We're bringing a petition to DrivingSales Executive Summit, JD Power Internet Roundtable, SEMA and NADA. But you can be first to sign it here and now. The law we're hoping to get passed in the retail automotive industry is "stop calling it social media and start calling it die without it". It's not something you try, experiment with, make efforts toward or the like. At least no more than you do with sales, service, F&I and your P&L. Do more. And stop thinking so much you can't do much.

Sick and tired of consumer communication and engagement, as well as fundamental business improvement, being hawked, pitched and sold by fly-by-night companies (as well as legitimate ones) with getcha-while-you're-looking tactics, it's time to discuss, use and improve platforms no differently than you would want a CRM or website technology used and improved.

Simple question: Do you want to stay in business? Your answer has to be all the way in yes or all of the way out no. There is no in between. Many (not all) companies that have tried to be somewhere in between over the past few years show up today as the many For Lease or Going Out Of Business signs on your daily drive. Don't think for a second that we're saying that had those businesses been in social media that they'd be vibrant and profitable today. Not at all.

But to sit and wait, guess and judge, delay and save or flat out refuse social media as part of your business strategy every day is the fastest path to demise today. Period. Remember that no one aspect of your business is a silver bullet. At the same time remember you can save yourself to death no differently than you can spend yourself to death. You're not "in" Twitter and Facebook. You're (hopefully) in business using a database/contact management system, a series of processes to sell, track and report, and a solid foundation of online media to showcase your business.

Saying "I'll try Facebook for 6 months and see if it works" is the same exact thing as saying "I'll try selling our services for 6 months and see if it works" or "I'll maintain my storefront for 6 months and see how that goes". If you want to see how things go, get committed or get out. If you truly aren't prepared for success in your own business, do it for someone else and leave the tools that professionals use to...a professional.

Blogs, Wikis, Display advertising/SEM, Review sites/reputation management, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Google Places and more are tools to be a more effective, yes effective, business. Not a trend-setter, not a groupie, not one of the cool places to hang or any other way of minimizing your way to profit. Can your business survive without being on Facebook? Chances are yes if at least for a short time. Can you survive without the fundamentals that have social media thriving and being "buzz" in mainstream media? Not for one New York minute, to steal a great song title from Don Henley.

So please don't let social media get in the way of your success with it, knowing you'll not experience success without it. Even if you don't set up that Twitter page you've been hemming and hawing about for a year... Oh, and one more thing. If you're a car dealership, don't pay $4,000 plus a month for social media services. That is unless you're getting a cut of the profit.

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

See you starting Monday at the DrivingSales Executive Summit. Let's chat!

You can read more IM@CS posts here on DrivingSales.com or on our blog.

We're bringing a petition to DrivingSales Executive Summit, JD Power Internet Roundtable, SEMA and NADA. But you can be first to sign it here and now. The law we're hoping to get passed in the retail automotive industry is "stop calling it social media and start calling it die without it". It's not something you try, experiment with, make efforts toward or the like. At least no more than you do with sales, service, F&I and your P&L. Do more. And stop thinking so much you can't do much.

Sick and tired of consumer communication and engagement, as well as fundamental business improvement, being hawked, pitched and sold by fly-by-night companies (as well as legitimate ones) with getcha-while-you're-looking tactics, it's time to discuss, use and improve platforms no differently than you would want a CRM or website technology used and improved.

Simple question: Do you want to stay in business? Your answer has to be all the way in yes or all of the way out no. There is no in between. Many (not all) companies that have tried to be somewhere in between over the past few years show up today as the many For Lease or Going Out Of Business signs on your daily drive. Don't think for a second that we're saying that had those businesses been in social media that they'd be vibrant and profitable today. Not at all.

But to sit and wait, guess and judge, delay and save or flat out refuse social media as part of your business strategy every day is the fastest path to demise today. Period. Remember that no one aspect of your business is a silver bullet. At the same time remember you can save yourself to death no differently than you can spend yourself to death. You're not "in" Twitter and Facebook. You're (hopefully) in business using a database/contact management system, a series of processes to sell, track and report, and a solid foundation of online media to showcase your business.

Saying "I'll try Facebook for 6 months and see if it works" is the same exact thing as saying "I'll try selling our services for 6 months and see if it works" or "I'll maintain my storefront for 6 months and see how that goes". If you want to see how things go, get committed or get out. If you truly aren't prepared for success in your own business, do it for someone else and leave the tools that professionals use to...a professional.

Blogs, Wikis, Display advertising/SEM, Review sites/reputation management, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Google Places and more are tools to be a more effective, yes effective, business. Not a trend-setter, not a groupie, not one of the cool places to hang or any other way of minimizing your way to profit. Can your business survive without being on Facebook? Chances are yes if at least for a short time. Can you survive without the fundamentals that have social media thriving and being "buzz" in mainstream media? Not for one New York minute, to steal a great song title from Don Henley.

So please don't let social media get in the way of your success with it, knowing you'll not experience success without it. Even if you don't set up that Twitter page you've been hemming and hawing about for a year... Oh, and one more thing. If you're a car dealership, don't pay $4,000 plus a month for social media services. That is unless you're getting a cut of the profit.

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

See you starting Monday at the DrivingSales Executive Summit. Let's chat!

You can read more IM@CS posts here on DrivingSales.com or on our blog.

So, what's your newest carrot? What new shiny object has you mesmerized? Which vendor's widget has you seeing extra dollar signs? What in the heck are you thinking?!?! Two things are working against you: automotive industry digital/online marketing conferences and the deluge of pitches as the "health" of the automotive industry continues its slow creep upwards.
 

So how do you separate the good stuff from the garbage? How do you know who's selling vaporware and who's selling the goods? The first part is understanding. Simply put, if your house is in enough order to be genuinely looking at next-step solutions, congratulations and happy hunting. You are in the position of actually (keeping in mind these are the basics or minimums):

• Tackling your leads
• • no more than 2 hours to respond to new leads (not an auto-responder)
  • at least 30% email response rate (if you can't, don't buy anything at all)
  • utilization of rich media
• Building your brand
• • updating your website at least once a month (not specials)
  • posting real content to social media, press releases, etc (not inventory)
  • hosting events at or being involved around your dealership
  • customization of content from your database/CRM
  • reputation management is fully integrated
• Evaluating and improving process
• • regular personnel- and data-driven reviews of performance
  • in-house and hired training/improvement process
  • stop-gap/fail-safe measures to ensure process failures are caught

Simply put, dealers in this position are prime to head into "gotta have the next thing" land when it comes to the vendor demos at Digital Dealer, DrivingSales Executive Summit, NADA and more. Moreover, if you can't do all or nearly all of the above, stop before you spend another penny and get real. Spending good money after bad (money or process) is a guarantee for failure, even though most will blame the vendors (and we've been there).

And because you can outsource a bunch of the things that need to be done well, don't think that stroking a check and having it handled is a license to do so. Again, if you can't answer your leads, generate ups, retain your customers and have your client base as part of your marketing, no amount of dollars will ever have you called successful. There is more and more evidence of this but dealers continue to act like it's 1983: spend, spend, spend, spend, spend.

By the same token, if you have a good process but things aren't continuing to build, look at your vendors, evaluate them without bias and excuse those that need to be. If you've not seen your CRM trainer for 9 months and the increased digital integration package for your templates hasn't been delivered, stop writing a check for $2,500-$10,000 a month. Don't know what's happened to the request for website updates from six weeks ago, why your 301 redirect hasn't been handled from four months ago and have a 10% increase in your page and link counts from a year ago? Fire your website company.

No, don't think about the last two items, just do it. Don't get re-sold by your reps. FIRE THEM! You just lost months of productive, profitable business! It's not OK to see a sheet of excuses. It is OK to get an apology letter from the CEO and let him buy you drinks at the next event when your store is on their competitor's product.

If you want to get moving forward, know what you're getting into. So many dealers we talk with today just don't understand or have been sold a set of receivables that won't make it into that company's deliverables. Your house must, must, must, must, must be in order. Band-Aids are a way for your competition to see the dam about to break. Don't advertise your weaknesses anymore.

And don't compromise by settling for being #4 in the region when you were #7 last year. Three others (and your out-of-brand competitors) are eating your lunch and you think a mondo-widget-erator will do it? Lead estimators and lead scoring....you heard a lot about those in the past three years. Why did they, for the most part, go away? Because they cover up glaring deficiencies instead of remove them.

How did you learn when you were a kid...? Stop, drop, roll. Stop, look, listen. Don't get the wrong message by just stopping and sitting there. But don't grab the new toy because you can. We know better because we've been there. right?

Know what you're getting into...

"The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side"
-James Baldwin

Best practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

You can view more IM@CS posts here on DrivingSales.com or on our blog

So, what's your newest carrot? What new shiny object has you mesmerized? Which vendor's widget has you seeing extra dollar signs? What in the heck are you thinking?!?! Two things are working against you: automotive industry digital/online marketing conferences and the deluge of pitches as the "health" of the automotive industry continues its slow creep upwards.
 

So how do you separate the good stuff from the garbage? How do you know who's selling vaporware and who's selling the goods? The first part is understanding. Simply put, if your house is in enough order to be genuinely looking at next-step solutions, congratulations and happy hunting. You are in the position of actually (keeping in mind these are the basics or minimums):

• Tackling your leads
• • no more than 2 hours to respond to new leads (not an auto-responder)
  • at least 30% email response rate (if you can't, don't buy anything at all)
  • utilization of rich media
• Building your brand
• • updating your website at least once a month (not specials)
  • posting real content to social media, press releases, etc (not inventory)
  • hosting events at or being involved around your dealership
  • customization of content from your database/CRM
  • reputation management is fully integrated
• Evaluating and improving process
• • regular personnel- and data-driven reviews of performance
  • in-house and hired training/improvement process
  • stop-gap/fail-safe measures to ensure process failures are caught

Simply put, dealers in this position are prime to head into "gotta have the next thing" land when it comes to the vendor demos at Digital Dealer, DrivingSales Executive Summit, NADA and more. Moreover, if you can't do all or nearly all of the above, stop before you spend another penny and get real. Spending good money after bad (money or process) is a guarantee for failure, even though most will blame the vendors (and we've been there).

And because you can outsource a bunch of the things that need to be done well, don't think that stroking a check and having it handled is a license to do so. Again, if you can't answer your leads, generate ups, retain your customers and have your client base as part of your marketing, no amount of dollars will ever have you called successful. There is more and more evidence of this but dealers continue to act like it's 1983: spend, spend, spend, spend, spend.

By the same token, if you have a good process but things aren't continuing to build, look at your vendors, evaluate them without bias and excuse those that need to be. If you've not seen your CRM trainer for 9 months and the increased digital integration package for your templates hasn't been delivered, stop writing a check for $2,500-$10,000 a month. Don't know what's happened to the request for website updates from six weeks ago, why your 301 redirect hasn't been handled from four months ago and have a 10% increase in your page and link counts from a year ago? Fire your website company.

No, don't think about the last two items, just do it. Don't get re-sold by your reps. FIRE THEM! You just lost months of productive, profitable business! It's not OK to see a sheet of excuses. It is OK to get an apology letter from the CEO and let him buy you drinks at the next event when your store is on their competitor's product.

If you want to get moving forward, know what you're getting into. So many dealers we talk with today just don't understand or have been sold a set of receivables that won't make it into that company's deliverables. Your house must, must, must, must, must be in order. Band-Aids are a way for your competition to see the dam about to break. Don't advertise your weaknesses anymore.

And don't compromise by settling for being #4 in the region when you were #7 last year. Three others (and your out-of-brand competitors) are eating your lunch and you think a mondo-widget-erator will do it? Lead estimators and lead scoring....you heard a lot about those in the past three years. Why did they, for the most part, go away? Because they cover up glaring deficiencies instead of remove them.

How did you learn when you were a kid...? Stop, drop, roll. Stop, look, listen. Don't get the wrong message by just stopping and sitting there. But don't grab the new toy because you can. We know better because we've been there. right?

Know what you're getting into...

"The price one pays for pursuing any profession or calling is an intimate knowledge of its ugly side"
-James Baldwin

Best practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

You can view more IM@CS posts here on DrivingSales.com or on our blog

Let's take a moment to ignore the store front, avoid the showroom, shed technology and just get back to being human. Do you know how to talk and carry a conversation? Well, if you judge that by much of the email and phone communication going on at automotive retail, you'd be left with more questions than answers.

Face it, we have a lot of room to grow when it comes to 'inviting' the public to car dealerships. Oh sure, they'll continue to come when they have to buy. They will find somewhere and someone to buy from. But the fact that most of you had an easier time asking your first date out, shows we still have issues when it comes to how to engage a person that wants to buy!

Many people shrug off their verbal and written skills when they can deliver a fair amount of cars each month. When lean times come, they'll blame everything but the water cooler (maybe some will actually blame the Sparkletts man) rather than look at their own communication.

So here's a 4-step recovery program that should help you (who needs 12 steps anyway?):
 

1. Know what you want to say before you touch the phone or start typing

At least with an email you can proof it before sending but most salespeople aren't in the habit of doing that. The biggest hint that a salesperson isn't ready for the call? Uh, um, er, ah, eh, well, gee, ayyyyyyye (the long 'I' as they reach for something to say) and other stalling tactics tell the customer on the other end of the phone clearly that there might be a more professional person in the building.

2. It's about the customer, silly

I did this. I did that. I'll talk with my manager, I usually tell people that ask me that. I, I, I, I, I. Stop it! It's about them, always has been, always will be. Go to a nice restaurant for dinner, the waiter or waitress doesn't say "I have some specials tonight"...do they?!?!?! No!! What you'll usually hear is something like "would you like to hear what your choices are for specials tonight?" or "Would you like to start with a drink or appetizer?". Go to fast food and they say "can I take your order?". Are you selling a hamburger value meal or a choice steak? (or Gorgonzola salad for our vegetarian readers!). Change your focus to the customer and you'll be amazed at how different your interaction goes.

3. Questions are like water. Go without and you die.

You've get them qualified. You walk them. You drive them. You sit them down. You pencil them. You close them. If you stop asking questions, you likely lose somewhere along the process. When the questions end, the conversation ends. Sure, they can pick it up again. Our job? Keep them talking. About the car, themselves, their family, their likes, anything. Stop asking, you're on your own because you've lost control. Questions (as well as answering theirs) are the lifeline of communication along with emotion and everything else the expensive consultants and sales coaches tell you is important (that you already knew).

4. Validation and excitement. Oh, and courtesy!

Who can be excited about calling you back if your message sounds like it was made in a monotone machine? Ten messages down and ready for call 11? Get pumped up again! Nobody wants to call a boring sales person back about what is exciting for then. And how about validation? Can you relate to your customers, even the ones with challenged credit? Don't kid yourself because people can see through fake. And remember, especially in today's social age (sorry, had to go there for a moment), their experience with the 'less than exciting, not quite interested in me buying a car from him/her' now translates to dozens, if not hundreds or thousands, more people who may not shop at your store now.

And with regard to courtesy, if you're not asking if the person you are calling is available for you in a way that doesn't completely let them off the hook from talking with you (because they must, must, must buy the perfect car for them from you), you don't deserve to be selling cars. Don't ask, don't tell. If you don't ask if they're available, they'll likely never tell you they're buying from you.


In today's age with complete transparency on the web, don't kid yourself into doing a less than a complete, exciting job with your customers will work. We're not saying to be something your not, but if you're in automotive sales and expect to do well, just do it. It may not be fair that a book is still judged by its cover but don't treat anyone trying to do business with your store any differently than what you expect when you go into someone else's.

Welcome back to the business about people. You can now return to your technology-laden existence.

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results


You can read more IM@CS posts her eon DrivingSales.com or on our blog

Let's take a moment to ignore the store front, avoid the showroom, shed technology and just get back to being human. Do you know how to talk and carry a conversation? Well, if you judge that by much of the email and phone communication going on at automotive retail, you'd be left with more questions than answers.

Face it, we have a lot of room to grow when it comes to 'inviting' the public to car dealerships. Oh sure, they'll continue to come when they have to buy. They will find somewhere and someone to buy from. But the fact that most of you had an easier time asking your first date out, shows we still have issues when it comes to how to engage a person that wants to buy!

Many people shrug off their verbal and written skills when they can deliver a fair amount of cars each month. When lean times come, they'll blame everything but the water cooler (maybe some will actually blame the Sparkletts man) rather than look at their own communication.

So here's a 4-step recovery program that should help you (who needs 12 steps anyway?):
 

1. Know what you want to say before you touch the phone or start typing

At least with an email you can proof it before sending but most salespeople aren't in the habit of doing that. The biggest hint that a salesperson isn't ready for the call? Uh, um, er, ah, eh, well, gee, ayyyyyyye (the long 'I' as they reach for something to say) and other stalling tactics tell the customer on the other end of the phone clearly that there might be a more professional person in the building.

2. It's about the customer, silly

I did this. I did that. I'll talk with my manager, I usually tell people that ask me that. I, I, I, I, I. Stop it! It's about them, always has been, always will be. Go to a nice restaurant for dinner, the waiter or waitress doesn't say "I have some specials tonight"...do they?!?!?! No!! What you'll usually hear is something like "would you like to hear what your choices are for specials tonight?" or "Would you like to start with a drink or appetizer?". Go to fast food and they say "can I take your order?". Are you selling a hamburger value meal or a choice steak? (or Gorgonzola salad for our vegetarian readers!). Change your focus to the customer and you'll be amazed at how different your interaction goes.

3. Questions are like water. Go without and you die.

You've get them qualified. You walk them. You drive them. You sit them down. You pencil them. You close them. If you stop asking questions, you likely lose somewhere along the process. When the questions end, the conversation ends. Sure, they can pick it up again. Our job? Keep them talking. About the car, themselves, their family, their likes, anything. Stop asking, you're on your own because you've lost control. Questions (as well as answering theirs) are the lifeline of communication along with emotion and everything else the expensive consultants and sales coaches tell you is important (that you already knew).

4. Validation and excitement. Oh, and courtesy!

Who can be excited about calling you back if your message sounds like it was made in a monotone machine? Ten messages down and ready for call 11? Get pumped up again! Nobody wants to call a boring sales person back about what is exciting for then. And how about validation? Can you relate to your customers, even the ones with challenged credit? Don't kid yourself because people can see through fake. And remember, especially in today's social age (sorry, had to go there for a moment), their experience with the 'less than exciting, not quite interested in me buying a car from him/her' now translates to dozens, if not hundreds or thousands, more people who may not shop at your store now.

And with regard to courtesy, if you're not asking if the person you are calling is available for you in a way that doesn't completely let them off the hook from talking with you (because they must, must, must buy the perfect car for them from you), you don't deserve to be selling cars. Don't ask, don't tell. If you don't ask if they're available, they'll likely never tell you they're buying from you.


In today's age with complete transparency on the web, don't kid yourself into doing a less than a complete, exciting job with your customers will work. We're not saying to be something your not, but if you're in automotive sales and expect to do well, just do it. It may not be fair that a book is still judged by its cover but don't treat anyone trying to do business with your store any differently than what you expect when you go into someone else's.

Welcome back to the business about people. You can now return to your technology-laden existence.

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results


You can read more IM@CS posts her eon DrivingSales.com or on our blog

Another event in the history books. Digial Dealer 8 provided a new round of talk, perspective, conjecture, ideas and repetitiveness. Well attended, the eighth iteration of the event made way for a full expo, some great sessions, loud receptions and the proverbial automotive indsutry buzz.

It was a bit funny last week when two things ocurred that caused me to think about what it is to be "digital", take the leap of faith, change some (ok, a lot) of the broken practices in our business and bring as many willing people along with us. Brian Pasch and Ralph Paglia both had digital device "snafus" in front of a bunch of people. And it was funny. While some loudmouth from the crowd chirped "it's digial" (please, no guessses) , it caused me to reflect on how connected we are to everything digital. And what we continue to do wrong, including the so called education of the dealers looking for assistance.

Automotive retail's entire existance is based on success in the digital realm. We don't need a bunch of people, many barely versed themselves, standing in front of rooms of people telling them that the train has left the station. Dealers need real assistance, in real time, in real terms, from real people to build real results.

One thing that tends to rub me is the intention versus goal aspect of the conferences. What's happened to AAISP? certification programs? "put the dealer before profits" and all of the other chatter over the past four years? This is not a post meant to call bullshit on everything but to avoid it completely would be a disservice. At many conferences, more netowrking and business happens away from the event than at the event. And...there is a belief structure that has to be maintained.

It strikes me as odd when people attend events that can have a significant impact, offer extremely relevant information and otherwise influence attendees in a positive way are charged the most, treated as less-than-desireables and not invited to particiapte in the most basic way. Actually it's flat out wrong. The leading events let the audience and industry decide what's best. Not the promoter.

Changes in the industry are happening at such a rate now that those in position to create, promote and execute on large-scale events need to be more in line who they claim to help. Watch the bottom line? Sure you should make a profit if you're going to be bold enough, especially in these economic times, to front cash (which can be significant) and put an agenda together.

Ego and enforcement also have no place in today's events. Protocol, yes. Guidelines, yes. Omnipotent overlords focused on anything besides what drives the most value need to, well...be somewhere else. The digital shift is about practices, assistance, positioning, data and more. Our industry has been dealt a deserved blow in the digital space due to ignorance, denial and a refusal to recognize our own customers and public. How can the auto industry be so large yet engage and learn so little?

In my opinion, there should be more Internet department directors (pardon the phrase), field reps for the larger companies and consultants that are not beholden to vendors on stage. Those are the people moving the industry digital every day. Attendees don't want pitches. They need honest answers. They need examples. They absolutely want to understand what to do. Not being told. Not being sold. Remember, just like a customer at a dealership, they want to buy from someone they trust, that listens to them, that can deliver on value and promises. Why should the B-to-B part of our business be any different?

It time to start doing the work instead of talking the talk. No more "we do that" and then scramble to execute it for the first time. No more canceled cook-offs. No more delays in production. And a lot more customer service. That's what we need at retail. That's what we need from the companies making the claims and filling the magazines with ads. The one's retailers are trying not to do themselves anymore. Because they're listening to us.

Because, hey. It's digital.

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

You can read more IM@CS posts here on DrivingSales.com or on our blog here.

Another event in the history books. Digial Dealer 8 provided a new round of talk, perspective, conjecture, ideas and repetitiveness. Well attended, the eighth iteration of the event made way for a full expo, some great sessions, loud receptions and the proverbial automotive indsutry buzz.

It was a bit funny last week when two things ocurred that caused me to think about what it is to be "digital", take the leap of faith, change some (ok, a lot) of the broken practices in our business and bring as many willing people along with us. Brian Pasch and Ralph Paglia both had digital device "snafus" in front of a bunch of people. And it was funny. While some loudmouth from the crowd chirped "it's digial" (please, no guessses) , it caused me to reflect on how connected we are to everything digital. And what we continue to do wrong, including the so called education of the dealers looking for assistance.

Automotive retail's entire existance is based on success in the digital realm. We don't need a bunch of people, many barely versed themselves, standing in front of rooms of people telling them that the train has left the station. Dealers need real assistance, in real time, in real terms, from real people to build real results.

One thing that tends to rub me is the intention versus goal aspect of the conferences. What's happened to AAISP? certification programs? "put the dealer before profits" and all of the other chatter over the past four years? This is not a post meant to call bullshit on everything but to avoid it completely would be a disservice. At many conferences, more netowrking and business happens away from the event than at the event. And...there is a belief structure that has to be maintained.

It strikes me as odd when people attend events that can have a significant impact, offer extremely relevant information and otherwise influence attendees in a positive way are charged the most, treated as less-than-desireables and not invited to particiapte in the most basic way. Actually it's flat out wrong. The leading events let the audience and industry decide what's best. Not the promoter.

Changes in the industry are happening at such a rate now that those in position to create, promote and execute on large-scale events need to be more in line who they claim to help. Watch the bottom line? Sure you should make a profit if you're going to be bold enough, especially in these economic times, to front cash (which can be significant) and put an agenda together.

Ego and enforcement also have no place in today's events. Protocol, yes. Guidelines, yes. Omnipotent overlords focused on anything besides what drives the most value need to, well...be somewhere else. The digital shift is about practices, assistance, positioning, data and more. Our industry has been dealt a deserved blow in the digital space due to ignorance, denial and a refusal to recognize our own customers and public. How can the auto industry be so large yet engage and learn so little?

In my opinion, there should be more Internet department directors (pardon the phrase), field reps for the larger companies and consultants that are not beholden to vendors on stage. Those are the people moving the industry digital every day. Attendees don't want pitches. They need honest answers. They need examples. They absolutely want to understand what to do. Not being told. Not being sold. Remember, just like a customer at a dealership, they want to buy from someone they trust, that listens to them, that can deliver on value and promises. Why should the B-to-B part of our business be any different?

It time to start doing the work instead of talking the talk. No more "we do that" and then scramble to execute it for the first time. No more canceled cook-offs. No more delays in production. And a lot more customer service. That's what we need at retail. That's what we need from the companies making the claims and filling the magazines with ads. The one's retailers are trying not to do themselves anymore. Because they're listening to us.

Because, hey. It's digital.

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

You can read more IM@CS posts here on DrivingSales.com or on our blog here.