http://www.automotivedigitaltraining.com 856-546-2440
Mid-Week Motivation with Joe Cala - 'Failure!' - Automotive Sales - Car Sales

As I was talking strategy with a good friend of mine who is a GM of two rooftops we got into a discussion about which strategy is most effective in the automotive internet sales world i.e. coordinators vs. floor sales people making the calls. 

We all know that the hardest part in the Internet Dept. is getting people on the phone.  As you know you have what is called connection percentage or ratios that prove that less that 20% of the calls that are made on a daily basis actually result in getting the customer on the phone.  The day-to-day mission turns into e-mails and phone calls and some really progressive departments have implemented video e-mail. 

As I discussed into detail with the GM it really takes a dedicated person to be on the floor taking ups and having the opportunity to have Internet leads sent to him/her.  What happens unless this person is very dedicated is that he/she makes 10 phone calls in the morning if you're lucky and then an up walks through the door.  Now doing fact finding with the customer, caring the customer up, building value, presentation/demonstration, silent trade appraisal and my favorite working numbers, F&i then a through delivery and hours have passed by.  Equally relevant, while all this is going on Internet leads aren't waiting for him to get finished they're coming in while all this is happening and by the time the sales person gets back in front of the computer after taking lunch when the deal was complete his/her response time is around three hours!!  Now I haven't even mentioned the follow up month to date that should be going on during this time. 

My friend's response was the cost of having coordinators which I understand affects the bottom line.  What is interesting to me is that we'll spend $150K on advertising for the month now when the sales person sells that customer we don't split the deal or put an additional pack on the deal to help recoup the cost of advertising.  And even better yet we all know the customers that we don't sell that most of these customers are never logged into the CRM or they leave without a T.O. and if they are logged the notes read "showroom up" not detailed notes of why we couldn't put the deal together.

Having people who's job is to pound the phones all day with a experienced director there for a T.O. and/or to work numbers for the customer that want's the "best price" is the most effective strategy I have seen unless the sales people that get leads aren't allowed to take ups.  I would rather have 5 coordinators making a total of 500 calls a day versus 5 sales people barely making 100 calls per day.  The numbers don't lie the more calls you make the more people you're going to get on the phone, the more people you get on the phone the more appointments you're going to make, the more appointments you make the more people are going to show, the more people that show the more cars you're going to sell!!  Appointments sell cars....

This is Internet sales 101 however, unless there is leadership in place that understands the dynamics of a E-Commerce Dept. there will be a struggle between the owners and those that understand the basics of Internet Sales.  What's even more funny is when I asked how many appointments his sales people set per day he was angry and tells me that they don't set enough appointments and that's why they aren't selling more cars.  Duh, how can they set more appointments they're selling cars, waiting for an up and making 10-20 calls a day.  Sounds like a oxymoron to me. 

Good luck and good selling!!  

Danny talks about the importance of down payments..

Often I find myself having a recurring conversation with my dealers. The topic? Website Chat. Chat is essential to a dealership if they want to capitalize on all potential leads. Many argue, “It’s a waste of money…it’s a waste of time… and it requires too much attention.” This is where I beg to differ. The average chat provider charges about $250 a month. Even if your dealership only sells three cars in a month directly from chat leads, wouldn’t you say that it’s worth it? As far as managing the chat leads, it’s really not that tasking. Most chat providers allow you to have the leads sent directly to your Droid or iPhone. Let’s be honest, if you work in an automotive dealership, you’re most likely glued to your phone anyway.

Still not sold? Consider the traditional car shopping experience. A consumer visits your brick and mortar store and is immediately greeted by a salesperson to determine their needs and answer any questions they may have- right? So how would you expect a consumer to react if they came to your dealership and there was no one around to assist them? In today’s world, the shopping experience begins online. Your website is a virtual showroom, and live chat serves as your sales person.

With all of the money spent trying to get consumers to your website, what are you doing to engage the prospect once they’ve arrived? Usually they have come looking for information, so give it to them! Over time, shoppers have become increasingly needy and seek instant gratification. Even I want to be able to keep my shopping time to a minimum. I could be shopping for product at 7PM and by 7:15pm, I’m out walking my dog. Although responding to chat leads may take a few minutes, it’s certainly a worthwhile use of time if your goal is to move inventory and appease shoppers.

It's been a great year for car sales, and if you're like most dealers, you want to close out the year strong. What is your Internet marketing department doing to ensure that ready-to-buy customers will choose to visit your dealership?

By now most of us have read or heard the statistic from J.D. Powers and Associates, that customers visit an average of 1.8 dealerships in person before purchasing a vehicle. I believe this one statistic is the most transformative statistic in terms of its impact on Internet marketing and the sales process. Quite simply, it means that you win the customer before they set foot in your showroom.

Ideally you want to accomplish this by outshining your competition along every step of the customer's purchasing journey. You want to have presence where consumers are conducting research on various makes and models; you want to have useful information and conversion tools on your website; you want to give great customer service and prompt communications if they call or e-mail your dealership to gather information; you want to be able to give them accurate pricing and payment information, and you want to have great online reviews when the customer researches dealership reputations.

But at crunch time, giving customers an extra incentive to visit you before the end of the year may be just the thing that gives your dealership the edge. Incentive offers like ShowPro^SM offer a small financial incentive to a customer if they come in and take a test drive.

For customers who are seriously in the market and in the process of narrowing down which dealership to buy from, visit or test drive incentives have been proven to increase the show rate for appointments. Almost every dealership we work with reports closing rates over 50% for Internet appointments that show, so we know: if you get them in, you make the sale.

While most dealerships will see a spike in lead volume the last week of December, they’ve also seen a drop-off in sales from leads over the last 3 months. See that as an opportunity to recapture customers right now. I recommend using incentive cards as a tool to re-engage "dead" leads and target customers who may be interested in key vehicles. Here are two campaigns you can put together right now:

1) Create a list of prospects from the last six months who did not purchase a vehicle. Send them a holiday message with an incentive card of $25-50 to come in and take a test drive.

2) Is your manufacturer offering any incentives for particular models, or do you have any models that are overstocked right now? Some manufacturers are offering bonuses to dealerships that sell a particular number of a certain model. Offering a financial incentive to come in and test drive that particular model is a very cost-effective method for helping your dealership to reach this goal. At an average price of less than $50 per show, and an average close rate on appointment shows of nearly fifty percent, this more than pays for itself.

This time of year many people are grateful for every extra dollar they can get; and $50 is a tank of gas, a dinner out, or an extra gift for a loved one. Incentive marketing works best when the reward is time-sensitive, so end-of-the-year sales offer a great opportunity to draw new customers who might have otherwise chosen a different dealership to visit. 

Many people wonder how they can effectively use SMS (text messaging) in the dealership without putting themselves at risk of:

A. Offending the customer with too many messages

B. Being sued for inappropriate use of SMS messaging

In this week's episode of my Automotive Sales & Marketing HOA I shared 3 ways to use SMS at your dealership.

This week's video is below. Tune in EVERY Monday morning at 9AM Eastern to http://konig.co/autohangouts Next week Rickly Lopez from the Crown Automotive Group will be a Special Guest and the following week Anne Flemming from Women-Drivers.com will be joining us.

USING SMS IN THE DEALERSHIP - 3 Ways to Increase Profit

If you'd like help getting started, obviously my company does this and I've been in the Auto Industry 20 years (12 retail and 8 as a vendor) but I'm also happy to answer questions and help, even if you aren't buying from me.

You can text SALES to 71441 (Standard text & data rates apply) if you'd like to see how digital incentives look and how quickly the right type of system responds. (You'll also get a special offer from us and I'll get your mobile number so I can call and make sure you got the offer) That's how it works for you as a dealer too by the way, customers text your code to our number and they get your offer while you get their phone number.

RECAP:

1. Lead Generation (with trackable incentives)

2. Service marketing AND Loyalty (virtual punch cards)

3. Drive traffic to your website from your web videos

http://www.automotivedigitaltraining.com 856-546-2440
http://www.dealersynergy.com
Make Money Mondays with Sean V. Bradley - 'The Truth About Price' - Automotive Sales - Car Sales

I am not a Trainer. I do not manage anyone but myself. I sell on the line everyday. If I don't sell, I don't eat. I take the micro, not the macro view. I remember when my first customer came in clutching a COSTCO pricing sheet. My gut turned. Unnecessarily, I might add. Once I realized what that program was about, I welcomed Coscto buyers. That program became so ubiquitous across the market that customers came in asking how much would you BEAT the Costco deal by. Combine that with Costco corporate buyers regularly calling the dealership demanding we lower our already low prices even more. You get the picture. Why do we need to pay an entity that treats us with disdain for the privilege of giving our cars away? We can do that just fine without help from anyone. We cancelled our membership and life was better.

I see the same thing happening in the next few years with the third party pricing websites. Especially as the industry moves towards a no negotiating, one price business model. What say you?

AutoMax Recruiting

AutoMax Recruiting and Training will be adding 5 trainers in January , train the trainer class in Atlantic City. To be considered send resume and short video to hr1@automaxrecruiting.com
Please prior to firing off a resume go to www.automaxrecruitingandtraining.com and become familiar with what we do.
If we have an interest we will set up a series of phone interviews starting with Arthur Bush our SM, then Ernie Kasprowicz our Gm, Craig Lockerd CEO

AutoMax has been in business  16 years, held over 12,000 recruiting and training campaigns and trained over 120,000 people into our industry.

You MUST have previous experience doing what we do, or be a former Dealer, GM, GSM, SM or F&I Manager.

STOP, BEFORE YOU JUST FIRE OFF YOUR RESUME, please learn about the company and the position for which you are applying; this isn’t the “same old training" and what we do and how we do it are pretty unique!

Can you truly answer YES to all these questions?  If not, this is not for you and we wish you the best in whatever you choose to do: 

1.            I LIKE TO WORK ON MY OWN AND CAN DISCIPLINE MYSELF BUT I AM A TEAM PLAYER AS WELL.

2.            I UNDERSTAND THE BASICS OF BEING AN INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR AND EMBRACE THE THOUGHT OF IT.

3.            I WILL PROSPECT DEALERS.  I WILL FOLLOW UP WITH DEALERS.

4.            I HAVE NO PROBLEM ASKING PEOPLE FOR MONEY.

5.            I AM TRAINABLE.   I AM TRAINABLE.  I AM TRAINABLE!

6.            I AM WILLING TO INVEST IN MYSELF TO OBTAIN A LUCRATIVE CAREER.

7.            I AM ABLE TO LIVE WITHOUT AN INCOME FOR THE FIRST 2-3 WEEKS FOR TRAINING PURPOSES.

8.            I LOVE TO SPEAK IN FRONT OF PEOPLE.

9.            I HAVE NO PROBLEM MEETING WITH DEALERS TO EXPLAIN THE PROGRAM.

10.         I AM LOOKING FOR AN OPPORTUNITY TO GET OUT OF THE RETAIL GRIND AND HAVE A LIFE!!

11.         I GET SATISFACTION FROM POSITIVELY AFFECTING THE LIVES OF OTHERS.

12.         I AM WILLING AND ABLE TO DO SOME REGIONAL TRAVEL.

13.         I BELIEVE IN ONLY ASKING OTHERS TO DO WHAT I AM WILLING TO DO.

14.         I AM COMFORTABLE HAVING CONVERSATIONS WITH BUSINESS OWNERS AND HIGH LEVEL MANAGEMENT.

15.         I LOVE THE AUTO INDUSTRY.

16.         I AM A FORMER DEALER, GENERAL MANAGER, GSM, SALES MANAGER OR F&I MANAGER OR CONSULTANT

Do you find yourself energized to learn more and better yourself through higher education? If you are unsure about the benefits and value provided by earning an MBA, watch this week's Hard Facts to learn from my personal experience.

One of the toughest decisions I think dealers have to make is When Is It Time to take away the Sales & Service Calls, When Is It Time to consolidate your BDC and Internet departments and When Is It Time to allow all appointments to be scheduled through your Business Development Centers - BDC. Many dealerships and large dealer groups have already opted in to what has become known as Consolidated BDC’s or E-commerce Centers. Many dealerships have already created the position of a E-commerce Director, yet there was no initial set-up of the E-commerce Department. The E-commerce Department or consolidated BDC's are quickly growing to become an important element of every dealership, whether large or small, and yet many dealers have entered into this venture through the wrong door.

I want to take a moment of your time and share with you what to do before you hire the E-commerce Director to build a department he/she may know nothing about. Many dealers already have the right people, the right processes and procedures….but missing the correct elements or knowledge on how to consolidate the processes and procedures they already have and make it work. E-commerce departments consist of a consolidated venture of Sales-Service-Internet-Customer Retention and now Social Media, the reason any dealership in my opinion should invest in an E-commerce Department is to increase and manage OTB’s better (Opportunities To Do Business) The first few questions I would ask any dealer who wanted to start an E-commerce department would include the following;

• How many calls does your dealership have?
• How many are service/parts calls?
• How many are sales calls?
• How many are personal calls?
• Does your dealership call all un-sold traffic from the previous day?
• How many daily prospecting calls are made?

The first phase in knowing When Is It Time is knowing your phone traffic and properly managing the calls, if your dealership still pages for sales calls, transfers service calls and utilize the position of a receptionist there is no true call management within your dealership and you are losing OTB’s (Opportunities To Do Business) every day. The second group of questions I would present to the dealer would include the following;

• How many internet leads does your dealership receive?
• How many are sales leads?
• How many are service/parts/body shop leads?
• How many are customer service leads?
• How many from your website?
• How many from the manufacture?
• How many from third party (Paid For Leads)?
• How many from social sites?

The second phase in knowing When Is It Time, is knowing your virtual traffic and what your online dealership is doing. Ask yourself the question, is every part of my dealership represented online and if so, who manages those online departments? This is important information for any E-commerce Director to know, since part of his/her position is to act as an online General or Executive Manger for the Dealer Principal or GM. Don’t make the common mistake of expecting an Internet Sales Manager to produce this type of information….that would be like expecting a Sales Manager to do the job of a GM. Setting up the E-commerce Department is crucial to the success of your dealership, increased traffic on the sales floor and in the service lane.

The third phase is Fixed Operations, how are you handling your OTB’s through service, parts and body shop if applicable? Most dealers, even those with a BDC still transfer service calls to the service writer, only for most of those calls to end up in a voice mail….does your dealership live on voice mail? On any given morning, service can start receiving calls as early as 7:00 am, and can go strong until 11:00 am. How many calls in those four hours does your dealership receive and how many have turned into appointments and/or same day business. The third group of questions I would present to the dealer and some of the most important would include the following;

• What is your process for Service & Parts Calls?
• Who schedules the service and body shop appointments?
• How many appointments does your dealership have per hour?
• How many service calls get handled the first time?
• Are your guests calling twice or even three time to get through to a busy service writer?
• Who calls all of your service customers after each visit?
• Who handles customer service calls

I have only presented the first three phases of When Is It Time to start a E-commerce Department for your dealership. You may already have some or all of those things we spoke about, then ask yourself;

• How are we doing?
• what are we tracking?
• what am I investing?

It just may be that time for you, but before you do I would suggest a focus group be formed for your dealership, that would include the GM, Service Director, Parts Director, Sales Manager, Internet Manager, BDC Manager or Phone Operator……some of the key people who either make the decision or have first impression on your guest. This focus group would share what they currently do, their success, their failures and any vacant processes the dealership may be experiencing.

Food For Thought
Harold, The Internet Guy

Mid-Week Motivation with Joe Cala - 'The Power of Patience' - Automotive Sales - Car Sales

Here are a few scripts that you can implement immediately while speaking with prospects and while working a deal. Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays! 

Customer on the showroom while working a deal:

Customer: We're going to wait until after the holidays?

Dealer Synergy Partner: I understand. So based off of your experience today, would this be the vehicle you're considering to purchase after the holidays? 

Customer: Yes it is.

Dealer Synergy Partner: And based on the numbers we were able to work out, will this vehicle fit your budget as we discussed?

Customer: Yes it does.

Dealer Synergy Partner: So other than wanting to wait until after the holidays, is there anything else holding you back from making a decision to move forward with the purchase of this vehicle today?

Customer: No, we just want to wait until after the holidays.

Dealer Synergy Partner: I understand. So what would be the difference between if you did it now versus waiting till after the holidays?

Customer: With the holidays we just want to save money and don’t want to spend any additional money.

Dealer Synergy Partner: That makes total sense to me. I’m a lot like you and agree with saving money. So with saving you money and not having you spend any additional money today, it would be safe to say you’d like move forward with the purchase of your new vehicle, correct?

Customer on the phone not wanting to come in:

Dealer Synergy Partner: What will be the best time for you to come in today, the afternoon or evening?

Customer: We're going to wait until after the holidays?

Dealer Synergy Partner: I understand. So in waiting, what would be the difference between if you came in now versus waiting till after the holidays?

Customer: With the holidays we just want to save money and don’t want to spend any additional money right now.

Dealer Synergy Partner: That makes total sense to me. I’m a lot like you and agree with saving money. As a matter of fact, we’re running time sensitive sales right now through the holidays, saving you more money now and before the holidays, then later after the holidays. With that being your main goal, sooner will definitely benefit you more than later, wouldn't you agree?

Customer: Yes

Dealer Synergy Partner: So then would this afternoon or evening work best for you to come in and receive your maximum savings? 

http://www.automotivedigitaltraining.com 856-546-2440

Mastering The Automotive Internet Sales Lead / Phone Sales Process With Sean V. Bradley - Car Sales

http://www.automotivedigitaltraining.com 856-546-2440
http://www.internetbattleplan.com
Sean V. Bradley Will Be Speaking On Video SEO At The Internet Battle Plan In Atlanta

How Often Should Your Advertising Messages Change?

► How Consistent Is Your Content?
► When Should You Update Website Sliders?
► How Long Should Campaigns Run?
► When Do You Need A New Commercial?

Do you have the type of personality that you feel you must always be changing your marketing strategy for it to work? To build your brand you need to convey a consistent message with content that is recognizable across multiple platforms. That's this week on Think Tank Tuesday.

https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4017053992426575874

Please Register for "How To Master The Internet Lead Phone Process & Get More Appointments To Show". Tomorrow, December 10th at 3:00pm Eastern- 

On October 24, 2013, Instagram announced that they would become the next social media giant to offer up advertising space on their mobile platform. From the consumer’s perspective, it’s easy to understand the resentment towards the announcement. One of the biggest perks of the platform was that users could actually choose the content they were exposed to. You didn’t have to worry about an overabundance of promoted posts or news stories getting in the way of the information you were truly concerned with ¾ information pertaining to our friends and family.

On the business end, however, Instagram’s announcement provides branding opportunities for companies worldwide. According to Instagram’s website, there are currently 150 million active users with over 60% of that population lying outside of the United States. To date, there has been 16 billion photos shared, 1.2 billion daily likes, and an average of 55 million photos shared per day. There is no arguing that Instagram has become one the most popular social media sites to date, but how will users react when advertisements pop up in their newsfeeds?

Instagram users got their first taste of what can be expected from Instagram advertisements when the platform released its first official ad by Michael Kors. While the ad did receive mixed reviews amongst Instagram’s population, the results were visible within just a few hours. According to Mashable, “as of mid-morning Friday, the ad had more than 65,000 Like and more than 540 comments,” a statistic which speaks for itself. Over the next few weeks, it will be interesting to see how consumers react to more businesses adopting advertising on Instagram, as well as how businesses incorporate Instagram into their existing digital marketing strategies. 

http://www.automotivedigitaltraining.com 856-546-2440
Make Money Mondays With Sean V. Bradley - 'Mind Map' - Automotive Sales - Car Sales

If you REALLY believe that "Car Sales Is YOUR own Business"... Then this video is for you! 

Engaging Your Mobile Shoppers

► Keep Customers In The Store
► Share The Mobile Experience
► Eliminate "Be Back" Mentality
► Use Competition To Your Advantage

You learned last week in part one how to use mobile marketing to keep your customers on your website. This week I'll share how you keep those customers around once they are in your showroom. That's this week on Hard Facts.