DealerRefresh

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

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CarGurus Overstating Search Results (SRP’s)

Recently, I shared a new metric that CarGurus now includes in their dealer reporting. This new metric is called “SRP Impressions”, and at the time I posted, CarGurus was showing this new metric in addition to their normal SRP metric.

A week or so later, I along with many other dealers received an email from CarGurus explaining what this new SRP Impressions metric was, and how it will eventually replace their current SRP metric. What was most shocking to me was their explanation surrounding the old vs. new SRP metric…

[Read more…]

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Digitizing Your Sales Process: The Path To Omni-Channel Retail Success

As a small child, I remember traversing the halls of the local Sears with my father who always acted like a little kid in the candy store when buying new tools. In my bright-eyed view, Sears was the place to go back then. They had the best selection and the best customer service for all of our home improvement needs. I remember how proud my dad was of his latest purchase, and how nice it was of the friendly cashier to hand me a lollipop.

Fast forward to today, and Sears has filed for bankruptcy, joining the graveyard of big box brands who have gone out of business, and the sad truth is that no one is terribly surprised.

So, what happened? [Read more…]

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Online Reviews Made Easy: 5 Steps to Build Your Google Review Link

It is a well-known fact that your online reviews are your first foot-in-the-door with a new customer. It is also widely known that it is essential to respond to ALL reviews – be they negative or positive – but the struggle with online reviews is keeping them up!

Your dealership may be one of the lucky ones. You may have a dedicated staff member that daily monitors your online reviews, but if your dealership is one of the many that do not, I’d like to show you a great way to continue to build consistent online reviews, by creating your Google Review Link.

As technology progresses, consumers collectively have become more and more reliant on what is “easy.” How many times has a company directly asked you to review them online, and you think to yourself, “I’ll get to it when I get to it.”? Most likely that has happened more than you can count, but think of the times when a company has directly sent you a link that you just click on to review them. I know that as a consumer myself, I am 100 times more likely to click on that link and post a review of my experience if the source to do so is sent directly to me.

Setting up a Google Review link for your dealership is easy, and it only takes 5 steps to get started.

[Read more…]

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#RefreshFriday Ep. 39 – Classified Listings and Cost Per VDP – is this STILL a Relevant KPI?

On tomorrow’s #RefreshFriday Dan Sayer and Jon Berna (Mr. Truth) join us to discuss the VALUE of 3rd Party Classified Websites. Dans post over in the dealer forums was the driver for this week’s RefreshFriday. Thanks Dan!

Determining the value of 3rd Party Classifieds can be fairly complicated. Despite all the promises around greater attribution tools, we all know the greater number of eyeballs on our inventory, the higher the influence is on vehicles Sold. So, keeping the classified websites somewhat accountable for consistent KPI’s is still compelling…

  • Which KPI’s should you be tracking?
  • Is the cost per VDP view still a relevant measurement?
  • How does reporting differ between the Classified Websites?
  • What other KPI’s should you be tracking?
  • What attribution tools are in the horizon?

Join us Friday (tomorrow) at 1pm EST, LIVE on Facebook for the answers!

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It’s the Boring Stuff that Sells Cars

It’s the Boring Stuff that Sells Cars

As you and your team review your sales plans for 2019, it’s important to remember that the dealers growing market share use the same websites, tools and marketing sources you use. Just like you, they’ve yet to discover a magic bean or digital secret that can sell vehicles without effort. They’ve discovered, as most dealers have, that selling cars isn’t hard, it just takes work.

Moreover, top dealers understand knowing is just a fraction of the job of selling cars; the bulk of what drives their growth is the doing. And doing, for most people, is boring. However, as top dealers know, it’s the boring stuff that sells cars. [Read more…]

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Avoid The Averages Because They’re Costing You MONEY!

Countless decisions get made every day in dealerships based on averages. Popular examples include market day supply, average retail price, average days on lot and average wholesale price. Too often we trust these numbers (simple averages) as if they are the be-all end-all.

After doing something for so long, we begin to take it for granted. We assume the numbers must be right. But what if we’re wrong? [Read more…]

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Digital Dealer 25 Review with Kevin Frye #DD25

Old Men Reunion at Digital Dealer 25. Barry Brodsky, Amir Ammirrezvani, David Metter and Shaun Raines

“What’s that you say sonny?”

Digital Dealer 25, which means hmmm, how many years?

It must be a lot since my first Digital Dealer (3…) as I got off to a brilliant start when I arrived in sunny Las Vegas to pick up my badge at registration.

“Mr. Frye, we cannot find you anywhere in our system…”.

Guess who forgot to register for DD25?  [Read more…]

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The Devolution of an Industry Conference [Video]

Joe and Bill are at it again, behind the camera. “This time a Manager and his Employee get caught up in the industry conference craze, attending one after another. With visits occurring more frequently, they become less and less valuable.”

I know many of you can relate as we have had this discussion many times in the dealer forums.

Be sure to check out more funny videos around industry sales and marketing from the DealerKnows team – https://www.dealerknows.com/category/videos/funny-videos/

The Devolution of the Industry Conference Starring:
Joe Webb
Bill Playford
Brent Wees
Shaun Raines
April Rain
Eric Miltsch

Written by Joe Webb Edited and Shot by David Hudson Directed by David Hudson and Joe Webb

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Here’s how to get your first 100 Facebook Reviews

People rely on Facebook reviews because of their accuracy over time. Of course, not every single review reflects perfectly the customer experience, but an aggregate review score quickly tells new customers what type of experience they can expect at your dealership.

Unfortunately, there’s no shortcut to get Facebook reviews or improving reviews and ratings overnight. If customers regularly have a subpar experience then your ratings will reflect that and the only lasting way to change ratings is to improve your customer’s experience.

For many auto dealerships, however, it’s not so much a problem of quality ratings and reviews, but rather the quantity of customers leaving them. If your dealership has less than 10 Facebook reviews it sends a bad message to potential customers.  Even if your sales and service are top-notch, it takes time to build up credibility online.

This guide will walk you through a simple approach to getting your first 100 Facebook reviews. It requires you to manually send review invites and even though it is a free approach it will require an investment of time. [Read more…]