The best thing about the DealerRefresh forums are of course all the conversations happening day in and day out. Some of the best conversations start with a simple question about a new product or offering.

Within the thread “Dealer Desking Favorites“, one of our members JamieS linked to a new desking company – iTap Menu. I was curious so I made a few phone calls and introduced myself to the founder Shawn and sat through a demo of their cutting edge product.

I like it! A alot!

Not only did I sit through a product demo of iTap Menu but also spent some additional time asking Shawn a few questions.

Jeff – Shawn, Why does the industry need yet another F&I menu?

Shawn – Because the existing providers created a product that simply doesn’t work in the manner it was designed to.

An unchangeable piece of paper full of text, first and foremost, will not convince someone to increase their monthly payment by $60-80/month. Second, the actual “structure” of the menu is not conducive to selling products.

Why are we presenting four columns labeled after metals from the periodic table and, with no real meaning to the customer, lightly decreasing each column in products and payments from left to right? And finally, 99% of the time, the customer doesn’t want one of the options exactly as created, so now what?  You can’t change a piece of paper…unless you have a Sharpie and your DMS handy to re-calculate the requested changes.

Jeff – What about the F&I Managers that use a menu and produce good numbers?

Shawn – It’s not because of the menu, I know that. I’ve been asked this before.  Thirteen years of consulting and observing F&I departments in over 500 stores confirmed it.

Talented people with a dealership committed to F&I…a culture and history of success, with solid Sales Managers, trained Salespeople, motivating pay plans, and the right set of products. That’s what has made these F&I Managers successful. The paper, four-column menu is simply a by-product of that success. Ask the real F&I professionals. They stopped using the current menu as we know it years ago. And the ones that still do essentially use it to create dialog and negotiate payments with the customer. They aren’t feature/benefit/closing.

With a four-column menu and the way it’s structured, that process isn’t possible. This isn’t my opinion. It’s a fact. Look at it. It’s ugly! Would you personally buy anything from it?  Hell no.

Jeff – How is iTapMenu so different from your competitors?

Shawn – First of all, look at it.  It’s incredible. Look at the menu screen.  It was designed by artists, not developers. Apple inspired artists at that.  100 out of 100 people would agree there’s no comparison in the visual experience vs a paper menu.

The customization is also a HUGE difference.  You can move products in and out of options with an immediate change in the payment, you can change the term and rate, increase the down payment, and discount products right on the fly on the iPad.

I envision the F&I Manager using iTap on the showroom floor or sitting next to the customer in their office and actually letting the customer use iTap.  Giving the customer some power will change how they view the F&I Manager, the dealership, and the overall experience.  And, they’ll buy more products because they’re well informed about the products through iTap’s videos and statistics AND they’ll develop a sense of trust because they are involved in the decision.  No more shell games.

And finally, the structure of the menu is different.  I laugh at four column menus and how they’re structured to decrease the products and payments from left to right.  We’re basically stating we understand there’s no way you’re going to buy the first option, so “pretty please” have some interest in one of these less expensive options.  It would be like asking someone to buy a car for $20,000 but then immediately offering them to buy it for $19,000 or $18,000 or $17,000.  Gee, wonder which one they’re going to choose?

With iTap, it simply doesn’t work that way.

Jeff – Shawn, thanks for your time today. You mentioned that you would be attending NADA 2012 but you would not have a booth. How would one contact you for more information?

Shawn – you can of course visit our website at www.itapmenu.com or give me a call at 317-696-6396

Why Do We Need Another F&I Menu? is a post from: Internet sales manager training

It’s impossible to be even a casual DealerRefresh reader and not have come across a ZMOT discussion over the last year or so.

For those of you still assuming that ZMOT is that new kosher malt beverage soon arriving in a delicatessen near you, the Zero Moment Of Truth (ZMOT) is that marketing concept guru’d by Google’s Jim Lecinski, formatively describing modern shoppers’ purchase decision making process through the digital funnel of online social interactions, peer reviews, product ratings, video, etc.

The actual term ZMOT is a play on the terms used in an older Proctor and Gamble study describing the First Moment of Truth (FMOT), and of course if you have a First, you’ll need a Second (SMOT). So we have a whole lotta Moments of Truth here, and if you’d like more information, go ahead and Google them yourself!

Not too many of us dealer-minded people get too caught-up in all this fancy- shmancy marketing lingo.

ZMOT? THERE’S AN UP ON THE LOT!! And herein lies the origin of WMOT….

For a moment, let’s assume that I’ve mastered the art of ZMOT. I’m Facebook’ed out the wazzoo…. Hundreds of positive ratings averaging 4.8. Live walk-around videos on all of my Used Cars, 22 actual pictures of my entire New Car Inventory, funny and accurate descriptions: perfect merchandizing. Traffic is lining-up at my door to do business with my store – they love us!!

The door opens, and there it is:

“Kin I hep yuz?” with a full face-full of some combination of garlic, cheese and cigarette smoke that instantly dries your eyeballs and singes your nose hairs.

We’ve just witnessed WMOT: the dealership’s Worst Moment Of Truth. In this case, it’s the realization that all the efforts and dollars put into attracting a client have just been nullified because Stinky Pete doesn’t use mouthwash and never learned to shake hands.

The very interesting thing about WMOT is that there can be many in one dealership, and one dealer’s WMOT may not apply to another dealership. Our people can be our WMOT. Our lack of process can be our WMOT. Our attitude can be our WMOT.

The real problem with WMOT is that it can cancel the best ZMOT. It just doesn’t matter how well you market your goods and services if your people, process, and attitude stink.

Now this is a blog, and by a blog’s very nature, we are going to attract the ilk comfortable discussing digital issues and best practices, technology, and the latest and greatest of everything. But at the risk of sounding like the old timer I’ve become, I’m going to ponder the world (and maybe write a follow-up article or two) where DP’s, GM’s, GSM’s, SM’s, ILM’s, etc., work under a valance of balance. Where the “modern” GM realizes that a hand-shake and eye contact is just as important as Google (Sorry Jade!). Where the ability to put a client at-ease is regarded as highly as the ability to generate 50 leads from the website. Balance is the key to eradicating WMOT.

Anybody catch the Pro-Bowl the other night? All those All-Stars… all those Zillionaires… do you know that the 1st day of training camp every year they concentrate on getting into and getting out of their stance? Yes… the most basic of basics…. How to stand, squat, and step.

Surprised to learn that the Elite focus-on, emphasize and practice the basics?

Is there a lesson there?

Can you recall a WMOT in your experience?

What is Your Dealer’s WMOT! is a post from: Internet sales manager training

Share the wealth!

Share the wealth!

Now that we’ve covered the why and how, let’s talk about where to recruit the 1.7 million Gen Y employees in the workplace today.

Obviously, the best ways would be to write a small indie film about a car dealer that premieres at the Sundance film festival, and/or have Obama visit your company.

But if that’s not an option, here is the place to start.

Craigslist – Craigslist is the Gen Y job hunting mothership. The average Gen Y’er spends hours a day on Craigslist as it is, and job seekers use it more addictively than any, refreshing the job listings like a recreational sport. The sheer volume, the real-time updates, and the cost-free nature make this site job-hunting catnip for my generation.

Additionally, while the “Sales/Bus Dev” job category might seem like the most natural place to post your listing, don’t be afraid to consider other categories. Many Gen Y’ers instinctively abhor the idea of sales or being a “salesman,” but we absolutely love “Marketing/PR” or “Business/Management.” Think carefully about the job duties and desired qualifications you’re looking to fill, and categorize based on those, not by industry. Note: If you do go after a less traditional job category, don’t be vague about what kind of business you are in. Be very upfront that it’s a car dealership and that you’re just looking for some diversity. You may find you’re rewarded for your honesty.

Facebook ads – Why wait for Gen Yer’s to find you? Message them where they live: on Facebook. While my generation is self-trained to tune out traditional advertising (thank you, Safari Adblocker), Facebook ads are the exception. With their highly-targeted capability, their clever and creative messaging, and their “lifestyle” feel, Facebook has really cracked the code for creating advertising that is relevant, interesting and appealing to Gen Y’ers.

For the same reasons, Facebook ads are a recruiter’s dream. You can target by education, geography, age, interests, and much more. Try targeting for some terms like “cars” or “automotive,” as well as terms like “entrepreneurship” “business opportunities” and “job.” Make sure to include an eye-catching image and an enticing call to action.

Linkedin – No matter how cool your ads are, chances are most Gen Y’ers just won’t ever stumble across them. Why wait for them to come to you when you can go to them? Gen Y’ers love getting recruited, and it allows you to handpick the cream of the crop, rather than weeding through a massive pile of applications. You can target by industry-specific keywords, software skills, or even employment status-terms like “Looking for” and “Seeking” are LinkedIn code for “unemployed.”

Referral Incentives – Gen Yer’s are all about connections, and this is especially true when it comes to our careers. Our post-grad cycle goes something like this: graduate, apply to every CEO position at the world’s best companies, accept defeat, become an Outback Steakhouse waitress, and then at last, alert every single person in your social circle that you are looking for a job-help!

Knowing this, exploit my generation’s beloved peer pressure for the positive by incentivizing your employees to refer their friends, their friend’s kids, etc. Monetary bonuses, gift cards, free lunches, or even extra days off are all great ways to get your employees excited about making referrals. If you can’t afford huge prizes, just make it fun by spotlighting referrers in company meetings or holding friendly competitions to see who can refer the most people.

Make yourself discoverable – Last but not least, it’s all about inbound marketing, and Gen Y recruiting is no exception. If you’ve got a competitive payment structure or a sweet company culture, expose those things on your website, your company Facebook profile and your Youtube channel. Encourage your employees to leave you good reviews on Glassdoor (www.glassdoor.com). Then, sit back and watch the good job juju roll in. You get back what you put out, so create an attractive inbound space and I guarantee you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the results.

And if you need help writing that Sundance script, I know an awesome writer;)

Have you tried any of these Gen Y job hunting techniques? How did they go?

Gen Y Hiring Part 2: Where to Recruit Gen Yers is a post from: Internet sales manager training

Share the wealth!

Share the wealth!

According to Google Trends, email is more popular than beer, Lady Gaga, McDonald’s and American Idol… but not sex.

Email continues to be one of the most cost-effective ways of staying connected with your customers, but it only works if you have your customers’ active email addresses (and their consent).

Here are 12 ways you can invite your customers to share their email with you.

1. Have you spiffed your advisors lately?
Run a promotion with your advisors and pay them $1 for each email address collected. Whatever percentage of emails that are collected during the promotion should be a good benchmark for the percentage that can be collected after the promotion.

If a $1/email sounds too expensive keep in mind that you’ll spend anywhere from $.68 to $1.25 in costs to mail a letter once you factor in time, paper, envelope, toner, and postage.

2. How about spiffing your customers?
Offer your customers an incentive to join such as a special service discount or enter them into a drawing for an iPad. If your emails and newsletters offer helpful, valuable content then your customers will stay with you once the incentive is over. Note: the best way to make sure you are getting the customer’s active email address is to email them the incentive or the registration confirmation rather than just handing them a coupon.

3. Facebook Sign-ups
Do something with all that traffic you’re sending to your Facebook page and invite people to sign-up for your newsletter by including a sign-up form on your page. Use your wall posts and updates to reference upcoming newsletters and link to your subscription center.

4. Get more mileage from your website
Add a sign-up form to your most popular webpages. Make the signup easy to find and easy to complete. One dealer website required customers to create an account and then log in through that account in order to join their list… way too much effort for most customers. You might consider adding customer testimonials on your signup page to let new subscribers know what your current subscribers think of your emails and newsletters.

5. Make every form a sign-up form
You have forms on your website to request test drives, request details on a vehicle, contact you, etc. These forms are already asking for the customer’s name and email. See if you can add a checkbox and an invitation to join your email list as well.

6. Make the love last after dealership events
If you’re hosting new owner clinics, chamber mixers, and other community events at your dealership where people are registering their attendance, include a sign-up option with the registration. Let them know by joining your email list you’ll be able to keep them informed of other upcoming events.

7. Put the post office to work for you
Send a postcard (cheaper and more effective than a letter and envelope) to customers inviting them to go green and join your email list.

Make sure you highlight what’s in it for them for joining. Caution: don’t let an email preference eliminate postal mailings. One dealer I know setup their CRM so when a customer opted to receive the dealer’s information by email, it marked the customer as Do Not Mail. Almost overnight they lost the permission to send postal mailings to a big chunk of their database. By the time the mistake was caught months later, they couldn’t separate which customers specifically didn’t want mailers from those that just preferred email.

8. Would you like fries with that?
Your F&I people, BDC callers, the cashiers, as well as your service advisors all have your customer’s attention either in-person or when they are on the phone with the customer and usually while the customer’s account information is open on the computer. Use this opportunity to ask the add-on question “Would you like to receive (insert manufacturer) updates and service coupons by email?” That approach usually gets a much more favorable response than the typical “Can I have your email address?”

9. At your service…
How many people do you have sitting in your service lounge right now? How many people go through there each day? Give them something to do rather than just watch old episodes of People’s Court on TV. Add a computer station with some nice signage inviting people to register. By using a computer terminal or an iPad, you don’t have to worry about typos or the data entry challenges that come from illegible writing on sign-up forms. Plus, you avoid this conversation: “What are those slips of paper in that box in the corner?” “Oh, those are our email signups from last month/year that I haven’t had time to enter yet.”

10. As long as you’re going to kill a tree:
How many pieces of paper go into the hands of your customers each day? Repair estimates, service receipts, finance contracts, business cards and service reminder mailers are probably just a few. Why not add a line to the bottom of your printed materials inviting people to join your list and the online address they can sign-up at?

Remember to tell them what the benefits are so they want to sign-up.

11. What’s black, white and read all over?
How about using a QR code that takes a visitor directly to your email signup page? These can be printed on everything from business cards to window stickers. Then, it is as easy as: point, shoot and sign-up… just make sure your webpage is optimized for mobile viewing. And while I don’t have any scientific evidence to support this, I do think it makes you look a whole lot cooler than a signup form on a clipboard.

12. Avoid taking one step forward and two steps back.
OK, this tip is less about getting subscribers and more about not losing the ones you have. Make sure the content you are sending is of value to your customers. For example, if you bought a house last year, do you want your real estate agent to email you new listings each month? Give people content that educates and entertains and you’ll keep them coming back for more, as well as sharing with their social network… which can lead to more sign-ups.

What process have you implemented to acquire more email addresses at your dealership?

12 Ways to Get More Connected to Customers in 2012 is a post from: Internet sales manager training

Share the wealth!

Share the wealth!

When a dealer client asks me what CRM vendor I prefer, I first ask them what is it about their current CRM they’re married to that they don’t like.

Why isn’t that relationship working out?

Could it be they don’t value it enough?

Maybe they don’t invest as much time and energy into it as they could. Sometimes, though, it is that the technology is not doing the job that it should. It breaks down too often, won’t communicate with every other software, or do the little things in the relationship that a CRM should.

A great CRM, in a way, is like my wife.

Simply put, they keep your house in order. They track EVERYTHING. They remember EVERYTHING (often to the dismay of others). They communicate with all the different parties and keep the relationships you have with others open and honest. They alert you by the minute, by the hour, and by the day as to what you should be doing with your time. They are a living, walking, breathing To-Do List.

If you want to know when someone’s birthday is, they know. Do you want to remember what you said to someone three weeks ago, somehow they remember. How do you know that person? They can tell you. When do you have to call someone, write someone, email someone… they remind you to do it.

Let’s face it, a dealer without a great CRM (much like me without my wife), will naturally forget everything that needs to be done. All of the tasks to be completed will never be without that guardian angel in your corner (and in your ear).

They’ll clean up after you. They’ll do chores for you. Save you time. Send out communication on your behalf. Sign your name on the letters. They’re your trusted calendars. All the information you have ever shared with it, it has stored. Forever. Somehow miraculously, it can recall every detail you’ve given it (and even some you didn’t give it.)

A great CRM (like my wife is to me) truly makes you a better (sales) person.

If you have that type of CRM in your store, hang onto it. Treat it right. Pay attention to it. If you don’t have a CRM that does the little things to make your life exponentially easier, maybe it is time to take a close look at your relationship with that vendor and cut the ties.

While everyone tells you about the horrors of trying to find that perfect someCRM, when you find the right fit (as I have), they make everything you do that much easier. You’ll try so much harder to give it what it needs as well. You’ll go above and beyond at every instance to involve it in every deal at every point. It is a partnership. They make you a more successful you. In a simple-to-understand, yet overused term, they complete you.

Are you complete with your CRM?

A Great CRM is Like My Wife is a post from: Internet sales manager training

Share the wealth!

Share the wealth!

There is a divide in the SEO community between behaviors that are considered unethical and those that are merely pushing the rules to the limit. As a dealer, you have the opportunity to choose who performs your SEO and what tactics they use to enhance your rankings. It’s up to you to make sure that your SEO’s tactics fall in line with Google’s quality guidelines in order to maintain a long term ranking strategy.

As with any industry, unethical behavior is a grey area. Everyone has an opinion about what is acceptable and what is not – the key is to educate yourself enough to be able to make your own judgments. However, I’d like to make the argument that an SEO should know, understand and abide by the quality guidelines set forth by the search engines in performing optimization services. In my book, not doing so quite often constitutes unethical behavior.

Gaming the Search Engines

The quantity and quality of links pointing to your site have a direct impact on your rankings. As a result, many SEOs will attempt to inflate rankings by participating in link schemes. Popular methods include purchasing links from third parties or creating a portfolio of websites solely intended to boost client rankings. The latter method is fairly prevalent in the automotive industry, so I’ll explain in more detail.

In this example, your SEO will have a portfolio of websites that they create/host/manage themselves, which will likely have some sort of “Popular Links” section in the sidebar area of each website. They will build up their portfolio over time, adding more websites to the mix and adding additional highly optimized direct-match keyword links in the “Popular Links” section. They will sell SEO “services” to clients, but a large part of that will include adding links to these sites.

Is this SEO? Hardly. It’s lazily gaming the search engines in an effort to inflate rankings. In the short term, this method has the potential to work wonders – but do you really think that Google will allow this sort of “SEO” to flourish in the long term? Is your SEO doing you a disservice by only providing you with links that violate the quality guidelines? What happens when you stop paying for services from this company – will the links that you purchased remain intact?

No Shortcuts

As with any sort of advertising/marketing, there are no shortcuts. Good SEO/inbound-marketing takes time, patience, and creativity – none of which are exemplified by SEOs who solely participate in link schemes. They’re out for a quick buck, and you deserve a more ethical approach for the price that you pay. Do your research, explore the previous work performed by your SEO, and use backlink search engines like Open Site Explorer to verify where your SEO obtains their links. Knowledge is power in this field, and we shouldn’t encourage such behavior in our industry.

Will a few directory submissions and paid links kill your rankings? Probably not, but it all depends on the diversity of your link portfolio. In fact, with the current state of Google’s algorithm, it might even be necessary to possess a portion paid links with exact match anchor text to rank for certain location specific queries – so long as you understand the long term risks that those links carry. If your entire link portfolio consists of paid links or links from your SEO’s farm of websites, you’d better think about looking elsewhere before the algorithm changes to discount the value that those links provide.

Long Term SEO

The real key to a long term SEO strategy is to create something of value for the user. Create something that people want to link to. Unfortunately, dealers are at a bit of a disadvantage here largely due to customer demographics and lackluster website solutions like Cobalt (and don’t even get me started on Cobalt’s “SEO” products).

Will someone with the skills necessary to make a website think your Cobalt site is great enough to link to it? I highly doubt it. You’ll need something new, innovative, fresh, and useful. Be the first in your niche to offer a custom “build-your-vehicle” feature or a simple & clean shopping cart solution to save vehicles of interest for return visits. Write a highly informative blog post about the newest offering from you manufacturer with more information, photos, and media than the manufacturer has on their own website and submit the page to Reddit or post it on Facebook. Do your best to provide resources that other websites don’t have, but don’t expect to grab a strong portfolio of links when your website looks, feels, and functions in the exact same way as your competitor down the street – and no, adding your logo to the top of the page doesn’t constitute “innovation.”

The days of set-it-and-forget-it website solutions are over. For a long term SEO strategy, you need to be constantly providing value to your users in an attempt to grab links, attract social followers, and sell vehicles. It’s the future of marketing and customer retention, and if you’re not already on-board, then you’re already losing the race.

How do you feel about SEO in the automotive industry?

Do you believe that paid links are unethical?

Is Your Dealers SEO Strategy Ethical & Long Term? is a post from: Internet sales manager training

Share the wealth!

Share the wealth!

Congratulations to the Top 5 Winners!!

Last month Contact At Once and DealerRefresh hosted a Best Practices for Dealer Chat contest asking dealers to submit their best advice and practices for gaining appointments and selling to a chat prospect. We wanted to know how successful dealers are converting their chat requests into showroom visitors and customers.

More than 40 tips and chat transcripts were posted to the DealerRefresh.com forum. Click here to check them out

The top 5 winners won a $100 Starbucks Gift Card. That’s a lot of coffee!

Many of the chat tips that were submitted represent current Contact At Once! best practices including the idea of “Treating a chat request like a phone-up, and “Asking open-ended questions to uncover prospect needs” (submitted by Kane McCullin of Homes Honda of Shreveport) .

Others reminded dealers to “Just be yourself. Most of my chats, if handled properly, result in a sale” (submitted by Dave Sherman of Lavery Automotive). Beyond these best practices, five tips stood out in terms of their wisdom and practicality.

Here now are the Top Five Tips for Selling to a Chat Prospect along with the winner.

CHAT TIP #1 – Lenny Fly of Windham Select Motors
“Accept text communication – Don’t always try and push to get a consumer on the phone. Some are at work where phone calling is frowned upon.”

Why this is important: Continuing to remain competitive in an age of increasing text-based communication requires that dealers not only remain accessible, but comfortable with communicating over chat.

CHAT TIP #2 – Shamara Coates from Jim Ellis Chevrolet
“Get excited along with the client.”

Why this is important: In her submission, Shamara explained that her job as a salesperson is to help customers find what they’re looking for – and she enjoys the process. She gets excited for them the way she would if she’d found the perfect car for herself. Essential to gaining an appointment is the ability to build rapport with prospects. Contact At Once! displays the actual name and photo of the salesperson responding to the chat in the chat window to help salespeople build recognition and trust with online consumers. Adding personality and demonstrating real concern and excitement for the customer can enhance the customer’s perception of the

dealership and build a stronger rapport between the customer and the dealership salesperson.

CHAT TIP #3 – Blake Zweifel of Toyota of Waldorf
“Save time and improve outcomes by preparing for chat conversations in advance. Anticipate shopper questions and have the necessary tools and information up and ready to go.”

Why this is important: Unlike delayed-response lead form submissions, instant messaging is designed for quick response. Consumers choose chat because of its convenient nature and the promise of instant answers (amongst other reasons). Having the internet at their fingertips (including access to your competitor’s listings), an online consumer is less likely to wait very long for a response. Key in converting online prospects into showroom visitors is the saleperson’s ability to address questions which stand in the way of consumers taking the next step.

CHAT TIP #4 – Walt Kustra of Preston Auto Group
“Use a give-and-take approach: Provide some info, request some info.”

Why this is important: This tip represents a widely understood principle that applies as equally to chat conversations as it does to phone conversations. The give-and-take principle ensures that both parties are served by the conversation. After successfully building trust and rapport with a chat prospect, many will have no problem leaving their information. Remember though, that just like on the telephone, it may be all in the way you ask a question or how you frame a response.

CHAT TIP #5 – Amanda Marsal of Oxmoor Mazda World
“Incorporate a strong call to action – a compelling reason to come in now or risk losing out!”

Why this is important: While inventory, price, and trust with the salesperson are compelling reasons to act, dealers must compete with other dealerships and with the passing of time (which also kills deals). Building urgency into the conversation provides specific incentive for the buyer to deal exclusively with the salesperson and increases the likelihood that a visit will occur.

A special thanks to all the dealers who participated!

To read the specific chat transcripts relating to each of the submissions mentioned here, please review the original DealerRefresh.com forum thread entitled “NEW CONTEST: Top Five Tips for Selling a Car to a Chat Prospect”. For more dealer chat insights and information, be sure to check out the Contact At Once Chat Blog.

Top Five Tips for Selling to a Chat Prospect – Contest Winners is a post from: Internet sales manager training

Share the wealth!

Share the wealth!

The year is 1932 and you’re working at the Hawthorne Factory, a dusty, smelly factory just outside Chicago. You’ve worked the same assembly line for 20 years and have lived through countless lame brain ideas from management to squeeze out more productivity: hire more workers, buy new machinery, work longer hours….yeah yeah yeah, big deal. Are the Cubbies playing today?

One day, just when you think you’ve heard them all, Bossman strolls onto the factory floor (cigar in mouth, no doubt) with a new plan to push productivity up a notch. He says he’s simply going to crank up the lights in the factory and by doing so, productivity should increase. So, he does just that but for the first time ever, he actually hires a gentleman to measure this whimsical experiment. This stiff looking guy stands there taking notes and when the results steam in, it was your best day ever. Bossman thinks he’s figured it out…crank the lights!!

When his findings are published, a couple of brainiacs step back and look through a different lens. They come to your factory and ask to take a different approach. They dim the lights, nearly dark. Again, the stiff looking guy takes notes about the lighting experiment and again, your factory has a banner day. So, what does Bossman have to say about that! Dimming lights also leads to productivity…dim the lights!!

What happened here?

Did we learn anything?

Remember the factory name? “Hawthorne Works”…Well, from this experiment, every organizational management course in colleges across the country has at least a couple days worth of curriculum: textbooks call this “The Hawthorne Effect.” So what does it mean?

The Hawthorne Effect says “the simple act of measuring something will affect performance.” At the Hawtorne Factory, lighting had nothing to do with the productivity increases. It was the stiff guy with the notepad! The mere fact that worker performance was being measured and monitored by this guy caused workers to work harder. So why do you care? While I certainly hope your dealership isn’t dusty OR smelly, the Hawthorne Factory is just like your dealership. Measuring and monitoring performance will positively affect the productivity of your dealership.

Vendors often get caught up in a pitch of 38 different features that will improve your life. Heck, it’s easy for any dealership to get caught up in those 38 features and we certainly recommend taking advantage of everything. But we also shouldn’t forget the basics: Are you listening to your sales team’s phone calls? Service calls? I don’t have to tell you that improved phone skills translates to improved sales.

Measuring and monitoring that phone performance is as simple as using a tracking number and recording your dealership’s calls. You can then listen to your inbound and outbound phone calls (yes, I said outbound too). When they know you’re reviewing phone calls, you’ll be shocked at how much they improve. It’s not about “big brother” though and it should never be framed as such. It’s about investing time in your people and helping them improve.

How about taking a great phone session, hitting “Share this call,” and sending it to your sales team with notes as an example of a rock star job? Highlight the good, the bad, and the ugly and the Hawthorne Effect will rear it’s beautiful head.

How are you leveraging your call tracking and recording at the dealership to improve productivity and performance?

What a 1932 Factory and Your Dealership Have in Common… is a post from: Internet sales manager training

Share the wealth!

Share the wealth!

Credit cards are a necessary evil.

Yes, that’s right. I’m calling credit cards evil.

It’s trendy in this day and age to be angry at banks, Wall Street, and people that make money, but in this case, the anger is well-placed. Credit card companies are doing everything possible to take as much money as possible out of your business as they can, and they do a great job of it. With so many people paying with credit cards, not accepting them is not an option. So how can you help your dealership maximize profit and minimize card processing fees?

Simple. You need a guy on the inside who can point you in the right direction. As a former Five-Star Dodge Dealership service advisor, mechanic, and business-to-business dealership CRM sales rep turned credit-card processing salesman, I’m here to help. What follows are some insider tips on dealing with your credit card processing account.

Understanding the Vocabulary is Key

Credit card companies want you to stay confused, pay your bill, and not ask questions. As a result, statements are vastly different between processers and terminology is varied. Here are a few basic terms that you will need to understand before you can really understand the hustle.

1. Per-item fees: Charges that the processing company assigns to every transaction swiped. Usually a dollar amount, ex. $0.10 per item. Basis Points: The percentage amount the processing company charges as a fee. There are one hundred basis points in one percent. 10 basis points = 0.010 percent.
2. Downgrade: A card transaction that is higher risk, qualifying for a surcharge.
3. Surcharge: The extra amount credit card processers charge for higher-risk transactions, such as card not present, key entered, address verification not matching, etc.
4. Assessments: A flat fee paid to Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express as a percent of each transaction.
5. Interchange: A percentage of each transaction paid to the card issuing bank (MBNA, PNC, Bank of America, Citibank, etc.)
6. Discount Rate: It’s not a discount at all – this is the amount of money per transaction that you are paying to the credit card processing company

Nobody Gets the Qualified Rate

The qualified rate is the rate that you pay on the lowest-risk card transactions — card present, card swiped. Many companies will offer you a low “qualified” rate, because most merchants think that the qualified rate is the rate they will pay on all transactions.

“Well, if I swipe all my transactions, I qualify, right?” WRONG. 90% of credit card transactions downgrade automatically. So, no matter how low, you’re almost never getting that “qualified” rate.

Why? Here are just a few reasons:

1. Rewards cards automatically downgrade (95% of cards are rewards cards)
2. Transactions aren’t settled daily (cashier forgets to batch out)
3. Corporate cards downgrade to the highest possible surcharge rate.

Don’t fall prey to the sales pitch of “flat” rate, either. There’s no such thing. The credit card companies control downgrades, the processing companies do not. Visa and Mastercard have lists, updated regularly, that show the various types of downgrades and the surcharges that they require. The only thing the credit card processing company can control is their own surcharges on downgraded transactions – which brings us to the only way to eliminate surcharges altogether.

Interchange and Assessments Pricing – The Holdback of the Credit Card World

The best possible rate you can get from a credit card processing company is the one they are least likely to offer you – Interchange and Assessments pricing. I&A pricing (also known as Pass-Through pricing) means that you are charged the actual percentage rate paid to the issuing banks and the credit card companies, plus a small percentage and per item fee to the processer. In I&A pricing, your rate is usually expressed as a number of Basis points plus a number of cents (the per item fee). With I&A Pricing, the processing company is giving up the opportunity to make money on you with surcharges for downgraded transactions. It’s the best possible price you can get. Here’s how it works.

Conventional pricing: Your friend asks you to buy them a candy bar on your way back from lunch. You know that the candy bar costs $1.00, plus 6% tax. You ask your co-worker for two dollars. This covers the candy bar, the sales tax, and 94 cents, which is your “spread,” or the profit you make. This is great if you are doing this once or twice a month, and your friend doesn’t notice or care.

Interchange and Assessments: Your friend asks you to pick him up a candy bar on your way back from lunch – every day. If you charge him $2 every time, he’ll realize how much extra he’s paying and do it himself. You know that the candy bar costs $1.00, plus 6% tax, so you ask him for $1.11 – covering the cost of the candy bar, the tax, and a small spread of five cents. You’ll only make $1.00 doing that every business day for a month. But it’s better than making nothing at all.

Interchange and Assessments pricing is usually reserved for VIP customers or very high-volume accounts. Most car dealerships fall under the “high-volume account” range. Despite that fact, most credit card processers will only give I&A pricing as a last resort. You’re going to have to ask for it.

This is Just the Beginning

What I’ve given you here is just a sharpened stick to help you through the wilderness of credit card processing. Just like the automotive industry, the credit card industry is huge and multi-layered, with its own intricacies, tricks, and traps. If you have more questions, feel free to email me, and I’ll try to help you through them. As automotive professionals (or in my case, former automotive professionals) we have to look out for each other, right?

Paper or Plastic? Understanding Credit Card Processing for Car Dealerships is a post from: Internet sales manager training

Share the wealth!

Share the wealth!

When was the last time you used a phone book to find ANYTHING?

Do you even know where your phone book is?  I don’t!

The Internet is the most important entrance to your dealership. If your phone rings 100 times a week, the internet was involved in 95 of them.

For a moment, take off your car guy hat, go to Google and go car shopping. Are you visible?  Look at your competitors, are they visible?  Every one of your competitors is gunning for that same spot on page one and competition is fierce. How do you win in this game?  Back in the News Print and Yellow Pages days, all you had to do is spend more to get more.

You need brain power to beat your competitors! Having your 2^nd cousin do it for you may have worked in 2007, but not anymore, those simple days are gone.

Today, we get to chat with Dev Basu, president of Powered by Search, 1 of only 4 global agencies chosen to participate in the prestigious SEOMoz Search Engine Ranking Factors and David Mihm Local Search Ranking Factors study.

http://www.seomoz.org/article/search-ranking-factors

http://www.davidmihm.com/local-search-ranking-factors.shtml

http://www.poweredbysearch.com/

Dev is one of the most brilliant minds in search in North America.  When Dev is not helping our members in the DealerRefresh forums he is working with automotive tier 2 and tier 3 clients including GM, Honda, Chevrolet, KIA, Nissan, Mazda, Suzuki, and Lincoln delivering unparalleled results via Organic SEO, Local SEO, and Online Reputation Management services.

Having been consistently ranked as a TopSEOs Best in Local Search company with press coverage in traditional media such as The Globe and Mail (Canada), CTV News, and ITBusiness Canada as well as SEO industry publications ranging from SEOmoz to SEOBook, combined with frequent speaking on the topics of SEO, Local Search, and Social Media at conferences such as Search Engine Strategies and Search Marketing Expo, Powered by Search is considered to be a thought leader in the Local Search space.

Dev has always been a straight shooter and I wanted to take a moment and interview him. Let’s get started..

Joe - Dev, you have quite a pedigree!  If a Dealer commits to finding a person (or an agency) that can help them conquer Google and Yahoo, (I can see that you’d want a specialist, but,) where does a dealer start? 

Dev - I firmly believe it is important for my clients to understand at least the basics– people should know what they are paying for. Here’s an article where I discuss 15 Questions You Should Be Asking Your SEO Agency

http://www.seoptimise.com/blog/2009/01/fifteen-things-to-ask-your-seo-agency.html

Joe - Automotive Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is very competitive and Car dealers are heavily dependent on Local results. 

From a dealer/manager’s perspective, let’s ask direct business questions like, “Why I should care?”, “Will it sell more cars?”, “Is this complex?”, “Compare DIY vs Pro”, If I go Pro, will I see ROI?”   And “will I beat my competitors?”

Let’s hit these one at a time:

1. Why I should care?

Dev - Local customers prefer dealing with local businesses, and auto dealers are no exception. Google and other search engines are the local search of this day and age, having replaced print publications and the Yellow Pages. The bottom line is this: If your dealership cannot be found on major search engines for a local search such as “honda dealer tampa”, you’re effectively invisible.

50% of new vehicle buyers and 58% of used vehicle buyers said the web was the most influential information source in their purchase decision (PolkView, Feb 2011).

“Search engines are commonly used, with Google cited as a primary mechanism for getting car buyers to the dealership website from which they purchased their vehicle. About half of buyers who visited a dealer website arrived at that site via search,” (http://bit.ly/pB9L8T)

2. Will it sell more cars?

Dev - There is a very strong correlation between obtaining incremental search traffic to your dealership website and the number of contacts and subsequent sales that happen as a result of this traffic. While this can be measured succinctly using web analytics and call tracking platforms, much of the intuitiveness behind this is in the ‘consumer intent’ of the search term.

The more specific the query being searched, the higher the chances of you as a dealer getting a highly qualified prospect. The type of search can separate a window-shopper from a buyer, and here are a few examples that illustrate this:

Informational:

• 2012 honda civic
• 2011 honda civic vs 2011 mazda 3
• 2011 honda civic review

Buying queries:

• 2011 honda civic michigan city
• best price for 2011 honda civic in michigan city
• honda civic dealers in michigan city

3. Is this complex?

Dev - Local search optimization can be incredibly complex to execute, measure, maintain, and iterate, but at its core it relies on 3 things (google specific)

1. Having a properly optimized Google places listing.
2. Having consistent dealer Name, Address, and Phone # information throughout the web (3rd party sites, micro-sites, blogs, yellow pages publishers, directories, etc).
3. Having many of these references to your business N.A.P (name, address, phone number) throughout the web. The number of reviews your dealership has both on Google places and elsewhere on the web (edmunds, dealerrater, insider pages) is important. We wrote about the 20 most important places to obtain these references (known as citations in the Local SEO industry) at http://www.poweredbysearch.com/local-seo-citation-sources-us/

Joe – DIY vs a Pro?

1.  If I DIY, can you sell me a road map or a manual?

Dev - Though this is not specific to dealers, I wrote a 5 part guide to a Local SEO road-map over at Web Marketing Today and at Business.com

http://www.business.com/guides/learning-local-seo-and-local-search-optimization-48309/

http://www.wilsonweb.com/local/basu-local-seo-intro.htm

 2.   We’re busy selling cars, if I DIY, how long does it take?   Is this something a receptionist can execute (or mess up?)

Dev - A well-executed local seo strategy can take anywhere between 1-2 months to get setup, and then may take a bank of hours every month to continue to market and promote. Note that I did not say ‘maintain’. You can maintain a website’s hosting or code, but Local SEO is squarely a sub-set of internet marketing.

If you DIY, take the time to assign your dealership’s marketing manager or web marketing manager to all your Local SEO activities. Your receptionist will in all likelihood not understand the nuances of local search optimization. Poorly done local SEO can be very detrimental to your business, and even so-called ‘qualified’ professional in the SEM, Yellow Pages, and Call Tracking industries frequently get it wrong.

3.  If I go pro…   Is this expensive?

Dev - The SEO industry is not regulated and pricing can range wildly from $49 per month to $5000 or more month. How’s a dealer to separate the snake oil from the professionals who know the industry best?  Look for the following:

1. The best in the industry are in high-demand and do very little outbound marketing. Good SEO companies are not likely to cold call you repeatedly.
2. Is the agency or consultant transparent about what they will be doing to optimize and promote your site?  If they offer a black box approach to marketing, then run for the hills.
3. Do they have previous case studies to showcase results with other clients?  Ask for references and ask tough questions.

Pricing models can range from the traditional hourly model, to performance and value based pricing. Powered by Search prices campaigns based on keyword competition and attaches a monthly retainer to our managed campaigns.

5.  Is there ROI?

Dev - Simply saying ‘yes’ would be an understatement. Next to email marketing, there’s no better medium to generate high ROI results. Most of our clients receive an ROI between 500$ – 2500% in their first six months of working with us.

However, most dealerships are terrible at CRM and full funnel conversion tracking. There is a disconnect between the attributed marketing channel that attracted a lead, the cost of that lead, and the final conversion (sale) value. Agencies like ourselves try to bride part of that gap by implementing proper online conversion tracking, call tracking, and CRM integration for larger clients, but to date I have not seen dealers execute an end to end ROI tracking strategy that breaks down by a specific marketing channel.

Joe – Selling cars is a competitive field, if I hire a PRO (like yourself) 

1. Will I get better results than I am seeing now?

Dev – Yes. Setting expectations is paramount, because SEO is not an over-night recipe to higher revenues. That said, the average local business (including all our dealer clients) see tangible and positive results within 90 to 180 days of starting to work with us. This time span differs from agency to agency, but the industry standard is usually within the first 6-9 months unless you’re trying to rank for something extremely competitive or generic.

2.  Will I out rank my competitor(s)

Dev – Modern SEO’s tend to focus less on achieving rankings and more on attracting qualified traffic. For example, let’s say a 1000 people are looking for ‘honda dealer nyc’. While a good SEO company or consultant can certainly help you outrank your competition, they will also investigate permutations and combinations of this keyword to create ‘key-phrase’ rankings that attract more overall traffic. For example:

• honda dealers nyc
• honder dealer new york
• honda dealers in new york
• most reliable honda dealer in new york
• new york honda dealer … and so on.

The idea is to mine your web analytics to see your highest converting keywords and if those are not ranking #1, to make that happen.

Joe – Dev, In your opinion, looking at the Dealer’s internet battle front now, here are the battle fronts I see:

• PPC
• Social Media
• Local SEO
• Organic SEO

 From your vantage point, please rank them in your team’s ability to generate ROI

Dev – Local SEO – We package this as part of Organic SEO month to month full service retainers because of the blended algorithm being more heavily skewed to organic ranking factors. Local SEO has the HIGHEST ROI ( starting at 500% average for our clients, and as high as 3500%)

Organic SEO – We do this as a standalone w/o Places optimization or citation building involved but don’t advise this package in markets where mixed results are displayed. Organic SERPs are the bread and butter of Search but have less ROI than blended local or map only results because they stand out less. The ROI on long tail searches are obviously higher.

PPC – We charge a base rate of $500/month for PPC accounts which scales up based on the complexity and number of hours involved. When we do both PPC and SEO we help clients ramp up on PPC in the beginning and scale down as their SEO grows stronger. Then, the PPC is restricted to a few head terms that have decent conversion rates, and it larges focuses on long tail traffic to ensure the highest conversion rate at the lowest cost per conversion.

Social Media – We only provide consulting and channel setup and optimization. Eg: Setting up Facebook Fan Pages, Branded Twitter Channels, Listening Programs, Scheduled posts, connecting inventory updates to post to all your social networks, auto-response programs to people that mention your brand or mention specific keywords in their tweets etc.

To summarize the order of ROI -> Local SEO, Organic SEO, PPC, Social Media. This is specific to qualified lead gen and not to other elements such as branding. One thing that PROVES all of this is Google’s new multi channel attribution reports. In almost all of our clients we see SEO as a whole being responsible for the lion’s share of the conversions.

Joe – Let’s end with some insight into how you came to become a Search Marketing authority and what you like to do “off the clock”.

Dev – I fell into the world of search marketing quite by accident while working for Microsoft as a channel marketer. Our resellers were complaining that they couldn’t find a reseller portal site on microsoft.com even if they used the company’s search engine at the time, msn.ca. This piqued my interest and the rest is history. In the last 5 years I’ve worked in the search marketing industry as a consultant, in-house, agency side, and now as an agency founder at Powered by Search. I live in Toronto, Ontario and have clients throughout North America, many of whom are Tier 2 and Tier 3 automotive clients.

Powered by Search is best known for its industry leading expertise in local search optimization and search engine optimization. We’re frequently speak at search marketing conferences like SES and SMX, and have been quoted in the press by the likes of online publications like SEOMoz, SEOBook, Search Engine Land, and offline newspapers and news channels such as the Globe and Mail and CTV News.

When I’m not working, I like spending time with my girlfriend, family and friends, watch movies and tinker around with my iPhone. I’m also an avid food buff, and I love trying food from different parts of the world.

– Thanks for your time Dev, it’s been  a real pleasure.

It’s 10 o’clock. Do you know where your phone book is? is a post from: Internet sales manager training

Share the wealth!

Share the wealth!