Two years ago I spent 3 days in New Orleans at an NADA show that was more frustrating than anything that I could imagine. 

Not only did I have to contend with slashed ad budgets, but it seemed like half of the folks that I spoke with were convinced that special finance was dead and would not experience a Lazarus-like return.  Most of the people seemed to pity me, seeing our auto finance marketing products as a once-great idea whose time had come and gone. 

I was basically trying to sell encyclopedias at a Google convention.

While most people gave me a polite brush off, one General Manager decided that he would take a half-hour to explain to me why subprime could never come back.  Armed with some CNN sound bites and some out-of-context data from Automotive News, he gave quite an impressive soliloquy on the brave new world of auto finance.  I, of course, tried to explain my belief that our industry would not tolerate a vacuum for long, and with credit scores dipping some banks would figure out a way to structure their programs to fill the void.

His final words as he walked away from our booth were “I like that you can come up with reasonable arguments to support a fundamentally flawed position, once you guys go out of business give me a call and I may have a spot for you”.  He laughed and walked on to his next session, while I shook his comments off and looked for the next person who would give me a few minutes to chat.

I was reminded of this story earlier this week when I got a call from the same GM. 

He’s now the Finance Director for another store, and obviously didn’t remember me, but I sure remember him.  He spent about 5 minutes telling me about his research that showed special finance was going to come back soon, and he was thinking about buying some leads. I shared with him that subprime had already come back, and that the banks had created programs that helped get people into cars without setting us up for another mess in a few years. 

I’d be lying if told you I didn’t get some pleasure out of telling him that he’d missed out on the opportunity to get in early, and that I was sold out of leads in his market. 

Bob Harwood is the National Sales Manager for Carloan.com. Prior to joining Carloan.com six and half years ago, he worked on both sides of the financing process -- first at Capital One and then at a dealership here in Richmond. You can reach Bob at 804-521-8581 or via email at bharwoodATcarloan.com.

Two years ago I spent 3 days in New Orleans at an NADA show that was more frustrating than anything that I could imagine. 

Not only did I have to contend with slashed ad budgets, but it seemed like half of the folks that I spoke with were convinced that special finance was dead and would not experience a Lazarus-like return.  Most of the people seemed to pity me, seeing our auto finance marketing products as a once-great idea whose time had come and gone. 

I was basically trying to sell encyclopedias at a Google convention.

While most people gave me a polite brush off, one General Manager decided that he would take a half-hour to explain to me why subprime could never come back.  Armed with some CNN sound bites and some out-of-context data from Automotive News, he gave quite an impressive soliloquy on the brave new world of auto finance.  I, of course, tried to explain my belief that our industry would not tolerate a vacuum for long, and with credit scores dipping some banks would figure out a way to structure their programs to fill the void.

His final words as he walked away from our booth were “I like that you can come up with reasonable arguments to support a fundamentally flawed position, once you guys go out of business give me a call and I may have a spot for you”.  He laughed and walked on to his next session, while I shook his comments off and looked for the next person who would give me a few minutes to chat.

I was reminded of this story earlier this week when I got a call from the same GM. 

He’s now the Finance Director for another store, and obviously didn’t remember me, but I sure remember him.  He spent about 5 minutes telling me about his research that showed special finance was going to come back soon, and he was thinking about buying some leads. I shared with him that subprime had already come back, and that the banks had created programs that helped get people into cars without setting us up for another mess in a few years. 

I’d be lying if told you I didn’t get some pleasure out of telling him that he’d missed out on the opportunity to get in early, and that I was sold out of leads in his market. 

Bob Harwood is the National Sales Manager for Carloan.com. Prior to joining Carloan.com six and half years ago, he worked on both sides of the financing process -- first at Capital One and then at a dealership here in Richmond. You can reach Bob at 804-521-8581 or via email at bharwoodATcarloan.com.

Guest post today from our General Manager, Tom Feary. He's noticed a significant disconnect between online marketing practices and dealer operations that has popped up in the field.

The question for the month is… Do your finance people talk to your marketing and Internet people?   Many of our customers invest in used and new car leads right along with auto finance leads.  Yet the expectation of how finance leads are filtered and delivered can vary, sometimes dramatically.

An example is geographical targeting.  Your finance manager may request leads from less than 10 miles away but your marketing and Internet teams are targeting and optimizing for greater distances, such as 30 and 50 miles.  These teams invest in advertising and Internet tactics to attract a larger footprint.  Yet a finance manager can place hand-cuffs on your spending by restricting the targeting area.

One of the great things I love about the web is the ability to trip over things.  Nothing is more exciting to me than conducting a search and finding a good morsel of information by accident.  Search results and online advertising are delivered to a user based on sophisticated reasoning and calculations.  Each vendor, whether it is a search engine or ad server, has a different slant and that’s why there is opportunity everywhere.

Geo targeting on the web is just one of many slants.  For one channel, 10 miles may be a margin of error.  For another channel, 10 miles may be impossible.  And the more calculations, the more precise… the more cost.  Not cash cost, but lost opportunity because a programmer’s math determines a lead just 9 miles away looks like its 19 miles away.

So where’s the real opportunity for your finance team?  Why will an Internet sales manager work a lead from 30 or 50 miles away but a finance manager turn away a lead just several miles down the road?  How is that good for the dealer?

We’re sincere with our questions and look forward to your comments.

Tom Feary is General Manager for Interactive Financial Marketing Group, an online marketing firm serving car dealers under the Carloan.com brand.  Dealers can learn more on our web site for dealers.  You can follow Tom on Twitter @tomfeary.

Guest post today from our General Manager, Tom Feary. He's noticed a significant disconnect between online marketing practices and dealer operations that has popped up in the field.

The question for the month is… Do your finance people talk to your marketing and Internet people?   Many of our customers invest in used and new car leads right along with auto finance leads.  Yet the expectation of how finance leads are filtered and delivered can vary, sometimes dramatically.

An example is geographical targeting.  Your finance manager may request leads from less than 10 miles away but your marketing and Internet teams are targeting and optimizing for greater distances, such as 30 and 50 miles.  These teams invest in advertising and Internet tactics to attract a larger footprint.  Yet a finance manager can place hand-cuffs on your spending by restricting the targeting area.

One of the great things I love about the web is the ability to trip over things.  Nothing is more exciting to me than conducting a search and finding a good morsel of information by accident.  Search results and online advertising are delivered to a user based on sophisticated reasoning and calculations.  Each vendor, whether it is a search engine or ad server, has a different slant and that’s why there is opportunity everywhere.

Geo targeting on the web is just one of many slants.  For one channel, 10 miles may be a margin of error.  For another channel, 10 miles may be impossible.  And the more calculations, the more precise… the more cost.  Not cash cost, but lost opportunity because a programmer’s math determines a lead just 9 miles away looks like its 19 miles away.

So where’s the real opportunity for your finance team?  Why will an Internet sales manager work a lead from 30 or 50 miles away but a finance manager turn away a lead just several miles down the road?  How is that good for the dealer?

We’re sincere with our questions and look forward to your comments.

Tom Feary is General Manager for Interactive Financial Marketing Group, an online marketing firm serving car dealers under the Carloan.com brand.  Dealers can learn more on our web site for dealers.  You can follow Tom on Twitter @tomfeary.

I spent part of last week at the annual F&I Magazine Conference and Expo, and had a conversation that has been stuck in my head ever since I got back. I was speaking with a finance manager I’ve known for years, who told me how much he misses our auto finance leads and wishes that he could sign us up at his store.

The surprising thing is that when I asked why he couldn’t, his answer had nothing to do with budget or lead availability. He said that he couldn’t sign us up because he’s at a Toyota store, and there’s just no way that special finance can work in a store that isn’t domestic.

I know that opinion isn’t uncommon, but I’m here to tell you folks it’s just plain wrong. Special finance is thriving in stores across the country, from Cadillac dealers to Ford, and from Lexus to Kia, and everything in between. We do business with a good number of high line dealerships, and they all say that they love the idea of third-party leads, because it allows them to tap into a hugely profitable revenue opportunity without having to advertise their brand.

An Infiniti dealership in California did 30+ special finance deals last month, and their only means of driving that traffic into the store is third-party leads. The owner likes to laugh and say that even the stores next to him don’t know how he didn’t take the beating they did during the downturn, or who is buying all the Sentras and Hyundais he keeps out back.

As previously written, success in subprime demands a commitment from the top of the organization down, but your franchise affiliation has nothing to do with whether you can make a go of it or not. If it’s not your thing, no problem, but if you’ve had success working with challenged credit in the past and are steering clear because you don’t think you’re in the right kind of store, think again.

The money is out there for the taking, it’s just a matter of who’s going to get it.

I spent part of last week at the annual F&I Magazine Conference and Expo, and had a conversation that has been stuck in my head ever since I got back. I was speaking with a finance manager I’ve known for years, who told me how much he misses our auto finance leads and wishes that he could sign us up at his store.

The surprising thing is that when I asked why he couldn’t, his answer had nothing to do with budget or lead availability. He said that he couldn’t sign us up because he’s at a Toyota store, and there’s just no way that special finance can work in a store that isn’t domestic.

I know that opinion isn’t uncommon, but I’m here to tell you folks it’s just plain wrong. Special finance is thriving in stores across the country, from Cadillac dealers to Ford, and from Lexus to Kia, and everything in between. We do business with a good number of high line dealerships, and they all say that they love the idea of third-party leads, because it allows them to tap into a hugely profitable revenue opportunity without having to advertise their brand.

An Infiniti dealership in California did 30+ special finance deals last month, and their only means of driving that traffic into the store is third-party leads. The owner likes to laugh and say that even the stores next to him don’t know how he didn’t take the beating they did during the downturn, or who is buying all the Sentras and Hyundais he keeps out back.

As previously written, success in subprime demands a commitment from the top of the organization down, but your franchise affiliation has nothing to do with whether you can make a go of it or not. If it’s not your thing, no problem, but if you’ve had success working with challenged credit in the past and are steering clear because you don’t think you’re in the right kind of store, think again.

The money is out there for the taking, it’s just a matter of who’s going to get it.