PCG Consulting Inc
Automotive retailers and their employees could significantly benefit from reading two powerful books.
Many of the stereotypes that plague the car industry could be mitigated if employees of car dealerships practiced the Five Laws of Stratospheric Success that are outlined by Bob Burg and John David Mann.
I highly recommend that every member of the DrivingSales.com community reads these two books this month:
- The Go-Giver
- Go-Givers Sell More
These great, easy to read books will significantly impact the way you view the sales process and increase your success with communicating with people.
Sounds too good to be true? Get the books and read them, it is well worth the investment. The books can be purchased on Amazon.com for under $14 each. Buy on Amazon.
These two books outline the author’s philosophy about selling and success which goes against the grain of common sales training. The authors challenge the traditional sales process of:
prospect -> qualify -> present -> overcome objections -> close -> follow-up -> provide customer service
with a different approach that looks like this:
create value -> touch people's lives -> build networks -> be real -> stay open
Being a Go-Giver
As I read the first book "The Go-Giver" I realized that I already practiced some of the recommendations in this book but I still have much more to learn. My passion for writing and sharing ideas on this forum is one way in which I can "give" with the hope that members will receive measurable value.
When I am asked to speak at conferences, 20-Groups and at individual dealerships I never see it as a "selling" opportunity although sales do come. I look at speaking as opportunity to teach and to give back to the automotive community.
Those of you who have heard me speak at Digital Dealer Conferences may know that at the beginning of my presentations I often clarify my purpose with this statement:
"I will not holdback information on how to improve your ( insert seminar topic) and I will answer all your questions candidly. I will give you the tools to do everything on your own. That said, 50% of you will do nothing, 20% may call me and 30% will implement some or all of my recommendations on their own without any outside costs."
The Five Laws of Stratospheric Success
As a result of my willingness to share online and at conference, people have provided me with wonderful feedback and encouragement. Some have even made a commitment to help my business succeed. This has been hard for me to accept at times and so I was challenged by the 5th Law.
I have witnessed firsthand the power of following the recommendations in the Go-Giver. The Go-Giver outlines what the authors call "The Five Laws of Stratospheric Success". They five laws are:
- The Law of Value
- The Law of Compensation
- The Law of Influence
- The Law of Authenticity
- The Law of Receptivity
If these five Laws don't intrigue you to read these two books, then take a leap of faith and do it anyway! Are you looking for greater success? Fulfillment? If the answer is yes, spend $30 and take a few hours to read these two books. It's the best investment in your future that you will ever make.
A Go-Giver Offer For DrivingSales.com
In the first book, The Go-Giver a story unfolds about a salesman named Joe that is struggling with success in his job and personal life. He is transformed in the book through a series of events and special people that show him the power of giving.
For members of this community, you and your team may be challenged to sell more cars, gain an edge over your competition, lower the cost of advertising per retail sale or increase fixed operations revenue. These challenges sometimes feel like walking through an endless battlefield; every 30 days you reset the clock and have to trod the same battlefield again watching not to step on any landmines.
Are your automotive advertising strategies really optimized?
A Fresh Set Of Eyes Can Help
If you are understaffed, overworked or if the pace of changes within digital marketing are making your head spin, I would like to offer my help. If you would like a free evaluation of your digital marketing strategy and visibility on the Internet, I am offering community members my personal analysis and a written report.
All you have to do is to commit to reviewing the report on a phone call. I will schedule a one hour follow-up call to share my findings. I will provide recommendations on how you can fix any deficiencies that I found using your own staff and business partners. There is no obligation to use PCG services.
You'd be surprised to know that I can measure the strength of a dealer's digital marketing footprint without much inside information.
What I do need is the following:
- Your name and contact information
- The domains names you use for marketing cars
- Your top 5 local competitors and their website addresses
- Five areas that you want to increase your online visibility; your top online marketing goals
For the fourth question, the guidance I need is best answered with this question "What have you been asked to increase through the Internet channel?". Some dealers tell me it's service revenue and other say that their top priority is increasing used car sales. Give me some guidance so I can evaluate how successful your automotive advertising strategies are to meet those goals.
When you have this information, email it to me at: brian@pcgdigitalmarketing.com and I will let you know when I can complete the analysis and schedule a call.
I look forward to providing you some insight on your online marketing strengths and weaknesses.
Brian Pasch, CEO
PCG Digital Marketing
http://facebook.com/PCGDigitalMarketing
PCG Consulting Inc
Automotive retailers and their employees could significantly benefit from reading two powerful books.
Many of the stereotypes that plague the car industry could be mitigated if employees of car dealerships practiced the Five Laws of Stratospheric Success that are outlined by Bob Burg and John David Mann.
I highly recommend that every member of the DrivingSales.com community reads these two books this month:
- The Go-Giver
- Go-Givers Sell More
These great, easy to read books will significantly impact the way you view the sales process and increase your success with communicating with people.
Sounds too good to be true? Get the books and read them, it is well worth the investment. The books can be purchased on Amazon.com for under $14 each. Buy on Amazon.
These two books outline the author’s philosophy about selling and success which goes against the grain of common sales training. The authors challenge the traditional sales process of:
prospect -> qualify -> present -> overcome objections -> close -> follow-up -> provide customer service
with a different approach that looks like this:
create value -> touch people's lives -> build networks -> be real -> stay open
Being a Go-Giver
As I read the first book "The Go-Giver" I realized that I already practiced some of the recommendations in this book but I still have much more to learn. My passion for writing and sharing ideas on this forum is one way in which I can "give" with the hope that members will receive measurable value.
When I am asked to speak at conferences, 20-Groups and at individual dealerships I never see it as a "selling" opportunity although sales do come. I look at speaking as opportunity to teach and to give back to the automotive community.
Those of you who have heard me speak at Digital Dealer Conferences may know that at the beginning of my presentations I often clarify my purpose with this statement:
"I will not holdback information on how to improve your ( insert seminar topic) and I will answer all your questions candidly. I will give you the tools to do everything on your own. That said, 50% of you will do nothing, 20% may call me and 30% will implement some or all of my recommendations on their own without any outside costs."
The Five Laws of Stratospheric Success
As a result of my willingness to share online and at conference, people have provided me with wonderful feedback and encouragement. Some have even made a commitment to help my business succeed. This has been hard for me to accept at times and so I was challenged by the 5th Law.
I have witnessed firsthand the power of following the recommendations in the Go-Giver. The Go-Giver outlines what the authors call "The Five Laws of Stratospheric Success". They five laws are:
- The Law of Value
- The Law of Compensation
- The Law of Influence
- The Law of Authenticity
- The Law of Receptivity
If these five Laws don't intrigue you to read these two books, then take a leap of faith and do it anyway! Are you looking for greater success? Fulfillment? If the answer is yes, spend $30 and take a few hours to read these two books. It's the best investment in your future that you will ever make.
A Go-Giver Offer For DrivingSales.com
In the first book, The Go-Giver a story unfolds about a salesman named Joe that is struggling with success in his job and personal life. He is transformed in the book through a series of events and special people that show him the power of giving.
For members of this community, you and your team may be challenged to sell more cars, gain an edge over your competition, lower the cost of advertising per retail sale or increase fixed operations revenue. These challenges sometimes feel like walking through an endless battlefield; every 30 days you reset the clock and have to trod the same battlefield again watching not to step on any landmines.
Are your automotive advertising strategies really optimized?
A Fresh Set Of Eyes Can Help
If you are understaffed, overworked or if the pace of changes within digital marketing are making your head spin, I would like to offer my help. If you would like a free evaluation of your digital marketing strategy and visibility on the Internet, I am offering community members my personal analysis and a written report.
All you have to do is to commit to reviewing the report on a phone call. I will schedule a one hour follow-up call to share my findings. I will provide recommendations on how you can fix any deficiencies that I found using your own staff and business partners. There is no obligation to use PCG services.
You'd be surprised to know that I can measure the strength of a dealer's digital marketing footprint without much inside information.
What I do need is the following:
- Your name and contact information
- The domains names you use for marketing cars
- Your top 5 local competitors and their website addresses
- Five areas that you want to increase your online visibility; your top online marketing goals
For the fourth question, the guidance I need is best answered with this question "What have you been asked to increase through the Internet channel?". Some dealers tell me it's service revenue and other say that their top priority is increasing used car sales. Give me some guidance so I can evaluate how successful your automotive advertising strategies are to meet those goals.
When you have this information, email it to me at: brian@pcgdigitalmarketing.com and I will let you know when I can complete the analysis and schedule a call.
I look forward to providing you some insight on your online marketing strengths and weaknesses.
Brian Pasch, CEO
PCG Digital Marketing
http://facebook.com/PCGDigitalMarketing
No Comments
PCG Consulting Inc
Facebook is a great communication tool for car dealers as they can stay connected to their existing customers and meet new customers by providing value. When done properly, they become a Trust Agents as described by Chris Brogan in his book with the same title.
With this great opportunity so comes spammers and scammers. Companies have found that many business owners, including car dealers, don't want to invest in social media. They would rather create INSTANT Facebook and Twitter fans to increase their "counts", regardless of the quality of those followers.
A Lesson I Learned: When someone you don't know asks to be a friend, be careful on who you accept.
On June 29, 2010, I accepted Dayna Jaqeline as a friend. Since that time I have received over 10 recommendations that I "like" various businesses on Facebook. Today I noticed this one-way pattern of communications from this new "friend".
Dayna Jaqueline, or whoever this person really is, is part of an automated scheme to increase Facebook fans for a fee. Companies create these fake accounts or alternatively hire people to invite themselves into someones Facebook account and then use that doorway to solicit fans.
This is a becoming a big business especially since car dealers are being led into believing that more is better. So, they pay a fee ranging up to $1,000 to get a few thousands fans and accounts like Dayna Jaqueline whore out their influence to drive traffic and fans.
If my experience is any indication of the quality of communications these pay services offer, I would recommend that less is more. It is the quality of your network that really matters in the end.
Facebook Whores
Should call this Facebook Prostution and Jacqueline is a Facebook Whore?
If you look at the 10+ requests that this account has solicited me in the past 8 days, you can infer that this person is pushing their influence for pay. What do you think? Would you send your friends requests every day to be friends with the companies you like best?
It's a shame that good businesses are now associated with Facebook Whores. I will be sure to post this article on their walls to let them know the type of crap they are involved with. Do you want your dealership associated with Facebook Prostitution?
Here are some of the companies that were solicited by Dayna Jaqueline in the past 7 days:
- Drake Institute
- Tryst Bingo
- Unlimited Twitter Followers *
- Vizio Optic Eyeglasses & Sunglasses
- MPB Today
- Quick Creations
- Roxanne Emery
- LYPHA
- Infused Web | Print | Design
- Hypnotist Ian Stewart
- DreamTemplate
* Also notice that Dayna was promoting Unlimited Twitter Followers...mmmmmm It looks like she also participates or encourages paid Twitter fan programs as well.
Advice on Building Facebook Fans
So, here is a word of advice. If someone offers to increase your Twitter and Facebook followers, and the methods are not clearly explained, run away. In this one case, Dayna Jacqeline is turning my Facebook inbox into the same spam junk that we experience with our email.
This is a discouraging twist in Facebook and of course I reported her to Facebook. It just takes time and effort just like the time it takes to review your spam inbox.
No Comments
PCG Consulting Inc
Facebook is a great communication tool for car dealers as they can stay connected to their existing customers and meet new customers by providing value. When done properly, they become a Trust Agents as described by Chris Brogan in his book with the same title.
With this great opportunity so comes spammers and scammers. Companies have found that many business owners, including car dealers, don't want to invest in social media. They would rather create INSTANT Facebook and Twitter fans to increase their "counts", regardless of the quality of those followers.
A Lesson I Learned: When someone you don't know asks to be a friend, be careful on who you accept.
On June 29, 2010, I accepted Dayna Jaqeline as a friend. Since that time I have received over 10 recommendations that I "like" various businesses on Facebook. Today I noticed this one-way pattern of communications from this new "friend".
Dayna Jaqueline, or whoever this person really is, is part of an automated scheme to increase Facebook fans for a fee. Companies create these fake accounts or alternatively hire people to invite themselves into someones Facebook account and then use that doorway to solicit fans.
This is a becoming a big business especially since car dealers are being led into believing that more is better. So, they pay a fee ranging up to $1,000 to get a few thousands fans and accounts like Dayna Jaqueline whore out their influence to drive traffic and fans.
If my experience is any indication of the quality of communications these pay services offer, I would recommend that less is more. It is the quality of your network that really matters in the end.
Facebook Whores
Should call this Facebook Prostution and Jacqueline is a Facebook Whore?
If you look at the 10+ requests that this account has solicited me in the past 8 days, you can infer that this person is pushing their influence for pay. What do you think? Would you send your friends requests every day to be friends with the companies you like best?
It's a shame that good businesses are now associated with Facebook Whores. I will be sure to post this article on their walls to let them know the type of crap they are involved with. Do you want your dealership associated with Facebook Prostitution?
Here are some of the companies that were solicited by Dayna Jaqueline in the past 7 days:
- Drake Institute
- Tryst Bingo
- Unlimited Twitter Followers *
- Vizio Optic Eyeglasses & Sunglasses
- MPB Today
- Quick Creations
- Roxanne Emery
- LYPHA
- Infused Web | Print | Design
- Hypnotist Ian Stewart
- DreamTemplate
* Also notice that Dayna was promoting Unlimited Twitter Followers...mmmmmm It looks like she also participates or encourages paid Twitter fan programs as well.
Advice on Building Facebook Fans
So, here is a word of advice. If someone offers to increase your Twitter and Facebook followers, and the methods are not clearly explained, run away. In this one case, Dayna Jacqeline is turning my Facebook inbox into the same spam junk that we experience with our email.
This is a discouraging twist in Facebook and of course I reported her to Facebook. It just takes time and effort just like the time it takes to review your spam inbox.
No Comments
PCG Consulting Inc
The Internet as a communications tool for car dealers is evolving and never before has the changing landscape been more challenging for dealer principals and General Managers. As car dealers seek to develop online brand messaging their advertising budgets are being pulled in many directions. Every month a new digital strategy is being presented as the next “big thing”.
Dealers are struggling to validate the benefits and implementation costs of social media, chat, streaming video, reputation management, SEO, SEM and a dozen other digital marketing pitches that come across their desk each month. With little track records or case studies to help dealers with the education process, seasoned mangers are scratching their heads and looking for advice and support from the companies that they have leaned on in the past.
Unfortunately, these products are coming from more single source vendors and not their current automotive advertising agency. Most traditional automotive advertising agencies that have delivered success with direct mail, radio, TV and print have stumbled to provide integrated digital marketing offerings. Automotive advertising agencies clinging to traditional marketing expertise has created a disruption in the marketplace with no clear winners emerging from the chaos.
Dealers who once had a single call to make for their advertising and marketing strategies now have to make multiple calls and are forced into becoming a General Contractor to build an integrated marketing strategy. Dealers have neither the training, desire nor the sustainable skills to act as a General Contractor.
Next generation automotive advertising agencies must seamlessly merge the traditional and digital landscape to increase their value to car dealers. The marketplace is screaming for integrated automotive advertising agencies that offload the burden currently on car dealers who seek to gain market share with the changing of advertising models.
Data Protectionism
To complicate the integration of traditional marketing with digital marketing strategies, dealers are still tied to vendors that do not embrace open standards for data exchange and collaboration. For example only two DMS providers serve all new car dealers in the United States. For some dealers, the distribution of the dealer’s own data is restricted by antiquated data access policies.
It’s hard to believe that in 2010 a car dealer cannot click on a menu to export a file of their own inventory into an ADF compliant XML file to send the third party advertising sources. It is hard to believe that some vendors still use modems for data transmission. Car dealers have allowed the confiscation of their own data and are held captive from creating truly innovating data reporting systems.
Since car dealers are using multiple single source software solutions, it is time to recognize that “lead lifecycle” reporting is one of the last barriers that car dealers need to measure true ROI. When a dealer has a website provider that is different than their CRM vendor, significant data is lost due to the current way data is exchanged. Commonly data is transmitted between two different software platforms using a file format call the ADF specification.
The automotive industry needs a revised ADF specification to allow an open source solution to end to end reporting across multiple software platforms. The current specification is a 1.0 version that was last modified in 2000. A lack of leadership and protectionism is complicating a revised data exchange standard and costing dealers thousands of dollars a year.
Automotive Advertising Leadership
The automotive advertising agency of the future needs to shepherd vendor integration because it is what their clients truly need. I truly believe that dealer Principals and General Managers are spending way too much time in the General Contractor role and if asked, they would give up that title in a heartbeat.
Automotive advertising agencies that seek to gain market share must invest in properly trained technical staff that understands SEO, SEM, website design, data communications, data analysis and third party data integration.
Automotive Advertising Agencies that fail to provide integrated traditional and digital marketing strategies are going to be asked an uncomfortable question by the dealer:
“And remind me what I am actually paying you to do..”
When that question is asked, you can start the clock on when your account will be replaced by an agency that took the burden of the dealer and didn’t wait to let the market disruption be the last straw.
Brian Pasch, CEO
PCG Digital Marketing
http://twitter.com/automotiveseo
No Comments
PCG Consulting Inc
The Internet as a communications tool for car dealers is evolving and never before has the changing landscape been more challenging for dealer principals and General Managers. As car dealers seek to develop online brand messaging their advertising budgets are being pulled in many directions. Every month a new digital strategy is being presented as the next “big thing”.
Dealers are struggling to validate the benefits and implementation costs of social media, chat, streaming video, reputation management, SEO, SEM and a dozen other digital marketing pitches that come across their desk each month. With little track records or case studies to help dealers with the education process, seasoned mangers are scratching their heads and looking for advice and support from the companies that they have leaned on in the past.
Unfortunately, these products are coming from more single source vendors and not their current automotive advertising agency. Most traditional automotive advertising agencies that have delivered success with direct mail, radio, TV and print have stumbled to provide integrated digital marketing offerings. Automotive advertising agencies clinging to traditional marketing expertise has created a disruption in the marketplace with no clear winners emerging from the chaos.
Dealers who once had a single call to make for their advertising and marketing strategies now have to make multiple calls and are forced into becoming a General Contractor to build an integrated marketing strategy. Dealers have neither the training, desire nor the sustainable skills to act as a General Contractor.
Next generation automotive advertising agencies must seamlessly merge the traditional and digital landscape to increase their value to car dealers. The marketplace is screaming for integrated automotive advertising agencies that offload the burden currently on car dealers who seek to gain market share with the changing of advertising models.
Data Protectionism
To complicate the integration of traditional marketing with digital marketing strategies, dealers are still tied to vendors that do not embrace open standards for data exchange and collaboration. For example only two DMS providers serve all new car dealers in the United States. For some dealers, the distribution of the dealer’s own data is restricted by antiquated data access policies.
It’s hard to believe that in 2010 a car dealer cannot click on a menu to export a file of their own inventory into an ADF compliant XML file to send the third party advertising sources. It is hard to believe that some vendors still use modems for data transmission. Car dealers have allowed the confiscation of their own data and are held captive from creating truly innovating data reporting systems.
Since car dealers are using multiple single source software solutions, it is time to recognize that “lead lifecycle” reporting is one of the last barriers that car dealers need to measure true ROI. When a dealer has a website provider that is different than their CRM vendor, significant data is lost due to the current way data is exchanged. Commonly data is transmitted between two different software platforms using a file format call the ADF specification.
The automotive industry needs a revised ADF specification to allow an open source solution to end to end reporting across multiple software platforms. The current specification is a 1.0 version that was last modified in 2000. A lack of leadership and protectionism is complicating a revised data exchange standard and costing dealers thousands of dollars a year.
Automotive Advertising Leadership
The automotive advertising agency of the future needs to shepherd vendor integration because it is what their clients truly need. I truly believe that dealer Principals and General Managers are spending way too much time in the General Contractor role and if asked, they would give up that title in a heartbeat.
Automotive advertising agencies that seek to gain market share must invest in properly trained technical staff that understands SEO, SEM, website design, data communications, data analysis and third party data integration.
Automotive Advertising Agencies that fail to provide integrated traditional and digital marketing strategies are going to be asked an uncomfortable question by the dealer:
“And remind me what I am actually paying you to do..”
When that question is asked, you can start the clock on when your account will be replaced by an agency that took the burden of the dealer and didn’t wait to let the market disruption be the last straw.
Brian Pasch, CEO
PCG Digital Marketing
http://twitter.com/automotiveseo
No Comments
PCG Consulting Inc
I am still amazed how many dealers have less than 20 reviews on their Google Maps listings. Even worse are dealers who have Google Maps listings with incorrect information and/or missing their website link. Dealers with low review counts often will find that they are mostly negative posts which creates an unfair picture of any dealership.
I was thinking why some dealers have ignored Google Maps and the reviews that show on their listing. I have come to the conclusion that they don't realize how many times each month their Maps listing is shown to consumers.
For a dealer in an active metro area, their Google Maps listing is shown over 15,000 times. Normally at these number of impressions, dealers will get over 300-500 visitors clicking to their website and dozens of phone calls. As a reminder, put a tracking number on your Google Maps listing.
Poor Reviews Decrease Leads
When a consumer clicks on the Reviews link on a dealer's maps listing and sees very negative ratings, it is no surprise why consumers may end their consideration of that dealer. I'm writing today to encourage Internet Sales Managers and General Sales Managers to implement a 4x4 IRM strategy for the next few months.
By starting with realistic goals, dealers can take small steps to increase their consumer direct leads. With all the competition on Google Page One for your brand name, your Google Maps reviews are one of your most powerful defensive tools. As your reviews increase, so will the leads and calls.
Starting A Internet Reputation Management Process
Every month, dealers sell cars to family, friends or long-time customers. I am encouraging all dealers to identify these loyal brand advocates and contact them to achieve 4 reviews on Google Maps each week for one month. This 4x4 strategy will produce 16 positive reviews spread out over the month.
This investment will be one of the best uses of your time in the next 30 days.
If you feel that posting 16 reviews on Google Maps in one month is too many, split it with one other review site that shows on Google Page One or Page Two when you do a search on your exact business name.
The reason why I am encouraging this initial measure to be done with loyal customers is because many dealers have only bad reviews "front and center" on Google Maps. I don't want a new customer to see just the "ugly" posts. Keep in mind that Google is rolling up reviews from Edmunds, DealerRater, Yelp, CitySearch, so posting directly on Google is key for visibility.
Car dealers need to achieve balance by getting loyal customers to post from their home computers that will not lose faith when they see some negative reviews posted. Once balance is established, any customer should be encouraged to post a valid, truthful review. If you don't ask yourhappy customers, then your positive counts will never go up.
If dealers implement a 4x4 strategy on Google for one month, then they can expand that strategy to Edmunds, DealerRater, Yelp or InsiderPages. The goal is to achieve a natural set of posts that are not all posted on the same day or to put up 20 reviews in one week.
4x4 Reputation Management Rules
Always play by the rules; don't cheat. Have the reviews posted from actual customers from their own PC at home. Never post reviews from inside your dealership.
Ask your customers to be specific about the car they purchased, who they dealt with and where they live. By including where they live, you demonstrate that people are willing to drive a distance to shop at your dealership.
Get started...Google Maps is your #1 free advertising source on the Internet. Don't waste the opportunity.
Brian Pasch, CEO
PCG Digital Marketing
No Comments
PCG Consulting Inc
I am still amazed how many dealers have less than 20 reviews on their Google Maps listings. Even worse are dealers who have Google Maps listings with incorrect information and/or missing their website link. Dealers with low review counts often will find that they are mostly negative posts which creates an unfair picture of any dealership.
I was thinking why some dealers have ignored Google Maps and the reviews that show on their listing. I have come to the conclusion that they don't realize how many times each month their Maps listing is shown to consumers.
For a dealer in an active metro area, their Google Maps listing is shown over 15,000 times. Normally at these number of impressions, dealers will get over 300-500 visitors clicking to their website and dozens of phone calls. As a reminder, put a tracking number on your Google Maps listing.
Poor Reviews Decrease Leads
When a consumer clicks on the Reviews link on a dealer's maps listing and sees very negative ratings, it is no surprise why consumers may end their consideration of that dealer. I'm writing today to encourage Internet Sales Managers and General Sales Managers to implement a 4x4 IRM strategy for the next few months.
By starting with realistic goals, dealers can take small steps to increase their consumer direct leads. With all the competition on Google Page One for your brand name, your Google Maps reviews are one of your most powerful defensive tools. As your reviews increase, so will the leads and calls.
Starting A Internet Reputation Management Process
Every month, dealers sell cars to family, friends or long-time customers. I am encouraging all dealers to identify these loyal brand advocates and contact them to achieve 4 reviews on Google Maps each week for one month. This 4x4 strategy will produce 16 positive reviews spread out over the month.
This investment will be one of the best uses of your time in the next 30 days.
If you feel that posting 16 reviews on Google Maps in one month is too many, split it with one other review site that shows on Google Page One or Page Two when you do a search on your exact business name.
The reason why I am encouraging this initial measure to be done with loyal customers is because many dealers have only bad reviews "front and center" on Google Maps. I don't want a new customer to see just the "ugly" posts. Keep in mind that Google is rolling up reviews from Edmunds, DealerRater, Yelp, CitySearch, so posting directly on Google is key for visibility.
Car dealers need to achieve balance by getting loyal customers to post from their home computers that will not lose faith when they see some negative reviews posted. Once balance is established, any customer should be encouraged to post a valid, truthful review. If you don't ask yourhappy customers, then your positive counts will never go up.
If dealers implement a 4x4 strategy on Google for one month, then they can expand that strategy to Edmunds, DealerRater, Yelp or InsiderPages. The goal is to achieve a natural set of posts that are not all posted on the same day or to put up 20 reviews in one week.
4x4 Reputation Management Rules
Always play by the rules; don't cheat. Have the reviews posted from actual customers from their own PC at home. Never post reviews from inside your dealership.
Ask your customers to be specific about the car they purchased, who they dealt with and where they live. By including where they live, you demonstrate that people are willing to drive a distance to shop at your dealership.
Get started...Google Maps is your #1 free advertising source on the Internet. Don't waste the opportunity.
Brian Pasch, CEO
PCG Digital Marketing
No Comments
PCG Consulting Inc
Dealers spend thousands of dollars a year on designing a good website. Then they spend thousands of dollars a year to add video, chat, vAuto, SEO and SEM to their websites. They invest in branding on radio, TV and newspaper as well.
Then dealers unknowingly make decisions to make sure consumers DO NOT GET to their website for popular search phrases on the search engines.
HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?
One day, dealers were told it was a "good" idea to send their inventory to 3, 5, 8 or 10 "free" inventory listing websites that promised to create significant leads and relevance to their business.
Inventory feed providers, website providers all bought the sales pitch. Funny, not many dealers have gone back to look just how many leads are coming in from these "free" sites? Even less have decided to take any action once they saw that these free sites were NOT producing meaningful results.
Dealers concluded, what can it hurt me to send my inventory....it's free. Guess what. It's NOT free. It has a real Cost.
So, I wrote a post this week that I though would elicit more responses, but it didn't. I think I just gave too much information, so I'll say it one more time, using graphics. Dealers are allowing their inventory to be used against them.
They are allowing free websites to push their own websites off of Google Page One.
I did a simple search on Yahoo, which was: " Indianapolis Silverado for sale" and I documented Page 1 and Page 2 of the search results. You should test a few local phrases and see who comes up on Page One.
Take a look at the screen shots at the bottom of this page and take note that:
- There are NO car dealers in organic search results on Page One or Two.
- Go back and read point #1.
- Free listing websites that sell your leads or show competitor listings are on Page 1 and 2 and NO car dealer websites are one Page 1 or 2.
-
KBB is using your inventory feed to create car detail pages with lead generation links to:
- Cars.com
- FundingWay.com
- Presenting competing dealer banner ads
- Presenting banner ads that go to OEM websites
-
Oodle is using your inventory feed to create car detail pages with lead generation links to:
- Your competitors using Google Adsense
- Presenting banner ads that go to OEM websites
-
LemonFree is using your inventory feed to create car detail pages with lead generation links to:
- Your competitors comparable listings in their network
- Competitors using Google Adsense
Do I have to keep going?
Many dealers are PAYING Autotrader.com to advertise their cars and even AT is being pushed down in the ranking by free and pseudo-free websites that are NOT dealer centric models. The irony is that dealers are sending their inventory to free sites that are pushing even AutoTrader.com down in the rankings.
Anyone looking for a reason WHY Autotrader.com leads may be down in your market? It just may be your own actions!
How many leads a month are you getting from these FREE sites?
Driving Sales Members..please listen.
STOP SENDING YOUR INVENTORY to "free" sites that are using your inventory to create landing pages by car model that:
- sell your competitors cars
- create leads that are sold to your competitors
- generate ad revenue for someone else
- that push your own website pages off Google Page One
Call your inventory management service like HomeNet, Dealer Specialties, etc. and tell them to ONLY send your inventory advertising services that DELIVER results like Autotrader.com, Cars.com or any site THAT YOU HAVE PROVEN is not hurting you and is delivering real sales each month.
Get it in writing and then search for VIN numbers that you have in stock the following month. Need proof? See the images below.
Does ANYONE think that at least ONE Chevrolet Dealer should be showing up on Yahoo Page One or Page Two???
What is your response?
Brian Pasch, CEO
PCG Digital Marketing
http://twitter.com/automotiveseo
http://facebook.com/pcgdigitalmarketing
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PCG Consulting Inc
Dealers spend thousands of dollars a year on designing a good website. Then they spend thousands of dollars a year to add video, chat, vAuto, SEO and SEM to their websites. They invest in branding on radio, TV and newspaper as well.
Then dealers unknowingly make decisions to make sure consumers DO NOT GET to their website for popular search phrases on the search engines.
HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?
One day, dealers were told it was a "good" idea to send their inventory to 3, 5, 8 or 10 "free" inventory listing websites that promised to create significant leads and relevance to their business.
Inventory feed providers, website providers all bought the sales pitch. Funny, not many dealers have gone back to look just how many leads are coming in from these "free" sites? Even less have decided to take any action once they saw that these free sites were NOT producing meaningful results.
Dealers concluded, what can it hurt me to send my inventory....it's free. Guess what. It's NOT free. It has a real Cost.
So, I wrote a post this week that I though would elicit more responses, but it didn't. I think I just gave too much information, so I'll say it one more time, using graphics. Dealers are allowing their inventory to be used against them.
They are allowing free websites to push their own websites off of Google Page One.
I did a simple search on Yahoo, which was: " Indianapolis Silverado for sale" and I documented Page 1 and Page 2 of the search results. You should test a few local phrases and see who comes up on Page One.
Take a look at the screen shots at the bottom of this page and take note that:
- There are NO car dealers in organic search results on Page One or Two.
- Go back and read point #1.
- Free listing websites that sell your leads or show competitor listings are on Page 1 and 2 and NO car dealer websites are one Page 1 or 2.
-
KBB is using your inventory feed to create car detail pages with lead generation links to:
- Cars.com
- FundingWay.com
- Presenting competing dealer banner ads
- Presenting banner ads that go to OEM websites
-
Oodle is using your inventory feed to create car detail pages with lead generation links to:
- Your competitors using Google Adsense
- Presenting banner ads that go to OEM websites
-
LemonFree is using your inventory feed to create car detail pages with lead generation links to:
- Your competitors comparable listings in their network
- Competitors using Google Adsense
Do I have to keep going?
Many dealers are PAYING Autotrader.com to advertise their cars and even AT is being pushed down in the ranking by free and pseudo-free websites that are NOT dealer centric models. The irony is that dealers are sending their inventory to free sites that are pushing even AutoTrader.com down in the rankings.
Anyone looking for a reason WHY Autotrader.com leads may be down in your market? It just may be your own actions!
How many leads a month are you getting from these FREE sites?
Driving Sales Members..please listen.
STOP SENDING YOUR INVENTORY to "free" sites that are using your inventory to create landing pages by car model that:
- sell your competitors cars
- create leads that are sold to your competitors
- generate ad revenue for someone else
- that push your own website pages off Google Page One
Call your inventory management service like HomeNet, Dealer Specialties, etc. and tell them to ONLY send your inventory advertising services that DELIVER results like Autotrader.com, Cars.com or any site THAT YOU HAVE PROVEN is not hurting you and is delivering real sales each month.
Get it in writing and then search for VIN numbers that you have in stock the following month. Need proof? See the images below.
Does ANYONE think that at least ONE Chevrolet Dealer should be showing up on Yahoo Page One or Page Two???
What is your response?
Brian Pasch, CEO
PCG Digital Marketing
http://twitter.com/automotiveseo
http://facebook.com/pcgdigitalmarketing
No Comments
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