DealerRefresh

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

Archives for November 2015

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Thanksgiving is here – So Thank You!

I’m always happy when Thanksgiving is here. This occasion allows the opportunity to appreciate and express the gratitude to each and everyone that has been, and continues to be an active reader and participant here on DealerRefresh.

I absolutely appreciate and Thank Everyone for your support which has helped DealerRefresh continue to grow, support and provide a place for all of us to gather online to converse, share opinions and best practices while building relationships throughout the industry.

Lets not forget to thank our current DealerRefresh sponsors. Their support and advertising is another reason why we have the funds and resources to continue on at the level we do. Take a moment and not only click on one of their ads but take a few moments to visit their website and see what services they have to offer. 

We THANK EVERYONE for your support while hoping you have a blessed Thanksgiving Day

While you have some extra time sitting there on the couch (stuffed full of food) reading this, check out some of the discussions you may have missed on DealerRefresh over this busy holiday week…

-Jeff

 

Latest Hot Topic in Forums

TrueCar names AutoTrader veteran Chip Perry as CEO

Ryan Leslie Sr. Refresher

First Name:
Ryan
Company:
DealerRater
Location:
St. Louis, MO

TrueCar names AutoTrader veteran Chip Perry as CEO

Interesting…

“I’ve followed TrueCar’s progress for many years and am truly excited to be joining the company,” Perry said in a statement. “My initial focus will be on TrueCar’s dealer partners — listening to them and finding ways to serve them better.”

Mr. Perry’s accomplishments at Autotrader are notable. What do you think happens for TrueCar from here?

Comment over in the dealer forums

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Comparing Conversion Rate is Meaningless, Let’s Find Out Why

Conversion rate: this is not a new buzzword. It’s a long-lived metric that requires attention.

With that being said, it’s a very difficult metric to compare side by side with other dealerships. In simplest terms, the reason why conversion rate is so difficult to compare is because most dealerships are not measuring the same conversions.

If your conversion data set is not exactly the same as the dealer in your 20 group, then you will be either fictitiously confident or sulking in data disappointment for no good reason. In some cases you may not even be able to compare your own conversion rate on a year over year basis.

Let me first properly define what a conversion is for the context of this article: a conversion is an action that is completed on your website, whether it be a form submission, page visited, phone call, or other action. These can also be called goals.

There is not typically a right or wrong goal to measure. Because of that, dealerships very rarely compare the same goals. There is also NO industry standard, and by default, each provider will track different goals.

Let’s look at an example of conversion rate results: [Read more…]

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Inspecting Dealership Website Traffic For Unusual Click Activities

Google Analytics is the “Up Log” for your virtual showroom. It is critical for dealers to develop the skills needed to inspect the website traffic that they are generating through their marketing efforts. Every dealer has their own unique online marketing strategy. However, there are a set of tasks that must be integrated into monthly inspection of campaign performance at the dealership.

Recently, I have been writing about my concerns regarding email conquest campaigns. You can read the entire series of articles by visiting my LinkedIn profile.  In this blog post I will outline how dealers can create a Google Analytics segment to identify suspicious website traffic. I will define suspicious as a high number of clicks to pages that consumers normally do not visit.

[Read more…]

Latest Hot Topic in Forums

The Road to the Sale is DEAD?!

CraneAutoHR Noob

First Name:
Candice
Company:
Crane Auto HR
Location:
Atlanta, GA

The reason automotive retail has such a bad reputation is for the exact reasons some have listed — forcing the customer to follow a “road to the sale“, trying to control the customer, and most importantly not allowing the customer to have a voice.

road_to_sale

Customers are demanding something different. If your store doesn’t offer them a better and faster experience – someone else will. http://dlrfr.sh/1HXLuwB

I’m especially concerned with the spiff justification. Traditional retail commission plans incentivize the sales rep to do exactly what you said- steer the customer down a path they don’t want to go. There is an inherent distrust built into that model.

You are assuming the dealer or sales rep (whose being extrinsically motivated by money) knows better than the consumer themselves what the consumer wants. All because they had a 5-10 minute conversation about their “lifestyle choices”.

It doesn’t matter that the consumer has been researching their purchase for months and has probably sought guidance from friends and family. The sales rep knows best (and their pockets are lined as a result).

The reality is less and less people have any brand or dealership loyalty.

The new way of buying a car must be faster and customized to each shopper. If you can’t buy a car in an hour you are doing something wrong. If your sales reps are being paid a spiff based on a “special of the day” you won’t have any of the repeat business you mentioned in your post.

Eliminating the road to the sale and empowering your customer advocates to customize the sales process to meet (and exceed) the customer expectations is how you are going to survive.

This was a response to an engaging that’s been a long time thread around whether or not the Road to the Sale is DEAD… What do you think?

I would love to hear what you have to say over in the forums comments. Why not join me, over in the dealer forums, we have over 30 comments – http://dlrfr.sh/1HXLuwB

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These 3 Basic Elements will have you TRUSTING your Dealer Forecasting

GOALS ARE NOT FORECASTS!

“It’s a new month, and a redemption month! To hit our forecast, everybody should sell at least 2 more cars than they did last month!”

How about this one:

“We just hired 2 new sales people and they are both rockstars, ya know, great ‘car guys’. They should bring 15 more cars apiece this month! Our forecast just went up 30 cars!”

This one seems much more solid:

“In order to get an idea of our sales next month, let’s take a poll of the sales team and have each individual guess how many cars they will sell. Then we add these up and try to beat the total forecasted.”

Or this:

“How many cars did we sell last December? Let’s sell 10% more this December.”

…these are all examples of goals.

A monthly sales goal can be used as a great motivational tool for the sales team, but upper management should never use such an anecdotal and archaic method to properly plan for their next month.

When establishing a realistic plan for the future, these “what does your gut tell you” sessions at the beginning of the month need to end. Immediately.

These goals are nothing more than unsubstantiated numbers plucked out of thin air. So why do we do this each month? [Read more…]

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Change Happens Fast – Even faster in Mobile!

Just like Ferris Bueller says: “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in awhile, you could miss it.”

You blink and you could miss some new, innovative way to sell, communicate, or close a deal. If you don’t keep up, you will lose out.

So, as life flies by and I take my daughter on college visits, (blink), I find myself with a little time to myself. What do I do?

Research articles on customer service and the automotive industry. I live life on the edge…Don’t be jealous. [Read more…]

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8 Steps to Workforce Planning – Long Term Hiring

With 2016 right around the corner, it’s time to start thinking about your dealership’s staffing needs in the coming year.

As manager, you’re used to living in the daily “my hair’s on fire” reality of running a sales and service team.  There isn’t a day that goes by where something unexpected, unexplained, or you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me happens.

I get it, I’ve been there. Heck, I’m there today.

One of the common occurrences at dealerships that causes major heartburn is what I call “I’ll worry about recruiting when I need to fill jobs.”

If you’re like most of your dealer peers you wait until the last possible moment to spend any amount of time proactively filling a talent bench. Instead, you wait until you have open spots, slap together a job description, put up a posting on Craigslist or still the local newspaper, and hope for results (aka “post and pray”).

You schedule interviews with the best applicants. None of them are good fits.  [Read more…]

Latest Hot Topic in Forums

Metric Chasing Absurdity

Alex Snyder Administrator

First Name:
Alex
Company:
DealerRefresh
Location:
Vermont

 
We are drunk on Leads and VDP views!?

I think we’re chasing the metrics to the point where we are creating a bad customer experience. What got me to finally say this: A Canadian dealer is using the steering wheel as the glory shot just to get VDP views up.

But that’s just one example. Chat boxes in your face, talking credit app ladies, text us buttons all over the site, and 19 different calls to action are also examples we are nuts on trackable conversions. I just think all this stuff paints you out to be the typical car dealer people love to hate: an obvious predator.

Sure, if your marketplace is full of obvious predators then I guess that’s the norm. I like to call that the “rule of equal incompetence”… the entire marketplace chases each others’ ads, vendors, and employees to the point where everyone is identical. In that kind of place I guess this Canadian dealer would see a bump.

Do you agree? Comment over in the dealer forums

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Looking for Alternative Ways to Stock Used Vehicles?

SponsoredWhen it comes to stocking used vehicles at your dealership, dealers today have multiple options. But one option seems to be underutilized by a majority of dealers – acquiring vehicles from private sellers.

Of course all dealers take trade-ins, but that is not a proactive strategy. That is a conversion strategy.

Traditionally dealers have relied on auctions to acquire used vehicles at wholesale rates where they know they can sell and turn a profit, and since the dawn of the Web online auctions have become popular.

Problem is, auctions can be time consuming and expensive.

Likewise, proactively seeking used vehicles from private sellers can be time consuming too, unless you have a good strategy and the right tools… [Read more…]