Automotive Internet Sales, Marketing and Training Tools :: DealerRefresh

Don't fall for this junk!

I came across this report and didn't know what to think.  It wasn't sent to me by BZ, so I've covered over the URL's used for this report.  You can click on the image to see a larger version.

This report was sent by BZ to solicit business from a non-BZ customer.  That dealership is denoted as "DEALER A" and one of their competitors is "DEALER B".  The funny part is the third competitor's URL is very similar to a national furniture store, so the person who created the report used the furniture store's URL.

The second mistake is the use of Compete.com.  Don't get me wrong, Compete.com is an awesome resource - I use it all the time, but I would never use it like this.  I understand web-hosting competition is fierce, but this just seems like a way to sucker someone who isn't that educated on the Internet.  It is under-handed in my opinion, but I've been wrong in the past.

What do you all think?  Under-handed?  Fine piece of salesmanship?  Preying on the uneducated?  At least you laughed when I told you they're comparing two car dealerships to a national furniture store!

Posted by someone who has a tendency to point-out when vendors screw-up.

4 Letters That Will Sell You More Cars This Month

How many times have you heard or even said to yourself...

"I've sent this customer 5 emails and I have yet to hear anything back"
or
"These Internet customers never call me back",
maybe even
"I send them a price and I never hear back"..

No doubt about it, sending emails to someone who never responds is frustrating. But who is really to blame..you or the customer?

You're already aware there's no Silver Bullet, no sure fire way of making every potential customer respond to your emails. However, many times your emails or email templates are an over looked vital element of your success in transitioning the customer from behind the computer to the phone and ultimately your showroom floor. There are proven methods that will increase your response rate and help transition your customer to the phone quicker.

When writing to your potential customer remember to include these 4 key elements in your email and email templates.

1. Grab your customer's ATTENTION fast!

There are 2 main elements for grabbing your customers attention: the subject line and the opening paragraph of your email. You want your subject line to create trust while also creating interest and enticing the customer to open your email. Yes, I know we have all heard too much about the importance of your subject line..but what about after that? The opening paragraph of your email sets the tone and needs to keep your customers attention. If your message in the opening paragraph is weak you will quickly lose the reader.

2. Create the INTEREST.

You have now grabbed your customers attention so it's time to deliver the information and create interest. How do you create interest? With options! Provide your customers with inventory options. If your customer is interested in a new Volkswagen Passat, provide them with information on one that closely matches their request. Provide a base model, the cheapest one you have on the lot, along with a more expensive one with more equipment. Also, what about a used Certified Volkswagen Passat? Over 60% of your new car buyers will consider a certified or well maintained pre-owned vehicle. Think about that!

3.  Hint on the URGENCY

Urgency can be used to grab your customer's attention in the beginning of your email as well as towards the end. I'm not necessarily a fan of statements like "Prices Only Good until this date" though this strategy can sometimes work. I prefer using phrases that hint at the urgency. For example: "Mr. Smith, we have some great specials this month" or "the incentives this month are some of the best we have seen". Let your customer know that this is the month for a great deal. Also, when selling new cars and using availability to hint at urgency, you could refer to the model of interest as a "best seller" or "limited availability". The point is to plant the seed of urgency rather than being blatant.

4. Keep the momentum going with the next step to ACTION!

I've read so many emails that end in.."I look forward to hearing from you" or "Call me at your convenience". Why would you wait for the customer to contact you? If you get anything out of reading this, this is it! The "A" the "ACTION" at the end of your email is the most important of the four letters. End your emails by asking your customer to take the next step of action! That may be picking up the phone to accept your call or clicking on the link to your online credit application. I prefer transitioning the customer to the phone. A question as simple as "Kristy, would it be OK to call you in the next 10 minutes?" can yield you some great results.

Your emails need to grab your customers ATTENTION. Once you have their attention, quickly turn that attention into INTEREST. While you have their interest, establish a sense of URGENCY and keep the momentum going with your next step to ACTION.

The next time you think you are ready to click the Send button, give your email a once over to be sure you have included the 4 letters that will sell you more cars this month; A I U A.

A BIG CONGRATS to Alex Snyder and CheckeredFlag.com!

I know Alex is going to kill me for this but I didn't want it slipping by. If you're not already aware, AutoDealerMonthly awarded Checkered Flag with top honors for Dealer Web Sites! Checkeredflag.com swept the #1 spot with not even a close second or third (third was a Cobalt site?? No disrespect to Joe Carlson of course).

I know we sometimes make light of the all the dealer magazine awards here on DealerRefresh, but this is one award that I think is well deserved.

Alex was thinking out of the box with his hybrid Dealer Website/Blog design and in my opinion hit a homerun. It takes courage, knowledge and great support to move the needle like this. I'm sure Alex would like to thank Dealer.com for providing him a flexible platform and customer service that allowed him to move forward with his vision.

Therefore DealerRefresh is recognizing Alex Snyder as "KING OF DEALER WEBSITES".

Congratulations Alex!

Would You Rather....

Let’s all gather ‘round for a nice Internet Sales version of the game, “Would You Rather”.

It’s easy to do… just pick one situation (or all of them), and tell us which outcome you’d go for, and why. And remember folks, this is all hypothetical, so don’t go getting your britches in a bunch about having to choose one or the other. I don’t want to see any “well I’d do something entirely different” or “I have a solution for both”… just put on your crisis management hats and pick a side, okay?

Trust me, it’s good for the brain.

Would you rather...

A. Get three third party email leads
Or
B. Get one phone lead

A. Spend $2,000 on PPC
Or
B. Spend $2,000 on high-level SEO

A. Get an email from a customer saying “your price is too high”
Or
B. Get an email saying “you don’t have what I want”

A. Have a Service Appointment form on your site that never gets responded to
Or
B. Have no form at all

A. Have a competitor directly under you in the SERPs
Or
B. Have a negative consumer review directly under you

A. Have a payplan that pays out for previous Internet customers
Or
B. Have one that pays out for Internet-based Service revenue

A. Remove all the phone numbers from your site and rely only on the email forms
Or
B. Remove all the email forms from your site and rely only on the phone numbers

A. Lose your domain name
Or
B. Have your mail server blacklisted

Remember...it's either one or the other. None of this.. "I’d do something entirely different". You have to choose form the given situations. Give each "Would You Rather" some deep thought and share your feedback. Have FUN!!

Guest posting by Mitchell Turck
Internet Consultant with WebNet Services

The Digital Dealer Conference - a week later

*Actual photos taken at the Digital Dealer Conference.

Was the Digital Dealer Conference a Smashing Success??

“We sold out everything,” said Michael Roscoe, Chairman of the event. “We sold out all our booth spaces, all our food and beverage sponsorships, all our title sponsorships, our room block…if it was for sale, it got sold,” Roscoe continued. “We beat the 300 dealership registrants from last fall by more than 83%. This conference was a smashing success!” - Mike Roscoe

This is a 2 part post. First mine then Alex.

Well it's been a week since the Digital Dealer conference. Wait..is it the Digital Dealer Conference or is it the AAISP Conference? I'm always confused about that!!

Anyways, I had intended to write the post tracking it day by day but that never happened. :) So I thought I would give a brief run down from my side of the conference, the good, bad and maybe some ugly.

I didn't fly in until mid-day Monday so I missed out one the 101 sessions. Props to Jesse over at HomeNet for having me picked up in the stretch Hummer at the airport!

The Likes:

• The Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center was very nice! Great place for a conference like this.
• Meeting and placing faces with all the dealerrefresh readers and contributors that attended. (Alex has listed everyone below, sorry if we missed anyone!)
• Mr. Shaun Raines had a most excellent session "Why Most Dealers Can’t Solve the Internet Puzzle" was an excellent session. I always enjoy your message Shaun.
• The exhibit hall was decent, none of the vendors go way out like they do with NADA obviously but there are some players in there.
• TKCarsites was the center of attention in the middle of the exhibit hall for more then one reason. Wheeew.
• Apparently I won some Internet Sales Manager award.?

The Dislikes:

• Tuesday mornings general session ""Putting all the Pieces Together" was a waste of time. I'm sorry but that was not good at all.
• I almost fell asleep during the Marketing Mixology session. What was that?
• Technology-Assisted Relationship Sales with Jim Ziegler was really out there. Even for me! That was just enough information for a green pea to become really dangerous, and not in a good way.
• Dinner at Norman's at the Ritz Carlton. The company was excellent but the food wasn't.
• Missed some of the sessions because we couldn't figure out the class layout
• I won an award but had do idea, so I wasn't there to accept it. So TJ over at Homenet accepted it on my behalf. THANKS TJ!! LOL

The Neutrals:

• The Panel Discussion: "Technology:  What is Moving the Sales Needle from Some of the Best and Brightest" I thought was average at best. David Metter was the 1 person on the panel that I was impressed with. Someone kept talking about how they work to make their sites "sticky".
• I sat in on a session by Pat Ryan Jr. "Winning in Today’s Internet-Driven Pre-Owned Market". He focused on 360 degree used vehicle pricing and the 4 different type of buyers. The end of the session became a sales pitch for one of the many used car price to market software companies that seem to popping up all over the place. It was a decent session.

I really wanted to attend more of the sessions. Sorry I missed the " Selling Vehicles, Service, Parts and Accessories Online – Like Books and Music" session Wednesday morning, maybe Alex can talk more about that one since he caught it.

This was my 1st time attending a Digital Dealer conference and overall the conference wasn't bad, good actually. A lot of information for the green pea. There were some sessions (apparently on Wednesday) that I missed out on that I heard were really good.

If you're on the fence on whether or not to attend, I'd have to recommend it. If the conference keeps going with the same amount of steam it will definitely continue to grow.

I will say though..PLEASE, lets get some people outside of the industry to speak. I get a little worn out hearing the same people in our industry over and over.

A few side notes:

Buzzwords - "Sticky" and "Meta"
OEM's were in attendance albeit incognito
Hangovers were still pretty bad
The camaraderie was awesome
Some returning link love to Chad over at AutoRevo.

-Jeff

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As Jeff stated, it has been a week since the DD Conference....and we're just weak for not posting this recap till now.  Sorry guys!

Mike Roscoe and the gang deserve high marks on picking the venue this year - the Gaylord resort had just about everything the Conference could need.  The only issue we had was on finding some of the classes.  It doesn't seem this was the fault of the Digital Dealer crew, but more the resort's infusion of what seemed like three different conferences sharing space on the second floor.   A big THANK YOU for having Dasani water readily available all the time!

After check-in, I got lost trying to find my room. I think the hotel staff intentionally give bad directions as a joke.  However, I eventually found my room and all the accommodations (especially the alcohol-serving ones) the Gaylord had to offer (yes, that sounds bad).  Many meals were had in the Italian/Med restaurant; where I grabbed dinner with my boss Monday night, and ran into Brian Hoecht (AI-Dealer), Shaun Raines, Jamie Adams (Reach Local), and Ken Lees & Jeff Clark (Skoots) who had pioneered the phrase DGI.  DGI is what it is all about in 2008!  The dealer with the biggest DGI has no problem getting a date to the prom...or selling more cars - however you wish to think of it.

I also didn't get started on the classes till Tuesday. It was definitely school for green peas:  Internet 101.  There were some good sessions though: Jeff mentioned Shaun Raines' class, and I found Brian Hoecht's panel to offer some good points as well. David Metter definitely owned the panel he sat on, and Jim Ziegler helped me bust a gut a few times. Some of Jim's proposals on how to use social marketing frightened me though.  I also enjoyed a session from someone at Cobalt, but I cannot remember his name. This was the Wednesday morning session Jeff missed. It was an excellent presentation on how to incorporate most areas of this "new marketing" mix we're in by putting it all in plain terms.

I want to say it was nice seeing some old faces: Gilbert Chavez, Ken Lees, Jeff Clark, Tom Bernardcyk (sorry if I butchered that), DJ Ports, Mike Dee @ Dealer.com, of course - Jon Bon Kershner, and many more.  Even better, I had the pleasure of meeting these folks:  Dean Evans (you would have thought I'd have met Dean before now being a Dealer.com customer for so long - Vermont is slacking :) ), Patrick Workman, Mark Rikess, Jennifer Picheco, Shaun Raines, the rest of the MileOne crew, Alex Bravvy, the HomeNet gang, Kevin Frye, Ralph Paglia, Andrew Difeo, Jaime Adams, Brian Hoecht, and many more...if I listed everyone, we'd be reading for a much loooonger time.

The best part of the conference was actually having my boss, Pete Lively, there. It was great to see him grow a better appreciation of things - not to say he didn't appreciate this side of the business before.  Having him there made the conference invaluable for me!

I'm looking forward to 2009's Digital Dealer/AAISP conference....or whatever it is called?

-Alex

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

So what did you think of the Digital Dealer Conference?
What was your fav?
What was your least fav?
Will you attend again and would you recommend it to others?

The 5th Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition, will be held at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center in Grapevine, Texas, six minutes from the DFW airport, October 5th-8th.

Facebook in Real Life

This is funny!

To Micro-site or not to Micro-site?

Micro-sites have been a hot fad amongst many dealers and vendors, and after attending the Digital Dealer Conference I can tell you they're going to get even hotter.  But are they worth doing?

Before I get started, I should clarify this is Alex writing - not Jeff - so if you have any issues with my opinions see me.

I'm not convinced Micro-sites are the way to go.  Maybe I haven't spent enough time talking to Ralph Paglia (whom I respect very much), maybe I just don't want to throw another set of responsibilities on my already loaded plate, or maybe I think there is another way to do them without the extra hassles, customer confusion, and expense.

Micro-sites make sense!  No doubt about it, they are a fantastic way to funnel precise information to a customer.  They are awesome for campaign tracking, and they absolutely rock for SEO!  However, I think they add confusion for a customer and more things to watch to your Internet department's to-do list.....as if we don't have enough websites to keep an eye on already.

I know I'm speaking to the more advanced eCommerce crowd here, so I'm going to assume you guys are putting a lot of time and effort into your main dealer website.  You've got your value-added programs on your site, all your new & used inventory there, the right phone numbers, all kinds of forms, and maybe some other things that set you apart.  Why build more sites that only convey one message when you can build a single page, under your own domain, that can do the exact same thing?  Let's call it a "landing page" and direct our campaigning efforts to that page.  If you know how to use your site metrics, you can watch to see how effective the campaign is.  On top of that, the people who come to your main site can also see your "landing page" ....win-win!   Yes, you're going to lose out on phone call tracking (if you're assigning a special 1-800 number to the campaign), but you're not confusing your customers with 500 different phone numbers (this is another beef I have).  Speaking of customer confusion, what happens when all your micro-sites are indexed - how do they know which site is the one they should be clicking on when they're coming through the organic side?  Is precise tracking worth more than customer frustration?

The part of micro-sites I absolutely love is the SEO benefits of having multiple, relevant, sites pointing back at you.  I can't come up with a decent argument on this part, but I can tell you I'd rather spend my money on press releases instead of micro-sites.  They're relatively inexpensive and don't have to be managed.  If your customers find the release, then it just makes you look better (if written well), and it can be somewhat timeless (again, if written well).

Now you know my take on dealer micro-sites, and I'm interested to hear what you think - GET TO COMMENTING!!!

Post written by Alex Snyder | Director of eCommerce for the Checkered Flag Automotive Group

eBay sells 3 mmmmillion vehicles

Hello Jeff,

eBay Motors has announced its three millionth vehicle has sold on the site since its launch as a formal category in 2000. This milestone demonstrates the strength of the eBay Motors platform and the ever-increasing interest in buying and selling vehicles online.

A full press release is below for your review.

If interested to learn more, I would be able to connect you with Rob Chesney, vice president of eBay Motors.

Let me know if I can be of assistance.

Thank you for your time.

Best,

Allen Arnold
Airfoil Public Relations
P: (248) 304-1423

**Sorry for the quick post, I'm in FL for the Digital Dealer Conference but wanted to get this out encase anyone was interested on knowing about it.  If you have some comments or feedback...post it and I will do my best to get Rob Chesney on answer any questions.

Blueprint Series: Third-Party Lead Providers

What do you want from your 3rd Party Lead Vendors?

A.  ROI
B.  Conversion
C.  Marketing
D.  All of the above

Here is another Blueprint Series to discuss those exact things.  Tell your third party lead provider exactly what you want!  Tell your third party lead provider what they're doing wrong.  Yes, this includes anyone who sends you a lead, except your own website or direct ventures.

This one is for, but not limited to:  AAA, AOL, Adtel, AutoExtra, AutoMart, AutoUSA, AutoTrader.com, CarFax, Cars.com, CarsDirect, Dealix, Edmunds, KBB, NewLeadsPlus, OEM's, Vehix, Yahoo, USAA, ZAG, etc.

Posted & Moderated by Alex Snyder | Director of eCommerce at the Checkered Flag Auto Group

DEALERIMPACT - Dealer Website Vendor Reviews & Profile

DEALERIMPACT - User reviews

Company Name: DEALERIMPACT : DBA Web Impressions, LLC
URL: www.dealerimpact.com
Phone: 1-866-303-8182
Online Since: December 9th, 1999
Location: Urbandale, IA 50322

Homepage Title Tag: "With Dealer Impact's compelling automotive website design, you experience the benefits of enhanced auto dealer marketing. Enter to elevate your dealership"

Current Website Rankings:
PageRank: 5/10 (as of 6/08)

Are you using (or have you used) DEALERIMPACT for your dealership website service? If so, please submit your review and feedback about their services. Keep your feedback and reviews professional!

1. How would you rate their customer service?
2. Number and quality of leads generated from your DEALERIMPACT.com website?
3. How well does your DEALERIMPACT website rank in the natural listings of the search engines?
4. Overall layout and design of your DEALERIMPACT website?
5. Ease of operating the admin utilities (adding specials, additional pages and such)?

READ USER REVIEWS BELOW and SUBMIT YOUR REVIEW

Example screen shots of DEALERIMPACT dealership websites:

The problem with conversion ratios for Dealership Websites

Jeff asked that I revisit my “Conversion Ratio Myth” argument here on DR, and this time I’ve got pretty graphs to back myself up. I know, you’re hooked already.

The reason I’m always on my high horse about conversion ratios is simply because it’s an unreliable metric for our industry, and I’ve always felt that it’s our job as front-runners of the Internet revolution to prevent dealers from falling back into the old thinking of “Internet = email inquiry”. It ain’t that simple, and it’s detrimental for your store to think that way.

The problem with conversion ratios in our industry is that conversion measurements are best-suited for e-commerce sites, and we’re not e-commerce in any way, shape or form (yet). There are so many things that can happen on a dealer’s web site that could be viewed as a successful visit, yet most of these would never be flagged as a conversion…it’s wrong for us to assume that our site fails if it doesn’t turn a visitor into an email lead.

Now, you could use conversion ratios to measure changes you’ve made to your site functionality, although there’s still plenty of opportunity there for misinterpretation. But most dealers focus harder on marketing their sites to bring in traffic than they do on maximizing user experience once the traffic gets there… and that’s where the conversion ratio ceases to make any sense as a gauge of success, because as a regional business, the more ground your advertising covers, the less effective it gets.

See, all this fancy new marketing you’re doing – SEO/SEM, blogging, social media marketing, etc. – negatively affects your conversion ratio. The visitor most likely to convert to a lead is the one who sought out your dealership specifically: either someone who typed your store’s URL directly, or ran a search query for “Joe Smith Toyota”. But neither of those things require significant marketing savvy on your part … those are your core customers who want to buy from you and just happen to be using the Internet. Anything you do beyond that is hypothetically hurting your conversion ratio, especially in the case of blogs and social media, where you may be hooking users into your site from hundreds of miles away.

So all this leading-edge Internet marketing is decreasing your conversion ratio… should you give it all up and stick to your cake customers for the sake of a 9% conversion? Well, last time I checked, no one in this business got paid on conversion ratios. The more robust your marketing strategy, the broader your presence, the more traffic you’ll pick up, the more units you’ll roll. That’s what it’s all about.

Guest posting by Mitchell Turck
Internet Consultant with WebNet Services