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Proactively building reviews is a huge part of local search and with Internet Sales 20 Group Dallas right around the corner and reputation management front and center, I'm rolling out the most important indicators that get you more visible in local search.

When you look closer at the Non-Google local search engines such as Yelp, YP.com, etc. you will find a significant amount of highly-qualified consumer search traffic. The question is: do you know which data about your dealership will influence how you rank in local search engines?

Each and everyone of the indicators below are the arteries to the heart, that if ignored could form a clot and kill your hopes of dominating on local searches.

There are four categories:

• Relevancy Indicators
• Popularity Indicators
• Distance Indicators
• Advertiser Value

These are indicators that tend to be directly related to the phrases input into a search interface. These may seem obvious, but you’d be surprised (or not) how many dealerships get these wrong:

Relevancy Indicators

1. Dealership Name: Dealership names are vital for potential buyers who search for your specific dealership or search for a keyword that is also in your dealer name. Certainly, categories will always be king. You might think it’s a no brainer, but never let potential customers find your dealership name spelled incorrectly. Happens more frequently than you might think.
2. Dealership Category: Categorization is important because search engines categorize and map keywords. Therefore, it is worthwhile to run some test queries on your keywords.  Be aware of how to target the more granular (aka long tail) categories to enable you to have more chances to show up for these qualified queries. Generally you’re allowed up to five categories. Be clear though. The specialty models of the cars you sell may not be available as a direct category. Therefore, the best practice is to include the brands in your title on your listing (up to two brands), as you may be in danger of spamming your listing directory.    
3. Dealership Description & Keywords: The right keywords can help increase your visibility for queries. When typing in a query your prospects often see presumptive suggestions of longer tail keywords in the search box. If searching for service repair, search engines will offer suggestions that get quite granular; for example, “factory trained technicians”. Those types of keywords included in your dealership description will make your dealership more findable.  Make sure the relevant suggestions are included in your dealership descriptions.
4. Enhanced Content is the key to dominating local searches. Images, logos, videos, (what we call enhanced content) will lift your CTR by 2.5 times or 250% more traffic. One major missed opportunity to improve CTR’s is a Featured Message. Yext is a great tool to provide real time updates of your content to your dealership listings.
   
   
   
   
   For example, use fresh content in your featured message (a 50 character highlighted featured message syndicated from your Yext dashboard)  Dealers are using this space to promote a sale or even get more LIKES on Facebook. Perhaps you share a fact about the dealership and build credibility with a link to the dealer site.
5. Dealership Services: Services are another form of categorization. I like to think of services as informal categories, kind of like a tag. So, [Auto Dealer] would be a category and [Value Your Trade], [New Vehicles], [Service Repair], etc., would be services.  Make sure you understand the most popular services that you offer and include them in your listing. 
6. Association With a National or Regional Chain: If your dealership is part of a chain, it’s important that local search engines understand this. Chain store dealership listings often contain inconsistent data that cannot be easily normalized. For example, a site may have three listings with the names [Auto Center], [Auto Center, The], [The Auto Center #234]. They all refer to the same chain. But, if you did a pure dealership name match on [Auto Center], you would get a less than optimal sort order; so, understanding that these listings are associated with a chain helps the search engine consolidate these listings into a single entry.

Popularity Indicators

1. Click Thru Rates: A listing’s performance, when it appears in results, is an indicator of its potential to satisfy the query. Most sophisticated local search engines reward listings with high CTRs with better rankings. There are plenty of things a dealership can do to improve CTR on a directory, starting with making sure the above Relevancy Indicators are as up-to-date and targeted as possible. Presenting offers along with high-quality images and videos can also increase CTR.
2. Ratings & Reviews: Get them and get them often. Five stars helps. And, Google and Yelp are not the only places where reviews count. At this point, every major local search engine has a review system.

Distance Indicators

The location of your dealership combined with the location of the searcher is critical to the display of results. Often, the importance of these indicators can vary based on what the user is searching for and what kind of device they are using. I advise you to look for the option of a service area field that allows you to plug in your surrounding zip codes.

1. Dealership Proximity: How close a dealership is to the searched location.  Depending on the category of the query and dealership density, proximity will matter more or less.
2. Dealership Service Area: While physical location typically trumps most other location indicators, for dealership categories with wide service areas, proximity is not as important. For example, dealers in less populated rural areas often have large service areas.  So when someone is looking for one, it’s not critical to only show dealerships that are nearby.  In the case of queries that map to large service areas, it’s likely that popularity indicators will help determine if dealerships that are farther away from the searched city show up high.
3. Web & Mobile Search Radius Customization: Queries from mobile devices typically return results with tighter radii. If your strategy is to rank for mobile queries, you will need to figure out how to improve other data indicators such as reviews, service area, etc., to compensate for the limited range of the results.
4. Dealership Density: As mentioned above, if there are fewer dealerships in your area competing for a category, you are more likely to show up better, but you will likely be competing against dealerships in a larger service area. Conversely, if there are more dealerships, the competition nearby will be stronger.
5. Searched Geo: When a user specifies a specific location in their query, it’s usually a indicators that they are prioritizing location; so it’s more likely that the search engine will favor dealerships located in the searched geo in its results. If your potential customers tend to search this way, then you may consider opening locations in multiple cities to account for this.

Advertiser Value

Of course, we’re all in this to make money, so understanding how the advertiser display system on a search engine works, either in your favor or against you, can be helpful.

1. Advertiser Levels: Typically, sites have different tiers of advertisers, which can affect which queries display the ad and what gets displayed (e.g., logo, like, tagline, video, bold, etc.)
2. Advertiser Keywords: In cases where advertisers get to pick the keywords to target, it is important for them to understand if these are the right keywords to target. Often times, local search engines can have relatively weak keyword-mapping. If so, your dealership may show up for keywords that you are not targeting (and you get charged for the privilege). Therefore, understanding how the search engine maps keywords can be critical to saving you from wasting ad dollars.
3. Advertiser Boost: Many search engines offer an organic rankings boost to advertisers as an incentive.
4. Deals & Coupons: Consumers love coupons. Local search engines love advertisers who offer them.
5. Listing Quality: This basically gets to the completeness of a listing. If you can outdo your competitors with filling out your listings, you will likely tend to outrank them in the local search engines. This is one of the biggest areas of opportunity. There are millions of listings out there that still have not been claimed and updated. One big yellow pages site told me that only about 10% of their millions of listings had been claimed. So, go out and claim them if you haven’t already, and you could put yourself ahead of the pack.
   

Jerry HartPresident
eReputationBUILDER
925 849 4084

Last month, my focus for the article was on "why" today's automotive professional needs to build a personal brand.  Now that I've convinced you that it's an amazing idea that will help you dominate your marketplace, I'm going to go into more detail on how to develop yourself into the recognizable, reliable name that people can count on.  

First thing's first:  GOALS. What are your goals? What are you looking to accomplish with your brand?  Of course you want to sell a lot of cars - there are a million ways to sell a lot of cars without committing to investing a large chunk of your time and money into a personal brand.  For example, my goal is to be the name in my area (target marketplace) that people think of when they hear words like Hyundai, new car, great customer service, educational, quick and hassle-free, car shopping experience, etc.  They have no choice but to think of me.  I want my brand to be stamped into their brain from an exceptional experience that they personally had with me, or someone they know told them that they had with me.  They could have read about great experiences with me on the internet, or social media platforms.  I want my name - my brand to be everywhere that those key topics are discussed.  You with me so far?

Next.  AUDIENCE.  Figure out who and where your audience is.  This is also called your target market place. (our geeky internet terminology)  Where do the people live that you are selling yourself as a brand to?  What are they looking or shopping for?  Who are these people?  What is their age range?  Are they male or female? All of these answers should be readily available to you with little effort.  This should be pretty self explanatory.  If you know your product and know what you are selling then obviously you know who you are selling to.  We're in the car business people.. our manufacturers spend ridiculous amounts of money and consult experts in this field figuring out the majority of our target marketplace FOR US.  Tap into these resources.   This one is kind of a no-brainer.  In order to sell your brand to the right kind of people you need to know your brand and yourself.

Which brings me to number three.  KNOW WHO YOU ARE.  What makes you unique?  What do you bring to the table (or can you bring) that is going to set you apart from the rest of the sales associates in your area?  Lyndon B. Johnson once said "What convinces is conviction."  You have to believe in yourself, your goals, and most importantly - your product.  You can't be the milkman delivering pizzas.  BE REAL.  If you're not driving what you're selling, I'm not sure who you're trying to fool.  Wake up.  If you don't personally want to own what you're selling buddy  you're in the wrong business and you definitely can't be the expert.  If you can 't close yourself on a payment that you supposedly can't afford, how do you ever expect to convince your customers to do the same thing?  If you truly believed inside of you that your product was the best overall value YOU AND YOUR ENTIRE FAMILY WOULD HAVE ONE IN YOUR GARAGE!  Why are people going to come to you, across town, instead of someone who is right across the street?  You need to know exactly what you are offering.  Sit down and make a list!  What can you consistently deliver over and over again that will set the bar just a little bit higher; however - most importantly- is GENUINE and REAL.  

Once you set your goals - know who you are selling to and what you truly are selling - you need to BUILD YOUR PERSONAL VISUAL IDENTITY.  Some of you may refer to this as a logo.  As I mentioned before, logos are not necessarily imperative; however, they are strongly recommended.  What is the first thing that you see in your head when I say "Apple?"  THE LOGO.  If you can successfully and consistently complete the previous steps, then you need a visual aid to add to the value of your consistent and genuine brand name.  Like I said before, KNOW WHO YOU ARE.  What is a symbol of who you are?  It can be simple.  It can be complex.  All that matters is that it represents you and your commitment to being the brand that you have made for yourself.  For example:  Look at my stunningly handsome headshot above.  I wear glasses.  I make them look good.  I have several different shades, shapes, brands, and styles of geeky, thick-framed glasses that are as much a part of me as the service that I offer to my customers.  When anyone sees the logo on my cards, mailers, pens, brochures, websites, stickers, magnets, etc., they always make a comment about how amusingly it reflects who I truly am.  Nobody knows the real you better than you…well, or at least they shouldn't.  Anyway, the point is:  Spend some time thinking or consulting with others (who know you very well and their opinion is valued) before you decide on a logo - should you decide to embrace this part of your own brand.

Ok, I know this all sounds like  A LOT of work.  Not gonna lie to you - it is.  Keep chasing pavement on that lot if that's your choice.  If all of this sounds overwhelming, you haven't seen anything yet.  I'm just getting started!!  We haven't even touched on how you market this brand that is essentially, basically and most importantly, YOU. 

So I'm at a two year old's birthday party this past Sunday when a seven year old walks up to my girlfriend and asks her to follow her on Instagram. It is literally amazing how technology that many professional adults are unaware of or not using is commonplace at this point to school children. I have young ones that I know who can use an Ipad, smartphone, or the
Internet better than most adults nowadays. How many of you out there remember when you got 30 minutes for $30month with your new Star Tac cell phone? Or the fear of going over minutes on your cell and getting a $500 bill? Fast forward to today and who cares about minutes anymore? Today, it's all about the data plan and text messaging. I took a look at my last few cell statements and I have not used more than 900 minutes in forever...but send/receive 9000 texts month in and month
out! Bear in mind I do not even have a home phone and haven't in years. If you are like me, it's almost aggravating when a friend CALLS instead of texts at this point...isn't it? So you are probably thinking... what does this have to do with automotive sales, or the title of this post? Well here it is: PERSON TO PERSON COMMUNICATION IS A FAST DYING ART! How will
future generations communicate with someone or something that doesn't have a "send" button on it?...or a controller? I've seen children text each other from the same room! So, take heart sales professionals. The future competition is thinning itself out without even realizing it. The value of a REAL sales person is rising faster than Google's stock
price on Wall Street. One that can COMFORTABLY communicate with another human being in person or over the phone. One that understands the importance of body language, tone and inflection, when to step on the gas, and when to hit the
brakes. One that can find common ground with a potential customer...sell themselves...sell their business...and sell their product effectively in person and during a phone conversation. For all of the Truecars of the ever changing and technology dependent modern world one thing remains constant...when
it comes down to the final phase in the buying cycle...PEOPLE WANT TO BUY FROM PEOPLE. There will be no automobile vending machines...no giant curtain to pull after building your car online. What there will be is very VERY few sales professionals left to handle...wait...this may scare the young ones...PEOPLE IN PERSON AND OVER THE PHONE. Frightening isn't it!!! So sales pros, keep sharpening your pencils, using sites like these to increase your knowledge base, attending 20
groups to perfect you craft, because in this writer's opinion, you'll be getting one hell of a raise in the years to come. We are all witnessing the death of the salesman (and women)...at least the truly skilled ones.

http://www.internetsales20group.com

The first Internet Sales 20 Group in Chicago was a HUGE Success!

One of the MOST exciting workshops was conducted by Sherry Hale of Dealix.

Sherry did an awesome job explaining in detail, EXACTLY how a dealer goes and sets up a POWERFUL 3rd party provider strategy

.

Sherry Hale Of Dealix, Speaking At The Internet Sales 20 Group in Chicago (Part 1) - Automotive Digital Marketing from Dealer Synergy

Sherry Hale Of Dealix, Speaking At The Internet Sales 20 Group in Chicago (Part 2) - Automotive Digital Marketing from Dealer Synergy on 

Automotive Sales - Car Sales - Showroom Sales - Training - Sean V. Bradley & Danny Alkassmi from Dealer Synergy on Vimeo.

http://www.automotivedigitaltraining.com
http://www.internetsales20group.com

Automotive Sales - Car Sales - Showroom Sales - Training - Sean V. Bradley & Danny Alkassmi

Powerful video testimonial from the Jones Family that was at a dealership across the street and they walked over looking at the Ford Escapes and ran into a closer that sold them a 2011 Ford Escape!!  Sell or be Sold!!

5-8-13%20Best%20Process%20one%20page.doc

4-10-13%20how%20to%20Sell%2030%2B%20one%20page.doc

http://www.internetsales20group.com

Sean V. Bradley Will Be Speaking & Presenting Workshops For The Detroit Auto Dealers Association

http://www.internetsales20group.com

Make Money Mondays With Sean V. Bradley - "Macro Selling is BETTER Than Micro Selling"

I enjoyed this.  Sent to me  by a "retired" Car Salesman.  I hope you enjiy it as well.

I’ve started hearing the second worst advice coming from social media “experts” that I’ve ever heard. It’s just a notch above “buy thousands of fans and followers” on the social media advice scale.

If someone tells you to “be sure to post something X-times a day on social media even if you have to throw something up.”

I know it’s bad advice. I used to give it. Thankfully, I learned my lesson before spreading the advice too far. It blows my mind that it’s still being given to unsuspecting clients today, though, because it has become pretty well-known that on many social media sites, Facebook in particular, a poor and wasteful post can actually do more harm than if you skip a post or two.

Quality is everything. EdgeRank (we’ll use the term for lack of a better word even though Facebook says it’s not reflective of the current algorithm yet they don’t give us a name for the new one – /rant) is extremely fickle, particularly for pages. You get limited opportunities to impress your fans and friends of fans. Any time you blow one of those opportunities through a wasted post, you’re actually harming the chance of future posts to perform.

In other words, every single thing that you post on Facebook should serve a very distinct purpose. Every single thing you post on Facebook should be of the highest possible quality. Every single thing that you post to Facebook must be something that does one of three things:

• It conveys a relevant message that is well crafted, important enough to post to Facebook, and positioned in a way in which fans will not block you or report your post as spam.
• It is entertaining, educational, or acts as a resource. It brings true value to the table for your fans, whether that value is life-saving information or just a quick, hearty chuckle.
• It is a business-imperative message or link such as an event, a special (and I mean a true special such as the yearly Toyotathon, not a discount on your services that goes out every couple of weeks), or new product offering such as the opening of a body shop or the first 2014 Corvettes rolling off the truck.

There should be no filler posts. There should be no RSS feeds. There should be no integration of Tweets that land on your Facebook page (or visa versa). The difference between a page that carefully selects and crafts every single post versus one that tries most of the time but gets lazy sometimes is like night and day. Every single wasted post hurts the exposure of future posts. Conversely, every single outstanding post helps future posts see more daylight.

Our strategy is pretty simple in concept though a little complex in how it is applied. Here is a quick breakdown of each of the three types:

Relevant Message Posts

There’s a mentality that goes into relevant message posts. It doesn’t have to be relevant to you. It definitely has to be relevant to your fans. In the example above, the message was extremely relevant for this Dallas car dealer. It was a couple of days before the make or break game for the Dallas Cowboys. One simple image faded in the background. One simple message. It was a message that was important to the fans, the vast majority of whom resided in the Dallas area.

Unfortunately for the fans of both the team and the dealership, the Cowboys lost, but it was still great of the company to show their support for the local team. Relevance is about your fans, your customers. It’s easiest to find relevant things to post about by staying in the local area or state. These messages should never be generic. They cannot be something that everyone else is posting. Put the effort in. In this case, the effort wasn’t a lot – find an image (make sure to credit the original source!) and put the relevant message on top of it. Simple, but effective.

Value Posts

In the instance above, there are two things at play. The image is of a hot rod smoking the tires, but the message is talking about tire maintenance. There’s an opportunity to get two different kinds of likes as a result because it combines a great image with a useful message. The tip itself isn’t extraordinary, but it’s enough to get it a handful of likes even prior to promoting it on Facebook.

Entertain, educate, or both. That’s the mentality with these types of posts, and for many pages the strategy will dictate that these will be the most prevalent. Stick to your expertise and/or industry with these posts. There is a distinct temptation and even a common practice by many to try to revert to whatever is potentially popular. They’ll post funny images of cats. Avoid this practice. As hard as we may try to blend our pages into the whole Facebook mix by posting content that can be shared, when you go off topic you create a potential of missing the expectations of your fans. They may even feel a bit betrayed; if they’re going to follow a car dealer’s Facebook page, they expect to see cars. There are plenty of cats on Facebook already. No need to contribute unless you’re a veterinarian.

Business Message

While it doesn’t always have to be a link, most business-imperative messages should either lead people to a destination or convey a message about the business that can be of interest. These are the posts that carry the most risk as people normally do not want to see marketing messages in their streams. It’s not uncommon for businesses to completely avoid these types of messages. That strategy can be valid, but with a little effort you can avoid the spam reports and unlikes by making sure the message is worthwhile to your fans.

In the case above that we just posted, we combine four different components (a lot in such a small post, I know, but that’s why it’s called “effort”). The car, of course, is stunning. It’s an actual dealership inventory piece rather than a generic image like the ones above. It carries a message or relevance as it was posted early Saturday morning right before most of the local fans wake up. The wording of the text portion of the post doesn’t say a ton but it does contain a link without being considered a link post by Facebook. You can accomplish this by adding the image first, then adding the link within the body of the text. The click-thru rates are always going to be low, but the message is pointed enough so that those who do click the link are there for a clear reason.

* * *

Put in the effort. You don’t want to let your Facebook page go stagnant for more than a day or two (unless you’re using an extremely specialized and advanced strategy that I don’t have time to go into here), but you definitely don’t want to put content into your fans’ feeds that is sub-par. Make every post great. Don’t waste them. Playing the Facebook game is definitely not hard, but it does require a willingness to work within the algorithm and understand the expectations of your fans. Don’t just meet those expectations. Exceed them.

There was a promise silently made by social media a few years back. It was so prevalent at the 2009 round of conferences from NADA to Digital Dealer that many might have thought that social media would eventually encompass the entire internet marketing required by a dealership to be successful. The promise was this: “Everyone’s going to be on social media in the next couple of years and you’ll be able to reach them.”

The first part of the promise came true, perhaps even more so than most had anticipated. Everyone is on social media in one way or another. Even if they are not active, from a car buying perspective, it can be assumed that members of any family out there trying to buy a car today are touched in some way by social media. It could be as distant as some of the friends of the buyer or it could be as close as the spouse and children, but everyone in America is affected by social media whether they know it or not.

The second part of the promise hasn’t quite panned out for many. There are certainly many dealers who “get it” and are able to drive traffic, generate leads, and make sales as a direct result of their social media actions. Unfortunately, these cases are few and far between. In fact, I was recently approached by “gurus” to help them find examples of dealers who were showing these sorts of successes. Even they weren’t aware of many examples of the mythical “Facebook Sale”.

They exist. We’ve seen them. They’re not quite as few and far between as Bigfoot sightings, but they aren’t easy to find.

That’s not the point.

While many will talk about the “intrinsic value” of social media, one does not have to be a Bigfoot hunter to find tangible value. It lies in understanding the effects and realizing that just as television advertising is effective without being easy to track directly, so too does social media make it challenging to find the value. The key is to look at the results as a whole by doing two things: find the numbers that can be tied in by absence and to put real indicators into place to measure the ROI properly. I refuse to try to convince dealers that there’s a value without being able to demonstrate it and dealers should refuse to accept that there is a value without proof. Here’s how…

Tie in Numbers through Absence

A dealer once told me that the only way he was able to track the effectiveness of his television advertising was to turn them off. When sales dropped, he knew that the TV ads had been working. When he turned them back on, sales went back up again.

The same premise can be applied to social media, particularly if you’re investing enough time and/or money. The sad truth that few gurus will tell you about social media is that there’s a secret plateau. They won’t tell you this because they either don’t know about it or they know that it’s not beneficial to them. The plateau is the place between getting started with social media and hitting the tipping point. Unlike other forms of marketing, social media has a tendency to remain flat up until the point that you really start to hit it hard. The difference in results between a mediocre presence and a pretty good presence is almost unnoticeable. Those who have a pretty good presence aren’t seeing much more in the way of results than those who have one that’s a notch above poor. This is the plateau.

That’s the bad news, particularly since the vast majority of dealerships today fall in between being a notch above poor and pretty good. It’s also the good news. Those dealers who break through the realm of “pretty good” can see a sharp improvement very quickly once they get to good, great, fantastic, outstanding, and beyond. I’m using these esoteric terms because it would take multiple blog posts to try to define the difference between pretty good and outstanding. It’s not about numbers. It’s not even about engagement. It’s about results.

This is where the absence comes into play. If you have a doubt about the effectiveness of your social media, turn it off for a month. Tell your vendor to stop posting and promoting. Tell your internet manager to put up a status update on the various social media sites that you’re “taking a break from social media for the month as we work on putting together something great for all of our fans”. Then, do it. Get off of social media. Don’t post. Don’t reply. You’ll still want to monitor just in case, of course. If your social media is tied into a reputation management service, don’t stop that aspect.

Everything else, shut it down for a month. Look at the numbers. Do you see a dip in traffic, leads, and sales? Make sure to take other factors into account such as fluctuations in search marketing spend, offline advertising, etc. Take those into account and check your results. If your numbers move noticeably, you’re probably getting more benefit out of social than you knew about, so you’ll want to turn it back on. If you don’t see much of a difference, it may be time to explore other options.

Put Real Indicators Into Place

For fixed ops, this is easy. All you have to do is run events on Facebook while posting “social media only” specials simultaneously on the other social networks. If you create an event on Facebook for “$14.99 Social Media Oil Change Special” and then post it on your other networks, you’ll be able to see whether you’re reaching people with the message or not. You can create a coupon on your website that is not in navigation if you want, or simply tell them to mention that they liked your store on Facebook when they’re getting their oil changed. Make sure the service department is extremely well-aware that this test is important. You don’t want them telling their “buddy” customers about it while they’re at the store.

With sales, it’s a little harder but there’s a key performance indicator that can help you make a determination about the success of your social media effort. If you go strong on social media, advertising on Facebook and doing all of the things that we ask dealers to do, you will see one number rise on your analytics – searches for your dealership by name. Getting people to click off of Facebook to go check out your inventory is ineffective. Getting the branding out there, being at the top of mind, and making sure that when people in your area are in the market to buy a car that they’re checking you out on search and on your website – that’s a true test of your social media effectiveness. Not surprisingly, the same can be done for television and radio advertising as well.

Of course, there are more tangible ways to detect it, namely traffic to the dealership itself. This is an area that I can’t talk about quite yet because we’re still testing, but the results so far have been nothing short of fabulous.

* * *

Social media doesn’t have to be a mystery. It either works at your dealership right now or it doesn’t. It’s important to do the things necessary to check the effectiveness an understand whether or not you’re truly reaching your audience. Otherwise, you’ll never know if you can dramatically improve it by making the right changes.

Just too funny not to share!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9IoTnDqgJ4

http://www.internetsales20group.com

Wow This is HUGE!!!

EXISTING Dealer Peak Customers Will Receive a FREE Month Of Service For Attending The Internet Sales 20 Group

Contact Dealer Peak For Details!!!

http://www.dealerpeak.com

Whether you're role in your dealership is that of a Client Care Representative, BDC Rep, Salesperson, etc the first and most important sale you have to make is to yourself.

1. Do you believe you are the best at your craft?  
2. Do you believe your dealership is the best place to work?
3. Do you have the mindset of a winner?
4. Do you make things happen or do you wait for something to happen?
5. Are you an Ambassador for your Brand and your dealership?
6. Do you invest in your own personal development?

The list of questions is endless.  

Do you fully understand and appreciate the "Mindset of your Customer"?   Well, let's explore that for a moment, shall we?  What set of beliefs do they have that determines their outlook on our profession?  What are some of the negative stereotypes that exist about our profession?  Do the words, thieves, crooks, bottom feeders, charlatans, scumbags etc sound familiar?  When customers have a negative experience they mentally commit to do everything they can to prevent that "pain" from happening again, hence, high percentage of customers going to the internet first before deciding which dealership to visit.  

The left side of the brain is said to be the logical part of the brain where the right side is said to be the emotional part.  Why is this important to know?  You see if you understand the Why then the How becomes super easy.  Have you ever taken a phone up where a customer said I only want a Brand New Black on Black automatic with Navigation and after spending some time with a salesperson bought something different?  How about the customer who swore they would not pay more than $ 250 and went home paying over $300 ?  It happens every single day in every single car dealership in the world.

Over the phone we have an agenda right? What is that agenda?  You're right on the money if you said - to set an appointment!  Ok great, how do you go from - Thank you for calling ABC Motors, this is Mark to setting an appointment?   Let's cut back to the Brain diagram for a moment.  When a customer calls in to your showroom, what part of the brain is he using? Left or Right?  When the customer asks ? How much is...? Do you have the vehicle I saw, stock # 1234 available?...What do you have in a 2 yr or 3r old...? Are these emotional questions or logical questions?  If you said logical you are right on the money baby!  If this is true then what approach do you need to take to guide the customer to an appointment? Logical or Emotional?  Logical of course!  

If your mindset is right then you will look at every phone up as an opportunity to serve that customer.  Granted, not every phone up converts to an appointment, however, controlling your greeting, engaging the customer, capturing customer contact information (full name, phone numbers & email), transmitting your business card verbally, asking for the appointment  (100% of the time) are all aspects of your agenda that are 100% in your control.   

With the right mindset and preparation you can dramatically increase phone lead conversions to appointments that show and sell.   

Will the next 5 years be a warning or example to others?

Do you love serving your customers?

Do you seek first to understand before being understood ? (Stephen Covey)

Do you give yourself a checkup from the neck up?

Are you engaging and connecting with your customers with high quality - high return questions?

In conclusion, I have had many great influences in my life, Tom Stuker, Tony Robbins, Coach Ruben Guzman, Les Brown,  Dr Wayne Dyer and many many more.  I am humbled and so grateful for the opportunity to serve my family, clients and colleagues in this awesome space I get to play in and have fun in every day.  I am always a student and as such never arrive because I am always learning.  I love what I do and so I do not consider what I do work.   Is my life perfect? No way! As Les Brown says, a setback is nothing more than a setup for a comeback.   But I recognize that I am responsible for everything in my life.  I take ownership of my reactions to stress,  my self talk, my personal development and how I treat others.

Tomorrow is the next page of the rest of the Masterpiece called your life and you get to rewrite it every single day just by changing your mindset, having an attitude of gratitude and serving others.

Namaste!

I've shared this story before but it's worth mentioned again. I was speaking to a client about their social media presence. Well, it was actually their lack of a social media presence. They didn't have a Facebook page, they didn't realize that they had a Twitter account that had been set to Tweet AutoBlog via RSS, and they through that Google+ was a premium service that Google was selling. Don't laugh. This was one of the darkest days of my marketing career.

When I asked why they didn't have a Facebook page at the very least, he said that "they don’t want people to have the ability to talk badly about them on Facebook." After some explaining about how Facebook and social media in general worked, I got down to what was the real root of the problem. He said that he totally understood that they could post on their own Facebook profile without his permission or even knowledge, but if he had a Facebook page and he posted there then he would have to respond.

Exactly. You have to respond. You want to respond. Every customer challenge is an opportunity to shine.

Control the Feedback

Disney. Apple. Amazon. Johnson & Johnson. These are brands that regularly topped the "most loved" companies lists. They do what they can to try to make everyone happy. Despite being at the top of the list, they have haters. Many haters. Thousands, perhaps millions of people have a negative opinion of these loved brands.

Let's look at it locally. There's a Peruvian restaurant close to the office that we go to whenever we want to have a casual lunch. The food is amazing - the Lomo Saltado is the best way to fill up on $10. I took a friend there who loved Peruvian food and he hated it. He even said so on Yelp (granted, the service was uncannily awful that day, but the food didn't impress him either). You simply can't appeal to everyone.

Those who are going to complain about your business will find a way to complain no matter how hard you try to avoid it. The reality in today's uber-connected world is that you can't avoid it and you shouldn't even try. In fact, you should embrace it by allowing as many venues such as Facebook to be the place where you want to hear their complaints.

When people post negative reviews to many of the review sites or tell the story of their experiences on their social media profiles, you often have no recourse. Many of the review sites allow you to reply and you definitely should, but it still goes onto a permanent record. The complaint is logged and you can't take it down. In cases like those, it's extremely important to reply whenever possible with empathy, professionalism, a sincere desire to improve through their feedback, and (whenever applicable) a willingness to make things right for them. It's a best practice to reply to every review, good or bad, but that's another blog post.

Now, imagine if you used your social media, Facebook in particular, as a venue through which people could voice their opinions about your business. Some would say that it would get more exposure that way, particularly if they have a lot of friends, but there's a couple of reasons you'd want it here rather than on review sites. First, you definitely can and should reply to those comments. Using Facebook as a two-way communication tool allows you to shine through the dark moments and highlight the brighter ones.

The second reason is control. When they post a complaint to your Facebook page, you have the ability to control this portion of the conversation. If your reply is thoughtful and satisfactory to the user, awesome! If it starts to turn into an argument or the user becomes offensive, you have the ability to hide it. I do not recommend hiding complaints as a general practice. Take what you can from the feedback and improve your business. Stand behind your product and company and accept criticism with the professionalism and a desire to improve as I mentioned above. Hiding posts is a last resort and should only be used when the complaint turns offensive.

Thankfully, this post does not apply to many. Over the last couple of years there has been a wonderful shift towards the desire to be more open to feedback. It's a necessity with today's quick and easy methods of communication that are available to consumers. If you're still missing the point and choose to do what the image for this blog post implies, I'm not sure what else to say that can help.

              First and foremost, I want to thank ADM and First Class Educators for selecting not only myself but also Neil Amaral as the two lucky recipients of scholarships to attend the 2013 DMSC in Orlando Florida. Without winning this scholarship I would have never been able to attend this conference.  As always First Class Educators put on an amazing and unbelievable conference. Carrie Hemphill and her crew out did themselves yet again.

                For those of you who I have not had the pleasure of meeting yet, my name is Eric Nichols. I am the Internet Sales Manager / BDC Manager for Apple Honda. This is actually the second Scholarship that I have won to attend one of FCE’s world famous conferences. Last year, I was selected as one of the 12 scholarship winners that were chosen to attend Autocon 2012 in Las Vegas courtesy of Truecar. I never imagined that I would ever win one scholarship let alone two. I am very lucky to be given the opportunity to learn from the brightest and best that our community has to offer. These great conferences allowed me to that and much more.

                While attending DSMC this year I had the pleasure of meeting some great people and was also taught new practices and processes by the best of the best. I have attended conferences in the past and this was by far the best. I made many new friendships that will continue to grow in the years to come. I met Neil Amaral of Amaral motors who I know will be a friend and colleague for the rest of my career. I also met a man who I believe is one of the hardest working Internet Directors I have ever met, Dan Able from Stokes Automotive Group. Over the course of three days we went to many classes together and many events together, they are truly a valuable asset to their dealerships. These conferences allowed me to connect with those I would never have been able to and I am grateful for that opportunity.

                The conference started out with the introduction of PCG’s R.O.I. Bot. What a great tool, I just showed my owner the demo for it and he’s sold. We then turned it over to dealer roundtables. We went to three different tables of our choosing for 20 minutes each. The discussions were varied ranging from Google Analytics, CRM’s, Social Media, etc. We were able to ask any questions we may have had and then afterwards Brian Pasch went over many of what other dealers are experiencing just as I was. What a great way to start it all off.

                Amit Maheshwari from DealerTrack gave the opening keynote address on where the market is headed and how DealerTrack is there to help. The information that he presented was eye opening to say the least. The following day our workshops started. The first one I attended was by the ninja himself, Jerry Thibeau from Phone Ninjas. Jerry revealed the secrets of Internet Sales Masters. He explained and went into detail the importance of that first contact with customers and gave an outline of how to contact them successfully.

               Perhaps two of the most valuable classes I have ever attended I took that day. “Big Data without action means …nothing” and “Take the mirror test” taught by Glenn Pasch.  Now I am no rookie to internet marketing classes, phone training or lead handling, I have been to a vast number of those classes. But these two were none of those. These were management and reporting classes. They gave me new practices and insight as a manager that I was able to implement immediately as soon as I returned to my dealership. New ways to monitor and teach those who work for me and above all not to take it personal and that the numbers don’t lie. How to set goals and ways to achieve them, and what to look for if we don’t hit them. I learned the 8 steps of the coaching process and “Are they really trained?” I can honestly say Thank You Glenn you taught me something that will help me grow not only myself but my employees.

                    After a long day of training we had our cocktail reception in which I had the pleasure of convincing the world famous “Digital Ralph” Ralph Paglia to come join myself and about 10 others to come have dinner with us. We ended up going to McCoys located right in the hotel. While we were sitting down I noticed Myril Shaw from CarWoo there and we gladly invited him to join us. From that point out we had a great dinner with great conversation. And to our surprise Myril treated us all that evening by picking up the check. Thank you again Myril it was a great evening with you and I enjoyed your company and your insight. Later that evening Ralph joined us and for a few drinks and shared with us on how he achieved such great success and encouraged us to keep up the good work and that one day we too would be where he is now.

                   Sad to say then came Thursday our last day. I attended breakfast with my new friends and some old ones. We then attended David Kain’s “Advanced strategies in lead handling”. Everyone should see David speak at least once he is such a great speaker. Then on to Patrick Workman, and the importance of Facebook in our industry. I then attended Ralph Paglia’s “how to train your staff and know when you have it right”. Another first class workshop, Ralph gave me new insights on how to hire the right people for the right job. Walk in interviews are a thing of the past. If you’re going to spend the time and money make sure it’s the right fit. Because if you don’t it will cost you more then you can imagine.                

                       Lunch time came around. I was looking for a seat and then out of nowhere a gentleman offered me a seat at his then empty table, I gladly accepted. I introduced myself as did he. He told me his name was Chip. We then started talking about everything and anything but the automotive industry. He showed me a few photos of himself from more than 40 years ago. He joked that he had more hair then and that I would see what he means in the years to come. After sometime Ralph Paglia, Tim Jackson  came to join me at the table for lunch. Ralph then joked with me asking me if I knew who I was talking to I said yes “Chip”. He then informed me that “Chip” was actually Chip Perry, CEO of Autotrader. That’s when the real conversation began. Ralph started asking Chip about the industry and talking shop. At this point I thought to myself “DON’T SAY ANYTHING STUPID”. Here I was sitting with the top industry consultants and leaders and was worried I was in over my head. They spoke for some time, I sat quietly eating lunch but listening. Then came the pause and they looked at me and asked me what I thought. A little shocked I answered and Chip and Ralph both agree with me.  And the thought crossed my mind at that moment in time. I was part of discussion with those who have shaped and formed our industry as we know it today and they were asking me a person who has only been in the industry about 6 years my opinion. And I realized they were asking me as an equal, years had no bearing on it.

                           Going to these conferences puts you in the same room and conversations with those who you would never have the opportunity. And even more they allow you to learn from those who have seen it all and done it all. I would recommend that all automotive professional should attend at least one of these conferences sooner than later. Even if you only take away only one thing, trust me it will make a world of difference for not only you but your dealership. I would like to finish out by saying Thank you to all I interacted with at DMSC 2013, and that I will gladly see all of you at Autocon 2013.

In my last post I wrote about the initial experience walking in to a restaurant the Saturday after Valentine’s Day.  Finding out there was no reservation, rude employees frustrated with aggravated customers, and disappointment of a ruined experience.  In many ways this mimics what happens in a poorly executed Sale or Advertisement in a Dealership.

Now we move forward to finally being seated.  It took about an hour, and in that time I had asked my wife repeatedly to go to another restaurant.  She felt that we would just have to wait, and it would be a complete pain to get the car, figure out a new place to go, and eat even later.  We decided to wait and see when we would be seated.

This is a lot like when there are bottle necks in a Dealership.  Prospective clients pull up on your lot, and are waiting to be helped, 10, 15 , 20 minutes.  They are trying to make a decision about staying, is the pain of finding another Dealership, greater than the pain of waiting and having the present bad experience?  I will wager that many feel as I do and would just find a new place to do business.  Before everyone reading this says not my store, I send my classes out to mystery shop every week, and after over 500 students have shopped, the historical average is 25% are not helped within 15 minutes.  That is an eternity waiting on a car lot.

After this wait we sit down and wait another 15 minutes for the waitress to come over to the hibachi table and offer drinks and take our order.  The waitress was there for under a minute, and asked the other 8 people besides us at the table if they wanted water, because she saw the drinks from the bar in front of us.   I could tell she was hurried, too many people, minimal staff, no interest in doing anything that wasn’t producing a tip (like bringing water).  My wife piped and asked for water and we got a heavy sigh, and off the waitress went to get water.  When she came back the glasses were just placed down without a word, or even eye contact.

This is much like an understaffed Dealership.  Sales Consultants start handling incoming traffic sifting for a sale, instead of properly serving each prospective client.  They know that they have an endless stream of people, and see the best course of action is to establish right up front the best percentage chance of income.  Losing a client or two by this tactic means nothing to their income, they are at their maximum capacity to being with.

The final piece of our dining experience was walking out with the Manager of the restaurant up at the hostess counter.  My wife and I made eye contact, and being polite, said good night.  Not a word, he actually glanced back the other way to make sure he wouldn’t have to have any type of conversation.  An exclamation point to a disaster of a dining experience.

This also happens in Dealerships.  One of my mystery shoppers experienced it this week.  I ask my trainees to always get a Manager’s card, so I can contact them and offer the results of the shopping experience.  So my trainee asked, and the Sales Consultant went to the Manager’s desk.  The Sales Consultant returned without the card and said, ” the Manager does not meet with customers, so you do not need his card”.  That is just like the Manager at the restaurant, avoiding the customers, because they know the service is poor and do not want to answer for it.

The next time you run an ad or event, don’t create a massacre!

http://www.internetsales20group.com

Tom Stuker, The Star Of The Hit Reality Show "Car Lot Rescue" Will Be A Speaker At The Internet Sales 20 Group

Tom wasn't able to make the last Internet Sales 20 Group in Chicago but he called in and conducted a phone training session on the way to Cambodia (I am dead serious) 

We are super excited to have Tom Stuker at the upcoming Internet Sales 20 Group. And Tom will be at the VIP Networking event at Eddie Deen's Ranch! 

YOU DO NOT WANT TO MIS THIS EVENT!!!

Discounts Available for Trade In Velocity Customers Please join TradeInVelocity, at the Internet Sales 20 Group’s Dallas conferenceMarch 19th - 21st! Our founder, Barry Brodsky, and VP of Operations and Marketing, Carl Bauer, will be presenting. “The Power of the Trade-In” : Maximizing your dealership’s trade-in program using the internet as the keystone.  With tax season upon us, inventory acquisition and management is crucial for your dealership’s success. We will be outlining how using TradeInVelocity’s platform, powered by NADAguides, can help you build your inventory, and get a steady stream of cars driving to your curb weekly.  Join us alongside other great speakers and presentations at this intimate conference. There’s a limited number of spots left, and we can potentially help you attend with a discounted rate! Simply contact us, and let us know you want to go!

Have You "EMI'd" Lately?

Rickyyyyyyyy!

Calling for my hero, my mentor, my first manager.

Way back when, on Dec 19^th 1980, I got my first start. It was with Kearney Mesa VW & Peugeot in sunny San Diego, California. Rick Rodriquez, or “Rickyyyyyy” as I called him every time I needed help, jumpstarted my career in the auto industry.

Rickyyyy! Do we have this?

Rickyyyy! Do we have that?

Rickyyyy! Where is this? How much is that? What do I do now?

You get the point.

But Rick never ignored my persistent requests. Not only that, he was always there with a smile, always polite, and always to the rescue.

Of course my customers always appreciated me calling for Rick’s expertise. Granted, some were a little frustrated with my broken English, but Rick’s willingness to help me always impressed them.

“Yes, Danny” he would say, and then immediately greeted the customer:

“Hello and thank you for coming in! You are in excellent hands with Danny.” The customers and I could both tell this was to build my confidence, which had an excellent effect on the customers, and an even better one on me. “Danny will show you around and hopefully find you exactly what you are looking for.”

And that was my cue! I promised to take care of the rest, and after a couple trials and errors…

“Rickyyyy! They like this one!”

I sold my first car! A 1980 Dasher Diesel, earning me my first commission of $132.00.

From there, it only went up. My English got better, my commissions got higher, and Rickyyyy got a whole lot busier trying to keep up with me.

EMI (Early Manager Introduction) was a cornerstone in my foundation as a young salesman, and continues to be a cornerstone in every sales environment I am involved in.

Would you try EMI today?

Shortly after meeting a new prospect on your showroom floor, after personal connection and before going to product selection, just wave to your manager and call for your “Rickyyy”!

…Or whatever his or her name may be!

Note: If you are going to try EMI, be sure to:

-       Look for/create the perfect moment.

-       Don’t make an announcement, Just do it.

-       Invite the manager to come to you. Don’t go to him/her.

-       Introduce the customer first & the reason for the visit.

-       Introduce the manager and pay him/her a compliment.

For more information on this or any other RBI strategy:

Email me directly  danny@odoclub.com

RBIPRO