This week we are having a look at relationships with women customers. Traditionally, after women buy their car, they come into your store for mandatory service visits or for a recall. It's a bit like a Yo-Yo effect. What do more meaningful and ongoing interactions with women look like? A dealership might offer free car washes or birthday oil changes? What about a “happy anniversary this-is-the-day-you-bought-your-car-here-and-we-appreciate-you” tire rotation? These are opportunities to build relationships with women customers and for her to keep you top of mind.

Innovative Engagement and Enrichment
Innovative digital tools like Women's Car Guide provides touch points to cultivate and build a trusting relationship with your female clients that keeps you in a fluid relationship, while providing educational tips to women+families.

A woman may just buy a car every 5-8 years, but she uses it several times a day. Content in the Women’s Car Guide can be seen as a trusted resources all year round by emailing her articles that are relevant to her. Or, they can be used in newsletters to all your subscribers. The mobile responsive Women’s Car Guide integrates into your website to showcase lifestyle and life-stage articles.

It improves time spent on a dealer’s website. Content also auto-posts to the dealer's Facebook page. Reviews are also integrated to showcase transparency with this emerging market that relies on authentic feedback.
Click to see Women's Car Guide.

In the world of connectivity, click here to learn how to stay top of mind with your women shoppers.

So, you’ve received a poor review from a woman customer. Now what? First, remember poor reviews will happen. Someone will be unhappy with your dealership at some time. The same happens to Starbucks, Apple and Nordstrom. As long as the poor reviews are infrequent, they really are good news. Why?

1. Customers expect to see a variety of ratings when reading reviews. If all are “exceptional”, customers will think they aren’t seeing the whole picture.
2. You have a chance to correct the issue. Your dissatisfied customer could have not mentioned the problem and just told her friends. Instead, she took the time to tell you about it, and now you have a chance to work on it – and most importantly, the relationship
3. It allows other women prospects to see the entire thread and see the larger picture as well as understand how you respond and treat customers.

The key issue for any ‘poor review’ is how you handle it. Here are a few things to consider:

1. Use rating services that allows this type of feedback to be held offline until you have a chance to resolve the problem. (Certified Dealers on Women-Drivers.com allows 10 working days for customer resolution before posting the review.)
2. Carefully read and note the real issue. Determine if it's a problem you need to address internally. Don’t dismiss it or think it is a one-time problem.
3. Discuss the problem in a prompt manner with your customer. Be sure to thank her for the feedback and make sure she has been “heard and gotten.” Once the issue is firmly resolved, you may consider:
   
   a. Offer a service coupon and ask her to give you a chance to make up for the inconvenience.
   
   b. A follow up call from the Service Advisor or even the GM provides an appreciative touch.
   
   c. Free car washes or lunch for two can be in order.
4. Resolve the issue internally, even if it was a one-time problem. If one customer reported the issue, other customers may have experienced the same thing.
5. Ask the customer if they are willing to re-write another review based upon this issue being resolved to their satisfaction.

Did You Know?

Customers who leave a bad review have taken the time to tell you about it rather than just walking her business elsewhere. View this as an opportunity rather than a threat and reap the rewards. Customer retention and recognizing the residual revenue in the service drive is paramount. Keeping a customer costs a lot less than getting a new one.

On this week's Think Tank Tuesday:

What is SOS? (It doesn't mean what you think!)
How much is it costing your business?
What can you do to avoid it?

This week's Make Money Mondays, is with the CEO of Dealer Synergy. Sean V. Bradley, CSP discusses your BDC department. 

BDC= Business Development Center. A BDC is a department that proactively drives traffic to the dealership, and does not respond to reactive traffic. How can you create business that isn't already there? Through Internet sales, Service conversion, service BDC, equity mining, data mining, cross promotional marketing, special online finance, etc. There are 8 ways for a salesperson to sell an automobile. Those 8 ways include walk-in, be-back, Internet, phone, prior customers, referrals, service conversions, and prospecting. You need to respect the fact that there is so much opportunity on the Internet and have your salespeople perfect and manage the 8 ways to sell an automobile. 

Want more training from Sean V. Bradley? Check out http://www.BradleyOnDemand.com

For more information on the automotive industry visit http://www.AutomotiveInternetSales.com

If you are looking for an exciting career in the automotive industry. RK Chevy in Vineland, New Jersey is hiring for numerous positions:
Internet Sales Coordinators,BDC Reps, Showroom Sales Consultants. Please call if you are interested or if you know someone that would be perfect for these positions. RK Chevy knows 92-99% of Americans go online to shop, so the internet sales department is getting built up to be HUGE.Start your new career today!

http://www.myrkchevy.com

Massapequa Nissan Is hiring! If you are looking for an exciting career in the automotive sales industry, this is a great opportunity for you. If you're currently working at a dealership and you aren't making the money that you want, need and deserve...you need to call ! Even if you have never worked in the automotive industry, but you want to make as much money as you can earn, this is perfect for you! They just built a multi-million dollar customer development center, and we are looking for the best of the best to work in our department. They are looking for Internet sales coordinators, BDC reps, appointment setters, and showroom sales consultants. Massapequa Nissan is a part of the Atlantic Auto Group, and the # 2 privately held dealer group in the country! If you want to work with an award winning team, call right now!

http://www.MassapequaNissan.com (888)-610-6673

Sean V. Bradley,CEO of Dealer Synergy wrote an article for Auto Success Magazine about Why BDC's fail. A BDC can handle unsold showroom traffic, data mining, campaign management, equity mining, expiring warranties, aftermarket products, special finance, Internet sales, phone sales, cross promotional marketing, fleet, etc. One of the main reasons that BDC doesn't work is because most dealerships put untrained people together to do everything. Your Internet department should not be a big cluster of people doing a bunch of different things. You should scale into the BDC, and start with the biggest opportunity to be successful. The best thing for you to do is to start with the Internet because 92-99% of Americans go online before stepping into a dealership.

Your Internet department should be your anchor. Secondly, the Internet is predominately a phone sale. Email sells the phone, phone sells the appointment, and the appointment builds the relationship, product, presentation, demo, drive, and delivery. Your Internet department should be trained in the Inbound and Outbound phone call process, Qualifications, Objections and Rebuttals. If they are trained in these fields, they should be able to take inbound phone ups as well. So, the anchor of a BDC should start with Internet leads and inbound phone ups. After, you could increase to the next module. Depending on what your goals are, will dictate what module you implement next. Stop playing checkers with your BDC, and start playing chess.

If you like Make Money Mondays, you will love Bradley On Demand: http://www.BradleyOnDemand.com

For more information about Dealer Synergy visit, http://www.DealerSynergy.com

http://salemove.com 

A recent Wall Street Journal article titled “Car Sellers Refine Pitch to Women” revealed that more women are driving than men. In fact, there are 105+ million women on the roads today, as opposed to 104+ million men and more elderly women are holding on to their driver’s license (USA Today, Nov. 2012). As the relationship women have with their cars tightens, it’s time the industry takes notice and adjusts their pitch to reflect a more engaging “hello."

So how can a dealership make that emotional connection with women? Rattle off horsepower numbers? Well, sure that’s one way. Another innovative way dealerships can connect is through the discussion of UV damage through windows and the windshield. Melanoma is on the rise and women’s hands bake in the sun while driving. As Americans, especially Californians, spend more and more time on the road (up to 600 hours a year), that’s more time spent exposed to the deadly powers of the sun.

Did you know that skin cancers occur more commonly on the left side of the body because that is the “driving” side (www.skincancer.org). A woman’s left arm and hands are constantly exposed. With hundreds of hours spent in the sun every year, her skin is increasingly at risk for skin cancer. Additionally, her skin is significantly aging (and let’s face it, the hands always give away a woman’s age).

The Skin Cancer Foundation provides guidelines for preventing skin cancer. The first, and best, line of defense is covering up with clothing, preferably UPF-rated clothing—not sunscreen. While sunscreen is the second best alternative, it must be applied every two hours to work. Rarely is this done; sunscreen is messy and reapplying is inconvenient when a woman is driving to and from work, picking up the kids from school, or running errands.

Beyond health concerns, think of it from a marketing perspective. Your concern regarding UV damage shows that you care. As buyers, women want you to care about them as people, not just the safety factor of the car. They would love it if you left a pair of fashionable UPF driving gloves in the car as a “safety precaution” and thank you gift. They would tell all of their friends about that and you would have a friend for life!

This is why you should meet Sundriven UV Apparel. After having lost relatives to melanoma, the founder was determined to create safe, fashionable products for women that prevent against sun damage. The result was the perfect driving glove with a UPF 50+, the highest rating. There is no sunscreen on the market that can protect like these eco-friendly, sustainable, and luxury driving gloves can.

For more information to assist with information for your women clients, sharing more information on your social channels, or offering this innovative type clothing when driving, contact Sundriven. Women’s Month is just around the corner!

Among Millennials, 53% of Car Buyers Are Female

Cathy Anderson, right, owner of Woody Anderson Ford, a Huntsville, Ala., dealership, discusses a car with
Connie Hicklen. Shawn Poynter for the Wall Street Journal

On a recent hot summer night outside Detroit, a 62-year-old woman sat in a chair watching the Telegraph Cruise, a classic-car parade on Telegraph Avenue in Taylor, Mich., when a stranger approached and began asking questions.

What kind of car did she drive? Why had she chosen that automobile? What did this choice say about her identity?

The stranger, it turned out, was Chris Lezotte, a Ph.D candidate at Bowling Green State University, in Ohio, who was doing ethnographic research for her dissertation on the relationship women have with cars.

Ms. Lezotte is one of a small army of researchers trying to get inside the heads of women who need transportation—"to uncover the various meanings women ascribe to cars in a variety of contexts," as she puts it. The University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute put out a study in 2012 showing that the number of women drivers in the U.S. had surpassed that of men, 105.7 million to 104.3 million, as of 2010.

Ever since, researchers have been wondering why the car-shopping and buying experience is still such a man's game. The National Automobile Dealers Association says last year some 91% of car salesmen at franchised dealerships were men.

Women accounted for 39% of car purchases in 2013, up from 37% four years earlier, according to J.D. Power. That may not seem like a big change, until you consider that Americans bought almost 15.6 million cars last year. A 2% shift represents more than 300,000 vehicles.

When a man buys a car, there is often a woman behind the decision, according to the buzz in auto circles. Globally, women are "making the final decision on more than 60% of new car purchases," said Carlos Ghosn, president and chief executive of Nissan Motor Co, in a speech in July.

Chris Lezotte, a Ph. D candidate studying women's relationships
with their cars, in her 1949 Ford Coupe. Alan Kalter

Melody Lee, director of brand and reputation strategy for General Motors Co.'s Cadillac division, says she believes women wield influence in anywhere from 85% to 95% of car purchases. "That's what we're seeing in our showrooms and that's what our dealers are telling us," she said.

Here's another statistic, culled from her research: "If 74% of women feel that they are misunderstood [by car marketers] but they're influencing up to 95% of our car purchases—that's a huge missed opportunity there," she says.

Researchers say demographic shifts offer more reasons for auto makers to refine their sales pitch to women. Women earn more, marry later and divorce more often than they used to. And both women (and men) can be formidable customers, arriving at the dealership armed with research found online, so they aren't at the mercy of a salesman.

At the same time, social media give women "a voice that can impact brands like no other time in history," says Jody DeVere, chief executive of AskPatty, a women's automotive-advisory website.

AskPatty.com is a kind of automotive matchmaking website for women. Its panel of female experts, from automotive executives to magazine editors to race-car drivers, give women advice on buying, maintaining and insuring cars. At the same time, it sells services to automotive companies who want to attract more women customers.

By completing Web-training modules, retailers can be certified by AskPatty.com as "Female Friendly." AskPatty also offers webinars on how to reach women buyers who are Hispanic or baby boomers.

A newer company with some similar aims is Women-drivers.com, which serves as a forum for women to discuss experiences at specific car dealerships. It also offers support for dealers with feedback from women, content for social media and its own market research. Even before Chief Executive Anne Fleming founded the company in 2013, she had begun compiling her own research on car buying, by sending a questionnaire to some 500 women. The company's continuing research has found that women visit an average of 1.9 dealerships before buying. And 47.5% of women who bought a new car went to the dealership by themselves.

Experts have found women are more likely to rely on online customer reviews and friends' opinions when shopping, while men are more likely to turn to expert reviews.

Ford Motor Co. has created a program called "Live.Drive.Love," which offers women 24-hour test drives. Chantel Lenard, director of U.S. marketing for Ford and Lincoln, said, "It's an opportunity [for women] to experience the product on their own time, in their own environments, so they can show it to friends."

What's down the road? Consider this statistic, Ms. Lenard says. Among millennials—the young adults all industries will soon be fighting for, if they aren't already—53% of car buyers are female. A 2013 Autotrader.com study also projects U.S. millennials will be the wealthiest generation ever.

"We're seeing a shift where females are becoming the majority," Ms. Lenard said. "It's an important market and we want to make sure we're delivering on their needs."

Last month there was such strong interest in our mid-year report “Dealers Websites are #1 with Women Buyers” we have decided to follow it up with more nuggets regarding your site, engagement and women shoppers.

As competition rises, it’s the right time for dealerships to focus on areas of improvement, engagement, and delivering a quality experience to women customers. Today we are focusing on low cost, positive and quiet changes that can make a big difference in showcasing transparency to women.

1. Provide Email and Direct Number Details: Make it easy for your women prospects to locate and contact the people that they are working with. Email addresses, direct phone or even a cell number is ideal.

2.  Professional Photos of the Staff on the Website: By posting professional pictures of your staff with their names and titles, it is easy for customers to give a face to the voice they have spoken to. Or, at least, it will lower any anxiety or mystery about whom they will be working with during the car buying process

For more "Small Changes in Your Digital Footprint Create Easier Access for Women," Click Here.

Want to Sell More Cars and Distinguish your Dealership to Women?  Click here. 

Did you receive a Free copy of the 2014 Women’s Car Buying Report? Click here.

Good Selling!

Today's Women’s Wednesday we are focusing on the new top reason women are buying from their sales advisor. Trust has always trumped price when it comes to buying from a sales advisor, but now, in our latest mid-year #bigdata report directly from women's reviews, “trust” no longer has the top spot.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T! Aretha Franklin couldn’t define it better. Respect is now the #1 prerequisite to trust in the formula to selling to women.

The top 5 reasons women buy from their sales consultant are ranked as follows:

1. Respectful
2. Trustworthy
3. Likeable
4. Knowledgeable
5. Understanding

Want to Sell More Cars and Distinguish your Dealership to Women?  Click here. 

Did you receive a Free copy of the 2014 Women’s Car Buying Report? Click here.

Beginning July 1, new Canadian Anti Spam Legislation will go into effect, enforcing strict regulations on the way emails are sent, as well as how lists are collected and maintained. For most businesses, this means rethinking the way they structure their email marketing strategies to be in compliance.

Whether your business is located in Canada or not, these new regulations are good practice for email marketing in any country. Canada is not the first country to impose regulations on unsolicited emails. Several European countries have been enforcing email spam laws for quite some time, and with electronic media taking off, it’s a matter of time before new legislation is passed in the United States. 

On this episode of Hard Facts, Samantha details exactly what’s in store for Canadian businesses facing these new laws, and how to best prepare for the coming changes. Learn how you can make the transition as painless as possible when legislation goes into effect, and how your business can avoid hefty penalties and fines.

25 Things Veteran Managers Need to Hear

(But don’t want to…)

In life, we all need someone to just tell us the hard truth.  Even when it’s something we really don’t want  to know.  Call it tough love, a reality check, or the ugly truth..  It is what it is.

My wife is talented beyond measure in this department.  For example, if it is apparent that I need a Kleenex (I think you know what I mean) my wife will give me a subtle elbow to the ribs and say, “Hey Batman, you have a bat in the cave.”  She finds this un-naturally entertaining, I might add.  The next exchange goes a little like this.

“Gone?”

“Nope”

“Now?”

“Still there.”

“Damnit!”

“Got it.”

“Thanks”

But even though I am a little embarrassed, I’m glad I didn’t walk around the party for two hours with an uninvited guest hanging out of my nostril like a baby kangaroo.

The bottom line is this.  The longer that you have been in the car business, the more you need this list.  You are guaranteed to disagree with me on some or all of this list.  It’s just my opinion.  Remember, I’m the guy who can’t even keep his nose clean…

1. Quit worrying about the number of leads you’re getting and worry about HOW your handling the leads you currently have. There’s a good chance you’ve got this backwards.
2. Trust me, you’re not spending enough time or money on training. How about consistently spending wasted, untracked advertising dollars on good training?
3. Quit worrying so much about Average Gross Profit per unit and start measuring Spread. (Published Internet Price minus What you actually ended up selling it for, including under/over allowance.) You’ll find out who your strong ones are.
4. There is practically no such thing as a “Walk-In” or “Drive By”.  Assume all of your customers are from the internet.  You’ll only be wrong 1 out of 10 times.
5. You don’t HAVE to use 900lbGorilla.com. I think we all know the providers I’m talking about.  You have the ability to create more of your own leads, you know.
6. Stop generalizing about advertising. (“XYZ never works” or “ABC always works”) It’s all in the offer.
7. Stop using clichés: “This is the way we’ve always done it.”  “We tried that once and it didn’t work.”  “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.”  I don’t care if they’re true, I’m just sick of hearing them.
8. Stop only looking at your desktop when thinking about your website.  Wake up, we live in a handheld world.  The average person looks at their mobile device 104 times a day.
9. Quit procrastinating on using video to communicate with customers.  Start creating a video culture, now.
10. You DON’T need more inventory. You DO need better inventory. This IS a net profit thing, right?
11. Shut up about having to give cars away on the internet.  It’s getting old and it’s making you look silly.  No matter how loud you cry, the internet is not going away.  Just make sure your customers don’t.
12. Stop managing petty things and start managing your people’s habits and expectation levels.  People produce exactly what they expect to produce.
13. Stop saying that Facebook doesn’t sell cars.  Read “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook” by Gary Vaynerchuk.  He is smarter than you.
14. Start treating your employees better.  Get them involved.  We all want to feel like a part of something bigger.
15. Quit being lazy and implement a strict aging policy and a turn policy on your vehicles. Quit managing cars and start managing parking spaces and ROI on your inventory dollars. Does the term “Holding Cost” mean anything to you?
16. Get your cars cleaned and online within 48 hours of getting them. If your vehicle is not online with pictures, thoughtful pricing, and good descriptions, it’s invisible to EVERYONE but you. (and your floorplan company)
17. Stop talking so much about units. Start talking about net profit.  This goes for vendors, too.
18. Your pay-plans probably suck.  I just said probably.  I have seen poorly constructed pay plans derail good intentions.
19. Start treating your Internet/BDC Department like a REAL Department.  If 90% of your customers are online, why are you spending 10% of your time thinking about this department.  The Internet Manager needs to be treated and paid like the rest of your managers.
20. Take off your bib and put on an apron. Practice servant management.  Serve, serve, listen, listen. Cook your damn employees a hamburger, for goodness sake!
21. Start paying more attention to retention.  Quit ignoring your OWN dealership’s owner base.  Your sitting on a treasure chest.  Get off your butt and open it.
22. Start listening to your incoming phone calls.  Just make sure there are no sharp objects nearby.  Then hold your vendors accountable for REAL number of leads.
23. There’s a sales GOLDMINE on your service drive right now.  Next time you’re bored, count the number of ROs in your service department versus the amount of showroom traffic for the month. Where’s the opportunities?
24. Stop teaching the “Silent Appraisal”.  While you’re at it, stop using VHS tapes, Sony Walkmans, and rotary dial phones.
25. Stop getting upset when someone hires the superstar you developed.  It’s the ultimate compliment. When people leave you better than they came, you’re doing your job and your company is getting better.

I hope I didn’t ruffle your feathers.  I just don’t want you walking around with a bat in the cave.

Who’s your Danny?

@Danny_Benites

In order to be a highly successful business, you need to have a solid organizational hierarchy. Learn what you need to create an organizational chart and how it will effect your organization's growth.

Chances are, there’s already been a Google account created for your business, but are you correctly using Google Places and Google+ Local to increase your exposure? Find out how you should be setting up these features to market your dealership.

Get the Hard Facts from Samantha Cunningham at POTRATZ, and learn strategies for increasing your dealership’s online visibility.

Do you ever find yourself asking: How long should a video walk around be? When do you have too much content in an email blast? What makes a great landing page? On this week's Think Tank Tuesday, I'll cover these questions and more!

  Tune in now and learn how long you should be making your content on several different marketing channels.