Guest Posting by Rebecca Lieb

Everyone’s Local Somewhere

As far back as 2004, local search accounted for up to 25 percent of commercial activity on the Web, according to a Kelsey Group study. No wonder large and small players alike have been striving to build a better local search mousetrap. Of all the large and small search verticals out there, local is the fastest-growing and probably, most important.

It’s not hard to understand why. A dealership in Des Moines may have a Web presence, but it’s unlikely he’ll be selling cars in Cleveland. If your engine needs a tune up in Denver, a mechanic in Pittsburgh isn’t what you need now. The major search engines know this, in fact. Various geolocation technologies are baked into their algorithms. So when someone shopping for a Honda Element in Des Moines searches for a “Honda dealership,” one of the Big Three search engines is likely to figure out where she is (IP addresses are one indicator) and shove that local dentist’s site to the top of the results.

Pretty neat, right?

Well, it works for the dealer the search engines knows is in Des Moines, and therein lies much of the wisdom when it comes to optimizing for local search: defining locality.

Dealix Announces Major Platform Upgrade – Enhancements Eliminate Trade-Off between Lead Quality and Speed of Delivery

Redwood City, CA, March 24, 2009 – Dealix, a division of Cobalt, the leading provider of quality leads for new cars and used cars, today announced enhancements to its lead delivery platform that will make lead transfer time nearly instantaneous, while identifying, processing, and delivering higher quality leads for the company’s dealer customers.

Lead Platform 2009, already in use for delivery of new car leads, is the result of an investment in enhanced network architecture, as well as the incorporation of additional data services to help streamline the sales process. Additional data sources include On-Demand Lead VerificationSM services provided through Dealix’s relationship with TARGUSinfo. Dealix, a pioneer in automotive lead delivery, has been delivering quality sales leads to dealers since 1998. These platform enhancements represent the company’s largest investment in technology upgrades to date.

Dealix Lead Platform 2009 will benefit customers in three specific ways:

• Faster Lead Delivery: Nearly 90% of new car leads are now reaching Dealix customers in a matter of seconds. This enables dealers to respond to customers’ requests for information without delay, providing a better overall consumer experience and leading to faster sales.

• Reduction in Delivery of Duplicate Leads: Platform enhancements include additional processes to recognize customers requesting more than one auto quote, and to ensure that dealers are not served duplicates.

• Quality Controls: The new platform incorporates TARGUSinfo On-Demand Lead Verification services to confirm consumer names, addresses, and phone numbers contained within the lead.

“Successful auto dealers know that in today’s economy, the ability to identify and quickly respond to each in-market car buyer right away, whether they’re in the market for a new car or shopping for used cars online, will lead to more sales and a better consumer experience,” said Anna Zornosa, general manager of Dealix. “Dealix has made the investment so that our customers don’t have to make a tradeoff between speed of delivery and lead quality.”

“We are very pleased to have the number one lead generator in the automotive industry utilizing our On-Demand Lead Verification services,” said Dave Wengel, general manager, Interactive Markets for TARGUSinfo. “It’s no question that the verification of lead information is the bedrock of a best-in-class lead generation program. Dealix handles nearly one in three sales leads for the auto industry, and the impact of combining TARGUSinfo verification services with Dealix’s new platform will be far reaching.”

Manuel Souza, sales director for Anderson Honda of Palo Alto, Ca, also commented on the added value Dealix is offering to dealers and car buyers. “In today’s tough economic times, competition is fierce, and time is everything when it comes to responding to Internet customers’ requests. The enhanced Dealix platform addresses pain points we have had with other providers in getting us leads quickly,” said Souza. “We like to connect with our prospective customers while they’re still at their computer, and Dealix is helping us to do that. Lead quality is also important, and the enhanced Dealix platform runs the lead through various checks to ensure the information is correct and the customer is valid before we even call them. I’ve used Dealix for years. The quality has always been there, and now with the enhanced platform, it’s even better, and we are getting in touch with more customers than ever before.”

About Dealix
Dealix, a division of Cobalt, is the world’s leading provider of quality automotive sales leads for dealerships, dealer groups, and automotive manufacturers. Dealix has the broadest reach and the highest quality lead supply network in the industry, including Kelley Blue Book, Edmunds.com, AOL Autos, Yahoo! Autos, MSN Autos, and others. Dealix represents Edmunds’ Premier Dealer Program and powers MSN Autos’ lead platform. Dealix’s advanced quality control and routing technology matches thousands of serious new and used vehicle buyers to the most appropriate dealers daily, delivering a quality user experience while providing dealers one of the most efficient methods to sell more cars.

———-

Of course it’s always a car dealers best practice to focus on speed of response. The faster you can repsond to a customers needs the our chances are at gaining the opportunity to earn their business.

According to Nielsen, more time is spent on Social Networking sites than is spent reading or sending emails. In their latest study, this equates to one out of every six minutes of the average web user’s time is spent on sites like FaceBook, MySpace, or Twitter…or Dealer Refresh (and other blogging sites). Social Networking is growing at twice the pace of other major online activities such as using a search engine, researching a car purchase, or just sending an email.

To put social media into the simplest of definitions, think of it as a place where people can converse with other people on the Internet.

Take a look at Nielsen’s survey. Of note is page 7 where they address the problems in advertising within a “conversation”.

It will take time to work out the magic formula for successfully advertising in social networks.  The diversity and personalised nature of the environment means standard ad models – such as contextual search and standard unit sizes – won’t cut it. Different approaches across ad units and ad inventory will have to be tried, involving a trial and error mindset.

As advertisers, do we join the conversation or interrupt it?

Sean is offering DealerRefresh readers a substantial discount to his Dealer Synergy Internet Director Immersion Program for April.

Internet Sales 20 Group presents the POWERFUL Internet Director Immersion Program as a 3 or 5 Day Workshop!

For: Dealer Principles, General Managers, Internet and BDC Directors
Where: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
When: April 13th – 17th 2009

Over the span of this 3 or 5 day course, attendees will learn:

• Create your new Internet Sales 20 Group Network, go over benchmarks and statistics and learn the secrets of Dealer Synergy’s “4P” strategy.
• Learn how to unleash the true power of today’s most advanced technology to utterly CRUSH your competition, even in a down market.
• Learn how to create the highest ROI on your lead generation and increase your conversions.
• How to become a world-class Internet Director, team leader, coach and mentor.
• Take a field trip to dealerships who have utilized these strategies and seen surreal success.
• Create action plans, get tested and achieve your certification

Sean has not offered any vendor discounts on these events, but for the first time Dealer RefreshReeaders are eligible for $1000 off the standard rate.

Three Day Event is $3000 – $1000 DealerRefresh Discount = $2000
Five Day Event is $4000 – $1000 DealerRefresh Discount = $3000

Be sure to mention DealerRefresh when you call to register for this event. Call 1-888-379-6374 or register online

My favorite is the fact that Sean Incorporates the FranklinCovey- 7 Habits of Highly Effective People Training. He did a great job with his 2008 Synergy Session (you can read Brian Tuckers review here). Good Stuff!

If I know Sean, I’m sure he’s doing it up right so take advantage of his offer, save some money and get some training.

Date: Thursday, April 9, 2009
Time: 12pm to 1 p.m. (Eastern)
Location: Your Computer
Cost: FREE – Register Here

Description: Industry roundtable discussion with:

• Mitch Golub, president, Cars.com
• Art Spinella, president, CNW Marketing
• Paul Taylor, chief economist, NADA

With sales of used cars expected to return to 40 million-plus units in 2009, used-car sales stand out as a bright spot in automotive retail. For consumers concerned about their purse strings and possible job losses, buying a pre-owned car allows them to get the vehicle they need and maintain their peace of mind. This webinar examines the current outlook for the year ahead and outlines the practical steps dealers must take to survive and even thrive in this changing economy.

In this session, you’ll learn how to:

• Fine-tune your advertising strategy and media mix to reach in-market shoppers.
• Capitalize on economic uncertainty and pent-up demand to drive more used-car sales.
• Stock your store with in-demand cars that turn quickly and hold gross.
• Leverage third-party vehicle history reports and factory certification programs to build buyer confidence in your listings.

Integration as defined on Dictionary.com:  an act or instance of combining into an integral whole. Okay…that doesn’t really help.  How about Wikipedia?  Awesome – they have an entry for “System Integration”:  is the bringing together of the component subsystems into one system and ensuring that the subsystem function together as a system. There’s a lot more here.

That’s the web-technical definition, but why the hell am I writing about it?  Jeff and I get on the phone when one of us is taking a long drive because we have longer phone calls than most friggin’ women do!  Yesterday evening Jeff was on the road and we had a few things to discuss about DealerRefresh.  After we got some house keeping out of the way, we started discussing the various things we’ve been tackling at work lately – no bosses – we’re not sharing information (for those of you who don’t know, Jeff and I actually have some competing stores).  We were discussing the different problems we have in diagnosing inventory issues and somehow that led to the integration topic.  After debating over who is currently dealing with more BS around getting systems to cooperate, I ended up volunteering to write this article (is that what happens when you deal with a ton of BS?).  Anyway, that’s how we got here.

This Free Webinar registration made its way into my inbox, so I thought I would share it with everyone. If you’re not leveraging PR announcements to help with your dealership website SEO efforts then you could be missing out. Lee Odden is the real deal and just spoke at this years PubCon Search Marketing conference.

Register for this webinar today to learn how you can achieve SEO success.

Topic: Using Your News TO Drive SEO
Speakers: Lee Odden, CEO, TopRank Online Marketing
Date: Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Time: 2:00pm Eastern Time
Cost: FREE
Register: http://tinyurl.com/anbcsu

With more than 70 million people getting their news online every day, your news is about more than just reaching the media.

Your news can be a powerful tool to directly reach the millions of people searching for information online, drive traffic to your website and maximize your online visibility.

News search engines like Yahoo! News and Google News offer a great way to direct targeted traffic to your website and help you generate awareness about a topic or your company.

Join Lee Odden, CEO of TopRank Online Marketing to learn how to make use of tactics such as press release and news content optimization to take advantage of the potential traffic news search can generate.

Guest Posting by Dale Pollack

As of late, I’ve come to understand that the biggest deficiency in the dealership today is the lack of expertise in sourcing used vehicles.  For years, dealerships have relied on a steady stream of trade-ins. Only a small percentage of dealers actually developed strong wholesale sourcing competencies. Sure, most dealerships knew how to send their used car manager to the auction now and then to pick up a few cars here and there, but that’s a far cry from having true wholesale proficiency.

I’m particularly struck by the lack of developed talent and process around the wholesale sourcing of used vehicles at some really large dealerships and enterprise groups. In fact, it is these dealerships that have the greatest deficiencies. Really large stores and enterprises historically needed wholesale sourcing competency the least because they had the most trade-ins.

I’m still not prepared to declare a “shortage” of used cars, because I believe that this term engenders the notion of a crises, and crises often evoke irrational responses. To be sure, there is not presently a shortage of used cars, but they are getting harder to find for reasonable prices. I think that it is incumbent on every dealership to assess its wholesale sourcing competency as we move through a year that will have a tightening supply of used vehicles.

The wholesale sourcing position does not need to be staffed by a full-time employee, as it can often be handled by a local wholesaler.  Regardless, however, whether you use a wholesaler or full-time employee, there needs to be a lot of thought around how they are compensated and the criteria that they use to decide what to purchase and how much to pay.

I would strongly urge you to think about compensating such individuals not based on how many cars they buy, but rather on how quickly the cars they buy turn. This keeps your buyers focused on purchasing the right vehicles at the right price. Everyone should remember that it’s better to be light and right in inventory than long and wrong even in today’s used car wholesale marketplace.

About the Author: Dale Pollak’s career in the automotive industry has spanned more than two decades. He is the author of Velocity and founder of vAuto. Be sure to subscribe and read his blog DalePollack.com.

Web2Carz.com, Ltd Releases First Fully Integrated Auto Dealer Inventory Listing Application for the iPhone

Web2Carz.com Ltd., today announced the release of the first fully integrated auto dealer inventory listing application for the iPhone. Unlike other auto classified listing applications, the Web2Carz iPhone application has been designed to run natively on the iPhone and the iPod Touch platforms. With its intuitive navigation and streamlined design, iPhone users can search a national database of cars for sale, view images, see detailed listings for each car, read CARFAX  reports, and much more. HIGHLAND PARK, Ill.–(BUSINESS WIRE)

Consumers can quickly contact a dealer about a vehicle listing by using the iPhone one-touch call feature or sending an inquiry right from the Web2Carz application. Auto dealers can post their inventory to Web2Carz.com and the iPhone application at no charge and receive free sales leads. To date over 500 dealers have inventory listed.

“Web2Carz.com continues to develop the latest in technology to help our auto dealers sell more cars while improving the bottom line. The best thing about the Web2Carz iPhone application is that we are exposing the dealer’s inventory to a whole new audience for free. It’s 100% free Internet advertising. Dealers can post their inventory and receive free sales leads with no setup fee, no monthly fee, and no limit on images. It’s a win-win proposition,” said Alex Bravy, Web2Carz co-Founder.

The iPhone application has been set up for complete ease-of-use and one click navigation. Key features include:

• Search by Make and Model
• Search within a Zip Code and distance range or use current location (optional)
• Sort by Price, Year or Mileage
• Filter by Max Price and/or Max Mileage
• Auto Save of Search Criteria
• Tap the CARFAX ™ logo to view a car history report
• ‘Tap the Phone Number to call the Seller
• Auto Save of User Contact Information

The iPhone is packaged with a variety of applications or iPhone web apps that make it a wonderful browsing experience for the user, therefore, applications on iPhone are growing extremely fast in popularity. The approximately 1.3 million iPhone users nationwide tend to use their handheld device more than others to access the Internet. In fact, a recent study found that nearly 85 percent of iPhone purchasers regularly use their handheld device to access content on the web.

The beta version of the Web2Carz iPhone application was demonstrated at the 2009 NADA show and convention in New Orleans, January 24-27, at the Web2Carz.com booth and received a very positive response from the dealer community as well as industry insiders. The link to the application for iPhone users is: http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=306066084&mt=8. (Users need to have iTunes for this link to work). For more information call 847-780-4821 or visit www.Web2Carz.com

About Web2Carz.com:

Web2Carz.com is a full service online vehicle research portal founded in 2006, which offers new and used car inventory, reviews, quotes, buyer tips, and options for finding car financing. Their mission is to bring simplicity to the world of Online Full Service Automotive Portals. Drawing on industry experience, they have built a national network of service providers and relationships providing customers with the ability to search a network of dealerships, lenders and other automotive related product offerings from a single online destination.

Web2Carz.com targets the niche market of car buyers in need of special financing. It is the only site currently in this market that offers these buyers such a robust set of features, from new and used vehicle research to financing options.

As the site receives a high volume of unique visitors, Web2Carz.com also has a business-to-business model and supplies auto dealers with high quality leads with an above average conversion rate. For more information visit www.web2Carz.com or call: 888-807-7227.

This posting has been removed.

After a deep conversation with Frank, I have decided to remove his post from DealerRefresh. It really sirred up form shit and at the end of the day I would never want anyone to loose their job. I have asked Frank to write a quick retraction request which you can read below.

If you’re familiar with the post, please continue to comment (please keep your comments clean and respectful though )

Jeff, Alex an the rest of the DealerRefresh community;

I appreciate your support, I have been watching my post and I am asking that you remove it for a couple of reasons. First of all I have a huge amount of respect for General Motors and Cobalt websites. In our current economic situation I think it would be a benefit to support the manufacture. I also have a huge respect for the dealer I currently work for and I would not want any bad press for this or any dealer just because of my own personal opinion. I appreciate your cooperation in removing my article from DealerRefresh. After review The GM and dealer principle at this store disagree with my opinion and are 100% on board General Motors marketing plan.

Thank you

Frank Davis