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Whether it’s the film industry or the auto industry, the shift in lead roles is hard to miss. The 2014 Oscars that took place a couple of weeks ago was truly a revelation of the changing gender role trends in films. More than one film nomination had strong female leads, enjoying almost all the air time as opposed to their male roles.
In the Oscar nominated film “Gravity,” Sandra Bullock played the lead role while George Clooney played the supporting role. According to an article in the New York Times, Ms. Bullock occupied almost 87 percent of the film’s running time and was the life of the film. This was an industry first and did not go unnoticed.
Women taking over lead roles is a step towards breaking the “stereotype” and reducing the gender gap. Just like the film industry, the auto industry landscape is also experiencing significant shifts where women are becoming the fastest growing car-buying segment.
Analysis on Professional Women at Dealerships
There remains a tremendous and visible gap in the number of women working in dealerships compared to the number of female buyers. The percentage of women working at dealerships is between 18 percent and 20 percent, while women represent over half of all purchasers.
Yet, many of the women are largely working behind the scenes at car dealerships in business development roles, service, social media, advertising, Internet and office administration. Women in sales roles are fewer in number.
The era when men sold cars to men is over. Today is the genesis of a diverse customer base. How can the needs of these buyers be met, and exceeded?
It’s Time to Mentor & Develop Women Leaders at Car Dealers
Who would have thought that male actors like Clooney would be playing a supporting role while the actress would be the lead? Just like this gender gap is being bridged in film, now is the perfect time for dealerships to implement the same strategy and groom women to be take on leadership roles.
According to CNW Research, of the 17,540 new-car dealers just under 3 percent are women-owned — a significant, grossly disproportionate under-representation.
By having women in leadership and executive positions at car dealerships, it will open up options for buyers to have more choice. In 2010, CNW Research found that when asked, 47 percent of women car shoppers would prefer to do business with women dealers — a huge upside for female-run businesses.
This leads to the bold question: Who will take on recruiting, training and developing women to become GSM’s, board members and dealer principals?
http://www.internetsales20group.com 856-546-2440
http://www.automotiveinternetsales.com
Make Money Mondays with Sean V. Bradley - 'On Location with Zeigler BMW Of Orland Park - Part 2'
Do you have a video strategy for increasing leads, or not sure where to begin? Dealerships that implement video into answering and obtaining leads have been shown to grow by 30%. Find out why taking the time to do this will increase your leads.
The new business layout that Facebook will be rolling out is very important to pay attention to. There are a few alterations that will really help manage and stand out on your Facebook page.
The new streamlined look will make it easier for viewers to find the information they want. The right side of the page will have your wall posts, which means at all times on your page the viewer will be able to see your posts. The left side of the page is where the business information will be located.
The best addition to the new layout will be the addition of 'Pages to Watch' which will allow you to watch other Facebook pages to monitor how and what they are doing. This is a great way to monitor what other dealers do on Facebook and to make sure you are doing enough to stay ahead of your competition.
To read more about this click the link below!
Facebook's New Business Layout Link: ---> Click Here
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One of the most amazing parts of my job is spending time reading, watching, and testing the practices of others. It's conceivable that the true secret to my success over the years has less to do with creativity and more to do with listening and deciphering. You have to listen to the channels like Google and Facebook. You have to listen to your customers. You have to listen to your customers' customers (if you're an agency like me).
The annoying part of my job is sifting through the recycled techniques and reinvented terminology that surrounds so many marketing practices. In most cases, it's the same old things repackaged into a different form or applied from a different angle. Those are valuable, but not gamechanging. Still, it's important to go through them all in order to find the hidden or not-so-hidden gems that arise. The best practices I've found over the years haven't been on the pages of Mashable, Search Engine Watch, or Social Media Today. The real winners have come from some of the least likely sources.
With all of that out of the way, let's get to the point. There are three types of marketing. Despite all of the various names - push and pull marketing, social media marketing, gravitational marketing, search marketing, influence marketing, content marketing - the easiest and arguably most pure way of looking at it is to tackle everything from a perspective of venue and intent. Where are the people going and what are they doing when they get there? It's important for me as well as business owners to look at it from this perspective because the collision of the various marketing types is forcing a holistic marketing model to outperform niche marketing techniques or specialized strategies.
In other words, if you look at venue and intent, you can craft your overall marketing strategy much more easily. We look at it as following the quest - what are they doing, why are thy doing it, and how can we be there to help them choose our clients. When people buy your products, they are fulfilling a quest. No, they're not slaying an actual dragon, but if they're on a quest to buy a car, then your dealership selling them a car is the culmination of that particular quest.
Here are the three types of marketing for 2014 (well, early 2014 at least - it changes so quickly) that we like to tackle:
Fulfilling the Quest
This is the easiest to understand and often the hardest to achieve because of the simplicity of purpose. Everyone knows that if someone is interested in buying a car, they're probably going to go to Google, Bing, or one of the various classified sites to start looking. They might go to review sites and OEM sites as well, but for the most part they're ready to seek the fulfillment of their quest, they're going to try to look for cars.
Search engine marketing of all types, whether it's SEO or PPC, gives you the opportunity to drive them to your website so they may fulfill their quest. They aren't searching for Honda dealers to have fun. They have a purpose. They're in buying mode. This is where you have to be in order to help them fulfill their quest.
Renewing the Quest
More businesses are starting to do this. Many of them tried to do it in 2009-2012 and failed miserably. Part of it was because the venues such as Facebook, banner advertisements, retargeting, and other forms of "passive" marketing arenas weren't developed to the point that they are today.
Now, the goals have come full-circle thanks to the overall availability of the internet. Mobile devices have made checking social media sites and reading websites the common activity when there are no activities to do. As people ride a bus, wait in line at the bank, or even perform other mundane activities like watching television, they are also surfing the internet. They aren't going to Facebook to buy things, but they're open to the concept. They're open to having their quest renewed.
When they go to Fox News to see what's going on and the retargeting ad pops up in front of them, they are reminded that they are still on a quest even if they aren't actively on it at that point. When the business they visited last week pops up on their Facebook news feed, they get that reiteration that they still need to buy something. It might take a dozen instances of seeing a brand and its message before they actually click through, but the statistics are showing that it's working. Not every sale is made through Google. In fact, some of the most important and actionable clicks come through other venues when they're not in active buying mode.
Creating the Quest
Of the three, this is the one that's ignored the most. It's the hardest to do and the least rewarding when not done right. However, it can be the most rewarding when companies are able to make it sing. This is one that we focus on in particular because in our industry, nobody is doing it right.
In many ways it's like good old fashioned advertising. No, it's not like the commercials that we see on television today. Think along the lines of the early days of television when brands were built by establishing a problem that people will see in the normal course of their day and then having that problem solved either in the middle of the initial marketing effort or after further research.
The reason that it's so hard today is because of attention span. We have seconds instead of minutes to get the message out through most advertising and marketing venues. There's no longer time to tell a story...
...or is there?
The art of creating the quest is about putting the right content on the right venues that will reach people and establish a need whether they're in the market right now or not. With this particular article already breaking the 1,000-word mark, there's not enough time to go into it in detail. We'll do that next time. Instead, watch the following video that shows two commercials that worked well in their day. Today, having a minute-long television commercial isn't practical for most businesses, but taking advantage of the various channels online to accomplish the same goal and better is something that we know will move the needle. It's hard. That's the point. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it.
More on that next time. For now, here's the video:
http://www.dealerwebinars.com/sellmore.html
http://www.internetsales20group.com 856-546-2440
"How to ACTUALLY Make Money in Car Sales" - FREE Webinar - Sign Up Now!
Wednesday March 19, 2014, 12:00pm Eastern Time
Sell more cars, more often, with this step-by-step Mind Map Projection.
All automotive professionals aspire to selling 30 units a month, but not everyone achieves this. In order to sell 30 cars a month, you need to do more than wish for it. You have to create a plan, prepare, and strategize and then execute it appropriately. In this webinar, Sean Bradley will teach you exactly what you need to do in order to sell 30 units a month. With step-by-step processes, you will learn how to accurately project how many phone-ups, walk-ins, be-backs, and internet-ups you'll need to connect with in any given day, week, and month to set you up for 30-car success.
In this webinar, you will not be learning sales gimmicks. You will not be learning tricks, and you will not be sold a product. This straight-forward, no-nonsense webinar will give you the exact steps you need to take in order to sell 30 cars in a month.
Presented by:
Sean V. Bradley
Sean V. Bradley
Founder & CEO,
Dealer Synergy
Sean V. Bradley is the top automotive trainer and consultant in the country and is currently one of the most sought after subject matter experts for Internet Sales, Business Development and Digital Marketing. Beginning as a sales consultant, Sean learned the business from the ground up holding positions at dealerships as Sales Manager, Internet Sales Manager, Special Finance Manager and Business Development Director. Furthermore, Sean is the only certified Franklin Covey Trainer and Facilitator in the Automotive Industry and a proud member of the National Speakers Association. Sean is also the creator the Internet Sales 20 Group, an intensive 3-day workshop that is designed for executive management of dealerships. Sign up at www.internetsales20group.com.
Welcome to the inaugural Women’s Wednesday blog. As the leader in connecting women+families with Certified car dealers, look for brief educational tips and nuggets from us to weave into your sales and service practice to expand your sales to women. With our deep vertical expertise, we are here to assist with suggestions to make doing business with women a natural, core value and expression at your dealership. With that, let’s begin:
While women influence over 80% of all car purchases, they actually bought 27 million vehicles last year – most at car dealerships. That is almost 75,000 cars a day! How about at your store? Are you optimizing sales to this powerful buying group?
Did you know?
Women visit 2 dealerships prior to buying a car. When women leave dealerships and don’t buy, 2 out of 3 do NOT return! Ouch -- better ask the right questions and treat her exceptionally the first time. Chances are, there is no second chance. The number one reason women report they did not return is, “I didn’t like the way I was treated.”
How well a women is treated is the most significant and important factor for her staying at, staying engaged, and buying from your dealership. Price is secondary! Stay tuned for the more including the top 5 reasons women buy from their sales advisors. Again, it is NOT price!
Women are the fastest growing segment of buyers. Market to them before they walk into your store by showing your transparency with your Certified Women Friendly logo. Sign up here to learn more.
Ps - Did you get your copy of the 2014 Women’s Car Buying Report? Click here
Good Selling!
http://potofgoldprogram.com
http://www.automotivedigitaltraining.com
Pot of Gold is a turn-key email marketing program that allows dealerships to reactivate dormant prospects from their CRM (the average dealership has over 20,000 unsold internet leads).
The Pot of Gold, will reactivate these old dead leads, generate a new revenue stream and will double your internet closing ratio in 90 days. GUARANTEED.
Special Program and Pricing for Chrysler Dealers. PAP Eligible
Pot of Gold Program Advantages:
Superior email deliverability through spam filters.
Mobile-enabled emails. (36% of people read on a mobile phone)
Automated email messaging
2 sales/service campaigns a month to the ENTIRE prospect database
Detailed analytics and revenue reporting
Dedicated account manager
Hot leads are passed to dealership contact for follow-up
Professionally designed and written email campaigns
Increased web traffic
Double internet lead closing ratios by up to 50%
Real Statistics from Pot of Gold Customers:
A Chrysler store in Maryland has been using POG for 10 months and sold 232 cars due to POG email campaigns.
A Chevrolet dealership in Maryland saw a 7-8% open rate in emails and a click through rate of 21% and saw revenues in their service department over $150K within 90 days.
A Honda Dealer in Ohio generated 57 sales in a 90 day period marketing to a prospect database of 17431 emails.
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Do You Know The 4 Steps To Becoming More Remarketable? Find Out in This Week's Think Tank Tuesday! Follow these steps and in 90 days you will see an impact, and learn how to take your sales career to the next level.
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http://www.automotivedigitaltraining.com 856-546-2440
http://www.dealersynergy.com
Sean V. Bradley Explains How Internet Sales Coordinators Calculate Their Pay Plan - 3 Minute Book
http://www.internetsales20group.com 856-546-2440
http://www.automotivedigitaltraining.com
Make Money Mondays with Sean V. Bradley - 'On Location with Zeigler BMW Of Orland Park - Part 1'
http://www.internetsales20group.com 856-546-2440
This is WHY You HAVE to SIGN UP For The Internet Sales 20 Group - Dealer Reviews
Do you ever see that customer in your showroom on their mobile phone? Find out what behaviors they may be exhibiting to not miss out on potential sales.
Get the Hard Facts from Samantha Cunningham at POTRATZ, and learn how to dominate mobile shoppers.
In Loving Memory Of Jim Lacy, Dealer Principal OF RC Lacy Ford Lincoln Subaru - RIP Jimmy
James C. Lacy
Posted: Tuesday, March 4, 2014 12:30 am
Jim attended Catskill Central Schools and was a graduate of Catskill High School, Class of 1984. During his high school sports career, Jim reached the NYS finals in basketball, golf and tennis, and was recognized for his accomplishments on ESPN television. He attended SUNY Brockport and Hudson Valley Community College, and was a member of both basketball teams. Jim was currently the co-owner of RC Lacy Ford Lincoln Subaru in Catskill. He was a member of the Catskill Golf Club, Catskill Elks Lodge, REMAX Long-Drive Golf Competition and Vonex Long-Drive Golf Teams, which traveled throughout the United States, Japan and Canada. An avid fisherman, Jim also enjoyed golfing, skiing, traveling abroad, gourmet cooking and helping coach his two sons’ sports teams.
In addition to his parents Roscoe and Sally Lacy of Catskill, Jim is survived by his wife, Tami (Brandow) Lacy of Catskill; two children, Dylan James Lacy and Justyn Taylor Lacy of Catskill; a sister, Jennifer Lacy Cargioli of North Carolina; a brother, Daniel Lacy and wife Gina of Catskill; father in-law and mother in-law, George and Mary Brandow; Gordon and Rosalie Johnson, and Tamara Butterworth; brothers in-law and sisters in-law, Mark and Kelly Brandow, Gloria Johnson, Jason and Amy Johnson, and Derek Butterworth; uncle and aunt Calvin and Jeanne Lacy; nieces and nephews, Craig Garifo, Amanda Garifo, Nicole Lacy, Troy Lacy and several other aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces and nephews.
Relatives and friends may call 1 to 6 p.m. Thursday at Traver & McCurry Funeral Home, 234 Jefferson Heights, Catskill. Funeral services will be held 11 a.m. Friday at the funeral home. Rev. Ronald B. Cox will officiate. Interment will follow in the Town of Catskill Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the James C. Lacy Athletic Scholarship Fund, 25 Maple Ave., Catskill, NY 12414.
Auto Industry Failing to Tap Power of Social Media to Deliver Actionable Sales Leads, Says Report by CMO Council
CMO Council Report Finds Auto Ecosystem Marketers Looking for Better Ways to Integrate Marketing With Sales Generation and Sales Funnel Activities
SAN JOSE, CA--(Marketwired - Mar 3, 2014) - The auto industry ecosystem should do more to leverage social media as a platform for drivingbusiness leads into sales pipelines, argues a new report by the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council. Social media is stimulating extensive auto-related conversations and content that create major opportunities to identify likely buyers and engage them based on their preferences and purchase intent, according to the report, which is entitled "Turning Social Feeds Into Business Leads."
Developed in partnership with hoojook, Inc. -- a Silicon Valley social media intelligence company focused on the auto sector -- the new report finds auto industry marketers are in various stages of adopting social marketing strategies and practices. Most see social as a potentially powerful medium for understanding and engaging consumers, but they are early in the development of marketing and business metrics, as well as processes that integrate social media data more effectively in the sales funnel.
"Social represents an important marketing frontier for the automotive industry," said Donovan Neale-May, Executive Director of the CMO Council. "Senior marketers recognize its capacity to deliver actionable, real-time insights that can help drive overall marketing effectiveness. They also see its value as a dynamic channel for influencing brand preference and purchase. Now they need to take the next step by integrating social more directly into the sales funnel and using it as a new platform for delivering qualified leads."
There is plenty of evidence demonstrating the potential of social as a marketing channel across manufacturing brands, dealerships and aftermarket products and services. For example:
- Thirty-eight (38) percent of consumers say they will consult social media in making their next car purchase.1
- Twenty-three (23) percent of car buyers say they use social media to communicate their purchase experience.1
- Eighty-four (84) percent of automotive shoppers are on Facebook, and 24 percent of them have used Facebook as a resource for making their vehicle purchases.1
- Forty (40) percent of new car purchases over the next 10 years will be made by millennials.2
- Ninety-four (94) percent of millennial car buyers gather information online.3
- Clicks on Facebook auto ads climbed from 16 percent to 39 percent between October 2012 and April 2013.1
Based on interviews with senior marketers and executives from auto manufacturers, dealer networks, aftermarket service providers and B2B automotive solutions companies such as Autonation, Costco Auto Program, Nissan, Cadillac, Car MD, KIA, Aspen Marketing Services, Express Oil Change, Mazda, Snap-on, Dealertrack and DME Automotive, the report finds that senior marketers are highly interested in developing and using new systems and processes to leverage social more effectively for lead acquisition and acceleration. However, most say they are only in the very early stages of the process and often express caution about possible brand reputation issues when overtly marketing to individuals on social.
Nonetheless, the report argues that the use of social in combination with natural language processing and big data analytics, along with social's ability to deliver meaningful content and commentary in context, has the potential to make it a highly effective medium for identifying, segmenting and engaging consumers based on preferences and where they are in the purchase cycle.
"The technology now exists to process and analyze social streams -- not only to understand broader consumer attitudes and reputational issues, but also to identify, segment and profile individual consumers based on where they are in the purchase cycle, their preferences and needs, and even psychographic characteristics that influence how they want to engage with brands and service providers," said Shauli Chaudhuri, CEO of hoojook. "Consumers are using social media to find product recommendations, access dealer reviews, voice complaints, display preference, consider peer opinions, capitalize on coupon offers, and engage in ongoing dialogues with their favorite automotive brands. We believe the auto industry will benefit greatly from data-driven analytics to identify potential customers and social content delivery systems that bring automotive OEMs, dealers, aftermarket service providers and other members of the ecosystem closer to the consumers who are looking to make purchases."
The full strategic report is available for download today and features valuable insights, including:
- Campaigns focused on cars generate much higher consumer engagement and interest than other social media initiatives, such as charitable causes.
- Reputation management is seen as potentially the most critical aspect of social marketing, with consumer-generated content and commentary having a huge influence on purchasing decisions.
- Marketers view social as most effective when integrated with other channels and marketing approaches; many view social analytics as an invaluable source of insight for other digital and offline marketing efforts.
- Facebook is widely regarded as the most powerful social channel for automotive, but marketers say other channels can be more effective, depending on the need and strategy.
To download the report, please visit http://www.cmocouncil.org/r/social-feeds-into-business-leads
Do you want to grow your business without working more? Find out ways to move the rocks in the road that are stopping you from moving forward. That's this week's tip on Think Tank Tuesday.
Grind it out, til you find it out
Last summer I spent a great deal of time teaching my daughter how to drive a stick shift. Eventually she picked it up after a lot of frustration on her part and mine. During that time the old phrase “grind it til you find it” kept playing through my head as she tore through the gears of my Jeep. Thankfully we both survived and so did my Jeep and today she has the skill and knowledge of being able to drive a manual transmission.
Having spent the last ten years in the car business I have had my share of successful months but I have also experienced the grind. We’ve all been there and had the months where traffic is down, weather is bad, customers are crazy and managers are on a rampage. Any one can make the car business tough but every once in a while a perfect storm brews and all of these show up at once. Spend enough time in this business and you will experience this and your ability to work through it and “grind it out” will determine your longevity and prosperity in this business.
So let me throw some pointers out that have worked for me and have helped me see more of the prosperous times even in the grind months.
1. Keep the attitude of… I will grind it out until I find it out. Managers can teach you and train you any number of skills needed to sell cars, but your attitude is something only you can bring to the table. I’ve watched a lot of seasoned veterans who know the word tracks and closes but throw in the towel when the going gets tough. When you grind through in the tough months you are more prepared to prosper in the good months.
2. Get back to basics. Break out that training DVD sitting in the manager’s office that you hasn’t been watched since you were a green pea. Spend the money for a book, DVD, online training or rediscover the training you hopefully already have. Recommit yourself to improving when things are bad rather than running to another job and “greener pastures.” Water the grass where you are to make your pasture greener. Every time you grind through a tough month you make the next tough month easier to deal with because you are developing the muscle of persistence.
3. There is always one more thing I can do to increase my odds of success. These were the words of Lt. Col Hal Moore in training his troops. In the car business we follow the Road to the Sale and sometimes we just have to get back to doing that one extra thing that gets us to the next step along the road to making a sale happen. Even if you’re not sure what to do, do something. Remember there are three types of people in life, those that make something, those that wait for something to happen and those that sit around saying, “what happened.” Go out and make something happen.
4. Get creative. So many sales are made a lost based on the ability to find the solution to the customer’s problem. This first starts by listening carefully to what the objection is and then isolating it down to its root. From there you and your manager’s can get to work. Big money players are nearly always the best listeners and most creative to get the deal closed.
The bottom line is don’t give up or give in. History is filled with the athletes, leaders, inventors, soldiers and businesses that persisted and didn’t give up. How are you going to write your history?
Good Selling,
Rick Brown
Superior Hyundai North
