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I was talking with a GSM today and he had no idea how many calls his coordinators were making per day.  Equally relevant, is that I talk with people that have positions of authority in the dealership all the time and it's unfortunate to see the majority have no clue when it comes to their E-Commerce Dept.  The E-Commerce Dept is the heart of your sales dept and the sales staff are the body i.e. without a heart the body will die.  We also talked about a store that they have a few miles away and the GSM mentioned that at that store the leads are given to sales people.  WOW!!!  As we know the sales staff are not going to consistently follow up with the leads and unless the consumer buys within 5-7 days most salespeople are never going to call again. 

Now the purpose of this blog is to spend some time talking about the importance of your coordinators making 120 calls per day.  As you know you have a 11-14% connection ratio when making phone calls.  In other words per day if you make or take 120 calls you will get 13 to 16 people on the phone per day.  The thing that blows my mind is that I know of stores that have coordinators that make 50 calls per day.  When you look at your connection ratio that's only 5-7 people per day!!  I speak from experience in regard to coordinators making every excuse for why they can't make 120 calls per day.  I've been told "I don't have anybody else to call" and when you check their leads in the ILM they have people that haven't been contacted in days.  Even better I've been told that "I don't want want to bug the customer." 

The key to success in your E-Commerce Dept boils down to the coordinator's pounding the phones!!  50 calls per coordinator is not got going to get the results that the owners/GM/GSM are wanting to see.  Demand excellence and put spiffs in place for the coordinator's like you have for the sales staff and watch your E-Commerce dept grow to the point where it's generating a major percentage of total sales.

Watch this week's Think Tank Tuesday to learn how to tailor your marketing strategy to help turn your customers into clients.

Do you know to effectively ensure your reaching all your potential customers? Watch this weeks Think Tank Tuesday to find out the steps you should be taking, and where you should be focusing your marketing strategy.

In my line of work I am often asked when the best time would be to hire salespeople. When will I get the most people of quality to respond to my help wanted advertisement? My overriding thought and response is usually the same; before you need them. But taking a deeper look at the question itself reveals that in reality this is a multi-faceted question. Is the question a matter of time of year or one week of the month being better than another? Or, should we hire salespeople while there is a big sales event occurring? Or, is it best to wait until I am a few people short and hire a bunch at a time rather than one or two? Does a holiday affect the outcome? Let’s take a look at these questions and share our experience.

The time of year does have both pluses and minuses. Many people think that the winter months, especially the December / January time frame will not work well for them. Their reasoning in colder weather climates is because business is generally slower and weather conditions could affect the outcome. Some people try to speculate the market figuring that people aren’t looking for a career during holiday weekends, vacation season or at other times suggesting time of year has a bearing. The reality is that on any given week there are far more qualified applicants who would most certainly have interest in an automobile sales career than you might think. The times when conventional wisdom would indicate that it is best to hold off, wait until things get better, are in reality the very best of times to recruit salespeople. Why? For example; if very few dealerships are advertising for sales help and you are actively doing so, who’s help wanted advertisement is everyone going to see? You benefit because you are the only game in town. You are cornering the market of qualified applicants. Additionally, when times are slower or perceived to be slower is also a great time to hire salespeople. The reason is you theoretically have the time to devote to a newly hired person to better prepare. Give them a foundation and they will grow and prosper for time to come.

Should I hold a sales event and does the week of the month help or hurt the hiring process? Both of these are great questions because these are things that can affect results. A sales event can be a terrific time to hire as the added excitement puts a buzz in the air and creates the impression of opportunity. This is why some dealerships like to conduct recruiting during the last week of the month. Ordinarily the last week of the month is one of the busiest. Again, activity breeds action, and the action you want is for your applicant to make the decision your dealership is the place to be!

What is better to do, hire one or two at a time or wait to hire many in an effort to maximize the investment? In short, the longer you wait the more it will cost you. Why? Missed opportunity is the biggest reason. Even being only one salesperson shorthanded is a detriment to achieving success both in unit volume and overall gross profit. The situation becomes exacerbated with each additional salesperson you are short. In nearly every instance it is far better to recruit more often and well before the need becomes abundantly apparent. A large percentage of our clients recruit on a quarterly basis, if not more frequently, even if on the surface they don’t have the “need”. Their reasoning has proved sound. They are rarely put in the position of having to cater to the whims of one or a team of salespeople. They don’t run short-handed and are always prepared for the inevitable changes and opportunities that occur day to day, week to week and month to month. They have also found their sales teams perform at a very high level; it is very clear their job at the dealership is highly valued and if they aren’t making a full out effort, someone else will. Lastly, it is easier to integrate one or two people at one time into the culture of your dealership then having many to follow up with.

Hopefully you have gained insight into some of the most asked questions we receive and can implement strategies that work for you. The bottom line is every week is a good week to hire salespeople. However, it would be best to plan ahead and recruit a smaller number of people on a consistent basis. What questions do you have? Perhaps we can help you.

Ernie Kasprowicz
Vice President / General Manager
AutoMax Recruiting and Training, LLC.
www.automaxrecruitingandtraining.com
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www.linkedin.com/pub/ernie-kasprowicz/4/a17/b48/
http://automotiveinternetsales.com/profile/ErnieKasprowicz
http://www.dealerelite.net/profile/ErnieKasprowicz

The Hickman's were driving a loaner from a dealership in Wichita KS when they came to Long McArthur in Salina KS.  They were given a Ritz Carlton like buying experience in Salina KS and decided to leave the loaner with us so that we can return it to the dealer in Wichita KS!! 

Are you building value during your presentation/demonstration?

  In Part 3 of this series I'll go over the issue of spending some time outside of work perfecting your skills.  As we know in the automotive industry when you start your career most never receive any real training or if there is training it's very rudimentary.  When I started in the business I was given a box of about 20 VCR tapes and told to sit in a room for two days watching them.  Equally relevant, during this two day marathon I had a sales professional come in the room and talk to me for over a hour about how I was going to hate the business.  Upon completion of this worthless endeavor I was given an office, directed to where the forms were and told to shadow a 6 car a month salesman. 

  How many great people have we lost in the automotive industry due to this lack of training?  This strategy is setting new people up for failure and most importantly it's not giving new people the opportunity to fulfill their dreams.  What's even worse is that I know stores that still have this strategy in place for new hires. 

  We must analyze true professionals to see what separates the Oscar winner or #1 draft pick from the pack that never make it.  Do you think that a #1 draft pick just showed up for the game and never perfected their skill before the game?  The movie start that get's $20 million a movie do you think that is by coincidence?  The student that graduates with a 4.0 do you think he/she spent time outside of class studying?  What's inherent in all these professionals is that they spend a vast amount of time outside of their field perfecting their craft. 

  Do we think that the automotive industry is any different?  If you want to take your career to the next level it's imperative that you also sharpen your saw!!  Study websites, listen to lectures, read books and go to seminars to help increase your human capital.  Those that make the real money in this business have a strategy in place that made their dreams a reality.  Successful people take it upon themselves to become the best in their industry and that's why they are compensated as such. 

  Last but not least we must look at what we do as a career not just a job!!  Those that have the career mindset will put in the extra effort to take their career to the next level.  Good luck and good selling....     

Let's face it. Websites are becoming a commodity in the automotive world. Most quality website vendors are putting out solutions that are good enough to work well. Few are coming up with innovations that can differentiate them, and those differences are relatively small in the whole scheme of things. The difference between a good and a great website is minimal when translating it to increased sales.

The reason for this is that consumers are becoming increasingly impatient when in car shopping mode. It's not that they don't spend as much time doing it as before. It's that they are doing most of their research on websites other than a dealer's site and only visiting when they're ready to look at live vehicles. At that point, they're going straight to inventory or specials and deciding from there whether to consider doing business with a dealership or not. If you have the right inventory items that they're considering, a bad website isn't going to keep them from contacting you. Conversely, if you don't have the vehicles they're seeking, an amazing website isn't going to coax them into doing business with you.

Websites are websites. Some are better than others and have strong conversion tools, but the real arena through which dealers can move the needle is in the quality of their digital marketing efforts. One of those efforts, search engine marketing, is arguably the greatest opportunity for advancement because it translates into more visitors, more leads, and potentially more sales when done right.

The biggest challenge that dealers with OEM-mandated search marketing products face is in defining competition. From the OEM's perspective, a Ford dealer's competition is the Chevy dealer down the block and the Honda dealer around the corner. They want search exposure that can take sales from the other brands. This is a good and noble cause, but unfortunately it's not the most practical target for individual dealers and dealer groups.

From the perspective of the Ford dealership itself, their primary competition isn't the Chevy dealer and the Honda dealer but rather the other Ford dealers in the area. It's how they're graded; we all see reports every month that tell us how we're doing against other dealerships in the area that sell the same brands. It is for this reason that OEM-mandated search marketing, as affordable as it is, simply isn't the best way to improve sales. At the dealership level, the lowest hanging fruit for increased business is by taking sales from the real competition, namely the other Ford store a few miles away.

As mentioned, there is one advantage to the OEM-mandated search marketing: it's cheaper. It's often paid for in whole or in part and can act as a check box on your marketing. "Yep, we're doing SEO and PPC. The OEM is taking care of that for us."

Unfortunately, that's really the only advantage. It's designed in most cases to keep every dealership inside their own little box. Reaching outside of the direct market area is a no-no for companies that work for the OEMs. In fact, they're goal is to keep the boxes neat and tidy.

When the search marketing is focused at the dealership level, it's a completely different strategy. The goals have changed; it's not that a Ford dealer doesn't want to take market share from a Chevy dealer, but that's a heck of a lot harder than taking a deal from the Ford dealer down the road. Let's say there's a dealer in a small town a few miles from you. They're the only Ford dealer in that town. Everyone in town knows them. When they want to do business with that dealership, they'll search for the dealership by name.

Consumers who search for the dealership by city are looking for an alternative. They know about Bob Ricky's Toyota in the heart of town. If they do a search for "Somewhereville Toyota Dealers" or "Toyota Dealers Near Somewhereville", you'll want your dealership to pop up. People that do searches like that are trying to find someone else from which to buy their Toyota. If they wanted to buy from Bob Ricky's Toyota, they would have searched for "Bob Ricky's Toyota". They didn't. They want someone else. They want you. If you're ranked for that search, there's a good chance they'll check out your website to see if they can do business with you instead of Bob Ricky.

Unfortunately, the OEM-mandated search marketing products aren't designed to help in this regard. In many ways, they're designed to prevent this from happening.

If your goal is to beat the competition, your competition, then don't look to the OEM's search marketing company. Don't just check off the search marketing box and call it a day. Explore your options and see if there's a way to improve your search marketing to focus on helping your dealership the best way you can, by being aggressive and getting your dealership in as many relevant searches as possible.

The value of video testimonials is a strategy that every automotive dealership needs to have in place as a part of their social media online presence. Photo's are very important too however, the impact that your video will have on the consumer is much stronger with video.

With the average dealership selling 100 units a month imagine the impact that the dealership would have if a strategy was in place to get either a photo or a video of every sold customer, customers in service, customers in the bodyshop and customers in the parts department just to name a few.  We know that most stores nationwide are not taking advantage of this opportunity to dominate the market with these videos which is great for the stores that do to steal market share from stores that are sleep at the wheel.

Now what is awesome about these videos is that one can take these videos and spread them like wildfire all over the Internet. There are multiple video sites that the dealership can use to upload these videos to and then use different titles for each site to dominate other dealerships.  For instance, imagine if a consumer did a search on Google and typed Ford Mustang Manhattan, KS and your video shows up as the first result on the first page of natural Google for your dealership which is by the way over 50 miles away.  The consumer that would have went to the local dealership has now clicked on your video which takes them to your social media site with links to your inventory and video testimonials of happy customers.  Now who do you think that consumer is going to call?

It's great that most dealers are asleep at the wheel and still operate under the premise of if we build a dealership they will come.  What this does is gives a competitive advantage to the dealership that understands this strategy and crushes the competition online.

I had the pleasure of watching a very informative webinar last night that really brought home the importance of having a robust dealership presence online.  I truly enjoy studying the shift in advertising from the traditional way of doing business to the modern way of doing business.  I've seen dealerships that had all the right brands under one rooftop but sell 70-90 units a month while their competition sells over 200 units a month; due to the fact of poor leadership, nonexistent online presence, horrible culture and negative online reviews about the dealerships service dept. (a service customer is 7 times more likely to buy at the dealership that he/she uses for service) just to name a few.  The days of just building a multi-million dollar facility and waiting for the customer to come is over!!  We know that by the time the consumer actually gets to your store (unless a real pro made contact during the ZMOT and you never seen the consumer) they are no longer at the point of interest but now at the point of sale.  Look at these alarming numbers:

1. In 2006 the average consumer visited 4.1 dealerships and conducted 68% Internet research.
2. In 2011 the average consumer visited 1.3 dealerships and conducted 84% Internet research and some conducted over 90% Internet research depending on the brand.
3. In 2000 dealer ad spending was newspaper 52%, Internet 4.6%, T.V. 15.5% and radio 14%
4. In 2010 dealer ad spending was newspaper 22%, Internet 23.7%, T.V. 20.1% and radio 16% (and of course we know that Internet ad spending is much higher now in 2012). 

And when I have sales people that are friends of mine call me and tell me how slow it is and how they only got 5 cars out and it's the 25th of the month; yes some are LAZY however, some are at a store that in 2012 the owner and GM does business like it's 1980. 

SEM and SEO is such a interesting subject that if you want to bring value to your store it's imperative that you study these ideas because when you begin to talk with your owner or GM about what you're studying you will become a valuable asset at your dealership or the competition will hear about you and start calling you.  Good luck and good selling....    

Are you building value during your presentation/demonstration?

The first variable that I would like to go into is the matter of getting the consumer excited about making their next biggest purchase next to buying a home.  I've been studying the Ritz Carlton Gold Standards and I would like to place emphasis on one of the standards called the "three steps of service."  It's defined as follows: 

• A warm and sincere greeting. Use the guest's name.
• Anticipation and fulfillment of each guest's needs.
• Fond farewell. Give a warm good-bye and use the guest's name

Imagine for a second if your dealership gave every customer a Ritz Carlton like experience.  Are you aware of the value that it would bring to your dealership!!  Equally relevant, imagine how much easier it would be to close the deal with this added value. 

Let's look at some issues that may start the buying process off on the wrong foot:

1.  30 people standing outside like a pack of wolves. 

2.  Putting your cigarette out as you approach the customer.

3.  The attire that you are wearing looks like it was balled up in the corner. 

These are things that one would never see at the Ritz Carlton and that is why people don't mind spending the extra money due to the fact that their is a perceived value.  You must separate yourself from the old way of doing business and let the customer know that you take the opportunity to do business serious.  This added value will be needed when you are $200 away in payment or needing a cash investment that he/she didn't consider prior to coming to your store.

Last but not least is be a professional!!  Act like you're at the Ritz Carlton when dealing with customers and watch how your numbers grow i.e. offer your customer something hot or cold to drink, give them a tour of the dealership, take them to the bathroom don't just point where the bathroom is located and if the owner or GM is walking around introduce your customer to those in executive positions.  We must learn that we are in the "Wow" business which means we must have a strategy in place to "Wow" the socks off our customers. 

I'll go over the other variables soon good luck and good selling....

Are you building value during your presentation/demonstration?

In the automotive industry we must learn the difference between building value versus just giving the car away.  We've all seen the sales professional that sells 15 cars for the month and makes $1,500 i.e. 15 mini deals.  How demotivating to spend an entire month putting in 60+ hours and then see a less than average paycheck; I truly believe the solution to this problem is one must learn how to build value and hold gross while your presenting your four square.  I've heard too many people complain about not making any money and at the end of the day he/she must look in the mirror and analyze themselves. 

Here are a couple things that I believe will help end this epidemic:

• Stop letting the sales manager/closer close 99% of your deals i.e. become a closer not a order taker!!
• Get the consumer excited about making their next biggest purchase next to buying a home
• Spend some time outside of work perfecting your closing skills
• Get better with product knowledge
• Always assume the sale
• Don't wait until the first pencil to close the sale ask closing questions during the sale

There are many more but I just wanted to point out a few that I believe will help with helping people get better with holding gross.  Good luck and good selling..... 

After speaking with my peeps at Google here in the San Francisco Bay Area, a tsunami wave of reality is on its way to the auto industry shores.

If you want to use an IPad in the dealership to generate reviews, reconsider. Is that truly the more candid and truthful approach to building reviews? I’ve heard some instances where the sales rep is coaching the customer over their shoulder while the customer submits to a 3^rd party review site from the IPad?

Google’s algorithms frown on customer reviews posted from the same IP day after day and consider this not “validated content”. Use an IPad from the same IP day after day and your SEO ranking will be compromised and consumer alerts potentially slapped temporarily on your 3^rd party review accounts.

Their is a wave of consumer sentiment that will revolutionize dealership Online Reputation Management current practices. Here’s what I mean…

You want accurate reviews or validated content. Consumers are beginning to sniff out reviews that are veneer and fabricated and even worse, do not publish at the moment the consumer clicks to publish. I know I'm skeptical when my negative review is not published when I click submit. Validated means reviews on a 3^rd party review site that are controlled by the consumer with no publishing delays or mediation time for the dealer to filter, alter or delete the reviews. For negative reviews we see that once posted, a manager response was later visible with the original consumer review unchanged.

The public has already begun shouting how a dealership in their community has manipulated the public and do not have their best interest at heart.  The majority of ORM tools today with the right sized payment of cash to the OEM, allow dealerships to manipulate and filter reviews. Essentially dealers are not being transparent and truthful when they delay, embellish, alter, filter, and delete reviews or simply not publish at the time the consumer clicked ‘submit’. 

When are America’s dealership decision makers going to face the brutal reality that the public will defeat the sly dishonesty of review practices used by dealers to protect the dealership interests, not the customer? The public is becoming more suspect and are onto the scent that the company that they wanted to buy from has manipulated the process of getting positive reviews and have altered their dissatisfaction with that respective brand.

Did we forget the stigma our industry faces with public perception of dealerships as crooks? Are we perpetuating the stigma of car dealers who bait and switch for profit propelling the stereotype that the auto industry is dishonest?

The Dealership Site Reviews
Consumers will not completely rule out a dealer site as not credible, perhaps only if all the testimonials and reviews are positive.  I’m just saying, some dealerships are only populating positive reviews with 0 negative. This is hardly believable, and extremely out of touch with what consumers will start demanding of dealerships they want to buy from in the future. The trend of consumer sentiment will continue to ostracize the dealers that project anything inauthentic. The public demands and respects what their peers say about a dealer much more than a dealer’s website review page or a review site that’s littered with manipulated reviews.

The same concept applies to the American media today.  Tomorrow at the Thanksgiving table, Uncle John’s opinion will be much more believable than any article I can read in the Wall Street Journal. In a world where small is big, respected bloggers, relatives and friends are more of an authority than the wavering media establishment.  In this analogy, the dealerships website is the Wall Street Journal.

When a consumer viral truth telling explosion online happens, expect a paradigm shift. Just like any other wave of consumers that force the hand of an industry to be honest and stop altering reviews to get a higher rating; this will be no different. 

As we prepare for the shift, are you building REAL reviews?  Is the customers IP the safest most SEO compliant place to ask for a review? Yes!.

Are you emailing a follow up message with options to either post positive or share their complaint directly with you?

Are you willing to ask the question everyday via email and then fix what's broken at the dealership?

Do you own deep down in your gut that the most powerful brand loyalty building tool is your response to negative whether one on one or on 3rd party review sites for all to see?

When a customer complains, isn't this benefiting the dealership to improve quality assurance AND securing employees that exceed expectations and over deliver? The winning sales performers will squeeze out slackers that think they can hide behind their half-'assed customer service.

You can't body block cranky customers from posting negative reviews or alter them. You have one special moment to intercept unsatisfied customers before days pass and they start banging on their keypad to diss your brand across the web. You can respond for all to see but why not stop it to fix it at the pass shortly after they made a visit to the dealer? Your customer survey is surely OK, but no where near how effective you could be with the option to have complaints heard by you first or in that very moment, if happy, a positive review published from the customers IP.

Start asking for feedback and encourage a customer to post a review from an automated organic drip” email following the customer purchase from the customers IP.  Will you ever know for sure all of the rules of ORM? Don't think so, but you can count on a review building conduit that deters manipulation and propels radical transparency.

Jerry Hart
President
eReputationBUILDER

Ask a Question: jerry(at)erepbuilder(dot)com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jerryhart67
For more information, visit http://www.eReputationBUILDER.com

If you've watched my other video's, we have discussed the following:

→ What role gratitude plays in your success
→ What is the definition of success
→ Developing a 99.9% WHY statement

Now we move on to the recipe. With so many people wondering how to be successful, I suggest that success comes from following a process. It's no different than baking a chocolate cake. If you want to end up with the proven result of chocolate cake, you'd better follow the proven recipe that will get you there.

In my career, I've had the privalege of being mentored by many very successful people and you know what? They all say the same thing. When asked, "How did you become so successful?", the response is, "By doing what other successful people do".

That validates what is written in such books as Dale Carnegies, "How to Win Friends and Influence People" or Napoleon Hills, "Think and Grow Rich".

If you'd like to achieve your own personal definition of success and you want to know how to become successful in life, you MUST follow the recipe.

Stay tuned for my next video where I'll introduce you to the 1st ingredient in the recipe for success.

Your success starts here.

http://www.internetsales20group.com

Automotive Social Media Expert, JD Rucker of KPA Online Reviews The Internet Sales 20 GRoup

Look at all the conversation online about you and your dealership. That point alone reiterates to all of us that dealerships don’t necessarily own their brand. The consumer owns the brand.  Monitoring online comments helps us understand the consumer perception of our brand and, if necessary, make changes to our communications efforts.

There are proactive measures that you should take BEFORE a negative review is posted about your dealership. Not only do you need to constantly encourage your customers to post positive reviews about the dealership, you need to ensure that each customer was completely satisfied with their experience.

The dealerships who proactively short circuits negative reviews and encourages positive reviews shortly after the customer visits the dealership won't have to worry down the road why they waited to long to come to us.

Schedule an eReputationBUILDER Demo

It's only when it becomes a real issue and starts costing companies in lost sales and damaging their reputation do they normally come to us. It's much easier and cheaper if you come to us before issues arise, taking a preventive measure will help not only protect your brand but also stop unscrupulous competitors taking your space or even worse, getting negative content high up in the search results.

Make or Break time for dealerships

With the proliferation of user-generated content online, the online reputation of businesses are being tarnished by incorrect and misleading posts or comments that can stay on the Internet forever. One post by a disgruntled employee or unhappy customer can have a damaging effect on your company’s image, as well as sales.

The thing to keep in mind is that online reputation management is one of those things that works better if you implement it before you actually need it.

Did you know….
• 62% of consumers surveyed said they would change their mind after reading 1-3 negative reviews about a product or service.***

• Dealerships are expected to spend $100 million on tech tools or platforms to monitor customer opinions on the Web over the next year, more than double the spending in the past 12 months, according to BIA/Kelsey, a Chantilly, Va., media-research firm.

• YELP! About 27 million user-generated reviews were posted on the site between January and March, up 59% from the same period a year earlier, according to Yelp’s most recent quarterly report.

• Google says on its official blog that businesses can reduce the visibility of negative content about them by “proactively publishing useful, positive information.”

By Jerry Hart
President
www.eReputationBUILDER.com
jerry@erepbuilder.com
925.849.4084

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

http://www.internetsales20group.com

http://www.dealersynergy.com  

http://www.seanvbradley.com 

http://www.dealersynergy.com 

Sean V. Bradley Gives Some Powerful Tips For Success - Automotive Sales - Motivation - Leadership