Industry Events

Managing Your Dealers Reputation in the Online Age – Cars.com Webinar

Jeff Kershner
Posted onMar 6, 2008 at 10:54 PM
Updated onUpdated on Nov 9, 2008 at 2:21 PM

Carsdotcome_dealeradvantage_banne_2

Cars.com will be holding a live DealerADvantage webinar on Friday, March 14, 2008 with yours truly on the panel. I believe Mr. Matt Lamoureux from Acton Toyota and John H. Isaac from My Dealer Report will be joining me as well.

We’ll be discussing the rise of social media, consumer generated content and those wonderful dealer rating websites like DealerRater.com, My Dealer Report.com, Dealership Ratings.com and let’s not forget about
JudysBook,
yelp and
insiderpages. Have I missed any??

Car shoppers now have a broad platform from which they can share opinions and influence others’ buying decisions. What’s being said about your dealership can either drive sales or divert buyers to your competition, making it more important than ever to monitor, manage and influence your online reputation.

In this DealerADvantage session, we’ll discuss how to:

  • Monitor what’s being said online about your store
  • Respond to comments and influence the conversation
  • Share online feedback with your staff to recognize success and correct mistakes as needed
  • Influence the online conversation by encouraging customers to leave online feedback about their experience with your store
  • Turn your online reputation into a selling tool

I encourage all DealerRefresh readers to join in and participate! How many readers we can get to register??

Are you ready to manage the online conversation about your store?

Time: Noon to 1 p.m. (Eastern)
Location: Your Computer
Cost: FREE


Enroll Now! – CLOSED

P.S. After the webinar, click back here to
DealerRefresh to share your thoughts and opinions about the conversation.

Jeff Kershner
Founder of DealerRefresh - 20+ Years of dealership Sales, Management, Training, Marketing and Leadership.
J
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    Joe
  • March 7, 2008
Thanks for the heads up. I'm looking forward to what is said regarding this. I have noticed more dealers being "buried" by bad reviews/statements left on social networking sites, blogs, etc. than I've seen positive, I have a hunch that many are scared of this platform for just this reasoning.
B
Man, I wish they wouldn't do these on a Friday, wish I could make it.
J
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    Jeff Kershner
  • March 7, 2008
I'm with you Brian. I think they would better off in the middle of the week.
J
buried here JK, tried to make it, sorry.

Joe
B
when will they have it available for download? Recap? I like that Acton Toyota website video series, good stuff.
R
Jeff,

The need for a proactive Reputation Management strategy is rapidly becoming one of those issues that are easy to ignore, yet have the potential to put the hurt onto a dealer's sales volume. Alternately, as we all learn more about the do's and don'ts, the why's and how's within this new marketing area there will be opportunities for dealers who learn and execute well to achieve a competitive advantage in their marketplace. Acton Toyota is one such example. I am looking forward to attending this workshop.
B
I guess I should have looked at the date, I thought it was today.
R
I appreciate the feedback on the timing of this webinar. We found that there is no convenient time do do these sessions. For your convenience, all sessions are recorded in their entirety and can be found at:

http://www.dealers.cars.com/dealer_resources.php

There are currently 16 recorded sessions here. Just click on "view all webinars."

This session should be available for review late on that Friday or early the following week.
B
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    Bonh
  • March 14, 2008
Nobody mentioned Google business reviews.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Infiniti+of+Coconut+Creek&ie=UTF8&start=20&ll=26.863281,-80.038147&spn=1.239779,3.249207&z=9&iwloc=A&iwd=1&cid=26274221,-80196803,8248978521161612227&dtab=2

Insiderpages.com??? Seems like this is more widely used than dealerrater.com. I honestly never knew dealerrated existed until this session. More of my dealerships have reviews on google over dealerrater.com
A
I wish the moderator hadn't reworded my question....at least he put the Dealer Refresh plug in!
K
Hey Jeff - I did participate - nice job. Very relevant topic, I took quite a few notes and might be contacting you with a few questions. I was sitting there laughing as every time one of the guest speakers finished talking, the moderator would say "Absolutely!", lol. Kevin Frye/eCommerce Director/Jeff Wyler Automotive Family/www.wyler.com
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    Dan Madux
  • March 21, 2008
I just posted to the Synergy post about something I heard about earlier. The synergy post got me to post it because the graphic said something about the internet continuing to change the way dealerships run.

well, i read a few more articles and then I get to this one which seems more relevant to what I posted in the Synergy topic.

you apparently did miss one.

www.dealerdrop.com

it is pretty thorough except that it doesnt seem like there is a lot of data on it yet. if that changes, we'll have to keep an eye on it too
J
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    Jeff Kershner
  • March 21, 2008
Dan, I have seen several attempts at sites just like this one but I have yet to see one to take off and be successful. I'm not surprised to see the site listed with mostly Honda buyers. :) Gotta love the Honda buyer!
B
speaking of reputations this would be a pain to deal with
might be why I dislike the ebay auction format.
http://www.autoblog.com/2008/03/23/bmw-dealer-auctions-new-m3-for-60k-on-ebay-doesnt-want-to-hon/
B
if the link doesn't work go to autoblog and check it out.

J
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    Jeff Kershner
  • March 24, 2008
Brian, you must be a subscriber to Autoblog. I was reading that whole thread yesterday. 6 pages long.

I have to side with the customer on that one. A deal is a deal. They should have known better or/and ended the auction early.
A
That thing is all over the forums too. Talk about a nightmare PR problem they're going to be facing no matter how this ends!
B
I thought it would be a real time example of what you guys are talking about. I would think that they would have been a little smarter about it as well. I can't figure out why they didn't end it early, sounds like someone was asleep at the wheel on that one. I have to give the consumer credit for working the system the way he did. Doesn't really matter how it ends now the damage is done and a reputation is ruined. Scares me enough not to use ebay just cause it could happen very easily with all the automation most of us use.
B