One of the other HUGE benefits of doing real video walk arounds is the capability of sending it to AutoTrader.  I'm sure that other inventory management systems do this but the example used below is using VinSolutions Inventory Management System.  Once you upload your video walk around using the VinCamera into the system, VinSolutions takes care of the rest!  VinSolutions will automatically send your video to AutoTrader just like it does to YouTube!

AutoTrader did a good job of displaying the video link on their site - its a tab right next to the Photos tab.  Because its a newer feature for consumers, the only thing better would be to have it flash, change colors or something to have it stick out just a little more.  Make it stand out until consumers are used to it.  That being said, I think it's awesome that AutoTrader allows an automatic feed of video from an inventory system that is FREE of charge for the dealer!

Once the consumer clicks on the video tab, it displays the video controls so they can click on play, pause, stop, forward, rewind and a volume control:

To read more on how to utilize video at your dealership, read this previous post:  Are you making the most of VIDEO with your dealership.

I would like to share with you some things I am working on with one of my clients. This is something we started just two weeks ago and is moving along very nicely. Below are several ways we are using VIDEO with their INVENTORY:

As visitors browse through their inventory, they will see a VIDEO link on the specific vehicles that have videos: Real video walk-arounds are so much more engaging for the consumer than a slide show walk-around and also gives them the chance to introduce themselves and tell the consumer about the vehicle as if they were right there with them.

Once the person clicks on the vehicle, it displays the vehicle details, additional pictures and a video: Being able to not only view additional pictures once they click on the vehicle details page but in this example using VinSolutions inventory management system, they also have the video they created, upfront and center for the consumer to click and watch.

Create a YouTube account: Once they upload the pictures and video into VinSolutions, the videos are automatically sent to their YouTube account with the correct info, links and tags. Besides watching the videos, consumers can also Subscribe to their videos, read about the dealership and click directly to their website from their YouTube page.

Google Search Results: By having video walk-arounds of not only their USED vehicles but also their NEW vehicles, when people search for vehicles, their YouTube videos will not only show up in the organic search results with a thumbnail of the video for people to click on but it also displays the dealerships information.

.....once they click on their video, it takes them to this page:

If you want it done right, just do it yourself and save money while you’re at it!

1) Control. Having the control of your inventory what and when you want. No more calling to find out when someone is coming to take pictures, having them retake them because they didn’t turn out good, having to wait until next week to get new trades and program cars online, etc, etc. Now you can take pictures that are tailored to your specific vehicle that focus on what is special about your car and have them online today. You will find when you take your own pictures it’s a whole new World with much better results. It’s time to take control.

2) Quality. I am not going to pick on any "on the lot service" but the fact is, when salespeople are trained on how to take pictures and they are the ones selling the cars - they know what are the advantages of taking QUALITY pictures, LOTS of pictures, what attention to detail means and will make sure it’s done right.  Or if you choose to train someone at the dealership that doesn't sell to take the pictures, you can train them, continue to train them and make sure the pictures are being done just how you want them done. Nothing is better than pride of ownership. No crooked steering wheels, crooked floor mats, stickers from the dealership the car came from, blurry pictures, etc, etc, etc.

HOT TIP: Writing out a process for how you want pictures taken is a must: Background, angles, straight steering wheel, what pictures to take, how many pictures, etc. If you would like to see the process I created for the dealer groups I was over just email me and I would be glad to share it with you.

3) Post inventory to online - NOW. As soon as the car is cleaned up (or even before if it’s already clean), you can take pictures and upload into your inventory management system. If you have the inventory management system plugged into your website, your pictures will show up instantly. If your inventory management system sends them to your website company, they will show up that evening! Not a single day wasted. No waiting two, three days or more for the “on-the-lot” service to show up. Your inventory will be posted on your OEM website and all third party websites that evening when they receive the feed from your inventory management system. And if it’s a Friday, you can always get your pictures up for the weekend instead of waiting until Monday or later.

HOT TIP: Write down a process on how pictures are to be taken at your dealership. Cover everything, every step the car goes through. Clean up, service, etc. Write it down and give copies to managers and everyone involved in the picture taking process.  Once again, if you would like to see mine, just send me an email.

4) Take more photos – No Charge.  Forget the standard 6 to 12 pictures that the “on the lot” service would take and having to worry about the cost of having them take more. Take 20+ pictures and the cost stays the same. When you are taking pictures of highline cars with lots of options, 30+ is necessary. If you are selling on eBay, 30+ is a must.

5) Show me the money!  Cutting expenses is top of mind lately and taking your own pictures will not only save you money but also make you more money by having awesome, quality pictures and getting them online more quickly and the sooner they are online, the sooner they sell.  Turn. How many things are out there, where you can pick the better way to do it, the better product and have it cost less and make more money?? 

6) More Traffic. With awesome pictures, come more phone calls and emails. When someone is looking a car with 20+ awesome photos and another one with 10 photos and both are in the same price range, they will call on the one with 20+. Every time I have gone with taking pictures in-house, we get more phone calls, we set more appointments and more people show up at the front door. It always drives more traffic for the Internet Department and the Floor.

 
7) Customer Feedback. WOW! Take awesome pictures and you will hear over and over from customers that the reason they called you, the reason they stopped by your place first, was because of the awesome pictures you took. Trust me when I tell you this. Customers love this. It lets them see everything about the car. Customer Confidence. They don’t want to call you to ask you about the side of the car you didn’t take or the condition of the tires. Besides, they don’t trust you - yet, (you’re a salesperson) so seeing is believing. Pictures gives them confidence!

8) Salespeople will KNOW the cars.  ISM's that take pictures, know the cars.  After they take 20+ pictures of a car, they will know it inside and out. When someone calls on a car they will not only know the one they are calling about but also the one that would be a perfect alternative. And when their appointments show, they can easily switch people to a different car if need be because they know the cars.  

9) Take pictures of your New Cars. As customer demands grow and you’re looking for ways to get an edge on your competitors, taking pictures of your New Car Inventory is one area you will want to add. Now you can take pictures of some of your New Cars or better yet, ALL of your new cars without adding a dollar to your expense report. 

10) Custom Comments. Writing custom comments for your used car inventory sells more cars and it is a lot easier to write custom comments when you are looking at 20+ pictures than when you are looking at only 6 to 10 pictures. If the person writing custom comments is also taking the pictures, you can bet they will know the car enough to write custom comments after taking 20+ pictures.

If you missed the The 5th Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Conference Center in Grapevine, Texas, I uploaded the Power Points from the workshops to my website. 

To access them, CLICK HERE

Chris Hanson
Director of eCommerce Consulting
VinSolutions

2008/2009 has to be making the most of what we already do!

I think its safe to say, that as an industry, we are not going to sell more cars.  If that's the case, how do we make sure that we get more than our share?  Are there things we can do so we get more than our share or do we have to just take what the industry gives us?  I think we can all agree, when the going gets tough, the dealers/salespeople that are on top of their game, get more than their fair share!  What can you do to make sure you are one of them? 

What we need more than ever today is to be better at what we already currently do and the products we already use.

CRM/ILM......Take a good CRM/ILM.  What a POWERFUL tool.  Does it help us sell more cars?  Over and over again!  But only if we dig into it, learn it and use it to its fullest capability.  In fact, the more we learn the features and functions and start to use them, we find that we start selling more cars in so many different ways.  A good CRM/ILM is a powerful tool and I will go so far as to say that a GREAT CRM/ILM can and does take an average dealer to good, a great dealer to excellent and an excellent dealer to unstoppable - its that powerful but only if we REALLY use it and understand it.  The problem for many salespeople and managers is they don't even begin to use their CRM/ILM to its fullest capabilities.  Is it because of lack of time?  Lack of training?  Maybe its hard to understand and use?  At the end of the day, who will that effect the most?  Its time to dig in.

Websites......Over the last two weeks I have spent hours, upon hours looking at websites, inventories, specials, etc and I have to say...what a disappointment!!  There are soo many cool new things that we can do but for most of us, we just don't have a grip on what we are already doing.  How often do you update your specials?  Is it a page where people want to click to see what your specials are because its always changing?  Or is it a page that says "coming soon" or better yet "no current specials available at this time"?  Or maybe its the same special that you have had for the last two, three, four months.  Maybe you just upload the newspaper ad which doesn't give you an SEO advantage, and in most cases you can't read the ad very well.  Have you taken the time to build up each page on your website or is it just filled with a bunch of default text?  Are there a bunch of pages that are just filler pages and adds more confusion than anything?  Its time to dig into your website, make it your own and make a process on how you are going to update your specials, weekly or monthly.

OEM Website.......If you have your own website that you market and also have an OEM website, do you keep up with everything on that site as well?  Specials, the different pages, inventories, etc?  If a consumer is shopping Ford, GM, Subaru, Saturn, etc.....at the manufacture level and they click on visit dealers website, they don't end up on your website, they end up on your OEM website.  What do they see when they get there?  Standard, default text, inventories missing, no specials or do they see a website that has exactly what they are looking for?  I won't even get started into what I found on these sites over the last few weeks.  There are some great dealers out there that when you go to their OEM site, its terrible.  Is that a good idea??

Used Car Inventory.....When was the last time you looked at your used cars on your website, AutoTrader, Cars.com, etc??  How many pictures do you have?  Are you just at the average of 12??  Maybe you upped the ante to 15??  Try 20++ and see what happens!!  Try taking your own and see what happens!!  Whats the quality like?  Blurry pics, crooked steering wheel, floor mats crooked, some other dealers sticker still on it, just a lack of attention to detail in general??  Do your pics look uniformed?  Do you have branding in the background of at least your first shot or the dealership in the background?  Are you just simply sending a feed to AutoTrader, Cars.com, etc?  Thats it?  Wait for the calls and emails to come in??  There is soo much more to it!   Do you write comments on your vehicles?  Write text on the pictures, I could go on and on.....

Emails.......When was the last time you went through your templates and looked for grammar errors, misspellings, etc?  Are they engaging, call to action?  Are they the same templates from five years ago?  Do they have your dealership contact and branding on them?  Do they look like EVERY other dealers templates out there??

Process.....Does your process match the buyers shopping habits?  Does it provide the info they are looking for at the right time?  It is triggering the right tasks that are needed?  Is your response time where you want it?  Do you offer alternatives with every buyer?  Maybe you are too focused on response time and your content is lacking.  Are you over looking what the customer typed in, the questions they asked because you are too focused on sending the email out and not pausing, looking and really trying to read into what this buyer is looking for?  What and where is their how button?

Incoming Phone Calls.....you aren't still blowing through incoming phone calls, are you?  You have the right people answering the phone, right?  If they don't, you take them off the phone, right?  You know where the calls are coming from and track them, right?  You know what type of ROI you have, right?

ROI.......Do you do a great job of tracking ROi with 3rd party leads, 3rd party websites, etc and make adjustments, cancel and change to better ones?

Is this too basic?........Maybe for all of you reading this, everything is exactly on point and just how you want it.  Is it?  I think if you spend some time looking through these areas you will find things to fix and improve.  If you do, they will make a difference.  I hope it makes you think of other areas that you have been meaning to fix but haven't taken the time to do so but now you will because you know it will mean one, two, three or several more cars next week, this month and every month after.

I will take some of these areas and give you more details of specific things that you can do that will give you an edge in the following weeks.

 Chris Hanson

I encountered many of the same things that hold back Dealers/GMs from moving their Internet Departments forward when I went to dealerships to do training as I did as a Director of eCommerce.  Just because the Dealer or GM is all steam ahead does not mean that the whole dealership is all steam ahead.

Lets take the example of pricing.  The Dealer/GM says we definitely need to provide pricing, ie price quotes on specific cars, used cars, etc.  What happens when the ISM needs pricing on a car and goes to the NCM or UCM (that is if he doesn't have access to that already).  Is the NCM/UCM on board with this?  Sure, the Dealer/GM said this is what we are doing but when an ISM is working in the trenches, that doesn't mean that is what the ISM is living day in and day out.

So some of you are thinking, no problem, sounds like a talk is in order.  Really?  I hate to compare going to school or growing up with brothers and sisters with working in a dealership but lets face it - many times work life can be the same.  So you have a talk with the Dealer/GM and tell him/her what is going on.  In turn, they have a talk with the NCM or UCM and what place do you think the ISM is in now?  Hey, this is great, now I'll get pricing!  I hate to say it but in most cases, the ISM gets "beat up" by the manager that wasn't on board.  And life just got tougher.

So now your saying, well that doesn't happen in my store, all of my managers are onboard.  Are you sure??

I see more Dealers/GMs trying to "sell" management on the idea which believe me, I know is HUGE but lets face it, if they aren't sold on it, orders have to be given.  Someone has to take charge of the store and move forward.  At the end of the day, the Dealer/GMs plan has to be carried out by EVERYONE.  Period. 

Its a shame that this whole "Internet Thing" is so important yet causes so many problems within the store.  Managers and salespeople going opposite directions. 

I'm sure many of you reading this can't be honest and say what its like at your store.  But for the dealers/managers reading this, I would really encourage you to get a real pulse at your store.  Find out whats REALLY happening at your store.  It might be the difference between staying open or throwing the towel in.

LIke I said, the above is from my experiance as an Director of eCommerce for multiple stores dealing with managers, dealers and salespeople and as a consultant doing the sam

Chris Hanson
Director of eCommerce Consulting
VinSolutions

Accountable Advertising on the Internet with Avinash Kaushik