Blog

Please REMEMBER to "Sell" the appointment... Don't merely just "ask" for the appointment.

Automotive Internet Sales and Google’s ZMOT for Car Dealerships

By now, nearly everyone has heard of ZMOT and how it might possibly be relevant for the automotive industry. In case you haven’t, ZMOT stands for “Zero Moment of Truth,” a concept developed by Google. It states that today, decisions on brand selection are happening before a consumer arrives at a store to make a purchasing decision. This also applies to how consumers shop for a car. This might not sound like anything new; we have all heard from NADA, JD Power & Associates, Cobalt, Autotrader and the OEMs that almost everyone goes online before they step into the dealership.


Personally, I’ve been immersed in Automotive Internet Sales for more than 13 years. So, the fact that people are going online first isn’t a huge revelation — it is what it is. However, what has evolved is what is happening and why. People are finding out about a product or business (whether they know the URL or not). To be specific, more than 72 percent of all transactions start online, from one-dollar transactions to jet engines. The first place people go to is search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.), or they may something on TV, radio, see something on a billboard or in a newspaper, magazine or hear about a product from a friend. In any event, they wind up on search engines relatively quickly. People believe that they will get the “real deal” on what they are looking for. “If it is on Google, it must be real,” they think.

So, the consumer will do the initial research on the product or service online. That doesn’t necessarily mean they are accessing the Internet from a home computer or laptop. They can be accessing the information through their mobile device like an iPhone or Android. The next logical step for the prospect is to validate that information even further. Prospects can (and do) go to a myriad of review sites such as Google Places, Dealer Online Reputation, Yelp, Merchant Circle, Edmunds Dealer Reviews and Cars.com Reviews, just to name a few. The consumer wants to make sure that they do not waste their time with bad choices. They have access to too much information for them to have to deal with headaches. Take for example a couple choosing where to go eat out for their once a week “date night.” If you only had one time a week you were going out with your spouse because you have three kids, a puppy, a career, etc., try to imagine how someone will feel when they are spending $20,000, $30,000, $40,000 or more. That is why 80 percent of consumers say that peer reviews influence their buying decisions. An automotive purchase is usually the second most expensive thing the average human being will ever buy in their lifetime, next to a home. But there is another variable: social media. Consumers will also go to their social networks and ask their “friends and followers” thoughts, opinions on products or services before they ever go to the store or the dealership.

I am going to focus on online reputation for the rest of this article, and the next article I will dive deeper into the other parts of automotive ZMOT strategy.

Dealerships need to make it mandatory to collect client reviews and testimonials from both sales and service. It is not enough to simply “suggest” to your team to try to get a review or testimonial. You need to make it part of the standard operating procedure. You might want to create incentives for your team, for example:

• Whoever gets the most reviews wins a reward (gift card or cash, etc.)

• Whoever gets the most video testimonials wins a reward

You can create a mini-survey (maybe three to four questions) at delivery (mandatory). For example:

1. How would you rate your experience at the dealership from 1 to 5 (5 being the highest)?

2. Did I (sales consultant) exceed your expectations? If so, how?

3. What did you like (or appreciate) the most in this experience in purchasing this vehicle?

4. Would you recommend me and this dealership to everyone / anyone?

You should then have at the bottom of the survey a legal disclaimer (have an attorney draw up a simple disclaimer) that says that they (the customer) give you full permission to post (or use) this (review/testimonial) anyway and anywhere you want. By doing this, you can repost or repurpose all of these reviews to all of the relevant reputation sites like:

• Google places

* Local Business Rater

* Dealer Online Reputation

• Merchant circle

• Yelp

• Edmunds reviews

• City Search

• Yellow Pages

• A review blog you’ve created yourself

It is TRUE that some review sites are IP Address specific and do NOT allow a client to post a review at the dealership, Here is the reality... there are a LOT of ways around that. 

*** Please understand what I am saying here... I am NOT advocating using fake reviews or irrelevant reviews. I am saying ONLY to use REAL reviews that REAL clients give you and give you permission to use. 

Try to image if every salesperson and service writer made 100-percent attempts to collect testimonials both in text as well as video, and you posted (syndicated) them to all of the relevant places online. In a short matter of time, you will be able to dominate the search engines with a ton of positive reviews.

I want to show you a quick example of a highline dealership that has bad online reputation. I happen to think they are an awesome store (and they are not a client). I serviced my brand-new vehicle there and I was so impressed with their service that I felt bad for their bad online reputation. On my own, as simply a customer, I shot a quick positive video review and posted it to YouTube and did the proper video optimization. Now, when you Google them, my video shows up prominently on the first page of Google (just Google “Cherry Hill Porsche”). That is just me as a client — can you image if this dealership did what I did? Their online reputation will turn around very quickly!

Here is another screen shot:

If you have any questions about this article, Google’s concept of “Zero Moment of Truth” / automotive ZMOT or how you can better equip your dealership (or individual sales consultant) to dominate with a positive online reputation, please feel free to call or e-mail me.

Sean V. Bradley is the founder and CEO of Dealer Synergy, a nationally recognized training and consulting company in the automotive industry. He can be contacted at 856-264-0564, or by e-mail at Sean@dealersynergy.com.

http://www.dealersynergy.com

These are the testimonials after a 1 day workshop!

http://www.dealersynergy.com/20k.html

     I truly believe that anyone can teach; not everyone can truly inspire.  

     On Monday, January 9th, after only two months on the sales floor of a car dealership, I had come dangerously close to falling into such a negative mind-state that I put in a soft resignation with the sales managers, and had almost completely decided to head in a different employment direction.  With literally one foot out the door, the finance director pulled me to the side and asked if I would hang back for a minute while he checked on transferring me into the internet department... which, about a half hour later, he came back and told me to head upstairs for the training that was starting in 15 minutes.  

     For the next two days, I listened to Mr Sean Bradley talk with such passion and charisma (even through his cold and broken voice) about his company and the achievements that I decided maybe he was right -- maybe the Laws Of Attraction were more than just a "sales pitch", and there was validity to the science and chemistry behind it: similar elements attract, polar opposite mindsets repel... much like magnets.  If I was to be successful, I had to get my mind right and radiate such a positive beacon of energy that negativity would deflect and glare at my success from a distance.

     The message didn't thoroughly sink in, though, until Mr Anthony Alagona arrived at the dealership on Wednesday, January 11th.  If anyone had asked me what I thought about positive people (even as recently as a week ago), although I would have loved to believe otherwise, my prior experiences would have led me to reply that positivity was a salesman's spin on reality; however, Anthony exceeded my expectations with far more than the right words... I saw, for the first time, positivity in another man's FACE.  Belief in himself, and confidence in the future for everyone in his life, radiates off of Mr Alagona like nothing I've even encountered before.  He made even the tedious task of running phone scripts enjoyable, taking on any challenge the group could throw at him -- flashing a charismatic smirk and dropping his characteristic "game on!" at anyone who came at him with a curve.  

     Neither Sean nor Anthony are salespeople; they both exude the same energy, as if they were made from a far greater mold.  They're both incredibly positive and intensely passionate men who believe so deeply in a better tomorrow that labeling them with anything besides their given names is almost insulting.  After only one week, they've both inspired me and made me stronger as a person... they just happened to be teaching me something about automotive sales.  

     Dealer Synergy is a powerful program; however, it's only a drop in the bucket of what the staff that run it are capable of.  To the car dealerships who use them, use them wisely; to those that don't, you should probably come up for air before you sink; and to anyone NOT involved in automotive sales in anyway... I suggest figuring out another way to get acquainted with both Mr Bradley and Mr Alagona.  They both have hearts of lions.  

     I owe my renewed faith in the possibilities of my personal success and the future of my career at the dealership to their presence and inspiration.  Thank you both so much.

             Just finished my first Dealer Synergy Training workshop week which was run and lead by "the great" Anthony Alagona! We had a blast throughout the entire process. It was intense and repetitive, but always progressive and positive boot camp like training. The 1st day Anthony was here was literally my 1st day in the Internet Sales Dept. I was a complete blank slated newbie who had no idea what the steps even were for any of the formats and protocols. And thanks to Anthony's help along with a great networking team of all of my colleagues here at Jim Ball, I am now able to recite the Inbound, Outbound, and Rebuttals Scripts and word-tracks backwards, forwards, and side-ways word for word while being able to inject my personality into it during the process. Anthony is by far one of the most driven, optimistic, positive, and inspirational people that which I have ever had the honor of meeting.  From telling us to chase our dreams and not ever let anyone tell us what we can't accomplish in our lives, to encouraging us to actually make the commitment to ourselves and to hold ourselves accountable for such promises. I love the "Time is running out" as well as the "How bad do you want it" videos that he introduced us to as well. I now watch each video right before leaving for work each day on my laptop to get myself pumped up and ready for the day! I also loved the idea that Mr. Bradley came up with in the "3 minute book", I think its an ingenious idea to literally look at and focus on the representation of your goals each day before you even make that 1st call in the morning, thank you for that and this tremendous program you have created for all of us Mr. Bradley. And I digress, but in conclusion, Anthony was definitely a phenomenal team leader, motivator, and friend during his stay here. I look forward to the next time that we will have the pleasure of seeing him so that he can see just how much all of his training has paid off and helped all of us here at Jim Ball, thanks Anthony, you rock brthr!!

  -Joe Latona

Got Bad Credit?

Have you ever heard this before? “Treat people the way you would want to be treated?” Otherwise known as the Golden Rule. Maybe you heard this one; “All people are created equal,” which just so happens to be mentioned by Thomas Jefferson over 2 centuries ago. But these statements are still not enforced 100% of the time in our Dealerships. The problem is that in today’s society and business we continue to do the same things over and over again expecting a different result, sometimes referred to as insanity.

Check out this scenario, (true story) I ask a sales consultant why his sales this month are off, and he responds like the average sales person, “got too much bad credit.” Well I guess he was unaware that West Tennessee and Memphis has been known in the past as the “bankruptcy capital of the world.” The problem here is not the bad credit, the problem here is the sales consultants mind set about a customer with challenged credit. I decided to watch this sales consultant closer, I needed to understand the sales consultants process with challenged credit customers before I could analyze the true problem. After 5 minutes here was my conclusion:

1. The meet and greet was weak, he saw that the customer had a ‘98 Clunker and immediately brought the customer in for a quick 5-Liner (quick credit application in non-sales terms)
2. Asked the customer how much money they have for a down payment.
3. Let the customer go with no Manager T.O. before telling the customer to leave because their pockets were empty. Wow.

But who is to blame here, has the store created a culture to treat all customers the same? Does the sales consultant really understand the process with challenged credit customers? Here is what we do know, the sales consultant already thought in his mind that this customer has bad credit and that he would not sell them a car. The sales person treated them is if they were not important, almost as if that people with challenged credit are not allowed at this dealership unless they fit the banks guidelines. Would this sales consultant have treated his grandmother the same way? Would this sales person have treated a customer that stepped out of 2008 BMW 7 Series with business attire the same way? My guess is probably not, I would guess that the red carpet would have been rolled out for both.

Would you like to know how to sell more cars to people with challenged credit? Follow these easy steps:

1. Treat the customer as if they had just won the lottery. Roll out the Red Carpet. Make the customer feel as if they are the first customer you have ever worked with, almost as if it is your first day on the job. Thank the customer a minimum of 2 times while doing the meet and greet. Something like this, “Before we get started, ABC Motors and myself would like to thank you for coming in today. We know that you have many choices when it comes to choosing a dealership, and I appreciate you for giving us an opportunity.
2. Perform a proper need analysis with the customer. Find out they are trying to accomplish by coming into the dealership. What is most important to them? You need to earn there trust here. Explain the process and the proper steps that need to be taken before submitting there information to a lender.
3. Select a Vehicle that fits within their guidelines.
4. Provide them a world-class presentation and demonstration.

I will not go through all the steps here, but what I can tell you is that if you perform these first 5 steps on a challenged credit customer the way you would on a customer with an 800+ beacon, the results will be immeasurable. Here is why, regardless if you sell this customer or not, they will tell more people about there experience with you than a customer with excellent credit because typically an excellent credit customer gets the red carpet rolled out 99% of the time. The same with challenged credit customers, they typically get treated poorly the same way at every dealership. Statistics show that when a customer purchases a vehicle someone else in the household or family tree is looking to purchase a car within the next 90-120 days. Well I say the same statement would be made for people that visit a dealership and do not purchase, they know someone in the family, friend, or co-worker that is looking within the next 3 months.

            For example, a customer recently visited our website and submitted an online credit application. Immediately we emailed the customer and then followed up with a phone call. We first thanked the customer for the opportunity, performed a need analysis, explained our dealerships value package, and sold the appointment. Down payment and any other financial questions are not to be mentioned over the phone to our customers. This customer received a confirmation number and came in to meet with me directly. I thanked the customer and performed the steps listed above and assigned the proper “Product Specialists” to go over the features of this vehicle. In short, we were unable to obtain financing for this customer, but she was so enthused about the visit that she referred 2 people to us within 48 hours because of the great experience she received. We sold one of them and the other is still a working prospect. She also just so happens to be employed at the local Y.M.C.A. so as you can imagine she interacts with hundreds upon hundreds of people everyday. She continues to send us business and we continue to work on getting her a vehicle. All this because the Red Carpet was rolled out and we treated her differently than our competition.

Do you have bad credit? Want to sell more customers with challenged credit? Start with the most basic thing, treat the customers the way you would want to be treated and the rest will take care of itself. All customers are created equal.

Durran Cage

Internet Sales Director

Alan Vines Automotive

I am GIVING AWAY $1,000 CASH… (AGAIN!!)

I am so thankful for being a Car Salesman. I can NOT imagine what my life would have been if I never stepped foot onto that showroom floor and took a chance selling cars. I went from being a BROKE College Drop Out to owning a Multi-Million Dollar Company in such a short time. I love this business because of how successful we can ALL be, if we applied ourselves. “Millionaire Car Salesman”, I would NEVER have thought it possible. This business is simple… What you put into it is what you are going to get out of it.

I recently have been giving CASH away to my clients who have been successful, who have applied themselves, who have earned it. As a matter of fact today I will be announcing a winner of $1,000 CASH to an Automotive Internet Sales Coordinator (An Appointment Setter / BDC Rep). There were NO strings attached. I simply wanted to see who was the BEST Dealer Synergy Coordinator in the country and the winner would (And will) receive $1,000 CASH! 

So, I had ANOTHER idea… I spoke to Susan Givens, the Publisher of AutoSuccess Magazine and we have decided to create a FUN Contest for AutoSuccess readers. We are going to be giving away $1,000 CASH to a Lucky Reader! Why would we do this you ask? Simple… Because we can J We are blessed to be in this industry and to have achieved so much success. We want to spread the love.

Here is what we are looking for… We want to try to HELP Automotive Sales Professionals BE MORE SUCCESSFUL!!! So, we are looking for ideas, thoughts, tips, secrets, best practices, examples, websites, objections / rebuttals,  mobile apps, habits, ANYTHING & EVERTHING you can think of to be successful in Automotive Sales, etc…

Please send your emails, videos, links etc… to seanb@dealersynergy.com Susan Givens from AutoSuccess and I will BOTH review every one of the entries and choose the “Best Success Idea / Strategy” and we will publish the winner in the following issue of AutoSuccess Magazine with an interview as well as their “Best Idea / Strategy” of course.

Please remember, we are NOT just trying to throw $1,000 cash away for nothing. We are not showing off, that money isn’t an issue. As a matter of fact, believe it or not but this is coming out of our pocket. There are NO Sponsors, No reimbursements etc… This is what it is. A real contest. We all know that out of the hundreds of thousands of automotive sales professionals in this country, some are truly successful and others are not so successful. There has got to be a reason, actually there are a lot of reasons but I want to FOCUS on JUST one of those reasons… Information! Some people truly might NOT know HOW to be successful. They were NEVER taught, they never believed they could, they were never trained, motivated, mentored etc… I want to help as many people as I can and I know Susan as well as the rest of the AutoSuccess team want to do the same. So, please when you submit your entry for a chance to win this contest please remember what the end result in mind is… Synergistic Success.  Explain what your idea, strategy, secret, tip, best practice, website, resource, mobile app, objections / rebuttals, “What If” Answers,  etc… is AND WHY you think it is so important, why it makes YOU truly successful. Please try to provide any examples, any validation you can for this.

I am honesty looking forward to all of the entries. This is going to be fun and purposeful!

Good luck everyone. Please call or email me if you have ANY questions about this contest!

http://www.twitter.com/seanvbradley

http://www.twitter.com/dealersynergy

Twitter Announces NEW Re-Design, New Features and Promises An Easier & Better Tool

http://www.twitter.com/karinabradley

http://www.twitter.com/seanvbradley 

http://www.dealersynergy.com 

An Email From a Random 17 Year Old Girl Who Saw One of My Videos on YouTube and My Response To Her...

I was about to record a new audio series when I received her email, I was motivated to create this video for her. I hope you all enjoy too. There is a lesson here we can all learn from this 17 year old girl-

http://www.dealersynergy.com 

What is the One "Thing" you can do today to dramatically change your life, your future, maximize your career, evolve...?

I am still in Indiana and have been up for over and hour now (Central time)... I have been working on a project for my client as well as getting caught up on over 100+ emails (That is just from yesterday LOL!). I am also finalizing my most recent article for AutoSuccess Magazine. And its NOT even 7:00am... Today I am going to be training an entire Internet Sales Department. What I do today will influence and enhance numerous people and their future. Then when I have finished, I will jump on a plane and head home to my wife and children. I am truly Blessed, I love what I do and am so grateful to my entire team at Dealer Synergy. Without them, there would be NO Dealer Synergy-What are you going to do today when you wake up...? What is the 1 thing that you can focus on today that will dramatically make a difference in your life, your career, for your company, for your family...?  Life is way too short, live today to its fullest... Be the absolute best you can be and settle for nothing less. Make sure you tell the people that you love that you love them. Try to make a difference in someone's life today... Start with yours :)

http://www.dealersynergy.com

Don’t talk about it –

be about it

You truly have to be committed to being successful. If you just say it without actually living it each and every day — without exception and without fail — you are not going to be successful. To build my company, I am on an airplane all over this country every week training and consulting. I do what I have to do to be successful in order to provide my family and myself a lifestyle we enjoy.

What are you doing to be successful? Are you just saying that you want to be all you can be, but only do what you have to in order to get by? Are you convincing yourself that mediocre is a good thing? I want to be brutally honest with you — it takes a long time to be an “overnight success.”

If you want to be successful, be successful — every breath you take, every thought you think, each and every day should be to personify the word “successful.” No excuses. No exceptions. If you want the things that the average person does not have, you have to be willing to do the things that the average person won’t do (within the bounds of law and ethics, of course).

Don’t talk about it. Be about it.

So, maybe you really want to be about it, but maybe you’re not sure where to start. In our industry we are told over and over again that “this is your own business,” but no one ever shows us how to run “our own business.” If we teach, lead and motivate people in the right direction, however, and show them how to build, maintain and evolve their own business, they will have a more realistic opportunity for that to actually happen.

If you really think about it for a moment, human beings have accomplished so much since we have been in existence. We have invented some amazing things, like automobiles and computers, and we have traveled to the moon. There are those who have made billions who were college drop outs. So, if all of that is a reality, then the possibility that you can achieve greatness is possible. It all starts with one simple thing: You have to make the conscious decision to be successful. If you make the conscious decision that you are going to be successful and nothing — I mean nothing — is going to take you off of your goal of success, then nothing will. Every thought you think, everything you do and your very essence will personify that word “success.” For example:

• Every morning, take a moment to be grateful for everything you have (even if you don’t have much, you are alive and that is a gift we should be grateful for every day).

• Every morning you tell yourself that today is going to be a great day. Today you are going to move one step closer to being even more successful. Cleanse your thoughts of stress, negativity, of “haters” who tell you that you “can’t” or that you “won’t.”

• Begin with the end in mind. Have a clear picture in your mind and your heart of exactly what success is to you. If you can’t do this, how are you ever going to achieve something that has no definition? Remember that success is different for different people — only you can determine what success means to you. Is it being the best in your career? Is it making a lot of money? Is it having freedom to do what you want, when you want? Is it providing for your loved ones? Is it the ability to help people and change lives? Whatever it is, you must understand exactly what “it” is and you must understand exactly how you can achieve this success. What is it going to take each minute, each hour, each day, each week, each month, each year?

• You must surround yourself with people who are successful or are on their way to becoming successful. It just doesn’t make sense to surround yourself with lazy, complacent, negative, excuse-driven people who have no desire to change their life or situation. I’m not saying that you should drop long-term friends or be snobbish, but you need to be realistic. If you are at a dealership with people who are always complaining about this and that (not making any money, the manufacturer stinks, the incentives stink, they don’t like the President of the United States…), that’s a problem. We all know that these people exist in our dealership. Do you really think hanging around this type of person will help you on your path to success?

• You need to constantly self motivate and self educate. Read as much as you can. There are countless magazines, newsletters, Websites and blogs in our industry that focus solely on automotive sales success, automotive Internet sales, automotive digital marketing and so on, and there are books both in and out of our industry that are awesome, such as The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. You need to master your craft. If you are an automotive sales professional, you must become an expert in communication, qualifying, identifying expectations, objections and rebuttals. You must also become an expert in psychology, sociology, public relations, marketing, reputation management, digital marketing, analytics, trends, time management, leadership, motivation, customer service and product knowledge. You need to practice, drill and rehearse and have a great attitude. You also need a contingency plan, in case things don’t go perfectly — and not just “plan A” and “plan B”; you need plans A through Z.

Why aren’t most people great at anything? Because it takes hard work, strategy and consistency.

Don’t talk about it. Be about it.

If you have any questions about this article or you would like some free advice or suggestions to

start or evolve you on your path of success, please feel free to call me or e-mail me.

Sean V. Bradley is the founder and CEO of Dealer Synergy, a nationally recognized training

and consulting company in the automotive industry. He can be contacted at 866.648.7400, or

by e-mail at sbradley@autosuccessonline.com.