What if you could spot engaged and ready-to-buy shoppers as they browse your dealership website in real-time?  How would that transform your Internet Business? More and more auto dealers are finding automotive live chat to be one of the most valuable assets to their dealership’s Internet business.  Dealers using full service, managed chat solutions tend to experience the largest boost in leads generated from their websites. On the other hand, many dealers believe that their BDC and Sales staff are the most qualified individuals to handle their dealership chat. Both categories of automotive live chat solutions deliver an increase in website lead generation, yet this increase is primarily achieved as a result of intuitive behavioral targeting by solutions utilizing real-time business intelligence reporting.  In simplified terms, some chat solutions come with supercharged website analytics to deliver you the most high quality le...

  The benefits of automotive live chat for your dealership website’s sales process are pretty clear.  But, have you thought about what automotive live chat can do for your dealership service department? As you know, your dealership service department is essential to the success of your dealership.  Service centers and/or body shops bring in vital revenue for dealers, often accounting for a majority of a dealership’s profit.  Yet, it is very possible that your service department’s resources are already stretched to the limit, inhibiting the amount of service leads and appointments your dealership is able to generate. So, how do you improve your ability to capture service leads and set more service appointments?  If you incorporate live, automotive chat into your digital marketing mix, the answer is as simple as adding proactive invites to chat on your service department page.  If chat is somethi...

  Let’s say that you’re an auto dealer with a successful social media aspect of your digital marketing campaign – you have tons of Facebook fans, a healthy community that provides feedback and applause, and an online presence that grows every day. But the point of any marketing endeavor is to eventually convert your fans into loyal customers, and you determine that your Facebook page just isn’t bringing in sales –  despite all the positive metrics that indicate otherwise. What went wrong? Location has a significant impact on automotive dealerships because of the very nature of the business. It is not economically viable to ship a 4,000-pound vehicle across the country, so you depend on sales within your jurisdiction. Therefore, you reach out to local media. When you purchased that billboard space on the interstate, you did it because you knew that drivers in the area would view it. When you filmed tha...

    Wikipedia, the sixth most popular site on the entire Internet, went dark yesterday in protest of a proposed Congressional bill – effectively halting any college papers from being written whatsoever. Alongside thousands of sites such as Craigslist, Tumblr, and Reddit, the global encyclopedia asks visitors to take action against the Stop Online Piracy Act, a piece of legislation that threatens to give the U.S. government the ability to block access to infringing domain names. This means that corporations can sue websites for user-posted content, potentially crippling start-ups and a variety of social media outlets. But the auto industry is far removed from the entertainment world that the bill targets – why should auto dealers care about SOPA? It’s easy to understand why movie producers and record labels would want to put a stop to theft of their intellectual property. However, under the guidelines of this new bill, an...

  To sell cars to Generation Y, dealerships must understand the mind of a Millennial.  As a member of Generation Y, I’ll share with you my intimate knowledge on how you can best connect with younger customers. These individuals, commonly known asGeneration Y or the Millennials, are still burdened with leaving their homes once in a while – to pick up more microwavable dinners, visit the local RedBox, or make the occasional human connection – but when it comes to car shopping, the majority of those born between 1979 and 1997 are increasingly likely to hunt for their next vehicle from the comfort of their computer.   A Study by Deloitte predicts that Gen Y will account for 40% of all automotive shoppers in 2012!  As online shopping becomes more standard and less novel, how can your website stand out to a generation that will soon encompass more than a third of yo...

  Inbound Marketing is the most effective technique to sell vehicles on the Internet and automotive dealerships are beginning to realize it.  As 2011 winds down, data is indicating that traditional, disruptive marketing techniques are failing to deliver results. Many dealers are now wondering, “other than live chat, which marketing techniques and strategies of the new year will be the most important for my dealership?” For CEO of ActivEngage Todd Smith, the future of dealership digital marketing is clear.  Todd’s 20+ years in retail automotive sales along with his visionary leadership of the most trusted brand in automotive live chat have led him to be one of the industry’s most respected thought-leaders on digital marketing for dealers. Whether you’ve seen him speak on the GM eSummit tour, at an automotive trade show, or even in an ...

  What’s the first step an automotive consumer takes most often toward making a vehicle purchase?  If you answered conduct a Google search, you are correct!  For automotive consumers, this search is conducted to determine which car and dealership is right for them. Dealers, do you know what your prospective customers are searching?  Will your dealership website or online content be found? Research by HubSpot, an inbound marketingthought leader, primarily shows that websites that create lots of content, build activesocial media profiles, and blog regularly are much more successful online than their peers.  In short, if you create the content your customers are searching, you will drive more of them to your dealership website and boost your online lead generation. The following is a brief, step by step guide to the creation of content that will transform your dealership website into a lead...

  If you’re not using live chat, you’re losing thousands of dollars every day and you probably don’t even realize it. One thing I’m sure you do realize is that today’s automotive shoppers do extensive research online prior to ever stepping foot in a showroom.  As Ralph Paglia says, “There is no such thing as an ‘internet customer’ anymore.  There are only customers!” Another thing you’re most likely realizing is that your leads of greatest quality come from your website.  The leads that convert from your website are made up of interested, engaged, ready-to-buy shoppers that found they information for which they were searching. What about the shoppers that visit your website and aren’t converting?  Can you afford to ignore them? Automotive live chat is a unique tool for instant communication between shoppers and dealers. ...

  Are leads from live chat really leads? If you are the general manager of a dealership that has never used automotive live chat service or software, you’re probably wondering the same thing. The answer is clear though…for real! The highest quality foot traffic that comes into your showroom or onto your lot is brought in by leads generated from your dealership websites.   Automotive live chat on your dealership website increases the amount of these leads. Here are 4 reasons why leads from automotive live chat are of the highest quality.   1.      Live chat leads are informed, engaged and ready-to-buy Nine times out of ten, your website visitors are conducting research on their next automotive purchase.  Live chat serves as a quick and anonymous channel of communication between dealers and shoppers.  By using automotive live chat, you can answers visi...

    Hey dealers, is your website equipped to out-perform competition this holiday season?  Your 2011 holiday planning should already be well underway but there a few last-minute tips to get you in the spirit of closing sales from web leads. Cyber Monday is a marketing term created by companies to persuade people to shop online on the Monday immediately following Black Friday.   Between now and November 28 (and all the way to December 31), a record number of consumers researching their next vehicle purchase will be visiting your dealership website. Forrester Research predicted in its U.S. Online Retail Forecast, 2009 to 2014 report that the web would influence 48% of 2011 in-store sales, predictions which are set to come true.  The average holiday shopper plans to do 36% of their shopping online – whether they’re comparing prices, researching products, or making a purchase (or an ...

    Tired of trial and error live chat strategies? ActivEngage has gathered and analyzed data over the past several months on the performance of their products.  The findings illustrate how live chat works for dealers in various situations and how to optimize live chat for maximum engagement and lead conversion. The findings are currently being compiled and explained in a soon-to-be released ebook titled Automotive Live Chat Insights.  This free ebook will be available to all dealers so that dealerships using live chat can employ a proven and trusted live chat strategy. The following live chat deployment best practices were developed based on the analysis of more than one million live chat conversations. 1) Avoid chat button styles and designs thatblend in with the content and background of the webpage. Chat buttons should be eye-catching and ‘pop’ from the page so consumers take note of their...

This week I was thinking about what I would do if times were tough and I was still on the retail side of the business? What changes would I make in my Internet sales department? So, I decided to put together a list of seven easy to do things at your dealership that will absolutely have an impact on your Internet sales and productivity. This list is compiled to get you thinking about things you can do right now without adding to your budget. Redesign your autoresponder for shoppers- I have always found that autoresponders are a terrific place to make a great first impression and set the tone of how the Internet sales process will unfold at your dealership. Most autoresponders I see only state that the lead has been received and someone will get back to them ASAP. But, this is such a great place to do so much more. While I know that Internet shoppers may not read all the emails you send them, this one will not only set the tone but could establish if the shopper will even open up ...

Well, here is part deux as promised. Social Media is moving so fast through our industry that dealerships seem to be trying anything and everything to make sense of it. There are more opinions than facts and even more dark corners that have yet to be explored. As stated in my previous blog post anything that drives someone away from the sales process is potentially dangerous. This includes linking shoppers to social media sites through embedded icons from the homepage. I fully understand the potential brand alignments referred to in some of the comments and I agree that these sites can lend credibility to the dealership. But at what cost?

Now for the drum roll please…

How do we integrate Social Media into our dealership business without disrupting anything? After six months of working on this and countless conversations with industry peers and experts, I am please to show you just (Click Here). This is still in Beta and has not been released to the public yet, but I thought I...

After spending all of February visiting and analyzing dealership websites, one thing stuck with me that has raised a large concern. In my understanding of being successful online driving traffic to the website is just the first step. The next and probably the most important step is making sure people drive deep into the website and ultimately convert to either a web form, chat conversation or a phone call. But, I have found an alarming number of dealerships placing their social media links like FaceBook, Twitter, Youtube, dealership blog, Digg and a host of additional social media connection points on their homepage, which is linking shoppers away from their websites. I know some people will say that all this is doing is launching another browser, which preserves the dealership website beneath but is it really? Let’s be honest and call a spade a spade. It drives people away from the website. If the dealership is lucky this will only be temporarily but it may be permanently.

Is thi...

Every day I talk with dealership about Internet marketing. One thing that always stands out to me is the email correspondence that dealerships send to shoppers, from the initial autoresponder to the letter 60 days later, if they even send that many. This could be a great place to stand out to make your business case but, unfortunately, most dealership’s marketing emails all read and look the same.
When shoppers visit five websites looking for the best deal and submit email forms nothing is worse than looking just like your competitor. It screams to the shopper a duck is a duck is a duck. The only problem is you don’t want to be a duck. You want your marketing to stand out and give a different vibe. You need to show the shopper you are different.



Throw out the typical autoresponder. Send a video email introduction instead.
Don’t talk about how great your dealership is; follow up on what the shopper wants instead—make sure you address their request.
Don’t send a ...

Meet & Greet- You have four seconds to make a great first impression with you shopper. Yep that is it! Research shows that a person makes up their mind about another individual within 4 seconds of meeting them. Make your approach and greeting powerful.

Your Elevator Pitch- Within 30 seconds you need to be able to explain why the shopper should do business with you and your dealership. It has to be powerful and poignant. Show the shopper the benefits that you can bring to the shopper. This pitch needs to be centered around helping the shopper fulfill their needs.

RTDB- Ready To Do Business is essential to closing deals. Being prepared is so important yet half the time we are scrambling around without a pen, nothing to write on, no inventory sheets etc. Get into the game be prepared and get ready your next sale is right around the corner.

Product Demonstrations- Deliver a walk around that is unforgettable and make the actual test drive just a bonus. Take the time and presen...

As a recap from last week, we established the importance of starting to build Social CRM for your dealership. I feel there was some great conversation on how to get started; thanks for all the great comments! Today we are going to dive in to the steps necessary to get it off the ground. This is such an exciting time for the automotive industry and the potential for leveraging this new Social CRM can pay huge dividend for your dealership-- if you take the necessary steps to succeed.

Before I dive into the details, I want to share an analogy to help understand the connection between sales and social media.  When I was just getting started in the biz over 18 years ago, I remember a salesperson named Warren who continued to outsell everyone each month (35-45 units), yet he rarely took floor ups. His secret was his old rolodex that he constantly referenced as a gold mine for potential vehicles sales. Some where pre-existing customers, others were people he had met through everyday li...

Most dealerships use a CRM application in one form or another (some better than others).   Everyone is trying to track their prospects and customers a little more closely because honestly, there are currently fewer of them.  I think most dealerships are now looking into their DMS to mine previous shoppers in hopes of future business.  This is a good thing, and I can say without a doubt that the last 14 months have been the most gut wrenching I have experienced in the last 18 years in the automotive industry.  But I know that the dealerships that are left standing will be stronger, smarter and more equipped to deal with a marketplace that hasn't yet been fully defined.
Today, I want to focus on an emerging marketplace that I believe dealerships can leverage to gain a stronger local consumer influence, and secure their future in the automotive franchise business. The marketplace that I am referring to is Social Media. This dynamic and fluid channel is whe...

Well, they are not really diabolical but I needed to grab your attention somehow. Today I want to share with you some of the most important tips that we teach our professional chat reps at ActivEngage.  We have found these 5 tips very effective to manage online conversations and move website visitors through a shopping process.
1.  Offer the right message at just the right time- This means understanding your shoppers and then offering them relevant conversation based on: where they came from, what keywords they used and what pages they have visited on your website. If they have visited your site more than once, then you should also look at previous click paths and any previous chats.  By understanding your shoppers' mindsets, it is much easier to deliver information that they will find useful. 
2.  Get control of the conversation fast- Similar to handling a phone up, it is critical that you take control of the chat by asking questions. The key to online chat...

Most of you know that I have been involved with social media from pretty much the start; I always make sure to stay ahead of innovation for both personal and professional benefits.  I have also helped many dealerships and OEMs leverage new media and technology to stay ahead as well.  I recently decided to leverage this knowledge for a personal issue that I have been dealing with for almost a year now with the city of Orlando.  Don't you just love dealing with big, political bureaucracies?      
I decided to take our issues to the Internet and see if we could get some response. Being in the technology industry, I felt this would be the perfect social media experiment. Could the Internet really help to call attention to public policy that needs reform? The Internet & Twitter were driving forces in President Obama’s campaign, could it work to help us keep our deck? It's worth a shot.  
The situation is simple: we have a deck th...

I have recently fielded questions about the best methods to handle pre-owned inbound phone leads and have proven ideas and a script outline below.  A well thought out and rehearsed script can help even the best sales person get more contact information and schedule more appointments.  Any personnel fielding phone calls should have the script down pat.  The key is having a proven process to ensure consistent results from inbound calls.  And the script has got to sound real and engaging; nothing turns people off faster than someone reading to them over the phone.  Anyone taking calls should be required to have the script memorized.  Test them to ensure this!         
The goals for all calls should be 1.) qualify the shopper, 2.) get contact information and 3.) set an appointment.  I can tell you from years of experience, most calls are not this structured and frequently end without capturing any of this informati...

Most of us increasingly hear the term "business intelligence" thrown around in the automotive industry.  It sounds important, doesn't it?  But is it?  And what does it really mean for your dealership? 
In general (after you strip away all the jargon and BS), business intelligence simply means that you are not only collecting relevant data about prospects and customers as they move around your website, but also accurately analyzing and using that data to personalize your communication and interaction with those shoppers.  In its broadest sense, it's as simple as that.  While the definition may be easy, what needs to happen behind the scenes to collect business intelligence data is by no means child's play.  Further, successful incorporation of that information into real-life communication with consumers can also present challenges.  Let's talk here more about properly using the data, rather than properly collecting the data.  (The...

True story: I was on the phone with a dealer this week and he said he wanted to change the way the dealership handled live chat on the website.  He said he wanted to stop giving out detailed vehicle and other information and curtail the process of getting shoppers' contact information to continue communication via email and phone.  He said, "We just want to tell them to 'come on down to the dealership.'  I was floored.  I thought about my response and the dealer was a little confused when I told him he was a bank robber.  A bank robber goes into a bank where he has no money and demands money.  He has given nothing, made no deposits and yet expects the money.  This is exactly what you're doing if you still expect to gain shoppers' business without investing in the relationship and starting it online.  
Listening and responding to shoppers' queries is more important than ever, and your website offers one the easiest, most cost-effective...

Okay, almost everyone agrees that there were too many domestic dealerships and that something needed to happen to reduce the number, and it probably should have happened many years ago.  The problem was created when the domestic OEMs were passing out dealerships in the 60s and 70s with the thought that, like McDonald's, the more locations you have, the more you will sell.  This model stopped working a long time ago and some may argue that it was never effective.  Again, some dealerships have needed to go for a long time, not just due to recent economic conditions. 
With all that said, WTF happened to the criteria that ended up being used to decide which dealerships to eliminate?!  As we all know now, the decision wasn't based solely (or possibly even largely) on the financial health of the dealerships.  Every day we're hearing more stories from profitable dealerships that received termination letters.  As a business person, car guy and capitalist, t...

Your responses to leads can make or break the deal with prospects.  Customization and personalization send clear signals that you are listening and that you care.  Creating your responses based on the specific information that you have, such as the lead source, will give you a much higher response rate.  It does take more time, but the investment in quality pays off.                        
For example, Black Book offers you a unique way to follow up and engage leads. You know that the shopper is trying to find the value of their trade in, which is a definite sign they are serious. This offers you a great opportunity to personalize either the email or phone call with the shopper, instead of using the same canned response you give to all the other Internet ups. Focusing on the value of the trade and the trade in process can help you leverage what they a...

There are countless ways dealers can use live chat to help website visitors (and increase lead generation and sales)-- and also some ways it can go terribly wrong.  So why do some dealerships keep making the same mistakes?
I have broken down the main reasons live chat can fail to increase website lead generation for dealers.  We’ll call them the 7 Deadly Sins of Chat. Just think of the movie Seven but without all the scary stuff.
Lust- Loving your customers is great, but take it slow.  Yes, show your customers the love, but don’t be too pushy.  Be friendly, initiate the relationship and ask if they would like to chat.  If they say no, leave them alone.  Don’t keep trying.  If they do chat, but only need a simple answer to a quick question, offer more help, but leave them alone if they say they’re okay.  Also try not to get too personal too fast. Asking a shopper if they want help on the 2008 Chevrolet Equinox that they ...

I have learned so much by visiting dealerships around the nation and learned how more and more dealers are using chat to engage web site visitors and sell more cars. From the dealerships that do it themselves to dealerships that outsource the whole operation, there are several things that you must do to have success with chat. I have come to realize chat is like the phone in that it can add a higher level of sales, service and support for your dealership, or it can ring and ring and ring and produce poor results. Let’s take some time and go over just how to leverage chat to actively engage your web site visitors and, more importantly, turn them into sales for the dealership. (I have taken this information from a recent Digital Dealer article.) 

1. Online and on time – As I speak with people that don’t seem to be getting the most out of using chat, the first thing that I usually uncover is the limited amount of time they spend in front of the computer tryi...

I have attended and presented at every Digital Dealer Conference since its inception.  Every iteration has a slightly different focus and buzz, so it’s valuable to attend them all.  (And okay, who doesn’t love a good reason to go to Vegas?)  Last week’s conference had a good turn-out of over 400 dealers, which is especially strong considering current industry conditions.  And there were dealers at different levels: I spoke with Internet managers and I also spoke with a lot of GMs. 
I think the overall, most important conversations at the conference centered around how dealers are more actively trying to leverage their websites.  I definitely walked away with ideas to use in our business.  In particular, there was a lot of great discussion about the power of social media and live chat.  I look at this conference as it’s two times a year and technology moves so fast that it’s good to take a temperature reading and ta...

Your next leads are at the dealership website right now. You can bet that someone wants to talk to you at your website as you’re reading this. How do you plan to engage them in a conversation? Do you have the ability to serve them at your website? If not, then you're missing sales opportunities every day. It's literally like leaving money sitting on the table. Your manager would fire you for not engaging an up on your lot, yet hundreds, even thousands of people are visiting your website and leaving without a trace.

As we have discussed, mere IM software might help you increase lead generation, but what I am talking about is the power of knowing your up before they want to interact with you. IM might allow you to chat on your website-- but with no frame of reference about what the person might want, what they have already looked at, how many times they have visited the site, etc. This is the customer intelligence that helps turn anonymous website visitors into valuable le...

More and more dealers are beginning to understand the value of including live chat on their dealership website. Consumers’ instant gratification demands have helped changed how dealerships interact with their shoppers online, and smart dealers know that it is one of the most cost-effective ways to increase qualified first-party leads. The question then becomes: how do you select the right live chat service for your dealership? Although the basic underlying technology behind live chat is similar, the individual chat software products vary greatly.

For example, here are 5 specific things your automotive chat should be able to do to make you more competitive and successful with your online chat.

1. Ability to view visitors on your website in real-time and watch as they shop around your website. Chat intelligence offers you the same power of watching an up on your lot look at three Nissan Maximas, before coming into your dealership.
2. The referring URL and Keywords shopper...