Author Archives: Gary May

Innovative Dealer Summit in Denver Next Stop For IM@CS

Tim Jackson and the Colorado Automotive Dealer Association invited IM@CS out to Denver, CO September 8 to participate in the Innovative Dealer Summit (http://www.innovativedealersummit.com). The event and it's four-track format was set to bring CO dealers to the forefront of the digital shift in automotive retail. After attending Digital Dealer 8 in Orlando last April and seeing no more than eight store staff in attendance (no principals or senior management), Tim believed that the dealers in the mountain state needed all of the information possible.

With some of the industry's headliners in attendance, the event kicked off with a fantastic breakfast, emceed by GM's Mike Marshall. Jared Hamilton, www.Drivingsales.com, Jonathan Ord, DealerSocket, and Dale Pollak, vAuto, energized the crowd with the up-to-date challenges and opportunities faced by dealers.

IM@CS's own Gary May kicked off the general sessions with the topic "Putting It Together: Dealership, Brand, eCommerce" to a packed room. One of the dealer body's greatest challenges today is the shift from the franchise brand (or badge on the car) to the dealership brand (community involvement, reputation management, destination mentality and more).

The day promises to be an eye-opening experience for those in attendance, a 12-hour non-stop collection of topics and tools to move the automotive retail industry forward.

Thanks to Tim Jackson and the CADA!

September 8, 2010 by Gary May 0
Crunch Time: Are Your Vendors out To Lunch? Or Are You?

It's very telling, especially today, when a supplier doesn't deliver.
Over-commit, under-deliver. While there is no such thing as 100%
delivery, 100% of the time when there are variables like creative,
interpretation, third parties and even technology changing at a
breakneck, daily pace. However the fundamentals should never change:
communication, expectation, examination and verification.

Being
around the automotive online space for over 10 years, it has been
common to be around or even directly involved with what you might call
"sales coups without production capabilities" or "sell it and then we'll
build it". Most of the time letting clients know you're building
something as they buy it is completely fine. Selling something as
complete or pitching services you provide when you really don't is
something else.

Over the past few years, it's been website and SEO services. Lately it's social media and reputation management. Two sayings to remember: if it sounds too good to be true, it likely is; stupid is as stupid does. In all fairness, the impetus is always on the buyer. While that's not completely fair, everything deserves a second look or opinion. For one example, recently we've been in meetings hearing about services for a few hundred dollars a month promising positive reviews on hundreds of sites.

Even without prejudice, it is difficult to understand the reach, impact or importance of a positive dealership review on some obscure website. About florists. Being read eight states away from you. By someone who has no interest in buying a car.

Numbers are great. Especially transparent ones via Google Analytics or something similar. It's also great to have a string following in the social online around your business. Having 40,000 on Twitter and 10,000 fans on Facebook, most of whom never have or never will buy from you, refer people to you or possibly even realize what your business does. That's irrelevant. People moving into your PMA that own a car from your franchise? Great. Likely a potential customer. Someone on your social network that lives 8,459 miles away from you because you're giving away something for free? Worthless.

What's of less value than that? The people and companies that are selling the services because you don't have the time to know and understand better, let alone put resources against it. And the fact that you can do it for $300 less a month than another company that can do it for you? And you call yourself a business person? Please. The other day at an OEM meeting, we heard about dealers paying $2,000 dollars a month for social media services. There are real companies doing a better job for half the price. Dealers paying $8,000 a month for that?!?!?! Let's not even go there.

This is not about the struggles with real ROI in the digital space. Or people not understanding services. It's not even about pushing companies out of the industry that will intentionally pull the wool over dealers' eyes (that would take years anyway). It is about taking charge of what you want to do in your business, having goals, comparing apples to apples and making sense out of the insane amount of pitches car dealers face.

Many times it's your vendors that are out to lunch. Sometimes, it's absolutely you. Question reps and consultants. Question proposals and marketing materials. Question your staff on what to do. Heaven forbid, question your customers and find out what they want and expect first. And stop buying for the sake of it, because someone in your 20 group did or because a golf buddy (that operates their store completely different than you do) told you they found the magic bullet.

Get back to business. It's crunch time…

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

September 4, 2010 by Gary May 0
IM@CS on Social Media Club LA Panel: Social Media Affecting the Automotive Industry

It was a pleasure to participate with other industry colleagues on a panel at Social Media Club LA’s event last Tuesday evening: How Social Media Is Affecting the Automotive Industry. Chris Heuer kicked off the evening as only the head of the global Social Media Clubs could. Serena Ehrlich moderated the panel and fielded the live and web-based questions. Thanks to TechZulu and Efren Toscano for covering the event live and to Dave Barthmuss and the GM team for providing some great pizza!



Watch live video from TechZulu on Justin.tv

August 29, 2010 by Gary May 0
The Shortest Distance Between Two Lines Is A Straight Point

Another day has gone by in our industry and where are we? Did we break a record? Did we start a trend? Did we figure something out? Chances are we're in the same place we were 48 hours ago. While we'll leave the guessing how much other businesses out there have changed to the "experts" (yeah, we've got more of those today than we had yesterday!) but know for the most part we didn't blaze any new paths.

Another month has gone by and another interesting declination from a dealer that needs help (no, not the same one as one of our last posts):

"It's (so and so) from (such and such), is this a good time for you?"

"Uh, no. I'm working on ads for this weekend and Ive got a lot of other stuff to get done. You're either buying something from me or trying to sell me something. If you're trying to sell me something, it's the wrong time."

"That's completely understood."

"You'll have to call me back."

"Considering how busy you are, will you take my name and number?"

"No"

"OK, good bye"

While the distance continues to grow between the dealers that are moving forward and those that aren't grows, it's important to remind ourselves of where we're heading. You know, the road map. Goals set at the beginning of the year rather than two weeks ago. We all have them memorized now:

  • Regular review of website performance, stats, leads, etc
  • Weekly lead status and management
  • Complete (aka 100%) CRM use/integration for all departments
  • Updating of templates and scripts for all customer communication
  • Social media game plan
  • Reputation management
  • Vendor accountability
  • Read and participate more at events and online communities
  • Getting outside help occasionally because you can't staff for everything

It's not easy to look at all of the things thought or talked about considering everything that has to be done just to sell and service cars. Right?!?! Let alone add them to the heaping pile of responsibility that everyone has in automotive retail. Right?!?! Besides, it's hard selling cars today. Right?!?!

Wrong!!!! As Andy Dufresne put so well in Shawshank Redemption: Get busy living or get busy dying. Sure, you can bury your head deeper in the sand St. Diggerstein, or you can get real and get in business.

The shortest distance between two lines is a straight point. In other words one line is where you're at, the other is where you want to be. And the point is…go get after it. Quit stalling!! Besides, you said you're not going to fall for the banana-in-the-tailpipe.

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

August 19, 2010 by Gary May 0
Floor Traffic Down? Invite Them In! (Including 5 Ideas That Work If You Do)

Reading a number of great posts recently (while trying to ignore the blatant self-promotion via a popularity contest glorified by a number of industry members last week), all focused on getting dealers to make the shift to digital or social media, it hit me once again what we're all trying to do: get people in the door.

While a number of dealers (maybe 5% in the country) are seeing growth many are seeing flat or declining numbers. Others are experiencing unit lifts while dealing with large drop in gross or back end. And everyone is dealing with selling fewer vehicles in the past 18 months than in the previous 4-6 years.

So in this online world, what aside from actually selling a vehicle to a customer or servicing their car drives traffic? One thing that can be looked at, especially in a world of smaller budgets, staffs and sales is events. With rare exception over the past two years, the factories (and therefore the dealers) have spent less and less on driving valuable traffic via new-owner events, clinics, ride-and-drives, sponsorships, meet-and-greets and the like. While the quantity of tire kickers may be down, real purchase intention is down significantly less (we'll leave the statistics and "pent up demand" gibberish talk to others).

Fewer and fewer dealers are doing what it takes to being people in: WIIFM. Yes, the most popular radio station in the world. What's In It For Me! More and more consumers are out there, looking for answers on how to program their seat memory, sync their bluetooth, update their navigation system, find out the difference in maintaining their car at the dealership versus aftermarket besides price and a whole lot more. So…they're left with going to a discussion group/blog/forum/portal, relying on word of mouth or not knowing at all. And you believe you 'had them at hello' when you sold the car.

So no new owner clinics. No barbecues. No comparison drives. No meet the staff days. No fundraisers (let alone getting a link from the event website to your website with all of the traffic they're receiving. What's that? What's a link? What does that do?). Boy, that will work! Then tell yourself that the drop in floor traffic is fine since 70-90% of the same-brand stores in your PMA are also down rather than kicking ass. Forget about building a brand, or answering the questions that many customers won't ask you over the phone, or stopping that brand new owner from driving into (fill-in-the-blank)-Lube, let alone even retaining the customers you have and that WANT to come back for a good reason or two.

No. Maybe this whole thing is wrong. The factory is supposed to do and promote events. The factory is supposed to drive floor traffic. The factory is supposed to give you all of the handraisers in the area. The factory has to do all of the advertising so you can copy the ad and put it on your (mediocre) website. The factory is supposed to give you all of the pitter-patter of footsteps so you can just kick back, put your feet up (or in the golf cart), make money and retire in 20 years.

DING, DING, DING. Wake Up!!! (that was your floor traffic meter just hitting zero)

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

August 2, 2010 by Gary May 1
Let’s Talk Next Spring (A Very Direct Monologue)

(Note: As a practice, IM@CS has not written in the first person. We
try to not call people out or make examples of them directly. This is a
slight departure from the past two years of blog writing for dealers. We
hope you enjoy it or are at least compelled to comment on this aspect
as well)

After talking with Internet sales staff and leaving
messages for management over the past months, I visited a prominent
LA-area import dealer recently to see about getting a few minutes with
the manager responsible for their web and eCommerce presence. After
finally having the courtesy to recognize that someone was trying to talk
with him (understanding two things very well: one you're busy and two
you likely have a lot of people calling on you and trying to sell you),
he gave me 45 seconds.

In that time, he was able to share that
the "departments are going through changes so it's not the right time
and we'll be able to put our eCommerce and Internet efforts on the
schedule next Spring". Not only is this one of the best qualifiers, it
is also a great indicator of how removed from reality most dealers
really are. This is not a judgement, we'll leave that to the customers,
staff and factory. But as a litmus test, that's just bad. Flat out bad.

Let's say you ignore every automotive publication. Let's say you never
attend a "digital" event in the industry. Let's assume you're not in a
20 group. Just for kicks, let's say you never talk with your staff.
Considering it's 2010, if you have spent any time on the Internet,
bought an airplane ticket, hotel room, checked a sports score or weather
conditions, how can you allow yourself to be ignorant of what ALL
consumers do?

By next Spring, your competition will be
significantly ahead of you. And maybe by my or another consultant or
vendor's doing. Maybe even intentionally. When you send that kind of
signal out, it's hard not to either try to convince you (unless the
manager was intentionally being dismissive) or leave the store and run
to the next closest store. I say this because it's being done. Every
day.

While I can't speak for others that may walk into the
store I'm referring to, I can guarantee you that if I take the time to
engage you, your website, templates, social media (if it exists), phone
skills and other aspects of your operation has been assessed. Don't even
think for a second that mine is a traditional "pitch", again
understanding that everyone that walks in with a briefcase is likely
trying to get money from you in exchange for services.

Just
know that sometime, really soon, your traffic will go somewhere else..
And with what your using for website and more, it won't even cause a
drop of sweat to fall.

With all the best intentions,

Gary May
IM@CS

July 28, 2010 by Gary May 0
Death By Response: You Lost Me At Hello!

Let's take a moment to ignore the store front, avoid the showroom,
shed technology and just get back to being human. Do you know how to
talk and carry a conversation? Well, if you judge that by much of the
email and phone communication going on at automotive retail, you'd be
left with more questions than answers.

Face it, we have a lot
of room to grow when it comes to 'inviting' the public to car
dealerships. Oh sure, they'll continue to come when they have to buy.
They will find somewhere and someone to buy from. But the fact that most
of you had an easier time asking your first date out, shows we still
have issues when it comes to how to engage a person that wants to
buy!

Many people shrug off their verbal and written skills
when they can deliver a fair amount of cars each month. When lean times
come, they'll blame everything but the water cooler (maybe some will
actually blame the Sparkletts man) rather than look at their own
communication.

So here's a 4-step recovery program that should
help you (who needs 12 steps anyway?):

1. Know what you
want to say before you touch the phone or start typing

At least
with an email you can proof it before sending but most salespeople
aren't in the habit of doing that. The biggest hint that a salesperson
isn't ready for the call? Uh, um, er, ah, eh, well, gee, ayyyyyyye (the
long 'I' as they reach for something to say) and other stalling tactics
tell the customer on the other end of the phone clearly that there might
be a more professional person in the building.

2. It's about the
customer, silly

I did this. I did that. I'll talk with my
manager, I usually tell people that ask me that. I, I, I, I, I. Stop it!
It's about them, always has been, always will be. Go to a nice
restaurant for dinner, the waiter or waitress doesn't say "I have some
specials tonight"…do they?!?!?! No!! What you'll usually hear is
something like "would you like to hear what your choices are for
specials tonight?" or "Would you like to start with a drink or
appetizer?". Go to fast food and they say "can I take your order?". Are
you selling a hamburger value meal or a choice steak? (or Gorgonzola
salad for our vegetarian readers!). Change your focus to the customer
and you'll be amazed at how different your interaction goes.

3.
Questions are like water. Go without and you die.

You've get
them qualified. You walk them. You drive them. You sit them down. You
pencil them. You close them. If you stop asking questions, you likely
lose somewhere along the process. When the questions end, the
conversation ends. Sure, they can pick it up again. Our job? Keep them
talking. About the car, themselves, their family, their likes, anything.
Stop asking, you're on your own because you've lost control. Questions
(as well as answering theirs) are the lifeline of communication along
with emotion and everything else the expensive consultants and sales
coaches tell you is important (that you already knew).

4.
Validation and excitement. Oh, and courtesy!

Who can be excited
about calling you back if your message sounds like it was made in a
monotone machine? Ten messages down and ready for call 11? Get pumped up
again! Nobody wants to call a boring sales person back about what is
exciting for then. And how about validation? Can you relate to your
customers, even the ones with challenged credit? Don't kid yourself
because people can see through fake. And remember, especially in today's
social age (sorry, had to go there for a moment), their experience with
the 'less than exciting, not quite interested in me buying a car from
him/her' now translates to dozens, if not hundreds or thousands, more
people who may not shop at your store now.

And with regard to
courtesy, if you're not asking if the person you are calling is
available for you in a way that doesn't completely let them off the hook
from talking with you (because they must, must, must buy the perfect
car for them from you), you don't deserve to be selling cars. Don't ask,
don't tell. If you don't ask if they're available, they'll likely never
tell you they're buying from you.

In today's age with
complete transparency on the web, don't kid yourself into doing a less
than a complete, exciting job with your customers will work. We're not
saying to be something your not, but if you're in automotive sales and
expect to do well, just do it. It may not be fair that a book is still
judged by its cover but don't treat anyone trying to do business with
your store any differently than what you expect when you go into someone
else's.

Welcome back to the business about people. You can now
return to your technology-laden existence.

Best Practices:
Professional Insight, Powerful Results

June 17, 2010 by Gary May 2
Vendoritis Or Dealeritis: Part Deux

After the recent seminars and events in the Los Angeles area it seems more clear than ever: dealers want to do more, are mostly eager to address new opportunities (or old ones sold as new), are baffled by new technology including social media, are looking at the factories for direction and don't seem to have the right questions to ask the not-so-prepared, over-eager vendors.

In a number of panels that spanned these events, the tough questions either weren't asked or answered. This is not a knock on either the speakers or the crowds, most very qualified to talk about new media and marketing. It's just a fact. One panel on social media had some great experts. On data. Not one person doing it for an OEM or a dealer (or, judged from afar, likely even doing it themselves daily). Another panel had some great participants from very disparate areas of automotive talking about some specific activities they're doing. Truly great examples, results and actions were shared. The missing component was how the average dealer, yes including those in attendance, can implement a plan.

What is happening, as our world moves forward at a speed more reminiscent of the amazing La Mans cars running around Circuit De La Sarthe as this is being written, might be another dose of "ignorance is bliss". And that doesn't help anyone. Dealers asking their factories and reps for help (as was overheard quite frequently lately) are getting shrugged shoulders, "we're working on that right now" or "hire the right company or employee to handle that" responses. In other words, dealers are on their own.

So the dealers' sources for information are limited to their 20 group, industry events and magazines, word of mouth and the old fashion pitch by the vendor. Most dealership decision makers aren't reading the blogs and forums because if they were, they'd be asking questions and participating (yes, we regularly scan for them). So, as with the first "Vendoritis Or Dealeritis" post a while back, the question needs to asked again: how do dealers move forward?

Our industry is always in flux. Lately there has been a more interesting bend, however. Dealers and vendors, for example, fixated solely on SEO for the past year plus are now looking at poor conversion stats to fix.There will be the same issues with social media in a year: those that chose to hire crap automation and get to 5,000 Facebook fans and 10,000 Twitter followers will discover that it's not done anything for brand or business building since over 1/2 of their social media throng is over 500 miles away if not in another country.

When you take your eyes off the ball, you can't catch it. You likely won't even see it. Many today say "bullshit, I can do it all". Well, good luck to you. The best of the Fortune 100 acknowledge that they can't. Maybe automotive retailers can do it all: sell the cars they need to monthly and still talk up a great story online. Just like the vendors that do a mediocre job for you somewhere else in your store and tell you that they can add something to their plate. Yeah, and there's a bridge in the desert that I need to show you…

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

June 12, 2010 by Gary May 1
Dealership Reset: It’s Halftime, You Got Game?

There's not too many times during the year that we call a time out. Well, there's usually one. Here's the dealership reset:

Accountability: How are you against your goals?

It's not just units, gross and ROs. It's about cost, effectiveness and no-bullshit reviews. Someone's feet not being held to the fire? Now's the time or else don't expect anything different come December.

Assessment: Who is helping you, who is not?

In meeting after meeting, the question should be the same for dealers to suppliers: "what have you done in the past 30 days to improve my business?". If they can't answer and back it up, you're wasting money.

Education: It's not just for sales meetings anymore

It's incredible when the entire sales staff can chirp back specs on the car they just received product training on that morning from a sales manager or the factory rep. It's another thing when a salesperson helps everyone learn something about their CRM they didn't know or shares a closing technique that got them to 25 units for 3 months running. When you stop learning, you start dying. When you refuse to learn, you need to pack your bags.

Impression: None, fleeting, building, lasting or wow?

Impressions have nothing to do with CPMs or 4-color versus black and white, although every newspaper sales rep that calls on your store will have a fit defending themselves. Impressions are all about what people think and feel about you and your business. And while it has a little something to do with the "silver bullet" that nearly everyone is talking about lately (yes, all of the experts are talking…all few of them), impressions are a lot more under your control once you realize that management actually influences nearly everything that happens at your dealership.

Half way through the year is more than enough time to evaluate a new program, see the leads you were supposed to get, increase your SEO results (if not dominate in many markets), build substantial results from email marketing, and a whole  laundry list of other improvements. If you are not getting the results, cut bait. If you are, see how you can get more.

Everyone needs to do the reset. In a meeting with a dealer last week, it was dismaying to see things that weren't acceptable even five years ago still prevalent today. Apologies for using some cliches but they're so appropriate:

  • You must inspect in order to expect
  • Together Everyone Achieves More (TEAM)
  • Leaders are readers
  • The hardest thing to change is the 6 inches between your ears
  • It's not how hard you work, it's what you do with your time
  • Dreams come a size too big, they allow us to grow
  • Track, target, trim and train
  • An idiot with a plan is better than a genius without one

The tragedy in life is not missing your goals, it's not starting with any. And that's even more the case when you don't check yourself before you wreck yourself. It's time to do your reset. You'll thank us later…

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

June 6, 2010 by Gary May 1
Focus Daniel-san, Focus!

Focus. We all need it. Sometimes we loose it. Hopefully we get it back. Focus is what, along with goals and direction, on the path to success. Simply put we're in the business of selling products and services, backing them up, and maintaining relationships with those that bought the products or services.

Broken focus is what allows us to view the products and services that we buy as those that will sell what our customers will buy. Yup…long sentence. What does it mean? It means simply stop thinking that websites, CRM, widgets, gadgets, software/SAAS and all of the other stuff (including social media) sells cars and then makes people service them at your business. People buy from people.

Don't get me wrong, we're all about more efficiencies and lower costs through all the items above. But if you think for a second that you can forget about an up, any kind of up, you're dead wrong. Companies continue at a break-neck pace to promote their "two cars pays for our service"and "with our leads you'll sell 8.7 more cars more month".

People sell cars, people sell cars, people sell cars. The 'best' lead, scored by some company that doesn't sell cars, sold to you by a company spending millions to promote themselves with your money, with the most gross ever not followed up on is a floating, polished  t**d. At the same time, the 'worst' perceived lead from your overpriced third parties, let alone your own website (if your cars actually showed up on Google from your own website which most don't), is closed in a 5 minute call or three emails because the person was dealt with quickly, honestly and had all of their questions answered.

Focus on setting appointments. Appointments that are confirmed. That then show up. That then are handled right. That then are closed right. Because they nearly all come from your website or some displayed listing. Focus on what drives people to your store…you and your co-workers.

It's amazing the amount of dealers spending $20,000 per month or more to sell a few more cars (plus salesperson's commission, managers' cut, overhead and all the rest) because they're convinced that without buying what they're selling, they'll be crushed. Yesterday a meeting at a store revealed that, while the staff was asking for more leads, one of their marketing sources had about 20 plus leads that weren't touched. At all. Yeah, it was from service marketing. So I guess people that service don't also buy?!?!?! Focus…

Your website is there to get appointments. Everything online and in marketing outside of your website is intended to drive traffic to your website. To get appointments. Everything else you use to drive impressions and retention is supposed to eventually drive people to your website. Please don't fool yourself. Look at your analtyics. Yours. Google's. Not your website company's 'unique' statistics.

Please focus. Dealers (And everyone in business that is trying to grasp online), it's time to stop. And focus. We're trying to invite people to buy cars and maintenance and parts and accessories. As an industry we say that but it's not how we buy services. We buy because our buddy did, our competitor did, all of our 20 group says to and so on.

It's down to focus. Remember that Daniel-san could block, sweep and jump AFTER he focused on painting and all the other chores that Mr. Miyagi gave him. No distractions. Complete focus.

So focus Daniel-san, focus.

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

May 13, 2010 by Gary May 0