Tag Archives

Posts with seo tag.

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

Gary May

www.imacsweb.com

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

Gary May

www.imacsweb.com

It’s Time To Do A Few Things Well

Most people that read this blog that are in automotive retail probably have one thing in common: they can do one thing really well. Sales, finance, management, etc you're likely not fresh in your position or field. You've been trained, taught, updated and (even if not very effective) sent to seminars, events and trade shows. People looking for more information, especially in this format, are those that want to learn…to be better, earn more or lead their field.

So, it's time for you and your colleagues. Time to do a few things. This is not a way to say that you're only doing one thing. Rather that the automotive retail, and even most of the headquarters, needs to venture outside of the comfort zone in regards to being more effective, using multifaceted strategies and new technology to deliver better results.

There is raging debate on what works and doesn't tied into whether or not fads and technology work: social media versus the tickler file, direct mail versus ads, text marketing versus a note, text codes/integrated mobile marketing versus billboards, Internet departments versus the floor, CRM versus the 3 by 5 and the salesperson's memory. Folks, what are afraid of? What investment is not worth it if customers will consume it? And why is the debate still going on at all? If it works for you, do it.

Oh, and then there's the budget and resource excuse. It used to be that the argument was simply "if I drop my newspaper and TV ads, traffic will stop". We all know today, without question, that's not the truth. Period. Now days it's "I can't staff competent people to handle live chat", or "how can I have someone post on social media ll day and still sell the cars they're supposed to?".

That's not the point. It's simple: do the same things, get the same results. Stop thinking of a technology, solution or new mouse trap as a stand alone aspect of your business! Everything creates either consideration or traffic that should convert. You might think about things this way:

1. Your website is the center of the universe. All traffic should ultimately go there. Leads convert there or because of the information gained there. While not the most dynamic part of your marketing, it is one of most easily tracked, can be modified nearly on the fly, enjoys the benefits of multiple sources and provides seamless integration. Oh, and you own it (or if you don't, you now know you should!)

2. Invasive marketing is meant to drive specific contact or leads but rarely meant to drive traffic to the website (which should change): direct mail, outbound calls, inserts and other forms of non-requested contact. Still works but typically not tailored correctly for higher conversion. If dealers started using their data correctly, ROI would increase (or start actually). Upside is that the receiver is not expected to do anything other than look or open their mail or drive by something while the downside is that tracking is poor and is not on the consumers terms.

3. Passive marketing is meant to involve your customers with your brand and includes events, ride-and-drives, social media, giveaways and more. Benefits are that it can be tracked more accurately than any other off-site media, costs are typically lower than (if not practically dirt cheap) traditional marketing, engages consumers at their want/need/desire level and offers great sharing and word-of-mouth.

Two and three are supposed to make one work better, consistently. It's incredible to think of someone that controls the marketing spend at a dealership or group using invasive marketing as the majority of their focus while the same person doesn't use the media they buy when they consume content! Put even more appropriately, why do you market or advertise expecting it to work when you've not successfully asked or tracked how your customers engaged, used and responded to your marketing? The first dealer that says they source successfully over 50% of the time, your staff is…well…not being honest.

It's our job to know what our customers want, not what we want them to want. If you're a top producer at your dealership, how can you deliver more? The answer isn't that you can't. Or that there's not enough time in the day. Or that you're waiting for the new model because nobody wants to buy what's being replaced. It's time to do a few more things well.

Are we recommending that you get into a fist fight with your GM about opening up the firewall that your IT director clamped down so tight you can't get an email out to your mother? No. What we are recommending is that you find the time and ways to make your time and results more effective and productive.

These things don't happen by themselves. We need to push ourselves into uncomfortable territory for a while and commit to seeing the results through.And don't lay down because your factory rep doesn't understand how your CRM works or what a tweet is or that you can actually talk with people on Facebook.

Do one new thing…then do two things…and they will come! Yes, silly, the customers.

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

Gary May

www.imacsweb.com

Start With The End In Mind, But Mind What You Start

One of the beauties of working with those businesses that want to move forward is just that: the move forward. One of the drawbacks is the distractions that can stop clients in their tracks. Even the most excited dealer, on any given day, may end up with a list of fire drills that can stop a freight train. Downhill. When you start your move in the digital direction, it must be a complete commitment.

More and more principals and senior management at the dealer level are getting their hands, minds and ambitions set around their online presence, brand reach, consumer interaction and spending real time in understanding what is out there. By educating dealers rather than just taking over the whole ball of wax, change is visible. By involving them rather than avoiding them, cooperation is established. By partnering, accountability becomes easier.

Even with the greatest level of engagement, however, retail is still retail and some habits die hard. Dealers can't ignore their fixed operations for a day. Management can't (and won't) turn a blind eye to the sales floor for 24 hours. Not even the parts manager gets a day without a general manager visit. So how can you afford to go a week or two, if not longer, without chatting up what's happening online and not just leads.

Two areas that might need more work are setting expectations and goal setting. Too often relatively major aspects of online operation are glazed over that can easily be addressed by keeping both vendor and client accountable to updates, the calendar and results.

These days you hear about more dealer service providers being tasked by their dealerships, companies providing more amenable terms, dealers sharing more information with their 20 groups and huge attendance at events around Internet and social media efforts. Great! What is happening to hold the dealer responsible? The web and everything associated with it is so fluid today that it almost makes more sense to have a meeting about what's happening and how to adjust and direct once or twice a week compared to having another sales meeting. Folks, if you have the right staff, it's about bringing the people in…salespeople know what they're doing and not doing especially when they hear it from the desk consistently.

Set expectations, draw out what steps must be done to excel. We must start with the end in mind AND be completely committed to it. Advisers, consultants, webinars and conferences are what you start and maintain with. In other words those are tools, just like 3 by 5 cars, tickler files, walkarounds, and CRM software. They are the conduits to results you want: the sale. They don't sell cars but you can't exist without them.

If you have committed to put your emphasis online, no matter what phase of the process you're in, stick with it. This isn't toe-in-the-water. This is died-in-the-wool. You can't get anywhere without having both the keys and a destination. You can't take off without the right equipment and a flight plan (yeah you pilots of the auto industry, you know who you are). And you can't win online without being part of it, staying in it and knowing what you want out of it.

Best practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

Gary May

www.imacsweb.com

So Much Good Stuff…Does It Make You Want To Ignore It All?

It's no secret that over the past few months things have really been taking off in the online automotive space for dealers and a lot of attention is being paid to the more leading edge, innovative companies (and some not-so-leading-edge ones). It really seems that retail is starting to embrace, at a minimum, the 'change' in mindset. At the same time it's not too hard to see that it may be overload.

When you consider the amount of good information, new technology, availability of tools (especially those that are free or inexpensive), vast selection of downloads/blogs/webinars and more, it really seems like a heyday for flipping the switch and going forward like a gleaming new Boeing 787, But just like the impressive 'Dreamliner", you can't get off the ground if your resources aren't trained for the flight.

We still seem to be hamstrung by our best resource: staff, desire, goal-setting, application, training and simple commitment. In a recent meeting, a general manager was talking about how he'd like to offload the lead handling to a staff member. Yes…a GM wanted to have someone else take up the task of correctly touching, responding to and managing the leads. Huh?!?!?!?!?

All of this made me flash back to the AM/PM radio spots with their campaign "Too Much Good Stuff". We can SEO/PPC/CRM/DMS/PMA/CPO/RO/MICKEYMOUSE a dealer to death. By the same token, you've got to be able to execute on all of those lovely acronyms. Start with the leads.

Don't have the right person(s)? You had better look at all of your sales staff. Don't apply any excuses to any one of them. Can't type an effective email? Chances are you can't communicate very effectively on the floor. Sorry, you must not ignore one and not the other. They go hand-in-hand. Can't turn on a monitor or CPU? Just imagine that all of the 'old dogs' on your sales floor had to learn something about navigation/Bluetooth/OnStar/Sync/back up assist/iDrive and more on new cars over the past few years. And chances are your 40-50 plus year-old techs in the back have had to learn something (actually a heck of a lot) that's new under the hood. Again, stop excusing lack and ignoring ignorance.

Don't have someone that can lead efforts on your website, integration, social media, templates, vendor management and more? You need one. Don't hire a salesperson to do it…and don't hire an IT person either. Hire someone with a balance of skills covering all the aspects: communication, technology, customer service and ensure that it's someone that can conjugate what they'll do for you, not what they did for someone else.

Understand, staff, educate, execute and then lead with some consistent effort and passion. Every dealer that wants to thrive, let alone survive, must be able to assess and improve on ALL aspects of their presence, brand and sales, especially online. To get better results you've got to think and do things differently. And that doesn't mean thinking differently by keeping the person on that has been selling 3-6 cars a month for months just to have them post in social media networks (by the way, that's a mistake!).

Here's a challenge: Make your business plans by December 31, target your staff and online needs, plot your strategy, write everything down, stick to it all year long and (here's the hard part) do everything that you're in control of and ignore the rest.

The difference this coming year between you making online work for you and not making it work can be devastating. Make "Too Much Good Stuff" work for you and then take it all…

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

Gary May

www.imacsweb.com

It Doesn’t Matter How Much, You Can’t Afford Not Going All Out On The Web

With the end of the year quickly approaching and a focus on getting as many cars sold as possible, it''s also the only time you have to make sure your plan is right for your web presence in 2010. We're talking about a plan. If you don't have one, it's time do something that will really move the needle for you.

It's a bit of Branding 101, Internet 102, Process 201 (we'll say that since you've likely hired a more traditional "get them excited to do more of the same thing after the excitement of yelling at them wears off in 3 days" trainer although not in a while) and a number of other 'class' sounding names. The long and short of it everything you're successful at will depend on your virtual existence.

So, when you decide to spend $X,XXX to $XX,XXX per month online, and stick with it for the long haul, start with:

WEBSITE: A thorough review of your websites via a true outside SEO review (we use @Grader at http://websitegrader.com), SEO keyword report from a third party (we use AutoFusion at http://www.autofusion.com) and a true review of best practices will have to open to change considering what most website companies offer. If you're website is 6 years old, has 100-400 indexed pages, less than 100 inbound links and a page rank under 4, it's time to say hello to a more competent provider.

We're not going to list website vendors here this time. Just start by knowing what you are paying for and (likely) not getting. The most important part is how dynamic your site(s) and content are. Yes, SEO is here to stay along with usability and design.

CRM/EMAIL MARKETING: While there has been a lot of focus on social media, email is still an effective tool for engagement. That is as long as you make it relevant and compelling. How do you do that? Start really looking at who is in your database, not just deeming them as customers! Without getting into the details here, start thinking about your message and what you would want act on instead of not thinking and leaving companies that know nothing about your business communicate for you. Do yourself a huge favor and read what you're sending out before you simply spend money on someone to spread *&$! out there faster and more efficiently.

When you've got that done, we think that these represent some best-practice partners: VIN Solutions (http://www.vinsolutions.com), Dealer Socket (http://www.dealersocket.com) and DealerUps (http://www.dealerups.com), which has been going though retooling since acquisition can really help you do your job more effectively with way less effort.

Using an email marketing company is important if you want to have more transparency and control (including scrubbing, deduping, targeting and more), remember to focus on content. Emma (http://www.myemma.com), Ratepoint (http://www.ratepoint.com) and Constant Contact (http://www.constantcontact.com) are leaders in their field in addition to the more auto-industry pervasive IMN (http://www.imakenews.com) in addition to surveys made easy by Survey Monkey (http://www.surveymonkey.com). the investments made in the services is minimal compared to the results. Again, your content must be timely, compelling and relevant or your just advertising and most people say 'no thanks' to that.

REPUTATION MANAGEMENT: What are other people reading before they ever talk to or visit you? It's how a majority of people are deciding on where they spend their hard-earned money! Will you spend $150 a night at a hotel with a 2-star ranking from guests? Why spend $30,000 on a dealer that does? Start by checking Yelp, DealerRater, Google and more. Then set up Google, Twitter and other alerts to monitor your business' name for free is a great start. Then there are services for a fee (in and out of the industry providers) from eXteres Auto (http://www.exteresauto.com) to Radian6 (http://www.radiansix.com) that know and understand online reputation and how to stay up on what's being said about you AND your competition.

SOCIAL MEDIA: It's all the buzz. And for most dealers, It's another avenue to scream "BUY HERE". Start with trying to understand that it starts with social. Think about how you're social. If you're selling all the time, you're likely not effective. And neither is selling all the time on networks. Be different, unique, compelling (there it is again!) and someone that people want to talk with rather than ignore. Here's a hint: if you get between 30 and 70% open rate on your emails but no clicks and/or your website visits crash two days later, and you're going to send the same kind of messages out via social media. there's one word for you: don't.

These are merely starting points and things to consider in your online branding. One thing to keep in mind as well: when you do promote and advertise, make sure that your message is contiguous. If you're a Toyota store and taking part in the Tent Event, everything you put on the web should be intertwined and you should have your store benefits and unique aspects promoted in addition to proper promotion.

If the above is already a stretch for your current resources and knowledge, get help. There are dozens of consultants out there. Don't hire an advertising agency to do this. Don't take the word of your current providers. Find out for yourself, ignore reps and figure out what you want from your money.

Get going, your competition already is or will be next. And don't pay the Internet any more lip service about what you're going to do, start and do it so you can have the Internet paying you.

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

Gary May

www.imacsweb.com

What Did Thanksgiving Do For You?

If you're in sales, chances are you needed the Thanksgiving day break. Badly. If things are good or not-so-good, the day off allows you at least to decompress. If you're in automotive, many would say that the break is more than deserved. You should return with two things: the day off and something new.

Too often we take the greatest chance to improve and dismiss it with a focus on the short-term gain. Will you return simply energized or with new, more aggressive goals and a dedication to really build your brand? It's not only the things we're thankful for, it's also the things you plan on being thankful for.

If you sell, are you doing everything you can? Using your CRM as a static database or a real tool? Is the day after Thanksgiving the day that you start leveraging your website with live chat, video, widgets, blogs, calls-to-action to convert your traffic (campaigns, truly unique offers, integrated items, etc) and more. Or maybe it's not time to do that. Right?

Is it time to start customizing your newsletters and other email marketing instead of thinking that simply sending things out means you get results? Maybe Friday is the day that you start holding vendors accountable. Or when you start leveraging social media and online reputation management? Yes, that means you'll have to start asking, connecting and setting expectations.

In order to expect different results, you must do different things and do them consistently. If there's ever been a time to distinguish yourself, your brand, your dealership, your clients, your community and your industry, it's now. The gloves are off. The transparency is ever clear. The opportunities are there. The opportunities are yours.

Chances are most of your competition is going to be doing something when they come in Friday: the same thing. What are you going to do?

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

Gary May

www.imacsweb.com

Why Hit The Panic Button When You Can Hit The Simple Button?

Can't you just hear it in the background when you try to explain the shift to digital/social marketing from traditional 'push' marketing to a business like, oh let's say, a car dealer? A chorus fills your head from 1978: "Aaahh Freak out! Le Freak, C'est Chic, Freak out!". Scary enough, our sales volumes are near 1978 levels and we continue to advertise as if it were.

From forums on DrivingSales to articles on Advertising Age to the offices of medium- to large-sized dealer groups, there is still a debate. That's' mind boggling! Consumers are gobbling up media at alarming rates. Their chosen media, not advertising. Do you still believe it was the advertisers that killed the newspapers? It's much easier to accept than understand that people don't need to read yesterday's news that they already got online or on their cell phone the day before.

So, people do what people do when they just don't understand: freak out, panic, sweat, worry, bury their heads. Come on, take out the Simple button (thanks for the idea Staples!) and start working and communicating WITH everyone. If you don't understand SEO, social media, microsites, true CRM, integration and the whole list of items that aren't a print, radio or TV ad then simply ask our community. Stop being in love with your advertisements and start being in love with your customers!

Changing the way we generate traffic is not easy, but it is incredibly simple. What is usually missing from any effective digital strategy at dealers is (1) process, (2) stick-to-it-iveness, (3) oversight, (4) knowledge, (5) willingness and (6) a burning desire to succeed. Why wait when you can dominate? The wait mentality really gets my goat. You might as well sell you business if you're going to wait.

Last week while speaking at a NADA 20 Group, one dealer had less than 20% of their marketing budget in digital/online. His explanation? "Hasn't worked!". His process? Buying the same way he buys weekend spot or full-page ads. Folks, online is not a "stick-your-toe-in-the-water-and-see-if-it-feels-good" proposition. All of the transparency and accountability is there, no other media measures like online!!

Whether it's wanting to "own" page one of Google by partnering with a strong SEO company (especially if your website company thinks SEO is simply a typo of CEO), to sharing great content on Facebook or Twitter, effectively engaging service customers with a tool like Driverside, or doing effective CRM with a company like DealerSocket or VINSolutions, it's the same: if you don't know, ask.

If you don't have the best brand possible reflected online, over 60 percent open rates for your emails, positive onliine reputation, inventory that can be indexed by the search engines (you don't if it's framed-in on your website) and a community that communicates with you online, it's time to get your business in order before spending thousands and thousands of dollars every month because someone's convinced you that they can sell more cars for you (if they're that strong, hire them and get rid of your deadwood).

Polish up your Simple button and use it because you should be operating a profitable business and not a charity and blind contribution machine. In other words, make your business right before you continue to help make others right (and more profitable that yours)…

Best practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

Gary May

www.imacsweb.com

A Week In Vegas Automotive Style (In A Few Paragraphs)

It's the conference time of the year for the automotive biz and this last week didn't disappoint. Having attended both the first-ever DrivingSales Executive Summit and the venerable JD Power Internet Roundtable it was clear, to some degree, as to what the leaders are looking for, discussing and sharing. My first observation? Not enough dealers were present.

Nobody is trying to hold one group more accountable than the other and while budgets and money are tight, our industry moves at retail not at the supplier, vendor, media or marketing levels. Yes we need to have product that is appealing, ways to communicate effectively about it, means to get people buying the product (hello banks…), staying up with the breakneck speed of technology and keeping the general public excited. All those things aside, it's your good 'ol neighborhood retailer that gets the metal to move.

So, the DSES at the Hard Rock had two days to get the dealers that want to be in front in the best possible position with data, technology, new capabilities and compelling roundtable conversations. For a first-time event, it seemed to have hit its mark. With an agenda that covered current market data, SEO and relevant trends, new technologies and vendor offerings, analytics and social media, what was really impressive was the 'how to' part of the summit. Real conversations with real people answering the tough questions.

Networking is great and does has its immense value (including to this author) but the in-the-trenches, getting your hands dirty stuff is what moves the needle for any business. When someone is interested in doing something, they usually want to know the how, why, when and where. It was refreshing to be a part of the event put together by Charlie Vogelheim and Jared Hamilton.

DSES' range of speakers was atypical and that was a breath of fresh air. Compete's Skip Streets couldn't handle the glaring lights beaming down on him but the content prevailed. It was wonderful to get to hear BlueKai's new approach to media buying and consumer targeting from Dave Armitage. The presentation given by Driverside and R.L. Polk was very different considering it dealt with the back end of the retail business: service. Chris Brogan (New Marketing Labs) and Aaron Strout (Powered) quite frankly gave the road map to the industry without strings: customers, social media, branding, listening, content and value.

Switch gears to an event that I've been participating in since the first one back five plus years ago: JD Power's Internet Roundtable at Red Rock. Well attended by the OEMs, agencies, service providers, portals and dealers. The IRT has changed some over the past few years but it has lacked the 'punch' that it had a couple ago with the breakout roundtable discussions. One undisputed aspect: Everyone's socks were knocked off by Jim Farley's session Thursday morning, period. I've never heard more compliments and conversation after a speaker, ever. And if you haven't taken note of Ford's digital efforts over the past year, maybe you should.

In attending (and participating via Twitter) in a number of other sessions,the content seems to have drifted from subject at times but the speakers knew the craft from the social media, to the leads presentation to the media integration panel. Bar none, the crowd needed to be involved during or, at a minimum, after the sessions. The 'juice' comes from squeezing the *&$%!)#$% out of people and the occasional challenge to their stance.

Where JD Power's event always drives immense dividends for our industry is the lunches, dinners and hallway banter. I've always enjoyed taking part especially considering their influence and reach and, whether or not they are liked and appreciated at any given time, the company's heritage: focus on the customer. Hopefully our industry continues to listen considering consumers control everything today.

The IRT organizing team deserves props for getting social media on the agenda again but it still doesn't get the representation it deserves considering it makes up (along with online marketing and websites) the majority of automotive traffic now and for the future.

What both events need: more dealer participation, more dealer participation and maybe some more dealer participation. The media pays attention to SAAR, manufacturers, balance sheets, production, trends, bailouts and a whole lot of other things that have nothing to do with saving an industry. if you'd like to argue whether the magic number is 11.5M units or 13.1M, that's fine. Just as long as we're helping those that sell the cars in the first place.

The progressive dealers need to be up on stage talking about how they've changed their business and what ways they're moving forward. There may be a day in the near future in where the retailer is just as important as the company paying $20,000+ to speak or that changing up the agenda to showcase an undiscovered nugget is more relevant than some OEM's marketing exec giving the same presentation about their (somewhat) radical approach to marketing for the 20th time. (disclaimer: not talking about Mr. Farley here).

So this latest round of automotive Vegas-ness goes in the record books. Thank you DrivingSales Executive Summit and JD Power Internet Roundtable for having platforms that brought hundreds of thousand of dollars into Sin City. Now the question is: who has the guns to not make it a year until the next time the industry can learn?

Who can drive the education and engagement in the next 90 days without the trip, hotel, expense account and wad of one dollar bills (ooops, did I say that?).

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

Gary May

www.imacsweb.com

Moving The Needle: From A Get Together To A Ground Swell

It is going to take lots more than talk, snake oil and rain dances to turn our hobby back into an industry with integrity, consistency and accountability (if we even had those in the first place). It is more than about time to make change rather than simply talk about it.

Somewhere between the low-ball numbers form some industry experts and the pipe-dream estimates provided by others, there is a more accurate one and that's where we'll ultimately end the year. Fact is the number is still going be a boatload below what it was just a couple years ago. Now we can do our best to get to some better 'state of the industry' but the last time I checked, it still happens through selling and servicing cars the right way: one at a time.

Let's face it: consumers control content, the banks are controlling most of the consumers' spending (or at least for now), and there's no love lost for the venerable car dealer.

A couple weeks ago there was a Automotive LA Dinner, put together by Philip Inghelbrecht of TrueCar, and it was a great example of trying to get together to move the needle. Eleven industry colleagues, most meeting for the first time, came from as far as 150 miles apart to meet in the Long Beach area and share insight, expertise, information, backgrounds and opportunities. Our next meeting is supposed to be around the New Year, I hope sooner.

Next month's DrivingSales Executive Summit is going to be different. charlie Vogelheim and Jared Hamilton wanted to put the dealers' future and opportunities in the spotlight, rather than the typical highest-paying sponsor or best-known industry speaker or colleague spearheading an event. I hope this becomes a series of events with unprecedented support for the attendees, instead of greasing the skids for someone else.

The list of companies hosting webinars to get information out there for free is compelling: Cars.com, Powered.com, Automotive News, Ward's, Dealer.com and more are spending time, money and attention on where the water level really is: retail.

When the needle really starts moving in the right direction is when most of the events and support are the rule, not the exception. It's a matter of finding the folks who weren't particularly impressed with an event, sitting down with them and finding out how to improve things. Video after video, post after testimonial about how great an event or speaker or consultant was when half of the people in attendance leave a room is not going to benefit anyone.

Our responsibility is to improve, educate, compel, engage, support, enlist and activate. Simply going through the motions and putting a new cover on old tricks (like reusing a one- or two-year old article and calling it fresh) , saying the you can deliver on something and then not or simply doing nothing at all – i.e. 'waiting' like so many dealers like to play it – is a move in the way wrong direction. Don't get the wrong assumption: getting back to basics is great. Great for teaching someone how to close that doesn't.

You can't get a newspaper person to get the web, so don't try to. You can't get a person who's never used a cell phone to text a message, so don't try to. But if we act like a village (no laughter, please) and raise the collective water level, we can do amazing things. The needle can move much quicker in the direction we want and need if we eliminate the roadblocks, maintain above the status quo and help one more person each day achieve something more.

And maybe, just maybe, we might get someone who's never turned on a computer to end up taking 70 leads a month and closing at the third or fourth highest rate in a dealership. We might see more dealerships starting to implement true customer satisfaction tools, employ true SEO practices, get advanced training on their CRMs, get a higher ROI from truly targeted service marketing and even utilize mobile web (I don't care if it's 0.005% of online users now, it won't be next week, next month or next year so quit using ridiculous excuses!!!).

Remember: it's our job to help move the needle, not someone else's. Let's get the needle movers together. Unite!…and stay thirsty my friends…

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

Gary May

Tag Archives

It’s Time To Do A Few Things Well

Moving The Needle: From A Get Together To A Ground Swell

RECENT BLOG POSTS

GET SOCIAL