The year is 2035. The scene, a ramshackle car dealership with cracked asphalt, a few dim fluorescent lighting fixtures swinging on thin chains and empty jars of Folgers crystals where the keurig machine once brewed single servings of cinnamon vanilla dark roast.

The cars are still perfectly aligned in rows, but no one is hovering over them, buffing out the handprints. If you listen closely, you can hear the sound of nervous breathing beneath the shuffle of paper. It must be the sales staff, but why are they all hidden, crouching behind desks and lingering in the lavatory?

Who has instilled such fear in a once fearless sales force?

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We all know that most dealers are good at selling and servicing cars.  Turning toward a computer; not so much.  We rely on our vendor-partners for that.  Sometimes our partners try to take advantage of our computer-naiveté and that just isn’t right.

When it comes to domain ownership some web hosting companies purchase a domain for the dealer they just contracted.  What the dealer doesn’t realize is that the contract states ownership of the domain actually belongs to the web hosting company.  If the dealer decides to change companies, then that domain stays with the old web hosting company.

What is a domain?

A domain, as referred to in this article, is more commonly known as a URL, link, or website address.  When not using your Google bar, it is what you type into your browser to get to a particular website.  DealerRefresh’s domain is www.dealerrefresh.com.

Domains (URL) have become so important today that some would argue you should change the name of your business depending on what domain is available.  That is the argument if your proper business name plus “.com” is not available.  Hopefully we don’t have to sell you on how important the Internet is and that over 60% of your customers are using it to find some sort of information about you.  Just like your investment in a good piece of real estate near the busiest intersection, your online address should be easy to find, be designated with a “.com” – not .net, and contain the name of your business.  This is not done solely for SEO purposes or anything fancy; this is simply because a lot of people type yourbusinessname.com as a way of finding you.

If you own the trademark to your name you can claim it under the Anti-Cybersquatting Piracy Act (ACPA).

Domains are real estate.  Don’t let someone steal your land.

This article is here to serve as a reference for any dealer who is being taken advantage of by their current web host or a previous one.  Please throw this in their face because they need to stop immediately.  Holding your domain hostage is just wrong.

Here are a few web hosting companies that have publicly denounced the practice of cybersquatting:
alphabetically listed

AutoRevo: Your Domain Name is YOUR Domain Name
ClickMotive: Squashing Domain Squatters
Dealer.com: Who Does Your Domain Name Belong to?
DealerFire: Domains the DealerFire Way
DealerOn: Don’t Lose this Contest.  Be the Master of your Domain.
DealerSkins: Protect your Online Identity with Proper Domain Name…
eCarList: Master of Your Domain$

**If your a dealership website provider and would like to be added to this article, please contact us with a link to your article, and we’ll get you added.

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Mr. Perry and Mr. Golub, if I may speak for the dealer body,  it’s well known that we all are upset about the high costs of advertising in classified sites like AutoTrader.com and Cars.com, but, it’s not the costs of the services, it’s the lack of visibility to your shoppers! Gentlemen, this is the Internet Age, even newspapers give us coupons for shoppers to submit. Why in the world have you not built your system to give shoppers tools to REWARD both shopper and dealer? (aka lead generating tools) Please help us create ROI!

The potential for lead generating opportunities are literally everywhere on your sites!  Today, I’d like to focus on just one opportunity… I’ll nickname it “The Eureka! Link.”  Let’s go find it!

Is there a moment in Classified Shopping that splits the casual car shopper from the highly motivated shopper?   My “Uncle Joe” marketing instincts are telling me yes, and if I’m right, it’s got win-win written all over it.  First, some back ground…

Shopping on the web is now 2nd nature for many of us.  Whether it is travel, real estate, automobiles or appliances, the mechanics for shopping a high-ticket purchase is almost the same for every industry.

Here are the steps:

1. research for products to fill the need
2. price discovery on that product
3. possibly communication beforehand
4. the transaction itself

IN THAT ORDER.  If this makes sense to you, here is the simple path to a merchants door.  Research, Price Discovery, Transaction.

I want to focus on the “price discovery” stage of shopping, and establish it as a CORNETSTONE in the shopper’s Internet journey.

Here’s an example to clarify my point:

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Currently there are thousands of sales managers manning the towers at car dealerships across the country. Many of them have paid their dues on the floor, worked their way up to the desk and honed their skills as a sales manager.

The question is where will your next sales manger come from?

What will be their pedigree? More than likely they will have been trained to sell cars at your dealership or some other, with the same culture and motivations that have been in play for years.

We have all seen the auto sales industry move towards an ecommerce model in the past few years’ right; or have we? Will the next sales manger that your dealership brings on board or promotes from the floor be cut from the same cloth as those that came before; will they be obsolete by the time they get comfortable at their new desk?

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I’ve just arrived in Hartford, CT, after a four day transcontinental trip that led me through snow in Dallas, rerouted through L.A., and then mercifully, eighteen hours later to my final destination, San Francisco, for the 2011 NADA convention.

Eighteen hours of travel could land you virtually anywhere on earth, but my eighteen hours of travel did more. It transported me to a time long since passed, which all things considered is an impressive feat for a commercial flight, the second leg of which couldn’t disembark without spending three and a half hours to de-ice a plane. (Hey Dallas, it has snowed there before, yes?)

As I deplaned, San Francisco appeared normal by today’s standards, yes, it was 2011; I was safe. The hotel, same thing. Signs referencing WiFi availability, wall mounted, flat screen televisions and the mono-chromatic comfort of a modern four star hotel made it clear that I had not been sucked through some sort of time-bending worm-hole. Then I went to the 2011 NADA convention…

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