Industry News & Trends

Do You Know Your Dealerships BBB Score?

Do You Know Your BBB Score?

If you don’t… you and your shoppers will very soon.

image of better business bureau

You remember the BBB (Better Business Bureau) don’t you?  Yea, it’s the auto dealers nemesis from days of old and it has been totally off Google’s radar…forever.

Those days are about to end.  How do I know? Let’s take a walk, let me show you around and you tell me what you think after.

While looking into FaceBook best practices in the DealerRefresh forums, I came on to Terrance Gordon’s post of John Eagle European’s excellent FB work. I Google’d John Eagle European and GAK! to too my surprise, there it is! BBB at POSITION 7, just below the fold!

Next was to Google: John Eagle European reviews. GULP!  Position #1!

WOW!  I scurried around to other dealer SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) that I was familiar with and found little evidence similar to John Eagle’s SERPs.  What do we have here?  Is this a new day for the BBB, or, is this just noise?

I say it’s a new day for the Better Business Bureau.

Few automobile dealers know Google like we DealerRefresh’ers know Google.  Google is all about improving the user’s search experience and we all know Google is ATTACKING local search results with all of the fire power Melissa Mayer can bring.  We know Google is all about authority and the BBB has mountains of off-line authority, measured in decades.

The BBB has what Google wants.  A Brand known everywhere, a new website makeover,  a decades old dispute resolution system, a simple grading system,  AND it’s reporting transparency. All the above makes the BBB website the mother of all review sites.  For the Google’s search quality team, it’s got HOMERUN written all over it!  Oh, did I mention it’s a non-profit organization?  IMO, its indisputable that the BBB is one of those sites that Google wants in every search for a business name.

If this happens, it begins a new cycle of power for the Better Business Bureau.  Shoppers see and read the BBB reports. Then, as the shopper becomes a buyer, should the new buyer have issues, they will turn to the BBB for resolution.

Most dealerships with poor scores treat the Better Business Bureau as the crazy uncle in the closet, they all know he’s there, but no one talks about him. Well.. that crazy uncle just inherited a million dollars and he wants OUT. I’ve been watching this set-up for months. Here it comes!

Are you ready?

Remember, you heard it on DealerRefresh first!

--Self Employed for decades. Co-Founder 3 successful start-ups. Professional Stock Trader. Marketing Dir. at Dealerships in NY for a decade, Recently ...
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I have been seeing Better Business Bureau results on a lot of business name searches for a while, but those have absolutely been showing up more prominently lately. Most of the time the BBB result has been on page 2 or 3, but I'm seeing it on page 1 more often.

Joe - nice catch. Like your last article about Dealer Reviews putting "droves of GMs and GSM’s in the fetal position, sucking their thumbs wondering how this all got away from them", the BBB could be another view into that very same future.....or a piece of that same future.

Yes sir - "you heard it on DealerRefresh first!" Thank you Joe!
J
This topic DIRECTLY connects to dealers wanting to be in Social Media.

Mr Decision Maker, if you are chasing the Social Media Rainbow, but your BBB score SUCKS, you're not going to like it when Social Media's evil twin starts dishing out it's tough love.

Most dealers don't understand how online communities HATE ignorant self-serving bullies and will stop at nothing to crush the bully.

In the dealer's defense, consumers have become over-demanding monsters and this new wave of Social Media Transparency will empower them right into the stratosphere.
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  • January 26, 2011
Dealers, don't forget to get you link on your BBB page. This will be one of the strongest links you can get.

Any sites like the BBB that has been around, is well trusted, and provides users the data they seek (unbiased reviews) should be at the top of your SEO todo list.

Lastly, don't hide from bad reviews, embrace them! These can become "stories" in a sense, and 90% of the people who left the bad review could come around and become your strongest supporter.

Best investment for 2011, embrace review sites but bring it back to a longer conversation on your domain (website, blog, etc). Make it so individuals at your organization can reply individually and give them the training to do so.
J
This is great stuff Joe! You're always one step ahead of others and this should be a must read for every dealer out there.

I see a day where a dealer with an amazing reputation will be able to use this to close customers. "Folks, let me show you our BBB rating, now take a look at our competitors rating, do you really want to drive over there and get jerked around?"
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Change the script from BBB to DealerRater and we use this to close deals every day!

Craig
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That is what I did too. In fact, when I train dealers to close deals or close appointments I use DealerRater as a closing tool. Powerful stuff. I saved a lot of deals and opportunities by doing this.
J
Dealers in denial... you have been warned. New BBB.org in Beta! You heard it here first! http://www.bbb.org/central-texas/business-reviews/auto-dealers-new-cars/mercedes-benz-of-austin-in-austin-tx-90010461

BBB Business Review Beta test of new review format -- Please share your FeedBack

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    Emilylamb96
  • June 8, 2011
Okay, Joe and the gang enough sales talk. The BBB likes to talk about their great reputation. Go to BBB roundup and read about their business. All these post just sound like another sales pitch to get people to pay their high fees. The BBB can call themselves a non-profit. But are you really a non profit if your owners and CEOs rank in thousands in salaries. huh? In regards to BBB.org. who cares. Anyone can be a .org for about 12.99, the cost it takes to register your domain in .org instead of .com or .net. As a SEO person, .org means nothing and if anyone here is keeping up with google you know that links don't count as much either. Only original content and useful information on your site matters. Yes you could google a company name and reviews the BBB will come up if a company is registered with them. This would be the same for any site that your site is listed under. You could also do a simple google search for directories and other places to list your business name and site like google and yahoo directories or in places like merchant circlle etc. Those are all for free btw. Notice I am not promoting any business. Please don't get ripped off by thinking if you pay for a link you will rank higher, that is so wrong it's embarressing someone woudl evern write it. If it was that easy why wouldn't every place just get a BBB link? Search the BBB on the 20/20 website or go to BBB roundup, it's worth your time and spread it to every other business owner you know.
M
The BBB is a huge scam.  Know this and live well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yo8kfV9kONw
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    Jeff Kershner
  • December 23, 2011
Wow. Wow. I had never seen this clip before. Wow. Thanks for sharing this. Joe, what do you think of this. I can't believe I had never seen this.
After watching this how could one not agree that the BBB is full of BS?
A
Apparently they admitted to it and claim to be making changes (circa November 2010) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GN4MKqDXGmY&feature=fvwp&NR=1
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    Jeff Kershner
  • December 24, 2011
I wouldn't trust them after that kind of crap. They should've been shut down. What a joke.
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    JoePistell
  • March 17, 2012
Wow, I NEVER knew the BBB was a SCAM. The evidence is over whelming. I am back here because the BBB is ranking higher and higher http://siteanalytics.compete.com/bbb.org/ 
 
WHERE ARE YOU GOOGLE!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yo8kfV9kONw&feature=related
 
J