I’m sure by now you’ve heard of foursquare and gowalla. They’re a location service-based social network; a cross between a friend-finder, a social city-guide and a game that rewards you levels of “badges” for “checking-in”.

Ok, that’s all good and fun right?

But now, Yelp has decided to jump in the game (I’m sure others will follow). Yelp is looking to make their current service even more interesting by adding a location based feature that allows reviewers to show how many times they have “checked-in” at a location while at the same time allowing users to write a review right from the Yelp mobile app.

You’re following me right?

Let’s say Mary Smith brings her Nissan 09 Maxima in for service. She finds herself waiting in the lounge 30 minutes past the intended time. Just as frustration sets in, the unfriendly service writer finally enters the waiting lounge only to let her know it’s going to be another 20 minutes (and forgets to apologize). Mary’s car is finally ready; she deals with an insensitive cashier and finally makes her way to her Maxima tightly parked between 2 other cars in the parking lot. As she approaches, she notices a scratch on the driver side front fender.

By now she’s had all she can handle and has determined that she’ll no longer be returning for service. She reaches for her iphone, fires up her mobile “check-in/review” social app and in less than 5 minutes has written about her whole experience before even leaving the dealer!

Mary just happens to have her Yelp and/or foursquare account tied into her Twitter and Facebook account. So not only will her negative review of this dealer be posted on this dealers Yelp business page but also automatically makes it’s way to her Facebook page and twitter stream. TRIPLE WHAMMY!!

Can this really happen? You bet it can.

If you’ve been reading DealerRefresh for any length of time, you have a keen understanding of the importance of your dealer’s online reputation. As this new wave of social/review app continue to surface, it’s going to be even more imperative that you have a pro-active and re-active reputation management process established.

Are you currently tracking your dealer reviews on Yelp and other social business review websites?

Search “Car Dealer Review Websites” in Google and your results are something like this…

How do they rank using Compete.com?…

Comparing review sites exclusive to car dealers ONLY.

Are you using these sites to your advantage, and if you are..which one(s) are you leveraging or watching?

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?

Guest Posting by Stan Sher

Does your dealer have a complaint on the RipoffReport.com?

Are you monitoring the site to be sure your not listed?
How do you treat your customers?
How did you treat your previous employees?

These are questions that need to be considered when we search for our dealership in Google to monitor our placement. The reason for this is that there are many dealerships that have given previous customers as well as previous employees a very negative experience. These dealerships have rip-off reports filed on ripoffreport.com.  These accusations or statements are easily found on the search engine when you Google the dealership name and are sometimes seen on the first page. As the internet evolves even further, dealership reputation management is becoming more important. There are websites that offer a lot of insight which can be both healthy and/or harmful to your dealership’s reputation.

Ripoffreport.com is a website that was created to help consumers to take negative shots at businesses which accordingly did not practice proper business methods when handling these customers. In addition, there are negative reports by some previous employees of some of the companies that can be found on there as well. The problem with this website is that anyone can access it without disclosing their information making it impossible to find out who was responsible for slandering your dealership. This makes it difficult for dealerships to try to make things right with the customer. It has been said in the past that this website was created by an individual that generally despises major businesses. Another problem is that dealerships are not realizing that this website is round and are completely ignoring the damaging effects that the website has on their reputation.

I first found about ripoffreport.com when my best friend who owns a marketing company showed me three negative reviews that were put up against his business. He took it very lightly and did not care much since he has a lot of loyal employees and he solicits the internet heavily to get people to come work for him.  I later started looking for a new job at one of the most successful Honda dealerships in the country only to find over fifteen rip off reports which come in the goggle search.  This got me curious so I started looking at other dealerships and found some of them on this site. To protect the integrity of these businesses, I will choose not to name any of them in this article.

So how do we handle this problem? We need to start thinking from two perspectives. As a dealership we must tighten up the ways in which we do business.  Consider what you would do to keep strong CSI scores and use those practices in all transactions from sales to service to parts. In other words, do not let your guard down and treat all customers with the respect that they command. We must also start to think like a consumer. This means that we should consider how we ourselves would handle a negative situation if we were a customer. Use these thoughts to fix any problems that you may have had with a customer and to avoid any future problems.

As a consumer, I know that when I search for a dealership I will look at all of the resources that I can find so I learn if I am comfortable doing business there. When I see one these reports I start to look for others and as I find that this dealership has over ten reports filed against them I am very likely to consider my alternatives and go somewhere else to purchase my car or get servicing done to my vehicle.

What does it cost the dealership?

Well it loses business, gross profit, credibility, and causes negative “word of mouth” advertising. I heard of many dealerships that have this problem but no one ever seems to care and ignores it.

How do dealers control this?

Well we monitor our dealer site on a daily basis for starters. Next, we look at how we do business with people and change our practices. We sharpen up our people skills and treat customers right. We do the right things by customers and do not play games with them by lying to them with low ball offers or mistreat them in the business office.  We service them and always ask for the best ratings. Also, when someone quits our dealership we end the relationship on a positive note and make sure they get paid what is owed to them. It might take time and investment of some money. However, the last thing you want is to have negative comments about your dealership when you are trying to bring as many visitors as you can to your web site.

Now, there will be times when you cannot satisfy a customer and you might catch a bad report. This is why the ripoffreport.com allows you to do a rebuttal and solve a problem to keep your profile on ripoffreport.com as low as possible. Keep a high profile of positive things about your dealership while keeping a low profile of the negative things and watch your business grow. An example of a website that will help uphold positive reputation management is dealerrater.com.

About the Author: Stan Sher is an Automotive Industry consultant and Account Manager for RedNumbat

Guest Posting by Audrey Knoth

These days, the most believable voices come from individuals, not what your dealers says about itself.

As one who subscribes to Automotive News daily alerts, I’ve come to expect a several-times-a-day dose of once unthinkable news about the auto industry. There may not have been many tears shed over the collapse of the world’s largest Chevrolet dealer, save for those who depended upon it for their livelihoods. We all feel deeply for them. But the fact a giant could topple so suddenly shows how fast change can come, even in the industry long heralded as America’s largest.

Of course, the economy and business are cyclical. After the bad times, the good times inevitably return. However, my firm has handled public relations for auto dealers for more than 15 years and I believe that the industry is facing a watershed moment. Unless dealers embrace the principles of Web 2.0 now, when prosperity comes back, a lot of those who made it through the downturn won’t survive the upswing.

Accompanying the economic crisis is a crisis in consumer trust. People no longer believe what institutions and organizations tell them. I hardly need to detail why; a glance through the headlines about financial executives publicly vaunting their companies right up until their collapse spells it out clearly. But consumer mistrust is not confined to the financial sector. Think about it: who unabashedly believes what any company or entity says about itself anymore?

These days, the most believable voices come from individuals. The recommendation, criticism, or opinion that matters to each of us now is that of a peer – someone else who is “just like me.” In considering a significant purchase, we want to know what someone else “like me” has to say about the product and the experience of buying it. Consumers routinely Google for these comments prior to opening their wallets. What the company selling that product says falls into the category of “information to consider, but not necessarily believe.”

This shift in consumer attitudes has profound significance for the auto industry, which has grappled with decades of public mistrust, anyway. The car business has been struggling to come to terms with Web 2.0. Most executives continue to fear what consumers would say if they opened their sites to dialogue and customer comments. They figure it’s safer not to engage and so the majority of them don’t.

But what may seem safe now is exactly what will prevent many auto dealers from succeeding when the current crisis is over. After the dark economic clouds clear, the sun will be shining on a new era – one in which consumers will be able to spend money, but will only be willing to do so with companies endorsed by “people like me.” Woe betide auto dealers who are not onboard and ready with Web 2.0 then.

Dealers should use this slow period to invest time, resources, and yes, money, into transforming themselves into Web 2.0 operations. Of course, it’s not just a matter of redesigning the dealership’s web site. It’s also a question of training all staff throughout the organization to walk the walk in terms of truly exceptional customer service that builds relationships.

Dealership principals need to give Web 2.0 a seat at the executive table. For dealers who embrace this, the return of the good times will absolutely be great.

About the Author: Audrey Knoth is the Executive Vice President
for Goldman & Associates Public Relations

The power of the Internet is being felt by the Husker Automotive Group at their BMW of Lincoln store.  Before we get into the details of this debacle, we want you to know it was debated as to whether this should be posted on Dealer Refresh or not.  At the end of the debate, the spirit of teaching other dealers a lesson from this mistake won out over just pointing a finger.  We don’t strive to kick people when they’re down.

Anyway, this all started on March 20th, 2008 when this eBay auction ended:
click for actual listing.  There was only a single bidder and he won the auction for $60,000 on a brand new 2008 BMW M3 Sedan with a MSRP above $70,000.  Obviously BMW of Lincoln was not watching the listing close enough, and they also forgot to set a reserve (mistake #1).

When the auction ended the winner was contacted, by email, with the statement “Congratulations” – according to the winning bidder.  Then that email was followed by a second email and phone call stating the listing was an error (mistake #2).  After some dispute over things, the winning bidder started a thread on one of the M3 forums:
click here for that thread.

Two days later, AutoBlog picked the story up:
click here for that article.  Since AutoBlog put it out, the story has traveled across every automotive forum we’ve seen.

Remember lightsabre boy, the lol’d owls, and the chubby-cheeked Asian boy?  Well, we can now add the General Manager of BMW of Lincoln to that list.  His photo was found here: Husker BMW staff.  Now he is the latest Photoshop child of the Internet.  Since his Internet popularity took off, he sent an email to the winning bidder asking him to stop all the things happening around the Internet (mistake #3), as if the winning bidder can do anything about it.  But the winning bidder has been posting all the email communications from BMW of Lincoln, and now the General Manager is a YouTube hit:

Upon further debate, we decided to take the video down.  Even though the video is technically hosted on YouTube (not Dealer Refresh) we decided it was not compliant with Dealer Refresh site rules.  We must admit we were caught up in the hysteria and were not thinking things all the way through when we linked that video to this post.  We would like to apologize to the people who have been targeted in this whole mess, and let those people know we sympathize – this must be an incredibly difficult time.  Just remember:  “this too shall pass.”  We would also like to put on the record that we have a lot of admiration for the larger dealer group encompassing Husker BMW.  We started this post on the notion that it will help other dealers be cognizant of reputation management (a hot topic in the dealer world right now).  We would also like to extend an invitation to any representative of Husker BMW, or the larger group, to participate in the comment thread attached to this post.  We welcome any insight you can give, and hope you’ll take this opportunity to help your cause.

Sincerely,

Jeff & Alex

“These bloggers out there, they have lots of time on their hands to do this.” …one of the salesmanagers.

“Did it ever occur to the dealership that they created a situation that compelled complete strangers to MAKE time?”….the winning bidder.

It only takes 1 person, 1 posting to really screw things up.

There is a lot to learn from BMW of Lincoln’s mistakes.  Let’s recap those:

1. Put a reserve on your eBay auctions or make the opening bid something you can do.
2. Don’t assume your customers are dumb.  Don’t tell someone putting a car on eBay was a mistake when you’ve obviously taken the time to make a decent listing.
3. Don’t email an upset customer anything they can hold against you publicly.
4. Know when you’ve lost and make things right.  Admit your mistake and move on, no matter how much it costs because the penalties are far worse.

We’re sorry this happened to you BMW of Lincoln, but you really did it to yourselves.  Hopefully you’ll do the right thing, and have learned the power of the Internet!

Co-authored by Jeff & Alex