Cliff Banks, I've seen a #automotive #sales #social #tweeter #pro #usedcarricky #sell two #cars in 72 hours on tweeter.
Seeing is #believing!
Here is a great read I found...
In case you’ve been living under a rock, search and social media specialists have been getting cozy beside the bonfire for some time now. If you’ve missed the memo, it’s time to get aboard the traffic train and integrate your efforts with the agency or in-house SEO. Promoting your client’s content through social networks will not only work to build authority, increase your following, and drive traffic, but will also assist in boosting search engine relevancy using social signals. Aside from their role as secondary traffic mediums, social mentions like tweets, shares, likes, and +1’s are effecting search engine rankings, whether you like it or not.
If you’re interested in saving time, money, and resources in your organization, bringing alignment to all traffic-generating mediums is the key to success. Through internal meetings, conference calls, and close coordination with external vendors, you can ensure that your efforts are put to use and not lost in the shuffle.

It's spread across, granted. But, me personally and I'm in the industry, I used social media during the pre purchase and post purchase. And, you bet I posted pics of my "new baby".

Yeah, I know it happens, but 30,000 a day seems a bit much

The study was done in partnership with a social media agency (provided a link in the post over on the blog). In no way am I saying that dismisses the study but we all know stats can be used to support agendas. With that being said, I've had a hand full of friends mention a post purchase or ask for opinions on their next car purchase on Fb.

I've had only one FB friend talk about a car purchase on FB...never see it on Twitter. Stats overblown?

After i heard Rihanna lost 10 lbs very quick with this diet, I thought i have to try this one. So it really works guyss !. I managed to lose 8 lbs last week. I decided to post here because i wanted to help people who struggle with their weight. cyaa..32

Jeff , I love this!

Someone should create an info-graphic about the day in the life of an auto salesperson - whether consumers believe it or not, most salespeople I ever met are just trying to earn an honest living, and if customers knew what we know, they would never want our job knowing what we deal with too. How many customers bring the animosity to the dealership as opposed to the car sales guy? And how many of you watch a customer leave the showroom, and everyone looks at each other and says: wow, what a jerk! They were completely unrealistic! We know what is said because we often find the customer a lot more unrealistic than we are. Who created the animosity? How about KBB, Edmunds, and all the other so-called authoritative websites which post article after article about salespeople's tricks and deceptions. We don't ever get a break. I worked in the ISM capacity for 10 years and most  people buy the new car they requested a quote online about, most of the time, maybe a trim level change. Used cars are different, because people make impulsive decisions about the car they like more often than not.  Maybe if car dealers sold cars like selling steaks at a restaurant, we'd be better off. Okay Mr. Customer you can buy the Aged Prime Steak (perfect condition used car highest price), or the Prime Steak (good but obviously you have to buy the tires if you want new ones, not perfect), or Prime Choice (this is like buying from a private buyer at the lower price you saw online - you get what you pay for, this is the one I can sell at the price you want to pay). Take your pick! Obviously you can't go to Ruth-Chris and get an aged prime steak for the price of prime choice - it's an unrealistic request.

@Lab42Research thanks for putting it together! Great data.

@ADP_Cobalt @Dealerrefresh Thanks for sharing our infographic! We appreciate it

I agree with you Jeff.  After all of the research done online, consumers come to a store knowing what they want.  What they want and what they end up with are two different things, as there is still no substitute from the "brink and mortar" experience.  
 
On One Price--these stats have dropped from J.D. Power  survey 17 years ago where consumers said they would prefer to go through a root canal than negotiating for a car.   It was in the low 90% range if memory serve me well.  Reversing that conditioning is going to continue to be a challenge.  I think that the trade value enter into this issue, as it's still true that the value of a trade is in the eyes of the appraiser, thus different values at different stores opens the door to negotiate.  I also think there is a substantial number in our industry that don't care to see negation change.

I'm curious about the source of this data... 73% want one and ONLY one price??? I wouldn't be surprised to find a half-truth in that... consumers wish they only had to deal with one price. But once they get to the store to do the deal, so many want to negotiate. Even with all the research being done and that research being sold as a benefit. I know a lot of people do want just one price but it's not 73%.
 
And 52% don't know what make or model they're going to buy? I know a lot buy something other than what they intended, but 52% have no clue?
 
I dunno....

** 73% wish there was one fixed price for each car so there was no negotiation needed
 
There is one price.. it is called MSRP!  

Very cool info graphic.

Very cool info graphic.

Biggest mistake in the sales process a salesman can make is trying to hard sell/close someone on the wrong car.

Biggest mistake in the sales process a salesman can make is trying to hard sell/close someone on the wrong car.

Simple, useful, to the point. Great post!

That's why SP need to confirm car on the follow-up call - you are losing people because you're on the wrong car - we are sooooo focused on price we miss this. Good Point Dealer Refresh!

its too good

@Matt it is lookin fine

Check out Showroom Tracker - http://www.showroomtracker.com

Your 6 reasons are exactly what we face everyday in getting dealerships or any company to realize the benefits of a CRM and why its important to have a CRM. However without a "champion" enforcing the process they are doomed to failure. All my successful customers have made using their CRM mandatory, and it's worked. You can't stop bad behavior in any company with any sales force, but you can get your team to be productive if you give them the right training and tools to enable them to do their job well and improve. In every industry's sale department, training, education and management are the driving forces of successful sales numbers and gross. I use a CRM myself and I can tell you I am very successful and it's made my life much easier than it would ever be without one ! Since I can use my CRM from my iphone I'm in it all day everyday. Dealers just need to be more educated before deciding on a CRM if they have a champion and how to enforce it in my opinion.

I have worked with multiple CRMs at a huge automotive group, and have seen all of the issues you talk about - however - I have learned one key thing. Until you get your mid-level managers involved with your CRM tool, you will never see great success. Your sales managers must be "bought-in", and be directly involved with using the CRM each day to then be able to motivate and lead their sales teams to use the tool as well. That means you must be able to show managers how a CRM can help them make more money (seems to always be the case ...  
 
Will be VERY interesting to see a cloud based DMS (Microsoft) working with a CRM tool in the upcoming years...

Jake
Great article and you are right on the money with your observations.