A couple months ago I came across an ad for the new Mercedes SLK. I was really impressed with the marketing campaign that Mercedes-Benz incorporated with some pretty innovative ideas and incorporating some new technology.

The ad was introducing the new SLK and although I wasn’t interested in the SLK I clicked on something called “Speed Date”, I invite those who haven’t done so to do it. http://www3.mercedes-benz.com/mbcom_v4/us/slk/en.html

What stood out to me was the integration with Facebook. As the movie begins, it pulls your image from your Facebook profile picture and inserts it in various parts of the film. In the movie you are stranded in the desert with an overheating car who hitches a ride with a beautiful girl (Ksenia Lauren) driving a SLK. Throughout the movie you can choose different outcomes and it shows off different features of the car.

The interactive movie really did a good job putting me actually into the movie and experiences it firsthand. It was something that I ended up showing to many people. Kudo’s for Mercedes for implementing a marketing tactic like this. But it did not stop here. After the movie you are invited to “like” the facebook page of the actress Kesnia Lauren https://www.facebook.com/ksenia.lauren.

Today she held a virtual autograph session. At first I was like what’s that? But it came out to be real enteraining. She had a streaming video on her facebook page that you could ask her questions which she would answer, and then she would sign a picture which was on her ipad with a stylus and that signed picture was then posted to her wall.

It was the first time I had seen something like this and made me feel good that the OEMs are getting creative and incorporating cool technology to help people get excited about their products which will only help dealers sell more cars.

Anyways, wanted to know what you guys thought and if you have seen any other creative and innovated marketing campaign that you would like to share.

A couple months ago I came across an ad for the new Mercedes SLK. I was really impressed with the marketing campaign that Mercedes-Benz incorporated with some pretty innovative ideas and incorporating some new technology.

The ad was introducing the new SLK and although I wasn’t interested in the SLK I clicked on something called “Speed Date”, I invite those who haven’t done so to do it. http://www3.mercedes-benz.com/mbcom_v4/us/slk/en.html

What stood out to me was the integration with Facebook. As the movie begins, it pulls your image from your Facebook profile picture and inserts it in various parts of the film. In the movie you are stranded in the desert with an overheating car who hitches a ride with a beautiful girl (Ksenia Lauren) driving a SLK. Throughout the movie you can choose different outcomes and it shows off different features of the car.

The interactive movie really did a good job putting me actually into the movie and experiences it firsthand. It was something that I ended up showing to many people. Kudo’s for Mercedes for implementing a marketing tactic like this. But it did not stop here. After the movie you are invited to “like” the facebook page of the actress Kesnia Lauren https://www.facebook.com/ksenia.lauren.

Today she held a virtual autograph session. At first I was like what’s that? But it came out to be real enteraining. She had a streaming video on her facebook page that you could ask her questions which she would answer, and then she would sign a picture which was on her ipad with a stylus and that signed picture was then posted to her wall.

It was the first time I had seen something like this and made me feel good that the OEMs are getting creative and incorporating cool technology to help people get excited about their products which will only help dealers sell more cars.

Anyways, wanted to know what you guys thought and if you have seen any other creative and innovated marketing campaign that you would like to share.

I was recently in a meeting with someone from a popular 3^rd party lead provider who was talking about leads and the open rates of the AutoResponder emails compared to the open rates of first and second emails. I was unable to get a source of this data but it was something like:

Open Rates:

• AutoResponder: 97%
• First Email 56%
• Second Email: 20%  

This got me to think. We live in a society that people want their info now! Just look at the instant response with text messages, and instant access to the internet for info. People who are submitting a lead are on the computer and are requesting info that they would like as soon as the request it.

Most dealerships send out an AutoResponder. I advocate the use of an AutoResponder. It acknowledges that their lead has been received. It’s an instant personalized response that shows the dealership is quick to respond. It allows the dealership time to work on getting back to them, answer questions, etc. It is great for after hours where someone normally wouldn’t be able to answer their email.

But if the above statistics are correct, the email with the highest open rate is that first email. A huge opportunity that is being filled by an AutoResponder. This has got me to think, if the dealer can respond fast enough, could they send an actual email back versus an AutoResponder?

If the customer just sent in the lead they are still at their computer. If they have a question, want price, check inventory, etc,. For example, if a customer is looking for a vehicle and wants to know if the dealership has it in red. He sends in a lead asking about it and the email he gets back says, “Thank you for the submitting a lead.” Maybe adding something to like, “We are working on it”, or asking some follow up questions “do you have a trade?, what were you looking to put down? etc. How much better would it be if they were able to answer their specific question on the first email back to the customer?

I think that people understand that the first  response is just an automatic scripted AutoResponder. How much would it surprise them if you actual were responding to their questions instantly?

I know this might be a great idea, but how would you implement it? A salesperson  or other assigned person would have to be responsible and always be ready to answer the lead? If a salesperson didn’t respond within 5-10 minutes then an auto responder can go out? You could use a detail Internet Lead Response Time Report to make sure they are responding instantly and not missing any.

Anyways, what are your thoughts?

I was recently in a meeting with someone from a popular 3^rd party lead provider who was talking about leads and the open rates of the AutoResponder emails compared to the open rates of first and second emails. I was unable to get a source of this data but it was something like:

Open Rates:

• AutoResponder: 97%
• First Email 56%
• Second Email: 20%  

This got me to think. We live in a society that people want their info now! Just look at the instant response with text messages, and instant access to the internet for info. People who are submitting a lead are on the computer and are requesting info that they would like as soon as the request it.

Most dealerships send out an AutoResponder. I advocate the use of an AutoResponder. It acknowledges that their lead has been received. It’s an instant personalized response that shows the dealership is quick to respond. It allows the dealership time to work on getting back to them, answer questions, etc. It is great for after hours where someone normally wouldn’t be able to answer their email.

But if the above statistics are correct, the email with the highest open rate is that first email. A huge opportunity that is being filled by an AutoResponder. This has got me to think, if the dealer can respond fast enough, could they send an actual email back versus an AutoResponder?

If the customer just sent in the lead they are still at their computer. If they have a question, want price, check inventory, etc,. For example, if a customer is looking for a vehicle and wants to know if the dealership has it in red. He sends in a lead asking about it and the email he gets back says, “Thank you for the submitting a lead.” Maybe adding something to like, “We are working on it”, or asking some follow up questions “do you have a trade?, what were you looking to put down? etc. How much better would it be if they were able to answer their specific question on the first email back to the customer?

I think that people understand that the first  response is just an automatic scripted AutoResponder. How much would it surprise them if you actual were responding to their questions instantly?

I know this might be a great idea, but how would you implement it? A salesperson  or other assigned person would have to be responsible and always be ready to answer the lead? If a salesperson didn’t respond within 5-10 minutes then an auto responder can go out? You could use a detail Internet Lead Response Time Report to make sure they are responding instantly and not missing any.

Anyways, what are your thoughts?

Do your customers know more about the cars you sell than your salespeople?

A couple of months ago, a friend of mine was in the market for a new car. He, like the majority of new car buyers, began his shopping experience online. He knew six months ago that his lease was ending and that he was in need of a new car. My friend looked at current models and then began to look at new model releases. He was interested in a car that was coming out about the same time he was going to be returning his lease. The next couple of months he was looking at spy photos, reading reviews, watching YouTube videos and he even went to the auto show to see the car in person.

Knowing that I am also into cars, my friend would forward things to me that he would find every once in a while about the vehicle, like “check out this…” or “did you know that…” I could see that he was really excited about the car.

The time had come when the new models began to arrive at dealerships. My friend called and asked me if I would look at the car with him. The car was everything he thought it would be. We were surprised though at how little the sales rep knew about the car he was selling. It was almost comical, but in the back of my mind I was thinking about how sad it was.

The demo and walk through, in my opinion, is the most important part of the sales cycle. The salesperson didn’t know anything that added value. Some may say that it is best when you have customers who are already sold and excited about the car, but this sales person lost credibility. When my friend had a question he didn’t ask the salesperson anything because he knew that the salesperson would not have the ability to answer.

In the end, my friend went to another dealership and got a salesperson that owned an older model and who was very knowledgeable in the new model. The salesperson even suggested things that he could do to customize the vehicle.

This experience has me thinking:

• Who is responsible for training your sales staff on the vehicles they sell, themselves, management or the manufacturer?

• What are you doing to ensure that your salespeople know the products they sell?

• Do your salespeople get excited for the cars that come to your dealership as much as your customers do?

• Do your salespeople see themselves as sales professional responsible to create as much value for the customer as possible?

Dealerships can spend tons of money on marketing, technology, and inventory but success often ultimately depends on the salespeople.  Training salespeople is crucial. Product knowledge is an important part. Knowing the vehicles they sell is just one part of it, they should also know the competition they are selling against.

What are your thoughts?

Do your customers know more about the cars you sell than your salespeople?

A couple of months ago, a friend of mine was in the market for a new car. He, like the majority of new car buyers, began his shopping experience online. He knew six months ago that his lease was ending and that he was in need of a new car. My friend looked at current models and then began to look at new model releases. He was interested in a car that was coming out about the same time he was going to be returning his lease. The next couple of months he was looking at spy photos, reading reviews, watching YouTube videos and he even went to the auto show to see the car in person.

Knowing that I am also into cars, my friend would forward things to me that he would find every once in a while about the vehicle, like “check out this…” or “did you know that…” I could see that he was really excited about the car.

The time had come when the new models began to arrive at dealerships. My friend called and asked me if I would look at the car with him. The car was everything he thought it would be. We were surprised though at how little the sales rep knew about the car he was selling. It was almost comical, but in the back of my mind I was thinking about how sad it was.

The demo and walk through, in my opinion, is the most important part of the sales cycle. The salesperson didn’t know anything that added value. Some may say that it is best when you have customers who are already sold and excited about the car, but this sales person lost credibility. When my friend had a question he didn’t ask the salesperson anything because he knew that the salesperson would not have the ability to answer.

In the end, my friend went to another dealership and got a salesperson that owned an older model and who was very knowledgeable in the new model. The salesperson even suggested things that he could do to customize the vehicle.

This experience has me thinking:

• Who is responsible for training your sales staff on the vehicles they sell, themselves, management or the manufacturer?

• What are you doing to ensure that your salespeople know the products they sell?

• Do your salespeople get excited for the cars that come to your dealership as much as your customers do?

• Do your salespeople see themselves as sales professional responsible to create as much value for the customer as possible?

Dealerships can spend tons of money on marketing, technology, and inventory but success often ultimately depends on the salespeople.  Training salespeople is crucial. Product knowledge is an important part. Knowing the vehicles they sell is just one part of it, they should also know the competition they are selling against.

What are your thoughts?

The last 2 months have been crazy for me. Between work, school, and my wife and I having our second baby, I have been very busy.  Because of my busy schedule, it has caused me to work more “mobile” than ever before. Almost every email I have read or responded to was from my phone, please excuse the brevity and any typos if you received an email from me recently.

This week DealerSocket had its annual User Summit in Dana Point, California  The summit was a great opportunity for users of DealerSocket to come together and share best practices and also learn how to better use DealerSocket.  My presentation at the summit was about how dealerships can better use mobile.  I thought I would pass along some of the things I discussed.

When I began my session I asked the attendees to raise their phones, I was very pleased to see that almost everyone had a smart phone; thank goodness I didn’t see any “Jitter Bug” phones.  In my research, I was amazed that there are 5.3 billion mobile subscribers in the world.  That’s 77% of the world population.  We are even seeing a big shift with the use of mobile phones; in fact 1 in 4 households have a mobile phone, but no landline.

Mobile, it’s the device we all have, it’s always on, it’s always within an arm’s reach, and allows us to have instant access to everything on Google. It’s no surprise why mobile phones are popular; they seem to do everything as the tagline says, “there’s an app for that”.  The real benefit of mobile is the fact that it is the world’s first personal mass medium device.  Never before has one person had the power to broadcast something that has the potential of reaching the whole world. 

It is important that we understand how dealerships can use mobile.

Mobile Marketing:

1. Texting:  Although I am against bulk text messaging,  having your salespeople communicate to their customers via text has its advantages.  Text messages have a 98% open rate and for the customer who aren’t returning your calls this can be a good alternative.

2. Email:  We understand how important email marketing is but, do we understand that 70 million mobile users access email through their phone? That 35% of mobile users check their email first thing in the morning before they do anything else?  This makes you rethink when the best time to send out an email is. Other questions I ask myself are, are your emails mobile friendly?  Do they look good on a phone?  Does it encourage people to access mobile content?

3. Social Media:  35% of mobile users use Social Media on their phone.  Are you using Social Media for Marketing, Public Relations, Branding, Product Knowledge?  Is your Social Media content valuable for your customers or are you always selling?  Are you monitoring what others are saying about you?  I love to use HootSuite to monitor Twitter and Facebook.

Mobile Website:

Do you have a mobile website?  It should be a condensed version of your website. With 24/7 access to key information like contact info, directions, special, and inventory.  It should be a medium that converts visits to leads.

Mobile App:

Having something that your customers can save to their devices is critical, even if it is simply a shortcut to your mobile website.  Are you giving your customers an incentive to access your mobile content?

One example, DealerSocket recently came out with the “Customer Mobile Portal” that allows the dealership’s customers to have access to key information that is similar to what they would see on a mobile website, but with the ability to be integrated with your CRM (DealerSocket) to see their service history, set service appointments (Pushing in to the DMS), and appraise their vehicle.  The customers have access to your specials and inventory including images of the vehicles.  It links with your social media.  There is even a way to push announcements and marketing to the device.  The best part is that it works on all devices (iPhones, iPad, Androids, and BlackBerrys) and not does not need to be downloaded.

Here is a screenshot:

Mobile Dealer:

Is your dealership using mobile to assist in processes?  Are leads being sent to phones so salespeople know instantly when a lead has been received?  If they respond to the lead on their phone does it stop the clock?  Make sure if there are interactions with the customer on the phone that info gets back into the CRM.  Do your salespeople have access to your inventory from their phone?

These are all things that can help your dealership.  What are your thoughts?

Hunter Swift is the Business Analyst at DealerSocket and specializes in Automotive/Dealership processes that help dealerships become more effective by maximizing their opportunity to improve all aspects of the sales cycle, including: driving traffic, marketing, proper sales, and demonstration techniques. He also specializes in helping dealerships increase their customer satisfaction, reduce their web-lead response times and to improve accountability. Follow Me: @HunterSwift

The last 2 months have been crazy for me. Between work, school, and my wife and I having our second baby, I have been very busy.  Because of my busy schedule, it has caused me to work more “mobile” than ever before. Almost every email I have read or responded to was from my phone, please excuse the brevity and any typos if you received an email from me recently.

This week DealerSocket had its annual User Summit in Dana Point, California  The summit was a great opportunity for users of DealerSocket to come together and share best practices and also learn how to better use DealerSocket.  My presentation at the summit was about how dealerships can better use mobile.  I thought I would pass along some of the things I discussed.

When I began my session I asked the attendees to raise their phones, I was very pleased to see that almost everyone had a smart phone; thank goodness I didn’t see any “Jitter Bug” phones.  In my research, I was amazed that there are 5.3 billion mobile subscribers in the world.  That’s 77% of the world population.  We are even seeing a big shift with the use of mobile phones; in fact 1 in 4 households have a mobile phone, but no landline.

Mobile, it’s the device we all have, it’s always on, it’s always within an arm’s reach, and allows us to have instant access to everything on Google. It’s no surprise why mobile phones are popular; they seem to do everything as the tagline says, “there’s an app for that”.  The real benefit of mobile is the fact that it is the world’s first personal mass medium device.  Never before has one person had the power to broadcast something that has the potential of reaching the whole world. 

It is important that we understand how dealerships can use mobile.

Mobile Marketing:

1. Texting:  Although I am against bulk text messaging,  having your salespeople communicate to their customers via text has its advantages.  Text messages have a 98% open rate and for the customer who aren’t returning your calls this can be a good alternative.

2. Email:  We understand how important email marketing is but, do we understand that 70 million mobile users access email through their phone? That 35% of mobile users check their email first thing in the morning before they do anything else?  This makes you rethink when the best time to send out an email is. Other questions I ask myself are, are your emails mobile friendly?  Do they look good on a phone?  Does it encourage people to access mobile content?

3. Social Media:  35% of mobile users use Social Media on their phone.  Are you using Social Media for Marketing, Public Relations, Branding, Product Knowledge?  Is your Social Media content valuable for your customers or are you always selling?  Are you monitoring what others are saying about you?  I love to use HootSuite to monitor Twitter and Facebook.

Mobile Website:

Do you have a mobile website?  It should be a condensed version of your website. With 24/7 access to key information like contact info, directions, special, and inventory.  It should be a medium that converts visits to leads.

Mobile App:

Having something that your customers can save to their devices is critical, even if it is simply a shortcut to your mobile website.  Are you giving your customers an incentive to access your mobile content?

One example, DealerSocket recently came out with the “Customer Mobile Portal” that allows the dealership’s customers to have access to key information that is similar to what they would see on a mobile website, but with the ability to be integrated with your CRM (DealerSocket) to see their service history, set service appointments (Pushing in to the DMS), and appraise their vehicle.  The customers have access to your specials and inventory including images of the vehicles.  It links with your social media.  There is even a way to push announcements and marketing to the device.  The best part is that it works on all devices (iPhones, iPad, Androids, and BlackBerrys) and not does not need to be downloaded.

Here is a screenshot:

Mobile Dealer:

Is your dealership using mobile to assist in processes?  Are leads being sent to phones so salespeople know instantly when a lead has been received?  If they respond to the lead on their phone does it stop the clock?  Make sure if there are interactions with the customer on the phone that info gets back into the CRM.  Do your salespeople have access to your inventory from their phone?

These are all things that can help your dealership.  What are your thoughts?

Hunter Swift is the Business Analyst at DealerSocket and specializes in Automotive/Dealership processes that help dealerships become more effective by maximizing their opportunity to improve all aspects of the sales cycle, including: driving traffic, marketing, proper sales, and demonstration techniques. He also specializes in helping dealerships increase their customer satisfaction, reduce their web-lead response times and to improve accountability. Follow Me: @HunterSwift

I am always surprised the answer I get when I ask a dealership about how many more cars they think they could sell a month if they improved their follow-up process.  This missed opportunity can often be fixed by implement a CRM technology, which is great for processes and campaigns. However, it is ultimately up to the salespeople to do what they are supposed to do. I have found that what you may think is being done in the dealership, often isn’t.

When I sold cars, I remember multiple times when the sales manager would tell a salesperson to make his daily follow-up calls and the salesperson would simply respond that he had already completed his calls.  It became a constant battle.  Apart from not making the calls, salespeople are notorious at finding ways to cut corners and cheat the system.  This not only hurts the salesperson but, the dealership and even the customers.

The first suggestion I have is to utilize reports in your CRM that track the number of new opportunities that your salespeople are entering into the CRM.  Nothing is worse than seeing someone take multiple ups and not having any of the customers entered into the CRM.  This can throw off your marketing and ROI reports.

The 2nd key metric is phone calls.  It is important that your CRM is integrated with your phone system in order to track outbound phone calls.  Having your salespeople mark all of their calls completed is one thing, but its better if there is proof that they actually made the call and how long they were on the call.  You can actually step this up and record their outbound calls.  This is great for managing quality and training.  Looking at the data that I have compiled, the top salespeople are constantly those that make the most calls.

Email and weblead tracking is also important.  You need to know how many emails they are receiving and sending out, as well as how long it is taking them to respond to their webleads.  (On a side note, a dealership recently told me they were going to be pulling the plug on their AutoTrader leads because they weren’t selling as many as they wanted.  I looked at some reports and noticed that all of the AutoTrader leads were being sent to one person and that person took an average of over 2 hours to respond to a lead.  It wasn’t the lead provider’s fault, it was the salesperson.)

Pipeline Management is also important.  Salespeople love people that come in and buy, but what about those that don’t buy or those that they talk to but are hard to get in touch with afterward?  Are they reaching out to them?  Make sure you are looking at reports that reflect this data.

Salespeople also love to move people to Lost. This is a way to get the follow-up to stop.  Do you have a review process in place for a manager to look at each lost deal and try to “save a deal”?

Another suggestion I have to improve accountability is to use a checkout system.  Some CRM tools have a daily activity report or check out report that shows everything the salesperson has done for the day (Ups, Appointments, Calls, Talk Time, E-mails).  One dealership that I was working with that had a problem with accountability, instituted a process that before a salesperson left for the day they would print out a report and give it to their manager to check out.  The report told the manager everything they had done as well as all of their calls (Daily To Dos) that they didn’t do.

Quickly, Managers were able to see what had been done and what had not been done. Often, the manager would send the salesperson back to make more calls before they left.  Salespeople began to feel ashamed when they handed a manager their sheet that said they didn’t do anything which motivated them to make more calls.  The dealership drastically improved their follow up process and began to see an immediate increase in their sales.

These are my suggestions. 

What do you do to make sure that your salespeople are doing what you want them to do?

I am always surprised the answer I get when I ask a dealership about how many more cars they think they could sell a month if they improved their follow-up process.  This missed opportunity can often be fixed by implement a CRM technology, which is great for processes and campaigns. However, it is ultimately up to the salespeople to do what they are supposed to do. I have found that what you may think is being done in the dealership, often isn’t.

When I sold cars, I remember multiple times when the sales manager would tell a salesperson to make his daily follow-up calls and the salesperson would simply respond that he had already completed his calls.  It became a constant battle.  Apart from not making the calls, salespeople are notorious at finding ways to cut corners and cheat the system.  This not only hurts the salesperson but, the dealership and even the customers.

The first suggestion I have is to utilize reports in your CRM that track the number of new opportunities that your salespeople are entering into the CRM.  Nothing is worse than seeing someone take multiple ups and not having any of the customers entered into the CRM.  This can throw off your marketing and ROI reports.

The 2nd key metric is phone calls.  It is important that your CRM is integrated with your phone system in order to track outbound phone calls.  Having your salespeople mark all of their calls completed is one thing, but its better if there is proof that they actually made the call and how long they were on the call.  You can actually step this up and record their outbound calls.  This is great for managing quality and training.  Looking at the data that I have compiled, the top salespeople are constantly those that make the most calls.

Email and weblead tracking is also important.  You need to know how many emails they are receiving and sending out, as well as how long it is taking them to respond to their webleads.  (On a side note, a dealership recently told me they were going to be pulling the plug on their AutoTrader leads because they weren’t selling as many as they wanted.  I looked at some reports and noticed that all of the AutoTrader leads were being sent to one person and that person took an average of over 2 hours to respond to a lead.  It wasn’t the lead provider’s fault, it was the salesperson.)

Pipeline Management is also important.  Salespeople love people that come in and buy, but what about those that don’t buy or those that they talk to but are hard to get in touch with afterward?  Are they reaching out to them?  Make sure you are looking at reports that reflect this data.

Salespeople also love to move people to Lost. This is a way to get the follow-up to stop.  Do you have a review process in place for a manager to look at each lost deal and try to “save a deal”?

Another suggestion I have to improve accountability is to use a checkout system.  Some CRM tools have a daily activity report or check out report that shows everything the salesperson has done for the day (Ups, Appointments, Calls, Talk Time, E-mails).  One dealership that I was working with that had a problem with accountability, instituted a process that before a salesperson left for the day they would print out a report and give it to their manager to check out.  The report told the manager everything they had done as well as all of their calls (Daily To Dos) that they didn’t do.

Quickly, Managers were able to see what had been done and what had not been done. Often, the manager would send the salesperson back to make more calls before they left.  Salespeople began to feel ashamed when they handed a manager their sheet that said they didn’t do anything which motivated them to make more calls.  The dealership drastically improved their follow up process and began to see an immediate increase in their sales.

These are my suggestions. 

What do you do to make sure that your salespeople are doing what you want them to do?