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Tammie LeBleu, Speaking At Jim Ziegler's Internet Battle Plan In Las Vegas (Was The #2 Nissan Sales Consultant In The United States)

Tammie LeBleu

Internet Director | Sales Manager -
Orr Nissan Bossier City, Louisiana

Tammie is that super-performer every dealership wishes they had. A personal friend and student of Jim Ziegler, the Alpha Dawg.

Tammie takes relationship sales and marketing seriously using Ziegler’s formulas mixed with her own personal dynamics. We are very proud to have her on our stage. In this very Special featured Session Tammie will share her secrets that put her among the highest paid car sales professionals in the country.

Tammie will be presenting:

Everything I Do Online That Made Me the NUMBER TWO Nissan Sales Person in the Nation 

http://bossiercitynissan.orrnissan.com/

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This blog was inspired to me when I got here in the late morning (I'm usually the closer!), and both of my two Internet Coordinators were running around; one looking for pictures of a particular vehicle, and the other was finding out from our Sales Managers if we can do "better than the internet price" because the customer wants to know before she gets here...

All I could do is shake my head, and try to explain some facts in the automotive world:

- More than 3 out of 4 customers will NOT buy the vehicle they originally inquire on via the internet

- Most customers will ask about price as an inquiry, but most of the time it is NOT an objection

- About 9 out of 10 customers go to the internet before coming into a dealership

- Most customers visit 2 OR LESS dealerships before making a purchase

I'm sure this is happening more often than it should in dealerships everywhere, and it is very ineffective.  To put it blunt...a waste of time! 

Don't lose mind of the fact that we do this every day, and know the quickest and easiest way to get it done.  Most often we help people purchase vehicles more times in a week, than most people experience in a lifetime!  So why are we as professionals running around on wild goose chases looking for information that will end up being irrelevant in the sale? 

Spending more than 80% of your time on less than 20% of your customers is a recipe for disaster!  You will not be happy with your end-of-month results if you tend to try to give the customer too much "TLC" before they get to the dealer.  Imagine all of the customers you can be calling, scheduling for appointments and getting to show up, rather than having a few valuable employees seeking information on one tough prospect.  This is the opportunity cost that you have to sacrifice to do this for one customer, in hopes of that one customer you are spending all that time on is going to convert to a sale.  Does this make sense?  ...I hope you said NO

The customer controlling you, the professional appointment setter, is indeed getting what they want, but not helping you get what you want in return.  We want to create a reason for the customer to come to the dealership, and without avoiding the question, give the best answer to make us both happy.  For example, we tend to get scared when a customer asks the price and treat it as an objection before we have to.  Even worse yet, bring up price before the customer because we THINK that is the most important thing to them.  Having a list of fact finding questions and good answers that make sense to the customer will help you avoid running around, and get the customer to do what we want...and that's to come into the store.  We can find out information about what they want, to better guide them to the best deal possible.

Asking question a question like: "what was it in particular you liked about that vehicle?" is a very simple but powerful statement.  You will find out if your customer likes the budget, brand, style, etc...of that car, and then be able to make suggestions of similar vehicles.  A customer may have been looking at 3-5 vehicles on your site, but only asked about one.  You may make suggestions, and find the vehicle is one of the same ones that they were also looking at!  By making numerous suggestions you are creating an "information overload" situation, while also understanding what the customer’s wants and needs are.  I have even found that sometimes they come to the conclusion themselves that it would be easier for them to come in and take a look, simply because of how informative I am on the phone.

Constantly mixing in phrases like "when you get here..." and "I'm glad we had this chance to talk before we meet..." paired along with being helpful on the phone will help you convert more "lookers" into "buyers" when they do get to your lot as well as get more prospects interested in coming to see you soon!

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I just came across this article from Tim Martell and it blew me away on how ferocious a situation can become... Here is Tim's post:

Social media represents a new dawn for the marketing industry. The level of interaction it enables between business and consumer is nothing short of revolutionary. Most would agree that this is a step forward; more communication is always preferable to less. However, it is not an avenue of communication that businesses can control, or even truly mediate. Social mediacreates a dangerous duality, in that it can make or break a business with equal aptitude.

Two brothers have started a boycott against their sister’s former employer, Clay Nissan of Norwood. Their sister, Jill Colter, has stage 4 brain cancer and they claim that she was wrongfully terminated by the dealership. Both sides have taken to social media to garner support, and now the issue is heading to court.

Jill took a two month leave of absence to recuperate from intensive whole brain radiation treatment. Once she returned to work, Jill felt she was completely capable of performing her duties and arrived on time or early every day. Just three weeks after her return, she was terminated. When she inquired about the reason, she was informed, “We are going in a different direction.”

Massachusetts has an At-Will Employment rule. This is defined as an employment relationship in which either party can break the relationship with no liability. However, there is also the U.S. Family and Medical Leave Act, which protects people’s right to take unpaid, job protected leave for as long as 12 weeks. To terminate someone’s employment as a result of illness covered under the FMLA can be regarded as discrimination.

Was Jill a victim of discrimination? Her family certainly thinks so. Her brothers, Jon and Adam Colter, started a Facebook page calling for the boycott of Clay Nissan of Norwood. The story went viral and exploded across the web. Their Facebook page’s about section states: “www.facebook.com/boycottclaynissan went live about five weeks ago. Since then we have received about 15,000 supporters. Private messages are in the hundreds.”

Once Clay Nissan got wind of the boycott page, they released this official statement: “With regard to the campaign against Clay Nissan of Norwood, we understand this is an emotional topic further fueled by misinformation and efforts to block communication from the Clay family. We encourage you to visit ClayFamilyCares.com to learn the truth about our actions. In short, we were aware of the employee’s illness prior to hiring her, and after learning of her firing we invited her back to work at our dealerships.”

According to the Boycott Clay Nissan Facebook page, this statement is far too little, and way too late. The Colters maintain that they received no such offer until the boycott was in effect for over three days, which was initiated about two weeks after Jill was let go. “This is Clay doing damage control, public relation, and spin and more spin,” wrote Adam Colter.

This is not the first time that a Clay dealership has engaged in questionable behavior toward its employees. Clay Nissan’s parent company, Clay Family Dealerships, Inc. was investigated for knowingly failing to pay owed overtime wages to employees. That investigation ended with Clay paying nearly $280,000 in back wages, restitutions and fees.

At this point in time, both sides have retained legal representation. The Colters are suing Clay for wrongful termination of Jill, claiming they violated the FMLA. At the same time, Clay is counter-suing the Colter brothers for defamation brought about by the boycott, with an emphasis on the content of the Facebook page.

Judging by the timeline and statements made on both sides, it is difficult to say who is telling the truth. The only thing we can be sure of is who is talking louder, and that is unequivocally the Colters. Their Facebook page is currently over 25,000 strong, including thousands of comments across hundreds of posts. Clay is trying to reach out via their ClayFamilyCares website and issued statements, but they are finding it difficult to compete with the wildfire spread of internet vitriol.

That may be part of the problem; the fact that Clay is trying to compete at all. Jon Colter has said that initially all they wanted was an apology but the dealership was unwilling to comply. Instead, the dealership has attempted to defend itself at every turn; as though any amount of PR could turn back the tides. The simple fact is, right or wrong, Clay has already lost in the court of public opinion; at some point, all that is left is to apologize and move on.

That is what can make this kind of social media campaign so dangerous to businesses; companies can lose a war that they are only peripherally aware they are fighting. Every day more people are seeing the Boycott Clay Nissan Facebook page. When they view the page, they are seeing the story as presented by the Colters. Clay can issue statements but each and every piece of information is filtered and posted by the Colters. The brothers also have complete control over comments on the page, meaning the Clay family cannot even defend themselves on the page that they are being attacked on. Is it fair? No. Are the Colters telling the truth? Evidence suggests they are, but in the end, it doesn’t matter.

In the world of social media, when a person fights a business, the roles are already cast. Despite any efforts to the contrary, despite who is truly right or wrong, the faceless corporation will be viewed as the villain. It is the innate characteristic of consumers to band together against a business who is being accused of a wrongdoing. We have all been there; when you hear a story of some big-box store screwing someone, how often do you even attempt to see things from the company’s point of view? It’s not often, and frankly, you shouldn’t have to try.

It is the onus of any business to maintain its own image in the eyes of the public.

This is what Clay Nissan, and the entire Clay family, needs to accept. They can go through the defamation lawsuit, and, as Jon Colter says, “They’re suing us, but it could be two to four years before the site is taken down, and by then, it will be at half a million.” The damage has been done. It was done the second that Facebook page went viral.

It’s unfortunate for Clay, but it provides an excellent example for other dealerships. Social media is no longer a supplementary part of your main marketing strategy. It deserves and demands constant investment to keep your business spotless in the eyes of your customers. When it comes to Clay and the Colters, we don’t know who is in the right and we’ll reiterate: it doesn’t matter!

If Clay had someone competent in charge of managing their social media presence, they would have known about this boycott page the second it went up. Once they knew about it, they could have apologized and moved the entire discussion out of the public eye before it caught fire.

Instead, they have a boycott, a lawsuit, and an ugly blemish on their company’s reputation. But hey, at least things posted on the internet aren’t there forever…right?

Take a look at some of these links to see the magnitude of the situation. 

Dealers... be careful-

http://www.facebook.com/boycottclaynissan
http://www.change.org/petitions/help-protest-company-that-fired-a-woman-without-cause-who-is-fighting-stage-4-melanoma
http://www.google.com/#http://www.google.com/blank.html

The "Boycott Clay Nissan" Campaign is Crushing The Boston Nissan Dealership via Social Media. If you GOOGLE "Clay Nissan Boycott", its pretty surreal...

Source - http://www.wikimotive.net/the-clay-nissan-boycott/

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As social media continues to grow in influence in the automotive industry, Nissan is connecting with that powerful force to help create an ultimate street/track 370Z, called “Project 370Z.” Launched at a special blogger media day at the 2012 Chicago Auto Show.

Nissan enthusiasts are invited to vote on modifications and follow the construction online through Facebook.com/nissanperformance. The finished vehicle will be revealed May 17 at the annual ZDayZ gathering in North Carolina.

“Think of Project 370Z as a factory project car built in a non-factory way,” explained Erich Marx, director, Social Media & Interactive Marketing, Nissan North America. “Nissan Z® owners are among the most active of all on social media. We can’t wait to see how the finished vehicle turns out.”

At the show’s social media day, in the second year it has been held, Nissan also hosted a Google+ Hangout, and made sure the bloggers were introduced to culinary delights provided by a Southern Mac & Cheese Nissan NV food truck. Guests were also treated to Nissan’s new “virtual new car experience” using Microsoft Kinect technology.

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Nissan Is Gaining Social Media Steam

Automakers have seen the benefits that social media can have on its brands, and as a result, are spending more time (and money) cultivating a presence on these online channels. And this effort is paying off – especially for Nissan. Nissan North America has been interacting with fans of its brands through social media and building a loyal brand following.

Nissan is seeing increased fan interaction on the big three social media venues: Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. Nissan ranked #8 on list of Top 15 Brands on Twitter for 2011 (as indexed by HootSuite), joining other famous brands such as Apple and Nike. Boasting more than 75,000 Twitter followers across various Nissan brand accounts, the automaker is following the lead of automakers that like to tweet. Take Lexus – the luxury brand is rated the most active tweeter when it comes to automakers, conversing with 288,000 followers… not too shabby.

Nissan is also making great strides with its Facebook account. The company has passed the 500,000 likes count, thanks it part to the all-new Pathfinder Concept reveal that can be accessed by liking Nissan’s Facebook page. Nissan still has a way to go before catching up with BMW’s Facebook page, which boasts over 7,000,000 fans.

Considering how popular online videos are, it’s no surprise that Nissan is having increased success onYouTube. The Nissan channel views have jumped to 10,000,000, thanks to frequent and updated video content.

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