DealerRefresh

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

Archives for April 2015

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Digital Dealer 18 Review with Kevin Frye

Searching for Auto Treasure at DIgital Dealer 18

Arrgh! Searching for Auto Treasure at Digital Dealer 18

Have you seen my treasure map? The “X” shows up heeeere…  After a long, cold winter, I was happy to arrive at Digital Dealer 18 in WARM Tampa, Florida. Like so many others, I was searching for the treasure of invaluable information to make me a better dealer with our digital efforts, while visiting with so many great friends.

Speaking of which, a lot of the folks I know in  automotive would have likely been pirates a few hundred years ago… (hey Twitterer’s – note that I have linked most folks Twitter handles in this review, go ahead and click on each to follow some of the best in the industry!). Let’s get started… [Read more…]

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What can I say about Dealer Talk 2015?

Do you remember the Lollapoolaza rock tours that took the world by storm during the 90’s?

It was a collection of the who’s who of modern music; each concert made your ears salivate. Imagine a concert that brought together the best of alternative rock, hip hop, ska, funk, and heavy metal. What Lollapoolaza was for music in the 90’s, Dealer Talk has become for automotive marketing in Canada

Dealertalk’s version of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Ice Cube, Stone Temple Pilots looks like these marketing rock stars: Jeff Kershner, Marcus Sheridan, Grant Gooley, Scott Stratten and Laura Madison.

2015 plans to take the Dealer Talk series to the next level.

Marcus Sheridan, “The Game Has Changed: How Sales & Marketing Changed Forever and What You Must Do About It” [Read more…]

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Can You Find the Terrible Template?

If you had a salesperson who was going through a sales presentation and constantly choking on step four of that presentation process, you’d find a way to fix the issue in step four…

Better presentations lead to more sales, right?

Guess what? There is a point in your automated follow-up process that is choking and affecting not only the remainder of your follow-up campaigns, but possibly your deliverability to your other customers.

Here’s what I mean…
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A Fresh Look at Dealership Measurement and Reporting

To a lot of managers, the thought of yet another monthly vendor report is about as exciting as an empty dealership on Saturday afternoon.

I get it – you’re busy, you’ve got a system, things are “okay.” But that’s a losing way of thinking. In the world of big data and advanced analytics, failing to embrace all of the information available to your dealership will only put you at a disadvantage.

Do you think Berkshire Hathaway Automotive runs the numbers? I sure do.

Elevating Our Metrics

 
Before I get into some of the new tools you can you use to tailor and improve your store’s presence on Cars.com, I want to level the conversation.
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Don’t Be Weak Sauce

That’s what we used to call our fellow coworkers on the showroom floor when they couldn’t close a deal. “WeakSauce”.

It was a put-down. Naturally, this happened at the end of the showroom visit with a customer. The salesperson would attempt to walk them through the sales process, showing off the car, taking them on a demo drive, maybe asking for the sale too late. Then, during the write-up, they’d get hit with an objection that would have them backtracking, and the prospect would leave the store.

That is when you were WeakSauce.

However, I realize that the reason to call someone WeakSauce has changed. Over the years, car dealers have constructed a showroom process that serves more our desire to stay in control, than it does the customers’ needs.

Within this process, there is very little to object to until the very end. In my opinion, if you’re waiting until the end of a customer’s visit to discuss numbers, trade value, financing approval and more, holding off until the very last minute of their time in store to field an objection, you’re WeakSauce.

The best automotive retail professionals today (notice that I didn’t say “salespeople”) know they should seek out objections early and often when working with a potential client face to face. (It’s somewhat the opposite of a sales call where you should never actively seek objections).

Nonetheless, from the Needs Assessment, you must be asking clients about their previous experiences, research, questions, concerns, expectations, and more.

The Needs Assessment has become the most imperative element of a retail professional’s duties. You are in the industry of finding answers, solutions, and inventory for car shoppers, so needs assessments must be ongoing.

It is more important for you to be fluid and flexible in your process than it is to be rigid and disciplined to a “road to the sale”. Nowadays, if you don’t have the skills to shift your process to the in-store customers’ needs, you’re WeakSauce. If you try to “slow the customer down” so they fall in line with your process, then you’re WeakSauce.

WeakSauce no longer applies to the salesperson that couldn’t sell a car because they weren’t strong enough to walk a client through the entire road to the sale. No. Today you’re WeakSauce if you aren’t strong enough to adapt to each customer’s specific needs and goals for that particular visit, shifting the process to accommodate their preferred buying habits.

Get strong. Don’t be WeakSauce.

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GM’s Shop, Click Drive Program

Screen Shot 2015-04-07 at 9.13.38 PMLatest HOT Topic in the Forums

While it’s not rolled out to all 50 states, a few have been doing this GM program of online car buying – no feet on the lot. 

Check out this video and article here.

As a dealer, what do you think? Do you think you would sell a lot of cars from implementing this program?

As a consumer, would you buy (please, try to imagine) a vehicle without stepping foot, not only inside the dealership, but inside your new vehicle?

Personally, I struggle thinking about skipping the test drive.

What do you think would be the positives and negatives to this?

Join the discussion

 

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People Want to Talk to People on the Phone

Adwords recently announced a new call-only campaign that allows dealerships (and other businesses) to promote and encourage consumers to give them a call. With call-only ads, a click is directly translated into a phone call. This means MORE CALLS!

Did you know that about 70 percent of mobile searchers call a business directly from search results?

Prior to the call-only campaign, Adwords had a call extension feature which allowed dealerships to promote their phone number within an ad. This feature proved to be useful; however the call-only campaign is much more deliberate and direct with its tactics. If a consumer had any indecision about calling with the previous call extension feature, that feeling will be extinguished as the new campaign puts the telephone number upfront in bigger, bolder and bright blue text.

This strategy is going to more successful for dealerships because we rely on those calls. If you find yourself banging your head against a wall because you’re sick of counting website clicks – this could be for you.

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