With Thanksgiving and Black Friday approaching, MSN Autos have published aan interesting list of what they consider to be "automotive turkeys." 

So before you hit up the auto dealers on Friday looking for a good deal be sure to check out this top ten list of vehicles to avoid:

So Motor Trend has named the Volkswagen Passat the 2012 Motor Trend Car of the Year. How did it win exactly? Yahoo attributes that to a few things including:

Advancement in design: According to engineering guru Chris Theodore the exterior is”tastefully executed with really tight shut lines and nice detailing.” The result is sort of a time-release appeal that blossoms upon close scrutiny or when hand-washing the vehicle. It’s a less flashy design than the Sonata’s, but way more cohesive than the Accord’s.

Engineering Excellence: Theodore again admits,  “It’s the best-tamed VW I-5 application ever. The thrashiness has been masked, and the engine is very quiet. A fine choice for middle America in real-world driving conditions.” Jim Hall, product expert, declared  “hands down, my favorite”

Efficiency: With a recorded fuel economy stat of 34.3 mpg,  exactly halfway between the EPA city and highway ratings of 22/31 mpg, no wonder it ranked #1.

Safety: Six airbags, tire pressure monitoring, brake-assist, among many other features. Reynolds proclaimed the Passat “substantially more integrated and driver-attuned than the Camry. In the figure eight, its braking, turn-in, cornering, and exit are all fluidly linkable with less roll and better road feel.”

Value: Base priced at 27k not a bad deal. And ownership costs are also further suppressed by VW’s Carefree Maintenance Program, which picks up the tab for all scheduled stops during the 3-year/36,000-mile bumper-to-bumper warranty.

Check out the Passat and let us know what you think. Is it a deserved win? If not, who else could have been in the running for this title? Ford Fusion, Honda Accord, Hyundai Sonata, Chevy Impala?

Read some interesting articles on dealerrefresh.com and autonews.com about Google basically entering in the automotive lead business.

In February of 2010 when Google made a presentation to a select group of industry leaders about their intentions to get into the auto lead business. Some questions answered include:

How will it work for the consumer?

Basically Google will establish a Web page for vehicle shoppers. Dealers will bid, through a Google auction, to be one of about three dealers listed on the page when shoppers fill out a discounted price request for. The shoppers will then choose which of the listed dealers will receive the lead and provide the price.

When does it start?

Google is initiating the program with a handful of Bay-area dealers but has set no date for a national launch.

How will bidding work on the dealer side?

The minimum bid for placement on the Google vehicle-shopping page is $10 per lead generated and could go well above $25 a lead for popular vehicles, Christian said. The lead is generated when the Google shopper submits vehicle specifications to the dealer

How this may affect third party leads?

Well once example comes from Shaun Del Grande, president of the eight-store Del Grande Dealer Group in San Jose, Calif. He predicts that the program could push enough business his way that he may reduce the number of third-party leads he now buys.

To find out more read the following articles:

autonews.com: Dealers eager for Google pilot
dealerrefresh.com: Google enters into the auto lead business

Share your thoughts below! Will this work? Or is it another territory Google should rethink stepping into? Will this launch affect 3rd party vendors at all? Stay tuned for the launch to see how it all plays out!

When last we met, I wrote about the feedback I'd gotten on what some dealers think when I say "third party leads."  The bottom line was that anything that came from online advertising outside the dealer's direct control was considered to be a third party lead.

Following that line of discussion, I'd like to take a moment to make the distinction between an inventory lead and a finance lead. Both can be delivered from an online ad or other lead generation source, but they're fundamentally different in terms of the information delivered and the intent of the consumer.

In the broadest sense, an inventory lead from a vendor like our sister company GET AUTO® will deliver someone who has searched for a shiny blue 2009 Mustang and selected a matching vehicle from your dealership's online inventory. They are looking for that car in particular, regardless of whether they are qualified to buy that car.  (That being said, consumers these days are getting finance savvy and may do their homework to find out what they can afford before they go out and shop, whether virtually or on a dealer's lot.)

On the other hand, a consumer that comes in as a finance lead is at the other end of the process -- they've completed a full auto loan application and are just looking for someone who can put them in a car. In some cases they'll have a particular car in mind, too, but more often than not, the dealer will be able to match them to the inventory on hand.

By not having a make and model already established, it gives a dealer the flexibility to have a realistic discussion about what car the consumer can actually afford to buy on the dealer's lot.  In addition, the finance lead is that much further along in the process because the consumer has already supplied all of their personal information in order to try to qualify for credit.

I'll be the first to admit that I'm biased toward one over the other, but I can see the argument that both inventory and finance leads are an essential part of the mix for dealers who want to meet their revenue goals.

Where do these two breeds of internet lead fall in your marketing mix?

In my last post, I wrote about the term "third party leads".  I shared it with the community here on DrivingSales.com, and I did get a few responses.

The bottom line was: according to the folks who commented, it's a lead that comes from properties outside their direct control and is the result of online advertising by someone other than their dealership or their OEM.  Think AutoTrader.com, Cars.com, KBB, etc.

That's borne out by our experience in the real world, where our sales reps talk to dealers about finance leads and where they fit in with their advertising strategy and budget.  On a good day, those discussions end up becoming more about us getting a piece of the marketing budget, comparing our programs to other online advertising programs and determining which one will best fit the structure of the store and the make up of their sales team.

The challenge comes in highlighting the difference between a consumer who's interested in the shiny blue Mustang (inventory lead) and the consumer who's applied for credit and can be influenced to pick the right car for them (finance lead).

I'll take a closer look at those in my next post.

Every dealership has one of these personalities. So why not dress them up?! Costumes that are sure to entertain the guys and 'ghouls' - moohahaha

Persona: The Slasher
Quote: "slashing prices left and right!"
Ideal candidate: your sales reps on the floor
Personality traits: this person is a customer pleaser. They go above and beyond to please the customer and make the sale.

Persona: The Sleezy Sales Guy
Quote: "bada bing bada boom, fa'get about it!"
Ideal candidate: your sales reps on the floor
Personality traits: This guy can either be a real smooth talker or make you feel very uncomfortable. Either way you won't forget him.

Persona: The Race Car Driver
Quote: "I wanna go fast! (Ricky Bobby)"
Ideal candidate: Finance manager
Personality traits: They want to get you in a car and on the road ASAP. They take charge and make it happen. 

Persona: An Angel
Quote: "making your experience heavenly"
Ideal candidate: your sales manager
Personality traits: They want to make your dreams come true by getting you in the car of "your dreams." They are sweet, friendly, and somewhat... angelic.

Persona: Paparazzi
Quote: "It's all about you baby!"
Ideal candidate: any staff member
Personality traits: They are going to make you feel like Lady Gaga! Give you the VIP all-start treatment and treat you like royalty. You're going to walk out of the dealership feeling the urge to sign autographs.

Any other cool ideas for Halloween? Share them below!

In marketing and in your general life, appearance means everything!

People typically base their first impressions of you, right away, off of appearance. That usually will determine if they want to hear what you have to say. If you go into an interview with wrinkled slacks or scuffed shoes, you may lose your interviewers attention, and no matter how intelligent you are, their focus will remain on something other than your 'content' (like the huge coffee stain down the front of your shirt or the hot pink streak in your hair).

When interviewing, like marketing, you must always impress with your presence and your articulation. You must be confident, engaging, clean, and easy to understand. Here are 3 interview 'musts' that you can apply to your email marketing efforts.

1. Clean nails and face: is your database clean? Make sure you have current emails to avoid high bounce rates. Is the html in your template clean? This also is important so that the template is viewable in all browsers. As with a clean face, make sure your template's appearance matches your branding standards. If blue hues are your company's colors, keep it consistent. You wouldn't show up to a formal interview in clown makeup would you?

2. Basic suit and minimal jewelry: Like a basic suit your template should also be basic. With a basic suit, you are assured that they are paying more attention to the 'content' you speak as opposed to the bright orange suit jacket you decided to wear. Jewelry should be basic and kept to a minimum, similar to your images. A basic call to action button, logo, and image may suffice depending on the type of email being sent. Your audience will lose sight of the content if your images (like the 30 bangles on your wrist) are too flashy.

3. Confidence and knowledge: Like practicing for an interview you should 'practice' for an email send. Send tests to different email URL's to make sure the template looks the same in all of them.  And like researching the company you are interviewing for, you should also know your audience and cater your content to that demographic.

These are just a few of the many ways you can relate an interview to an email piece. Do you have any interesting ones you'd like to share? Post them below!

Inventory leads? Finance leads? Internet leads?

How about all of the above?

Sitting here writing in my office in Richmond, it never occurred to me that there might be some confusion around that term. I should have gotten a clue when DrivingSales.com eliminated the "Third Party Leads" category from their product listings and moved us under "Used Car Advertising".

That is not what we do, and I don't think anyone would know to look for our finance leads there. We might get lucky if they search for "Carloan.com" here, if they know us already and think to do that.

Try this yourselves - do a Google search for "third party leads" and see what comes up.

Surprisingly, most of the results on page one have to do with third party leads for the automotive industry. Not surprisingly, none of the PPC ads in my results had the whole string "third party leads" included. (Check out the Google Adwords Keyword Tool to find out why.)

It did, however, point me to this DealerRefresh transcription of an NADA 2010 panel called "Perfecting the Lead Mix for Your Dealership" that discussed the menu of lead choices available today and the different types of sales styles and follow up processes required for each.

Great read, by the way.

In this case, if you look closely, the "independent internet lead" - as the Dealix rep prefers to call them - refers mainly to inventory leads as far as I can tell. Those are very different from finance leads, where for the most part the consumer has not decided on a particular make and model.

I'll take a closer look at the differences in the next post. In the meantime, comment and let me know - what does the term "third party leads" mean to you?

Checking out data from CNW that came out last week -- they've got tons of data going back years and years, it's amazing.

There's one report in particular that caught my eye: "Approval Rates by FICO"  - document 1483 for those keeping score at home. Wish I could share it with you, but you have to subscribe to get the insider info. (Maybe Art Spinella will give us some sound bites in the coming weeks.)

What this Excel spreadsheet shows is the absolute destruction of the loan approval rate for the subprime segment  -- from a height of 46.29% in August 2006 to the crushing low of 4.16% in December of '08. The numbers are reflective of what we know, which is that lenders voted with their feet when it came to financing a car for anyone with a score below 620.

Fortunately, there's been a slow climb back up since then...all the way to a whopping 8.92% approval rate for car loan applications in the subprime category for September 2011.  The rate slid a little during Q3 from some months over 10% in Q2, but that 8.92% for last month is still a 28.9% increase over September 2010.

What does that mean for us, who cater to the consumers who fit that profile?

Lenders are still cautious about lending to anyone who qualifies for special financing. But they're dipping their toes back in the water and finding the temperature more and more to their liking.

My question to you is: what are you doing to take advantage of the lenders who are wholeheartedly getting their feet wet?

Earlier this week, Special Finance Insider published the results of a study conducted by AutoUSA that polled the Internet sales staff at dealerships around the country to find out how they're doing.

Not surprisingly, their findings state that "the economy is having a significant influence on customers' abilities to buy cars."  What was surprising was that "72% of respondents do not plan to cut back on their Internet marketing budgets this year."

That's good news. It means that they know that what they’re doing is working.

The other bit that looks good is item #1 in the list below, though that might be because I'm not an ISM at a dealership:

“What are the biggest challenges for your Internet marketing departments?”

• Keeping up with lead volume: 31%
• Quality of staff: 28%
• Staff’s failure to adhere to written processes: 23%
• Lack of management buy-in: 21%
• Lack of staff accountability: 15%
• Lack of staff training: 15%
• Additional responses included “other” at 15% that included a mix of responses about quality of leads, lack of inventory and staff morale, and finally, high staff turnover at 11%.

That's what a good friend of mine used to call "a high class problem" -- something along the lines of “my wallet is too small for my $50 bills and my diamond shoes are too tight.”

It’s the kind of issue anyone would love to have, especially an ISM looking to sell cars in a down economy, because there are ways to tackle that shortcoming that are high impact, low resource.

Easy-to-use, lightweight lead management tools on the market today that can support a sales team and a sales process while the challenges around staff training and accountability are being addressed.

I'm sure some examples have already sprung to mind. And if you ask nicely, we may even tell you what some are.