DealerRefresh

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

Archives for December 2008

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2008 DealerRefresh Year End Review

Wow, what a year!! No doubt a roller coaster ride for our industry. We hear about “the dealer down the road” closing their door just about every other day. While the strong dealers are surviving, too many dealers are just now figuring out that internet marketing needs to be the dominating percentage of their marketing mix.

What will your dealers Marketing Mix be for 2009?? (humm, sounds like a post to me)

Thanks to everyone that has help contribute this year to DealerRefresh. From guest posters, to commenter’s to our paid sponsors. The traffic and readership doubles each year, making this another record year for DR. While there have been several other industry related blogs and social networks come out of 2008, we keep doing what we do; finding the right balance of engaging articles while hopefully writing and commenting about what matters most to a dealers internet marketing and sales efforts.

2008 was exciting here for me as we said good bye to the old DealerRefresh design and hello an all new DealerRefresh 3.0.

So as I do every year, digging back into the archives, here are some of the top/engaging posts of 2008.

Alright..I’m going to draw the line here. Every year I do this I usually find myself spending hours reviewing some of the older articles and this post takes me way longer than anticipated. 🙂

It’s always exciting to go back and review all the posts from the previous year.  Some of the conversations are timeless and engaging.

I’m not one for predictions because I think anything can happen and shit changes too fast. However I believe 2009 will be a huge year for our industry. Hopefully the economic status will start to favor on the positive side.

Social sites and social networking will of course continue to grow and dealers will eventually have to find their spot within this growing segment. Marketing of the future will be PR. Video will be web “3.0” and dealers will struggle to really grasp this medium.

Twitter will go mainstream; some will figure out how to use this medium to help build transparency.

Speaking of transparency (a word that has been beaten to death on 2008), dealers will be forced more than ever to become transparent. Dealer rating sites like DealerRater and Insiderpages will continue to be even more influential on consumer buying decisions. As this happens dealer reputation management will NEED TO BE at top of mind awareness for car dealers.

I’d like to say 2009 will be the year dealers really take hold and understand the importance of SEO but I’m not holding my breath.

THANKS TO EVERYONE for reading DealerRefresh and for your support and participation in 2008. We have a great community here and some of the best talent in the industry participating, reading and commenting. 2009 is going to be a fun ride! See you next year.

-Jeff

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American memories are shorter than ever

If there is anything 2008 taught me, it is that America’s memory has shortened even further than it was before.  It is amazing how fast people switched their car-buying habits based on gas prices going up and coming back down.  I can’t get over the speed at which truck sales died and came back.  Do people really believe we’ll never see an increase in gas prices again?  Did the environment take a back seat in our Hummers once again?

The housing market died and interest rates are at their lowest, but even with housing still in the toilet people flocked to new purchases enough to have every mortgage broker and Real Estate agent I know working through Christmas.  All indications show the housing market is going to continue to drop, so why invest now?

Never try to catch a falling knife.

Wall Street is a bloody mess, but I hear more and more people are throwing money at it thinking a big return is going to happen next week.

Wait for the knife to hit the floor first.

Don’t get me wrong, I am super happy to hear people are spending money – we need it to happen more!  I’m ecstatic some faith is being restored to the system.  I’m just intrigued by the month-to-month mentality we seem to have in this country now.  One of my degrees is in History and maybe it is that dorky academic side of me that finds this whole mess fascinating.

One thing these consumer trends are showing me is that we can either get away with more experimental advertising or have to get more long-term with our campaigns.  It is obvious people are not going to remember when you made a mistake.  Sure, a few folks will, but the masses won’t.  At the same time, maybe it means we need to start thinking about spreading our messages farther and longer.  Maybe it means we have to beat people over the head until they say stop.  Maybe we have to get extremely targeted…more-so than before.  Maybe we should concentrate on branding more than ever.  Maybe we should do more guerrilla marketing.

Whatever the marketing tactic is for 2009 it is going to be an interesting year to say the least.  No matter what, it will be tougher and require better strategizing than ever before.  I think it will be a good year for online and anything that is free to consumers (non-subscription based medias).

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When is enough enough? Where do we draw the line on expense cutting?

As most of you know, I am part of the third generation of Snyder’s at the Checkered Flag Automotive Group. My grandfather founded the company in 1964 after he himself was part of another third generation of Snyder’s at a department store we used to own in Downtown Norfolk since the late 1800’s (closed in 1969).  He is the wisest man I know. He was born before the Great Depression and only has the kind of memories one can have of that time when you’re not even a teenager. He has lived through a few recessions and has had to make some tough business decisions in all of them. He has been the top operator, in both businesses, most of his life. Many of our recent conversations have revolved around the current economic issues and just how unpredictable things are.

Checkered Flag has made some serious moves toward the lean side in efforts of survivability. My grandfather says it is too hard to envision what the next month may bring. The turmoil in the market, changing gas prices, mass lay-offs and consumer fears have turned any future strategizing on its heels.  He said he has never witnessed anything like this before.  This is a frightening statement from a man who is so grounded and experienced.

I know Virginia is only a small microcosm of what is happening across the United States. The VADA (Virginia Automobile Dealers Association) recently met with Southern Virginia dealers to discuss what they should do should a manufacturer declare bankruptcy. It was the first non-pep-rally meeting from the VADA. I heard it sent the Chrysler dealers out with a lot more gray hair.

I bring these examples up to let you know that we are also in the same boat a lot of you are in.

I just don’t know, and I don’t think anyone does.

I speak to a lot of people around the nation on a daily basis. Lately I’ve been receiving at least 2 emails a day from various Internet Managers, or vendors, asking how to get a dealer principle to not cut such and such product.  I have been asking that same question myself. So, I want to put it out in the open: Where do we draw the line on what to cut and what not to cut? Bring your comments!

If you’re worth your salt at all, you probably leaned your Internet budgets out before things in the market ever got bad – this is just something any good operator would constantly be working on.  I’m sure most of you have a threshold for a quarterly performance closing ratio that you hold all your lead vendors to.  You gauge your SEM spending based on the number of clicks you get based on past trends.  You look at your people based on their closing ratio and have numerous measuring tools for your own website.

I’d like to see this turn into a thread of comments that can help all of us find some direction in this crazy market.  Let’s talk about:

  • Reporting – using it to show value before just saying “kill it”
  • Statistics – where are you falling off?  Maybe we can help show why.
  • Conversion – is a different consumer attitude killing your conversion ratios?
  • Branding – what is a performance-based ad and where do you continue to brand?
  • Consumerism – it has changed.  We are dealing with a totally different buyer now.

    Anything else you want to discuss

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Boy would I be pissed!

I had to post this. It’s makes you sick to watch, but you have to see it.

A D.C. family is saying there is a good reason why their vandalized car shouldn’t have been towed.

Could you imagine?

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Mazda Eliminates Poor Performing Third Party Lead Sources

Mazda changes direction with their third party leads and Search Engine Marketing efforts.

An email from Mazda Dealer Online:

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Over the last few months we have been working with dealers, conducting surveys, and obtaining input from Mazda Action Teams regarding the evolution of our Mazda Dealer Online (MDOL) program. As a result of this process we have jointly developed a strategy to improve our overall lead quality, reduce the impact of lead duplication for dealers with direct contracts, and allow dealers to be more efficient with their monthly lead expenses.  Additionally, we expect this will free up valuable time needed to successfully work those internet leads that have a better chance of closing.

The strategic changes below have been a direct result of dealer collaboration that has also received full support from CD MAT, Tech MAT, and NDAC and will begin to take effect on January 1, 2009 for all dealers participating in the MDOL program.

  • Eliminate poor performing third party lead sources
  • Cobalt/Dealix and Jumpstart will be removed by December 31, 2008
  • AutoByTel will be removed by January 31, 2009
  • Increase MazdaUSA.com lead costs from $5 to $10 beginning January 1, 2009

Additional funds will be reinvested in Search Engine Marketing efforts to generate more high quality MazdaUSA.com leads

* KBB and Edmunds leads will remain in the MDOL program with no changes

This new direction should improve overall lead quality and volume through MazdaUSA.com while maintaining our best third party lead sources. It will also allow us to increase our Search Engine Marketing activities to drive more in-market shoppers and leads through our site that will help to off-set the overall lead volume decrease from eliminating poor performing lead sources.

As you can see over the first ten month’s of this calendar year close rates from ABT (4.4%), Cobalt (5.2%) and Jumpstart (4.0%) have been performing over 50% below MazdaUSA.com (11.0%), KBB.com (10.2%), and Edmunds.com (11.2%) which was a significant factor in our decision making process.

Improving quality as well as speed of response is critical in today’s competitive environment and is necessary in meeting our demanding consumer expectations. This change will contribute to our collective online digital efforts and will strengthen the MDOL program as we move into the New Year.

Zoom-Zoom.  Forever!

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Dealer Website Trade-in Tools; is it KBB Leaddriver OR Black Book Online?

Does anyone have any comments on the effectiveness of online trade-in value tools?

As far as I know, there are only really 2 available.

Black Book Online (Activator)

vs

KBB Lead Driver

I’m sure at one point or another, almost every Internet sales manager has used one or even both of these online trade evaluation tools for your dealers website. I have read a few studies that show adding the an online trade appraisal tool to your dealers website could increase conversion rates another 1-2%.

We just started with one of the above trade tools, but it was a tough decision on which one to go with.

Kelly Blue Book has such a reputable name on the consumers eye BUT I always fear that the consumer has already been there. According to KBB and several other studies, it’s one of the most consumer visited websites. If the customer has already been there, than does my chances of converting lessen? OR since I have the KBB Trade-in value logo on my site, does that give our dealer more validity?

What about the actual car values? There are many times a large difference between the two companies values.

Are there other trade-in tools that I’m not aware of?

What has been your experience?

Stephanie Hudmeyer
Internet Sales Manager

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Review on the Verizon Blackberry Storm 9530

First off, sorry for disappearing from Dealer Refresh again – I was on another vacation….rough life, I know.  I just got back Monday morning and thought I’d do a quick review on the Storm since it has now gone through its first firmware upgrade, and I’ve got some significant mileage on it.

There is a Verizon store about a mile from my house and I have to pass it to get to work, so I stopped by late on the release date to check it out.  When I got there I found out I could grab a spot to get the phone on the second shipment of the day, so I bit.  Later that day I got a call to drop everything and get to the store.  After 3 unsuccessful attempts to get it programmed (Verizon’s systems crashed numerous times) we finally got it right.

The Storm is a very well constructed phone.  It has a weight to it that gives it the same kind of feel you get from a German car – just solid.  When you turn the screen on, it is beautiful.  There is so much screen real estate you almost get lost.  It is filled with all the Blackberry goodness of intuitive navigation and simple buttons to move through apps easily.

Before the new firmware update, it was a little slow to respond to things and I found myself hitting buttons twice because I didn’t think it was responding.  Today it is much better.

The keyboard takes a lot of getting used to.  Everyday I get better, but it will never be the same as the keyboard on the Curve or Bold.  I like it much more than the keyboard on the iPhone though.  There are 3 keyboard options:  regular QWERTY, double-lettered SureType like the Pearl, and a numeric keyboard much like any regular phone.  I find myself using the SureType keyboard more than anything else.  I only use the QWERTY one if I need to type a word the SureType (fills in the words for you) doesn’t like – usually cuss words (for emphasis of course).  SureType has a tendency to replace a certain word with “ducking” every time and that is *ducking* annoying!

Keyboard Tip: grab a business card and cut in 3 equal pieces.  Put one piece between the battery and the battery cover to decrease the travel space on the push-down part of the touch screen.  This will allow you to type much faster.  Continue to add pieces of the business card until you’re satisfied or the back cover won’t close.

The phone is plenty loud – louder than the Curve and much better than the older Blackberry 8703e.  BlueTooth is fantastic over an earpiece or through the car.  Using BlueTooth sucks the battery out over a day of use, but when the BlueTooth is not on the battery lasts for days with heavy use.  My biggest gripe with the phone is that there are 4 big buttons present:  Speaker, Mute, Add Participant, and Flash.  Because this is a touch screen you either have to pull up the numeric pad or be very careful not to rest your face on the screen or you’re going to hit one of those buttons.  My second biggest gripe with the phone is that you have to hit the call button twice in order to get to the phone – it is just annoying.  When you hit the phone button it takes you straight to your contacts which is good for me about 40% of the time, but I also call people back about 40% of the time too and have to shift over, or the other 20% of the time I’m actually dialing a number.  I can’t tell you where I’d prefer the phone default to.

Where the Storm rocks is online.  I have yet to find a website I can’t visit in its full splendor.  There are 3 browser settings that tell websites what type of device you are:  Blackberry, Internet Explorer, or Firefox.  If you find a website isn’t loading quickly or is coming up in the mobile format, it is simple enough to flip between one of those three and hit refresh – works like a charm!  The Verizon 3G network is fast.  Yes, I would like Wi-Fi, but I’m not that impatient.  I find my texts, emails, voicemails and any other messages coming to and from the Storm are happening much, much faster than on any other Blackberry I’ve ever owned.

When on a call, you cannot send and receive emails, but you can send and receive texts.  I find this to be a blessing and a curse all in one.  I’m too much of a multitasker to pay attention to anything.  I’m always doing 3 or 4 things at the same time and think that not being able to respond to emails in a call helps me pay better attention (my girlfriend appreciates that), but there sure are a lot of boring business calls during the day where I’d love to be saying “uh huh” …. “yeah” ….”gotcha” ….”uh huh” while getting some emails done.

It works fantastically while roaming – even in Mexico….except in Mexican Customs where I really needed it to work (don’t ask).  I have yet to find a bad spot with this phone.

All in all, the Storm is a great phone.  I’m not convinced it is “the” phone and my search will continue one day.  I’m looking forward to the new Curve, but I certainly will not be getting one on launch day.  If you’re a heavy Blackberry user with little patience you will hate the communications side of the Storm, but if you need to visit heavy websites on the go, you’ll love it.  So I’m split because I need to do both.

Some of the things I didn’t cover, but am happy to answer in comments below:

  • Visual Voicemail
    Voice Dialing
    Instant Messaging
    Highlighting Text
    3 MP Camera
    Video Camera
    Music/Video…media
    Other Applications
    Memory
    Acclimater

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Increase Your Traffic Without Increasing Your Advertising Spend – Webinar

Increase Your Dealerships Traffic Without Increasing Your Advertising Spend

AIADA and CarFax Presents is hosting a FREE Webinar:

Date and time: Tuesday, December 16, 2008 12:00 pm Eastern Standard Time

Panelist(s) Info: Jay Luna

Process Improvement Manager, CARFAX

Duration: 30 minutes

Description: This FREE 30 minute webinar will examine the best practices that leading dealers are using to get more return on their advertising investment. Jay Luna, Process Improvement Manager with CARFAX, will be bringing real life tips that you can introduce into your already successful process to get more from your advertising and used car operations.

  • What is your vehicle history process?
  • Are you ensuring that your online listings have the information your customers want?
  • Learn some great new ways that you can increase your exposure without increasing your advertising spend

UPDATE: Listen to the recorded webinare – Increase Your Traffic Without Increasing Your Advertising Spend