Blog

There are several things which we can do to lower the insurance rates and some of these are quite obvious. Some will be less obvious but, nevertheless, they are worth a mention to save those dollars every month.

Asking for group insurance on more than one car is also a possibility particularly if the cars belong to one company or family. Very often there is not much difference in insuring one car or two so this can turn into quite a substantial saving.

Getting rid of a second or third car under this group insurance policy may well push the price of the insurance up. Check this out first and keep the excess car on liability cover only if this makes economic sense.

Older cars do not necessarily need a fully comprehensive cover so drop this if possible. Increasing the deductible amount, the portion of the claim paid by the insured person when an accident has happened, will also mean less to pay over the year. In fact, grouping together several discounts like this almost guarantees cheap auto insurance for just about everyone.

When looking for deals on insurance online, always try to check out several and see what kind of different aspects each will have. This takes a bit of studying and the cheapest is not always the best policy. Try to find a cover which best suits the individual needs of the driver and/or family so that most needs are met. Try at least three companies for quotes for cheap auto insurance and compare them side by side. Don't forget to tell them of any devices being used on the car or anything that will make the slightest difference in the quote.

People also do not realize that it is sometimes cheaper to get insurance for cars online since the company does not have to employ agents to come out with the policies etc. In fact, this is possibly the cheapest way to get auto insurance but, and this must be said, do not tell little white lies to get the lowest rate because if an accident occurs and the truth comes out, the whole policy may be voided. Even if it means paying a few dollars more, it is better to know that one is covered under any eventuality. For more visit: http://automotiveinternetsales.com/

The illiterate of the future will not be the person who cannot read. It will be the person who does not know how to learn.
Alvin Toffler
 
The love of learning, the sequestered nooks, and all the sweet serenity of books.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
 
The more that learn to read, the less learn how to make a living. That's one thing about a little education. It spoils you for actual work. The more you know, the more you think somebody owes you a living.
Will Rogers
 
The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives.
Robert M. Hutchins
 
The only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn and change.
Carl Rogers
 

You can change the numbers to fit your departments' expectations, however, here's an example of an email sent to coordinators by their great director in the morning

APPOINTMENTS Today: 16+
Minimum Phone Calls Per ISC/hr: 15+
Minimum Emails Per ISC/hr: 15+
APPOINTMENTS PER ISC: 5.5
 
Hint of the Day: Be disciplined today. Do not settle for less. Hustle hard.

Sometimes the toughest decisions in life are not the ones that directly benefit you, but rather, the ones that benefit others. I'm talking about generosity. Generosity doesn't always have to involve money; it could be your time or your wisdom in a field in which you are an expert.
Give your prospects of your wisdom, and they will ultimately give you their most prized posessions; which are for most individuals, their time, and their money.

 
"Train yourself never to put off the word or action for the expression of gratitude.”
– Albert Schweitzer

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ok the month is pretty much over now and I wanted to reach out to everbody in regard to the amazing transformation that we have went through here in our E-Commerce Dept.  As a E-Commerce Director I've learned that there are many things that the director needs to be doing on a daily basis.

1. Making phone calls with the coordinators!!  Have you heard of the saying "Lead by example."  Before I would barely make phone calls during the day; NOW I'm right in the middle of combat banging out calls also!!  My goal every day is at least 50 calls and most days I'm making 60-80 calls with my team.  Productivity has increased drastically and the team has much more respect for me now that they see that I don't mind getting my hands dirty. 
2. T.O.  Every time that a valued internet customer says that they want to wait to make a purchase or they are no longer in the market etc; I want to talk with the customer.  The goal of this strategy is not to micromanage but to give the consumer options that the coordinator may not know existed.  Being that I sold cars for five years I have learned that many customers want us to educate them on the best way to buy a car.  For example a customer leaves the dealership that didn't purchase a vehicle I'm going to call that customer and thank them for coming in and when the right time presents itself ask the customer why he/she didn't buy.  I've been told "I don't have the money for the down payment" WHAT!!  "Mr/Ms customer if I can get this deal to fit into your budget with no money down can we earn your business?"  I have had customers respond with "Absolutely."

I truly believe that a dealership with a strong E-Commerce Dept and equally relevant EVERYBODY at the dealership supports the E-Commerce Dept there will not be a dealer in town that would ever be able to compete.   

Out of the 92% of Americans that shop  for vehicles online, 80% of them go to: Edmonds.com
Are you and your team masters of www.Edmunds.com ? Spend some time getting to know Edmunds.com and all of your other third party websites.

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

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

Fort Lauderdale, FL – September 24th, 2012— AutoUSA Internet Sales Solutions (www.autousadealers.com) announced today the availability of a free white paper for auto dealers, titled Pre-Qualified Payment Marketing: Converting Online Car Shoppers to Customers. The white paper gives an overview of the current payment marketing options offered by dealers to their online customers, outlining the benefits and drawbacks of each. The paper then compares these options to Payment Pro powered by DriveItNow®, a new product that offers online customers instant, real payment quotes and delivers pre-qualified leads to auto dealers. In addition, the white paper shares proven results in a case study featuring Grubbs Nissan in Dallas, Texas.

“Since we launched Payment Pro in early August, we have received many inquiries from dealers about how this revolutionary payment marketing option impacts the bottom line,” said Mike Shawd, Vice President, Sales of AutoUSA. “This white paper demonstrates exactly how Payment Pro works, how it differs from other available tools and how it converts more online shoppers into pre-qualified leads from the dealer’s own website that close at an average of 20%.”

The white paper delves into what is most important to consumers in the car buying process, including:

•  The answer to the question, “What is the monthly payment and how does my credit affect it?” Most customers know their monthly budget, but often don’t know the corresponding vehicle cost to achieve their target monthly payment.

•  Completing most of the car buying process online before talking to a dealer, and progressing themselves down the sales funnel at their own pace.

•  Protecting personal information; most consumers don’t want to share their social security numbers, date of birth etc. and don’t want their credit scores affected with credit checks.

•  A desire for information provided by car dealers to be more complete and more accurate.

In addition, the white paper outlines the benefits of prequalified payment marketing:

• Close more existing website visitors

• Increased leads & closing ratios

• Keeps consumer engaged

• Consumers are less likely to consider alternative financing

• Additional F&I profit per deal

• Builds consumer confidence

• Highly qualified prospects

• No negative impact on consumer’s credit score

• No personal sensitive information required

• Eliminates discriminatory lending

• FCRA Compliant

Pre-Qualified Payment Marketing: Converting Online Car Shoppers to Customers with Payment Pro is available for free download at: http://www.autousadealers.com/DisplayDocList.aspx?DocId=126

About AutoUSA Internet Sales Solutions

AutoUSA Internet Sales Solutions brings the best-in-class tools to increase Internet sales and lower costs for automotive dealerships. Leading products include Payment Pro, a payment-based pre-qualification tool for dealer websites; ShowPro incentive program, proven to turn more leads into shows; Leads&Listings, providing the highest quality, new and used car email and phone leads from 100+ sites; PowerListings 2.0, helping dealers increase traffic to—and leads from—their social media sites; and AVA Virtual Sales Assistant, helping dealerships manage more leads at a reduced cost. AutoUSA products are currently benefiting thousands of active dealers all across the U.S. For more information, visit AutoUSA’s web site, subscribe to our blog at http://blog.autousadealers.com, follow us on Twitter @AutoUSALeads and “Like” us on Facebook at /AutoUSADealers

About DriveItNow (http://www.DriveItNow.com)

DriveItNow is a patent pending payment marketing technology service of Automobile Consumer Services, Inc. (ACS). ACS leads the industry with innovative proprietary technology, superior customer service, and over twenty years of auto financing and leasing experience.

http://www.internetsales20group.com 

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

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

http://www.internetsales20group.com

http://www.dealersynergy.com/

http://www.internetsales20group.com 

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

http://www.dealersynergy.com 

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

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

* Facebook and other forms of Social Media

* Their website & micro sites

* Pay Per Click 

* Permission Based Email Campaigns as well as newsletters

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

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

Scams, Rip Off Report, Poor Business practices, Misleading, Painting the picture of this could be you. Are you a the victim of giving it your all and not seeing your pay check increase but your hours have? This is the current trend in most of today's automotive dealerships and automotive vendors. In the past 3 weeks I have spoken to over 10 dealerships in the New Jersey and New York region that have placed adds for new staff, from BDC manager to Fixed Ops manager. I have seen a huge trend of dealers that truly want more for less, obviously its a smart business move on their part if they get YOU as a professional to bite. I say STOP the insanity! There are more and more dealerships that are jumping on the band wagon of low balling talented individuals do to the current high unemployment. I say the buck stops here!

Any and all automotive companies always want more for less and can not get over the fact that they are truly getting what they pay for and yet they wonder why there CSI is poor, there Gross profits are dropping faster than a 2011 Chevrolet Equinox timing chain, and most important they are spending thousands on job placement companies and adds. You ask yourself why is this dealership known as a "Whore Store" and they have adds for management positions hence the same position every 3-6 monthes? The answer is simple and Fram oil filter commercials say it best "Pay Alittle Now Or Alot Later"  Automotive professionals wake up and realize, pay the people! Offer a obtainable pay plan! Make your employees happy! Turn over is the most expensive expense in a dealership or any business for that matter.

Turn Over Cost:

• Hundreds of Thousands In Add Placement
• Unapplied Time To Interview Canidates
• With Every Manager Change There Is Always Some One Who Follows Them
• Loss Of Customer Base/Revenue Due To Constant Change/Loss Of Relationships
• Other Employees In Location Are Unsettled/And Begin Job Hunting As They Feel They Are Next To Be Eliminated, Hence Loss Of Productivity
• Poor Online Reputation/Community Reputation
• Training
• Continous Change/No Growth!

The Fix:

• Trust Your Managers
• Hold Them Accountable, By Creating A Agenda And Give Them The Tools To Succeed
• DO NOT MICRO MANAGE!!!
• Create A Pay Plan That Will Yield Financial Results. Give Alittle And Get Alot!!
• Have A Open Door Policy, Every One Claims To Have One But I Truly Ever See It
• Have A Weekly Recap Of The Week EVERY Monday NO MATTER WHAT!
• Think Before You Make A Hasty Decision Based On Personal Feelings

Dealers you need to realize the problem isnt the employee's alot of the time, its your inability to give them the tools and you speculating they being your managers can read your mind. Do not just say this is what we need to do, create a Game Plan and execute. If you can not do that and  your employee's feel they have to call Ms.Cleo's mind reading services to figue out your thought process,then you are failing and your turn over and expense with continue to climb and business with remain stagnent. It is not rocket science.Design, create and execute. Most and I say most automotive professionals have only been as great as they have been allowed to be. With that being said , if you want to cut expenses, take a look at yourself before you start eliminating people that are either scared of you or do not know what you want or how to get there. BE A LEADER not a Puppy Mill!!

Regards,

Richard A. Browne

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

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

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