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Wow,  talk about information overload.  I have been to several workshops and seminars over the years but the Automotive Internet Sales 20 Group that just concluded in Chicago IL was by far one of the most informative that I have attended.  In addition to myself, our dealer group sent two General Sales Managers and a General Manager.   On day one we had a goal to get at least five actionable ideas that we could implement, we left with over 20.  

Sean Bradley and the entire Dealer Synergy team put together not only an awesome event, but created a new benchmark.  Not only did we attend a fantastic workshop, we are now members of a group of like minded dealerships where we can exchange ideas, compare and measure performance.   

Not sure when the next Internet Sales 20 Group will be but you really need to get your dealership involved.  This is not just a workshop or seminar it is a real 20 group and your dealership will benefit big time.  

http://www.internetsales20group.com

Ralph Paglia Reviews The Automotive Internet Sales 20 Group & Says Its AWESOME & Powerful

Yes. LA really is blind. I guess he is trying to study through osmosis. That's dedication! Do you ever feel like this? If your department seems to be lacking something or isn't making the numbers you hoped, contact Dealer Synergy. Dealer Synergy provides the RIGHT tools for Internet Departments to be successful!

Some dealership decision makers may not be aware that Yelp has 78 million monthly visitors and Yelp is now Yelp'ing that 78 million visitors “can be a strong incentive for some businesses to try to game the system.”

I’ve heard first hand from dealerships the audacious truth of how they game Yelp, then wonder why they can’t get customer reviews published. Dealerships have been known to inflate their ratings with glowing testimonials submitted by friends and employees.

The stakes just went up again! They should. Up to 40% of online reviews are sketchy, according to experts.

The San Francisco-based website, which already tries to filter out dubious reviews, said it will now start posting visible consumer alerts on websites suspected of soliciting reviews-for-hire to boost ratings.

The alerts will stay up for at least 90 days – longer if the suspicious activity continues, according to Yelp.

Users, many of whom consider Yelp to be the last word on whether a business is worth visiting, can click on the alerts for more details.

Yelp also said it will start informing visitors when a business has a slew of reviews posted from the same computer – often a red flag for inauthentic reviews.

My suggestion? Integrate an online management solution that proactively builds "REAL" reviews and STOPS negative ones.

The one missing major takeaway from Yelp’s announcement is…

Review sites with too much negative feedback or dealerships not found on highly ranked review sites will be moved down the Google search stack and compromise their competitive advantage.

Even more reason to encourage customers to post positive feedback on highly ranked review sites from their computer and also make a gentle request to share directly to key internal contacts IF they are unsatisfied

Plus, leverage every customer touch point and follow up with communication incentivizing them to tell you directly they are unsatisfied or passively encourage posting positive feedback on review sites.

Eric Singley, vice president of the site’s consumer products and mobile division said because of Yelp’s clout, “some businesses will go to extreme lengths to bolster their reviews.”

Auto consumers seem addicted to peer review sites such as Yelp, Google Local, CarHelp, DealerRater and more. Good web reviews now weigh so heavily on spending decisions that satire group the Onion recently spoofed the phenomenon with an article titled “Brave Woman Enters Restaurant Without First Looking It Up Online.”

Jerry Hart
President
eReputationBUILDER

Today the internet is playing a bigger role than ever before in marketing cars. Research and statistics have proven that internet shopping has become more popular than flipping through pages of a catalog or a news paper. There are a variety of websites out there, such as www.cars.com, www.vehix.com, and www.carsdirect.com, whose purpose is to attract people who are shopping for vehicles. With the purpose of distributing the leads to dealerships, each dealership also has its own website to provide information about the dealerships vehicle inventory, employees, reputation, etc. What separates your website from your competitors? Is it your websites inventory? Is it your company’s reputation?

The bottom line is this...Internet Leads are here to stay regardless how your website looks or how easy it is for the customer to find what they are looking for. The challenges of building rapport with an internet lead are much more difficult compared to that phone call lead. Your company’s website has to be one step ahead of your competitors. Lead follow up must be ten times faster than your competitors. Your internet department must be tight, well organized, have a process that is proven to work and more important, your internet department must be properly managed.

Call me at 866.314.2553 EXT24 for a free consaultation on just how to do these things.  Done correctly, you will sell more cars, more profitably, more often.

Taking Facebook to the Next Level Advanced Posting Strategies from KPA - DealerWebinars.com on Vimeo.

Create a Customer Testimonial Video and include it in your email signature. It's a cool idea that may take some time to put together, but once you do, the response can pay some major dividends in terms of customer Rapport.

Sincerely,

Edward Tomilloso

Internet Manager

Honda of Santa Maria

Http://www.seanvbradley.com 

Lets keep it as "real" as possible... We are in the car business for one reason... TO MAKE MONEY!!  If you want to hug trees and save the earth, you are in the wrong industry. Don't get me wrong, you can make a ton of money and DONATE it to those charities... but as far as anything deeper... a Car Dealership is not the place to "change the world". So, lets be honest with each other... PLEASE. 

Now, that we got that out of the way we can focus on the issue at hand here... MAKING MONEY. If you are NOT interested in making money, then please LOG OFF NOW. 

Let me start by introducing myself to those of you who do not know me... I am Sean V. Bradley, CEO of Dealer Synergy and I am a Millionaire Car Salesman! There are numerous people in the Auto industry that are Millionaires but few who who have come from the places I have come and achieved what I have achieved. 

Let me give you a little background. I came from a HORRIBLE Child Hood, Psychotic Family, Terrible Abuse, Tortured both physically and mentally. Dead Beat Father... He was NEVER around. Everyone HATED me as a kid. I was sent to a boys home when I was 12 until I was 15... 3 years in an institution as a kid. 

I came home put myself in College. I put my self in the ARMY ROTC, I put myself in Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity... I worked for every cent I had. It was hard, but it was MINE.

(I had SOME TRULY SUREAL EXPERIENCES THAT I WILL OutLINE iN THE FUTURE) But... Long Story Short, I dropped out of college and got a "JOB" at a car dealership... mostly because they gave me a DEMO LOL!! 

I then went from being DEAD broke to being salesman of the month... salesman of the YEAR (Weisleder Lincoln Mercury Mazda). I was a REAL 30 Car GUY!! 

I went through EVERY training the dealership gave me, every training from the OEM, EVERY training from the  Internet Sale Companies... Hell, I studied EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING I could! 

** I actually studied website design. I read books on HTML, Dynamic HTML, JAVA, Macromedia FLASH, Front Page, Dream Weaver etc...

I studied the VERY early Search Engine Optimization... utilizing software like "Web Position Gold". 

I went to workshop after workshop... I even got certified at the International Academy of Search Engine Optimization & Wordtracker...

I spent YEARS chasing and FINALLY getting the partnership with FranklinCovey... I spent another 3 years flying all over the United States getting CERTIFIED as a Facilitator and Instructor of the "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" AND... "The 5 Choices Of Extraordinary Productivity". I even got the opportunity to meet Dr. Stephen Covey!! 

I even managed to get accepted into the National Speakers association (NSA). 

I went from a College degenerate, broke and desperate to... successful.

Because, I was gaining knowledge, I started gaining success.... because I was successful, I started to MAKE MONEY. 

***People, I left Cherry Hill Nissan in 2003 making approximately $170,000 as a BDC Director!! 

I had ONLY been in the car business 5 years... 5 friggen years!!! From BROKE to FLUSH... $170,000 at age 26 

I was 26 making almost $200,000 per year, driving a Lexus etc... And then I gave it all up to "roll the dice" and start a consulting company. 

You have NO idea how many people told me I was crazy giving up that Salary, that demo, that security, everything... 

I didn't care! I felt I was destined for something BIGGER... I felt I had it in me to do something even bigger. I had NO official business education or skills yet I decided to "roll the dice" and start a national company with NO MONEY... LOL! 

Well people it worked! I have generated OVER Ten Million Dollars. ($10,000,000+) Not Bad for a "Piece of Shit" "project kid"... 

I LOVE this industry. I really do... I BLEED Gasoline. I am a "Car Guy". I LOVE this industry, because you can EARN as MUCH as you want! 

Do you REALLY want to make money? Are you tired of the "carats"? Let me HELP YOU FOR FREE! 

Why should you listen to me...?

• Well for starters I am a Millionaire
• I have generated over 10 Million... actually $11,000,000+ for MYSELF! 
• I Own Millions of Dollars in Real Estate 
• I have Porsches, Mercedes, Motorcycles, ATVs and other Motor Sports 
• I have security... Millions in Life Insurance, 401Ks etc... 
• Hundreds of Thousands in Jewelry....
• Assets, Assets, Assets and MORE Assets... 
• Married to a BEAUTIFUL Woman with 3 AMAZING Kids and Boxer Puppy Named "7". 

*** I know how to make money

I have EVERYTHING that a Human Being can possibly want or NEED!

Everything I have is BECAUSE of the Car Industry... Everything I am, Everything I have is because of the Car Industry.

You have NO IDEA... I am FIRST GENERATION in this country. My family was and some are STILL VERY POOR. They live in the "Hood", They live in the projects of New York City and London... 

I have realized the American dream. I am able to give my children things I ONLY saw on TV... Things that I only fantasized about as a kid. These things are my everyday reality. 

How crazy is it that I own a whole national company with over 20 FULL time employees (not to mention part timers, interns and general contract agents...) that depend on Dealer Synergy to feed themselves and their families... It is surreal! It is an honor to have this responsibility and it is crazy that I went from destitute to BOSS... But it is all thanks to the CAR BUSINESS! 

I am tremendously grateful for being in the BEST INDUSTRY in the world. In an industry that can take a "piece of shit nobody and make him into a Millionaire BOSS that can change lives all over this country! 

Guess what... YOU CAN TOO! Seriously if I can do it... YOU CAN TOO! I have literally trained THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of people! I have seen fledglings become successful, I have been blessed to have mentored  countless entrepreneurs and Automotive Professionals...

Do you REALLY want to be successful...? Do you REALLy want to learn how to MASTER YOUR CRAFT and BECOME a Millionaire Car Sales Man?  

I can help You and I will help you... As a matter of fact, it is MY RESPONSIBILITY and DUTY to HELP YOU! 

I have been Blessed by having some AMAZING Mentors in my life that took the time to teach me, motivate me, inspire me... be PATIENT with me. And thank GOD they did... Look at me now! 

I want to help as many people as possible. All you have to do is EMBRACE ME and my philosophy.

You might ask "Why"... Why do you want to help me? 

Great question! 

Here is my Answer... Life is too short! We ONLY have 86,400 seconds in a day and when they are gone they are gone! 

A VERY dear friend of mine, an inspiration of mine, a friend of mine and a business associate of mine just DIED at age 42 years old. WTF?? He was a beautiful human being... hell, a BETTER person than ME and he is gone. As an Automotive Professional Would Say "It Is What It Is"! But I think of Karry EVERY DAY. I DO... I realize that life is TOO SHORT. I sincerely want to help people. I want to see people EVOLVE, I want to assist people with their "work / life balance". I have been blessed with more than I could have EVER hoped for. I want to GIVE BACK. 

If you are seriously interested in learning from me, if you are serious about evolving, if you are serious about SYNERGY ... let me know. It would be my pleasure to share in your success! 

Recently, a study was conducted by the folks at Napkin Labs, a Facebook app developer that works with brands and agencies, and they found that only 6%  of [Facebook] fans engage with a Brand's/Business' Facebook page. That's right just six percent. There's a billion people on Facebook, and yet, there's so few users interacting and engaging with Facebook Fan Pages. 

Of course, with these studies, you have to take into account the amount of information the researchers were working with. In this case, according to the study, they "analyzed fan engagement for more than 50 brand pages, including consumer electronics companies, retailers and more, with between 200,000 to 1 million fans each." [Mashable] I wouldn't be surprised if there were 50 fan pages alone dedicated to Justin Bieber...

Nevertheless, let's look at what the study found. 

In their study, Napkin Labs found that Facebook [BRAND] pages with MORE fans were seeing LOWER percentages of engagement from their fans. Essentially, the researchers concluded that for each brand, there's a set of "core fans." In other words, there's roughly 20 extremely engaged fans who consistently engage, comment, like, share a certain page's content on an everyday basis, whereas as "regular fans" may like or comment only occasionally. As a result of sharing a Brand's posts, these core fans are receiving likes and comments on their own pages, therefore, helping to give that Brand's page more visibility, as opposed to the average fan. 

What do you think about this study? Why are Brand pages only receiving a minimal amount of engagement? Is it the content? Is it the new pay-to-promote system Facebook has laid out for Fan Pages? 

Something else to think about: Does your dealership's page have its own set of core fans, continuously commenting and liking your posts? If not, why? Is it the CONTENT? 

http://www.kpaonline.com http://www.automotiveinternetsales20group.com

I had the opportunity to go to Irvine California yesterday to the KPA / TK Carsites Headquarters. First of all the facility is loced in Beautiful California. It was great to meet the executive team of KPA / TK Carsites....

I spent a couple hours getting updated on what KPA is currently enveloped in and I got a glimpse of upcoming AWESOME products / services.

Here is a quick update from Ricard Valeta, the founder of TK Carsites-

Richard Valenta, VP of Internet Marketing Products of TK Carsites / KPA Interview

Humor does not diminish the pain - it makes the space around it get bigger.

"Fear" is afraid of everything because Fear can only see itself in everything.  Fear fails to account for many of the things that are really taking place in the form of circumstances.  These "road blocks" will always present themselves, but they do not have to represent an end in the road.  When you climb one hill or mountain, I promise there will always be a bigger hill or mountain waiting!  How you attack each climb will ultimately define you.  Equally, how you runaway  will also define you.

This is the third in a series of blogs I’ve been writing on metrics: in my last blog we discussed the average percentage of sales in dealerships that can be attributed to Internet leads. This week, I’d like to talk about average front-end gross per vehicle.

In a recent survey we conducted, we asked dealerships representing all types of makes and models:

These were the two questions related to front-end gross in the survey:

1) What is the average front-end gross per vehicle sold in the showroom (floor sales) in your store?

2) What is the average front-end gross per vehicle sold in the Internet department in your store?

We wanted to first quantify the difference between gross from showroom sales and Internet sales, and we wanted to compare the averages of stores in different “performance brands.”

Here are the survey results:

• 29% of respondents said the average front-end gross per vehicle in the showroom is > $1,300

• 15% of respondents said the average front-end gross per vehicle in the Internet department is > $1,300

At the same time:

• 9% of respondents said the average front-end gross per vehicle in the showroom is < $800

• 21% of respondents said the average front-end gross per vehicle in the Internet department is < $800

It’s clear there’s quite a disparity between averages in the showroom and the Internet department. We consulted David Kain of Kain Automotive on this question, because he believes (and the survey results reflect this), that most Internet salespeople tend to discount too soon. This tendency leads to lower front-end gross averages in the Internet department.

Regardless of what your dealership’s average gross per vehicle (PVR) is, the goal is for the showroom and Internet department averages to be the same. Why is this important? The higher the gross per vehicle, the higher your ROI and profits are.

We compared answers from dealerships making seven times or more ROI on their Internet spend, to those making three times or less ROI on their Internet spend, regardless of make or model. The results were compelling:

So how can you increase your average front-end gross per vehicle, as well as get the Internet department gross in line with the showroom gross? Here are a few tips:

1)    Always provide the customer with choices and carefully review leads for model selection and trim levels. If you’re quoting your customer the loss leader or base model and they want the luxury model, then you’re setting them up for a price expectation way lower than is reasonable.

2)    Just like when you’re face-to-face with a customer, focus on building value in the vehicles. Customers want to know what they’re buying is worth the money, and you have the opportunity to explain why the price is what the price is

3)    Don’t be tempted to immediately give a discount, and be wary of programs that send inventory selections to customers with quotes designed to beat your competition or that are loss leaders. Big discount quotes make the customer believe all vehicles can be significantly discounted.

4)    Mystery shop your competition from time to time on key vehicles to ensure you’re pricing your vehicles to market.

5)    Consider location. If a customer is close to you, then price in the convenience of shopping with you. If the customer lives 20 miles away and has to drive past multiple competitors in order to get to your store, you may be more aggressive in your pricing.

6)    Set the rules in the Internet department based on what vehicles are selling for in the showroom. If they know the ‘floor’ price, you’re less likely to have a significant discrepancy between the showroom and the Internet gross.

What other tips do you have to raise the average front-end gross per vehicle, and more importantly, to increase the averages in the Internet departments to be more in line with showroom averages?