Every Month it seems that all across the Nation in Dealerships everywhere two things happen nearly simultaneously:

1. Salesmen breathe a collective sigh of relief from the huge end-of-Month push and start trying to calculate their paychecks and bonus amounts.
2. Managers try and keep people focused on getting the new Month started and familiarize everyone with the new advertising and incentives.

In short, there is discordance and a lull in urgency. Since most consumers begin their research Months in advance, those that didn’t take advantage of that “Month End” deal yesterday still need to be followed up with today. “How do I keep my Store oblivious to the Calendar?” becomes the question.

Though we may never totally eliminate this issue, one of the ways to lessen its impact on your Store’s performance is to change your Month end pay dates.

 Almost every Store I’ve ever been in has some type of Team or rotating personnel schedule and a Monthly Bonus or spiff program tied to performance. By simply having one Team’s bonus configuration period run from the 15^th to the 15^th each Month, you will always have ½ your Store striving to “Finish Strong”.

Since we pay on the bonus from the prior Month on the 20^th, there is always one Team that will know where their numbers are about 2 weeks before the other but whether it’s breeding competition for this Month or next, at least it’s not stagnation.

At least it’s a 50% reduction in “Finish-Line Syndrome”.

Bryan Armstrong

@bryancarguy

It’s all in the sprinkles

                I have an obsession with coffee. I’m not talking I like it nor need it to get going in the morning but a full-fledged love of the drink. While at home and at most restaurants I prefer to drink it black but I will have it with cream and sweetened in one way and one way only: a venti latte vanilla breve with 5 shots, no foam and a sprinkle of nutmeg. This concoction of my own careful creative process has been my mainstay at many a Starbucks or up until recently a shop called Beans n Brews. They know me by name and I can even call ahead and simply say, “It’s Bryan, could you make my coffee?” and it would be ready. At just over $8 for this indulgence, I want it perfect.

So it is with much sadness and a sense of longing that I drive by my previously beloved haunt every morning without stopping. Though I am normally (surprise) not a shy nor timid fellow, they don’t, nor will ever know, why they lost my patronage. It’s simple: they forgot the sprinkle of nutmeg one too many times. I gave them the benefit of the doubt, re-explained my order to the same baristas that I’ve dealt with for years. The first few times, I shook it off but when it continued to happen, I was done. There’s a Starbucks on the other side of the street and its $1 cheaper there. They don’t know my name and I can’t call ahead but it’s exactly what they promise to deliver each and every time.

                As I call through customer lists and review customer survey responses, our industry is no different:

 “They didn’t put my seat back and I could never get it just right again.”

 “No one set my radio stations.”

“I didn’t get a sticker telling me when my next oil change is due”

“They just handed me my keys and it took me 10 min to find my car.” 

The list goes on, trivial things, sprinkles really but they all add up to send the message that the customer is not valued, neither listened to nor appreciated.

All the above issues are addressed as part of our process, and all are things that are done correctly probably 99.9% of the time. But by attrition that .01% adds up in lost re-sell opportunity, referral business and of course revenue.

                What are the sprinkles that change the flavor of your business from the competitor who may not be as nice or personable, but does things the exact same way every time to the customer’s expectations? What are the methods you have in place to inspect them? Who does so and how often? Service sells and consistent service sells ten-fold.

Bryan Armstrong 

@bryancarguy

We all have them, the inevitable “lost” customer. Whether it is the dreaded “bought elsewhere” or even more horrifying “purchased same Brand, different Dealer”, much can be learned from taking the time to get to know WHERE and WHY your potential Customer chose to not do business with you. That’s right, I said YOU. If you’re not taking it personal, you should.

Today I want to touch briefly on just one of the myriad of reasons I’ve uncovered this last week in attempting to contact all customers who gave us the opportunity, but ultimately met their needs elsewhere. GAMES!

Most of you know I’m not talking Parker Bros. here. I mean back and forth, 3-card Monty, hide the profit, pack the payment, under-allow the trade, less than full disclosure, it’s still the 80’s, my customer can’t do math time wasters.

I’ll put myself out there with an example. I spoke with a customer who said they bought at my nearest and most heated competitor because they asked to see the invoice on the car and were told they needed to have a signed commitment to buy with a credit app first. When they declined and said they had already gotten a number (from Edmunds) and just wanted to verify that the offer they were willing to tender was on a similar priced vehicle as the one they had booked out, the answer came back that it was new in stock and the invoice was not yet in the book. They then told the salesman what they were prepared to offer and he told them it couldn’t be done. So they went up the street, found the car they liked, were shown the invoice, made their offer of approximately 2% OVER and bought their New Car.

Today’s customer is more educated and often times that objection or question they ask is nothing more than a test to see if YOU are the place they want to do business with.

Transparency has to become more than a catch phrase in today’s daily Sales Process. Either live it or don’t, either way if all are not embracing the same culture, you are destined to fail.

Is it easier for your sales force to get a “best price” off your website than from the desk? Do your customers walking in know more about your product than your so-called consultants? Does your “Brick and Mortar” operation mirror your on-line presence?

It may be time to take a poll of your own and find those extra deals per Month.

             I heard a quote from a Dealer friend of mine the other day which struck me as sad “I spend $100,000 a month on advertising and only half of it works, the problem is I don’t know which half.” The funny thing is in many dealerships the G.M. or Dealer Principal may control or outsource the majority of the ad budget, yet the only Department held accountable to any sort of ROI standard is inevitably the internet. Why should this be? Agencies and Reps. spend huge amounts of time and money investing in building relationships with Senior Management, and are seldom held accountable to the produced results. Perhaps this is because it would reflect on them or on the Owner/GM negatively, because they can claim vague traceability or because the vendor in question once had a glorious track record of produced results.

                Whether it is ego or familiarity that feeds this folly there are plenty of tools that allow for better tracking on all mediums. Custom landing pages, whether it is radio or print all creative should direct traffic to a touch point inside your website where analytics can measure traffic and conversion rates. Also the use of unique call tracking phone numbers (I use CallSource for everything) will also give a clearer picture. I have gone so far as to ensure that every creative in every medium receives its own unique number. This allows me to see, though the consumer may have seen or heard multiple ads, which one inspired the all important click or call. The Custom pages I can do myself now in Cobalt and CallSource the only company I’m aware of that will, for less than $500 a month, provide self-provisioning, unlimited toll free or local tracking numbers that can be pointed anywhere I choose. You can even bounce that cars.com or Autotrader number to your own CallSource number, thus allowing instant reporting and recording of every phone call.

                In speaking with an e-Commerce Director over a large group, I was amazed at how small a sum of the total ad budget was under his direct control. Yet monthly he, as we all are, is held accountable to the sales produced by the total budget expended. This is equal to taxation without representation. Any Director worth their title is not just a student of the Digital Market but of Consumer behavior and has a responsibility to ensure the highest possible return on every ad dollar spent.

                So rather than sit and whine that too much is out of your hands, enact traceable means of measuring effectiveness. You will receive push back, as your radio and newspaper rep may say that multiple numbers will dilute your branding and confuse your consumer. This is a weak argument designed to dodge accountability. If consumer “A” has this week’s ad in front of them and your mailer, they will call the number off the creative that sparked their interest not sit and ponder why you have two different numbers.

Hold yourself accountable above all, if you made a mistake in your choice of ads/creative/delivery medium admit it. Everyone knows it flopped anyway. The upside is by providing clear concise reporting, you may end up with a greater voice in determining where next month’s budget is spent and an increased allocation (and hence reach and traffic) to programs that are working.

                Media is media and continuing to make a distinction between “new” and “traditional” is as my friend Ralph Paglia pointed out in this excellent “5 lies” post, pure folly.

*Disclaimer-Though I normally post every Tuesday, I had a learning moment on Sunday which led me to two revelations:

1. Sparklers should be lit one at a time, not grasped by hand in a bundle of six.

2. Emergency Rooms are quite busy at Midnight on Holidays involving fireworks.             

Bryan Armstrong

Twitter: @bryancarguy 

For more info or to discuss this article you can call me at 801-503-9535. It will ring right to my cell phone, you won’t have my “real” number and I’ll have a record of our entire conversation. I know there are many Companies that offer similar services, I am simply speaking of the one I chose and have had great success with. Should you choose to check out CallSource, the gentleman I have worked with at CallSource for years is:

Jeff Ward

Regional Sales Manager

888-496-1162 toll-free

jward@callsource.com

www.callsource.com

Tell him you read about it here as self-provisioning accounts are NOT the norm any longer, but I’m sure he would work with you.

Good Luck!

 One of the greatest perks of contributing here on DrivingSales as a Community Editor is the opportunity to, on occasion, review products or companies for my fellow Dealers. When the opportunity arose to speak with C.E.O Jim Landy of CarFinanceCapital I jumped at the opportunity. Their board is a veritable who’s who of finance and having utilized Triad extensively in the past I wanted to see what lesson’s had been learned and get a feel for the direction and mission of the new company.    

Utah, like many states has been hit by the decline of consumer credit scores and it is often an arduous task to find funding for good people whom have extenuating circumstances. Even banks that claim to serve this growing niche do so with huge acquisition fees and reduced L.T.V. advances. Captive lenders, for many, have stepped up if it’s for their product (either new or C.P.O.) yet even some New Car Dealers still struggle to obtain finding for their clients.

I started by reading the press release and checking out their website www.CarFinanceCapital.com .  Anyone who has ever spent any time at all trying to get a deal bought knows which buyer they need to talk to at which bank. However, many institutions have automated systems to screen apps and trying to get an auto-decline reversed is a herculean task. Speaking with Jim I was blunt, perhaps even on the edge of rude, as I tried to find the loophole in how any bank could give 115% L.T.V. + 2,000 cap (for example) on a FICO of as low as 525.

This is a company with a plan, and if they stick to it, they will dominate. The market model of having a Rep., a dedicated Buyer and a Funder is something you rarely see with regularity from even Tier One Lenders. To hear Jim speak of actually partnering with dealers and finding funding solutions rather than reasons to decline a deal was refreshing.

            The projected growth plan (they are currently only in CA and TX) seemed reasonable and prudent, and mentions of the Northwest by year’s end were hopeful and exciting. I asked as to whether there are plans to further develop a consumer facing interface or a lead generation partnership (c’mon he developed Roadloans!) and while he recognized the obvious potential their www.carfinance.com site may eventually generate, that does not currently seem to be priority.

I would love to hear from anyone currently using CarFinance as a lending solution to hear how it’s working out. Quite frankly, after the 45 minutes Jim graciously gave me, I wish I had access now. Imagine, being able to provide an actual buying solution and treating a Secondary Finance Customer as a first-rate client. CarFinance appears to have the vision of removing the “sub” from Sub-Prime Lending solutions. 

This week I had two experiences that I have to share as I believe they have relevance to our industry. I ordered food from a pizza joint and got a massage…stay with me. 

#1- I generally go to an amazing Spa called Sanctuary Day Spa. They have three locations and offer a full line Spa experience as well as a gym in at least one location. My favorite Spa is located inside Southtowne Mall. From the time you enter the unprepossessing entrance, you are transported into another world far away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. The atmosphere is serene and the staff is friendly and extremely competent. I have never received poor service nor regretted any of the fees I have paid.

#2- I ordered from Domino’s Pizza.

In both instances I began my transaction on-line.

#1-In going to the Spa’s website, though I am familiar with their locale and a loyal customer, I browsed the menu of services and since it was Sunday morning and many businesses are closed or have shortened hours in Utah on Sunday, I primarily was trying to book an on-line appointment. Alas, the hours were wrong and the only form available was to either sign-up for their newsletter or enter my info to have someone contact me. Nowhere was an option to schedule an appointment or book services. Basically, everything directed me to “CALL NOW”! So, out of a lack of any other option I called and left a message (though on the site it said they should have been open) and the cheerful “Happy Father’s Day” greeting on the machine made me further wonder about their competence. I called them back 10 min. after their appointed opening time relayed on the outplayed message since they had not returned my call, booked my appointment and had a very relaxing afternoon enjoying the facilities.

#2-When I ordered 3 sandwiches and wings from Dominos.com, I viewed their menu, was directed to the Store that served my area, placed an order for 4 people and paid. I was immediately given a cool widget whose theme I could choose and it tracked my order. Interestingly enough, it relayed the info through every step of the process- “Your order was placed at 5:41 approximate delivery time 22-32 min, Sarah began making your sandwiches at 5:46, your sandwiches were placed in the oven at 5:51, Glen left to deliver your order at 6:01”. My fellow Managers at the Store were giving me grief, “Oh, do you have to place the order on-line because you’re the e-Commerce Director? “And “I bet there’s not even a Sarah working there”. I immediately picked up the phone, was asked to hold and after a 3-5 min wait was answered back with “Do you want to hear about our specials?” I replied no and asked if there was indeed someone named Sarah employed there. The answer that she was busy making sandwiches at the moment won me my lunch.

My Spa visit was over 40 times more expensive than what I spent on lunch, but if I were to compare the two transactions based purely on ease and convenience the pizza joint wins. I literally had to fight to do business with a Spa I enjoy and frequent often and got Dominos for the first time in years because it was easy and transparent. Also, I sent Sara a healthy tip, but Glen who took 26 min to drive about 2.5 miles didn’t fare as well.

How easy are we in the Auto Business making it for our Customers to do business with us?

Transparency and an absence of hassle will win over price and location nearly every time in building engagement and consummating a transaction. Sure, the old argument stands that the customer MAY just take my easily proffered information to a closer Dealer to match the deal I gave, but more than likely, they shopped them anyway and were told to CALL NOW!

So today I will once again look at my on-line presence with a consumer’s mind-set and re-evaluate my sales strategy. After all, though buying a vehicle is a bit larger transaction than getting a sandwich, I want doing business with my Store to be at least as comparatively easy as ordering lunch.  

It’s that time of year again. The political season is upon us. The ads and hype begin to fill every space, timeline, blog post and feed. All seem to tout themselves as the party of choice and that their Agenda is the only one that makes sense for your personal and professional prosperity. The mudslinging threats and the overwhelming message begins to take shape “If you’re not with us then you’re against us.”  It is obvious that pressures begin to mount to take sides early. More importantly in the economic reality that has begun to take shape in 2011, that of gradual recovery in our Industry yet with the threat of doom seeming to loom (for many of us are just beginning to recover from the last four years), the available funds are limited and we as Dealers are hard pressed to determine exactly where our expenditures would be best served.

Many will be forced to declare early where they are running and because of their party affiliation, may be ostracized from certain venues and perhaps even ridiculed and demeaned for their choices. This is a sad state of affairs for, in my humble opinion, ideas abound that could better our Industry, our lives and our Professional standing. Instead, I begin to feel as nothing more than a tick mark on someone’s giant score card, a means to declaring a hollow and self-serving “victory”.

I wish, instead of making me vote with my dollars and physical presence in one way or another, that there could be unity of purpose in truly serving the constituency and that open dialogue “across the aisle” could occur. I believe that there is good in all and that the primary purpose behind it all is to better our Industry. But alas, in the grand scheme of things, whether it is ego driven or the monetary motivation behind it all, we all must choose where we will be in October.

Yep, I hate the Automotive Convention Political Season.

I love Google Analytics. The information that can be gleaned when properly implemented is nothing short of amazing. So imagine my pleasant surprise when I received the following newsletter yesterday. In case you did not receive it, I thought I'd share it here. Enjoy!

Google Analytics Benchmarking Newsletter
2011, Volume 1, July 2011

1. Introduction

Welcome to the first volume of the Analytics Benchmarking Newsletter!

This month, we are replacing the standard "benchmarking" report in your Google Analytics account with data shared in this newsletter.  We are using this newsletter as an experiment to surface more useful or interesting data to Analytics users.  Data contained here comes from all websites which have opted-in anonymous data sharing with Google Analytics.  Only those website administrators which have enabled this anonymous data sharing will receive this "benchmarking" newsletter.

You may be wondering, how many websites are in this "anonymous data sharing" pool? Currently, hundreds of thousands, and we've endeavored to make all of the metrics here statistically significant.

The date range of comparison for this newsletter is from November 1, 2010 - February 1, 2011.  Comparison is done with data from November 1, 2009 - February 1, 2010.  Absolute metrics such as total # visits, pageviews, or conversions for all opted-in websites are not reported.

To simplify the prose, the phrase "websites" will represent "websites which have opted into anonymous data sharing with Google Analytics" for the rest of this newsletter.

2.  Site Metrics

Compared to a year ago, websites have seen reduced pages / visit, average time on site, as well as bounce rate.

11/1/09 - 2/1/10

11/1/10 - 2/1/11

Difference

Pages/Visit

4.9

4.5

-0.4

Bounce Rate

48.2%

47.0%

-1.2%

Avg Time on Site

5:49

5:23

-0:26

2.1 Breakdown by Geography

Our anonymous database has aggregated geographic breakdown at the country level. Here are a few representative countries and their respective aggregate metrics. The first number in each cell represents the metric for the date range 11/1/10-2/1/11. The parenthesized number is the Year over Year delta compared to a year ago.

Country

Pages / Visit

Bounce Rate

Avg Time on Site

United States

4.7 (-0.1)

42.5% (-6.1%)

6:06 (-0:10)

United Kingdom

4.9 (-0.3)

41.5% (+0.2%)

5:38 (-0.27)

France

4.4 (-0.4)

49.7% (+1.4%)

4:40 (-0:08)

Brazil

4.1 (-0.1)

47.8% (-2.9%)

5:20 (+0:03)

China

4.1 (-0.1)

58.2% (+1.0%)

3:46 (+0:37)

Japan

3.9 (-0.1)

48.6% (-9.0%)

3:47 (-2:59)

2.2 Breakdown by Traffic Sources

Traffic sources below are identified by how the "source" and "medium""" parameters are received by the Google Analytics collecting servers. Here is an article describing what these designations refer to.

Traffic Sources

Pages / Visit

Bounce Rate

Avg Time on Site

Direct

4.0 (-0.5)

47.2% (-4.0%)

5:21 (-0:07)

Referral

5.0 (+0.1)

43.1% (-1.1%)

6:36 (-1:48)

Organic Search

4.9 (-0.1)

47.9% (-1.1%)

4:43 (+0:06)

CPC Search

5.6 (+0.0)

41.4 (-1.7%)

3:57(+0:07)

2.4  Conversion Rate Distribution

Many marketers' favorite metric is conversion rate.

Would anyone have guessed that states which are known for conversions are also high for their citizens' goal conversion rate?  Note that for some states with few population, the statistical significance of the conversion metric comes into doubt.

3. Traffic Sources

Traffic sources below are identified by how the "source" and "medium" parameters are received by the Google Analytics collecting servers. Here is an article describing what these designations refer to.

% Visits from Sources

11/1/09 - 2/1/10

11/1/10 - 2/1/11

Difference

Direct

36.5%

36.8%

+0.3%

Referral

21.0%

19.4%

-1.6%

Search Engines

27.0%

28.0%

+1.0%

Other

15.5%

15.8%

+0.3%

4. Operating Systems

Browsers and Operation Systems (OS) are identified by the "referrer" string sent by users' browsers.

% Visits from OS

11/1/09 - 2/1/10

11/1/10 - 2/1/11

Difference

Windows

89.9%

84.8%

-5.1%

Macintosh

4.5%

5.2%

+0.7%

Linux

0.6%

0.7%

+0.1%

Other

5%

9.3%

+4.3%

5. Comments

This is the first volume of our Analytics Benchmarking Newsletter. We hope that it provides useful insights. If you have specific comments or suggestions on how to improve this newsletter, please send your feedback to: analytics-benchmarking@google.com.

Happy analyzing,
Google Analytics Team

Are you harvesting potential or digging in the silo?  

I have some good friends and know a few vendors that “take it personal”. That being said, as Dealers look toward gaining market share and capturing clientele, there seems to be an almost pervasive and dangerous trend in our industry. I’m talking about the detachment of Dealership personnel from the public image, identity and very persona of the Dealership. We see more and more of our advertising and public facing identities put in the hands of vendors and 3^rd parties.

Now I’m not suggesting here that mutually beneficial relationships cannot occur or that there are not benefits to having a well-branded corporate identity. But to what extent are the very people who comprise your operation involved? After all, when customers contact the store they may receive a very different experience than what is purported in the blogs and newspaper ads.

The best vendors out there bring fresh ideas that mirror the ever changing marketplace and have a vested interest in the success of the content they produce. After all, employees, internal and external, are generally held to results. When your advertising reflects gimmicks and “something for nothing” then it is hardly apropos to hold accountable the salesman who took 10 ups in a row with bad credit because someone thought “we finance everyone” was  going to draw a lot of traffic. It DID but in all business give me transparency over trickery anytime. First off most of your customers who can buy will see through it and not want to do business with such a shady operation. Second, doing so will probably land you afoul of your OEM if not other legal actions. But most importantly you establish yourself as a store of hype that over promises yet under delivers. I have yet to review an ad budget of any dealer that should they re-allocate a portion of their total spend to a more open, pervasive presence on the net, where the research occurs in spite of what your local paper or radio rep tells you, and invest in a transparent streamlined process, would not reap both increased profits and volume.

So, plan your strategy in advance with the input of your key dealership personnel, why? They only get paid if it works. If your local or national rep is coming to you with the same re-hashed, re-vamped, and regurgitated creative that they used last month or last year they’re more likely than not being lazy. “Well this worked before” is not reason enough to do it again. Look to your employees for their opinion of the piece as they’re the ones having to explain it and know if it generates sales, heat or both.

Grass roots movements seem to swell and gain a momentum enforced solutions never will. Get all the employees on board, give them input and time to watch it grow. As your empowerment becomes clear as more than a passing fad, you’d be shocked at the ideas that poor forth.  

Remember, ultimately a vendor is someone who gets paid to sell you a product or service and an employee is someone who is paid to sell your product or service.

This is probably more of a discussion, but...

There seems to be quite a few different Management sets in the Auto Industry, but most can be traced to something along the lines of a G.M. under which report a Parts/Service Director, G.S.M., F&I, Desk Managers, Team Managers, Salesmen and Lot-techs. Of course this is not a complete list, but most of you are familiar with what I’m speaking of and if not, look around your own Dealership, it’s probably there as well. While this model has served well in the past and set up the G.M. to be an isolation point, I believe it is archaic and cumbersome for communication.

I would propose that the most forward facing member of your team should be in the lead. In other words:

• G.M.
• E-Commerce Director- Manages all aspects of training and media ensuring our virtual Dealership translates real-world results
• Service and Parts Director- Daily operations of Fixed-ops
• Finance Director- C.I.T. and all finance related questions
• BDM-Customer Care Specialists – engaging in direct feedback
• Desk Managers- check and balance system, take traffic and convert it
• Finance Managers- write deals
• I-net Managers- Lead and phone rock-stars
• Team Managers-typically “closers”
• Salespeople- without who everyone above is irrelevant.

My question would be how are YOU set up? Is it important to have a GSM any longer or is it a wasted expense. Where does the i-net and e-Commerce fit into your Management profile?