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Why Would Anyone Post Helpful Hints to DealerRefresh?

ddavis

Boss
Jun 28, 2011
1,491
496
First Name
Doug
I was looking at some really old automotive Internet related data, a few days ago. Does this look familiar?

30% of leads are never answered
Response times average 5.4 hours
80% of customers get no product information
75% of customers are never given a price
70% of customers are not told if vehicle is available

This is old news but has it really improved? From my experience, NO!

I recently visited a dealership where my friend is the new GSM. I clicked into his CRM and then into his reports. I noticed that the average response time was over 5 1/2 hours and his closing ratio, as a percentage of leads, was under 4%. One of his ISMs had 58 leads with zero sales. I could sell more cars approaching strangers, at the mall.

The Internet is a marketing tool but most dealers give little consideration to marketing but focus on follow-up. If the statistics are close to accurate, it is no wonder why dealerships are cutting back on their Internet related budgets. The GM, at my friend's store, believes that he is already spending too much money on the Internet. Based on what I saw, he is probably right.

I'm convinced that it is safe to post away. If any of your competitors actually reads DealerRefresh, they probably are too lazy to implement it. There are some really sharp people, on here, but they are not typical of what I'm seeing out there.
 
I'm approaching 6 years on DealerRefresh and I have always found that less than 10% of people actually attempt to implement something and only 20% of those people pull it off. Virtually all of my competitors, past and present, are on DealerRefresh. If they implement something I share, then that forces me to re-implement it better....and I enjoy that competition ;)

However, I don't think it is a lack of sharing, I think it is a lack of having something to share.
 
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I don't understand your Thread Title. Why wouldn't we post helpful hints to the site? Aren't we here to help each other? The only reason I come here is to learn.

Why wouldn't you show off your best stuff? I guarantee this would be better than any resume. You never know when an opportunity will come along.
 
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However, I don't think it is a lack of sharing, I think it is a lack of having something to share.

Alex, consider that quote stolen. I will try not to use it on here.

If your Internet department sucks, blame the company that provides the website. :)

I don't understand your Thread Title. Why wouldn't we post helpful hints to the site? Aren't we here to help each other? The only reason I come here is to learn.

Why wouldn't you show off your best stuff? I guarantee this would be better than any resume. You never know when an opportunity will come along.

There are no books or college courses on how to run a successful automotive Internet department. Most have learned from trial and error and a great deal of thought and effort. Visiting a lot of stores, if they actually learned something on here, they are too lazy to implement it.
 
Visiting a lot of stores, if they actually learned something on here, they are too lazy to implement it.

Or middle management didn't let them implement it :P

Case and point: Jerry offered me free training. I was f***ing extatic and caught fire, I sold 10 cars during the next 6 days, mostly because I had my fire lit motivation wise.
Fast forward 2 weeks. My superiors are going back and forth about how and why we should give him call tracking login. The WORST PART is that they aren't against it; they just don't really care to do the work to track down a code and login. I was told to concentrate on "selling more cars" for now. Now I don't even feel like responding to leads. I have money, I want something more than a job. If my bosses don't take my job seriously, why should I?

Your best salesmen gets offered free training by the best phone trainer there is and somehow this isn't that important. Selling more cars makes alot more sense. Who cares about the future?

WTF is going on here?
The drive to Hagerstown and Virginia Beach is starting to look not so bad.

That's my world.
That's why dealerships look the way they do when you visit them.
 
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Or middle management didn't let them implement it :P

Amen! I'd be interested to learn, of the many, many, "lurkers" on here from DealerWorld, how many are actually in a position to effectively change what needs to be changed.

Years ago, for my experience, I could do whatever I want, as long as it didn't cost anything. The most meaningful change for me happened when the people above me got their asses kicked by the Owners... then magically my ideas had more merit :), and the rest is history.

Might be a good topic: how to effectively implement change from the bottom-up.
 
I'm not sure if you read my edit to my post but this is my #1 problem right now. I would pay money if someone wants to tell me how to get that done.

BZ,

Managers are busy. The bad managers are like fire fighters, they don't lead, they're too busy hopping from fire to fire, never getting ahead.

You, my friend, are analytical and you expect your elders to be like minded. IMO, you need a lil' junk yard dog in ya to get your message across

junkyard_dog.jpg
turn up the fire and ride your managers until they cave.

Don't forget to smile and remind them that all you want to sell more cars!!