DealerRefresh

Obstacles, Observations and Opinions of an Automotive Internet Sales & Marketing Manager

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DealerRefresh RefreshFriday Ep. 17 – “SE O”ptimizing your inventory for Cars.com, AutoTrader, Cargurus, etc.

Is it even possible to optimize your inventory for better placement across the 3rd-party sites?

Until recently, search results on most of the 3rd-party sites quickly yielded from highest price to lowest price. But something has changed over the last several months. Algorithms are now in charge.

In this episode of RefreshFriday Ed Brooks AND Jasen Rice join us for an in-depth conversation around optimizing your inventory for the some of the LARGEST search engines in our industry – 3rd-party sites – i.e. Cars.com, Autotrader, CarGurus etc.

Join us today at 1PM EST. Live on Facebook! [Read more…]

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RefreshFriday #17 – WIFF NIFF and the Future of Customer Experience

Join us tomorrow – #RefreshFriday WIFF NIFF  “Shaun ‘NIFF’ Kniffin” of the Germain Motor Company as we discuss the “Future of Customer Experience” – Register NOW! https://dlrfr.sh/2JnUa71

Shaun has a unique perspective and philosophy on the future of how dealers will be working with their customers. We’re going to explore this and talk about some of the impediments currently blocking dealers from achieving a better customer experience.

Stick around til the end. We have a series of FUN questions to ask Shaun…

Be sure to join us every Friday on Facebook Live at 1PM EST. Miss a previous show? Subscribe to our YouTube channel OR join the DealerRefresh Forums and start watching right away!!

Twitter: http://twitter.com/dealerrefresh

#RefreshFridays – On the lot and in the forums and LIVE on Facebook

Latest Hot Topic in Forums

Is WORDPRESS better than the REST?

Alex Snyder President Skroob

First Name:
Alex
Company:
DealerRefresh
Location:
Vermont

Now that WordPress is the backbone to over 1/3rd of the Internet I have to believe it is much more robust than what dealers get from the non-Wordpress CMS systems out there like:  CDK, Reynolds, Dealer.com, DealerOn, etc.

I’m curious as to what Dealer Inspire and Dealer Venom clients think of having so much power and flexibility?

Is it dangerous? 
Have you made significant mistakes? 
Do you utilize any plugins? 

How is life as a car dealer on WordPress?


Join the discussion – Lots of comments are coming in!!

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DealerRefresh RefreshFriday Episode 16 – VR (virtual reality) – will your showroom be the next OASIS?

In this episode of #RefreshFriday we sit down with one of the pioneers of implementing VR (virtual reality) into the dealership showroom – Nick Cybela with FlowFound.

This is cutting edge shit!!

We realize it’s the end/beginning of the month, BUT this is one RefreshFriday that will give you the insight you need to answer ANY & ALL questions related to Virtual Reality.

Join us LIVE on Facebook this Friday on #RefreshFriday and find out how VR will transform your dealership showroom…

Stick around til the end. We have a series of FUN questions to ask Nick…

Join us every Friday on Facebook Live at 1PM EST. Miss a previous show? Subscribe to our YouTube for our recorded (and edited) sessions.

Latest Hot Topic in Forums

Hey Toyota, Honda, and Hyundai dealers are you liking your price wall?

Alex Snyder President Skroob

First Name:
Alex
Company:
DealerRefresh
Location:
Vermont

I’m certainly appreciating my Toyota shopping today.  I love it when I need to give my name and email address to see the price of a product I want to buy.  In fact I’m loving it so much that I’m buying a Ford.

That’s what is going through my mind as I’m seeing these new pricing compliance rules and seeing some of them actually in the flesh.  I hear Honda has pushed this too and Hyundai is switching to this model soon.

A customer is on a dealership website and has to submit their name and email address in order to view a price less than invoice :thinker: :bs:….which is every car for the most transparent dealers.

Can someone explain the logic here?

Click here to join the discussion

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Address the Problem: Stop Making Panic Decisions

Though I rarely have time to go to such things today, family reunions are a great place to hear stories about your relatives, some of which reach legendary status. As it so happens, one of my distant cousins was a Naval Aviator who got to fly the real star of Top Gun, the Grumman F-14 Tomcat. However, unlike other stories you might hear about heroics over the Persian Gulf or going supersonic during an airshow, my cousin did quite the opposite. He dumped a $38 million aircraft into the ocean.

Although I wasn’t in the Navy, one can easily imagine that it’s a complicated feat to launch a 60,000 pound aircraft off of the moving deck of a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. It takes the coordinated effort of thousands of people, not just the pilots and the sailors on the deck. All of these people have processes and procedures that must be followed to the letter to ensure that personnel doesn’t get hurt, machinery doesn’t get damaged, resources don’t get squandered, and that support can reliably be delivered to fellow service people when in need. These actions grew out of much planning, iterative design, with careful trial and error, all measured with the keenest eye to detail, not a knee-jerk reaction.

As the reality of a slower market is setting-in across automotive showrooms throughout North America, panic decisions are starting to take place at a rapid pace. Instead of trusting in the people, partners, and processes that have worked for years, multiple issues are being addressed at once, with little thought given to how many small and interactive variables are being disrupted. [Read more…]

Latest Hot Topic in Forums

You can optimize your listings on 3rd-party sites — and should!

ed.brooks Sr. Refresher

First Name:
Ed
Company:
Cars.com

I make the contention that the 3rd-party sites are the most important search engines for used car shopping. Here’s how to optimize your listings.

“Car Dealers; How to optimize your used car inventory for third-party sites”

On the biggest 3rd-party sites the default sort was, until recently, from highest price to lowest price. Now everything has changed. Algorithms are now in charge. Make sure you are giving the algo what it wants…

Join the discussion

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RefreshFriday Eps. 14 – Mike Markette and National Fix the Phones Month

The month of May has been declared National Fix the Phones Month, for the automotive industry. Mike Markette joins us on this RefreshFriday to discuss FIXING THE PHONES!!

Topics include:
1. Some of the latest statistic from the CallRevu study
2. Best practices for the Saturday morning call recording review
3. Why do customers call dealers anyways?
4. Why can’t your managers “coach”?
5. Why dealers only get the appointment 36% of time
6.  The future of the phone with AI
7. …and whatever else we want to talk about

Feel free to post questions in the comments (facebook!!)

Stick around til the end. We have a series of FUN questions to ask Mike….

Join us every Friday on Facebook Live at 1PM EST.

Miss a previous show? Subscribe to our YouTube for our recorded (and edited) sessions.

Latest Hot Topic in Forums

AI Assistant Phone Calls – will this really work?

Jeff Kershner Founder

First Name:
Jeff
Company:
DealerRefresh & Mercedes-Benz of Hagerstown
Location:
Maryland

60% of small business (guessing dealers are not included) do NOT offer online booking / scheduling. Google Duplex believes they have a solution with AI.

Have you seen this?

What are the possibilities for our industry with such technology? Are are already seeing some of this with AI Chat.