Latest activity

Aug 25, 2008

I don't find this funny at all.....

Aug 25, 2008

hope the sales guy had a great meeting......

maybe next time he will let the techie capture the flag before he interrupts.
I will have to remember the reboot three times line...lol

Aug 25, 2008

That is totally awesome. "How did you know what I did all day" Joking!!

That was good though!

Kevin - I noticed the Monster.com home page. Too funny!

Aug 25, 2008

monster.com is default homepage? hilarious.

Aug 25, 2008

When I first saw this video, I immediately sent it to my IT Director - he confirmed this is exactly what they do all day....lol.

Aug 24, 2008

Great video Jeff, you have inspired me to rearange my desktop icons. Now I just need to figure out what I want to put on the right testicle

Aug 26, 2008

oops, 10k uniques not 30

Aug 26, 2008

My favorite statistic and one that has not changed for over 3 years now; ONLY 20% of online shoppers contact the dealer via online submission forms or by phone (give or take a few percentage points). Only 20%!

Couldn't agree more with this comment. I actually get a percentage close to 22 and concentrate more and more on increasing the number of those visiting my site/s.

Currently in the neighborhood of 30k uniques per month and hope to double that by year end. Getting closer and closer to dropping the 3rd party leads.

DigitalRalph.com · Aug 24, 2008

Steve Wilhite is one of those rare automotive executives to have worked in retail, managing dealerships, and worked for Detroit car companies, Japanese car companies, and Korean car companies... Jumpstart is fortunate to have someone of Steve's caliber running the company. I really would have liked to have gone to ThinkDigital, having attended the inaugural event, but was down in Costa Mesa doing the block chair thing at ENG Automotive CRM Summit.

Paul Rushing · Aug 24, 2008

SERM is my cool aid too. I wonder when it will be realized that it is important as the dealers website itself. It is just not negative information that you are combating. Some other good reasons to be concerned.

Aug 24, 2008

Hey Brother....Wish I could have been there!
Amazing about the leads comment. "SOMEDAY" "Somebody" might figure all of this out.

Hope the family is well! Check out my latest article...I think you'll dig!

Aug 23, 2008

Why isn't your name tag wet? My name tag was wet.....

Dec 8, 2009

Tiger has a lot more time on his hands and 50% less cash!!

hahaha... leave it to you BT!

Dec 8, 2009

Joe,
anything you want to share with us about that last picture?

Us weekly wants a interview!

Aug 23, 2008

I always thought Joe was in the witness protection program.....I dunno maybe I watched the Sopranos too much

Aug 22, 2008

A pen and a pat on the back??? Wow!! Talk about high class. LOL.

You should have received a brand new car!

Aug 22, 2008

Thnx Jen.
I've been to vegas conventions too many times, mostly to the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and Specialty Equipment Manuf''ers Assoc. (SEMA) conventions.

I was a featured speaker for EbayMotors at 04 NADA in vegas. All I got outta that presentation was an 'atta boy' and a pen. woo hoo! hahaa...

Aug 22, 2008

Joe

Love the picture! Too funny! Wow that is a lot of seminars you been too! Talk about being around the block a few times!

Great Job!

This post is a nice one to get to know more about you & your sense of humor too!

Aug 22, 2008

15-30 days to beta. Got my hands full, I'm pushing for a Oct 1 launch.

Joe

Aug 22, 2008

Funny Joe. I hope my boss doesn't see this and starts to think that budget we have looks like a limitless one!

How far away is the new site?

Alex Snyder · Aug 21, 2008

1. Where do you work and what is the URL for your dealership(s). Feel free to list multiple URL's.

Sun Auto Group in Syracuse New York. Visit us at: UsedCarKing.com

2. How did you get into the Automotive Business?

I loved cars ever since I was a kid. I belonged to SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) and was quite good at ice racing (it always use to be cold enough to race on frozen lakes back then!).

Business Summary: I was a pioneer in Auto Accessories retail, my 1st store was a 3 bay garage behind a house and 6 years later I had and ran it up to a multi-million dollar operation that grew to 3 stores. I cashed out in 94.

In 95, I became an online stock trader (there were NO online brokerages in 94). I paid the rent as a self-employed stock trader till 2000. During that period, I taught myself computers and how to build web sites. Worked for AOL in Personal Finance area. I assisted in a successful startup; SuperTraders.com (Run by a real stock picking Genius Jim DePorre). In 2001, I built a site for a local Chevrolet store and was recruited to be their marketing director with an offer that I couldn’t turn down (its fun to say that!). Recently, I moved to Sun AutoGroup, the UsedCarKing.com. THE big fish in our small market and a 110% believer in all things internet.

3. What are you currently driving, and if you could have any other car what would that be?

Current: 06 Silverado 4x4 Crew (leased… thank God!).

Dreaming of: AC Cobra. As old as I am, but waaaay better looking.

4. What are you currently working on? What's your big push?

A totally new web site. Built for SEO, video galore, CSS, dynamic content generator and so much more. Totally cutting edge (stay tuned). After that I am going to beat CRM or die trying. vAUTO needs my attention too.

5. How would you rate the relationship between your Internet efforts and the traditional dealership departments on a scale of 1 to 10? If you answered anything less than 10, what would you like to do to improve those relationships?

Sun Auto Group is not your father’s dealership . The internet is mission critical here. We have >1,000 used units on the ground, the reps use the site as part of their qualifying and presentation. The owner’s son (Todd Caputo) is young and gifted entrepreneur. He has his foot jammed on the throttle and his instincts are on the money, time and time again.

6. If you had a limitless budget, how would you structure your department?

see CheckeredFlag.com <snicker> Gotcha Alex!

7. What is your favorite thing about the Internet side of this industry?

I don’t see where this all ends! Hahaha… love it!

8. What is your favorite thing about Dealer Refresh?

The brains. Lotsa smart players here.

9. Joe, you used to be on the vendor side of the aisle, if there is one thing you can tell dealers about how to deal with vendors, what would that be?

I’ve been to Vegas at least 25 times, to SEMA, CES and NADA. I’ve worked both sides of the aisle, as a buyer and a seller. There is no one way I deal with all vendors. The most important vendors are the mission criticals with complex items and have a lot of promise in it. And even here there are no 2 alike. Lets look at 2 & compare my web builder HomeNet(HN) and my CRM provider ReyRey.

With HN, I take on a partner mentality. They committed to my big vision and they’re killing themselves to executing it to as close as I drew it up. Flowers of gratitude to Jesse B’s team, Matt, Tammy, Chris, Mike and more. They are effort-ing above and beyond the call of duty.

With ReyRey, go ahead and try to warm up to that vendor. NOT.
Hahaha… hey! No hate mail from your R&R troopers! Seriously, ReyRey’s CRM is mission critical, yet the reps can’t help you with the day to day issues. No partnering feel here, so, the sales guys get a lil’ bit o’ Junk Yard Dog from me. Yet (I’ve said it here before) ReyRey’s tech support is world class. All that being said, why does it take 400 hours to master R&R’s CRM platform? Can any dealer be using more than 5% of its potential… oh oh… I’m rambling again.

I’d say the most valuable tool in vendor relations is knowing which vendor can help you reach your goals, then make that vendor your partner. Sell that vendor your vision with a smile and back slapping enthusiasm and you’ll find above average service and someone who gives a sh*t about you, because you need them. And in the end, tell me, who doesn’t like to be needed?

10. What do you do outside of work?

I am a golf Junkie. Tiger calls me when Elin (his wife) wants him to do yard work.

Ain’t Photoshop grand? Oh. I’m the guy in the back

Dealer Refresh wants to thank Joe Pistell for his continued contributions and support! Good luck on the new website Joe, and please stay away from Photoshop

If anyone has questions or comments for Joe, please leave those after the article on this page: click here (the normal comment spot).

Nov 29, 2008

This is all the more reason why dealerships should be focused on driving more traffic to their website and keeping it there. We know statistically that we will close more deals to website based customers. The question is, how do we attract a customer to submit a lead so we can get more leads? This is where RedNumbat does the trick. Visit www.rednumbat.com and check it out for yourselves.

Stan

Aug 22, 2008

During my days at the Auto Group, I spent 2 months fully researching a good quality 3rd party lead provider & most of all a good local rep.

I had picked up Dealix as that initial 3rd party. To my luck they did very well for me, maybe it was my consistent follow up and not stop calling until they told me " STOP CALLING".

My closing ratio at the time was very well.

I never had a problem with getting credited back for them also. My rep was in the Detroit area and still to this day makes the time to come up here in Northern Michigan to visit. Actually he will be up here this weekend. Surprisingly again! He emailed me to hang out and chat!

It is hard to find a good rep from a good 3rd party lead provider that is more concerned about helping with the dealerships success than his paycheck!

Thanks Jason Porter @ Dealix!

Other than that, I speak highly of Dealix and it all comes down on how savvy the Internet Manager is on closing those appointments with a 3rd party lead!

There is my 2 sense .......

tomwhitejr · Aug 21, 2008

Let's be clear here: third-party lead providers have a place in your marketing efforts PROVIDED you have the processes and people in place to handle the leads. I sell between 30 to 50 vehicles a month from third-party leads. I don't believe you can arbitrarily place all of these providers under one heading either.

Gary appears to be a business person trying to do things the right way and I applaud him for contributing to the dialogue. I have access to hundreds of lead providers through wholesale exchanges, and Gary's company shows up in exactly none of them. This would lead me to believe he is actually generating his leads through his own efforts and not re-selling leads bought off an exchange.

I run both a car dealership AND a lead generation company. I am completely aware of the crap that is going on with many lead providers. I still purchase, on average, $15,000 in third party leads per month. I might not be the brightest guy on the planet, but at a $276 average cost per sale, this is a marketing effort I can't afford to not be in.

Again, all leads are not created equal. Unfortunately, you have to weed through a ton of bad providers to find the guys trying to do things the right way.

As always, my two cents...

Tom

Aug 21, 2008

Dear Jeff,

To set the record straight, I told Dealix that we did not wish to be paid for this lead - it did come through our site.

I have no explanation for this, only conjecture. After reading your allegations, I wonder if this consumer was sent some kind of e-mail solicitation from someone else promising him that someone would pay him $5 for a lead. At that time, we had content on our site dealing with issues for people looking to trade-in for more fuel efficient cars during this oil crisis. That likely brought him to a web page where he confused our site with those who had sent him an incentive type e-mail. We have never had those kind of ads or e-mail enticements. I just don't know what is going on here. If the consumer said he wasn't even in the market, how else did this happen? I simply don't know.

We are just a small business This isn't my main living. I have no financial or other reasons to engage in this type of marketing activity. I started NCA as a hobby business and I have been upfront with all our accounts about this. I don't even have the staff to do the accounting necessary to pay people $5.00 per lead. We've done okay since late 2005. If we were engaging in this type of marketing practice, either paying people ourselves or sending them into a dealer who unknowingly was expected to pay them $5.00, we'd have been history in relatively short order. There was, nor is, no reason for us to try such a foolish and risky marketing strategy. Even if I needed the money that bad, that would be the last way to try to get it. Word travels fast, as we are seeing now.

I hate this type of thing as much as you do.

Thanks for the opportunity to clarify this issue. I have a long day(s) ahead of me.

Sincerely,

Gary Moran
NCA

Latest activity

Latest activity

Filter