I bascially ported this over from a Facebook post and felt a lot of automotive people needed to hear this. 

Dear business owner friends. I don't mean to criticize your work but if you're going to sponsor or boost a post on Facebook it's a complete waste not to post the content to your website first then share that post to FB and then boost that.

See what happens is when you make the post the "Shares, Likes, Comments" have authority within people's social sphere of influence. This authority goes unused when you simply post directly to FB. That means Facebook gets all the authority from it not you.

I bascially ported this over from a Facebook post and felt a lot of automotive people needed to hear this. 

Dear business owner friends. I don't mean to criticize your work but if you're going to sponsor or boost a post on Facebook it's a complete waste not to post the content to your website first then share that post to FB and then boost that.

See what happens is when you make the post the "Shares, Likes, Comments" have authority within people's social sphere of influence. This authority goes unused when you simply post directly to FB. That means Facebook gets all the authority from it not you.

Google’s Impact on Automotive's Search Is Going To Change Drastically

Will You Prepare or Play Catch Up? (Part 1)

Google soft launched Google+, it's first dive into social media a little over over 2 years ago. The launch was done in a way the mimicked that of Facebook. They seemed to make it an exclusive push by limiting invites they sent out to gmail users and pop culture icons to create a buzz and induce the "it factor" and in turn make the general public desire to be on the platform. Eventually Google saw this push failing to drive the traffic they wanted and opened registrations to the general public. After about a year of the social network being launched they didn't see the impactful growth they wanted out of the program. They went back to the drawing board and came up with an idea that is nothing short of genius.

In 2012 Google started turning to it's other outlets to jump start the social media's relevancy among the community. Rather than trying to drive the traffic directly, it's took it's supporting features and made them work for the platform. Let me give you an example of this. Notice how we all "had" Google Businesses set up and now they're Google+ Businesses? Well they started this voluntarily and then let the business professionals in the world drive the "in touch" community to create these Google+ pages while manipulating their algorithm to bring these businesses up more predominantly in search results. This in turn made more and more businesses convert to stay in the Google result spotlight. Not to much later, Google started converting the straggling businesses to Google+ for them. Now I'm sure you're asking yourself, how does this have anything to do with the automotive world? Well by doing all this Google was able to drive a huge increase in their user base. Now rinse and repeat this over and over again for all their supporting features...Youtube, Google Reviews, Google Maps and so on. I mean it's to the point you can't even comment on a Youtube video any longer without a Google+ account. I can go on and on with examples and timelines but I want to get back to the focus of this article.

Those of you that still think keywording, meta tagging and content writing yourself to the top of Google's search results is the wave to the future, I'm sorry you're sadly mistaken. Yes, these features will work for now but I assure you it's far from the future. Google isn't stupid, they know their algorithm is only going to carry them so far. They understand that their search result pages, cookies and user tracking isn't always going to be the most influential or relevant result for you personally. Google decided to look at what factors have the largest impact on the general public's day to day life. This wasn't corporate manipulated content or even what you've been searching from home. Sure these factors will always play a role but not to the extent they do now. The wave of the future is the most impactful things in your life. Those factors are your family, friends and co-workers. People you surround yourself with and can relate to on almost anything.

Trust me when I tell you, that these Google+1's aren't abotraily placed all over for no reason. They are to lay the groundwork or infrastructure for something much larger. Google will relieve it's algorithms of doing all the work of figuring out what you like or think is relevant and start having your friends, neighbors and co-workers do it for you. Not directly but by using what your "social sphere of influence" aka the people you relate to, think is relevant. This sphere will compile everything from cars to movies to food and more. If you're sphere of influence thinks it great then the most logical result is that you will to!

Now how do we as dealers prepare ourselves for that? I will get into all that in my next article. Until I'm in everyones sphere of influence or skynet has taken over, I have to keep you guys interested and my articles relevant somehow right?

Thank you all for reading and I look forward to expanding on this article in the coming days.

www.twitter.com/CRMsensei

http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=233970046

Google’s Impact on Automotive's Search Is Going To Change Drastically

Will You Prepare or Play Catch Up? (Part 1)

Google soft launched Google+, it's first dive into social media a little over over 2 years ago. The launch was done in a way the mimicked that of Facebook. They seemed to make it an exclusive push by limiting invites they sent out to gmail users and pop culture icons to create a buzz and induce the "it factor" and in turn make the general public desire to be on the platform. Eventually Google saw this push failing to drive the traffic they wanted and opened registrations to the general public. After about a year of the social network being launched they didn't see the impactful growth they wanted out of the program. They went back to the drawing board and came up with an idea that is nothing short of genius.

In 2012 Google started turning to it's other outlets to jump start the social media's relevancy among the community. Rather than trying to drive the traffic directly, it's took it's supporting features and made them work for the platform. Let me give you an example of this. Notice how we all "had" Google Businesses set up and now they're Google+ Businesses? Well they started this voluntarily and then let the business professionals in the world drive the "in touch" community to create these Google+ pages while manipulating their algorithm to bring these businesses up more predominantly in search results. This in turn made more and more businesses convert to stay in the Google result spotlight. Not to much later, Google started converting the straggling businesses to Google+ for them. Now I'm sure you're asking yourself, how does this have anything to do with the automotive world? Well by doing all this Google was able to drive a huge increase in their user base. Now rinse and repeat this over and over again for all their supporting features...Youtube, Google Reviews, Google Maps and so on. I mean it's to the point you can't even comment on a Youtube video any longer without a Google+ account. I can go on and on with examples and timelines but I want to get back to the focus of this article.

Those of you that still think keywording, meta tagging and content writing yourself to the top of Google's search results is the wave to the future, I'm sorry you're sadly mistaken. Yes, these features will work for now but I assure you it's far from the future. Google isn't stupid, they know their algorithm is only going to carry them so far. They understand that their search result pages, cookies and user tracking isn't always going to be the most influential or relevant result for you personally. Google decided to look at what factors have the largest impact on the general public's day to day life. This wasn't corporate manipulated content or even what you've been searching from home. Sure these factors will always play a role but not to the extent they do now. The wave of the future is the most impactful things in your life. Those factors are your family, friends and co-workers. People you surround yourself with and can relate to on almost anything.

Trust me when I tell you, that these Google+1's aren't abotraily placed all over for no reason. They are to lay the groundwork or infrastructure for something much larger. Google will relieve it's algorithms of doing all the work of figuring out what you like or think is relevant and start having your friends, neighbors and co-workers do it for you. Not directly but by using what your "social sphere of influence" aka the people you relate to, think is relevant. This sphere will compile everything from cars to movies to food and more. If you're sphere of influence thinks it great then the most logical result is that you will to!

Now how do we as dealers prepare ourselves for that? I will get into all that in my next article. Until I'm in everyones sphere of influence or skynet has taken over, I have to keep you guys interested and my articles relevant somehow right?

Thank you all for reading and I look forward to expanding on this article in the coming days.

www.twitter.com/CRMsensei

http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=233970046

As I sit and think about the sheer lack of training that exists in the car industry today. I find myself disgusted by the lack of expectations dealers have for their vendors. Why don’t we as dealers demand more out of the companies we’re handing over thousands of dollars a month to? Since when has the mere usage of technology these vendors produced years ago been worth so much to us? It’s sad that even top level vendors emulate each other nowadays and don’t have the insight to see where they are going wrong. Now I’m sure these words are pouring out of me from the sheer amount of exhausting hours I’ve put in over the last two weeks, retraining my auto groups management and sales staff to use so called cutting edge tools that vendors failed to train them on properly the first time. However, what I'm saying holds merit and should be taken seriously by vendors. 

Vendors today are missing the point. They throw millions of dollars at coders and developers to make some new and trendy program or tool but don’t pay the same respect to the implementation and training of the dealership staff that use them. Instead of hiring salespeople that know the dealer world intimately, they shift these tenured sales pawns from company to company thinking that if they throw together just the right team, their products are going to somehow take off. This couldn’t be any further from the truth. Let me throw a little bit of real world dealership insight at you. If your vendor’s salespeople or product specialists have been removed from the sales floor for more than 2-3 years, they’re dated. Obviously there are rare exceptions out there but in reality 90% of these vendor’s front line people couldn’t be any more clueless as to how train dealership employees on how to implement or use their tools in a real world setting. 

I think back to one of my 2 hour training sessions today. As I stand there explaining the benefits of our vendor programs and how they can be used on a daily basis, I see the mouths of my salespeople and managers drop. They can’t believe that our tool has the ability to change every aspect of their day. They continuously shake their heads and plead to me that they never knew the system could do that. In reality, they were trained on it but the trainers or salespeople sent by the vendors aren’t car people and couldn’t relate to the dealership staff on how these tools can benefit them. I can go on and on with examples but I digress. The reason I’m writing this isn’t to go on a endless rant bashing vendors. It’s to get the dealer principles or general managers reading this to expect... wait no, demand more from their vendors. Don’t allow your vendors to simply come in and pitch on how great their products are, while quoting weak value building statements and showing you analytics that you don’t understand. Tell them you want them in the dealership, training your staff on how to use their tools on a everyday basis. 

Test your vendor’s sales people. Ask them to give you specific examples on how this tool can be used in instances that are valuable to you. If the vendors fail to connect with the audience using their tool, isn’t the fault of the trainers from that company? Don’t accept the same crap they regurgitate to every general manager out there. Their talking around you and your questions. Expect them to relate with you and your salespeople’s on a dealership level. What good is the tool if your staff doesn’t know how to really use it. I’m not talking about logging in to the tools backend and maintaining it’s utilization. I’m talking about using the tool in a innovative way that will set them apart from the rest of the dealers using the exact same program. When I shop my three nearest competitors and get the exact same popular CRM template from each there's something wrong. Don’t get me wrong it makes my life easy as a group eCommerce Director. It’s just sickening that this is accepted.    

There’s a reason why Auto Alerts does so well in certain territories. They actually have representatives that come to the store and know how to train dealership level salespeople in a way they can comprehend and relate to. I hate using examples because I’m not here pitching Auto Alerts. In fact we don’t currently use them in our group.  I don’t want any vendors that I use to feel I’m focusing this article on them. I’ve used just about every vendor out there over the last 5-6 years. Rare few of them are an exception to this. If you ask me, I suggest you request that these vendor executives start hiring people that were recent ground level dealership sales or management staff. These people speak our language, the vendors don’t. 

As I sit and think about the sheer lack of training that exists in the car industry today. I find myself disgusted by the lack of expectations dealers have for their vendors. Why don’t we as dealers demand more out of the companies we’re handing over thousands of dollars a month to? Since when has the mere usage of technology these vendors produced years ago been worth so much to us? It’s sad that even top level vendors emulate each other nowadays and don’t have the insight to see where they are going wrong. Now I’m sure these words are pouring out of me from the sheer amount of exhausting hours I’ve put in over the last two weeks, retraining my auto groups management and sales staff to use so called cutting edge tools that vendors failed to train them on properly the first time. However, what I'm saying holds merit and should be taken seriously by vendors. 

Vendors today are missing the point. They throw millions of dollars at coders and developers to make some new and trendy program or tool but don’t pay the same respect to the implementation and training of the dealership staff that use them. Instead of hiring salespeople that know the dealer world intimately, they shift these tenured sales pawns from company to company thinking that if they throw together just the right team, their products are going to somehow take off. This couldn’t be any further from the truth. Let me throw a little bit of real world dealership insight at you. If your vendor’s salespeople or product specialists have been removed from the sales floor for more than 2-3 years, they’re dated. Obviously there are rare exceptions out there but in reality 90% of these vendor’s front line people couldn’t be any more clueless as to how train dealership employees on how to implement or use their tools in a real world setting. 

I think back to one of my 2 hour training sessions today. As I stand there explaining the benefits of our vendor programs and how they can be used on a daily basis, I see the mouths of my salespeople and managers drop. They can’t believe that our tool has the ability to change every aspect of their day. They continuously shake their heads and plead to me that they never knew the system could do that. In reality, they were trained on it but the trainers or salespeople sent by the vendors aren’t car people and couldn’t relate to the dealership staff on how these tools can benefit them. I can go on and on with examples but I digress. The reason I’m writing this isn’t to go on a endless rant bashing vendors. It’s to get the dealer principles or general managers reading this to expect... wait no, demand more from their vendors. Don’t allow your vendors to simply come in and pitch on how great their products are, while quoting weak value building statements and showing you analytics that you don’t understand. Tell them you want them in the dealership, training your staff on how to use their tools on a everyday basis. 

Test your vendor’s sales people. Ask them to give you specific examples on how this tool can be used in instances that are valuable to you. If the vendors fail to connect with the audience using their tool, isn’t the fault of the trainers from that company? Don’t accept the same crap they regurgitate to every general manager out there. Their talking around you and your questions. Expect them to relate with you and your salespeople’s on a dealership level. What good is the tool if your staff doesn’t know how to really use it. I’m not talking about logging in to the tools backend and maintaining it’s utilization. I’m talking about using the tool in a innovative way that will set them apart from the rest of the dealers using the exact same program. When I shop my three nearest competitors and get the exact same popular CRM template from each there's something wrong. Don’t get me wrong it makes my life easy as a group eCommerce Director. It’s just sickening that this is accepted.    

There’s a reason why Auto Alerts does so well in certain territories. They actually have representatives that come to the store and know how to train dealership level salespeople in a way they can comprehend and relate to. I hate using examples because I’m not here pitching Auto Alerts. In fact we don’t currently use them in our group.  I don’t want any vendors that I use to feel I’m focusing this article on them. I’ve used just about every vendor out there over the last 5-6 years. Rare few of them are an exception to this. If you ask me, I suggest you request that these vendor executives start hiring people that were recent ground level dealership sales or management staff. These people speak our language, the vendors don’t. 

Time for a little reflection... When's the last time you really looked at what factors "YOUR" customers buy on. Now ask yourself is that the message you're conveying both in a traditional and digital advertising? 

There are five buying objections in the retail automotive advertising:

• Price
• Payment
• Trade
• Down Payment
• Credit

Think of your typical customer. Which of the five above categories best describe your customer base? Are you a lower end dealership that prides itself on cheap vehicles and getting your customers approved even with challenged credit? Maybe you're a dealership that is big into used cars and can offer higher value for a customer’s trade? 

There are lots of different categories you're dealership could fit into but the real question is, are you conveying that to your consumers on a unified format and on a daily basis? If you aren't and you're trying to figure out what your dealership's message is going to be...you may just have your answer. Now lets get creative and figure out a way to positively get that message out to your buyer base. 

Whatever message you choose needs to be clear to the consumer on a daily basis. If you’re a "credit" store and pride yourself on getting customers approved even with challenged credit, it should be in a format that inviting and live in all communications from your dealership. 

When done correctly, if you choose "price" the customers in your area shoudl think of you first when they think of a dealership where they will receive the best price. 

If you have any question or comments please feel free to post here or contact me directly atChill@BillJacobsjoliet.com or can also follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/CRMSensei

Time for a little reflection... When's the last time you really looked at what factors "YOUR" customers buy on. Now ask yourself is that the message you're conveying both in a traditional and digital advertising? 

There are five buying objections in the retail automotive advertising:

• Price
• Payment
• Trade
• Down Payment
• Credit

Think of your typical customer. Which of the five above categories best describe your customer base? Are you a lower end dealership that prides itself on cheap vehicles and getting your customers approved even with challenged credit? Maybe you're a dealership that is big into used cars and can offer higher value for a customer’s trade? 

There are lots of different categories you're dealership could fit into but the real question is, are you conveying that to your consumers on a unified format and on a daily basis? If you aren't and you're trying to figure out what your dealership's message is going to be...you may just have your answer. Now lets get creative and figure out a way to positively get that message out to your buyer base. 

Whatever message you choose needs to be clear to the consumer on a daily basis. If you’re a "credit" store and pride yourself on getting customers approved even with challenged credit, it should be in a format that inviting and live in all communications from your dealership. 

When done correctly, if you choose "price" the customers in your area shoudl think of you first when they think of a dealership where they will receive the best price. 

If you have any question or comments please feel free to post here or contact me directly atChill@BillJacobsjoliet.com or can also follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/CRMSensei

The huge success of Ebay in the last few years has made it a prime location for car dealers to reach a nationwide marketplace. That success has in turn saturated the online auction site to the point that the general consumer has so many options it's almost overwhelming. Many dealers have conformed to the idea that they need to list many if not all their inventory to ensure they get into consideration. In turn this has led to huge Ebay fees and even more saturation of the site. Being a dealer you find yourself in a predicament. Do you post your vehicles and hope you can compete in this national market or do you let this Ebay trend pass you by and hope it doesn't affect your bottom line...

I've found huge success in positioning Ebay much like all my other 3rd party lead providers. Basically what we've done is post 1-2 vehicles of each make/model we carry at a rock bottom price to attract customers. Once the customer contact about a certain vehicle, you have their contact info and know they are in the market. This allows you to switch the customer to any number of vehicles on your lot, thus becoming another prime lead in your CRM.. 

Once I started using this method I was able to reach customers in places that didn't have access to car lots with huge selections. Everything from a Corvette collector in the lower Midwest, to a soccer mom in the upper northeast looking for a pearl white QX56 with captains seats instead of bench. The customer’s first question about your item opens you up to switch them to anything on your lot. Not only do you get the lead but you also retain their name, address, email and more. This in turn grows your overall customer base, sales demographic and client database. End result, you keep your Ebay fees low while staying relevant to the national market.

If you have any question or comments please feel free to post here or contact me directly at Chill@BillJacobsjoliet.com or can also follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/CRMSensei

The huge success of Ebay in the last few years has made it a prime location for car dealers to reach a nationwide marketplace. That success has in turn saturated the online auction site to the point that the general consumer has so many options it's almost overwhelming. Many dealers have conformed to the idea that they need to list many if not all their inventory to ensure they get into consideration. In turn this has led to huge Ebay fees and even more saturation of the site. Being a dealer you find yourself in a predicament. Do you post your vehicles and hope you can compete in this national market or do you let this Ebay trend pass you by and hope it doesn't affect your bottom line...

I've found huge success in positioning Ebay much like all my other 3rd party lead providers. Basically what we've done is post 1-2 vehicles of each make/model we carry at a rock bottom price to attract customers. Once the customer contact about a certain vehicle, you have their contact info and know they are in the market. This allows you to switch the customer to any number of vehicles on your lot, thus becoming another prime lead in your CRM.. 

Once I started using this method I was able to reach customers in places that didn't have access to car lots with huge selections. Everything from a Corvette collector in the lower Midwest, to a soccer mom in the upper northeast looking for a pearl white QX56 with captains seats instead of bench. The customer’s first question about your item opens you up to switch them to anything on your lot. Not only do you get the lead but you also retain their name, address, email and more. This in turn grows your overall customer base, sales demographic and client database. End result, you keep your Ebay fees low while staying relevant to the national market.

If you have any question or comments please feel free to post here or contact me directly at Chill@BillJacobsjoliet.com or can also follow me on Twitter at https://twitter.com/CRMSensei