If your not using an RSS reader, it’s time you get on board and the site
I recommend subscribing to first is DealerRefresh.

For those who are not familiar with RSS. RSS or Really Simple Syndication
is an XML-based Web syndication tool for Web sites and blogs. RSS feeds news
content with information and a descriptions of the posting. An RSS Reader then
interprets this feed so that the user need only read the description and link to
the news story or blog post.

I personally like the Google Reader and since I have been getting my news via
RSS, I would freak out if I didn’t have it. So here is a quick tutorial on
getting your RSS reader up and running and adding DealerRefresh to your
subscriptions.

1.
www.google.com/reader and sign up for a Google reader account.

2. To the left of your reader, you will see "Add Subscription". Click and
type in
www.dealerrefresh.com. The Google reader will automatically find my RSS feed
and add it to your reader.

It’s that SIMPLE, now you’ll never miss a new posting on DealerRefresh.com!!

What websites and blogs are in Jeff Kershners Google Reader? Here are a few:

http://www.copyblogger.com/

http://www.grokdotcom.com/

http://www.copywritingmaven.com

http://www.searchnewz.com/

http://www.autonews.com/

http://feeds.wired.com/wired/topheadlines

http://blogproautomotive.com/

Looks like DealerTrack will be buying Arkona for around $58.9 million. Sounds like
a lot of money!!

"This acquisition will bring together DealerTrack, a leading provider of on-demand software and data solutions for the automotive retail industry, and Arkona, a leading provider of on-demand dealer management systems for automotive dealerships."

Where is DealerTrack heading with an acquisition like this??

The rumor mill several months ago, was that DealerTrack was going to buy The Cobalt Group. But then again, I heard from a reliable resource that Reynolds & Reynolds was to
acquire The Cobalt Group, and that never materialized.

Read the
full press release.

Anyone have
any feedback?

In less then 5 hours, Google has indexed my last posting "Should dealers be blogging?”. As I mentioned in the posting right before; "Why are the vendors and consultants possible hypocrites?”, DealerRefresh is growing and rocking in the search engines.

I currently have a PR (Page Rank) of 4 Oops, I guess google made some changes because it dropped to a 3> and I feel a PR of 5 <4> is in the near horizon. I know that Page Rank is not the single most important factor for SEO but with all the other elements this blog possess on top of the PR, it’s only a matter of time before DealerRefresh owns the Search engines for such a targeted audiences. Just another reason why vendors and ISM’s
should be participating with comments and feedback.

Social Networking – Automotive dealer vendors and consultants are not getting it.

Many of the technology/internet driven vendors and consultants are quick to tell dealers how they need to be where the consumers are. How consumers have changed and they need to know how to market themselves on the internet to today’s consumers. The internet is where the consumers are! I’m not here to dispute that BUT rather I’d like to point out that it’s obvious to me that most don’t practice what they preach.

Case in point; DealerRefresh. Here is the perfect avenue for CEO’s and top management of consultant firms, dealer website, CRM, ILM, 3rd Party Lead, etc. vendors to reach out to a targeted audience. The opportunity to participate, build relationships and give back to their consumers. But…the only time I usually hear from a vendor is when I call them on their game. However, they are always quick to lash out and defend themselves (which is fine, that’s what it’s all about, I guess).

I’ve even taken the time to profile several vendors (with more coming) but yet I have to keep reminding them to contribute something to their dealer website design profile page. So you tell me, how much sense does that make?

Maybe their just too afraid that someone is going to steal their ideas and silver bullets (haha)? Maybe they are to busy to communicate with us Internet Sales Managers. Maybe they find no real importance in us ISM’s and DealerRefresh and it’s all about the $$ for them.

Well, dealerrefresh.com is growing and rocking in the search engines. The traffic is abundant and very targeted. So if you think it’s not worth your time, you may want to reconsider.

I do THANK ALL OF MY READERS, especially the one’s participating, leaving your comments and feedback. I’ll keep doing what I do; on the front line of this business (like many of DealerRefresh readers) and I’ll keep posting about what I find interesting and relevant to Internet sales and marketing for automotive dealers.

I’€™ve been noticing a small buzz here lately around dealers and blogging, or their lack of.

Omuoto over at vFlyer wrote an article "Auto Dealer Blogs Where Art Thou?". The article was pointing out the lack of Automotive Dealers blogging, especially when compared to the Real Estate business.

"While the number of Real Estate blogs continues to grow, auto dealers are simply not making it to the blogosphere".

If you read the comments, you will see I shared 5 reasons why car dealers do not blog:

1. Most dealers don’€™t even know what a blog is.
2. Most dealerships still don’t view the Internet as an integral part of their business.
3. Most dealers usually do not have right personnel on staff for consistent postings.
4. Blogs will not sell you a car this month (that would be the perception).
5. Blogs are too much work for most dealers; dealers have enough problems just keeping up with their website.

Then I stumbled across this article "€œNew Kids on the Blog"€ in Wards Dealer Business. A quote from the article reads;

"€œThe question is should you consider blogging, not why don’t you," – Brian Epro, director-Automotive Services Group for iMakeNews.

I totally agree with Brian. Blogging is not for everyone or every dealer and if a dealer does consider to blog, what exactly are they looking to get out of out? In the world of blogs and websites, it is said that content is king. What content does a dealer include in their blog and how do they stay consistent with it?

Consistency could be the key word here. I started a
Mercedes Dealer blog several months ago and I have yet been consistent with my postings. I know what I want to do and where I want to go with it (mostly for SEO purposes) but at the end of the day, it’€™s not a top priority and I don’t always have the time to keep up with it.

There are a few companies trying to make a go out of providing blogging services for dealers. Could outsourcing your blog efforts be the way to go? I’m not sure if I agree with this. Being a blogger myself, I know a blog has to have "€œa voice"€ and if you outsource your blog postings, I think it could become very stale to the reader. Not to mention, with time, I have no doubt these companies will eventually duplicate information across blogs as filler posting and this could have eventually have a negative impact for SEO.

Then you have to ask..how much time and money should a dealer place into having a blog? Will consumers actually take the time to read it or are they just looking for your inventory? But then on the reverse, a blog could help build with branding and your message to your consumers.

I’m not sure where I stand on this subject and it sounds as if even Brian Epro questions dealers joining the blogosphere.

"Do I think consumers will be actively looking up blogs from their dealer website?" he asks. "I’€™m not too sure. Blogging that helps with search-engine optimization is good. Blogging for the sake of the sake of blogging – I tend to question whether it has any validity to the dealership."€

What’€™s your feedback?

I stumbled across this nifty program several weeks back. I don’t want this posting to sound like a sales pitch, but if you’re tired of managing duplicate leads every month you should really consider checking into i-LeadControl.

After spending some time on the website I was intrigued and decided to make a phone call. I had a long conversation with Steve Williams (one of the owners and ALSO an Internet Sales Manager!) about his product and sat through a quick demonstration. Needless to say I was impressed and wondered why didn’t I come up with this myself?

You basically forward ALL of your leads (3rd Party leads, dealer website, AutoTrader, etc.) to i-LeadControl. As your leads pass though the system, it gathers all the information then instantaneously passes the leads along to your ILM or CRM system. i-LeadControl automatically monitors, analyzes for duplication, and documents every lead that you receive.

I get tired of tracking all of my duplicate leads (since eLead Evolution 1 does’nt have a duplicate lead report). I try to keep track of it on a day by day basis but I eventually get behind and find myself trying to track them down at the end of the month. There are a few CRM’s that do a decent job tracking your duplicate leads but most do not. And the ones that do, don’t produce and actual credit invoice that you print off and send in with your bill, saving you some money .

I’ve been on board for a a few weeks now and it’s really simple to use. The set up was easy and pulling the reports is even easier. I will say, I don’t think the lead providers are going to like this too much BUT HEY; they have been screwing the dealers for so long, now it it’s time we stand our ground and get credit for all of those duplicate leads they send us.

After speaking with Steve, I really wanted to help him get his product off the ground while letting everyone know of a program that will save us ISM’s some time and money. SO we decided to offer a "DealerRefresh Special"!! If you are interested in trying out i-LeadControl, DealerRefresh readers get $100.00 OFF the setup fee.

The normal set-up fee is usually $499.99 but IF YOU MENTION DealerRefresh you get your set-up fee at a reduced rate of $399.99.

If you have a few questions before calling, you can
read the FAQ’s about i-LeadControl. I recommend taking 5 minutes and sitting through a demo to see if it works for you.

www.ileadcontrol.com

Screen shot of a duplicate lead report.

Screen shot of a generated invoice that you send it with your bill.

Are any of you using embedded video clips within your emails for your internet sales process?  If so, where are you hosting the videos?

Are you running into problems with spam filters?

What do you put in your videos?

Many thanks for any insight!

Kevin Frye
eCommerce Director – Jeff Wyler Automotive Family

Corey Mosley is apparently declaring a state of emergency for automotive dealerships across the country. After completing a series of mystery shops nationally, Corey said “It’s enough to make a guy want to retire and run the other way”.

I’ve never performed a nationwide mystery shop but do shop several of my local and competitive dealers and it’s amazing to find how inconsistent most dealers are. The 3 day rule seems to be the average follow-up time frame most dealers / sales people stick with. I know some of my sales people are at times guilty of this. This is where a strong BDC effort needs to come into play, just a simple 5 day PR phone call can make a nice difference.

Here is the complete article and a
link to the original.

Internet Sales State of Emergency – by Cory L. Mosley

This month I bring some grim news, after completing a series of mystery shops nationally I must declare a state of emergency for automotive dealerships across the country. It is seriously alarmed that an overwhelming percentage of dealerships do not brand their dealership, make phone calls to contact prospects, don’t believe in follow-up past 3 days, and just plain ole’ don’t get it! It’s enough to make a guy want to retire and run the other way. The icing on the cake however was the amount of general managers and dealer principals that did not want to see their stores results and/or didn’t want to do anything about fixing the problems. Deficiency of knowledge is one thing, but a desire to not fix a problem that in the long run will cost a dealership millions of dollars in lost front end, back end, and service grosses is just plain ole’ astonishing. The one fun part about having your own newsletter is that you can be as direct as you want, so here it is.

10 questions to ask yourself regarding your commitment to Internet sales success:

1. Does my dealership have a clear vision of the expectations for the Internet?
2. Other than buying products from vendors, what investment have I made to
   ensure the success of my dealerships Internet department?
3. What investment have I made in my Internet personnel (for dealer or GM)?
4. What investment has my dealership made in me? (for Internet/BDC sales professional)?
5. On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the highest, what is the overall value I put on the Internet department at my dealership?
6. Do I believe we are maximizing our Internet sales opportunities and if not what am I doing to change that?
7. What is holding me back from embracing the Internet customer or taking my Internet sales efforts to the next level?
8. If I am not going to invest in building a successful Internet operation
   then what is my game plan to control the sales I will be losing to my
   competitors?
9. Is it possible that I have to reevaluate my belief system in regards to the Internet customer?
10. Do I want help filling the gaps in my Internet sales results?

The industry is gearing up for the summer selling season, let’s make sure we make the most out it! Don’t we all deserve it?

Any Feedback?

I do apologize, I need to make a more conscience to inform everyone of up and coming training seminars, whether it’s online webinars or actual seminars. So, to start off this new effort I want to let everyone know the Dealer Synergy “Internet Sales Bootcamp”. Here are the details:

Dealer Synergy is very excited to announce its alliance with NCM 20 groups, the most prestigious 20 groups in the country. Sean V. Bradley is the official Instructor and designer of the new NCM Bootcamp, "Internet Sales Bootcamp".

May 15 – 17th in Atlanta Georgia, its going to be an intense two and half days.

“We guarantee that if you attend this seminar and implement our solutions, you will sell more cars, more profitably and more often.”

 

Until Monday, NCM is offering an early bird special at $1995.00. After Monday the price goes up to $2495.00.

I have no doubt it will be worth every penny. Sean is an excellent speaker and really knows his stuff. 

For more information
here is the PDF that you can view and print or

sign up for the “Internet Sales Bootcamp” at the NCM website.

I’m curious as to how various dealerships are counting Internet deals for pay?

We use a simple system:  If a customer submits an Internet Inquiry, we require either a direct phone conversation with the customer be logged into our CRM or have two email responses from the customer.  We also count phone calls that originate from various web sites/lead generators as deals worthy for compensation in the Internet department.  Basically, it is an Internet deal when either two emails or a phone call are logged in the CRM.  My staff is only paid on sold units that they had a provable hand in selling, and we audit the inputs into the CRM.

From speaking to many other dealers over the past few years it sounds like we are a bit more stringent in this area than others.

Alex Snyder
Director of eCommerce – Checkered Flag Motor Car Corp.