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Why Negotiate Online?




myNegotiation.com



myNegotiation . com delivers more ready-to-buy customers from your existing web site



Join the growing number of auto dealers that are receiving an average of 50 brand new, additional offers per month from their existing website visitors!



Why Negotiate Online?



Today's generation communicate almost exclusively online and expect that same option when shopping for a car.



MyNegotiation.com provides auto dealers with the tools they need to engage the online generation. MyNegotiation is not an email or live chat system. MyNegotiation is a system with secure online tools for both you and the buyer.



Click here to see what myNegotiation.com can do for you!



myNegotiation.com


Click here to request a demonstration.




Intuitive and Extremely easy to use!
Month to month. No long term commitment.
Your customers can be Negotiating Online from your website in as little as 2 days!

What dealers have to say:

“Our first online negotiation resulted in a sale!”
 - Rusty Strange, Internet Sales Director, Hudson Auto

“In the few months that we have been using it, we have sold 15 more cars than we would have without this solution. Our customers love it and it more than pays for itself. The ROI is outstanding.”
 - Dean Sullivan, Internet Director, Toyota South

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The Perfect Storm: The Prequel Part 3

I met Randy McPherson for the first time in February, 2003, at the Interchange Building in St. Louis Park, MN. The interchange building was the “headquarters” for all the Walser Automotive Group’s affiliate companies, which Randy headed up.

I walked into the offices on the 18th floor and was greeted by a receptionist named Rita. Immediately in front of me was a large window looking into a board room occupied by (mostly) men in suits, obviously conducting a meeting. The board room looked out onto the Minneapolis downtown skyline.

I noticed one gentleman right away. He was wearing a pressed flannel shirt and slacks. he had a smooth head and a groomed goatee. Clearly a renegade. I took a seat in the waiting room.

When the meeting adjourned, the men in suits filed out. The gentleman in the pressed flannel shirt walked out, and greeted me warmly. “Hi, Paul, I’m Randy McPherson,” he said.

We went back to his office, and had a nice conversation. Among the family photos and hunting relics in his office, something caught my eye: an empty guitar stand in the corner behind his desk.

The interview went the way most first interviews go, which is to say pretty innocuous. We talked about the Walser Car Club, and how it was birthed. Since the inception in October of 2002, it hadn’t had solid leadership to spearhead enhancements, new partnerships, or growth to new dealerships. In fact, there wasn’t 100% compliance among Walser’s 10 locations in the Twin Cities, Randy said. They were looking for someone to build process, partnerships and new business.

We talked about my experience in sales, e-commerce and loyalty. I told about my experience in building loyalty partners. But Randy became particularly interested when I discussed points–the ability for Walser customers to earn points when they get their vehicle serviced, OR whenever they make purchases through participating merchants, like rental cars, hotels and retail.

This was the first of many conversations between Randy McPherson and me in scoping out what is today the products the re:member group offers.

“What I’d like you to do,” Randy said, “is to put together a business plan and meet with my CFO and me in two weeks. There’s another candidate that we are considering.”

As I left, I mentioned the empty guitar stand in the corner. “Do you play?” I asked.

“Oh yeah,” Randy said. “Do you? What kind of guitar do you play?”

“I play a Martin D-35 that my wife gave me for a wedding present,” I said. “How about you?”

“I play a McPherson,” Randy said.

It was mid February but as I walked out of the Interchange Building that late afternoon, I think it started to rain.

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How Google Social Search Has Changed the Way Dealers Do Social

http://www.internetsales20group.com

Every few months, we see a dip in sentiment regarding social media. It's been going on consistently since early 2009 and we know that it will continue. Dealers try social, see little reason to continue, and set things on autopilot or abandon it altogether. Then, something changes that makes social media more important and the searches for "Automotive Social Media" spike again.

Get ready to do the search. Social just got more important again. A LOT more important.

During the Digital Marketing Strategies Conference in Napa last earlier this month, I gave a keynote that highlighted Google's commitment to social media (as soon as Jared, Bart, and Arnold send me the video, I'll be happy to post it here... hint, hint). Google reaffirmed that commitment in a big way earlier today that will change the way savvy dealers do social media.

Google Social Search is a game changer - even SearchEngineLand, a blog that is often conservative about the impact of Google changes, agrees. It will insert links into the natural search stream based upon social connections that share and produce those links. While social search itself has been around for nearly 2 years, it has always been a side-note buried at the bottom and likely unnoticed by most. Now, it has the potential to change the search results important to us with a single Tweet, review, or blog post.

 

With access to Beta, I did 2 searches for "Washington DC Chevrolet." The first, I did while not logged into Google, personalized search off and cookies cleared:

Then, I did the exact same search while logged into Google:

As you can see, a post by good friend Paul Rushing popped up at the top.

What does this mean for search and social? It means that social sentiment, which many dealers are paying attention to more regularly, just got that much more important. It means that dealers who are unprepared have the potential to see their search traffic drop, particularly if a competing dealer in the market is able to take advantage of this.

It means that YOU can beat them all to the punch and start getting prepared today before it rolls out fully.

I am in the middle of exhaustive research on the subject right now, but here are some key points to think about while you wait for our next version of the Automotive Social Media strategy guide:

  • - Tweets Matter. A Lot. - Imagine a potential customer doing a search for one of your makes in your metro area (the most common new car search; "Denver Ford," for example). They under one of the results close to the top your dealership's listing. It's not at the top, but something catches their eye... Co-worker Debbie tweeted your dealership URL. They click through and see that 14 months ago, Debbie bought a car there and tweeted about how good her experience was. Bingo.
  • - If You Thought Reviews Were Important Before... - As Google always does when they roll out new search features, we can expect expansion. While Facebook is almost completely out of the question for integration, reviews are definitely part of the equation. Same scenario as above, except replace "Tweet" with "RatePoint." Bingo again.
  • - That Pesky Blogger... - Remember the guy who thought he'd wreck your business by posting on his blog about how you low-balled him on his trade? You were smart and covered your Google page one results to keep his post off, but now it's showing up again for hundreds, even thousands of people who are either connected to him or connected to someone who shared his post on social media.
  • - Your Connections. - Now more than ever, having a strong and well-maintained Twitter account is important. Do you still have an RSS feed handling your Tweets, driving potential customers to unfollow you, or are you growing your account and being interesting? If the subtle, intrinsic benefits of Twitter didn't get your attention before, how about moving your website up to the top of hundreds of searches? Still want to automate?

I'm not going to sit here and say "I told you so." Not here. Not on Driving Sales. The dealers here represent the top echelon of automotive social media knowledge so you're probably taking advantage of social media in one way or another. Don't let up. Stay aggressive. Keep up with the changes.

And don't forget to bug Jared about getting me that video. It has some information that may further change the way you do your social media.

 

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Jeep® Brand Reaches Major Social Media Milestone: First Domestic Automotive Brand With More Than 1 Million Facebook Fans

SOURCE Chrysler Group LLC

AUBURN HILLS, Mich., Feb 18, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The Jeep® brand reached an unprecedented domestic automotive milestone today, as fans on the brand's Facebook page reached and surpassed the 1 million mark. In achieving more than 1 million fans on its Facebook page, the Jeep brand exceeds the next closest domestic automotive brand fan's total by more than 450,000.

"We are honored to be the first and only domestic automotive brand that can claim more than 1 million Facebook fans," said Mike Manley, President and CEO – Jeep Brand, Chrysler Group LLC. "This reinforces the fact that Jeep is clearly one of the most well-known and loved brands throughout the world, and comes as we continue to gain sales momentum and begin to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the brand."

In 2010, the Jeep brand experienced triple digit growth in its fan base on Facebook. The brand continues to foster a vibrant and innovative social community for its passionate fans and owners. In July, Jeep brand fans tested the size limits of Facebook's photo album, "Photos by Others." Fans exceeded the 20,000 photo-limit resulting in a need for Facebook to accommodate the increased number of images.

Along with Facebook, the Jeep brand's social media initiatives include presence on Twitter, You Tube and foursquare web sites. The Jeep brand was the first automotive brand to have an official profile on foursquare.com, the popular location-based social network that allows users to "check-in" at any location. The official Jeep brand You Tube channel is among the top 10 sponsored-channels with over 4.3 million video views.

In 2010, Jeep vehicle sales improved 24 percent globally, and 26 percent in the U.S. versus 2009, with double-digit sales gains for each vehicle in the brand's lineup.

For 2011, Jeep has introduced all-new or significantly refreshed versions of each of its vehicles. With the greatest range of SUVs under one brand, the Jeep vehicle portfolio consists of:

  • Compass: A compact SUV with a new sophisticated, premium design for 2011, the Jeep Compass delivers unsurpassed 4x4 fuel economy, freedom, utility, and Jeep 4x4 cachet and capability, all at a terrific value
  • Grand Cherokee: The most capable and luxurious Grand Cherokee ever, balancing legendary Jeep capability with sophistication to deliver a premium driving experience for all adventures 
  • Liberty: The mid-size SUV from Jeep that offers Jeep Trail Rated® 4x4 capability combined with on-road refinement and numerous innovative features, including the industry-exclusive full-length Sky Slider® open canvas roof 
  • Patriot: A compact SUV delivering the fun, adventure and value only Jeep can offer, with unsurpassed 4x4 fuel economy and segment leading capability 
  • Wrangler: The icon of the Jeep brand, it remains true to its heritage as the original fun-and-freedom machine. For 2011, it boasts an all-new interior, and an available premium body color hardtop for Sahara models
  • Wrangler Unlimited: The only four-door convertible SUV on the market with room for five adult passengers, Wrangler Unlimited receives an all-new interior for 2011 and an available premium body color hardtop for Sahara models

Jeep Brand

Built on seven decades of legendary heritage, Jeep is the authentic sport-utility vehicle (SUV) with class-leading capability, craftsmanship and versatility for people who seek extraordinary journeys. The Jeep brand delivers an open invitation to live life to the fullest by offering a full line of vehicles that continue to provide owners with a sense of security to handle any journey with confidence.

Whether identified by their ownership of multiple Jeep vehicles, or their regular attendance at branded events, or by their abundance of Jeep gear – branded products from clothing to baby strollers – Jeep owners all have one common trait: a Jeep vehicle delivering benchmark, all-weather capability that allows them to go anywhere and do anything. It's not unusual to see Jeep owners sporting a bumper sticker that reads, "It's a Jeep thing...you wouldn't understand."

To meet consumer demand around the world, all Jeep models are sold outside North America – and all are available in right-hand drive versions and with gasoline and diesel powertrain options. Chrysler Group LLC sells and services vehicles in approximately 120 countries around the world.

©2011 PR Newswire. All Rights Reserved.

 

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The Perfect Storm: The Prequel Part 2

“Yeah, you should meet with Randy McPherson. I think you could help Walser Automotive out with Loyalty.”

I’m not really sure why Chad Dufault met with me over Davanni’s. Sure we were friends, and still are very close. But to this day I don’t know if he wanted to talk about loyalty in his mortgage company, or have me vetted for Randy. We never really accomplished anything for Chad’s mortgage company that evening, so my guess is that it’s the latter. That’s the way Chad rolls–he usually puts others before himself.

My life was already hectic. A newborn, a stay-at-home mom, and a realization that the choices I make are no longer affect only me (that was never the case anyway, but I was made aware of that fact pretty quickly once Henry was born). I had enough on my plate, and was enjoying life.

“Sure, I’ll meet with him.”

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What Is A QR Code

 

What Is A QR Code And Why Do You Need One?

We all know that one of the keys to great SEO is making sure you keep your website updated, new and fresh. Whether you do this with a blog, or you change your homepage with new offers, coupons or new products, it serves to show Google that your site is “alive.” For many small businesses in particular, this is a real challenge.

So you already have great, fresh content on your site—what’s next? Do you know what is coming that may benefit your small business?

They come to us from Japan where they are very common. QR is short for Quick Response (they can be read quickly by a cell phone). They are used to take a piece of information from a transitory media and put it in to your cell phone. You may soon see QR Codes in a magazine advert, on a billboard, a web page or even on someone’s t-shirt. Once it is in your cell phone, it may give you details about that business (allowing users to search for nearby locations), or details about the person wearing the t-shirt, show you a URL which you can click to see a trailer for a movie, or it may give you a coupon which you can use in a local outlet.

The reason why they are more useful than a standard barcode is that they can store (and digitally present) much more data, including url links, geo coordinates, and text. The other key feature of QR Codes is that instead of requiring a chunky hand-held scanner to scan them, many modern cell phones can scan them. The full Wikipedia description is here.

How does the cell phone read the code?

The cell phone needs a QR code reader, It takes literally 1 minute for someone with an iPhone or Android phone to find and install the reader.

How can you use QR codes to benefit search marketing?

We are only just scratching the surface of how they will be used. We have added one to every business listing in our directory. Here are a few examples of how others are using them.

A business card company showing how they are using them for businesses:

How will Google see them?

If you add them to your website, the search engines will see that your pages have changed, and that you are updating pages. The search engine will see a new image and index it accordingly. At some point soon, the search engines will likely recognize QR codes and possibly index the content in them.

Will your customers use them?

Today, few may use them, but those that do will certainly appreciate your tech knowledge, and those that don’t will certainly be inquisitive, which may open the door for conversation and a potential sale. Those that do use QR codes will definitely have a high tech know-how and may be more receptive to your presence on the web, your Twitter presence, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube etc.

How could you use a QR code?

Your business, no matter how small or large, could use QR codes in a number of ways. You might auto generate one next to every product on your web site containing all the product details, the number to call and the URL link to the page so they can show their friends on their cell phone. You could add one to your business card containing your contact details so its easy for someone to add you to their contacts on their cell phone.

Add them to any print advertising, flyers, posters, invites, TV ads etc containing:

  • Product details
  • Contact details
  • Offer details
  • Event details
  • Competition details
  • A coupon
  • Twitter, Facebook, MySpace IDs
  • A link to your YouTube video

QR Code at work, Scan it

 

 

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When Little Complaints Become Big Problems

The vast majority of dissatisfied customers who threaten to call an attorney never do. For the few that follow through, the results can be devastating. While it’s true that many customers’ complaints have little or no merit, there can be a real danger if the wrong plaintiff’s attorney gets involved.

 

You may be thinking “we have lawyers of our own and insurance for that sort of thing, so bring it on”. Well, here’s the problem: many lawsuits that stem from seemingly insignificant complaints snowball into massive class action cases based upon other issues entirely. There are a number of plaintiffs’ attorneys out there who are absolutely brilliant at turning dealer oversights or technical violations into class action lawsuits. For instance, one dealership’s failure to honor its promise to swap rims on a vehicle resulted in a class action lawsuit for backdating rewritten contracts where the court ordered that the over 1,500 class members could elect to return their vehicles and rescind their contracts.

 

Let’s face it, most common consumer vs. dealer lawsuits or Lemon Law claims don’t pay big attorney fees, but class action lawsuits do. It doesn’t matter if the customer’s complaint is valid or if they have actually suffered any real damage; these attorneys simply want the opportunity to get their hands on your files. A Missouri dealer group recently settled a documentation fee class action lawsuit for over $8 million. The attorneys alleged that the charges constituted the “unauthorized practice of law”.  Ridiculous, yes, but the attorney fees totaled $675,000.

 

Other lawsuits have begun from mechanical issues, alleged misrepresentation of a vehicle’s condition, lies or unkept promises, undisclosed prior damage or vehicle history, payment packing claims, failure to honor warranties or service contracts, you name it. They’ve ended up becoming class action claims for improper disclosures, overcharging of fees, improper contract rescissions, undisclosed deferred downpayments, backdated contracts, etc.

 

Even if  class action status is not pursued or granted, attorneys often seek unfair and deceptive acts and practices claims for technical violations by painting a picture of “the greedy dealer profiting from the poor, unsuspecting consumer”.  Believe me; it’s not that tough to sell to most judges and juries, and the ultimate cost to the dealership is often substantially more.

 

The good news is that these lawsuits are avoidable. Most customers will not seek out an attorney unless they feel that they have no other choice or feel that they are being ignored or mistreated by dealership personnel. Two things that are virtually guaranteed to enrage a customer are unreturned calls or being treated in a confrontational manner by staff members. Many potential legal issues can be avoided by simply responding to customer complaints and perhaps offering a goodwill concession.

 

All customer concerns should be addressed promptly by qualified personnel, regardless of their perceived validity. It’s vitally important that care be taken when communicating with customers – their attorney may use what you say against you. Many times a customer will contact an attorney after they have felt that they were being ‘bullied” into signing a new contract or threatened with repossession, legal action or consequences to their credit rating. It’s a good idea to have customer complaints reviewed by your legal counsel or compliance officer to make sure that all your ducks are in a row.

 

Finally, check your ego at the door. While it may be distasteful to let an unreasonable customer “win” when you feel you’ve done nothing wrong, it makes good business sense to take a step back and examine the potential downside. Once an attorney gets involved, your chances of working out the problem directly with the customer diminish greatly. At the end of the day, does it make more sense to give in to the customer and move on with life or dig in your heels and risk a devastating lawsuit?

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The Perfect Storm: The Prequel Part 1

In early 2003, I had a great job at Northwest Airlines, managing partnerships for their award winning WorldPerks program. I worked with a great team of people and loved what I did. I had finished my MBA from the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis, MN in the summer of 2002. And my wife had just given birth to our first child in November 2002. Life was great, if not hectic.

I was privileged to work with some of the best loyalty marketers on the planet. My primary WorldPerks partner was U.S. Bank, which issued the WorldPerks Visa, and I handled a $200 million book of business for this partner alone. And since U.S. Bank was such a behemoth, I was able to develop co-partnerships with all the other partner categories, including car rental, hotels, communications, and the WorldPerks Mall.

My Pet Project, my passion, the WorldPerks Mall. The WorldPerks Mall gave me the opportunity to work with merchants in all categories, and gave WorldPerks Members the ability to earn miles by doing the things they did every day. I built partnerships with hundreds of “non-traditional” merchants in categories like department stores, clothing, electronics and toys. And then there were services that allowed Members to earn points…

MilesAbove was WorldPerk’s answer to small regional merchants who wanted to play in the mileage game. You’re a plumber? Give miles for Members using your service. Own a Co-op? Give miles to your patrons for their business. We had three “no go” categories: alcohol, fur, and auto racing. Other than that, partner development was fair game.

Originally managed by Carlson Marketing Group, MilesAbove proved too expensive to have an outside vendor manage it’s partner development. I brought it in-house, and automated the purchase of miles for companies wanting to play. An unintended benefit allowed Members looking to “round-out” their accounts to buy miles. The best professional development benefit was having the privilege of working with people from one of Mark Lacek’s companies, MilePoint, to build the first ever Buy Miles engine. We sold $1 million dollars in miles in the first 6 months after revamping MilesAbove. Carlson, a trusted marketing partner, was instrumental in process and collateral development. It was a team firing all pistons, and a high point of my tenure at NWA.

All of the merchant partnerships we built required a form of payment, which brings me full circle. WorldPerks Visa was an “anchor store”. It’s what every other partnership revolved around. My team and I loved building co-partnerships and finding creative ways to allow Members to earn miles without ever having to get on a plane.

Life was great. I loved my job, and the people I worked with were among the brightest and most creative I had ever met. I was having fun with my young family, traveling wherever and whenever we wanted.

“Marry me, fly for free.” My wife still reminds me of the promise I made to her.

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as.feb11.vseo%202.pdf

marketing solution SusanGivens
video search engineoptimization increases salesby 45 percent
Video Search Engine Optimization (VSEO)
marketing solution SusanGivens
video search engineoptimization increases salesby 45 percent
Video Search Engine Optimization (VSEO)
their dealership dominates the most popularsearch terms on all of the major search

engines organically with high-impact videos.

This practice has become vital to successful

online marketing strategies. Online video is

fast-becoming a highly effective and cost-
effective means of advertising within the

automotive industry.

In the last two years, there has been an

undeniable surge in the number of online
video viewers, with approximately 175 millionunique viewers watching an average of morethan 900 minutes of online video each a
month, based on an October 2010 report by

www.comScore.com, and www.eMarketer.com
predicts nine out of 10 Internet users will beconsuming video by 2012.

In 2007, Google pioneered “universal search,”
otherwise known as “blended search,” where

multiple search results are returned in oneconvenient results display that includes

autosuccessonline.com
Websites, news

articles, images,
press releases,
maps, blogs, socialmedia, e-commerce

and video.

Google’s universal
search capabilityundoubtedlykicked online video
marketing into high

gear.

According toGoogle, searchersare 55 percent morelikely to click onthumbnail video
images than staticlinks and because
of this Googlegives more rankingauthority to video,
thus placing videoson the top of search

engine results.
“People would

rather watch the
movie than read the
book,” said KarryMoore, presidentand founder of

www.Car-mercial.

com, the company

is the process of ensuring that video assetsgenerate the highest-possible volume of

quality traffic to your Website. Dealerships

such as Gary Mathews of Jackson, in Jackson,
Tennessee, recently implemented a digitalmarketing platform to help them appear ontop of the leading search engines like Google,
Yahoo!, Bing and YouTube in their local marketto attract, sell and service more customers

profitably. “My Internet department has been

doing 40 to 45 percent of the dealership’sbusiness, and that’s true accountable sells,

not just sourcing,” said Duran Cage, InternetDirector for Gary Mathews of Jackson.

With more than 88 percent of ready-to-buy

consumers using search engines to shop,
most dealers are scrambling to outbid theircompetitors to appear on top for the most

popular search phrases in their market.

Gary Mathews uses a VSEO company thatautomates thousands of activities to ensure

that Gary Mathews uses. “VSEO is ‘targeted

TV,’ and VSEO allows dealers to deliver their

message to engaged consumers.”

Additionally, dealers can now have multiple

listings on “Page One” by implementing astrong SEO and VSEO strategy. Traditionally,

dealers could get only one listing for a

keyword or phrase such as “Jackson TN,
Hyundai Santa Fe” or “Hyundai Santa FeJackson TN” because they only had one
Website optimized for that phrase. Now with
VSEO, they can build on that single Website

return to have multiple video listings on thatpage, which creates more exposure for thedealership and keeps the competition relegated

to “Page 2” results.

Google indexes all video-sharing sites, not

just YouTube. This means that the more video

sites a dealer distributes their video content to,
the more opportunity that the search engineswill have to index those videos and consider
it relevant content for search returns; thus,
multiple listings for keywords or phrases such

as “Jackson Hyundai Santa Fe.”

Video has become such a game-changerthat VSEO companies like the one GaryMathews of Jackson uses have developed and

launched the automotive industry’s first truevideo search portal, www.CarBuyersEngine.

com, the only video portal of its kind whereconsumers can research and shop for new

and used vehicles, find a dealership, reviewvehicle comparisons or financing withoutthe typical online “clutter” — meaning, no

pop-ups or annoying previews to sit through

before video begins.

The Internet is an ever-changing landscape and
dealers need to keep pace with the changes.

There are no silver bullets, but clearly videoand VSEO need to be incorporated into a

dealers’ online digital strategy. “We want to
‘own’ the Jackson market and video is helping
take us to the next level,” Cage said.

Susan Givens is the publisher of AutoSuccess.
She can be contacted at 877.818.6620, or by
e-mail at sgivens1@autosuccessonline.com.

 

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First – You have to make sure you make it about them and not about you.

Their main focus is to figure out how they can get more information and help so they can solve their problems. So make sure you make it about them.

Second – Make sure you tell them what they are going to get on the next page.

The reason that you want to tell them what they are about to get when they click on the link is because they will know what is coming.

Doing this will massively increase your landing page conversion rate and you are going to get more people to take an action when they come to your site.

When they click on the link that you have provided for them they are going to know what to expect and they will not be scared that you are going to do something weird to them.

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http://www.internetsales20group.com

Sorry for ANY inconvenience but we pushed back the 20 Group 1 week. We have been overwhelemed with NEW Dealership Clients since NADA and wanted to properly prepare for this event!

 

The Internet Sales 20 group is in the same location (Philadelphia), the same hotel (The Radisson)...

 

I am excited to share that this 20 Group is going to be Co-Modereated by myself as well as with the President of Peruzzi Toyoa Bill Finocchiaro.

 

*** You DO NOT want to miss this Internet Sales 20 Group!

 

 

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Quit using stock photos

If anyone is still using stock photos on their websites, I would recommend you stop right now.  Get out there and take your own pictures; better yet, take them in front of your store to build instant credibility.  Also, make sure you have a good camera; a good one should be able to support 100 photos per car.  An easy way to take these pictures is to set up three spots; one for small, medium and large cars.  Then put dots around each spot.  So anyone can take these pictures just by walking around the car taking a picture from every dot.  One thing that is very important when taking pictures of your vehicles - is consistency.  To go even further on this, you could use high definition photos; they will increase conversions.  With high definition photos, the customer can now see every little detail on every picture.  So instead of calling you, which is great, they can zoom in and see if the car has an MP3 jack, or if it has Goodyear or Pirelli tires.  Just make sure you have a good cleanup crew, because now every little blemish left behind will show.  Using high definition photos builds instant trust in your dealership - because they know you have nothing to hide.
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The Birth of the Walser Rewards Program

The Walser Rewards program was birthed in October, 2002. It consisted of a card, a gas discount, a AAA new member discount, and a car rental discount. Buy the car, get the card.The first time I caught wind of the Walser Car Club (what it was called back then) was from a full-page ad in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. A card, gas discount, AAA and car rental discount. And a simple message: buy the car, get the card.The Walser Car Club was the brainchild of Randy McPherson and Paul Walser of the Walser Automotive Group. Randy and Paul had a unique relationship in the early 2000s, in that they partnered to build affiliate companies to the Walser Automotive group, including an insurance company, mortgage company, real estate company, leasing company, and a marketing company. The marketing company was set up to run the Walser Car Club, and possibly build additional “clubs” for other auto dealers.The marketing company was called WAM Advertising & Marketing. WAM is an acronym for Walser Advertising & Marketing. So, in reality, the full name of the marketing company was Walser Advertising & Marketing Advertising & Marketing.October 2002. Star Tribune ad. The “Walser Car Club”, the only product of a company with a bad name and one client.
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You Can Train Me Now or You Can Train Me Later

Employee training can cost a lot of money. Not training your employees can cost even more. In lawsuits, courts and regulatory agencies sometimes impose after-the-fact training requirements in addition to large monetary penalties. Consider these actual cases:

A dealership faced a wide range of complaints, including failure to disclose material defects and misrepresenting sales and extended service contract prices, and was ordered to pay $1.5 million in restitution to victims, plus $300,000 to the state Department of Consumer Protection. As part of the settlement, the dealer also agreed to initiate a mandatory education program for all its employees within 60 days of the settlement, instructing employees on state consumer protection laws.

A jury awarded a $14.4 million wrongful death verdict against a dealership that performed a faulty tire repair and failed to take the tire out of service, leading to a rollover crash that killed a couple. As a condition of the post-verdict settlement, the dealer agreed to implement a training program to better train its technicians about safe tire repair practices to improve consumer safety.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), entered into a $1.5 million settlement of a sex and age discrimination lawsuit with an auto dealership. Along with the monetary penalty, under a consent decree the dealership must provide current employees with four hours of EEO training annually and new hires must receive such training within ten days of employment.

The EEOC reached a $700,000 settlement of a national origin, religion and racial discrimination lawsuit against another dealership. According to the Consent Decree resolving the case, the dealership is required to hire a presenter approved by the EEOC to provide annual training to all of its managers and supervisory personnel on all aspects of Title VII.

What’s that old expression about closing the barn door after the horses are out?
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Conversation over Pizza

I met Randy McPherson in early 2003. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

 

My good friend Chad Dufault and I were having a conversation at Davanni’s, sharing a pizza. I think it was January 2003, but something tells me it may have been late 2002. I was working for Northwest Airlines in WorldPerks partner marketing, and he was VP of a mortgage company that Randy owned alongside Paul Walser of the Walser Automotive Group. We were talking about how to build his business, and how to retain customers. Since Loyalty was my focus at NWA, Chad was picking my brain. And we were just enjoying a pizza.

 

“You should talk to Randy McPherson,” Chad said out of the blue. “Walser is building a loyalty program, and they could use your help.”

 

I had never heard of this Randy McPherson before. “Who is this man,” I asked myself.

 

Location:Davanni’s, Edina, MN

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