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Posts with cars tag.
Week At IM@CS: Chats With The Industry

With the year coming to a close, it was time for a bigger perspective break from our traditional focus on smaller companies. This is a look back a the bigger conduits that may not always have had the spotlight, considering the focus on the OEMs, economy and other reasons. IM@CS would like to give credit to the following:

HomeNet: If Jesse Biter and the team at HomeNet don't continue to impress, you're not looking. With everything else they're doing to make inventory 'that much better', they added their IOL community to the list of accomplishments. Then they polished off the year by getting Neal Gann on board…great work Jesse and the folks at HomeNet! http://www.homenetinc.com

DealerSocket: We continue to be impressed by their product, innovation and support. The industry is focussed on CRM now, but there has to be more than strong intent to help dealers succeed or put out a great campaign to solicit signups. Some of the smallest and largest dealers in the country rely on Jonathan Ord's company daily and they seem to be sold on the whole package and not an image, great stuff! http://www.dealersocket.com

Automotive Digest: Outside of the fact that their content has been finding its way into the inbox here for a long time, their content is relevant, compelling, easy to read and timely. Chuck Parker and the team of contributors and editors seem to focus on what dealers need most, especially in the online world. There a number of titles to satisfy nearly everyone on your holiday list!! Dealer Digest Daily is the IM@CS favorite. http://www.automotivedigest.com

We'll try to keep these updates weekly and ultimately have an area where you can get in touch with the vendors.

Best practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

December 22, 2008 by Gary May 0
The Chicken Or The Egg? No…The Chicken AND The Egg

When you don't make one, someone makes one for you. If you make one too early, you may regret it.  It's the lifeline, the conduit, the facilitator and the support system making making things work: decisions. We are making decisions constantly in business. But are our decisions the right ones?

While this is not meant to second guess (or cause you to, slowing your business), this idea was put here to make you understand that decisions are based on options. Too often we hear expressions like "I had no decision" or "It's too hard to make a decision right now". If you are in business or your work for someone's business, it is your job to make decisions from a complete understanding of the options.

Now, not everyone has the time to completely research every option (I hear that from dealer principals and management regularly) and that is fair. But when opportunity knocks loudly and clearly, how you can not make a decision is one of the greatest mysteries in not just the auto industry, but any industry that is sales-related. No time to take meetings these days? Won't entertain vendors, sales reps and consultants? Watch the light at the end of the tunnel fade completely out.

When you lead, you get to take the advantage of time, less competition, more opportunity and other great benefits. There is also more risk but let's not forget why you're in business in the first place. Dealers that didn't ignore the Internet got a decent start.  Those who not only jumped on but got educated and leveraged web-based CRM, online marketing, SEO, SEM and other technology are, more often than not, reaping the benefits and mitigating their losses right now (unfortunately those who suffer from buy-it-and-dont-use-it-or-understand-it-itis don't qualify).

Now is the time to take the bull by the horns. Stop waiting, stop following. Start being part of the solution, the decision, the opportunity, the what's next! And guess what?

You get to have the chicken AND the egg…

Best practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

December 5, 2008 by Gary May 0
A December To Remember? For A Lot Of Reasons

No matter how tightly or loosely your association with the automotive industry, this is a month of reckoning for so many reasons. But most are still in 'wait and see mode'. That just flat out can't be comfortable and it's not right, so why is it done?  If you'd had the proverbial crystal ball, what would you have done months ago (if not years)?

It is interesting to hear about some level of negative consumer sentiment or backlash about the Toyota 0% advertising. When was the last time the public's voice rallied against dealers communicating with them too much or trying to sell them cars they didn't want?

Not to rip off Lexus and their annual end-of-the-year ad blitz, but will this be a December to remember? Some stores are talking about a small lift in their traffic, some about people buying again and some are just happy to get clients responding via email. How do you keep the water flowing?

These are constants in what IM@CS teaches daily:

1. Put everything in the customers' terms
2. Ask questions
3. Validate the customer (while talking less)
4. Answer their questions and ask a new one (yes, keep the conversation going)
5. Demonstrate a real reason to buy
6. Promote value, advantages and benefits

Then ask yourself what your marketing says and remember that if you keep doing the same things, don't expect different results. In a meeting with a dealer service provider Tuesday, their entire (refreshing) approach was to understand their clients' needs better. Almost everything we talked about related to engagement. So…what are you doing every day to think about how you communicate and relate to your clients?

Don't pay more attention than your precious time allows to think about the economy, bailouts, cut backs, fewer units sales, etc. Nothing affects you more than the leads you're not responding to, the terse or lacking responses and messages you leave, the appointments you don't confirm and the time you don't spend learning how to do things better.

Find every reason to make this a December to remember for your own reasons, get out there and be great!

Best practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

December 4, 2008 by Gary May 1