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Helion & The Internet Sales 20 Group Are Giving - A - Way $1,000 CASH For The "Best Idea Contest" - Automotive Sales

YouTube keeps adding cool stuff out of nowhere and not announcing the changes. I get this odd feeling that the YouTube staff gets very excited about releasing a new feature and taking bets on how long it takes before someone notices. Within the last 24 hours, YouTube has just added a feature called "InVideo Programming" under the Settings tab. Clicking on it gives creators two options. You can now "brand" all of your videos by uploading an icon that represents you, and you can also "feature" a video on all of your other videos, giving creators the chance to push a video across their entire catalog.

InVideo Programming: How It Works

Here's what you do:

Go to your Video Manager and click Settings.
Underneath Channel Settings, click InVideo Programming.
When you click that, you see this:

InVideo Programming – Feature Channel:
Feature Your Channel allows you to upload an image, whether your channel's avatar or a custom image, and you can place it in the top/bottom, left/right of the picture. You can keep the branding throughout the duration of the video, or you can customize the length that it lasts:

So this gives you the chance to "brand" your channel much like a TV network does with their logo at the bottom of the screen. Branding like this is a good way to give viewers context: if they are specifically looking for your videos, a logo like this ensures that what they are seeing is yours, and if you happen to have a lot of entertaining/informative videos that keep coming up during a viewer's stay on the site, seeing the brand over and over gives your channel great recognition while people browse YouTube.
Here's the latest ReelSEO Creator's Tip, with our icon showing up during the last 15 seconds (top right):

InVideo Programming – Featured Video

The other feature is Feature A Video. With annotations, you can direct people through links to videos, and you have to go to each individual one to create them. With this feature, you can push a video of your liking across every single video you have in your catalog. It places a thumbnail of the featured video into the corner of every video so that no matter which one a viewer is watching, it's there, ready to be clicked. You get to push a video that you think either represents your best, or you can push one you don't think got the attention it deserved. Now, it's way more dynamic than having a little text link show up. Hopefully, they'll make this more customizable in the future so that you can feature a number of different videos across different areas of your catalog. But for now, this is a nifty feature.

Source: YouTube Quietly Launches InVideo Programming: Apply In-Player Branding Across All Your Videos, Instantly http://www.reelseo.com/youtube-invideo-programming/#ixzz28s1pkETZ
©2012 ReelSEO

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- U.S. car buyers flooded showrooms in September, sending auto sales to their highest level in more than four years.

Overall sales were were up 13% from a year ago, according to sales tracker Autodata, which put the pace of sales at an annual rate of just under 15 million vehicles. That easily topped most forecasts and was even better than the spike in sales caused by the government's "Cash for Clunkers" program three years ago. The last time sales reached this level was February 2008, before gas prices surged and the financial meltdown caused a deep, sustained drop in auto sales.

The sales pace came despite some disappointing results from the two leading Detroit automakers.

General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) reported only a 1.5% increase in sales from year-ago levels on Tuesday, while Ford Motor (F,Fortune 500) sales slipped 0.1%. Both results were a bit below forecast.

But Chrysler Group reported that sales jumped 12% from a year earlier, easily topping forecasts. Toyota Motor (TM) also beat expectations, reporting its sales surged 41.5% from year-ago levels, while Honda Motor(HMC) posted a 30.9% jump in sales as well. A year ago both automakers were struggling with limited supplies of vehicles due to the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. 
But it wasn't just the Japanese automakers who posted strong gains. Volkswagen Group, which includes the VW and Audi brands, posted a 32% jump in sales while Hyundai Motor, which operates the Hyundai and Kia brands, posted a 23.4% gain.

Related: The 11 best cars in America

"Pent-up demand continues to be released, and it's being supported by the fact that car loans is more widely available," said Michelle Krebs, senior analyst with Edmunds.com.

The automakers were able to achieve the strong sales even without using cash-back offers and other discounts to attract buyers.

"It's a dream scenario for automakers - low incentives, higher sales. It all equals higher profitability," said Jesse Toprak, analyst with TrueCar.

Consumer confidence has also been on the rise, which helps to boost sales. But Americans are also hitting showrooms due to the limited supply -- and high prices -- of used cars, said Krebs. Production of new cars was at such a low level three to four years ago that the supply of late-model used cars is now much tighter than normal.

"Retail sales in early September were 15% higher than they were a year ago, which is reflective of a healthy market," said John Humphrey, senior vice president of global automotive operations at J.D. Power and Associates.

GM and Ford had strong months a year ago due to the supply problems at Japanese competitors, which kept them from posting some of the big gains that their rivals reported in September. Part of the reason both companies missed forecasts was a drop in their less profitable fleet sales to businesses such as rental car companies. Sales to consumers, the more important sign of strength, were pretty much on target. 

Source - http://money.cnn.com/2012/10/02/news/companies/car-sales/index.html?hpt=hp_t3 

http://www.internetsales20group.com

The Truth About 3rd Party Lead Source Providers, Aggregators & Online Classifieds

I hear all the time that “these leads suck”, “those leads suck” etc… The truth is that most of the times it is NOT the 3^rd party provider, aggregator or online classified that “sucks”. It might be several other issues such as:

• People –
  •  There might be too many leads and not enough people to work the leads. If this is the case your dealership won’t be able to put the proper amount of time, energy, focus into cultivating that prospect into an in store appointment. Remember, Internet prospects have a 45-90 day “gestation” period.
  • Or reverse, you might not have enough leads…
  • “Cherry Picking” of leads…
  • You might not have the proper schedule in place. For example, the “prime time” to connect with prospects is between 6-8pm and if there is no one working the leads during that time or if the department or the dealership is closed at that time then you obviously miss out and this will affect the “connection ratio” with your prospects
  • Process –
    • This is a BIG ONE! I see over and over again dealerships that have a BAD process. They ONLY email, or they ONLY phone call, or they ONLY follow up with the prospect for a certain amount of time and assume this lead “sucks” and then they “dead” the lead.
    • Dealers assume leads with “No Phone Number” or “Wrong Phone Number” are “Bad Leads” but that is NOT true! What do you expect for $20? A closed deal? A guaranteed commission? No, what you get for a $20 “lead” is an OPPORTUNITY… That is all. There are no magic beans, there are no silver bullets. It is up to the dealership to cultivate that opportunity into an in store appointment. So, if you have a “lead” with no phone number or a wrong phone number then you should:
      • Open up the original lead in your CRM / ILM because sometimes the prospect info doesn’t parse
      • Call 4-1-1 and do a reverse look up
      • Go to www.anywho.com
      • Utilize Social Medial to find additional contact information. Some CRMs have Social Media integration just for purposes like this!
      • (Sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc…)
      • Technology –
        • I can NOT stress this enough… technology is one of the biggest culprits for mistakes, poor numbers, the illusion of “Bad leads”. What happens is that the dealership might not have set up the CRM / ILM the right way or they set it up but it wasn’t managed or up kept the right way so it might get congested, it can become a mess. The best analogy is a file cabinet that has only one drawer, no folders and no color tabs for the (non) folders… CHAOS!

With all of that being said, there is a HUGE value for having 3^rd Party Providers, Aggregators and Classified Listings. But before I get into that I do want to stress that you should never put all your eggs in one basket. A dealership should diversify their marketing and specifically their digital marketing efforts with SEO, VSEO, Video Pre-Roll, PPC, Social Media and 3^rd Party Sources.

If you are going to utilize 3rdy Party Lead Source Providers, Aggregators and Classified listings make sure:

• You know what type of “leads” you are looking for. Each lead source provider has its own “specialty” some 3^rd Party Sources specialize in New Car Leads, some specialize in Used Car Leads and others specialize in Special Finance Leads. I know that a lot of these companies offer both. I suggest you identify what your wants and needs are and find a 3^rd party provider that fits your exact need and wants.
• Do your research investigate all of the “Major” 3^rd Party providers and ask them to do a “Market Analysis” on your market for the last 30, 60, 90 days. How many leads did they generate or were available through their network. Also ask for them to provide those numbers on different radiuses.
• Remember that the farther out you go from your dealership, the lower the closing ratio. I am not saying don’t go too far. I am just stating a fact.
• What you can do is secure a radius that is close to your dealership. Maybe you use your PMA given to you from your OEM or a certain mile circumference around your dealership (20, 30, 40 miles etc…) And then surgically creating smaller perimeters around your direct and indirect competitors. For example, lets say you secure a 35 mile radius around your dealership that generates you 100 new car leads. Lets also say you have 4 direct competitors within a 75 mile radius. Instead of just securing a “blanket” 75 mile perimeter around your dealership you secure that 35 mile radius that is yielding you 100 leads and then you can secure maybe a 5-10 mile radius perimeter directly around YOUR COMPETIROS, using their zip codes. This way you are focusing your energy more surgically.

Bottom line, 3^rd Party Providers, Aggregators & Online Classifieds are a powerful resource if and only if we utilize them the right way.

If you have any questions about this article or you would like a list of lead source providers please contact me at seanb@dealersynergy.com or call me at 267-319-6776

http://www.internetsales20group.com
Car Dealer, Paul Sansone Jr. Will Be Conducting a Workshop on "Relationship Selling" At The Internet Sales 20 Group

http://www.internetsales20group.com 

AutoByTel Is Sponsoring & Attending The Internet Sales 20 Group... Are You Going To?

LA Williams, national trainer for Dealer Synergy speaks on the upcoming Internet Sales 20 Group Workshop in Chicago, IL held  on October 23, 24, & 25, 2012. Professionals such as Ralph Paglia, Robert Wiesman, AJ Rucker and Peter Martin are just a FEW of the automotive industry's finest, which will be guest speakers at this event.

http://www.internetsales20group.com

http://www.dealersynergy.com/

http://www.internetsales20group.com 

Automotive Internet Sales Interviews Terry Isaac, Sales Trainer for the Neil Huffman Automotive

http://www.dealersynergy.com 

I received an email from this dealership and was very excited when I saw that this dealership was using Digital Marketing Initiatives to try to recruit for their dealership!! 

I think this is AWESOME!! Dealers NEED to use:

* Facebook and other forms of Social Media

* Their website & micro sites

* Pay Per Click 

* Permission Based Email Campaigns as well as newsletters

If a dealership wants to hire or needs to hire additional members to their team... they need to think out of the box. 

I am always looking for ideas to help dealers be successful. If you have any additional ideas for HR / recruiting, please let us know! 

http://www.neilhuffman.com
http://www.internetsales20group.com

Automotive Digital Marketing Manager of Dealer Group in Kentucky - 17 Years in Automotive Sales

Quick interview with Joe Turner, Digital Marketing Manager with the Neil Huffman Auto Group. Joe has been in the industry for over 17 years and is a veteran in Automotive Internet Sales. Joe gives some advice based on his experience(s)

http://www.internetsales20group.com

What is AutoRaptor CRM?
A Powerful Tool for Any Dealership!
View our About AutoRaptor Slideshow

AutoRaptor CRM is a web-based Customer Relationship Management solution that offers a way to change how your salespeople relate to customers. By nurturing a new philosophy on customer relations your dealership will make more sales and retain more customers.

Features include:  

• Internet Lead Management
• Up Sheets with complete customer information and activity
• Inventory and Sales Integration
• Schedule view with appointments and tasks tied to customer's up sheet 
• Powerful search capabilities
• Customizable dealer management options
• Desking/quoting tool
• Sales and performance reports
  

AutoRaptor CRM enhances your dealership through:

• Incredible ease of use
• Accessibility from anywhere - web-based with mobile versions available
  
• All-in-one convenience
• Increase in sales!

Who Uses AutoRaptor CRM?

• Any new or independent dealership with a commitment to an improved, results-driven sales process 
  
• Dealerships that designate a champion to make sure the system gets used
• Will you commit to leading your team to success?

http://www.internetsales20group.com 

http://www.automotiveinternetsales.com

http://www.internetsales20group.com

3 Part Video Interview with Durran Cage, GSM of Alan Vines Automotive The September 2012 AutoSuccess Cover Story...

You can meet Durran Cage at the upcoming Internet Sales 20 Group in Chicago October 23-25th

http://www.automotivedigitalmarketing.com/video/video/show?id=1970539%3AVideo%3A414931#.UFUHDx9pzFg.facebook

From 25 to 95 Units per Month Online: How to Make it Happen For Your Dealership

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http://www.dealersynergy.com