Latest activity

Mar 22, 2012 · Mar 22, 2012

Nobody can argue against group-buying power. But SEO is probably the last service that works in regards to scalability. SEO (if done the right way) is an extremely customized solution that requires actual human man-power to generate (content, etc). I can't think of any worthwhile SEO company that would be able to deploy service for 300 accounts at once without some type of "boxed" program - in which case sounds spammy to me.

SEO as a stand-alone solution, or a stand-alone vendor also does't make sense anymore as website vendors have increased their SEO knowledge and serviceability. Not to mention, a stand-alone SEO company still has to ensure the website vendor allows access in order to conduct the SEO. I have always said, the best company to do your SEO is your website vendor. So select your website vendor accordingly.

Best of luck to Dealers United. Maybe Inventory Management Software should have been your first offering (sorry - small plug there

Mar 22, 2012 · Mar 22, 2012

Jeff

I agree with you that picking SEO for a first product was a risky move. Since PCG Digital Marketing provides SEO services to dealers, I have first hand experience with speaking with dealers who regardless of how many reports we provide, just don't stay with SEO for the long term.

PCG demonstrated our service to Steve Stauning and we were not selected. This is not a sour grapes post, just a confirmation that satisfying and scaling an SEO service for 200-300 dealers is not an easy task for any selected vendor.

It wouldn't surprise me that at the 60-90 day mark, a number of dealers cancel the service. It will not be because they vendor they chose did a bad job, it will because they will not see much change.

The attention span for a dealership on SEO strategy is very short. In fact, dealers who have a little knowledge of SEO will expect to be on Page One for a high traffic terms like "Used Cars" and won't be satisfied unless they see that happen. They may also suggest that they appear in multiple geo-targeted locations in 60 days, which depending on their market, may not be realistic.

Since Dealers United requires no long term contracts as part of the deal, it will make it easy for dealers to jump ship.

As we all know, Google is constantly change what impacts search results, Misteray is correct that cookie cutter solutions will have less of an impact on organic results. For what our research reveals, SEO strategies will require move involvement with the dealer to leverage video and social signals of quality. It will require more unique, original content.

It will be a challenge for the SEO vendor, who has initial no relationship or bond with the dealer, to make that connection and get that commitment. So we will have to wait and see what this new "middle man" model brings to the table.

One of the bigger questions that seems to be unanswered is what type of handcuffs do the selected vendors have in regards to incremental business. For example, Dealers sign-up for SEO vendors service today but the company upsells a portion of the dealers with other products they offer. Does Dealers United require a commission on those new opportunities as well? Does Dealers United become a perpetual "partner" in all future sales?

Could the push to get thousands of Dealers to signed for Dealers United really be a larger play picture to capture the future sales commission for dozens of initial products and dozens of future products sold through the initial connection via DU?

That will be something to discuss over time...

Misteray · Mar 21, 2012

The concept sounds good, but there ain't no such thing as a free lunch. I assume Dealers United will be getting kickbacks from the venders...which leaves them open to accepting those vendors who pay the most rather than give the most. It may not be true, but it is suspect.

As for SEO, it is no surprise that dealers put SEO at the top of the list. SEO/SEM is a mystery to most dealers (and most SEO "experts"). Having done SEO/SEM for several years I can tell you it's the easiest hardest thing to do. It's easy to get dealers first page placement for keywords that have no relevance and/or very little traffic. It's not so easy to get high rankings for keywords that actually drive traffic. And, since the search engines are constantly changing the algorithms, its not something you can do once and forget...it takes a lot of work and constant monitoring to get (and stay) on the first page for premium keywords. Most of the dealer sites I've looked at have hundreds of keywords in their meta-tags, not realizing that SE's really only look at the first three. All those "extra" keywords just dilute the keyword density...same goes for SEM (PPC). It's an art, not a science.

Unfortunately the lack of understanding of technology makes dealers prime targets for 3rd party vendors selling the NBT (Next Big Thing). Dealers have lots of money and very little knowledge...and that makes them easy "pickin's" for vendors. They WOW them with all the bells and whistles, but I have yet to find an SEO vendor that performs above mediocre. They're proud of their 2% CTR and have convinced the industry that it's a great return. I get 25 -30% CTR's and ten times the traffic for a tenth of the cost. Yes, it can be done, but not by a BIG BOX vendor who gives a snotty-nosed kid who has never set foot in a dealership (much less sell a car) twenty dealer sites to manage. SEO/SEM is not a one-size fits all proposition. Nor is it a set it and forget it operation...although that's how most of them work.

Maybe Dealers United can solve the problem, but I doubt it. I don't know them, but IMHO, I think they're just another middleman reaping a profit from ignorant dealers. I hope I'm wrong and mean no disrespect, but like I said at the beginning, "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch," they're making money someway, somehow.

I just caution any dealer before signing up for any service to talk to dealers who are actually using the service to get their feedback. Visiting DealerRefresh Forums is a good start.

Mar 20, 2012 · Mar 20, 2012

Hi Jeff,

I was searching something else when I saw a stat for the "2011 Automotive eShopper Experience Study". The Dealers United article was at the top of the page. I watched the video and it had me emotionally hooked..."Apple Pie", "American Dream", etc. all emotion evoking phrases, but to see that the first service offered is SEO seemed a bit odd. You hit all the key points dead on Jeff.

Something more helpful would have been to address one of the stats in the eShopper article...Only 6% of dealers call leads the first day they receive them!!!! If that is the best auto dealers can do someone needs to do a serious evaluation of the entire industry.

I've written on this before, but 4 years or so ago I audited an auto dealers web based CRM to discover only 50% of the Internet leads they bought had even been opened and looked at by the BDC or a sales person...that was only 1 years data.

As a lead generator for the auto industry I get a few leads returned from dealers each month...with a slightly disturbed tone that they bought a lead, but the person had already purchased a vehicle; After some research I discovered that auto dealers with caps were missing leads that sat in our system till the following day to be delivered, but the prospect didn't hear back and contacted another dealership.

TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!! when it comes to working Internet leads! (And only 6% of dealers respond the same day?)

Increased SEO services, social media, pay per click, etc. doesn't matter if dealers cannot increase their follow up time with prospects.

Imagine if an auto dealer increased their same day follow up time by 10, 20, 30%, what would that do to the bottom line?

Mar 26, 2012

@automotiveseo

Mar 26, 2012

Just another tip from your 'ol Uncle Joe

Mar 20, 2012

@JoePistell "

Important Digital Marketing Lesson
The marketing opportunities on the internet are everywhere. You can get a new website, spend mountains of cash on PPC, kill yourself writing custom comments, spend big bucks on the newest cameras, spend hours working tools like vAuto to optimize your inventory for the maximum amount of conversions. You'd naturally expect a lift in sales from all of this awesome DIGITAL MARKETING EFFORT, but, in reality, your growth is capped by the sales teams poor poor execution.

Ad Costs PVR are directly tied to this. If you don't improve your sales processes, then you can never leverage any new traffic."

You hit it out of the park Joe!

Mar 20, 2012

Hi Jon,
The stats in this article are telling. I'd be interested in hearing from some auto dealers on why they feel the industry cannot do a better job with response rates and follow up timing. Based on what I see going on in the lead generation space, I think Jeff is correct...there is some cherry picking going on within the industry.

In the Internet marketing world, we talk about the importance of list building...gathering as many names and email addresses as we can so we can communicate with that person on another day.

I wish auto dealers grasped the concept that every name, email address, and phone number they acquire has some value...maybe not today, but if nurtured correctly, in the future, some value will come.

20% of of shoppers never hear from the dealer? Calculate those advertising dollars wasted. In one dealership audit I conducted, we discovered that only 50% of Internet leads purchased over 12 months had even been opened in their online CRM.

@Jim Bell · Mar 20, 2012

@Jim Bell
Failed processes start and end at the TOP. Semi-engaged HIPPOs often throw cash as failed processes and walk away. They continue on with their daily behavior and then blame the troops when the training pop fails 30 days later.

The Black Hole in Sales Training: http://forum.dealerrefresh.com/f40/black-hole-sales-training-1848.html#post14895

Mar 20, 2012

Mmmmm...data. I love data and thanks for the info Jon. It amazes me when I do some mystery shopping how long if at all a dealership takes to respond. I actually kind of like it just for the reason that it shows that we are doing things right. Are we perfect? No, but I do know that we are responding which so many don't.

So many people have contributed to the online message boards different ideas and products, but so many don't do anything with it when it is a proven process. I'm sure that a lot of the dealers shopped have a ton of tools that they use. You can have all of the tools in your tool box, but if you don't have the people and the processes in place, it won't get done and not see success in a pin up market this year.

Mar 16, 2012

This data is exactly why we have expanded our company to create a BDC/Internet process consulting division lead by Marc McGurren. We are also working with Jerry Thibeau on phone skills, inspection and coaching and he is a great partner to dealers looking to maximize the ROI of their existing marketing and human resource investments.

Mar 16, 2012

@JoePistell
Thanks Joe,
Very well stated.
This is all about the basics; communicating effectively with your customer and sadly, many stores are lacking. We have done telephone shops as well and similar problems exist. If the store doesn't have a good process for communicating with Internet customers, the same is often true for phone-ups and walk-ons.
You are so right about Sales101. If someone is expressing interest in a particular vehicle, doesn't it make sense to offer them a chance to drive it? In the most recent eShopper study, only 3 out of 10 stores who sent a response, offered a test drive. What was everyone else expecting the shopper to do? I'll tell you: "Call me", "Send an email if you have any questions", "Hope to hear from you soon". You get the point. If you have done a good job informing the shopper, take the opportunity to invite them in. Remember, if you don't, someone else will.

Mar 16, 2012

Dealer Managers and Dealer Principals,

If you think your organization is different and your team is better than the results above, be brave and TEST your team with an outside source.

2 years ago we contracted with Jerry Thibeau's mystery shopper phone service... the results were painful and humbling. I found comfort when we shopped our all of our competition and found them all to be equal to our poor performances.

Because all dealers in my area failed Sales101, it only makes sense that the shopper is frustrated because it's taking days and days to get simple questions answered. Any way you look at it, these mystery shopper results opened a new door of opportunity. Add to this the reward that is given to early adopters (once everyone figures out Sales101, then you've lost your advantage)

Important Digital Marketing Lesson
The marketing opportunities on the internet are everywhere. You can get a new website, spend mountains of cash on PPC, kill yourself writing custom comments, spend big bucks on the newest cameras, spend hours working tools like vAuto to optimize your inventory for the maximum amount of conversions. You'd naturally expect a lift in sales from all of this awesome DIGITAL MARKETING EFFORT, but, in reality, your growth is capped by the sales teams poor poor execution.

Ad Costs PVR are directly tied to this. If you don't improve your sales processes, then you can never leverage any new traffic.

This won't be an easy fix. This lack of process ties directly to your sales management. We spend lots of time and cash training sales reps, who's training the managers?

Mar 15, 2012

If you’ve ever attended a dealer 20 Group meeting, you know what attendees find most valuable: comparing notes with other dealers outside their market area and copying their most successful practices. Because anecdotal successes are sometimes emotional and not data-driven, 20 Group participants even offer up financial statements in order to substantiate any actions they promote.

Because many dealership employees don’t have an opportunity to attend these meetings, let’s call this our Digital 20 Group to share a few good ideas we’ve learned from top performers about handling dealership Internet leads.

This data comes courtesy of our rockin’ research staff at Cobalt with their hot-off-the-press 2011 eShopper Automotive Experience Study.

Screen-Shot-2012-03-16-at-1.36.34-AM.png

Here are some statistics that will not only drive our discussion here; they’ll also identify our collective opportunities for improvement:

Only 6% of dealerships phoned their Internet leads the same day they received them.
Seven days after a lead was received, only 11% followed up via email.
Two out of three shoppers were never invited to test drive a vehicle.
75% of shoppers never received a price quote.
20% of shoppers never received a response to their lead at all!

Let’s begin with the last bullet and work our way North.

The #1 rule in lead management is rather obvious: RESPOND! Fortunately, the 20% number is shrinking industry-wide, but for those who don’t receive a response at all, it doesn’t matter how we’re trending.

Next, one of the main points of contention among dealership managers is the treatment of price inquiries, and we have seen dramatic clarification on that front lately. Dealers tell us that perception is positively king here, and that perception is driven by our definition of transparency. If we ‘dance’ to avoid giving a price, e.g., telling the client that we need more information from them before pricing, or inviting them in for our best price, we run the risk of having them click to any one of hundreds of other dealerships mere inches away while they’re online. In this realm, Internet leads are akin to voice mail messages; if you attempt to justify NOT giving them a price in an email or message, they will simply go somewhere else.

If your name were on the sign (and it may be), wouldn’t you at least want every customer to be invited to visit the dealership? Of course you would, and that’s exactly what dealers tell us every day. As proven in our research, simply asking a customer to visit your store may put you ahead of the competition. So, do it… every time.

Hopefully, this article study gives you the opportunity to see what other dealers are doing to ensure their Internet leads don’t stay ‘leads’ too long, but rather turn into dealership visitors.

Do these statistics surprise you?

What steps are you taking to ensure lead-handling best practices in your dealership?

Gerald · Aug 31, 2012

@CliffordVanMeter expressauto While I can understand your sentiment Clifford, I would caution you about dismissing Yelp in particular. What George is pointing out there are many venues in which to garner a following and to guard against putting all your eggs in one basket. Your lack of attention to either of those sites does not mitigate the potential for a negative or a positive review from customers. As more and more people investigate the potential dealers with which to do business they will increasingly rely on trusted websites. Thus, they may wonder why one dealer has zero presence on a review site and not bother to take the next step to contact.

Mar 19, 2012

@CliffordVanMeter Thanks for commenting Clifford. I took a look at your page 1 SERP for "Express Auto Kalamazoo", pretty interesting stuff. I found links from Yahoo, Yelp, DealerRater, and more, so again I think when you see those types of results you shoud strongly consider balancing your review spreads. I also noticed you have many reviews with first and last name. You should be careful on this, and ensure privacy policies are posted on your website. Any review site where a consumer can leave feedback, you should stay away from using full names, they add little value and expose unnecessary risk for the business. I also noticed your own review site, expressautoreviews.com. I feel that posting your own reviews is a good idea, especially for page 1 dominance, but to the consumer it is at best a testimonial page. I think shoppers will find 3rd party sites more credible plus those sites have more traffic than any review site would ever have. Every business should ask themselves cost v. benefit. I'd recommend inspiring customers to leave reviews where traffic comes from for a business's main site, that's where you should focus. The purpose of a review is to invigorate your community - engage with them honestly and openly and explain why their feedback is so important. Many businesses we work with find big value in simply self-collecting feedback in a non-public forum (off the public review sites, in a private survey environment). That kind of honest, unfiltered commentary ensures businesses stay up to speed on the operation from the eyes of the customer. Also, with the self-surveys, you can ask what sites influenced their buying decision to get your own information on where you should be asking customers to leave reviews. Thanks again.

Mar 15, 2012

Not sure I fully agree with #5. 60-70% of our traffic comes from Google, the rest from Yahoo and Bing. Dealerrater is a non-entity as far as traffic to expressauto is concerned, so is Yelp. Also, Google has now clarified their position on in-store reviews, letting us know it is okay to have customers write reviews on the spot. Deaderrater and Yelp both frown on this practice, making it far more difficult to amass any significant amount of reviews. If I see negative reviews start to accumulate there, I'll jump in. Until then, I will monitor them, but I need to conserve my resources for those things that have a real pay off.

Also, what about the strategy of maintaining your own separate review site? We do this and have been very successful at accumulating reviews there.

Clifford VanMeter
Marketing Manager
Express Auto

Express Auto - Buy Here Pay Here Used Car Dealership

Discover Express Auto, your trusted buy here pay here used car dealership in Michigan. Specialized in low down payment auto financing.

expressauto.com

Mar 13, 2012

On a recent flight, sitting next to a longtime automotive colleague, I was asked about Reputation Management strategies. Thanks to in-flight Wi-Fi, we jumped on the net and I began to share my opinions.

This is always an enjoyable topic to discuss, since the reaction from the audience is usually that of shock, then enthusiasm, and then action! My opinion is that, of all of the opportunities in the dealers’ digital marketing arena, Reputation Management is clearly a situation where “the dealership is on fire”. For many dealers who are ignoring their online reviews, they literally have everything to lose, but also everything to gain.

In 2011, we saw Reputation Management take on an entirely new level of importance for car dealers; with consumers posting more reviews, and Google emphasizing these reviews on the Places pages and on SERPs. What changes will we see in 2012?

I’m taking a stab at offering five (5) of my top recommendations for Reputation Management strategies.

1. Get committed to Reputation Management.

Any recommendations begin and end with the dealership (at the highest level) committing to managing their online reputation. Dealers who have operated in small, local communities may be the most inclined to understand the importance of this.

What was the impact of a detractor 50 years ago? A customer who had a bad experience with a dealership in a small community would share their story at church, at bingo, at the corner grocery, etc. If a dealer was to survive in any small community, they needed to limit (or eliminate) detractors, and encourage more promoters. Today, the Internet makes large markets behave like small communities, since opinions are both easily shared and easily found. Online Reviews are part of the DNA of every dealership in 2012.

While the importance of online reputation reinforces the importance of taking great care of customers, there is also much we can learn from the feedback received. Areas for process improvement, problem employees, and new product/service opportunities can all be learned from reading and digesting the content of online reviews. This feedback should be considered in making both tactical and strategic decisions at the dealership.

2. Monitor your reputation regularly.

If you are doing this manually, setup Google Alerts, Twitter searches, and regularly check the online review sites (Google, Yelp, etc.) There are also some good monitoring systems out there that can automate this for you.

If you use these systems, regularly monitor your dashboards and spring into action quickly, because each day negative reviews from detractors live online, your valuable brand and good name deteriorates. I’ve heard a fair number of dealers complaining about potential “review fraud” occurrences, where disgruntled employees, competitors, or others post negative reviews for the dealer.

Some industries have moved more toward sales-driven-reviews, where only recent customers have the ability to post a review. This is definitely the year for review verification. We’ll see how this finds its way into Google’s world.

3. Respond very quickly to negative reviews.

Sitting next to my colleague on this flight, we easily found large dealers in his hometown with negative reviews online since last summer.

To the online shopper, no response from the dealer means, “the review is the truth”. If the dealer responds quickly, then the consumer will consider both sides to the story. If you find a negative review don’t immediately jump in and type your response. Take a few minutes to cool down, digest everything, and think about how to professionally respond.

Taking a defensive or aggressive approach with your response will only escalate the problem, adding fuel to the fire. Instead, show your concern, apologize for the problem and let them know you want to handle it right away. Ask anyone posting negative reviews of your business to contact you directly and thank them for their feedback.

Be very brief, take it quickly offline, and whatever you do, don’t get into an online debate for everyone to see (forever).

4. Promote positive reviews.

This is also referred to as Review Suppression Plans. This method will be far more effective than trying to control or simply responding to negative reviews, and while the initiative can be a tough one, it is the only way to truly separate yourself from your competitors.

Even if you do an incredible job taking care of customers, don’t expect positive reviews to happen without your involvement. You must create a strong internal process to gain these reviews from your customers. When most people have a positive experience, they simply smile and drive down the road. If you’re lucky, they’ll tell a few people. In rare instances, these customers may actually go online without prompting and write you a positive review, but don’t count on it.

Since you can’t get rid of negative reviews (you can only respond to them, and improve processes at your store), you must get committed to bombarding the few negative reviews with an onslaught of positive reviews.

How can you do this?

There are many techniques, including postcards in the store, iPads in the F&I office, email campaigns, and personal outreach. I personally think that an online approach; either during the purchase process or afterwards with an easy click-thru survey will yield the best results. But remember, in general, people will not give you positive reviews without you prompting them to do so.

5. Balance your Reputation Management work across multiple review sites and mobile.

It sure would be nice and easy if all online reviews were housed in a single location, but that is not the case. Google, Yelp, DealerRater and many more exist, and you need to balance your approach. Start with measuring which of these sites is driving the most traffic to your website. A simple “Top Referrers” report in your website analytics tool should do the trick.

How much traffic comes from your Google Places page? From Yelp? From DealerRater? Your initial Reputation Management strategy should focus on where the most eyeballs are, prior to visiting your site. If you find that several review sites are delivering decent traffic to your site, then balance the strategies across the various sites.

Which sites are driving your mobile reviews? I’m a big user of both Foursquare and Yelp, and have both posted and read many business reviews on the mobile versions of these tools. What I’ve noticed is that these mobile reviews are much shorter and to the point. I also find myself more willing to read through them since they are small and easy to digest. Dealers need to pay attention to these short reviews, which often appear in the form of “tips”.

It seems like the world is a bigger place than it has ever been, while in reality, the Internet has made it a much smaller one. Dealers need to manage their reputations just like they did before the digital age, or perhaps even do a better job. Never before has it been so easy for consumers to quickly find out what other people think of your store. If you have “2 stars”, and plenty of negative reviews, trust me…your store is on fire, and any goodwill you think you have will be ashes in the future.

Consumers have choices, and they will choose products and people who are more highly rated than their competitors. You have a choice too.

Take action today, and don’t be left behind with your online reputation.

Eric Miltsch · Mar 15, 2012

@JoePistell Thank you Joe! I'll definitely keep you posted, always love to hear your thoughts & views on things.

Plus, the upstate NY region is yours to take over now!

Mar 15, 2012

WTG Eric! Glad to see you being upwardly mobile

Can't wait to see where you want to go! I'll be watching for the fun to begin!

Eric Miltsch · Mar 15, 2012

@kevinfrye Hi Kevin - mighty kind of you. Thanks man.

Mar 15, 2012

Congrats Eric, you are one of the true all-stars in this industry!

Eric Miltsch · Mar 14, 2012

@JQ Thank you!

Eric Miltsch · Mar 14, 2012

@johnmeplz - thanks John, cool to meet you at NADA, love what you guys are doing!

JohnH · Mar 14, 2012

Congrats @emiltsch , can't wait to see you in action! I will definitely contact you this week!

Latest activity

Latest activity

Filter