This Video Tip answers the question, "are all leads created equal?" The answer is obviously "No, they are not." However, what do you look for in a lead, or more importantly, what can you look for in a lead to better understand it so that you can handle it in a more effective manner? What are the characteristics of leads that come from the manufacturer compared to the 3rd party sites? Dennis Colome has some great thoughts here in this clip from the documentary series, "The Masters Series, Automotive eCommerce." For more on The Masters Series, Automotive eCommerce, visit the page to the right. [MEDIA=8] The Masters Series Automotive eCommerce, and this video tip were produced by: www.AccelerateAutomotive.com

Many people at the dealership level dont know who Tej Soni is, but almost everyone knows what he does. He is not the trainer, go to the convention and speak, type. He has enough going on as the head of IzmoCars, one of the leading web companies serving dealers with everything from websites, to SEO to CRM. They have multiple offices around the united States and even have a huge international development operation. While filming the documentary, Dennis Colome (one of the best and well know industry trainers and a personal friend of mine who is VP at Izmo) told me I need to spend some time with Tej-- we did, and all I have to say is "WOW!" This guy is so incredibly smart! We basically sat down, and before we could even get the mic on him he started talking... For over an hour I just sat there in awe and took it in. ( didnt really even ask any interview questions, he just ran with it.) I felt like I was sitting at the feet of the Yoda of web marketing, definitely one of the highlights of the documentary. There will certainly be more of Tej to come in the video tips, as he is prominantly featured in the documentary series. For now here is an analogy of what google's goal is with their algorithm. [MEDIA=7] The Masters Series Automotive eCommerce, and this video tip were produced by: Accelerate Automotive inc. For more information, or to purchase the documentary set visit www.accelerateautomotive.com.

Phones are the life blood of the show room. Both inbound and outbound calls can generate SO much business if we learn to handle the call right and set the appointment. Here is a fun tip from Mr. "Call Coach" himself, Dr. John. (For those who dont know him he really is a Dr. His psychology background gives him incredible insight into handling calls, hiring people and much more) He was one of the most unique and insightful of all the interviews that took place in our over 60 hours of interviewing for the documentary, "The Masters Series, Automotive eCommerce." [MEDIA=6] The Masters Series, Automotive eCommerce, and this video tip, were produced by Accelerate Automotive, for more information visit www.accelerateautomotive.com

In traveling the country and meeting with the best and most knowledgeable people in the world of automotive internet marketing, Matt was a treat to visit with. Matt Muilenburg is an executive with the Cobalt group and one of the most knowledgeable search experts in the country. I actually came into contact from Matt thanks to a strong and persistent recommendation from Adrian at Google inc. (Yes, if an exec at Google recommends you talk to someone about search... better listen.)

In this video Matt explains the balance between SEM and SEO, something lots of dealers are struggling with. Do I wait for the "free listing" and take the time to get my site optimized? Or is it best to get start with SEM because I can see results tomorrow? ... Matt truly is an expert (I agree with Adrian at google) and he gives some very thoughtful advise in this segment. Its a great excerpt directly from the documentary set, I highly advise you take these comments to heart.

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The Masters Series is a three disc documentary series exploring and learning e commerce initiatives from the most successful people in the industry. It was completely dealer inspired and dealer produced. To learn more or to purchase The Masters Series, Documentary set visit www.AccelerateAutomotive.com.

Lets face it, user generated content is all the rage and it isnt going anywhere. Why is it not just a fad? Simple, because it is extremly useful. Ratings, for example, can help us make better decisions about where we spend our money. The fact that consumers are rating dealers, sales people and their experiences and sharing those experiences online has many dealers fearful.... and it should. However, for those dealers who understand the process and are willing to live in this transparent world, it is a HUGE advantage. Listen to Kevin Root of Dealix explain: [MEDIA=4] After watching this a couple things come to mind. 1. If your not getting involved in your online ratings and managing your reputation... well you need to be. You'vegot a huge opportunity to make a tremendous impact and increase your customer loyaly and attract new business. 2. If you havnt already, take a few minutes and rate the vendors you have experience with in the DrivingSales Vendor Rating system. This clip was taken from "The Masters Series, Automotive eCommerce." an Accelerate Automotive production. For more information visit http://www.accelerateautomotive.com.

Ralph Paglia of ADP talks about how the use of micro sites is a great solid cost effective way to build lead volume, at your store. Micro sites tend to convert at a rate much better than a traditional site would, because its content is targeted exactly to its audience rather than having something for everyone. This philosophy increases lead volumes and lowers costs, something dealers really need in todays market. [MEDIA=3] The Masters Series Automotive eCommerce, and this video tip were produced by: Accelerate Automotive inc. For more information, or to purchase the documentary set visit www.accelerateautomotive.com.

Mark Boyd, President of Carfolks talks about how long it takes a dealers' marketing at the top of the internet food chain to positively affect their store. [MEDIA=2] The Masters Series Automotive eCommerce, and this video tip were produced by: Accelerate Automotive inc. For more information, or to purchase the documentary set visit www.accelerateautomotive.com.

This is Curtis Kroeker of Ebay Motors talking about the different options that a dealer has to leverage the more than 13m shoppers visiting eBay. Check it out: [MEDIA=1] This clip was taken from "The Masters Series, Automotive eCommerce." an Accelerate Automotive production. For more information visit http://www.accelerateautomotive.com.

It's no secret that the core of online marketing is quality content. Good content increases the time visitors spend on your pages, keeps them returning to your site, and engages your audience with your message.  Good content gets linked to, increasing your authority in the search engines and bringing you more traffic.  Good content gives you the ability to place valuable contextual links on your site, making your property more valuable to those sites you link to.  Consumers are hungry for information and they seek quality content, create quality content and your customers will find you.  Make no mistake; going forward your success online will be directly proportionate to your ability to create good content. In the world of the social web (which is the world we live in if you haven't noticed) you don't have to work hard to find the best content.  You simply login to your favorite community and it finds you.  In the social web your job is to share the content that you like with others.  Sharing is a form of respect.  Sharing content shows respect for the author of the information and for those people you share it with.  Did you know that if you shared something with two people, who each told it to two people, who told it to two people etc, that by the 20^th telling you would have touched over half a million people?  That is how viral content works.  You need to create good content and take it to where your customers are, making it easy for them to share. Most dealers fail at this point in their online marketing strategies.  It's easy to understand that you need to be where your customers are (on sites like Facebook) but once there dealers tend to bombard customers with ads, inventory and oil change coupons.  Advertisements, inventory and coupons are NOT quality content.  To create quality content you need to answer questions that customers have, fulfill a need of theirs and give them something valuable. Think about these two facts: Fact #1. According to the most recent NADA Data report, fixed operations were responsible for over 100% of dealership net profits.  (That means at the end of the year sales was a loser and service made up the loss and then some.)  Yet, look at your marketing efforts.  It's fair to say they are focused on sales right? Fact #2. Customers touch a service department at least 10 times for every one time they touch a sales department.  Yet, most of our content efforts are focused on sales aren't they? There are huge opportunities for dealership to increase owner loyalty and stay connected with consumers, especially through their relationship with your fixed operations business.   Customers have tons of questions that can be answered through quality content about caring for, maintaining and understanding their vehicles.  Your CRM system helps you maintain customer relations through transactional communications; social media helps you maintain customer relations through conversational interaction.  Social media is truly relational messaging and it mirrors the way we maintain connections to people/brands in the real world. To get started is simple.  At minimum it requires a dealership blog and some creative thinking.  Hold a brainstorm session with your service advisers and list as many of the customer questions they can think of that they get asked every day.  The questions will vary from "How do I set my clock?" to "What is causing my check engine light to go on?"  List the questions in order of how often they get asked and that becomes your editorial calendar.  Write an article and post it to your dealership blog weekly, link it on your Facebook page and tweet it out.  Yes, the social media formula is easy; provide quality content your customers are looking for and place it where your customers are.  As your traffic and number of followers grows it will be important to begin watching site metrics to optimize the site to convert the visitors. The social web is about people, just like the car business!  It's a perfect scenario for dealers.  Focus on your fixed operations and you will find a gold mine of valuable data to share with your customers.  Dealers who create quality content will have the customers coming to find them, a position most stores are not in today. Id love to hear your thoughts on this topic, both good and bad. ...and P.S. If you like it, share it.

I wanted to extend a special invitation to all DrivingSales community members to come join us in Orlando for an action packed advanced marketing workshop. Our NADA Conference workshop is about the "Proper model for advanced dealership marketing."  This workshop is geared for Dealer Principles and GM's who are looking to really understand trends in the online market place and translate that knowledge into a working strategy for their dealership to get to the next level. Inside the workshop we will cover:

• How the web has evolved into a social ecosystem and the power (and pitfalls) that come with it.
• We will discuss the business case for increasing traffic at your dealership while reducing your spend and lowering your ad costs PVR.
• We will outline the strategies and tactics your dealership should be using to drive and measure online business in both Variable and Fixed ops.

Each participant should expect to leave pumped up but most importantly with a higher level of understanding of advanced online marketing and the strategies necessary to lead your in your marketplace. Those of you who know me know that I am a 3^rd generation dealer so everything I do translates back to the decision makers' role in the dealership.   I present real world strategies that work and explain what doesn't work and why.  My presentations are never tainted by an agenda with a product to sell  since I don't sell anything to dealers.  When you come listen to me you get the RAW message as is meant for dealers.  My prior NADA workshops, 20 group presentations and other conference keynotes are very highly rated by the attendees. Here is the schedule: Friday, February 12 3:15 p.m. Room 308 C Saturday, February 13 8:30 a.m. Room 203 A-C Sunday, February 14 11:00 a.m. Room 308 C Sunday, February 14 3:30 p.m. Room 309 A&B I hope to see you there!  Ask any questions in the comments or email me at jared@drivingsales.com or ping me on twitter @drivingsales.  You can become a fan of our NADA workshop on Facebook here.