Stuck in the middle.  It’s the worst place to be as a dealership and as a dealership employee.  Yet, it happens more than it ever should.  The phrase “Don’t kill the messenger” exists because, far too often, it is the messenger that gets in trouble…whether it is their fault or not.  This is the life of an Internet Sales Director when stuck in the middle of a vendor circle jerk. While on-site training a new client, we discovered an issue with their inbound lead submissions.  Both sales and service leads were being sent in from their website provider under the same email address into a CRM that differentiates leads based on inbound email address.  In other words, whether it be a sales or service customer, it comes into a system as leads@abcmotors.com. The CRM reads it only as a new sales lead, and pushes it to the ISM instead of to a more appropriate party.  When asking the CRM to find a new way to differentia...

"Always Be Branding" ~ a mantra from the minds of Joe Webb and Bill Playford of DealerKnows Consulting   There is a famous line spewed melodically from the lips of Alec Baldwin in the genius sales film known as GlenGarry Glen Ross that most car folks can recite. “A B C – Always Be Closing!” This was the key message that Baldwin’s character challenged the sales team with before he gave them the ultimatum. If th ey were the best in sales, they win… “first prize is a Cadillac Eldorado. Anybody wanna see second prize? … Second prize is a set of steak knives. Third place is you’re fired.” This has become a mantra for thousands of sales managers across the country. “A-B-C. Always Be Closing.” They preach the goal that a sale should always be front and center in your mind during every interaction. Unfortunately, this no longer is the case. Much like the movie based on David Mamet’s awesome s...

  The Meet and Greet.  The Needs Assessment.  Getting to know them on the test drive.  Making friends while waiting for figures from the manager.  All of these are associated with the idea that building rapport is the key to selling cars.  Well, building rapport is OUT!  It is no longer a determining factor for many customers when buying a new vehicle. We all have countless sales stories from our retail days (those of us who’ve done retail at least) of instances where finding a common ground with customers has helped us sell them a car.  It still can go a long way in creating a more comfortable sales experience.  However, I will say it again… “building rapport” is out. The new focus should be “Fostering Relationships”.  I know many of you are saying “splitting hairs” or “semantics”, but I don’t believe these two phrases mean the same thing.   Building...

  Back and forth.  Up and down.  Back and forth.  Up and down.  Back and forth goes the salesperson negotiating with the customer.  Up to the sales manager’s desk the salesperson walks and then back down to their desk they go with another price.  Another attempt.  This volley with the customer has become archaic and antiquated.  It is disliked and disgusting.  The days of penciling deals over and over must end. No more No. 2.  No more pencils.  That strategy is done.  It’s finished.  Someone tell your sales managers.  Break into their desks and steal out the pencils and multi-colored Sharpie markers.  The consumer has moved beyond this tired strategy and is ready for new days of selling!  Stop the negotiating with customers and start the educating. It is time your sales managers and sales people end the rigmarole they’ve used for years and do away with how they’ve penc...

We know that social networking is going to Change the World, but dealers are jumping in without any plan of action. You need to understand the medium and Get Ready before you Walk Out In The Rain or you’ll have a Losing Hand. Listening to one of the greatest musicians of all time, Eric Clapton, can give you advice on how to become successful at social media when he sings: “It’s in the way that you use it,  It comes and it goes. It’s in the way that you use it, Boy don’t you know. And if you lie you will lose it, Feelings will show. So don’t ever abuse it. Don’t let it go.” As countless dealers create FB (and G+) pages every day, they need to develop a posting and sharing strategy and it MUST be tied in to what you are doing on the ground within the community. There are six primary ways that I see dealers posting on the social sites: 1)  C.R.A.P. – an acronym developed by my friend Eric Miltsch where he beli...

  At the 2011 DrivingSales Executive Summit, an event will take place that is a first for the automotive industry.  DrivingSales presents the first DealerKnows Digital Media Battle. Hosted by Joe Webb and Bill Playford of DealerKnows Consulting, twelve hand-picked dealership and vendor superstars will face off against each other in a Digital Media Battle.   A series of six topics will be debated: Dealership Mobile Apps (For vs. Against) Live Chat (In-house vs. outsourced) Followers (Quality vs. Quantity) QR Codes (Worthwhile vs. Worthless) Facebook marketing (All in vs. All out) And the Title Bout: SEM vs. SEO Round by round, the battlers will step forward and face off against their opponent.  The trick?  They have no idea who they are facing.  They only know their topic they’ll be speaking on.  Don’t miss out on a high-energy, industry-first that will surely be one of the talks of the DrivingSales E...

  What is Your Internet Sales Religion… Baptized at Birth or Born Again? You are on DrivingSales and attempting to learn (or share) the latest best practices of automotive Internet sales and digital marketing.  You have seen the light. What brought you to this level of enlightenment is a different story.  We all have found our own paths, but there are only two primary denominations that we all follow.  You’ve been either “Baptized at Birth” or “Born Again”. Being “Baptized at Birth” means that you came into this industry fully evolved and supportive of eCommerce initiatives.  You were a ‘connected’ individual and immediately understood the Internet could bring around an opportunity to change the culture of our industry.  You were already steeped in the online landscape and foresaw the powerful effect that the online medium would bring to the car business. If you weren’t &ldq...

        You are a dealership.  Most people don’t like the thought of visiting you.  Through the years, a good majority of everyone who drives cars has had a frustrating experience at a dealership.  Maybe not yours, but they’ve had a bad taste put in their mouths by others.  They don’t want to be your friend, they just want to be serviced by you. I don’t believe that in all of my (coughing) years I ever heard a normal person stand up for a car dealership’s reputation as another besmirches it in conversation.  I’ve never heard “Hey!  You leave XYZ Motors out of this.  They are great people – the lot of them!”  No.  Doesn’t happen.  When a dealers’ name is raked over the coals by an unhappy party, it is commonly accepted as unfortunate and realistic.  So when you ask someone to “Like” you on FB, is it for reasons personally wo...

  Superman is my all-time favorite superhero.  There isn’t another that comes close.  Needless to say, I’m a big fan.  But as much as I like wearing the iconic S-emblazoned shirts, I’m no Superman.  I’d like to think I live by some of the same moral code attempting to help others through my training, but that comparison and analogy is a stretch (as it would be for anyone.) There are very few superheroes in our business, but there are many people trying to help you succeed and thrive.   They share a willingness to assist, educate, and train the same way that Superman is driven with the need to help people.  The problem?  There are a lot more Lex Luthors out there looking to take advantage of you than there are automotive online crime-fighters. In the original Superman (and I say “original” because to me and my generation, there is only one Superman and that is Christopher Reeves’ Superman), ...

  I grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio and throughout my youth, our fine city would be infiltrated, so to speak, with unsightly visitors.  Gypsies would swarm the town, shopping malls, and neighborhoods.  They would loiter about, often even able to go unseen without a keen eye looking for them. They were vagabonds and pick-pockets, always looking for the edge to take advantage of you and fleece you on something (purse, wallet, game tickets) if you weren’t watching your belongings.  Some would go to the extreme.  If they saw you grilling out in your backyard, they’d walk right in through the open front door and steal the paintings white off your walls.  They were almost magicians at taking from you without you ever noticing. Well we have Automotive Gypsies as well.  They are right there, taking from you, and you don’t even see them.  You do nothing to prevent it because you are unaware they are taking money away from you. The ...

  When is the last time you mystery shopped your own dealership? Did anything go to SPAM? If so, why?  If you think nothing goes to SPAM, my guess is you haven't likely checked. I mystery shop dealers every week and it still amazes me how many emails and auto-responders are sent directly to my junk mail. I just returned from speaking at a NADA 20 group where 5 of the 20 dealers’ emails were caught in SPAM. Last month, when Jared Hamilton, Brian Pasch, and I spoke to an NCM 20 group together, of the 35+ emails I received back from the attending dealers over the course of 5 days prior to the event, 8 of them went to SPAM. That is almost 25%. What are you doing to combat this? There are several things you can do to avoid getting lost in a prospect’s junk mail. Here are just a few ways to put your best font forward. Tiny font tends to get caught in spam. If you have font smaller than 10px, it can get you ...

  The automotive dealership functions much the way the human body does. Each department operates similar to an organ, controlling that given part of the dealer body. When one fails, it affects the health of the entire system.   Every single employee, solution, and dollar spent must be cared for and maintained. A dealer’s advertising efforts work much the way a person’s muscles do. They strengthen the body and get the entire operation moving. Stale advertising techniques and antiquated marketing tactics can cause a dealer’s sales to atrophy. These advertising muscles must be exercised, not just when it’s nice outside, but during the slow, lean winter months as well. When the economic crunch hit our industry two years ago, we saw many dealers revert back to the advertising methods of yesteryear. No medium was left unturned (i.e. dug up from its grave). Some dealers said to themselves (parap...

  Returning from NADA 2011, it was more than apparent that we are in an age of “enlighten me”.  With Google stating that their entire focus in 2011 will be focusing on Social, Mobile, and Local, it means they understand that we consumers are me-centric and only willing to seek out opinion from our credible, close, personal, connected contingency of contacts.  A focus on social, mobile, and local could easily be combined to say this is the year of reputation management because reviews will run rampant. If the NADA vendors and speakers taught us anything this last week it is that the public's perception of your store is going to be one of the driving sources of eyeballs and traffic to your store.  It seems like every Tom, Dick, and Harry were selling some form of social media and reputation management.  You'd approach a booth and say, "Tell me about your product." and they'd reply "We build car washes in dealerships an...

Buford Beauregard is a former car-selling superstar turned acclaimed stand-up comedian from the south. Buford sells out trailer parks nationwide with his comedic act about automotive internet sales and is known for his catchphrases "Ain't she a beaut!" and "...you might not be an e-Dealer." *It is well known that he is not related to Joe Webb, but does often use Joe as his opening act. Likely, based on the accent and hairstyle, Buford originates from either Alabama, Arkansas, or Mississippi. He cannot recall. But what he does know is automotive sales and digital marketing tactics....

  Should a Stop in Social Media-ville be on Your Travel Agenda? You’re a dealer. You’re driving along the car selling interstate, minding your own business, focusing on your own instrument panel of metrics when those dreaded lights flash in your rear view mirror. Behind you, on a motorcycle no less, is the OEM telling you to pull over. You do so, pull out your financial statements and composites they may ask for, and roll down the window. As they approach, they tell you that you need to get off the car-selling interstate and take the information highway to Social Media-ville. Many dealers are being asked (by the OEM or their industry peers) to slow down when driving through Social Media-ville. “Get out of the car and spend some time there. You’ll like it.” So you have to ask them “For what purpose? I’m making good time and I see no need to stop.” If you don’t have t...

  With advancements changing in the online marketplace daily, vendors must realize their products must change as well…just as quickly. Dealers won’t wait around forever as their vendor clients continue to sit on their hands. So here is my challenge to every vendor: I want a Vendor Scorecard. I believe vendors should create a scoring system that allows all of their dealers to see, review, and vote on what advancements their teams should put into action. Not support issues (though a Vendor Scorecard could be beneficial for this as well), but an idea exchange where people on the ground can tell the people in the high rises what their system NEEDS to be able to do. It could be a small password-protected community within your software that allows ALL dealers to post their product enhancement requests so that ALL other dealer clients can see. Make it available to your own loyal public. Each product enhancement request should be t...

  Just how much can a dealer and their team be pushed into the digital age? Just how far can a dedicated Internet Sales Manager push the dealer ownership into an internet culture? Just how fast can a trainer push the dealership’s online efforts? Just how quickly can a dealer demand old dogs to perform new tricks? Total buy-in is hard to come by, worth its weight in gold, and tremendously hard to achieve. Still today, opposition lurks around every corner.   This is the quintessential problem facing ISMs, facing trainers… and facing dealerships. Many know where their dealership should be, but are far too reluctant to cause an upheaval in the way the showroom and service department operates. No one wants a mutiny on their hands. So how hard should we push?   While visiting a new dealer client of mine, I found that the entire showroom still utilizes an up sheet to log their customers. (I use the word &ldqu...

  The 2nd annual DrivingSales Executive Summit is rapidly approaching and Jared Hamilton and Charlie Vogelhiem has assembled a rock n’ roll cast to open our minds to the changing efficiencies of digital marketing for dealers. As it is with all conferences, there is no reason to go if you are just going to hobnob. Last year’s event was a marvel in quick, big picture discussions, engaging roundtables and motivational learning.   Some of the valuable memories from last year’s event was the SEO panel with Brian Pasch, JD Rucker, and Paul Rushing as they detailed out the impending trends that will (and have) taken place on the front of Search Engine Optimization. Skip Streets broke out some eye-opening data about the internet shopper’s lifecycle as a buyer. Dennis Galbraith discussed dealer operations and marketing strategies (and reminded us that any good closer has a beautiful wife by his side). Will Travis discussed the po...

  Setting the Insane Parameters for a Legitimate BDC/Internet Sale   While on-site training at a dealership recently, the dealer and I put into place a new pay plan for their BDC team. However, he had a concern that the BDC team would reach new heights in their bonus levels by taking credit for sales that they didn’t put enough work into to deserve. Reasonable enough concern.   My answer was that they simply needed to be spot checked by a manager to keep them honest. Unfortunately, this answer was not good enough and I was asked to detail the very specific parameters that count for a BDC/Internet sale. Since I myself have managed leads and handled internet sales myself, I know the time that is put into bringing a customer in from prospect to appointment show. I understand not all customers set appointments. As I started putting the rules in place, I realized that I was overthinking it. However, if it has to be written and d...

You can’t spell social media without “me” or “I”. The entire medium has become, through its own nature, a very me-centric platform. People only post as it relates to themselves, their business, or their beliefs, blasting forth their very own personal news channel that they deem worthy enough to share.

Foursquare is one of the newest social networks, specifically designed to cater to those through a mobile application. Simply put, in its most common, understood form, Foursquare gives users the ability to:

1) “Check-in” to different places or add new ones worth visiting
2) Let their presence be known to their contacts and the online community
3) Lay claim of ownership after multiple visits to the same location
4) Earn “badges” for usage levels
5) Leave tips and shouts for future visitors of the establishments

This can all be accomplished through the typical geo-locating (geo-targeting) found on mobile devices. Early adopters of this platform will be at the ...

It's not the wand that makes the magic happen, but the magician who wields it.  All of the tools, solutions, and leads in the world may be necessary to stay competitive, but it is the people you employ that make you profitable.   If a dealership is only as good as the people speaking to their customers, we must make sure we have the right people representing us in the first place.

One of the fundamental problems on our sales floors is that it is just too easy to get a job.  Candidates walk in, fill out an application, prove that they have a pulse during an interview, and are hired on the spot.  This has to change.  This builds no value in our dealerships, our profession, or our industry.  We must require applicants to earn a position rather than just getting it.

As a trainer, dealers always ask me "What is the magic bullet out there?  What will help me sell more cars?"  They are likely looking for a solution/tool/CRM/website/campaign, but the true magic bullet is a great...

With the new year upon us, it is time we sit down and determine the ROI of our past (and recent) online marketing initiatives. What has worked for you? What hasn’t? What is your social networking resolution?

Are you going to dedicate your financial resources (ad budget) to the failed or fledgling programs of yesteryear or try your hand at all of the digital marketing tactics you read so much about daily? If it isn’t working, at what point do you cut ties, end your relationship with the old school vendors, and spend time on a more worthy venture such as social media?

If you want to succeed on a social networking landscape, you must first put yourself in your customer’s shoes. You must share their mindset. “What is in it for them?” you have to ask yourself. You need to show a benefit to the consumer for joining you on these networking sites. Stop worrying about what is important to you and start realizing what is important to your audience. This is the greatest o...

With this year's Thanksgiving in our rearview mirror and the holidays just down the road, I think it is time we industry folks talk about what we are thankful for.
As I've been holiday shopping - or as it is known in the politically incorrect world of the Webb household "Christmas shopping" - I see a nation who isn't scared of spending their hard-earned dollar. Gift-giving is going strong and online orders are already blowing away numbers from past years. (Now if only we gave to charities as generously as we do our distant family.) All of this money being thrown around should make us grateful to work in an industry where we not only provide a necessary service, but there is forever a need for our products.
Be thankful that everyone eventually needs a car.
Be thankful that people still walk into your showroom everyday.
Be thankful that your owners are still spending money to attract customers into the store.
Be thankful that more and more ad dollars are seeing their way into dig...

Far too many ideas seem like good ideas after a frozen margarita with a Coors Light chaser. However, I am pleasantly surprised to find myself struck with enlightenment as I sit bar side at a Chili’s. I am out to dinner alone after delivering a successful on-site training for a dealer client. As any consultant will tell you, these dinners on the road are commonplace and very little changes from city to city.

When across the bar does my curious eyes spot a sales process secretly displayed for the bartender at this Chili’s establishment. Within moment’s I arose from my stool to see what was the matter. I was incredibly pleased to see a list of steps to follow for this bartender that closely resembles our very own road to the sale. The Chili's Steps to the Upsell, so to speak.

I’ve attached this picture so you can follow along as we compare proven best practices. I have made it easier for you by spelling out each step they've provided to their employees.

Chili’s...

We know the faltering economy is one of the many factors that brought vehicle leasing to a standstill. Nowadays, you have to be artistic to put an educated shopper into a lease because the dramatically lagging financial market has made it disadvantageous for them.

In years past, it wasn’t the troubling economy that slowed leasing, but the public’s negative perception about the programs. Leasing remained a very profitable way to put customers into a vehicle and, if handled correctly, see them again in a few short years. Truth be told, if the lease was structured correctly, it was a smart way for many consumers to drive a vehicle as well. Having spent some time in the finance office myself, I can say there is a reason that management and finance staff preferred to lease their vehicles too. Dealers did not do themselves any favors, though, when they took advantage of those payment buyers and converted them into unnecessarily long term leases. T...

 A zany car salesman takes an unsuspecting customer on a pretend test drive that still turns out to be the ride of his life.  Craziness follows.  Another Joe Webb (DealerKnows) "car guy" creation.
 

By no means am I going to detail the one thousand "best practices" for advertising a dealer's inventory.  That would take two full days of typing and I simply don't have it in me.  Actually, this is a question that I would like to pose to all of you DrivingSales readers out there.  You will see I discuss my beliefs, but I'd like to hear from you.
I was perusing my Saturday morning edition of the Chicago Tribune, checking out the car ads.  (Yes, I still get the newspaper, though I don't know why considering I read the news online before ever opening up the printed papyrus.)  What caught my attention was not how many local dealers are still advertising in a dying medium (ridiculous), but how many dealers were actively promoting how large their inventory was of certain models.

The common practice of detailing how many vehicles you have in stock (by model) has been widely used for quite some time.  Not too long ago, when dealers could do no wrong...

There is the age-old saying that “you can’t believe everything you read”.  Well, that thought process has expanded.  With the glut of internet “consultants” in the game, I believe you must add “don’t listen to everything that is taught”.

There are two widely-held, overly-preached beliefs that can cause irreparable harm to your ecommerce objectives and bring about online irrelevance.    Dealers that adopt these incorrect ideas must have a death wish.  Instead, disregard these poorly-conceived trainings and stand strong – Charles Bronson-style.   Unfortunately, these are not “old-school” tactics that these “trainers” are teaching, but instead, they are new-school philosophies oversimplified.  I will detail these two bits of bad advice.  When an “expert” walks into your store spouting this nonsensical bologna, do yourself a favor and stick to your own belief...

I have a distinct feeling that some dealers believe achieving online success may be a flash in the pan. These dealers (owners) must have a chemical imbalance passed onto them from their fathers and family members before them to believe e-commerce is a trend. Many struggling owners learned from an older generation that didn't have to adapt as quickly to newfound technologies and, therefore, lived well by sticking to tried and true advertising mediums. There is a major problem facing many of today's owners that has a greater affect on their long-term goals than the economy does. It is their judgment. I can only assume this problem is genetic.
I hear from ISM after ISM across the country that buy-in from ownership continues to be difficult. Dealers just won't know what they don't want to learn. Many dealerships have one person handling incoming leads. They buy a few third party leads, place some inventory on an AutoTrader or Cars.com, and have a mediocre website. These dealers a...