There's been near-constant chatter about the coming "revolution" in new car sales since at least 1997 and although there has certainly been an evolution, there has been no non-recession disruption to the livelihoods of Dealers or dealer groups over that time.

Well, I strongly believe there is a major disruption on the horizon, and that this disruption will have little to do with the TrueCars, the Amazons and the Carvanas of the world and everything to do with autonomous vehicles.

I wrote two posts about this last year (http://askthemanager.com/2015/09/i-will-never-own-a-self-driving-car-and-neither-will-you/ and http://askthemanager.com/2015/09/self-driving-cars-the-winners-and-the-losers/).

And then followed those up with a post yesterday: http://askthemanager.com/2016/08/ho...for-the-coming-autonomous-vehicle-disruption/

In response to yesterday's post, a fellow car guy texted me this: ""People buy cars for pride!!!"

So, I asked him if he's ever seen the parking lot at a Walmart where 95% of the vehicles were clearly bought for transportation and not pride.

He responded "Oh... yeah."

Many of us in the car business (especially if we also enjoy the art of driving) think that people will ALWAYS own cars. The truth is, they will not. Once it's cheaper and safer and more convenient to take an Automatic-Uber to work or the airport or wherever, most people will stop buying cars. How Dealers, industry vendors and especially the Dealer Groups prepare for this will be interesting to watch.

We feel that there is a lot of misinformation in regard to the traffic that comes from Dealer Name and Dealer Brand paid search campaigns. In an effort to get a better insight into this traffic, We developed and piloted a new landing page experience for consumers that is providing valuable insights into search behavior once they are on the dealer site.

Before I share some of these results, I'm interested to know what most of you perceive the breakdown in traffic to be. Please take the poll below and we will follow up next week with our data.

I need as many responses as possible for this. I know of a BDC where the Reps work leads, make calls, and hand off customers to the sales floor when they come in. Each Rep has about 20-25 more e-lead opportunities per month compared to the "Best Practices" that are recommended by just about every industry source and OEM, plus and outside consultant companies.

In that situation, what would your expected daily call volumes be? For context, the e-lead follow-up schedule usually ends up resulting in 55-60 scheduled calls, which does take in to account sold customers as well as lost deals.

So again, what would your daily call volume expectations be? All I need is a number plus a one or two sentence reason as to why that is your number.

Any help is appreciated.

Example: Interested shopper looking at a vehicle online, wants a $450 payment, but sees $550 on your website, is appalled.. leaves, never comes back.

This is a big concern for some dealers. The argument being why display payments and risk losing a sale when you don't have to?

If the vehicle is competitively priced online, the customer will be happy enough to contact or walk-in.

If the payment, rate, or lease options are not what they want, you will be at risk of them not pursuing a purchase, never contacting.

What do you think?




I have this posted on linkedin if you'd like to view discussion there too:

How did a SEO company built after allocations of fraud become the center of automotive industry awards?

Cars.com VS AutoTrader.com VS CarGurus.com

If you had to choose only ONE. Which would it be, and why?

I've been following this for quite a while now, I'm really wondering what's they play behind this... How it's going to take form.

Amazon is not aiming to be an information center only, as we all know.

https://www.amazon.com/Vehicles/b?ie=UTF8&node=10677469011

We work with all dealership types and whether you are a franchise or an independent you will find something in these 10 tips to help you showcase your inventory in the best possible way. Let's face it, everyone is shopping online and doing research before they ever head to the dealership. Poor images of inventory is one of the main reasons shoppers bounce from a website. Inventory images are the key to enticing your potential customers.These 10 photo tips can help guide you to ensure you are showcasing your inventory in the best light, so your images are consistent across your website, which ultimately leads to more sales through Facebook and Instagram advertising.


1) Invest in a good camera instead of using your iPhone. It is better if you use a nice, digital camera instead of a cell phone or something cheap. Spend the $500+ on a good Canon or Nikon camera to take your inventory photos because the better the camera, the more eye-catching your inventory will be. When using a digital camera, hold it for an extra second after the shutter is pressed. This will help your chances of getting a great photo instead of one that might not be centered or come out granulated. Don’t stand too far away from the vehicle or too close. There can also be many settings on your camera, so make sure it is set the way you want it so that your image doesn't appear to be low quality.

2) Make someone responsible for taking the inventory pictures at your dealership. Ideally someone who has a passion for photography! This can be a fun side job and an opportunity to make some extra money. Not having too many different people at the dealership taking the photos will also help keep the consistency of the photos.

3) Photograph new inventory as soon as possible. The sooner you get new inventory online the better! Having placeholder and/or stock photos find their way into ads negatively affects campaign performance.

4) Find a nice, clean spot with a neutral background for photographing. This includes areas that are free of clutter, trash, other vehicles, tools, distractions, etc. The only thing that should be noticeable in the photo is the vehicle itself. It's also better to use the same spot for all of your vehicle photos, as it gives it a more professional and clean look. If you can avoid it, try not to take seasonal photos (i.e. no visible snow). You want to be able to use your photos in summer or winter without people thinking the vehicles are older, if they take a while to sell.

5) Don’t alter your inventory photos with Photoshop! Show your inventory as is with no false advertising. A car wash is recommended though to make your inventory look shiny and new.

6) Be consistent and take all the photos from the same angle. For instance, start on the front-quarter panel like you are walking up to the car for every photo. Keep it uniform and go around the car highlighting features, benefits, exterior, and interior. Take them from far back enough so that the car doesn't go to the edge of the picture and the ends of the vehicle don't get cropped out when photos resize into Facebook ads, Instagram ads, or Marketplace.

7) Squat down a little bit (unless you're on the shorter side already!) and don’t stand up to take photos. You don't want the camera angle to be tilted downwards too far. Get eye-level with the headlights of the vehicle and use this positioning all the way around. Use it as your squat workout for the day!

8) Be aware of lighting! When you are taking photos outside, a bright, but still slightly overcast day is the best. If it is a sunny day, this can cause a glare and cast distorting shadows on your inventory. Sometimes it is best to take photos outside as it can give them more detail, especially if nature is in the background. If you live in a place that is sunny year round, consider finding an awning that covers the vehicle completely and evenly and snap your photos under that.

9) Photograph new vehicles as well as used! No stock photos! Always show shoppers the real thing and use your inventory images through social media ads as an extension of your showroom.

10) If you do have the budget to hire a 3rd party photographer, make sure you vet them and get exactly what you're paying for. Just because you spend lots of money on a fancy turntable display doesn't mean your pictures will come out any better than if you took them yourself!


There needs to be a step-by-step process in place for all photos taken so that your images are consistent. Good photos is just like you making a good first impression with a customer in-store! People form opinions of the legitimacy of your operation before they've ever walked in the door. LINK REMOVED would love to help you be as successful as possible with your social media ads and hopefully these tips will help you on your way!

MODERATOR NOTE: please read the DealerRefresh rules. Links removed. Sponsorships are available to companies who wish to promote themselves.

We get that question from time to time. As people divorce Facebook the request to put RefreshFriday on other outlets grows. On top of that, we'd love to have an archive of all shows in more places.

@Jeff Kershner and I have researched simulcasting services that allow us to stream in many places, but the ease and cost of Zoom has been a major hurdle to get past. It might be time to use Vimeo Premium and a lesser level of Zoom to accomplish this.

Before going through the efforts to make this happen I wanted to check with the community. What do y'all think?

Thoughts?

Does your store offer service customers a way to get to work and back to your store?

Do you shuttle? If so, how busy is this part of your business?

Provide free taxi or Uber? If so, how busy is this part of your business?

Do you give out loaners? If so, how busy is this part of your business?

Now that my corporate life is behind me I've had some time to chat with old dealer friends, do a little car shopping, and make a few new dealer friends. It was a lot more difficult to do all that while my name was attached to an organization that sells to dealers.

On one hand it sucks to see that 98% of what happens in 2018 is exactly the same stuff we were doing in 2001 with AVV's Webcontrol + a CRM like AutoBase/HigherGear/etc. On the other hand a lot of shady shit I used to be encouraged to do is mostly out of practice... probably due to the fact that those things are quite illegal today.

I mention "shady shit" because my desk managers, in 2001, had zero trust that a price sent via email, or given over the phone, was going to win us a customer. Paranoia leads people to do weird stuff. At least in 2018, the paranoia doesn't seem to be as bad. So, in 2001, I NEVER EVER gave a customer an out the door figure. Nor a trade allowance; not even a ballpark. Today, one must disclose every bit of a payment quote to be legally compliant, so I'm curious what you're being encouraged to do.

P.S. @Alexander Lau you are a vendor, so please don't jump into this thread unless you want to discuss your dealer days as a nostalgic old man

So I posted another thread about financing and what/how/who/when to use it. Basically I am starting off as a NOOB trying to learn this thing.

My question in this topic group is: When you guys are buying in lane at manheim/adesa/carmax whatever whatever, how are you determining what to buy? Are you basing off experience or basing off book values?

I specialize in BMW's and let me tell you, they dont book out for dog poop.

Now as I am just starting to financing and learn about it, I find it extremely difficult to finance most of the cars I have. So in buying new inventory, how should I be buying? Should I be using Vauto, stockwave or maybe just NADA??

Any insights would be wonderful.

I have really received a lot of insight and enlightenment using this forum and have made an observation as an independent IT consultant for both automotive and motorcycle dealerships:

I am very surprised at the number of customer contact dealership personnel that are super inept in front of a computer when I feel like it should be a priority to them (especially in sales). Probably 65% of my calls are not for people that are actually having computer issues but for people that simply don't know how to do job-related tasks. Business people in other types of offices have adapted to their technology environment while car salespeople almost refuse to conform. Even some GM's that have migrated up through the ranks are generally computer illiterate.

I feel sorry for dealership principals putting so much faith in these people who can't complete simple tasks like creating a .pdf, downloading a spreadsheet, adding an attachment, using an electronic calendar, creating a letter in Microsoft Office, operating Microsoft Outlook or refusing to learn how their CRM operates and even just adding a simple signature. The lifeblood of their pocketbook all depends on their ability to keep up with technology. God help them if they don't have that all important icon on their desktop to run a program they certainly have on their computer. What makes me chuckle inside is that if you visit these same dealerships on weekends or at night, these are the same persons that will be watching a sports game in the customer lounge or on their desktops.

I know this has nothing to do with age because I happen to know a guy in his late 70's that is an internet manager and that guy can run Google Analytics statistics, set-up users and permissions in their CRM program, help end users with minimal issues and set up email addresses for new employees.

I have personally seen a GM ask a service consultant to make sure he is checking his emails, the latest service bulletins and you would think he just asked him to yank out one of his molars! Why those guys wouldn't rely on emails to generate more service visits with personalization added is beyond my scope. I am in the service business myself, and if I didn't reply to my prospective clients' emails they would find another business that will. Surprisingly enough I find that service technicians have been forced to use and will continue to be the technology champions in a car dealership. In my scenario, all of them have email addresses and they all use them regularly to contact their manufacture, download bulletins and generally stay focused on new developments. Back in the parts departments, you shouldn't even waste creating an email for these guys at all. They are the "I refuse to change the way I do things" neanderthals and would be still looking up parts on microfiche if they could (clearly my opinion).

Feel free to add your two cents but that is my personal observation at doing this job now for them for 15 years --

Do you have a digital retailing solution in your website or process? Something like Roadster, Dealer Science, Cox's Accelerate (or whatever they call it), Dealer Inspire's Online Shopper, etc. I know I'm missing at least 8 others. We have an ongoing list right here.

Sales are down for 6th straight month - even JEEP. Japanese brands up a tic, US & Korea drop...
Why do you think and what can be done?

Detroit Free Press article snip...

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles announced its sales fell 7% in June while sales also fell 5.1% for Ford and 4.7% for General Motors amid a broader decline for an industry that is now entering its sixth consecutive month.

Sales of Ford SUVS such as the Explorer, Edge and Flex were strong in June but not enough to overcome a 23% drop in car sales. The story was similar for GM, where a number of new or recently launched SUVs, such as the Chevrolet Equinox and Buick Envision, could not counteract falling sales of cars such as the Chevrolet Cruze, Malibu and Impala.

At Fiat Chrysler, sales rose 6% for Ram and soared for the Alfa Romeo brand but fell 11% for Jeep -- a surprising decline for a brand that sells nothing but SUVs in a market where SUVs are the best-selling vehicles... READ MORE

I recently ran across a third party photo vendor who is taking the stance that they own the photos taken for the dealership. This absolutely shocked me. Many years ago (~2001) Trader Publishing/ Dealer Specialties took this stance and was beaten to a pulp over it. One of the most uncomfortable meetings I've ever been in involving one of the VPs of a big national organizations getting up and walking out of the meeting and saying "when dealers find out about this, you'll have no business left". Luckily, Trader eventually backed down from this stance and that was a long time ago in what seems like a different world which is what shocked me even more to find this company taking this stance.

Am I wrong to think this? Should photos taken by a third party vendor on behalf of the dealer belong to the photo service company or the dealer?

Did you know that when the marketing team manages a referral program, companies were 3x more likely to achieve revenue goals? Yet only 10% of companies have tasked marketing with managing the referral program!*

Are you giving your marketing team the leeway to be creative with your referral program?


*Heinz Marketing.

What more do I need to say? @Jeff Kershner you are a god among men.



Link: https://www.dealerrater.com/sales/Jeff-Kershner-review-325738/#reviews

We went through a few phases at Checkered Flag where each and every price was managed by a sales manager to the entire group keeping a centralized spreadsheet of all the price ranges for each model when we had a BDC. Checkered Flag is now one price, so this a non-issue now.

But how are you giving numbers to a customer when that customer is not in the store?

Perhaps this is an oversight by the dealer I'm working with, but we received the voicemail below during a recent mystery shop.

The voicemail was the first call received to a new lead submitted on the dealer's FCA-approved Dealer.com site. It came in one minute before the dealer's BDC called and this call provided a different phone number (a toll-free number, which I removed, since it dials back to the dealership) and the agent on this call mispronounces the dealership's name twice (which I removed, as well).

The dealer's BDC Manager and the GM said they had no idea these calls were being made on their behalf to their customers.

While I'm not against using an outsourced BDC to make calls, these must be pre-approved by the dealership, be part of a well-defined process, and should be completed by a native speaker of the language.

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How do you gather information on why your Offer was rejected?

Do you survey your potential customers or have a tool or data source available?

A peer was using a survey method ... what do you think?

Not necessarily a gripe but more of an observation. I’ve been vetting vendors lately and have found an alarming number of their “retail work” has been that of failure. Does this worry anyone else?

Bankrupting stores, being terminated due to inproprieties, prison time, criminal records... wow!

What "Sources" should an "Internet ROI Report" take in consideration?

I have decided that from now on I will put it up for vote before I ask vendors to make any changes on their side. Here is a simple poll... Help me see the light if I am wrong, or help me convince the vendors that its time for some changes...

Alight Refresh Community, I need your opinion. I've been working hard to take our Merchandising Videos to the next level, but not only is it a bit of work, I can't seem to find that sweet spot of efficiency and effectiveness.

Allow me to clarify what I mean by "Merchandising Video" - A professional walk-around video of a vehicle in your current inventory that is hosted and viewed by the shopper on your dealership website, 3rd party listing website and video sites like YouTube. *This is NOT a personal one to one / lead response vehicle video walk-around.

My goal is to move away from the stitched image video and produce a more professional walk-around video, in-house. For Pre-Owned vehicle only at the moment.

Here is what I'm currently using to accomplish this...

1. iPhone6
2. Z-PRIME wide angle lens attachment by ZTYLUS - read about it here
3. LanParte HHG-01 3-Axis Motorized Handheld Gimbal - read about and order it here
4. AutosOnVideo (AOV) Platform and mobile app - message me for more info

I have the recording per vehicle with light editing and upload at just under 6 minutes for a walk-around video play time of 2 and a half minutes (on average.)

Below is a video of a pre-owned 2011 MB G Wagon that I shot in-house using the listed items above. Take notice to, and feel free to share your feedback on the following...

1. Length of the video (time - though this one is longer than my average)
2. Angles and movement
3. Transitions
4. Music w/ NO voice over
5. Overall quality

Note: this video is a bit longer than most, over 3 minutes. IGNORE the exit portion of the video (last 5 seconds). I'm still working on the lighting and staging area but it's what I have to work with at the moment.

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Which of the 2 videos do you prefer?

Does the In-house true walk-around video NEED a voice over that points out the vehicle specifics?

Does a voiceover take away OR add to the quality of the the video?