What happened to phone etiquette? Is texting to blame for our apparent lack of interest in voice-on-voice interaction, and our apparent amnesia about how the conversation should flow? I’m blown away every time I call a business and receive an answer of “Hello?” It happens fairly frequently and each time I’m sure the recipient can feel my discomfort when I have to ask, “Am I speaking to XYZ Company?” Usually that’s all it takes for the tone of voice to change and the switch flipped to business mode with a swift and perky, “Um, Yes! This is Carl with XYZ, how may I help you?” On occasion however, you have to go through Round 2, and its excruciatingly poor form.

“Hello?”

“Hi, I’m trying to reach XYZ Company, is this the correct number?”

“Yes.”

“Uhhh… great, can I speak to someone in sales?”

“Yes, hold please.”

[INSERT EXPLITIVE HERE] What in the world is going on? Often it’s easy to tell you’ve reached a business person on their mobile phone. They answer with no mention of the business they represent until they determine that you are in fact, NOT, a frat brother whose name they forgot to save to contacts, or a telemarketer. Guys, if your cell phone is your business line, you have to do better. Answer every unknown number as if you are the receptionist for the President, of your company, hell, of the United States. It’s an oldie, but you truly never get a second chance to make a good first impression.

Now let’s talk about automated systems, and how much I loathe them. I have yet to meet a single person who enjoys talking to a robot (except for maybe Steve Guttenberg.) The messages are getting stupid long before you reach the prompts.

“Thanks for calling XYZ Company, home of the XYZ amazing product/service, where we drink sunshine from the water fountain and sprinkle rainbows on our donuts. Please listen carefully as our menu options have changed.”

LET’S STOP RIGHT HERE. First, don’t squeeze a commercial into your intro, it takes up the caller’s precious time, and they already called you, they probably have an idea what you are good at. Just stop. Next, no, your menu options have not changed. How often do you REALLY change your menu options that we need to take up another precious few seconds of the caller’s day to announce it on every call? Even if they accidentally reach the incorrect extension because they failed to “listen carefully” I’m sure they will find their way eventually. Cut it. It’s obnoxious.

I’d like to see all the automation die, but if that is not an option at least drop to a minimum of three choices, the last one being A LIVE OPERATOR. Sales/Service/Operator… that’s it. Not this:

“Press One for Sales, Press Two for Service, Press Three for Parts, Press Four for the Body Shop, Press Five for Accounts Payable, Press Six for Fleet, Press Seven for Rental, Press Eight for Finance, Press Nine for Car Wash, Press Ten for the Executive Center, Press Eleven for Dial by Name… etc…”

This is not customer-friendly. Invest in an operator, at least while you are open for business, and at best, twenty-four hours a day using an after-hours call center. A well-trained, professional sounding man or woman answering your business line with a warm, friendly, welcoming tone of voice, and politely guiding the caller to the correct person, or department, is the best option. It doesn’t matter how much you spend on advertising, how many witty Facebook posts you have, how many great reviews online, where the rubber meets the road, voice-on-voice interaction, you must DAZZLE. If a shopper calls your business and here’s a lethargic “Hello?” you’re off to a very poor start.

Train your receptionists on the basics of what you do. I’m not naming names, but I recently called an automotive digital marketing company and asked for information on PPC, to which the operator replied, “I don’t know what PPC means.” Ouch. I’m not suggesting that receptionists become product specialists, but they should know the basics of your business. Follow simple tried and true techniques like asking permission to place someone on hold, and answering “My pleasure” instead of you’re welcome. There is no need to reinvent the wheel, the wheels have fallen off and rolled down the road, just put them back on! Back to basics.

If your phone number is not on your website, you fail. If your phone number is not on all your digital assets, you fail. If your phone number is not listed correctly, largely, and conspicuously everywhere a potential customer may go looking for it, you fail. If it takes more than four rings for an answer, if the answer is unprofessional, or if Johnny 5 makes the caller wade through a commercial and eight prompts to reach sales, YOU FAIL.

Take a few minutes each week (yes, every single week for the rest of your life) and walk in the footsteps of a shopper. Go online, see how easy it is to find the phone number for your business. Is it in the search results? Is it on your Google Places page, the CORRECT phone number? Dial it. What do you hear? Would you buy from you? If at any point during your project you feel a strong urge do throw your phone out the window, or jump out the window, guess what? Your customers do to. Fix it.

When “normal” people think about car dealers their initial assumption is typically that we are a bunch of swindlers out to take them for all they are worth.  This is a fair assumption based on history, and unfortunately based on a very small portion of modern dealers.  In general, however, this misperception of the crooked car dealer couldn’t be further from the truth.  Most successful automotive sales people, dealer principles, OEMs and dealer partner companies are the most philanthropic souls I’ve had the pleasure to know.  Why the disconnect between reality vs. perception?  No one is talking about the good we are doing… not even us.

Every car dealer I know gives back in one way or another.  Some donate money. Others give away cars. Some organize volunteer opportunities for employees, host community appreciation events, or offer special discounts for service members, teachers, firefighters, etc.  The list of ways car dealerships support our communities is endless.  Why aren’t we broadcasting this good news?  Don’t we know Car Guys need the good press to help clear all our names?  Ironically, the reason is most likely just as honorable as the act of giving - we don’t want to toot our own horn.  Most dealers who give do so with no intention of reaping benefit.  They give for the sake of giving, helping, and growing communities, individuals, and making the world a better place.  It is never (or rarely) a marketing ploy, so the thought of “bragging” about it never crosses our minds.   

It’s understandable, even noble, to seek no fame or fortune in return for philanthropic efforts.  It is possible that some may misinterpret any mention of your good deeds as an arrogant act.  You can’t please all the people all the time, but you must get the word out.  There is a right way and a wrong way to mention your philanthropic affiliations in marketing, on your website, and on your social networking sites.  Let’s start with the wrong way.

Simply broadcasting the information is not enough:  “John Doe Dealership Donated $5,000 to the Boys and Girls Club.”  This opens you up to a lot of questions. Great!  Why?  What are they doing with that money?  Why the Boys and Girls Club and not one of the 150,000 other available non-profits?  Why didn’t John Doe Dealership donate that money to the Girl Scouts, United Way, or the Wounded Warrior Project?   Etc…

Instead, tell a story.  Explain your dealership’s philosophy of giving back.  Invite the viewer into your decision-making process regarding where you chose to contribute.  Offer individual testimonials from people directly impacted by your charity of choice.  Put a name, face, and story with the headline.  Give the reader an opportunity to learn more by including a call-to-action, and information on how they can join with you for greater impact.  Offer a place for them to suggest future efforts for your dealership’s consideration.  Instead of using language like “donated to” or “volunteered at”, use language which conveys a team effort, like “partnered with”, or “joined forces with.”  It softens the delivery and imparts a feeling of on-going support. 

It is vitally important to avoid any attempt to capitalize directly on your contribution.  Campaigns offering to donate $25 for every test drive, or $5 for every new Facebook like, while well-meaning, can come across as phony, pushy, and sales-y, leaving clients to question why you don’t just donate the money if you have it to give.  Contrarily, I believe an offer to donate a portion of proceeds is a safe idea.  It comes across less as an attempt to drum up business, and more as an attempt to include the shopper in the effort. 

A more impactful technique is to partner with one specific organization and become synonymous with their brand.  Offer ongoing support, group events, and sponsorships, be inextricably linked to a cause worth championing and never waver in your support.  Cause marketing works best by word-of-mouth, which takes time.  That said, you don’t have to sit back and wait. There is nothing wrong with using your visibility, and ad dollars, to help raise awareness and additional funds for your chosen partner. 

An excellent example of Cause Marketing done right comes from outside the automotive industry, from a chainsaw manufacturer, STIHL.  If you’re unfamiliar, they make the best selling chainsaw in the country, yet refuse to sell it in big box stores like Lowes and Home Depot, reserving their product, and support for mom and pop hardware shops.  STIHL launched IndedpendentWeStand.org, an independent website, as a hub, and easy search engine for independently owned businesses.  STIHL’s campaign to promote and educate consumers about small-business patronage has been wildly successful.  Their business, in turn, has flourished. 

From this we learn that Cause Marketing is not taboo, it is normal.  When a shopper visits your website, showroom, or Facebook page, they want to see what you’re doing that is making the world a better place.  They’re not going to ask you, and they are not going to look very hard, so don’t hide it on your “About Us” page, or bury it in the blog.  Feature it, highlight it, and invite them to join the crusade.  Don’t shy away from Cause Marketing, just be tactful.

When we first built our company in 2013, we had a big fear. It was a sense of urgency that drove us to make aggressive moves, hire talented people when we didn't have the revenue to support them, and drink lots of coffee to stay ahead of the competition. The fear came from the certainty that automotive social media vendors would catch wind about the true power of social media to drive local car buyers to the dealers' websites and produce an extremely high return on investment.

Fast forward to the middle of 2015 and as we approach our two-year anniversary, we're happy to say that there are only a handful (two that we know of for certain) who have adopted a proper combination of public posts and dark posts through targeted advertising that accomplishes the goal of selling more cars. The rest are still stuck in the same old social media strategies that have produced very little for the last five years.

When I say that we're happy about it, that's the business owner in me. The "car guy" portion is disgusted. How in the world can companies continue to peddle worthless social media products to car dealers? Social media has the data. Through sites like Facebook, dealers can target hand-raisers with relevant messages that bring them to the most important pages on a dealer's website: inventory, specials, and landing pages.

Why are we still seeing generic brand posts? Why are dealers being asked to pay thousands of dollars per month on PPC advertising when they can use social media dark posts to send great traffic at a fraction of the cost? Why aren't more vendors hopping on the bandwagon that's been going for nearly three years now?

It took a conversation with a friend who works at an OEM-level vendor to find the answer. "We know it works, but it's not scalable."

Oooooh. I get it now. It's not ignorance about the fact that these strategies work that keeps vendors from utilizing them. It's a focus on the financial component, the profit margin, that makes it less appealing to the vendor even though it's more effective for the dealers.

In a way, it's my fault. I haven't posted enough about it over the last two years in fear that we'll let the cat out of the bag. In a way, it's the dealers' fault. If you're here reading this, chances are you do not fall into that category since you're clearly researching the subject, but the majority of dealers are keeping these social media vendors going by buying mediocre products. They don't have a need to roll up their sleeves and work on the unscalable ROI-based aspect of social media marketing because they're doing just fine selling the stuff that doesn't work.

I should be rejoicing. I should be counting my blessings and acknowledging that this is what has allowed us to grow our company so well over the last year and a half. I'm not. I'm annoyed. The car business deserves better than what these vendors are pushing. I've been a vendor for nearly a decade but in the battle for where my heart is, I'm still a car guy. That's why this makes me so frustrated.

Consolidation is happening. We see it in the automotive industry all the time. Large dealer groups are getting larger. Big vendors are getting bigger. This adds a level of simplicity for dealers as they make decisions for operations, marketing, and processes.

The irony is that this is something the industry needed six years ago when the recession was starting to turn the corner and dealers were making choices on their own. In many ways, there were too many choices. Consolidation back then might have been a good thing.

Dealers were forced to fend for themselves and as a result, the "discerning dealers" chose to modernize their procedures and decision-making capabilities. In other words, they started hiring and training to meet the demands of the digital age. They hired new people or trained old ones who understood Schema.org, responsive design, and behavioral targeting. If they didn't know what geofencing was, they researched it. Many dealers today know more about the various products than the vendor salespeople delivering the pitches.

Today, a good chunk of dealers (such as those who read DrivingSales.com regularly) are well-equipped to vet out their vendors and make appropriate decisions. They can see the difference between products or services that are likely to work and the false systems that have nothing but a slick sales presentation behind them. It's funny that right when dealers are best able to make choices, the options are being limited.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not against consolidation as a general practice. There will be big vendors and little vendors and both have their strengths. However, as companies broaden their scope through acquisitions, they're homogenizing the products so that the selection process for vendors is reduced to one or two options rather than the diverse range of hungry companies fighting for wallet share.

As consolidation increases, quality decreases.

This is made worse by the OEMs. They are also limiting choices in the name of compliance and quality control. The funny thing is that they often make decisions based upon solid financial books rather than solid products. They are more concerned about a recommended vendor being profitable than about the recommended products being the best.

The point of my rant is this: don't let consolidation make you complacent. Just because something is bigger doesn't mean it's better. Just because a company is smaller doesn't mean they aren't capable. Look at the products for what they are and be discerning.

Pulse rates are different depending on what artery you check and what method you use. Checking someone's carotid artery by hand can yield a slightly different result than taking it with a machine through the brachial artery. The same thing happens in the car business, which is why I like to talk to different people from different parts of the industry.

Today, a good friend gave me a pulse check on his dealers' opinions about SEO. The feeling he was getting is that all SEO products are the same in our industry. This took me by surprise because I see SEO from the exact opposite perspective; the differences between what one company considers SEO and what another company considers SEO is like comparing apples and orangutans. Some have bite. Others bite.

The reality from a completely biased source, me, can tell you with certainty that once you peel back the top layer, the differences are very clear. If there are multiple layers to peel back, the fruit is no good. Why? Because SEO isn't hard to understand. It's not complicated. It's not even that difficult to do. However, doing it right is time consuming. This is why so many companies opt for a magic trick version of SEO rather than actually rolling up the sleeves and getting to work.

The magic trick approach means that they like to use misdirection (and even redirection) to point to this factor and that action that they're doing in order to achieve a result that may or may not be clear. They produce reports that have lots of numbers and well-organized color charts. The have an SEO guru/expert/wizard who sounds like a literal snake oil salesman from an old Clint Eastwood movie.

The real approach builds content on and off site, takes advantage of the power of social media, and makes certain that the boring technical aspects like citations and Schema.org (though small those components may be) are in order. The reports are clear - substantial organic traffic increases with acceptable time on site and pages viewed as well as ranking tracking for important keywords.

The real approach also focuses on one thing: increasing business. No level of reporting and no acts of wizardry will accomplish this. If you're not selling more cars and getting more service business, your SEO isn't working.

Using cliches and analogies is the only way I can keep from getting upset by the state of the search engine optimization world for car dealers. You deserve better.

We were interviewing someone last week who currently works at a dealership that wanted to come work with us when the solution to many problems in the automotive industry came to me suddenly. It started with a simple question, "Why do you want to work with us?"

The first response was about how "awesome" our company and products seemed to be, so that was instant bonus points added to the resume. When we asked him for other reasons, he described how things were at this and nearly every dealership he's worked at in the last two decades. When sales are good, the atmosphere is wonderful. When sales are down, people get fired.

"I don't like working in fear if we have a bad month or two," he admitted.

This response tied into some of the things we've been hearing during product presentations. With SEO being one of the primary components of our product, dealers always want to know how long it will take for them to see results. They aren't interested in how traffic will be in two or three months. They want to know what sort of instant SEO impact we can make. Some of them readily admit that they're much more worried about the cars they can sell today rather than the cars they can sell tomorrow.

It's part of the reason that the industry has survived in tough times and flourished in good times. We are an industry of the present. We are driven by what's happening right now and that's a good thing. However, marketing strategy decisions should not be based solely on the instant impact. For a proper, holistic marketing plan to work, dealers must start building for today while looking towards tomorrow.

As a friend once told me, automotive digital marketing is like driving a car. You can drive faster and with better overall results when you're keeping your eyes looking much further ahead than the immediate road ahead of you. If you're looking one car length ahead, it's harder to get up to speed. You look down the road while staying cognizant of the immediate future.

Unfortunately, many dealerships focus only on what's going to help them sell more cars today. As a result, they're constantly chasing that boost in immediate sales rather than building proper marketing campaigns and aligning advertising strategies that will help sell cars today as well as tomorrow. If, as an industry, we focus on the future with the present still in view, we'll be able to make much better marketing decisions.

I've seen dealers spending tens of thousands of dollars every month on PPC. Then, you look at their SEO and realize that it's abysmal. How can this be? Had they invested a fraction of their PPC budget towards SEO last year or earlier, they wouldn't have to spend as much on PPC today. Instead, they're in the mode of constantly buying more traffic when they could have much more for less money had they invested properly before.

Dealers shouldn't make marketing decisions based solely on today. It's possible to have your cake and eat it too with the right strategies. When a dealership is stuck in the mentality of today-only marketing, they're never going to get ahead. They'll never be able to build something that expands upon itself. It's time to stop the fear marketing and focus on the real marketing.

"I will tell you now, we had come to grips with the fact that Tamarra is dying and we would try to make the most of our time. Now, for the first time in years, we have hope...and for that my friends I cannot thank you enough. God truly works in mysterious ways and I feel blessed beyond measure."

For years, Bryan Armstrong has been an incredible Community Editor for DrivingSales and a top-tier contributor to the automotive industry. He has helped many in and outside of the car business to find both joy and success, perpetually doing the right things for others. Whether it's helping someone new to the industry learn the ropes, guiding a vendor to improve their services for dealers, or adopting children into his family to give them a nurturing home, Bryan is the epitome of living life the right way.

That's the Bryan Armstrong that we know and love, but there's another aspect of his life that has been very private for some time. His wife, Tamarra, has Superior Mesenteric Artery Syndrome and inappropriate Sinus Tachycardia. Combined, these can be life-threatening and the best option is something that insurance simply doesn't cover. Bryan needs to get her to the Mayo Clinic in Arizona and they need our help.

"Bryan, although boisterous and opinionated, is also very quiet and very humble," said Jessica Richardson of VW SouthTowne. "His family is everything to him and he isn't one to reach out because Bryan is a doer for others and asking for help seems like a weakness. Good news is he is learning it isn't!"

Richardson started a GoFundMe on behalf of the Armstrongs to help Tamarra get the medical attention she requires. "To have this opportunity to put my foot down and reach out for something he holds inside all the time, it is actually an honor."

This is where you guys step in and step up. We are challenging you, both dealers and vendors, to do two things: donate to the cause and help spread the word. There's even a group that has been orchestrated by Christine Robertson to help generate awareness. It's called #CARSTRONG.

"A few weeks ago a gofundme link flashed across my screen and I almost missed it, but I recognized those beautiful children," said Robertson. "Until that day I had no idea Tamarra was ill, and suffering. I was completely unaware that the beautiful bunch I celebrated with when they became a family of five was in danger of losing their sweet Mommy. I thought, if there is a way to heal her, and by God I believe there is, and the only roadblock is money – WE GOT THIS!"

The #CARSTRONG concept is expanding with the first portion being simple yet useful: T-Shirts! A loose but passionate task force is forming to get as many people contributing to the Armstrong's cause as possible and #CARSTRONG T-Shirts are the perfect foundation. Participation will help the Armstrong family and will promote the idea that in our business, we build strength through unity.

One arena where this will play out on is Carbucks, a Facebook group started by Nancy Simmons. Through the group, they plan on promoting #CARSTRONG to help the Armstrongs meet their medical needs as soon as possible.

"When a brother and sister are in need, Auto Family responds!" said Simmons. "We are a social people. We help each other out because it is the right thing to do."

On a personal note, I've known Bryan for many years. I've recruited him to work with me... twice... and I've always respected his desire to be build others up around him. Now that I know about Tamarra's condition, I will be doing what I can to help. The best way to understand the importance of this is to hear from Bryan himself.

"Tamarra is one of the strongest people I know both mentally and emotionally. She not only cares for me and our four kids, but does so in spite of pain, insecurities and physical infirmity," he said. "She inspires me daily with her strength and makes me want to be a better person."

Show your support. Challenge your dealerships to contribute. Get your vendors involved - so many have already. It's time to put the strength of our industry to work to help one of our own. We are #CarStrong.

We've all heard the phrase, "content is king." The question that you should ask about your content is whether or not it's worthy of being the king of something important or the king of crap. Unfortunately, much of what is pawned off as content turns out to be ruling over nothing important.

I've said it in different ways in multiple articles and videos in the past, but it's worth saying again: if you're going to build content, make sure that every single piece of content you create counts. Content for the sake of content is not only worthless. It can be damaging.

Content marketing in the automotive industry has been a gamechanger for years. It's been prevalent in the cutting edge world of digital marketing for nearly a decade but really started coming into its own around 2010 in the automotive industry. Let's take a brief look at that history before diving into the meat and potatoes of this article.

When Content was a Shiny New Tool

I remember vividly what most dealer websites looked like around 2010. The boring websites on HTML platforms were starting to get more engaging and the beautiful Flash websites were disappearing due to indexing and mobile challenges. Parody started to reign in the industry, but dealers who started embracing content marketing were getting an edge over the competition.

Things were great for a few months. Then, the bulk mentality started kicking in. Some website providers started going after what they actually proudly called "the phone book concept" of search engine optimization. Google loved content, so why not give them more and more. They would actually promote the fact that they had thousands, even tens of thousands of pages on their websites and that it was a good thing. After a few penalties here and websites getting deindexed there, that concept started falling away, culminating in the last of the phone book vendors shifting their platform in 2014.

There were a few shining examples of excellence between 2010 and 2013 - at least excellent in the automotive industry. Bulk video providers started busting out with dozens of videos per week on YouTube channels. Content pages were being built on websites either by the dealer or by certain vendors. For the most part it wasn't great content but they were still able to rule over fairly large kingdoms (market area domination) due to the fact that they had content and competitors did not.

The Content Bandwagon

Around 2013, the majority of major website vendors started putting out content to match. Some even put together content strategies and premium products to pump out better content more frequently. The kings of the recent past were getting lost in the mix. In essence, everyone had some variation of content with different levels of quality and uniqueness. Some put together spinner elements to make content that seemed unique to programs like Copyscape and, in theory, Google.

The problem that arose from this content revolution was clear and became one of the driving forces for me to want to build a new company. Content was better. In fact, much of it was actually pretty good. However, if most are doing pretty good at producing content, then the gap was being diminished. In other words, if everyone was good, then everyone was actually average. There was very little that set one dealership's website, blog, or social media apart from the competition.

Make it Count

Today, the content revolution is heading in a better direction: quality over quantity. It's no longer a matter of producing 1000 words of content every week in order to make an impact on sales. The reality is that producing high-quality content that is worthy of being shared by others, even linked to organically from external websites, has become the most powerful tool in automotive digital marketing. Those who are fully embracing content marketing know three things:

1. Post often but put real effort into making sure that something is worth posting.
2. It's better to not post at all, whether in the form of a landing page, blog post, or social media post, than to post crap.
3. If you build a foundation as the authority content producer about your particular makes and models in your area, you will acquire more relevant traffic, leads, and sales.

These three rules in automotive content marketing should guide your overall plan of attack. If you make sure your content is actually the real king in your local area, you'll find that search, social, and buzz are all going to be pointing towards you.

Perhaps a better way to title this would be to indicate that the same problem has already brewed in the industry. We're already there, but let's first discuss Keurig. The popular coffee machine and personal pod maker has seen better days. Stocks have dropped 25% this year already and they're making big adjustments to salvage things.

What went wrong? The company was sailing in 2013 and 2014. Now, stores are having trouble moving the machines, particularly their latest 2.0 version. Reviews on Amazon are fading. Faithful users are moving on to greener pastures. How could this have happened so quickly.

In short, they outsmarted themselves by overestimating their own internalized popularity. With the original models, users could take the base machine and utilize their own favorite coffees with their popular K-cup accessory. The new model does not have that option. Instead, they are trying to force customers to buy their brand of coffee pods only.

This was done for a few reasons, most notably quality-control and profits. They make more money when people buy their coffee rather than using their own. When they use their own, they don't get a cut of the ongoing purchases. From a quality perspective, they feel (or at least they've convinced themselves of it) that the Green Mountain Coffee they put in their pods is superior to whatever individual users would put into the K-cups.

Sound familiar? Have you ever felt like your OEM was trying to force you to use this service or that provider in an effort to maintain "quality control?" Were you ever concerned that the OEM or the OEMs advertising proxy was getting something in return when their dealers used particular vendors?

Just as there are better (and worse) coffees than what are mandated by Keurig, there are also better (and worse) vendors than what are mandated by the OEMs.

Keurig has learned their lesson and have reduced their annual projections until they can right the ship and bring choice back to their customers in the form of a new K-cup. Will OEMs continue to mandate vendors or will some of them realize that eliminating choice and free will for the sake of "quality control" is actually hurting their overall marketing?

There's a trend we're seeing from the automotive industry that is both interesting and a little disturbing for conscientious vendors. When sales are down, changes are often made. When sales are up, they're not. This model needs to be looked at more closely.

We know that it was a worse-than-expected month for many dealers in April because our lead count as a vendor rose. That seems to always happen; when sales numbers are not met, there's a reaction that prompts many dealers to make changes to their marketing. While we appreciate all of the new business, this should be much more steady from month-to-month. Why? Because when sales are down you should look to improve and when sales are up you should also be looking to improve.

The old idiom states that "when it ain't broke, don't fix it." We agree to some extent, but with a slight variation to that model.

Just because something isn't broken doesn't mean that it can't be improved.

You should always be looking to improve. It's not just a matter of fixing things when they're not working. It's even more important to make sure you marketing, processes, and intangibles are all in a state of improvement and maintenance.

Think of it like car maintenance. You would never tell a customer to wait to get their oil changed when they start smelling something burning in their engine. With your marketing, you shouldn't wait until you lose market share before you start to make adjustments.

In most cases, the adjustments necessary are not as dramatic as firing vendors and hiring new ones. We often tell prospects that they don't have enough room for improvement to take on our high-level services even if they're willing. Sometimes, a minor tweak here or focus paid to something there is enough to make the right impact.

There is always room for improvement, but there are also things that vendors can do that are detrimental to success. It should be a matter of degrees when turning the knobs. If sales are slipping, it might be time to make bigger changes, to turn the knob further. When sales are doing fine, the knob may only need to be turned a little bit, perhaps adding in a small element here or experimenting on something new over there.

The bottom line is this: don't wait for sales to drop before making adjustments. On the flip side, don't get rid of things that are probably working just because sales slip. Looking at the numbers, understanding the effects, and making decisions based upon effectiveness of the components of your marketing will help you to fix things when they're broken and improve things when they're working.