This doesn’t hold true for all, but it will hit the nail on the head for many.

Your middle management is killing your Internet sales.

Not like “Wow! You guys are killing it!”. No. They are hurting your online sales efforts.

How? What they don’t know, WILL hurt them. DealerKnows fields many calls from dealers, but even more from their Internet personnel. What we continue to hear is the pushback your Internet Sales Managers and BDC teams are receiving from the sales managers in your stores when trying to fulfill their job duties.

I previously detailed one of the primary ways in my blog titled “The 4 Words That Make Sales Managers Sound Stupid”. Those four words? “Just get ‘em in.”

Without preparing your BDC agents and ISMs with any information, they are expected to coerce a researched, interested party into the store with no value to give them. Needless to say, the “hallelujahs”, “thank you’s” and “TESTIFY’s” we got through email was great. That is just one way your managers are hindering your online sales. Many have no willingness to (or understanding why) give out information to the customers before coming in.

This tactic is killing you.

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If not for a camera and a process, I wouldn’t be writing this article behind a desk inside a publically traded company.

eCarList’s founder, Len Critcher, sold over 6,000 cars online with a camera and two porters…oh, and some incredible software developed in-house to merchandise and distribute his vehicles to the web.

Chances are you have access to all of the above, and with the capability of apps and megapixels in the smartphones of today, dealers are running out of excuses as to why they are not taking ownership of what could arguably be considered the most important phase of marketing a vehicle – photography and merchandising.

Len’s famous rhetorical question to dealers, “does the Gap hire outside contractors to come in and fold their T-shirts?”, led us to conduct our own study.

In short, we studied a sample of franchise dealers who have an internal photography process vs. those who outsource it. The results showed an average profit increase of $288K based on decreased time-to-market and days-in-stock (not including the actual cost of your outsourced vendor).

We understand every dealer has their own set of circumstances, but for those that have the potential and the desire to merchandise more effectively, we also put together a quick-guide on how to setup a photo booth inside your dealership, courtesy of our in-house “film crew”.

Here are some findings from our study OR you can download our full study “eCarList Photography Study“.

In-house merchandising on average:

• decreased time to market by 4.2 days
• decreased days in stock by 10.7 days
• increased average 90 Day Unit Sales by 23%
• increased average 90 day profit by $72,000
• increased annual profit by $288,000

Download “eCarlist Photography Guide”

Are your vehicles being merchandised / photoed In-House or Out-Sourced?

What has worked best for you and your dealership?

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It is nothing new to say that Google Places can be a pain in the neck especially if you have multiple franchises located at the same physical address.

PCG has been working with the industry to educate, assist, and correct Google Places pages so that they can be leveraged during the Zero Moment of Truth. Once a dealer’s Google Places page is setup properly, they can start to use Google Adwords Express.

Adwords Express could be the BEST PPC strategy a dealer could leverage, if the dealership has strong reviews.

Google Places Notices Raise Concerns

Google Places Team have recently been sending out letters about updating information on Google Maps and Places. This is causing a stir, so let me advise you to be calm.

The notices are part of a transition that Google has in mind that will eventually transform what we know as Google Places to something better. Google now has a documented escalation process and trouble ticket system that is fixing Google Places issues in a timely manner.

In fact, Google has been listening to dealers and in the coming months you will see that Google does want businesses to control and leverage their business pages. The visibility, traffic, and advertising opportunities with Google Places FAR outweighs some of the pain that dealers experience as Google Places is transformed.

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It’s what every customer wants, to be satisfied!

The point became very evident to me one day during a recent business trip.

On my way to visit a client, I found myself at the Atlanta airport searching for a quick bite to eat. I jumped in line at a Sbarro, ready to order a slice of pizza. There were several people in front of me and I noticed things were not moving very quickly. The pizzeria was staffed with four people, but only one person was taking orders, the same person was also fulfilling the orders and then working the cash register. Now I like a get it done person just as much as the next person, but in this case the one employee was not getting the job done. A South American tree sloth would have beaten this woman in a speed contest.

I started to notice other customers in line and they were all displaying signs of frustration and aggravation. Several customers behind me jumped out of line and gave their business to another eatery.

I then started observing the other three employees. One was assembling pizzas while the other two seemed to be doing meaningless stuff as they engaged in conversation. This staff of four might have thought they were doing their job, but to me they were failing miserably. Without satisfied customers, pizza making becomes irrelevant, since eventually there will be no customers in line to make the pizzas for.

Unfortunately many of us experience this type of service on a daily basis. I for one am not going to tolerate it anymore. Now that my cell phone has Socialcam installed (thanks Todd Smith), I’ll be making videos of poor experiences like this one and sharing them on YouTube. As Brain Pasch mentioned in his recent article, ZMOT (zero moment of truth) is going to have a big influence on consumers as they choose whom to do business with. I’ll enjoy helping be the demise of a poorly performing business so that the doors can be opened for those who do want to satisfy their customers!

So why share this story? This is a huge opportunity for us to improve how we handle our customers. I am not only talking about dealerships, but I am also talking about the vendors who sell to dealers. We’ve recently seen a few vendors take a bashing on the public forums and they too need to act. To keep this article focused, I’ll keep my suggestions geared for the dealer.

These are some of the more common areas where dealers fail to satisfy customers:

1. Internet leads going unanswered for hours
2. Unattended chat sessions
3. Customers struggling through a phone system trying to reach a real person
4. Service customers waiting to talk with a service advisor
5. Customers waiting to pay their bill at the cashier
6. Customers expecting to be followed up with and never receiving a phone call
7. Sales processes taking too long
8. Oil changes that take two hours

The list could go on and on, but you get the point. Every customer touch point needs to be examined and processes need to be put in place to meet the expectations of our customers. Get this right and prosper.

Every employee needs to be on the lookout for disgruntled customers, you’ll know them by their body language and facial expressions. If you’re reading about it online, then it’s too late, you’ve failed! If you see somebody constantly looking at their watch, then it’s time to act. A great place to start is with a simple apology. Engaging a customer in conversation will put them at ease. Cross train your employees to help others during peak busy times.

Most importantly, each employee needs to treat his or her job like it was their own prospering business. Take pride in what you do and fulfill your responsibilities. Try to give every customer a “wow factor.” What’s a “wow factor” you ask? It’s going above and beyond the expectations of what your customers expect and providing an even greater service.

To summarize this article, here’s a great quote from Jack Welch: “Only satisfied customers can give people job security. Not companies.”

The automotive industry is filled with mediocrity; the time to act is now!

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Let’s talk about quality, not quantity. It is the only true way to measure greatness.

No matter what position you were in, how good you were during it is more important than how long it lasted. It’s not the length, but how you use it. to flesh this out, before there are any misconceptions, I must say that how long you have been in your current role at your dealership is not important. It is what you have been able to achieve.

As I travel around the nation meeting Internet professionals, I’m am starting to see more and more people who are puffing out their chest and walking with a bit of a strut because they are the top dog at their dealership. They must be great because they’ve been there for so long. One individual recently told me “I’ve been doing Internet since 1995 so I must be doing something right if I’m still here.” No. No, you are wrong. If you have been exploring (and commanding) this space for 16 years and you are still in the same position, maybe there is still some room to move and improve. Stagnant water never thinks it’s a tidal wave.

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