DealerRefresh

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

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Three Ways To Find Candidates With Quality – For Hire!

Most dealerships struggle to find quality applicants for their open positions. Merely acquiring resumes to review is not enough; your goal is to find a small number of motivated and qualified job applicants with whom you can invest time.

When attempting to fill an open position within your dealership, it is important to use your time and money efficiently. The best way to do that is to leverage your existing brand, to leverage your existing employee network, and to make strategic use of all the different online job boards.

three-ways-find-quality-employees-for-hire

Attracting the highest quality candidates can be difficult if you don’t know where to begin. Consider the following strategies: [Read more…]

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5 Shocking Stats That Will Change The Way You Sell


Reality check. We’re not living in the Information Age anymore.

Newspaper and banner ads have long been forgotten across sales & marketing meetings around the world. Our most basic vehicle for communicating and information gathering, text, is now being replaced with video, emojis, GIF’s, augmented reality, and voice assistants.

1. Consumers will purchase an average of $2,276 over the vehicle base price to get the tech features they want.

Here are a few of the latest tech features that are steering purchasing decisions: V2V Communication, Apple CarPlay/Android Auto, 360-Degree Cameras, Bluetooth Connectivity, Mobile Wifi, Blind Spot Awareness, Wireless Device Charging, Autonomous Vehicles, Heads-Up Display, Keyless Entry, and Forward Collision Avoidance. [Read more…]

Latest Hot Topic in Forums

Inventory Copyrighting – Idea?!

Carluminati Getting Refreshed

First Name:
Chris
Location:
Amherst NY

So as dealers contend with 3rd party sites who make a living off scraping our inventory, and then seeing them creating a monetized platform with in essence OUR goods, which they don’t have permission to peddle, I think there might be a solution to challenge these website which has no respect for us.

Inventory Copyrighting.

I’m curious if it possible to copyright inventory monthly, send files to USPTO, but also craft a contract which specifically grants an existing vendor limited rights, based on their contract. Then by posting the copyright notice on the website, should any company scrape your data, they will be sued.

Could it work?

Click here to comment in the dealer forums

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Down Market? Time for a Little “Old School” Automotive

Old School is New Again

While most of those who use the term “old school” in automotive retail are speaking disparagingly about dealerships, managers and salespeople relying on outdated marketing, sales techniques and processes; the truth is that the most successful dealers I work with today understand that sometimes “old school” is still the best way to move some metal.

In the current flat-to-down market, most dealers have no idea where to cut, where to spend, or where to focus their efforts. This, of course, is because most dealers just rode the wave for the past 6+ years, and only now are they faced with falling sales.

For these dealers, I recommend mixing in a little of what others consider “old school.” Here are four quick, old-school strategies I recommend you start with if you’re looking to gain share in a down market: [Read more…]

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VIDEO: Choosing a Chat Provider for Your Website – A Refresh Friday Webinar

The majority of dealer websites have some kind of chat provider, whether it’s in-house, fully managed, or automated. The reason for having chat may seem obvious – to help conversions.

Ninety-eight percent of visitors leave the dealership site without submitting any kind of information. If you can improve that tiny number, great, but it must be done correctly.

Improving the Customer Experience

[Read more…]

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He Gets That From Your Side of the Family: The Myth of Attribution

When things go right, people hope to claim credit for it. When they go wrong, the blame must be pointed elsewhere.

This is how it has gone with children and sales. When your child gets straight A’s, they get it from the mom. When they are cuter than cute, well that’s good genes on mom’s side. When the child is funny and popular and gifted, thank the mom’s side of the family. When the child smarts off or gets in trouble, it’s dad’s fault. Somehow. And moms will let dads know. “He gets that from your side of the family.”

This same dichotomy exists in sales. When sales volume is up, the team must have worked harder to make it happen. Our marketing did what it was supposed to do this month. Lead providers, digital solutions, and direct mail partners rejoice. It was single-handedly each of them that are responsible for the uptick. Right? Wrong. [Read more…]

Latest Hot Topic in Forums

Auto Vendors VS. Open Market

Carluminati Getting Refreshed

First Name:
Chris
Location:
Amherst NY

So I’m one of the guys in the digital car space looking beyond what various auto vendors offer in our industry , compared to what’s out there in the open market – to find similar technology which could procure the same result – for costing purposes.

I’m coming to the conclusion more dealers should be looking everywhere for solutions. There are over 5,000 digital companies out there on the Martech 5000 and the list grows fast every day, however the focus of this thread to to show the huge delta in price comparing an auto vendor to the open market where it’s possible to find comparable products.

Focus on this new acronym I created: TRUE VENDOR COST (TVC)


Without naming a company, I got a call today from a vendor who sells POP UNDER ADS. The price was $499.00 per month.  That’s really a $5,988 sale for a years worth, and would cost $29,940 over 5 years.

The TVC for this AUTO VENDOR service is actually $5,988.00

(We all operate an annual accounting schedule, not month to month – right!).

So what we want to know is what the true cost so we can make a smart decision. Dollars are harder to earn, we’d prefer to spend as little as possible to achieve our goals. Let’s look at our options because that is the right thing to do.

Taking a quick second to search for alternatives, I found many excellent companies with stellar success in this area, and one such company offers at the high end, a plan for $29.00 per month. That’s really a $348.00 sale for a year’s worth, and would cost $1,740.00 over 5 years.

The TVC for this OPEN MARKET service is actually $348.00

The delta is $28,200 more if we select the Auto Vendor compared to Open Market vendor. I cannot see any justification to spend more than I would have too. So as we make head way into finding help making our websites and leads perform better, let’s keep in mind we have multiple vendors, and some who provide CASUAL TECHNOLOGY, like Pop Under Uds – just get the OPEN MARKET options, they literally do the same thing for less dollars.

What is your take on this?

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Latest Hot Topic in Forums

Is the extra cost worth it for CarGurus banner displays??

RossS Noob

First Name:
Ross
Company:
RK

We are considering adding CarGurus right now, and they provided us with two separate quotes. One is just for the regular listing service, then the second quote includes controlling the banner ads around the vehicle listings.

Has anyone noticed any difference in performance with or without paying for the banner ads? I asked the rep if he had any data on performance difference, he did not.

Click here to comment

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Amazon is Coming. How to Stay Ahead With Outstanding Marketing Tools

If you’re like many of us in automotive, your inbox is full of forwarded articles like this one from the Wall Street Journal proclaiming the demise of car ownership. This threatening disruption is causing much buzz – and much speculation. But although we can’t predict the future, one thing’s for sure: we need to step up to the challenge of innovating for whatever tomorrow brings.

The auto industry has always been a space for explosive growth. Transportation is a core human need that spurs enormous business opportunities – and also leads to game-changing innovation. Think about it from a historical perspective: for 15,000 years, humans have been trying to get from point A to point B faster and more safely.

In the ancient world, this led to serious innovations involving horses and camels, driving enormous economic opportunity: saddles, stirrups, feed supply, roads, and new commerce all emerged as a result. (Who were those Tier 3 camel transport suppliers?) These powerful new transportation models granted ancient kingdoms military superiority and economic superpowers.

With all this potential, it’s no surprise that the most innovative corporations of our time – Google, Apple, Amazon – are turning an eye to transportation. And it’s not just autonomous driving and connected cars that are catching the attention of retail giants – it’s establishing sales models that put them into direct competition with today’s dealership, powered by some of the most sophisticated marketing tools available.

Competing with such giants is a daunting prospect – but if we’re being honest, inevitable. Dealers facing the current landscape will find themselves going head to head with great companies to capture the attention of tomorrow’s car shopper. To be successful, they need access to the tools that enable the likes of Amazon to be so successful. [Read more…]

Latest Hot Topic in Forums

Facebook Advertising Questions for Dealers

Shelby Tatomir Noob

First Name:
Shelby
Company:
Stevinson Automotive

How much do you spend on boosting organic content (page posts) each month on Facebook?

If you’re utilizing lead ads on Facebook, what content are you putting into those lead ads and how are you targeting the audience? (custom audiences, lookalikes, saved audiences)

Any advice is appreciated!

Click here to comment in the dealer forums