well. Mark that down - what can I do to improve mobile website performance...  Did you know that the average size of a fingertip on your mobile device is 57 pixels?

Robert had multiple tips to start the day for us and shared a classic book on marketing that is still relevant today "My Life in Advertising" written by Claude Hopkins in 1923. My copy is already on its way from Amazon...



Scott Empringham, Kelly McNearney & Alex Jefferson join April Rain

Purple Rain or April Rain, which do you prefer?

April Rain lead a panel discussion with "The Naked Truth - Digital Marketing Mysteries Exposed", with my good friend Alex Jefferson, Scott Empringham with Flashpoint, and Kelly McNearney with Google.

Gotta admit, I am usually not a big fan of panels at the conferences, but I really enjoyed this one. Alex shared some great tips on how he leverages Facebook to move aged inventory, as well as some honest insight that their dealerships saw a significant decline in leads when they tested an online transaction solution (heads up - we did as well).

Wow, Scott Empringham is very well spoken and offered a lot of tips, to include creating a custom audience within Facebook for each of your dealerships that you can utilize for customer retention marketing. Kelly kept me laughing while sharing some great Google tips, though I strongly disagreed with her assertion that cost per click for dealerships has not risen since Google's decision to remove all right rail adsand go with the 4 positions at the top.

Hmmm, if the Google Adwords cost model is driven by the competition for each position, and you now have MORE people bidding for the top 4 slots instead of all of the slots that used to be on the top and side rail, doesn't that increased competition drive up cost?  Kelly - we need to talk. My cost is rising...

Alex Jefferson - it's time for you to speak again friend - the dealers in the room were hanging on your every word.



Amy Bannor and Mike Davenport - you can't argue with their tremendous success using social media to sell cars

Drumroll, and the winner is....

Mike Davenport and Amy Bannor gave my favorite presentation with "Converting Facebook Fans to Revenue."

Yes, I am biased towards fellow dealers speaking as they are on the front lines each day, and Mike and Amy bring a lot of street credibility to the table. Mike was at the door greeting attendees as they came in while Amy was engaging folks up front before we even started. They then walked through step by step how they use Facebook to not only sell cars, but to sell LOTS of cars.

How, you ask?

They are building RELATIONSHIPS with social media and they have the courage and drive to test and see what works best. Do you want to know how? Follow them on Facebook and Twitter. Mike and Amy - both of you have my highest respect and admiration because you are getting it done and done exceptionally well in today's demanding market, and you are doing it by building relationships.



Larry Bruce loves the righteous give-away he won in my session

Fast Times (and food) at Digital Dealer

Time for a quick bite and then lots of demos in the exhibit hall. I could hear Grant Cardone motivating the audience as I learned more about the latest and greatest at the booths outside the door. Heads up on a couple solutions that caught my attention. With the prevalence of bot traffic with digital marketing today, wouldn't you have greater piece of mind knowing that you are getting some real shoppers with your digital spend? Daniel Kim with Orbee showed me how their solution can give you the peace and answers you are looking for. David Solar impressed me with Catalogs.com and how you can take a mobile ad and put it on steroids when you point to one of the mobile friendly catalogs you can create with their tool.

FlickFusion also had a new virtual reality tool that caught my attention.



Networking with Jason Knight, Mark Boyd, and Jerry Thibeau - leaders & friends

My best networking moment was...

I sat down for fifteen minutes with Mark Boyd and Jason Knight with LotLinx, and we were joined by Jerry Thibeau with Phone Ninjas, and I think we all laughed for most of that time. Great networking is a combination of asking questions, sharing ideas, and having fun while building relationships with your peers. Best discussion I had at DD21 and it was only a short visit.

Cheers to each of you - I have a lot of respect for what they do, and more important they excel at being PARTNERS,  not vendors. If you don't know the difference, partners care about helping you to achieve your goals, while vendors do minimal effort for maximum money.



Greg Gifford, Barbie Brand, and CJ DePasquale at White Party

Once, twice, three times a lady

Enough! I draw the line with Lionel Richie analogies, though I think I could have sculpted a torso of Brian Pasch better than the one in that horrendous music video. Brian packed the house as he shared some of the results from his just released SEM study available here. There is not enough space here for all of his tips, but I loved his idea of using your DealerRater ratings for remarketing ad campaigns. Doesn't that make great sense when you are trying to convince a shopper (who is likely on your competitor's website) to come back and choose you as the consumer's choice for best dealer?

There were other areas that I strongly disagreed with - eg. a third party vehicle detail page (VDP) is more valuable than your own website VDP. Am I to believe that a VDP that has competitor's ads on it and is only a step away from inventory from multiple other dealers is better than my own website? That a site that takes 8-16 times more VDP's to convert to a sale than my own site is more valuable? I think a lot of dealers walked away with the recommendation that you are a fool if you do not use third party sites in your digital marketing mix.



Daniel Kim with Orbee - love his solution, check it out

Listen, I will never argue that sites like Cars.com and AutoTrader don't have a lot of great brand power and strong traffic, BUT can you earn a great return for your marketing dollar with the high cost of these sites? Have you ever searched for your inventory on these sites and realized how many competitor's ads and cars that your shopper has to get past before they even find your car, which can be more difficult than finding a needle in a Haystak unless you pay a fortune for Premium Deluxe Preferred Diamond Club placement?

As dealers, are we in business to help third parties make as much money as possible while we struggle to break even with our investments?

I am always working to best identify what works best for our digital marketing investment and common sense and data has shown me that this is not the case. I know that Chip Perry with TrueCar walked out of Brian's session with a big smile, but I could not do the same. Brian and I spoke afterwards, and I look forward to working with my longtime friend to look at this more closely, and I know that we will both challenge each other with our efforts.



Peer roundtables at Digital Dealer 21

Hop to it mister!  I gotta pick up the pace here

Peer Roundtables were good, though they did not seem to be as well attended as earlier sessions. Famous Rhodes and Abram Sirignano gave a solid keynote on "Car Shopping: The Final Frontier for eCommerce". Remember this sage advice, with so many new digital tools available today, don't abandon what is working for you now for some shiny new object.

Famous shared this tidbit that caught my attention - one out of 6 car shoppers would consider buying a car without a test drive. Perhaps that is an indicator of the future use of virtual reality for these folks. And per online car buying, yes, it has my attention - but per my earlier rant, we need to find a solution where we can continue to build value through relationships.



Jenny Harris, Julie Frye, Subi Ghosh, Amy Bannor & Veronica Dunford turning heads at the White Party

I haven't seen this much white since the 1980s party scene (sniff, ahem...)

Loved the White Party on Tuesday night, and spending time with many great friends in the industry. I understand that vendors need to pay to attend this. IMHO - let them in at no cost please. These are some of the same folks that we are trying to build relationships with at Digital Dealer. I am tired of ANY of the automotive conferences that tend to push vendors to the side, and I think the whole "no pitching" idea is overblown. Call me what you like, but if a speaker/vendor spends 40 minutes giving me valuable information to learn from at a conference, I am perfectly fine with them taking a few minutes at the end to pitch their product/service. The reality is that most of our vendor partners bear the great expense for these shows and I am appreciative of that.



Tom Lapointe was a little confused about dressing for the White Party

Day Five and I am still alive

And very tired. Started the morning with a Keynote Panel with Kathi Kruse, Joni Stuker, and Brian Pasch (damn, that makes 3 times...) and moderated by David Villa. This was a neat session where the folks in the audience could submit questions via their smartphones to the experts on the panel on various issues. I loved how Joni shared that we should teach our new sales reps how to sell backwards - I agree! Teach them the prospecting and follow up skills you need to be successful before you teach them how to directly sell the car.

Brian emphasized that he does not like the traditional open floor concept and that we need to transition as an industry to a better solution (did someone say Next Up?). Kathi shared the importance of how one should ensure their Facebook efforts enhance your brand, and not be sloppy/funny, and she also shared the importance of personal relationships in today's digital market (YES!). With the ugly election process going on now, knowing that what you don't post on Facebook can be more important than what you do post is imperative.



Joining Candice Crane to absorb some final knowledge

Did someone say "free pizza?"

My final session - Candice Crane presented "Implementing Small Teams: How Amazon and Google Would Redesign Your Sales Floor."

Candice is a strong voice in the market for improving how we setup our dealership personnel to succeed, and she shared how a small team's concept worked for one of her dealerships. How big a team? If you cannot feed the team with 2 pizzas, it is too big. Small teams can enable better communication and performance by not allowing anyone to hide behind a large group, while speeding up the timeframe of getting things done.

I want to state here that while I don't agree with all of Candice's strategies, I have strong admiration and respect for her passion to make our industry better. She has written several articles here on DealerRefresh, and while there have been some big disagreements, she is courageous with her stance. Well done Candice, keep it up, we need agents of positive change like you.



Learning with Jenny Harris & Cecil Bolling from the Wyler team

Final tips from Digital Dealer 21

I have often encouraged you to look outside of the automotive industry for great insight. Let me share this simple tip (which is a requirement for all Jeff Wyler employees attending a show in Las Vegas). Next time you go to Vegas, set aside time and set-up a tour at Zappos. Cost is $10 and they will pick you up at your hotel and take you back, and during your 90 minute tour you will learn how they create a "wow" experience for their customers with their exceptional service. And btw - they not only get people to be good on the phone, they make them exceptional on the phone with training and LEADERSHIP.

I have to share that one of our team members showed up early for the tour. And they asked if they could shine his shoes while he waited. Now that's service.



Farewell from Julie and Kevin until Digital Dealer 22 in Tampa

Wow, I think I am wore out writing this review on this rainy Saturday afternoon as I was tired after Vegas. As I look back at this conference, and at our industry at this time, my passion is to lead dealers and our vendor partners in a common effort to provide the best experience for our shoppers - and that is based on personal relationships. Relationships must work, maybe that is the secret to Julie and I celebrating 25 years of marriage this year.

My challenge to you is to rekindle your passion to be an agent of positive change where you work each day. Lift up those around you who are making our industry better. Matt Raymond, Brad Paschal, Mike Correra, Rebecca Black, Christy Roman, Ian Cruickshank, Gina Reuscher, Glenn Pasch, John Luciano, Glen Garvin - I just wish I had enough time to spend with all of you during this great conference. Cheers to all of my friends, and much love from Julie and myself.

With all of the recent epiphanies that thought leaders in ours and other industries that businesses should be spending time and effort cultivating relationships, spending money and basically treating customers right, I thought it time to re-visit this whole “customer loyalty” phenomenon.

Customers don’t really care about car dealers, do they?

I mean, dealers are ranked below Congress in surveys about trustworthiness. They don’t like coming to dealerships for ANY reason much less to buy a car. In fact, companies are popping up out of the woodwork with the sole benefit of making it possible for people to buy cars WITHOUT going to dealerships.

We know through many articles and trends that customer loyalty is dead. The Gen Y and Millennial generations could care less who they do business with. Sure, they’ll show up for that $19.95 oil change special but is it because they’re loyal? No! It’s because it’s a deal. And believe me when I say that they will eagerly go to another dealership the next time they need their vehicle serviced that offers a coupon or special when you don’t have one at that time.

People need to buy – and service – cars and regardless of whether you’re a franchised, independent or buy here, pay here lot, dealers are all they have. It’s way too much work for consumers to obtain financing, process paperwork and facilitate a private party sales transaction. In addition, most of these are “as-is” transactions so they’re essentially throwing the dice hoping they aren’t getting a lemon.

As for service, there’s a Jiffy Lube or other independent auto service center promising convenient, fast and friendly oil changes upon demand. Sure, maybe they’re using generic parts that might not fit perfectly but are serviceable. Who cares? They’re cheaper, right? Who needs certified technicians, nice waiting areas or free coffee? They’d rather go buy a $12 Triple, Venti, Half Sweet, Non-Fat, Caramel Macchiato than drink the Keurig produced coffee dealers provide for them.

As a business, dealerships have been wildly successful acquiring new customers for the past decades. It’s easy. Sure, maybe it’s gotten more expensive over the years but what’s $640 per customer when dealers can high gross them on the huge profit margins manufacturers give them to work with.

And rewards? Really? Dealers are seriously expected – yes, expected – to give away free stuff to customers who happen to give them money? Get serious.

The bottom line is that dealers sell and service cars. Dealers have this industry so tightly wrapped up and in control that even Elon Musk with all his money, influence and consumer backing can’t even manage to convince many states to let him sell his cars direct to consumers. The new companies promising excellent customer experiences and complete online transactions account for such a small percentage of sales that they’re inconsequential. Consumers HAVE to buy their cars from a dealership and they certainly have a monopoly on warranty and recall work, too.

So let’s all just calm down and sit back while OEMs take used car inventories online and auction prices skyrocket (goodbye used car grosses), the NHTSA opens up recall work to independents (see you later recall revenue), the CFPB begins to regulate consumer financing (so long F&I reserve), new car front end margins shrink (you didn’t have these anyways) and complete online buying experiences become the preferred car purchasing experience…

Wait a minute. Who needs loyal customers? Dealers do.

[highlight color="#CCE6FF" font="black"]Arnold's article was originally published on his blog StoryTailer. Be sure to check it out! While you're over there and if you're a fan of Pokemon, be sure to read this fun article as well. [/highlight]

Driving quality in-market car buyers to your dealership's website is hard work. There are many ways to drive traffic to your website, but not all traffic is the same.

Obviously, there’s a lot of competition out there. You compete with dealerships from other OEM’s, dealerships from the same OEM’s, you even have to compete with dealerships within your dealer group, and why not, competition is good - especially when you win!

With all of this competition, you and your dealership need to stay ahead of the curve. Being that you are reading this blog, you are already a step ahead.

Here are three ways that dealerships fall short with their marketing and how you can fix the problems.

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[Learn How to Attract In-Market Buyers to Your Website]

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1) Investing in ads that drive traffic to generic offer pages (or worse, the Homepage of your site)

The Problem: Traditional display advertising or generic SEM advertising that drives traffic to a non-specific landing page on the dealership’s site. Buyers can’t indicate interest in a specific car on typical landing pages. This means you’ll need to get this buyer to a VDP from the landing page. On most sites this process can take up to 4 steps.

Any digital marketer worth their salt will tell you that the more pages a person needs to navigate to find the information they’re looking for, the more site abandonment you can expect. Assuming half of the traffic continues on after each page, you can only expect about 12.5% of traffic coming from a landing page to ever reach a valuable VDP.

The solution: Invest into ads that drive traffic directly to your VDP. By doing this, you eliminate site abandonment and effectively only pay for ads that bring you highly valued VDP traffic.

2) Targeting your advertising only based on demographics & psychographics

When you target by demographics and psychographics, you are painting everyone in that category with the same brush. By doing so, you completely disregard the buyer’s personal preferences, and people are unique. You don’t have to look far to see examples how this type of targeting falls short.

Simply look to your peers: do they all drive the same type of car? Of course not. Even though they are similar to you, they all have their individual preferences.

The Solution: Try to target based on behaviour, real live action from an individual. The easiest way to do this is to use an ad technology that builds the profile of each buyer it encounters using a Data Management Platform (DMP). Marketers talk about segmentation of demographics and psychographics to find the right group of people more likely to have an interest in your cars. Today’s ad technology allows for a segment of 1.

By targeting the actual behaviour of the buyer (rather than the demographics or psychographics of potential buyers), the traffic generated in this way has a significantly higher probability of filling out a form or performing other meaningful actions on your site. This effectively increases your conversion rate and reduce your CPA

3) Only targeting active car buyers

When you only target in-market buyers, you're missing out on a huge segment of potential buyers. The cost of purchasing a vehicle makes impulse buying prohibitive for most people. As a result, car buyers will spend numerous hours researching and selecting the vehicle that best fits their needs. This process takes 60 to 90 days or more in many cases. By only promoting your inventory through SEM, listing sites or other “active shopping” environments you are missing a massive opportunity to get your right vehicles in front of the right buyers.

Nobody knows your market better than you and auto shopping behavior changes constantly and quickly. Don't be left playing catch-up in an increasingly competitive marketplace. Take the time to sit and brainstorm the next evolution in your dealership's marketing direction.

The new adage in the used car business is to buy a lot and sell fast. As one industry expert has stated, “Margin compression in used car operations means dealers must disrupt old practices that result in high vehicle acquisition costs and slow time-to-market speed.”

One way to improve acquisition volume and vehicle quality is to source inventory internally. This means not only sourcing trade-ins from existing customers and service lane customers, but also outright buying cars from consumers, alas having a buy center.

Establishing and growing a high-profit used car buy center within your franchise dealership that acquires used cars from private sellers and moves them quickly through (retail) or off (wholesale) the lot is proving to be a competitive growth strategies for many dealers.

Internally sourced units save auction fees and transportation costs, an average gross savings of $600 to $800. These vehicles are typically newer with mileage lower than auction candidates and they don’t need as much reconditioning so they’re frontline ready faster. Simply put, buying from consumers is more profitable.

Why then are the majority of dealers reluctant or hesitant to go this route? If dealers are looking to grow market share and improve profitability, why do so many balk at a method or strategy proven to be more profitable?

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Free Download - More Profitable Auto Buyers Handbook

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Cop Outs and Excuses

Many dealers will tell you that buying from consumers is difficult and not worth the time and effort. Many will tell you they don’t have time to find the right vehicles or reach out to the private sellers. Many will tell you they don’t have the people or process to private sellers trying to sell them their car.

But these are really excuses. The question is, excuses for what? Not becoming more profitable? Not growing the business?

My father always told me to “follow the money” whenever you’re trying to understand is motivating someone to do (or not do) something. Time and again when you look under the surface you’ll find that people change course or stick to what they are doing because it’s benefiting them in a monetary or material way.

When it comes to auctions, I believe some dealers are attached and in love with them. Car auctions seem to have a way of luring and keeping wholesale buyers in a non-evolving state of complacency that, mind you, are eating up your profit.

Auctions give buyers and used car managers a chance to get out of the dealership, do some dealing, have lunch, loiter with comrades, you name it. It's where the action is. There’s plenty of perks that go along with keeping the auction a vital part of the acquisition strategy, which may very well have a lot to do with why so many buyers aren’t eager to let them go and replace this source with alternative approaches.

Take a hard close look at your used car operation.

• What percentage of vehicles come from vehicle trades through and equity mining in the service lane?
  
• What percentage comes from auctions?
  
• What percentage comes directly from private sellers?

If you want to increase your profit and grow market share, adjusting the dials on these percentages to steer more business towards the ones that are more profitable is often a good place to start.

I haven't worked in a dealership for more than 6 years now. Today I'm a vendor; one who works closely with OEMs and dealers... for those of you who don't know me. During that time, I have been explaining to coworkers and manufacturer representatives how to make life easier for dealers. Unfortunately, neither will ever understand.

People who buy and have their car worked on at car dealerships are the root of all our communication issues.

That's basically because they're fukingz crazy!

If car buyers were sane we'd all drive Hyundai Accents (perfectly reliable way of getting from A to B affordably). But we're emotional predators who not only want bling, but we want it without paying full price.

So, when our customer side comes out, we make most of our buying decision in an emotionally irrational manner. And our emotional side is fed like a fire. Fed by someone else's emotions: our sales agent. He reinsures that we're making good decisions, so we more easily say "yes."

And that's the key.

An emotionless sales agent cannot sell to most buyers; she needs to be short-sighted and excited. So a dealership's sales success is based on how well the sales team can empathize with a bat-shit crazy customer.

To put it another way:  being bat-shit crazy is good business.

Unfortunately for our industry we have clashes between car dealers, vendors, and OEMs because bat-shit crazy is not good business where detailed planning is necessary. The building of software and automobiles requires deep rational thought with long-term visibility. It is almost robotic on the emotional scale.

I'm fortunate to have been a bat-shit crazy car dealer most of my life and have gained the experience to operate as a stone-cold boring robot. Both have their upsides and their downsides.

Not many people have had the chance to live on each side of the fence, but it is the only way to truly understand both parties. One must live it and feed your family from it.

On your next frustrating call, please remember that culture is causing your communication breakdown.  And that culture has good reason to exist.

Click here to comment in the dealer forums?

Are you finding that your digital marketing is less and less effective every year?

That’s not because you’re doing anything wrong, it’s more the fact that there are just more players coming into the game every month which is diluting the playing field.



This isn’t anything new. Even in late 2014, Media Post found that “... ad budgets are up 17% [for the automotive sector]. Online media accounts for 95% of this year’s increase.”

As digital marketers it’s your job to attract buyers that are shopping online. As General Managers you have seen the impact that online media has on sales and the bottom line. However, with new players coming into the fold and existing dealers upping their investments, it will be increasingly difficult to reach car buyers with your dealership’s message.

One way to increase your message reach is to customize your marketing on different parts of the buyer’s path to purchase.

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High traffic, Low Conversion?
Learn how to turn Browsers to Buyers with Hyper-Relevant Dynamic Display Advertising.

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In 2012, Microsoft Advertising had created a report that identified the stages of a car buyer’s journey from the initial realisation of a need (or want) all the way beyond the purchase to ownership.

Each of these stages has a variety of media outlets and online information sources which are useful at each stage. Back in the day (or until just a few years ago) we marketers would rack our brains to determine the best time and place to display each ad. Fortunately, in today’s digital marketing age we can get extremely targeted with our messages and our content.

Thus, the ability to move from "educated guessing" to "data driven certainty".

What we found missing from the stages that Microsoft had outlined is that car shoppers aren’t actively engaged in shopping 100% of the time. As a result, we need to add another dimension to these stages - Active Auto Shoppers vs. Passive Auto Shoppers.

Actively Shopping

Simply put, this is when shoppers are actively researching or looking for a vehicle.

Actively Researching

During this time, shoppers are looking at review, research and comparison sites to determine which car best fits their needs and wants.

Historically, one of the only methods to reach these buyers with your dealership message is through basic display advertising. Typically, this is a branding or offers strategy with messages that talk about financing or general dealer incentives.

However, in recent years, new inventory advertising products have been able to provide dealerships with the ability to show live dealership inventory during this stage to entice buyers to visit their website.

Actively Searching

During this time, car shoppers have selected the car, their car of the moment, and are then looking for where they can find one to test drive or evaluate in person.

Reaching buyers during this mindset is relatively straightforward as people are actively looking for vehicles. As long as you have your inventory listed, and have a decent SEM campaign, you’re in the mix.

Traditionally, this is also where the bulk of the digital budget is spent. As a result, this stage is also where dealerships encounter the highest competition and see the most diminishing returns. As we mentioned above, the more players that come into the game, the less effective per dollar your digital marketing becomes.

Due to this oversaturation and highly competitive arena of vehicle listings and SEM, some savvy digital marketers have expanded into Inventory Display and other digital mediums to drive VDP traffic. Similar to vehicle listings advertising, Inventory Display feature interactive ads that link directly to your VDP. However, unlike vehicle listings advertising and SEM, Inventory Display does not yet suffer from a high level of saturation and competition

Passively Shopping

During this time, car shoppers have stopped actively looking or researching the cars they want to buy. These people are going about their other browsing habits in other environments that are completely non-automotive.

Typically, dealerships rely on retargeting or demographic targeting for this phase. However, retargeting only works if the buyer has gone to the dealership’s website and targeting by demographics paints everyone with a wide brush and may not be as effective as you think.

A better method would be to combine retargeting from the dealer’s site and behavioural targeting based on the shoppers actual online auto browsing history, learned by a Data Management Platform (DMP) in the Active Stage. By doing this, you can deliver advertising that is relevant even in an environment that is not automotive specific

By having tactics to reach buyers at every stage, you will be able to increase your chances of attracting more car buyers to your website and ultimately help increase the sales of your dealership.
What other strategies has your dealership employed to attract potential buyers at all stages?

Chime in on the DealerRefresh Dealer Forums

No, you’re not dreaming it. It is getting more expensive to attract the same amount of in-market shoppers as last year. What happened? As a digital marketing professional, how is it your budget gets bigger every year but the amount of in-market buyers you attract don’t grow by the same margin?

It's pretty straightforward - Everyone else is now using similar tactics to get valuable, in-market shoppers and the field is getting saturated.

Yesterday your dealership was one of the pioneers in the digital game, and you were reaping the rewards of a fairly open playing field. Today, anyone who has the budget can easily achieve what you have with a handful of vendors. Dealerships are competing with the guy across the road, across town, and across their own dealer groups and these guys are all using the same tactics you are.

You used to be able to invest a good chunk of your budget into listings sites online, a little bit extra for the top spot on SEM and BOOM! your showroom was the top seller in your area and your team thought of you as their “Digital Guru” (PS - don’t ever call yourself a digital guru). But now everyone is using precisely the same tactics.

That was then; this is now.

You can’t just go out and throw more money at the problem and expect to be back on the top of the heap. Dealership advertising has moved way past the “good ole days” listings and search solving all problems and the sooner you realize these problems, the better.

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[Learn How to Attract In-Market Buyers to Your Website]

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Not All Display Ads Are Created Equally

While display advertising on the web is facing skepticism, display ads themselves aren't the problem. It’s how they’re used and measured that makes dealers feel like they hold little value for their local dealership. Display ads, like billboard ads, are similar standing on top of the tallest building in your town and shouting through a megaphone. Some people will hear you. Some may act on your speech and maybe one or two may buy what you’re selling.

As a GM, you want everything you spend your advertising budget on to generate opportunities and revenue (Leads and Sales). This is exactly where typical display ads have fallen short at the dealership level. They are great for advertising the big events, building up your brand and presenting evergreen ideas - Like: “Family owned for 45 years!” OR “The best service”. What they don’t do well is promote an ever changing and variable set of inventory.

If your goal is to get car buyers directly to your inventory where you know you stand the best chance for a sale then you’re going to have a challenge doing that with traditional display advertising.

Nobody knows your market better than you and auto shopping behavior changes constantly and quickly. Don't be left playing catch-up in an increasingly competitive marketplace. Take the time to sit and brainstorm the next evolution in your dealership's marketing direction.

Fifteen years ago the auto industry, the world really, was faced with an extraordinary situation. We were at the dawn of the digital age and the World Wide Web was threatening to take down brick and mortar shopping, including car buying. At the time, most dealers hated “Internet shoppers.” These folks knew too much and were eating their profits.

Suddenly, a highly coordinated group of terrorists got hold of four airplanes in US skies and used them to attack the nation’s most sound and solid structures. For the next several months, car sales were on hold as consumers were frozen in shock. Dealers didn't know what to expect.

A decade and a half later, most dealers had a record year in 2015. But was it real? Some argue that your record year could be a bad thing and that if you're going to survive you need to always be growing your market share.

If you don’t know how you got to the top, you have no idea how to stay there. - Steve Stauning

Click to expand...

What does it take to grow your marketshare today, and what will it take to continue doing so into the future? How are top dealers tackling this problem and what sort of resources are they leaning on to do so?

Dealers are overwhelmed with unsolicited sales calls and vendor inquiries, but if they tune everything out then how will they discover and learn about new things? Some (small) percentage have established a vendor protocol to handle it all. Most however struggle to find a passageway through the chaos.

At the end of the day, you only want to concentrate on the tasks at hand to sell cars and service customers. Thinking and overthinking the future is unpredictable, unreliable, and risky.

To explore these challenges I've initiated a discussion thread over in the forums titled simply What Do Dealer Really Want/Need?

Rather than producing content that tells you what is what (there's an overabundance of that out there), I'm hoping to get a better idea what dealers really want and need from the industry, from blogs like DealerRefresh.

• Do you need more advice, more tips, more educational information?
  
• Do you need a daily stream of emails and social content telling you what you should and should not be doing?
  
• Do you need more training and trainers? Consultants? Coaches?
  
• Do you need more conferences, expos, and workshops? More 20 Groups?
  
• Do you need more relationships with people/vendors you can trust?

On that note, what are some resources you've come to rely on?

• Which blogs, conferences, and media outlets are important to you?
  
• What aspects of the auto business are proving solid for you and growing your business?
  
• Which ones are not growing your business?

Please chime in and share your thoughts I'm anxious to see what Refreshers have to say because it will help us come up with ideas for new content and features on DealerRefresh. 

Soft credit pulls provide the needed insight to truly understand your service drive to see which customers are in equity position whether they previously bought from you or not. While this approach to conquest business is on the rise, Dominion was the first to offer real-time bank agnostic soft credit pulls where you retain full ownership of the firm offer credit.

These real-time pulls do not require customer consent, social security number, or date of birth. They are quick, easy, and fully compliant with the FCRA.

Think of real-time pulls as the on-demand pull of preference. They are perfect when immediate information is needed on a customer in the service drive.

Batch Processing

A second pull that Dominion offers is batch processing. The batch process runs overnight guided by a pre-determined set of dealer criteria.

The service drive will have a new batch of credit and equity summaries available to them each morning. The approach creates a steady stream of new business opportunities without the need for human interaction.

Want to learn more about how Dominion's unique approach to soft credit pulls and how they can make conquesting easier from your service drive? Click on the image below.

A dealer owner recently caught me by surprise.

Chatting about the business, past, present and future, the conversation turned to opportunity and people. He explained that while there are opportunities “around,” without the right people to nurture and manage these opportunities, it didn’t make sense to pursue them. He then expanded upon what amounts to a very people-centric philosophy toward running his businesses.

I thought, “How rare.” 2016 marks 20 years in and around dealerships – I started selling Honda’s in 1996. I find it refreshing and rejuvenating that I can still be pleasantly surprised and learn a thing or two in the dealership.

I’ve been chewing on this for a few weeks, and with the NFL draft recently conducted, and NBA free agency in full swing, I see some parallels.

Are you a “System” team or a “People” team?

Chip Kelly – Oregon and then the Philadelphia Eagles – hell of a system! Really, based on a numbers game – up-tempo means more plays, more plays create more opportunities to score (sound familiar?)

Chip is a “System” coach. He is going to find players that fit into his system, and when he does - look out! At least for a while…

The perfect system matched with the perfect personnel for that system will be successful, at least until someone figures-out how to beat the system. And of course, the players come and go - so finding the perfect match is a constant effort.

Phil Jackson – NBA, Triangle Offense. Sure worked great with Jordan and Kobe executing! But what’s happening in NY with the Knicks? About the same level of success as the Eagles, I’m afraid.

The Triangle, the Triple-Option, the Run-and-Shoot, the Spread – all good, successful systems, for a time. And then there’s the "People" approach. In Sports, it’s the idea that you’ll take the best available talent, and coach around those talents.
Ever wonder why some teams are just always good?
Why some teams seem to have a culture of excellence and winning year after year?

The Pittsburgh Steelers are an excellent example – and as much as I don’t want to admit it – the New England Patriots. While both teams of course have systems, both organizations are renowned for creating space for their talent, coaching the people to maximize and capitalize on their talents. It’s not about finding round pegs for round holes. When there’s a square peg (or triangle, or trapezoid), you create and nurture a square space and the organization at large benefits.

I think a lot of businesses say they are people-centric. Can you imagine a business owner saying that they are not? LOL – preposterous. But how many really focus on maximizing talent vs. finding the round pegs that fit their round job descriptions? How many create an environment to systematically understand their talent vs. systematically filling the roster the system demands?

Dealerships are by and large systems operations. We’ve had largely similar processes in place for over 100 years, and we’ve been successful!! We fill our rosters with the best candidates we can find to operate the system. But has someone/something figured-out how to beat the system? Is there another game, another team that is showing us that the system has seen better days?

Are we still running the Power-I in a passing league? I love running backs too, but…the answer is obvious.

What would a people-centric approach look like in your business?

In August 2016 at Digital Dealer 21 in Las Vegas, Digital Marketing Mysteries were exposed during the Naked Truth panel session moderated by April Rain. In the weeks leading up to the event, hundreds of questions were submitted through the AutoHook website which a committee then sorted through to select but a few to address with the panel.

The collection of “Hard Questions” that were tackled by the hard knocks panel (see below) centered largely on paid media spending, social media, and attribution, and effective tactics.

Included on the panel were:

Scott Empringham, Owner/CEO of Flashpoint Communications
Alex Jefferson, E-Commerce Director of Proctor Dealerships
Kelly McNearny, Senior Auto Retail Strategist at Google

The Naked Truth stripped down the roaring complexities of the digital world to reveal the most common pain points dealers face today when shaping their marketing strategies and we were able to capture it live on Facebook for people not attending the event. Be sure to check out the recording and let us know what you think.



The Naked Truth campaign was a real success for AutoHook and for Digital Dealer and it brought up new ideas and opportunities for doing something similar at future such events as well. Shouts out to everyone that was involved and be sure to stay tuned for future similar initiatives.

I was reading a great article about attribution on MarketingLand.com when it struck me, “Why are we so far behind other segments?” We are being beaten by socks. SOCKS!

Socks and cars are as different as can be

Socks are what’s called a low-involvement purchase; limited thought goes into the purchase and there’s very little risk to the consumer. Cars on the other hand, are a big purchase that consumers tend to think about a lot and research extensively. Consumer feel that the purchase of a car carries more risk than a pair of socks and they’re right – automobiles are the biggest depreciating asset most consumers ever buy, unless they’ve bought a home with wheels underneath it or a large boat. Automobiles are the quintessential high-involvement purchase.

But there are some similarities...

Most sock purchases aren’t made directly off a manufacturer website just as most cars aren’t bought or sold that way either – they are purchased in stores (dealerships). They are Research Online, Purchase Offline (ROPO), also known as Research Online, Buy Offline (ROBO) or Online-to-Store (O2S-Factor) items. In the case of the socks, while the purchase may be made online, but it doesn’t have to be made from the manufacturer – it can be made from an (online) store. The socks looked at in the article were a little higher end, made by SmartWool. I’ve purchased them in the past and yes, they are extraordinary socks, but they are just socks.

Where socks are beating us

Let’s start with the fact that they are employing advanced attribution analytics. They understand that many of their customers are ‘multichannel’, using multiple sources to do their research. Because of this fact, the sock guys aren’t just relying on Google Analytics. Google Analytics does a great job on one very specific task – looking the performance of one particular channel out of many used; your website. Now remember the sock guys don’t sell the majority of their socks using ecommerce from their website (just like most car dealers don’t sell most of their cars using ecommerce from their website), the website is just one channel out of many used. They want, no, they need to see the big picture.

The sock guys have learned to love third parties

Rather than saying, “We’re just going to concentrate on OUR channel, our website, the one we own”, the sock guys wanted to look at the hard data. The hard data is pretty clear; when consumers used multiple channels they spent more money and they converted at a significantly higher rate. They also dug into influence, “The data showed the influence one publisher had in driving users to the site at the start of the customer journey, who later converted via other channels.” I read where one marketer in our segment is concentrating on folks “who are 12 days or less from purchasing a vehicle”. That’s great, but has he lost the ability to influence this potential customer to another dealer by not being around a little earlier? SmartWool sock shoppers average about 3.4 touch points per journey – car shoppers use 24 (on average). Using advanced attribution tools and analysis simply makes more sense (and makes more dollars) than reducing your concentration down to just your website.

The Customer Journey matters

Lately, I’ve had some fun with the folks who don’t seem to place much credibility in the importance of the ‘Customer Journey’. They seem to concentrate on the last the click – the lead (when there is one). Not that the lead (when there is one) doesn’t matter, because it surely does. But leads are just a small part of a much bigger picture. I agree with the folks on that side of the argument, that the folks handling leads and calls need to pay attention to the task at hand, but I’d submit to them, gaining a little insight into what happens before the last click may be very beneficial. The big picture needs to be paid attention to by the Dealer Principal, the General Manager, and the Marketing  Manager.  We are well past the point in time when we should believe that the analysis of the Consumer Journey and caring about sales and profits are mutually exclusive ideas.

Is our industry ready to leave the dark ages (and stop letting socks beat us?)

Car shoppers prefer videos between 30 seconds and 2 minutes.

Recording and sending personalized walkaround videos to potential customers is a new strategy for many dealerships, therefore best practices have only recently emerged. As a result, dealers and their sales consultants often struggle with incorporating video into the sales process while also improving video engagement to conversion performance. And as you know once one starts to struggle with something new, it's often abandoned - no matter how effective it can be.

My advice - DO NOT give up on video, the benefits are too rewarding. Automotive News has been telling the industry for some time now that “videos sell cars.” Now a new video study by Cox Automotive reports that 65% of consumers consider video an important part of their car-shopping process.

[Tweet "65% of consumers consider video an important part of their car-shopping process"]

But what if you’re using video and not getting the results you’d hoped for? There may be ONE contributing factor that will be EASY to determine and tweek...



Consumers Want Short but Informative Videos

This rings true for me. I like to watch short, informational videos to help me make a decision. If the video runs under 30 seconds, I might come away unsatisfied. Longer than two minutes, and I will most likely bail out before the end.

The content of the video certainly plays a role, as Aaron Wirtz points out in this must read article - “Shoot Video Like a Rockstar". Dealerships need to create content that customers want to watch and need to do it in under 2 minutes.

These simple suggestions can make a big difference on your video engagement to conversion.

• Keep your videos short (under 2 minutes.)
  
• Make your videos informative, focus on the exterior and interior.
  
• Allow your personality to shine through and create a lasting impression.

What has kept you or your dealership from recording and sending personal WalkAround Video to potential clients?

Let us know here in the dealer forums.

Like millions of other Americans, shopping online is a lifesaver in my crazy-busy life.

Amazon has changed the way I do everything, from buying presents, to books, to streaming video, and I LOVE IT. There is a reason Amazon is the powerhouse that it is; they understand where their customer is and know where their customer is going. They meticulously study market and shopping trends, pivot when needed, all without shedding a tear for the days-gone-by.


Just like the automotive industry, but not really.

Sure, our industry has taken steps in the right direction. We’ve done a respectable job at tracking shopping, analyzing the path to purchase, and understanding where the consumer is gaining the majority of their information. We’ve even been able to attract the alien scientists at Google to help us with the research.

Where we have a serious problem is with the pivot. We’re happy to use the technology, but we get all misty eyed and nostalgic about the days of yore. Let’s be honest. The selling strategy has not changed since the 80’s.

I’ll admit the 80’s were awesome. There were great movies, great mullets…great movies about mullets…but, who in their right mind would want to have to go back to the prehistoric research and purchasing process from then? How is Sears doing with its catalog business?


Today’s buyers are online, like it or not. They’re using their smartphones to do research about cars and pricing (even when they are on your lot,) utilizing technology to be as savvy as possible throughout the entire experience. The college class of 2016 has barely lived a day of their lives without the Internet. How does anyone expect them, or anyone who comes after them, to stop using a buying channel that they’re used to?

That’s why it’s time to take this one step further and offer customers a purchasing path they desire.

The Buy It Now Button

Take a deep breath.

I know this is giving some of you palpitations, but it’s once again that time to rethink the way we approach our customers. And, let’s just get this out of the way: not everyone will want to utilize a Buy It Now button. But, by not incorporating it into your process, you are disenfranchising a segment of your population who would click this and purchase almost 100% online.


Why would anyone put up a barrier to selling a car?
If someone is saying they are ready to purchase, why put more obstacles in the way?

We need to stop taking an “all or nothing” approach to our customers. We have the ability and the resources to create a boutique experience for them on our website, so take advantage of that and increase customer retention while we are at it. Buying channels are different for each customer, and it's time we meet them where they are, making the experience as simple as possible for them. Simply put, let’s focus on the customer, and
not on what is easy or the dealership.

Who Will Use It?

Let’s make a list. You might have a few of these people...

Prior Customers

You already have the majority of the customer information from the prior sales. They already know the dealership, they chose to business with you again, they don’t need a tour of the service department, and they already know you support a Rocket Football team. Why not allow them the convenience of a shop, click, buy experience? Even if there is still information needed towards the completion of the sale, you can save a monumental amount of the returning customer time. And, as surveys repeatedly tell us, time is a valuable thing to customers (AND dealerships).



Customers with no trade-in

If a customer is interested in an outright sale with no trade-in, this is an optimal choice. If a customer knows exactly what they want and is ready to purchase, why wouldn't you give them every opportunity to purchase?

Customers who are paying with cash money

Yes, these people still exist. Give them a way to submit an OFAC check online, present them a clickable F&I menu, and take their money; more time available to better serve the "traditional customer."

Change and progress can be uncomfortable. But, uncomfortable is a great place to be. It's where you grow and push forward. Discomfort is a prime motivator to bring about change. Stop thinking in terms of every customer, and start thinking about certain customers. If Plan A doesn’t work, you can always fall back on Plan B.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my career, from venture capital to selling cars, to creating technology - if you don’t do it... SOMEONE ELSE WILL.

Are you ready to do it?
If you have a Buy It Now button, what has been your experience so far?

There are 2 very hot discussions happening right now in the DealerRefresh forums on the topic of "Buy It Now". I encourage you to read and participate in both...

1. Do you offer a "Buy It Now" service on your dealership website?
   
2. Online Shopping to Online Buying

Depending on the study you read, the average consumer spends between 11 and 14 hours researching their next car purchase, making them extremely well educated on the facts, features and figures. They treat the research phase of the buying cycle as if it were their job.

Seems like a good thing, right?

Conventional wisdom would lead you to believe that an educated shopper would be much closer to a purchase decision when they arrive on the lot, but conventional wisdom doesn’t account for the friction that often occurs when that shopper knows more about their intended purchase than the salesperson responsible for educating them and selling them the vehicle.

Ellen Degeneres recently tapped into the “comedy” this can create on her show by sending one of her writers undercover with a hidden camera to pose as a salesman at a Chevrolet dealership. He performed the kind of walkaround that nightmares are made of.

Warning: although this video may induce a chuckle, it may also induce nausea.

Login to view embedded media View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ouS8mwCRGY


Your sales team likely knows everything there is to know about the make and models you sell, but what happens when a consumer comes in on that oddball low-mileage Saab you took in on trade?

There is a lot to discuss and I don’t have all the answers, but I do think we should start addressing the key issues.

First of all, how are you helping your salespeople gain the product knowledge they need on the off-make vehicles sitting on your lot?

What do you expect from them when they do a walkaround of these cars and trucks – do you think they should be able to perform more than a “standard walkaround” from the video above?

If so, what tools do you give them to be successful?

And what process have you defined for your team to really be able to educate themselves on your available used inventory?

How can you differentiate your dealership from others that are getting those same calls?

Here are a few ideas to consider:


Encourage your sales team to walk the lot both physically AND digitally!
As much time should be spent reviewing VDPs on your website as popping hoods and tying balloons on your lot. Your customers will likely see your VDP before they see your balloons. Your sales team should be familiar with the presentation of the vehicle online and offline.

Create a small spiff for your sales team to review VDPs with the intent of finding errors.
Is it worth $20 a week to crowdsource your team to find areas of improvement on your VDPs? Perhaps you could encourage them to submit both errors and omissions? Just think how much better prepared they would be to speak intelligently about that vehicle if they were studying VDPs this hard.

Encourage your team to write better custom comments.
A well-equipped model on your lot with rare and coveted options should be shouted from the rooftops and writing custom comments is often your best online sales tool to differentiate your inventory. Your team can certainly benefit from doing the research required to improve those comments.

Encourage your team to review VIN and market specific data.
There are a few tools out there that aggregate market-based data. Ask your team to read those reports and have them at their fingertips during the walkaround.
“Yes, Mr. Customer, we are asking a little more for this than ABC Motors. Remember that white is the most desired color and ours does have 57% fewer miles than the market average here in Austin. ABC Motor’s fluorescent teal one is at the top of the mileage average for this year.”

Market data can overcome an objection even before the objection surfaces.

Full disclosure: CarStory provides exactly this kind of data, and, yes, this could be considered a sales pitch except that we don’t charge anything for the reports. You can even add them to your website at no cost if you’d like to use them to educate your sales team and better inform your consumers. For more information on the free market reports, jump over to dealers.carstory.com

I think we can all agree that consumers expect a lot more than “door handles and tires come standard” when they make the effort to visit your lot. It’s time to maximize all the tools you have to provide a professional, feature-rich and market specific walkaround of every vehicle on your lot, not just the ones with which your team is most familiar.

What tools and/or process do you use educate your salespeople on the product knowledge they need in order to sell off-make used vehicles?

Join this discussion in the dealer forums.

Every day, your dealership website is visited by hundreds of people. Most people arrive there as a result of searching your dealership on Google. But many arrive as the result of other factors…

Maybe it was a Facebook ad, a tweet, or a link from some other social network. Maybe it was from an email you sent, or from the manufacturer’s website.

But what about the people that didn’t reach your site? Why did some arrive while others didn’t?

Who was turned off by the lack of stars in your Google reviews? How many Yelpers didn’t like what they saw?

How many people ended up on a competitor’s website because of an ad? How many landed on another dealer’s website with the same name as yours?

Is there a way to even know how many people ARE NOT reaching your site?

NO! THERE ISN’T!

You have no idea how much potential business could be leaking due to cracks in your online presence. 

This is why you need to be performing assessments on a regular basis, to help identify where your dealership might be experiencing leaks in its online presence, and then address the issues.

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What Does Your Dealership Look Like from a Shopper Perspective?

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AutoConversion Online Assessments

Much like mystery shops that put your people and your process to the test, AutoConversion Online Assessments put your online presence to the test. With these assessments we research your dealership online the way a potential customer would who is considering doing business with you. As a result you get an honest and objective analysis and consultation about your presence.

In these assessments we research your dealership on the five most popular networks that offer dealers a local listing -  Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Yelp, and YouTube. We also investigate your dealership ratings and reviews on Google, Facebook, Yelp, Cars.com, DealerRater.com, and Edmunds.com.

Proprietary Scoring System

We then run our analyses through our proprietary scoring system so you can see how your dealership measures up against other dealers against the same criteria. Scores are not based on the quantity of reviews but rather the quality and consistency of your ratings and reviews together, on each individual site. This way, dealers with hundreds of reviews on sites such as DealerRater.com but lacking in reviews everywhere else aren't skewing the playing field.

Our scoring system also takes into account things like the way each dealership utilizes Facebook Ads, brands the dealership, produces quality professional videos, and more.

No Dealership is Flawless

Whether you believe your dealership is the best thing since sliced bread or at the bottom of the barrel, AutoConversion Online Assessments are designed to find the strengths and weakness of your online presence and offer guidance for addressing the issues.

There's no such thing as perfection. Even top performing dealerships and dealer groups have room for improvement, often in areas where they might not realize. This is what we look for in our online assessments.

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Request your complimentary online assessment today or text ANALYZE to 555888 and sign up from your phone. Be sure to enter the referral code 'dealerrefresh' when you sign up and you will receive a free gift of your choice.

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Login to view embedded media View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhC0b5ZwxyU


Please enjoy this little ditty I wrote (to the tune of "Meomory" from the musical Cats) and performed as part of Gridiron at Wichita's Orpheum Theatre in April. Gridiron is a longstanding tradition in which journalists get together to make fun of the news of the last year, and it's been a lot of fun to perform with the cast for three years now.

Keep smiling!

Nearly 40 percent of millennials don't eat cereal because it's too much work to clean up.

That was the claim of the article that caught my eye earlier this week. The article was based on a study done by The New York Times.

Stunned, I asked the token millennial on our team if he eats cereal. Nope. Our lead engineer chimed in and noted he doesn't either. I guess that makes me the old soul of the team, because I still love waking up with some Cheerios.

While it's easy to point and laugh at these silly, lazy, millennials, what was more interesting to me was the resulting changes in consumer shopping habits. In the last 15 years, cereal sales have dropped by nearly 30 percent, resulting in billions of dollars of losses for the industry.

It's not just cereal.

Take a look at coffee sales over the last 15 years. Everyone knows whole bean coffee tastes better and costs less, but convenience trumps both price and quality here:



Source

It seems no matter where you look, more and more consumers are adopting a convenience mindset. Shopping trends in nearly every industry show consumers opting for the more convenient option at increasing rates.

These consumer mindset shifts typically come from well financed upstarts who introduce convenience to the market, which in turn shifts consumer expectations.

Take another look at the chart above for ground coffee sales and you’ll notice ground coffee sales started increasing rapidly in 2004, the exact same year Keurig released K-Cup coffee homebrewers.

It wasn’t a consumer change, it was the new convenient option that caused consumers to expect and demand more convenience from their coffee.

Another example of this is the fast food industry. Over the last two years there's been a major explosion in food technology (delivery) investment.



Source

These startups make ordering food as easy as pressing a button on your phone. And they've raised billions to do it. This multi billion dollar push for convenience has ingrained new expectations in the minds of consumers.

"The delivery bug, after all, hasn't been exclusive to the fast food world. People have become conditioned to expect Amazon to deliver practically anything to them." - Washington Post

Click to expand...

Due to new consumer expectations, a number of major fast food companies have been forced to add their own delivery service to stay relevant including Starbucks, Chipotle, McDonald's, Taco Bell and Dunkin' Donuts.

If you want to learn about the future of an industry, you just need to look at what the largest financial institutions in the world are investing in - this is where every dealership should be paying close attention.

The recent funding for Online Car Marketplaces is strikingly similar to the Food Tech chart above.



Source

Billions of dollars are being poured into the auto industry to bring this same level of convenience to car buying. These new startups aren't competing for inventory size or prestige, they are competing for convenience.

Take a look at these new companies and you'll find phrases such as:

"You stay on your couch while we deliver and pickup the car for free." - Vroom

"10 days to Fall in Love. Take your time and fall in love. If not, we'll come pick it up, for a full refund." - Beepi

"TEST DRIVES, DELIVERED. We'll bring the car to you and be there to answer any questions." -Shift

"Need financing? Pick a combination of down and monthly payments that work for you using our proprietary tools. Have a trade-in? We will give you a value in 2 minutes. Ready to buy? 20 minutes at your computer is all it take" - Carvana

Are customers asking for these perks?
Is it what they really want?

Debatable. More on that in my previous post.

What’s more important is the undeniable reality that billions of dollars are being  invested to influence the expectations of your future customers. This effect has been seen numerous times across different industries as demonstrated above.  If you follow the money, you’ll see the auto industry is next.

The largest players are already making moves in this direction. Autonation famously invested $100 million in their own online sales platform and Penske just announced they are rolling out online sales to all of their dealers by the end of this month.

But that leaves the question for every other dealership not belonging to a 100+ rooftop group. How do you plan to compete in an environment of increasingly demanding customers? Comment here, in the dealer forums.

The accelerating rate of mobile usage is not a trend. It’s not going out of style and it's certainly not reversing.

Mobile best practices need to be hard coded into the DNA of every brand, dealer, and marketer – guiding your digital strategy from this very micro-moment on. Mobile cannot be a segment of your marketing, it must be the core of it.

“Showrooming,” or shopping another dealer on a mobile device while physically at your dealership is an increasing challenge that can't be ignored. If consumers are going to compare prices on their smartphones for a $20 item or an $800 item, the probability is even stronger that they’ll do the same for a $40,000-$50,000 item while on a dealer’s lot.

Mobile-driven shopping behavior is rapidly evolving from buying a T.V. at Best Buy to purchasing a vehicle at your dealership.



View Complete 2016 "Mobile Stats" Infographic

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Download this Free eBook - Auto Dealers and the State of Mobile Marketing 2016


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We’ve been in the space long enough to know that with all up-and-coming technologies come growing pains. Here are three ways to own mobile and avoid the problems that other marketers have faced.

1. Ensure You Have Access to Accurate, Real-Time Attribution Reporting

According to research, 41% of U.S. marketers said the lack of attribution transparency was one of the biggest, if not the biggest challenge of mobile advertising today. The ultimate goal for dealers and OEMs is to attribute every sale and every showroom visit to a single campaign or path at nearly 100% effectiveness, regardless of the device or media channel.

Dealers cannot realistically do this by themselves, but they can partner with providers to unite technology with intelligent data that executes well and has the attribution reporting to prove it. This is not as far-fetched as some might think.

2. Eliminate Extra Steps

Digital marketing can get complicated when you attempt to break down all the moving pieces that make up a comprehensive strategy. With mobile, it’s more simple. Think of a single goal your mobile campaign must accomplish.

For most, it should be to get a buyer into your showroom. Then, map out the easiest, most straightforward route to get there. The fewer pages, forms, and steps your audience has to navigate, the higher the chances of conversion.

According to eMarketer, over one-third of advertisers say users or consumers not converting on mobile is huge challenge. Friction is the enemy here. If a customer gets “stuck” in your process they will move on faster than you can say "Ferrari."

Always put both speed and simplicity into play when it comes to increasing conversion rates on mobile. Focus on one goal, one call to action, and one destination – your dealership.

3. Zero-In on Buyers

Ninety percent of consumers leave their location services enabled. In addition, 61% of smartphone users are more likely to buy from mobile sites and apps that customize information to their location. Through location and behavioral targeting, dealers can take advantage of these built-in GPS systems by building consumer profiles that offer insight into who is in-market and ready to make a purchase, and who is still in the research phase of buying a car.

At the end of the day, great marketing is about one thing - relating to people. With all the information, analytics and tools available to us, we have an overly complicated, multi-faceted, omnichannel approach of simply trying to relate to people.

The evolution of mobile can be more simplistic. It’s about connecting with people on another level (that happens to be in their pocket, purse, or in their hands roughly 99% of the time).

Try not to blink. Before you know it, over 90% of showroom traffic will be attributable to a mobile device. Rather than being reactive, you want to be there and be ready!

 

**Example1
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Free eBook - Auto Dealers and the State of Mobile Marketing 2016

Mobile customers expect to receive personalized messages and customized offers at the exact moment they’re in your neighborhood shopping for their next car. Give them what they want, when they want it and those customers will be yours.

Download Now

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You've identified your Dealership's Employment Brand, but now what?

In my previous article we defined, in the simplest of terms, what a Dealership Employment Brand is. But each "dealer" must take hard look at their business structure, operations, standards and practices in order to identify and define their own True Employment Brand. The value of your employment brand will speak volumes when seeking and attracting top talent for employment.

One successful key strategy when building your dealership's employee brand is incorporating a Career Website. Let's consider...

A career website should the first impression for as many job applicants as possible. When a potential customer walks through your showroom doors, they have done their due diligence by not only thoroughly researching the vehicle they intend to purchase but have also researched the reputation of your dealership.

Similarly, job seekers are conducting extensive research when deciding whether or not to apply for a job with that particular company. A poorly designed career site fails to promote your dealership as a great place to work.

The Dollars & Sense of a Strong Dealership Career Website

A dealership’s career site also has a financial impact. Your dealership is probably spending significant dollars on promoting your latest job openings. For example: online job board postings to spread the word about those open positions. If that investment results in the right hires, it’s easy to justify the expense. However, when viable job candidates are introduced to an unappealing employee brand and corresponding uninformative career website, they are less likely to pursue the application process. You also increase your risk in attracting the wrong candidates - meaning the investment in generating applicant flow is wasted.

With this in mind, is your career website ready for today’s job candidates?

We recently measured one of our partner’s hiring activity over six months to see how employment branding affected the quality of applicants in the overall hiring process. The partner utilized both job boards and a strong career site to attract 1,825 applicants for several rooftops. Our findings showed that direct career site visitors drove 18 percent of applicant submissions, but resulted in 79 percent of overall hires. Additionally, career site candidates were more likely to be top performers.

Employee turnover from this candidate group was also 70 percent below the industry average.

To determine if your career site is ready to attract top talent, we encourage you to open your site and ask yourself the following questions:

Does it Make a Good First Impression?

In life, you only get one first impression, and we all know how detrimental or beneficial that can be. Apply this philosophy to your career site. Does the site accurately portray your dealer's employment brand while giving a compelling representation of your team and culture?

Here are some best practices:

• Showcase your dealership’s culture, benefits and job openings front and center so they are encouraged to continue reading.
  
• Use lifestyle photos that advertise a positive and exciting representation of your team, culture and history.
  
• Make sure your content focuses on your best qualities by highlighting key employee benefits, perks and community involvement.

Does it Outline a Potential Employee’s Career Growth Path?

It’s important to understand that many applicants are not only looking for a job, but rather a long and fulfilling career. This is something that is not commonly talked about, but can be a huge competitive advantage that draws in higher-quality candidates.

Your career website needs to speak to each and every applicant, demonstrating a potential career path with the company. Whether they are a recent technical graduate or an experienced sales person, they should have an idea of what their future would look like with your dealership.

Is it Accessible on Mobile Devices?

Today’s candidates are tech-savvy and expect information to be available in the palm of their hands. Job candidates will not only want to research your business from their mobile device but will likely want to apply at the same time.

Making sure your career website is mobile-friendly may seem like the obvious but too often company and/or corporate websites are overlooked for providing a fluid mobile experience.  enables applicants to inquire, learn and apply to a dealership no matter what device is being used. With that in mind, it’s important to ensure applicants can simply upload their resume rather than having to spend excessive time copying and pasting it into various fields. Making the application process as simple as possible and easily viewable on mobile devices will help ensure millennials are actually applying for the positions, instead of seeing an overwhelming application process and opting to pass over it.

Today’s candidates expect information to be available in the palm of their hands. Making sure your career website is mobile-friendly may seem like the obvious but too often company and/or corporate websites are overlooked and fall short on providing a fluid mobile experience. Applicants should be able to learn, enquire and even apply for a position by simply upload their resume, no matter what device they're using.

Remember, a strong career website can play a huge part in building your dealerships employment brand. Make sure it’s easy to follow and evokes feelings of excitement in candidates by portraying the dealership’s history, culture and anything else that makes your dealership special.

How are you currently promoting your Dealership's Employment Brand to attract top talent for hire?

Do you have dealership career website? 

Join this discussion with your answer(s) right here in the DealerRefresh Dealer Forums

Don’t think Millennials are a big enough customer segment to worry about? Think again. According to a recent DrivingSales study, Millennials are now accounting for 27% of new car sales. “The buying power of this younger market represents a significant growing opportunity for dealerships, the report states.

Who Are Millennials? Why Do They Matter?

According to one source, Millennials are those that were born between 1982 and 2004. Considering the World Wide Web was created in 1995, that makes the younger segment of this generation a teenager at the time the WWW came about. Practically speaking, the Web has almost always been with them since they’ve been buying things.

Here’s a few things we know about Millennials…

We know that Millennials spend time researching online before visiting a dealership – even a dealership where they already have a relationship.

We know that Millennials are more likely to trust dealerships that give them the information they are seeking, and let them come to their own educated decision.

We also know that videos sell cars.



Two Keys to Selling Vehicles to Millennials

While price is important to every customer, there are two other factors that heavily influence a Millennial’s purchase decision - trust and experience. Building trust and creating an amazing shopping experience are two of the most important things you want to focus on while working with a Millennial.

Trusting the Dealership

Since we know that Millennials spend significant time researching online before visiting a dealership, we can deduce that this generation is more likely to trust dealerships that give them the information they are seeking, and let them come to their own educated decision. Thus transparency and personalized interaction in digital form are pivotal when dealing with Millennials.

Amazing Shopping Experience

Because Millennials perform so much of their research online, creating an amazing shopping experience begins online in digital form, most likely on their smartphones. Therefore, you’ll need tools and resources that make it easy for you and for them to experience all your dealership has to offer, ideally on their smartphones.

Using Video to Sell to Millennials

It’s been said that one minute of video is worth a million words, which has much to do with why video helps sell cars. Considering that we know our objective with Millennials is to build trust and create an amazing experience, naturally this is what we should strive to accomplish in our videos for Millennials.

Rather than, “show me the money,” Millennial car buyers are saying, “Show me the video!”

But creating videos can be costly and time-consuming, and not everyone is fit for being on camera or producing video. Therefore, dealers need a tool that makes creating effective videos simple and easy to do, where sales reps can concentrate on building trust and creating an amazing experience rather than producing a video.



One such tool that hundreds of dealers are utilizing every day to easily create such videos is Walkaround Videos. With Walkaround Videos, you can create an amazing overall experience by engaging, informing and delighting your prospects with customized, dealer-branded videos of each specific vehicle they are interested in.

Creating trust through video can be accomplished with Walkaround Videos by showing the customer the vehicle (or vehicles) of interest to them in a personalized way which they can view on their smartphone or tablet device, not requiring them to visit the dealership to spark an emotional connection with a car. By hearing your voice, the Millennial is also able make a personal connection with you.

Producing Walkaround Videos takes but a few minutes and can be done using your own phone or tablet device with the Authentk Walkaround Videos app available for Android and iOS devices. You simply point your camera to what you want the customer to see while speaking to provide audio narration, or pre-record a video for upload. When ready, you complete the form with the customer’s information and a branded email is sent to the customer, linking them to a branded viewing page.

The entire process can take as little as 2-3 minutes!

With Walkaround Videos, you are putting yourself out there as a trusted source of information. You aren’t selling anything. You are educating buyers and building trust through video. When they are ready to come to the dealership, they will insist on seeing only you, because you’ve taken the time to send them personalized information in a form they prefer - video!

Try It For Yourself

Are you ready to give it a whirl? Take Walkaround Videos for a free test drive by clicking here or the image below and submitting your information. Upon doing so we will send you login credentials and instructions for setting up a demo account which you are welcome to use free for 15 days. Once you’ve had a chance to try it out and see how easy it is to create personalized videos, you’ll be wishing you knew about the tool years ago.

How many thousands of hours have been used to develop scripts to respond to inbound calls?

Thousands of dollars and hours have been devoted to phone training. Thousands of hours have been spent on “corrective action” taken by managers in order to improve inbound sales call procedures. After all of this time and money, has the customer experience actually improved and how do you know?

One way dealerships measure this is through mystery shopping, and is it enough?

Here are 3 core issues with mystery shopping:

1. The majority of manufacturer-driven mystery shopping anonymizes the inbound call or internet inquiry responses. Therefore, we can’t validate or verify what was said or written in response to customers’ questions.
   
2. In any given month, even large dealerships only get a handful of mystery shop recaps. With this small of a sample size, there is not enough data to establish a month-to-month trend.
   
3. Mystery shoppers aren’t real customers. They’re mystery shoppers. Real customers ask real questions whereas mystery shoppers ask staged questions. Why are you making real decisions or giving real feedback to your real employees based on a staged “role play” session?

If you’re not recording calls, you should!

If you’re not scoring calls, you should.
If you’re not reviewing scored calls with employees, you should.

At the first point of contact a customer makes with your dealership, she/he should get to experience the highest level of professionalism that your store(s) can muster up. If the level of professionalism or quality of the call is one iota short of what the customer expects, then it becomes a problem because their experience suffers from the very beginning of the sales process.

With the increase in mobile-friendly sites and overall mobile phone traffic over last year, it has become easier than ever for customers to call a store from the very device they’re using to browse your inventory.

My point is – more customers than ever before are calling dealerships for specific vehicles they see online. How do you ensure these calls are handled appropriately?

Record and score your calls

Generally, the only people within the dealership who are impartial and critical enough to reliably listen to, score, and review calls are the managers. But isn’t their time better used…managing.

The job of sifting through hours of recorded service/sales/parts/wrong number calls is not something that should be the responsibility of anyone within your organization.

Why? Time, money and objectivity.

No one within your organization should have the opportunity to influence results. What’s the Solution? A 3rd party company that offers call recording, scoring, and sometimes reviewing.

The only people who are unbiased enough to reliably and consistently score calls is someone who does not have any relationship (personal or professional) with any of your employees. When choosing a 3rd party company, ensure they have streamlined procedures in place with employees experienced in scoring calls on a standardized system.

We recommend that all calls be scored based on the same quantitative criteria, free from any outside (or inside) influence or favoritism.

Regularly review calls with employees

Ineffective management is inconsistent, punitive, and reactive whereas effective management is consistent, constructive, and proactive.

Think of how impactful your managers can be with consistent call scores with which they can review with their sales team during weekly 1-on-1 sessions. Each employee is not only given specific items to improve upon, but they are also given strategies, techniques and recommendations on how to improve. These are documented and then reviewed next week.

Positive aspects of calls are also covered so that each employee receives feedback on their strengths as well.

Having trouble convincing employees to use scripts?

After going through phone script training for the first time, an experienced sales person (Sam) approached the dealer (Leo) and expressed his disapproval because the script would make him sound “too robotic” and he would prefer to “wing it.” Unbeknownst to Sam, Leo had just listened to one of Sam’s calls from the day before.

What Leo said next was one of the most meaningful and humorous lines I’ve ever heard:

“Sam, I hope you sound like a robot! That’ll be a hell of a lot better than what I just listened to!”

Effective communication with customers is a top priority at any successful dealership. By recording, scoring, and reviewing real customer calls you are ensuring a positive customer experience.