Hello everybody in the Driving Sales ecosystem! It's been a pretty crazy year.  I have been a stranger to the automotive blogosphere for too long now.  I'm making my return today.  ;) I have a lot on my mind and am anxious to discuss the do's and don't's of everything I've seen and heard this year. "OH BOY"! But first, I want to dive back in with this quick "How To Guide" making sure your inventory is standing out from the crowd! Feel free to comment or critique. 1)Effective Pricing -Ensure each vehicle is positioned to sell utilizing “best technologies” like v-Auto, American Auto Exchange or First Look 2)Distribution-Ensure your inventory is indexed across all major search engines via free pathways and through paid listings on the biggest 3rd party sites like Autotrader.com, Kbb.com, and Cars.com 3)Merchandising –Ensure these 5 practices are met for every listing

• Multiple and Uniform photos -You must offer a well defined photo process showing organized, clear, and concise pictures of the entire inside and outside of the car.

• Unique Description/Write Up- Every vehicle should list equipment and/or amenities designed to enhance the cars unique qualities preferably written by a “Paid Content Provider.

• Video Demo/Walk Around of the Vehicle -Offer your shoppers the ability to identify with every feature of the car through the power of sight-sound and motion.

• Watermark Your Dealership Name and URL in every photo -You MUST do this to maintain your stores brand identity consistently across all vendor platforms and websites.

• Video Testimonial Link in Every Listing Let shoppers see and hear from your happy customers. Ensure your testimonials describe vehicle purchases as short, enjoyable and hassle free.

4)Socialize Ensure links to your inventory are chatted, tweeted and seen on the largest and most influential Social Media sites such as Facebook, Digg and Twitter. If you have all four of those bases covered, you are giving yourself a distinct advantage in the market place. Happy Selling!

Hello Everybody!

It's been a while since I blogged for this site.  I've been busy trying to remain "economically viable' and with "other blogs" and side projects.  It's good to be back.  

I want to invite all of you attending the Digital Dealer Conference in Sin City to the Kbb.com booth. Please come by and shake my hand or introduce yourself if you don't know me.   I want to personally thank everybody who visits this site and of course reads these blogs!  ;)

I figured I'd throw out a couple of bullet point musings before the show.  Just free thinking and letting it flow.

• GM and Chrysler need to go BK already!  Seriously.  This is now ridiculous.  Re-structure and get out of the news.  Your'e dragging everybody down with you.  
• The Car Business needs to adapt and realize we are a "Savings Based Economy" now and the 15-17Million Retail Mindset is gone for at least the next 5 years.
• Advertising in the newspaper "because it's cheaper or 1/4th of the cost of what it used to be" is not prudent media buying.
• Print is dead !!  Or at least it is for anybody under 25 years of age.  How many of these people are 'IN MARKET CAR SHOPPERS"?   Hint...MANY!
• If you don't think Impressions are Valuable, or understand how to buy them, please call me ASAP!
• Pay for Performance is coming from all Digital Media Publishers.  Some are more ready than others to deliver it.  Are you ready to and capable of understanding how to Buy it?
• The economy will not recover (regardless of what CNBC tells you)until home prices stabilize in all of North America.
• Should you really be spending all that money on Classified Sites when you can index your inventory on all the Major Search Engines for 1/20th of the cost?
• Have you created an identify for yourself on the all of the Automotive Social Media sites?  If not, why?  Do it yesterday!

 

I really look forward to meeting some of you this weekend.  I'm sure there is much to discuss.  

As crazy as it sounds, there has never been a more exciting time in our business.  We are in the midst of a DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION and couldn't be better positioned.   Remember that when you think your job sucks or you can't convince a Dealer to believe you or your mindset.

Safe travels and supreme success!

 

 

Hi Everybody!  

I wanted to get this short and concise blog out before the weekend to inform the car acquiring universe before making a major purchase decision.  Effective as soon as the New Economic Stimulus Plan is passed will be a new ammendment authored by Senator Barbara Milkulski of Maryland known as the 

Auto Assistance Ownership Amendment 

mikulski.senate.gov/record.cfm

It will make interest payments on car loans and state sales or excise car tax-deductible for new cars purchased between November 12, 2008 and December 31, 2009.  There are two caveats: The vehicle must cost less than $49,500 and the car buyer must earn less than $250,000.

You have to love her quote from the floor of the senate:  

“Mr. President, our economy is in shambles. People are losing their jobs, their life savings, and their homes. There is much work to do and no time to waste. We’ve already done a bailout. We’ve helped the sharks and we’ve helped the whales. Now it’s time to help the minnows."

So what does this mean to the "Joe Blow Minnows"?  

My first thought is it fails to take into account the 30-40% of Americans who lease their vehicles?  Where is the incentive to buy a Used Car?  Why not come up with a "recent year limit" to allow more people to buy a "Newer Used Car" and take advantage of the same deduction allowances?  How do you ignore the leasing market entirely?

Regardless our opinion on the amendment, the take home message is "finance a New car under 50k in 2009"!

I'd love to hear your thoughts?

Now that NADA is over and the likely struggle of 2009 fresh on our minds,  I ask some very simple questions relative to understanding your web site.  

If you or your GM/GSM can't answer any/all of these questions immediately, it's time to reflect and seriously consider re-educating yourself about your marketing practices.

Here they are:

"Do You"

• Know how many UNIQUE VISITORS you get to your website every month?  Daily, Weekly?
• Know where they are coming from?
• Know which is the best and worst source?
• Know how many of these "UNIQUES" fill out a lead form?
• Have an "OPT IN" lead form on your front page?  for Service?  for Parts?
• Have "Landing Pages" or "Microsites" for every Interactive Vendor?  
• Have separate and relevant URL's for all of your Digital Ad Campaigns?
• Measure and analyze your "Click Stream Data"?
• Know how many "Uniques" it takes your site to Generate a lead?

 

For some of you, these basic questions can be answered in less than 5 minutes.  If you can't answer them honestly and intelligently, you need to learn how to and fast.   You shouldn't be ashamed.  You should be informed.  

Invest in your staff.  Hire somebody who will not only teach you this information, but install a process that embraces and harnesses it.   You could call most of the folks who write for this site, but our information and advice is worthless if its not made a part of your Digital Marketing Process.  

You can do it.  Don't waste anymore time.  Make it happen!

 

Sitting here on Sunday Night contemplating my promise to contribute a "Blog a Week" and thinking about missing NADA for the first time in many years, I wanted to hammer out a very simple message to my  friends in the Dealer Community.

If your website isn't MOBILE FRIENDLY, you are absolutely destroying your ability to handle "DIGITAL UPS".  And right now in this depressed/recessed car market, almost every up you have is "DIGITAL".  

The number of people using iPhones-Blackberry Storms, Google G1's, Palms and Nokia smart phones is unreal. All of these folk surf around to various places during  the day right from the comfort of their mobile device.  In the car, walking thru the mall, sitting at the salon, working out at the gym, the mobile web has never been more ubiquitous. It's estimated 40 Million people are surfing the Mobile web in the US daily.

And how can you as a Dealer not allow them to access your site at the same time?    There is no bigger bummer than clicking on a link from my Blackberry Storm only to have the browser unable to load the page.  Ignoring this market is a major mistake. Your inventory pages and home page should be viewable from any mobile device and optimized for viewing from multiple mobile web browsers.   Right now.  If it's not, make it so.  

If you are a GM or an Owner  and you are reading this blog, I implore you to call your IT person or your Website company immediately and mandate your site institutes this change.  You can't afford not to.

Make it happen!

 

Sadly, I won't be attending NADA this year due to fiscal restraint at Kbb.  This will be the first time in 5 years,  I won't have sore feet from standing flat footed at our booth for what alway seemed like a week.  And I'd be lying if I said I wasn't going to miss that feeling.  ;)  I'm sure there will be many more companies doing the same and I wanted to get a quick blog off before those who were attending left for the airport.

If you are lucky enough to attend this year's meetings, don't take one minute for granted.  Walk around each booth and shake hands with everybody you can.  Realize how special our industry is, in arguably its bleakest time.  Recognize the talent and dilligence of the people you see and embrace the time together.  Hand out business cards and email addresses like it's your last NADA.  It just might be.

Try and learn something about every company who has a booth.  Whether you are a Dealer or a Vendor, learn from one another. Ask questions, listen to speeches and conversations.  Engage anyone and everyone.  Network with someone you'd never consider networking with before.  If you are a vendor, make sure you visit your staunchest competitors booths and ask questions and maybe even offer solutions.  Or maybe take note your competitors aren't even there?   Listen to and respect  the various opinions and thoughts about what ails the industry.  Exchange ideas with strangers and clients alike.  

Why?   Because we are all in this together.  And the quickest way out of a Herculean struggle is collaboration. Once we are able to better understand the problems collectively, solutions usually aren't far behind. And being a genuinely nice person isn't hard.  In times like these, a large network of friends is not to be underestimated.

Please travel safe and enjoy the show.  And remember to take pictures to post back on this blog in a couple of weeks. It will be a great way for those of us unable to attend to experience some "Good Times".

Have fun!

 

 

 

 

Happy New  Year to everybody at Driving Sales and to all the people in the Automotive community.  It's been a truly rough ride in 2008 and 2009 looks to be an even tougher road ahead..

While there is plenty to look back on from 2008, I'd like to paint a virtual road map where our industry is likely headed in a vastly altered landscape.  So much has transpired in the last 4 months, it's very difficult to quantify what the net results will look like by the end of 2009.  

Here is my attempt to predict the future.  Wish me luck.  I promise to be around at year end to keep score.

• The Domestics are going to be held accountable by the Fed Government in almost every practice. With the right oversight and quality control, their forced modernization will actually benefit the industry and hopefully level the playing field on the labor side of the equation.
• One of the "Big Three" will be no more.  I'll leave that to the bright minds reading this blog to decide whom it will be.
• The net effect of this "Nationalized Domestic Car Business" should bring about wholesale changes in the way the industry markets their products.
•  With the continued decline of the Newspapers and the printed content empires of the past, Digital Media should emerge as the logical solution for both OEM's and Franchise Dealers. (FINGERS CROSSED)
• The new HYUNDAI ASSURANCE Program is the first move by an OEM indicating they must find a way to bring purchase confidence back.  Expect many similar OEM strategies/campaigns to follow.
• There will be MASSIVE DEALERSHIP POINT DELEVERAGING in Major Markets.  In the last 7 years the good Ole USA over-expanded itself in every possible way.  Is it really conceivable there are enough Ford buyers in LA to encompass 25+ Ford Dealers?
• The 'New Car Lead Model" of the past 11 years will DIE  replaced by NEW CAR VIN LEADS indigenous to Dealer Microsite Inventories.
• 50% of the old model "New Car Lead Companies" (I won't mention names)will be gone by September.
• Credit will stay tight across all Brands as banks remain stingy in their lending practices buoyed by the over-extended American consumer.
• Dealers will finally understand IMPRESSIONS-CPM-SEO- and finally attribute ROI to my newly coined term "DIGITAL UPS"
• The Wholesale Business will be turned upside down as Values become updated weekly and reflect ACV accurately.
• REPUTATION MANAGEMENT isn't a Buzz word anymore.  Dealers will be forced to invest in SEO to stay legit in the eyes of the ever vigilant web shopping public.
• The Service Director and General Manager will be the same person in many dealerships.
• 2 of the Major Auto Retailing Corporations will be no more by October.
• Tier 2 Dealer Associations will be finally held accountable for the way they spend their marketing dollars! 
• OEMs and Dealers who continue to invest in modernized platforms will reap rewards even in a very down economy.
• The “Digital Land Grab” marks an opportunity unlike any seen since before the 1950’s.  Most of the major Digital Media players are offering vast- geo-targeted-make specific-exclusive territories at bargain basement rates.
•  Jay Campbell will blog once a week for the entire year making Confessions of A Digital Car Guy a widely read industry blog!

There you have it.  

Feel free to comment on my predictions. 

Best of luck to us all as we steer our ships thru rough waters.

 

If your dealership hasn't figured out what to do in the weakest car market in decades, look no further than your internal process to maximize the power of the interweb's reach.

The lastest JD Power data indicates that 75% of consumers begin their research online.  This is up 5% points over last year.  If 3/4's of your potential shoppers are online, why isn't the same percentage of your "reduced external marketing dollars" being used to capture this audience?  Here is a "simple solution" to put into action.  

Advertise online with the big Indpendent sites(Edmunds-Kbb-Autotrader-Cars.com). Optimize your website so it's prominently and positively featured on the search engines(Impact Auto Media).  Make sure its easy to navigate-engaging -measurable and MOBILE FRIENDLY.  Ensure there are multiple photos of every car in your inventory-new and used.  Make sure you export your inventory to the various free classified sites and ensure the process is updated daily.

Train every member of your staff to understand the importance of your website.  Teach them to constantly refer to it when speaking with customers and clients.  Reward them when they capture people's email addresses.  Use them to re-market to every single one of the people who transact with you-from the new car purchase all the way down to the consumer who buys Oil from your parts dept.  Reach out to everybody in your CRM database with bi-monthly emails notifying them of the specials and current offers at your store?

You can do all of these things for less than $15k/mo.  If you are a real Web 3.0 Ninja, you could probably reduce this to $10k. In recessionary times, doing these things will not only allow you to survive but potentially thrive.

Make it happen! 

Whewwww....what a week in the global capital markets?   It was the single greatest week of equity losses in the history of the stock exchanges.  With our political leaders indecisive and the issues seemingly snowballing, we need to prepare for a protracted economic slowdown.

What are you doing to insulate yourself and grow your business in lean times?  When the economy dips and consumers move into a state of fear, brand loyalties are heavily scrutinized and the purchase funnel extended.  Car shoppers spend much longer time online evaluating their purchases.  They are hunting.   

While most Dealers are minimizing their ad spend, you should be looking for marketing opportunities.  Most of your competition is in hiding. The landscape is not as crowded. You'll never have a higher probability of getting noticed. You should be in the "dollars per eyeball" game.   Where can you target the most in-market shoppers in the cheapest way possible?  

Online of course.   Do more to push people to your website.  Provide an opt-in survey or allow for some focus groups.  Ask them what they like about your site and how they'd like it changed to improve their shopping experience.  Make sure it’s easy to navigate, engaging and measurabe to conversion. Provide multiple clear and concise photos for every single new and used car in your inventory.  Position your fixed ops marketing as a need with coupons and offers updated daily.

And most importantly, utilize SEO to specifically guard and brand your stores online reputation.  Car shoppers are looking for value and products and services they can trust.  Nothing can destroy your store's reputation like negative publicity or forum posts from people who endured a poor experience at your dealership.

Now is not the time to cut and run on your marketing budget, it is time to spend money wisely.

“A man who stops advertising to save money is like a man who stops a clock to save time.” Henry Ford

Marketing never stops. If you stop your marketing, you are wasting the brand equity you have built so far.  These are tough times, but they may be some of the most creative and opportunistic in years. Embrace them!

Technorati Profile

Have you typed your Dealership's name into any of the major search engines recently?  I would suggest you do so, if only to find out what you see on the first page.  Be prepared for what you'll find, as much of it will be to your chagrin.  :)

Consumer Generated Content (CGC) is dominating the web these days. People go online to write about everything they see and do.  The restaurants they dine in, the gyms they use, the bars they visit.  All of the social networking sites are rife with reviews, photos and comments about the people and places in their day to day lives.  Why would your dealership be any different?    

Imagine the power and influence  your staff wields in every single day to day customer interaction?  From your desk manager, to your F&I, to your parts counterperson and even your receptionists, their performance is being evaluated on a grand stage.  How do you control what they say and do every day?

No amount of training or select hiring can account for their communication with your clients and potential customers?  And in these very trying economic times, it's likely people will be on edge, prone to disagree or be combative.  You can’t afford not to be pro-active in making sure your dealership has a stellar reputation both online and off.  

So what to do?  

What if there was a way to employ the latest search technology to guard your dealership's online reputation from negative reviews and commentary while also allowing for cutting edge geo targeting and brand building?

In my next blog, I’ll tell you about an amazing new company and its potential to revolutionize the way dealers market on the web.