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Archives For October 2009

DRNewsWire —  October 30, 2009 — 3 Comments

AutoRevo – iPhone Application Helps Dealers Sell Cars Faster

AutoRevo Releases Auto Industry’s First iPhone Inventory Management Application Integrated with Carfax

DALLAS, TX – October 29, 2009 – AutoRevo, the premier provider of auto dealer websites and on-demand software for automotive dealerships marketing and selling cars online, today announced the release of AutoRevo Mobile, an application that allows dealers to manage their inventory on their iPhone.

“The technical barriers to a true mobile solution for dealers have now been removed with the latest iPhone. This is a great opportunity for our industry to flourish with a drastically increased speed of business,” said Chad Polk, CEO of AutoRevo.

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Alex Snyder —  October 30, 2009 — 11 Comments

Reputation Management Tools

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If word of mouth is the most trusted form of advertising, what has the Internet done to extend its power?  Why is the traditional business approach to fear it?

In 2007 Jeff wrote an article about whether dealers should be using Social Media – you know…those facebook, myspace, and twitter sites.  Here we are 2 years later and I am finding quite a few dealers on all of these mediums!  Forget whether you agree with dealers being there or not, and let’s talk about how you track what is going on around your brand.  I think we can all agree people are using these sites to talk about you.

What are people saying about you on blogs and forums?  What are they tweeting while they’re sitting in your F&I office?  Did you just get flogged on Google?  How do you find out?

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Joe Pistell —  October 26, 2009

The Internet Shopper Experience Chart

Over morning coffee, doing research on visual information (infographics), came across this chart that totally nailed the internet shopper experience.

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I about fell out of my chair.

An image so simple sums up the Internet Shopping Experience (regardless of industry). It’s a cornerstone in my internet marketing efforts.

THERE ARE 2 SLOPES, a down slope and an up slope.

  • Emotion rules the shopper on either slope.
  • Gathering of Information and consumption of time are directly correlated. (same axis)
  • Shoppers on the down slope are seeking “information satisfaction” (the apex)
  • Patience is the enemy of the shopper on the UP slope.
  • Shoppers on the up slope have passed “information satisfaction”, are now seeking an exit

Give me Mr. Up Slope!

Wherefor art thou Mr Up Slope? Hmmm…a cookie based system to tailor a custom message based on the number of visits, or, the time since last visit… hmmm…need more coffee…

Reference: Indexed Blog Archive Needles and haystacks and such.

Comments are closed here on the blog. Please comment on the forms…

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Jeff Kershner —  October 24, 2009 — 21 Comments

AutoTrader.com’s Vehicle Purchase Program

AutoTrader.com’s Vehicle Purchase / Trade-in Program (VPP)

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AutoTrader.com is currently testing an on-line trade in service in hopes to streamline the process of trading in or selling a used car with participating dealers (90 day pilot in Kansas).

The service allows consumers/sellers to get an actual offer for their vehicle rather than an estimate or range of potential values that many of the other trade-appraisal services provide.

In “3 easy steps”, AutoTrader makes it easy to get cash value on your vehicle.

  1. Tell AutoTrader.com about your car and get your online offer.
  2. Go to a participating trade-in or buying center to verify your cars condition.
  3. Trade-in your car or redeem you offer for cash.
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DRNewsWire —  October 24, 2009

AutoTrader.com Testing Car Trade in Program in Kansas City

Autotrader.com Vehicle Purchase Program Aims to Streamline Consumer Sale, Trade In of Used Autos

autotrader_logoATLANTA, Nov. 11 /PRNewswire/ — AutoTrader.com’s Vehicle Purchase Program (VPP), currently in a 90-day test in Kansas City, is a convenient on-line service that aims to streamline the process of trading in or selling an automobile with participating dealers.

This on-line service allows sellers to get an actual offer for their vehicle rather than an estimate or range of potential values.

Here’s how it works.

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Jeff Kershner —  October 20, 2009 — 12 Comments

WIN a FREE flip MinoHD Video Camera from DealerRefresh

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Follow these 4 simple steps and win a FREE flip video camera.

UPDATE 10/23/09: Jared Hamilton over at DrivingSales.com will now be joining in on the contest. This 4X’s your chances of winning!! Big thanks to Jared for joining in on the contest to help dealers get more involved in using social media and video.

If you are attending the 7th Digital Dealer Conference in Nashville Tenn. and would like the chance to WIN a FREE Flip minoHD video camera courtesy of DealerRefresh and now DrivingSales, we’re going to make it really simple for you. This will be the easiest you ever enter!!

Note: For anyone that isn’t familiar, the Flip minoHD it’s a slick little devise. I use one all the time.

During the 7th Digital Dealer Conference, myself and Jared be tweeting and at some point during the conference,We’ll tweet our location; something like this..

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Alex Snyder —  October 19, 2009 — 14 Comments

2009 JD Power Automotive Internet Roundtable Review – Red Rock, Vegas

JDPARoundtable09Vegas, Social Media, JD Power Stats, OEM representation, professional atmosphere, and excellent networking opportunities were the highlights of 2009′s #JDPAIRT << click for Twitter conversations.

I must state that I’m writing the rest of this from a dealer’s stand-point (mine in particular), so this might not be the same perspective an OEM or vendor would have…

With the economy being what it is, representation by the dealer body was low. This was no surprise, but the sad part was it didn’t set the stage for great debate on the dealer’s behalf. A few of us tried to push things through twitter, but I think we just disturbed people. So when you have a bunch of vendors and manufacturers, many have a tendency to play things safe. There were a few people who pushed the envelope on stage (Larry Bruce from Reynolds & Reynolds and David Metter from MileOne), but these were few and far between…I’ll write a bit about what they did a little further in.

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