Hello Jeff and DealerRefresh readers,

My name is Nathan Trimble, I am currently working with a Chevrolet – Cadillac dealer in Monmouth, IL.(a rural city of aprox. 10,000) where we are in process of establishing an Internet sales dept. along with a crm/bdc dept. also.  In my quest for help in accomplishing this I came across your website.  There are so many companies available to assist in a project of this sort that it’s overwhelming!

I have found that there are companies that exist just to help implement and train you on this process; i.e. Dealer Synergy & Mosley Auto Group. Then you have companies that provide websites, ilm and crm/bdc solutions.

Finally there are those few companies that seem to provide all of the above; i.e. BZ Results, Higher Gear, etc.

Would you please be as kind to help advise me in this situation? With so many companies to choose from which way should we go? Possibly hire a few like Mosely for set up and training, then iMagicLabs for
web, ilm & crm, or hire one to do it all? By no means am I asking anyone to endorse  specific companies, just hopefully point me in the correct direction!

I thank you in advance for your assistance in this matter and look forward to hearing from you soon!

My Best to You,

Nathan Trimble

Visible Customer, Dealer Synergy and Towbin Dodge are inviting (and sponsoring) you and a guest to a Towbin Dodge Event during NADA Friday Feb. 2nd.

Guests
will have an opportunity to see some “Chopper Edition” vehicles, tour
the dealership and be a special guest of the “King of Cars VIP tent.”
Naturally all the Towbin Dodge “Characters” will be there too.

Group #1 6:00 PM – 8:300 PM
Group #2 9:00 PM – 11:30 PM

I’ll be attending the 9:00 PM Group. Apparently there are Limited Spots so be sure to RSVP ASAP.

Find the RSVP information on the invite below or call 1-800-952-0168 and ask for Angela.

Thanks Sean Stapleton and Sean Bradley for my personal invite AND for inviting my readers!!

Looks like JMsolutions has bought DealerUps and their CRM program. I guess JMsolutions badly wanted a CRM to complete their over all package for dealers. I personaly was never too impressed with DealerUps CRM. When I had used it, it lacked a lot of ILM features.

"The DealerUps CRM enhances JMsolutions’ mission of
helping dealers achieve greater success through innovative products and
services," said JMsolutions President Scott Barrett. "It assures our ability to
support a dealer through all phases of the sales process- beginning with our
award-winning AAXT used vehicle inventory management solution to our ProFiT
F&I Menu product –we are there from start to finish."

I think we’ll stick to using their aaXchange software, which is actually a great product.

"Starting today (Jan 15th 2006), AutoTrader.com will highlight every Carfax One Owner vehicle listed by participating dealers. When used car shoppers search
inventory listed on AutoTrader.com, they can immediately identify cars with only one previous owner."

I think this is actually a good idea and something I was going to have
implemented on our new dealer website, but using the Blue 1 Owner logo you see on
the actual online CarFax.

I forget where but I think I recall reading that 1 Owner vehicles can bring
an average of $400-$600 more front end gross.

AutoTrader.com Adds Carfax One Owner Highlight to Listings

I wrote a quick guest column for the Mosely Automotive Newsletter this month, 3 Tips for 2007.

You can read it below or read it here.

Also be sure to read Coreys Featured Article and while you’re there sign-up for the Mosely Automotive Newsletter.

Here is the quick column;

Every year I review, reevaluate and make the necessary changes to my internet marketing and sales efforts. Of course I’m doing this throughout the year as well, but my yearly mark is where I tally my TYD reports and make the major adjustments and forecasting.

Now let’s take a look at 3 of your online marketing efforts and see where we can make some adjustments for 2007.

• Your Dealer Website
• Search Engine Marketing
• 3rd Party Leads

1. Your website! Last year chances are your dealer website was nothing more then an inventory merchandising portal. You have your used inventory, new inventory (some not) with some photos and a nice description about the vehicle (hopefully), a contact us form and your phone number listed. The “About Us” page is usually blank or still reads the general copy your vendor uses for all their websites. I bet your credit application is too intimidating for most to fill with their personal information.

This year, take your dealer website to the next level and start branding your dealer and your message. This can be achieved with the right copy on the right pages (like your About Us page). Think about some videos on specific pages like the credit application to help consumers feel more confident with leaving their personal information on your secure credit application. It’s time to use your website to merchandise your dealer and not just your low price inventory!

2. SEM (search engine marketing), Ad Words, whatever you prefer to call it. IS SEM REALLY WORKING FOR YOU and if so, how do you know?

Are you landing your shoppers on a specific landing page that can be tracked for conversion? Is your SEM vendor able to show you what search engines and keywords the consumer used to find and fill out your contact form? If so..start tracking what keywords are converting into a leads and more importantly what keywords are converting into sales. Track the demographics of these leads and sales and see what area of consumers you are converting into sales. This might be area you should be targeting in other marketing efforts as well.

Tip: get your dealer listed in the “Local” listings of the major search engines. Many times it’s free and only take a few minutes to sign up. Keep your eye open for SMO – Social Marketing Optimization.

3. Have you been tracking the overall performance of your 3rd party leads? Not just your cost per lead and cost per sale but also your total ROI for each specific lead provider. Maybe your closing ratio for the particular lead provider isn’t setting the world on fire but how much front and back end are you making on your customers from this lead source? I have a lead source that only sends me 5-9 leads a month and most of the leads are from customer that are not that serious about buying, but I have a great ROI with these sold leads, averaging over 3K front and back.

Take the time evaluate where (as in distances) you’re buying your leads from. Is there a particular geographic area of customers that you can’t seem to get in the door? How much time are you spending on these customers only to find out they bought from their local dealer? Maybe you’re buying leads from too far away and it’s messing up your total ROI. Determine your ROI for leads coming from that area and make the necessary adjustments.