DealerRefresh

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

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Meeting People Where Their Needs Are: Interview with George Grubbs, CEO, Grubbs Automotive Group

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George Grubbs’ approach to car sales is simple and personal. He sums it up as “Meeting people where their needs are.” Since he and his family have been selling cars since the 1940s, they know a few things about developing relationships that turn into sales now and for years to come.

Over the past 70 years, Grubbs Infiniti has learned to adapt to new generations when it comes to car sales and building relationships. In the mid-90s they developed and launched the first Nissan website in the country and since then they have worked to stay at the cutting edge of technology while watching the ROI on everything they do.

When it comes to research on where to invest their time, energy and money George sticks to the basics. He says he reads everything he can and keeps a close eye on how soon results can be seen as well as how those results are measured.

Business decisions based on reliable results

“When I try something new, I need to see results,” he reported in a recent CBT Automotive Network interview.

“What I look for when I talk to a new vendor is what do their reports look like? […] How often are they gathering the data and how often are they giving it to me?”

But Grubbs doesn’t settle for just being given data and reports on a regular basis. He says he prefers a vendor who can offer a back end tool so he can log in and check trends and results on the fly. Reliable results give a dealer that competitive edge.

 

Technology and Customer Relationships

His hands on approach to technological advancement and developing relationships with customers, based on how they want to interact, has certainly paid off. Customer reviews from across various platforms including Yelp, Facebook, and Cars.com have customers praising everything; from their well-appointed waiting room to their pricing and service.

Clearly, being willing to adapt to the latest trends in technology and digital marketing for dealers, and to meet customers on their level, translates into a healthy bottom line and a bright future.

Follow the link below to watch the full interview with Geroge Grubbs on CBT News:

George Grubbs Automotive CBT Interview

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Digital Dealer 22 Review with Kevin Frye #DD22

Can Peyton Hoffman Keep Me from this 5-Hour Energy Drink & another Digital Dealer review?

Woo hoo! It’s spring break!

I mean – “Hey boss, is it OK if I go to Digital Dealer 22 in Tampa to learn about the latest and greatest in automotive digital?”

Use your noggin knucklehead!

The last approach might be more successful if you want to join fellow dealers in sunny Florida to work, train, and network 24/7 to become a better digital dealer when you return. And who doesn’t want to go to Tampa, Florida for Digital Dealer 22 after a long, cold winter? Are you ready to begin this recap? [Read more…]

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Stop Overthinking Your Emails!

Overthinking Your Emails and Email Templates?

Between prepping for 20-Group presentations to serving our regular clients, we mystery shop scores of dealers each month – reading their emails (mostly templates) and texts, and listening to their voicemails – and while we’ve seen definite overall improvement over the years, one aspect of the internet sales process that is beginning to creep in the wrong direction is the automated email response.

It’s become clear that someone on your team is overthinking this whole “email thing.” [Read more…]

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5 Automotive Marketing Predictions For 2017

Back again for my annual car dealership predictions post for the retail automotive industry.

This year will be defined by a new level of awareness surrounding relevant marketing, the state of accountability and performance, and understanding mobile consumer behavior. I believe we’ll reach a higher consciousness of execution, operational excellence, and results that every level of the dealership can understand. No more shell games.

Are we beginning to understanding the seemingly endless flow of data flow as it relates to quantifying marketing results? Or, quite possibly, have solution providers finally been identified as not providing the results other industries demand as a standard? Whatever the reasons, there are significant events the professionals in our industry must be aware of to collectively raise the quality of the solutions our industry uses.

2017 Car Dealership Marketing Predictions 

I’ve placed the key marketing items into five categories.

  1. Mobile
  2. Metrics
  3. Media
  4. Messaging
  5. MPOP

Mobile – Search engine results will be disrupted 

The mobile mindset is agreed upon. We’re well past the point of just saying “mobile is important” or, “we need to pay attention to mobile.” We all get it – people use their phones to do stuff. A lot of stuff. I believe what we’re all missing is how search engines are changing the ways marketers deliver mobile content and the way users consume and interact with mobile content.

Last year I predicted the death of SEO as a stand-alone tactic. (Rather, a single product that agencies and consultant sell) The largest portion of traffic a dealership website receives is from their branded organic traffic. Anyone still paying excessive amounts of money to optimize pages for long-tail search traffic and compete with more authoritative content is misinformed. Also, be extremely cautious of any solution which doesn’t provide proactive management and is 100% transparent with their strategy.

This year we’ll see local SEO become even more important for marketers. Why? [Read more…]

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Preparing for the Inevitable Downturn

As the Greek philosopher Heraclitus said, “The only constant in life is change.” People who work in the auto industry know this is more than just a catchy quote. The auto market experiences seasonal dips and surges and it is also affected by a number of outside forces. The economy affects how much people are willing to spend, environmental issues make buyers more critical of emissions and mileage and industry trends can all cause a downturn that seems to come out of nowhere.

So what can dealers do to be prepared for a downturn in business no matter what’s causing it?

[Read more…]

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4 Texting Tips to Maximize the Online Experience with Your Dealership

There is no question that having a solid mobile strategy, including the ability for your customers to text you in a safe and compliant manner, is important in helping your dealership increase sales and improve customer service.

The success of your texting strategy, however, hinges on maximizing a person’s ability to initiate contact with your dealership via text message. The best way to do this is to add a call to action for texting across all of your marketing and communications initiatives, including your mobile and desktop websites, to drive leads, increase engagement, and ultimately enhance your business.

Below are four easy steps for more effectively implementing text calls-to-action with your dealership.
[Read more…]

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Hey, Mike Jackson: So Call Me, Maybe

So Call Me, Maybe

(Author’s Note: While the title of this post might lead you to believe this is all about AutoNation, it is not. The issues addressed here are common across nearly every large dealership group I encounter – publicly traded or private.)
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Hey Mike Jackson, is it true you wrote the following memo to your stores?

Dear AutoNation General Managers:

It gives me great pride to know that many of you have absolutely no simple and repeatable sales processes you’re actively enforcing in your stores. Congratulations! It is also my understanding that sales turnover continues to be an issue and that many of your local “Mom & Pop” competitors are stealing your market share. This is great news!

You are truly living up to the AutoNation motto of “Let’s be Below Average!” and for this, I thank you.

Yours,

Mike

Of course you didn’t write it; I just made it up.

[Read more…]

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Who REALLY has Ownership of YOUR Customer Data?

Who owns the customer data, in your dealership’s DMS?

“I do, of course!” and depending on your perspective, you may be right.

Dealers could emphatically answer that question, but what about DMS providers? From their perspective, they might feel they have data ownership since their systems warehouse it. If you live on the OEM side, you may feel you have ownership of the data. After all, it’s your product customers are buying through dealerships that you grant franchises to.

For purposes of this article, let’s consider customer data in its purest form; un-appended third party data and un-processed to derive a new data set (more to come on this). For Example – combining customer transaction data with search data could create an entirely new data set. This does not typically happen within the DMS system involving yet another data vendor. Who owns that data?

The war for data ownership has been brewing for a while and is now at full boil.

[Read more…]

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iOS 10.0.2 Just Became Your #1 Lead Provider

Admittedly, iOS 10.0.2 is a challenging shift for many iPhone users. I’ve yet to find anyone who understands how to “Press home to open”.

Me, I just repeatedly hit the button on my iPhone until something happens and then recover from there.

BUT!  I have discovered the lone reason why iOS 10.0.2 alone has singularly improved the automotive buying process more than any other mobile Operating System in the history of mobile Operating Systems… AutoFill!!

[Read more…]

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The Three “C’s” of SMS Compliance for Auto Dealers

If someone had told you 10 years ago that people would be ordering everything from groceries to cars on their phone without actually speaking to a store representative, you probably wouldn’t have believed them. But today we do all that and more with our smartphones, and the evolution of text message (or SMS) communications and customer care has grown right along with it.

A 2014 study conducted by Morpace found that more than 35% of people were either ‘very’ or ‘somewhat’ interested in receiving text messages from auto dealers after they purchased a car. These messages could be about scheduled maintenance, recalls, or even reaching out about vehicles and special pricing.

SMS Compliance for Dealers is Critical

The automotive industry has been particularly uneasy with implementing texting solutions after high-profile lawsuit settlements have left dealers and dealer groups understandably cautious.

[Read more…]