I'm tired of hearing it. As you all know I'm a social media guy, different than the rest. I believe that in order to truly harness the business changing aspects of social media that you must first create a social change, not only in your own dealership but within the entire industry as a whole. I'm tired of hearing, "That's not the way we do business. Our processes is more about selling cars than making happy customers." I totally agree with that statement, as hard as it is to accept. But what I don't agree with is accepting that this is the way it will always be. I don't agree with it as a reason NOT to affect the kind of change that's needed to rebuild the trust most consumers lack with the auto industry. Recently I was having a discussion on Twitter and I admit, I do have some radical ideas, ideas that I feel would have a hugely positive impact on the auto industry, but ideas that may be hard to swallow none-the-less. In that discussion I he...

In both parts 1 and 2 of the Three Ideals For Social Marketing Success, I mentioned that success in social media boils down to three things: The Development Of Relationships, The Creation Of High Touch, Emotion Based Connections, and Customer Enchantment (think customer service to the Nth degree). Want to know the secret behind creating rampant word-of-mouth? Wait for it... wait for it: Give people something positive to talk about! I've blogged about this topic a few times before and the importance of going above and beyond your customer expectations, but in this post I'm going to be laying out the ground rules for customer enchantment. Remember: it's the difference between what your customer expects and the level of customer service received, that will dictate whether or not your customer talks about you. Failing to meet those expectations will create negative word-of-mouth, going above and beyond will create positive word of mouth, the choice is yours....

In part 1 of The Three Ideals For Social Marketing Success I mentioned that success in social media boils down to three ideals, they are: The Development Of Relationships, The Creation Of High Touch, Emotion Based Connections, and Customer Enchantment (think customer service to the Nth degree). In this post, part 2 of 3, we will be exploring the importance of creating high touch, emotion based connections within your online community. Keep in mind that the goal of social marketing is to influence word-of-mouth and create brand loyalty, in other words we want to create brand advocates; customers, that create other customers. In order for that to happen though you must work to create three types of emotional based connections, they are: Employee - Community Employee - Employee Community - Community Most of the time social media is used only to create a connection between the dealership and it's community members, when in reality that connection mus...

Social media is a way to connect with and develop a community around both the brand of the dealership, and the personal brand of the people that make up the dealership. It's important to note that the biggest difference between traditional marketing and social marketing is that traditional marketing is all about marketing of the business, but social marketing is all about marketing the people OF the business. I want you to keep that in mind, that social media is all about the marketing of people. It's about building relationships and influencing word of mouth. It's about caring for your customers in such a way that they feel the desire to spread your good word. Social media is all about connecting the people of your community, to the people of the dealership. The true power of social media lies in the bond created between dealership employees and the community. Success in social media boils down to 3 different ideals, and they are: The Development Of Relationship...

A lot of people will tell you that there is no way to track the ROI of social media, I'm here to tell you that they're wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong! But why are they wrong? I have a few ideas on that, the biggest of which is that they don't know what they're doing. Another reason could be that they think it's too hard and instead of admitted that, say it's impossible. Other reasons, I'll keep to myself, but I think you get the point! If you take a look at the traditional formula for ROI you will see that it's rather simple: ROI = [(return – investment) / investment ] *100 So, for instance, let's say that your investment was the $1,000 you spent on a radio buy, but it netted you a return of $3,000. All you would have to do is plug into the formula, like so: ROI=[($3,000 -$1,000)/ $1,000]*100 ROI= 200% Using the same formula we can covert it for use with social media, it would look something like: SM ROI=[(sm return - s...

That's what it's all about isn't it? To get people to talk about and recommend you to others? So how are you doing? All this work you've been doing with social media and building community, is it working? That is, are you developing the kinds of relationships with people that influences them to want to tell others about you? No, I'm not talking about having thousands of "likes" on Facebook or thousands of "followers" on Twitter, those don't help you gauge the effectiveness of your campaigns above and beyond your ability to attract people, I'm talking about your ability to influence positive word-of-mouth. And yes, there is a difference between attracting people and influencing them to talk about and refer others to you. Where do you stand on that? I know that you can probably name a few customers, or a few people that are connected with you on Facebook, that would probably recommend you, but what about the overall feelings of your com...

Word-of-mouth is gold and social media is the vessel we use to promote it, but how exactly is it accomplished? As businesses we are always looking for ways to lower the cost of acquiring new customers. It's simple economics, the lower the acquisition cost the more sales (and money) we make...simple right? Not exactly, as with most things it's easier said than done but if you make it part of your daily customer/employee interaction to give your customers something positive to talk about you go a long way to influencing a higher rate of word-of-mouth, let's call it your ROE or Return On Experience. In this post I'm going to throw out some radical ideas. Radical ideas that, at first, you will discount as being just that, radical. Then these ideas will start to work on you as you mull them over in your mind, more than likely you will talk with your spouse about them or maybe a co-worker asking yourself and them what if? What if you did try what I'm about to suggest,...

That all elusive holy grail of marketing, word-of-mouth, is right up there with Big Foot and the Loch Ness Monster in that we hear reports that their real, but most of us have our doubts. The biggest reason why this is, is because most businesses fail to plan for it. Like anything else, if it's worth doing its worth planning for, below I will show you 5 powerful ways to get your customers to talk about you, in their online social graph. Up, Up And Away - Going Way Beyond One of the best ways to get people talking is to give them more than they expect. I know that can come across as 101 but it's the basis of word-of-mouth, let's face it if you don't give your customers something to talk about, they won't. Each one of us, when we make a purchase, expect a certain level of customer service but it's the difference between what's expected and the actual level of customer service received that will influence your customers to want to talk about you. Of cou...

Before I get into what this blog is about I think it might be better to tell you what this blog isn't. First, I won't be discussing why you should be blogging, I'll take the fact that you are reading this as a sign that you already know you should. Second, it won't be a technical how -to-manual of setting up and maintaining blogging software. In this post I will take it for granted that you have already decided to blog, and that you already have blogging software, whether it's hosted or self-hosted. Now that we have gotten that covered let's get right into the meat of this post. It's important to note that when I refer to establishing a corporate blog, I am referring to blog that is written by multiple people within the business, not just one person whose job it is. Always remember, a business that blogs together, thrives together (more tongue-in-cheek but you get the point!). Step One - Establishing A Goal What is going to be the goal of your blog? ...

What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. The rose, the symbol of love, beauty and romance can teach us a thing or five about social media. I bet you never looked at a rose and thought, wow rose that's deep. But in this post I am going to share with you five insights that the rose has taught me about social media, what can you add? Influence Word-of-Mouth, BE The Reason Why In order to flourish, reproduce and keep its genetic code alive the rose must rely on others, such as the bumblebee, to help with fertilization. In fact the rose, like most other flowers, have only one purpose -- to reproduce the plant. In other words, the only reason the rose exists in the first place is to attract attention, which is does through the production of pollen, its sweet smell and beautiful color. What does that teach you about social media? As an example think of your company blog, its only in existence to attract people, maybe it doesn't ...

With the increasing number of ways that both social networks and email providers are working to help their users receive less noise, it's time that you stop producing so much of it. Take a look at your content, whether it's a status update on Facebook or an email newsletter it's important to note that just because you put it out there doesn't mean people will want to consume it. It may be time to quiet the noise and think really hard about the kind of content that you are putting out there. With the onset of Gmails' Smart Folders that strip out all bulk email messages and Facebooks' EdgeRank algorithm that greatly reduces the amount of status updates it's users are subjected to, it's more important than ever to focus on quality engagement over "like" or email acquisition. We've all heard it before, "think before you speak," the same could be said this way: "Think before you tweet." "Think before you p...

Creating an opt-in email list is as foreign to the auto industry as driving on the left side of the road but there is a place for it and in this post I'm going to share with you both the why and the how. On your dealer site the end goal is to turn surfers into leads, to get some sort of contact information whether it be an email address, a phone number or both. But, as we all know it's a fairly small percentage of people that do just that and the reason is simple... you. Now, don't take that personally, by you I mean the car business, car salespeople in particular and because of that the general public doesn't have a high level of trust for our kind (yes, I'm one the you). Of course the reasons are much deeper than just the trust level involved... but that's for another post. There are a number of reasons why you should work to capture email addresses, outside of collecting for leads that is, and while there are more than we are going to talk about here I wa...

2010 brought with it main stream social media for the auto industry, some embraced it and ran with it while others (most) knocked their head against the wall wondering what they were doing wrong. 2010 was more or less a trial, a yearlong test in the field of relationship marketing, what did you learn from it? If you're like a lot of dealers you pushed social media to the side as a failed experiment and went back to what worked, more or less. Social media has evolved and will continue to evolve, its only constant is change and if you take the time to learn it before you tackle it then you will be behind the moment you start. But, if you harness the human element of social media and stop trying so hard to learn the ever evolving tools, then you are well on your way to building a true social business, one that even the oldest school car dealer can get behind, grasp and run with. In the beginning social media was seen as an extension of traditional advertising, as a way to get yo...

Social media is good for a lot of things: building relationships, finding and spreading news, marketing, a good laugh, keeping up with your friends and family and a host of other things, but there is another aspect of social media that most businesses aren't using. In fact I could argue and you could argue that it's the most powerful part of social media that most businesses aren't using. It's this missing piece that could be the difference your business has been looking for, the competitive edge that could push you over the top and allow you to grab market share. Since the onset of marketing, marketers have looked at it as a way to get their product or service seen or heard but unfortunately have completely ignored the real reason why marketing works or doesn't work... it's people! Granted, marketing is a way to build awareness but it's the dialogue that's happening between people that will dictate whether or not your marketing efforts work or don&#...

Continuing on the path I started when I wrote "Building Your Personal Brand by Harnessing The Power of Social Media" I wanted to write a second post that digs a little deeper into a few aspects of that earlier post. I can't stress enough about how important building your personal brand is to the future of your business. Just a take a look at the most popular brands out there and what they stand for. When you think "shoes" what brand comes to mind first? What about "soft drinks" or "car insurance?" What do you stand for? What do you want to be known for? Who is your audience and what are they looking for? Keep in mind that the surest way to building a powerful personal brand is by giving your audience/customers what they want... over and over again. Below find 5 things that you should start working on right now to build your influence and your own personal brand:   1. Create Valuable Content - Become A Thought Leader By contin...

Are You Exceptional? Well, are you? It's a question you should ask yourself sooner rather than later, before you do though you should check your ego at the door and be honest with yourself. I ask because it's the difference between what's expected and the service given that will decide whether or not you are worth doing business with again. We live in a time when just meeting expectations wont earn you repeat business. You must make it a policy to continually strive to go above and beyond and do the things that your customers DON'T expect, of course that just the beginning... Your Personal Brand Your brand is who you are, it's about building an identity that will resonate with your customers and keep them coming back to you even when there are no other incentives, besides their relationship with you, to do so. Building your online brand starts with who you actually are, what makes you unique, what can you offer that others will be drawn too? In the auto indu...

LinkedIn is a powerful tool to connect with super influence in your community, are you using it? Welcome to the 4th episode of Automotive Social Media – The Podcast! In this episode I will share with you the tips and tricks of LinkedIn and how you can connect with the super influencers in your market. If you’re not using LinkedIn with you Automotive Social Marketing then you are missing out. Keep in mind that if you are a sales person, you don’t have to wait till your dealership says its mandatory, start now, take your future into your own hands!   Powered by Podbean.com If you would like to listen to listen to the rest of the Automotive Social Media - The Podcats you can do so at Persuasive Concepts. ...

In this podcast I will discuss with you how you can tap into the referral mindset of your customers and why we are putting more and more emphasis on what other people are saying. Did you know that we trust only 14% of the advertisement we see or hear each and every single day? 14%!!! What that means is lost dollars and a decrease on ROI, have you watched your cost per car sold skyrocket? There is a reason and I will discuss it in the podcast.

If you want to gain market share in these turbulent times, you must first adopt a new way of thinking. The old way of thinking about marketing, your customers, selling cars, acquiring service and even financing has to go by the wayside or your dealership will shrivel up and die. I know those seem like harsh words because they are and it’s my hope that you don’t take them lightly, I sure didn’t when I wrote them. In order to change your way of thinking, your old bad habits so to speak, you must replace it with a new way of thinking because that’s the ONLY way you’re going to be able to survive. We’re in the beginning stages of a revolution, an uprising that if you choose to stand against it, will crush you. The revolution I’m talking about is the customer revolution. For so long they had no voice, they were like an infant trying to say their first words, and now that they have a way to get their voices heard, they will never be silenced ag...

It's not the end all be all, that's for sure. What? But David I've been to one of your seminars, I've seen all your webinars and have read your blog posts, you're a social media guy... aren't you? In a sense you could make the argument that I am, I do preach it, I'm passionate about it and I feel that every dealership in the country can benefit from it to one degree or another but I would argue that I'm more than just a social media guy, allow me to explain. Wikipedia says the social media is media for social interactions, using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. It goes on to say that social media uses web based technologies to turn communication into interactive dialogue. Wha? Basically social media is a tool. Nothing more, nothing less. And just like any tool there are both wrong ways and right ways to use it. So in other words I'm saying that the "tool" is not the end all be all, it's what that tool can he...

Top of Mind Awareness is one of those terms you hear thrown around a lot by marketing reps. Wikipedia defines it as "Owning the space that your product or service occupies between your prospects' ears. That way, when they're ready to buy they think of you first." One of their definitions anyway, and the one I liked the most! When a brand, service, or product is able to achieve top of the mind awareness they ensure that when a consumer comes into the market for their particular product or service, they are able to mentally push aside all of the current advertising they are seeing and think of them. Traditionally, this was done by being memorable, consistent and by repeatedly marketing their unique selling position or USP. Given that traditional advertising breeds mistrust (Neilson did a study and found that we trust only 14% of the ads we see) can you imagine how expensive a traditional top of the mind awareness campaign can be? That's where social media comes ...

Are they? I think, in a way, they are. You hear about it all the time, in every forum, every dealer twenty group and in all the industry magazines. Best practice this, best practice that, this is what you should be doing if you want to sell more cars! I say, take it with a grain of salt. Look at where the auto industry is today, we're behind the times, it's always been that way, many times it has been said, "The auto industry is a late adopter of any new technology." I think the reason why this is, is because there are too many auto dealers out there that are always looking for industry best practices without thinking about their own dealerships best practices. Wikipedia defines best practices as a technique, method, process, activity, incentive, or reward that is believed to be more effective at delivering a particular outcome than any other technique, method, process, etc. when applied to a particular condition or circumstance. Wow, that doesn't sound ba...

I was forwarded a blog post by a colleague of mine the other day, thank you Rob, it was titled The 3 Types Of Social Media Strategy, I encourage you to read it before reading this post, it is spot on! In summary, the author of the post, Tac Anderson, talks about 3 different types of social media strategies, they are: Bolt On Bolt on, or what I refer to as Phase 1, is where most businesses are. It's the stick your toes in the water form of social media strategy. Most auto dealers are here, they create a fan page on Facebook or sign up for a Twitter account with the intention of doing nothing more than talking about themselves. Of course, those that learn from their mistakes and start to see some success will move on from here but the only reason they are on social networks in the first place is because everybody else is. Optimizing Social Media For Your Business In this strategy you have clear decision makers and goals put into place. Certain people have certain responsibilities...

Under Frederick the Great, the Prussian army was considered by many to be the finest fighting force in Europe. To behold their perfectly honed war strategies and flawless battle march was to strike both fear and awe in their enemies. In fact, many would consider the Prussian army to be one of history’s most prolific fighting machines. In 1786 (at the age of 74) Frederick the Great passed away in an armchair, in his study and to this day many people favor him as one of the greatest strategically geniuses of all time. During his long tenure as King of Prussia he had, as understudies, many generals in which he relied. These generals trained his armies and carried out battle orders as the King himself would join the army in battle.   In October 1806, when the Prussian army went to war against Napoleon it was still considered by many to be one of the finest armies in Europe. In terms of 18th century Europe, the Prussian army was second to none. That battle, against the pr...

I'm not a scientist. I don't get a kick out of doing research to find out what environmental conditions promote a healthy fruit fly population, but I do like to look at things in ways that most people don't. Take yesterday as an example, when my 7 year old daughter asked me why there is always Diet Mt. Dew in the house for her mom and dad to drink, when on most days there is nothing but water for her and her brother. Of course, a typical answer would be, "because you and your brother drink up all the juice/milk/kool-aid as soon as it's brought into the house." In fact, that's what my wife said, but my answer was completely different. "Isn't cool that your mother and I have the money to buy Diet Dew, whenever we are running low?" I said. My daughter gave me a crazy look but said nothing, "It's because we have the monetary capitol, or money, to make the purchase, but you have the ability to get stuff bought for you too, it'...

While I do NOT condone doomsday cults or what they represent if you keep an open mind there is a lot that we can learn from them in regards to persuasion. Take a look at the likes of Jim Jones, David Koresh, Hitler or a number of others and you will find masters of persuasion. Some would use the word manipulation instead of the word persuasion but in reality they mean the same thing, one just has an uglier sound to it. Keep in mind that neither persuasion nor manipulation is bad no more than guns kill people, remember it’s people that kill people. It has been said numerous times that “power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely,” and that holds true for master persuaders. A great American once said, “with great power comes great responsibility” (Uncle Ben, no not the rice guy!) so use what you are about to learn wisely, don’t persuade for the wrong reasons and always remember that morality above all else is what sets us apart from the f...

The last year that I sold cars, before starting a BDC, was 2003. While 7 years doesn't seem like that long it was a lifetime in technology, and if I had to do it all over again I'd do it the same way. What? That's right, I'd do it the same but I would go about it very, very differently. You see, even back when I first started selling cars I understood the value of creating positive, win-win relationships with my customers, in fact, a lot of the things I train on today, in regards to social media, I learned while working lot traffic and building my own book of business.
One of the first things I did when starting my very first job selling cars is have two sets of post cards made, one for sold traffic the other for unsold traffic. The first thing I would do when a customer drove off the lot is send them a post card, maybe it was a post card thanking for them for their business or one thanking them for their time, but every person I spoke to got one in the mail.
Once a month I put a newsl

Here's a good rule of thumb for you about new technology: if it limits customer interaction it's probably not a good idea to go with it. That is, if a new technology, no matter how much time it saves you, takes AWAY from your ability to build relationships with your customers, then you're better off without it. Earlier, I was talking with B.A. Nerison, owner of Wheel City Auto in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, he had this to say about the lack of relationship building opportunities that debit card and ACH payment options has brought to BHPH, "In days past customers used to pay in person, at the dealership. This gave us the opportunity to build relationships with our customers, one-on-one. With today's automated payment options it has become increasingly more difficult to build personal relationships with our customers. This has had a direct impact on the delinquency and repossession rate at buy-here-pay-here dealerships."
I'm not against these types of payment methods, they do make things...

“If you expect above-average results you must learn, implement and perform above-average concepts.”


Pacing, matching or mirroring, whatever it is that you want to call it, has been around a long time. As sales people, we have all at one time or another read a book, listened to a CD or attended training of some type where we were told of the importance of it and of the positive results it can have on our sales.

Briefly, Mirroring is a human behavior characterized by copying someone else while communicating with them. It could mean the copying of postures, tone of voice or gestures; it could also be the mimicking of movement, body language, expressions, eye movement, breathing, tempo, attitude or any other number of things. Think of it as follow the leader or do as I do.

There are a number of reasons why this rapport building concept is so powerful and many reasons why you should be doing it everyday with every customer. If you think of communication as a type of danc...

It’s not a theory, it’s not even the future, it’s happening now and time is getting short. Auto dealerships are notoriously late adopters of any new technology but in our current state of rapid technological advancement more and more dealerships are falling by the way side and closing their doors. While many different theories can by hypothesized as to the reasoning behind this I’d like to bring forth the idea of Digital Darwinism.

“The idea that the development of Internet based companies is governed by rules similar to Darwin's theory of evolution, and that those that adapt best to their environment will be the most successful”
We are in the midst of a huge economical shift, consumers aren't as trusting as they use to be, we live in a world of digital transparency, but still dealers want to hold onto the old way of doing things, just because it's the way it's always been done. It's that very same thinking that is causing dealerships, all across the country, to close t...