So what is your brand?  I'm not talking about what brand you sell, but how are you branding yourself?  We all know Jared as "Superman."  Ricky Walters as UCR a.k.a., Used Car Ricky. Kathi Kruse as Kathi Kruse sitting in the convertible.  Tracy Myers is always in the Uncle Sam hat.  Jeff Kershner has the same picture on every site as his profile picture.  When we see "Think Tank Tuesday", we think of Paul Protratz.  The 'Everyday I'm Hustlin'" of course is Craig Belowski.  When we see that crazy girl behind the wheel, we think of Renee Stuart.  You see the PCG in red and you think of Brian Pasche and his crew.  So what is your brand?

A report was just released recently that an average Facebook user has over 600 social connections.  That is HUGE!  I also heard that 1 in 8 people on Facebook are looking for or are in the market for a new or used car.  That would mean that 75 of your "friends" are actually in the market for a new or used car.  Do they actually KNOW that you are in the car business?  

All of our employees for the most part have Facebook, but are they leveraging it like they could?  Here are a few things that they can do.

•   Set up a "like" page and create their own brand.
•   Post a picture of a used car that was just taken in on trade.
•   Post something that is out of the norm that the manufacturer is doing.

I know that for me personally have been afraid in the past to post car stuff on my personal page.  I would come across a personal article and would be hesitant to share it just due to the fact that so many of my "friends" on Facebook are non-auto industry people.  I know that they have Facebook set up to put people in different groups, but to be honest, I am not going to go through all 900+ of my friends and put them in different groups.  Facebook was just a little too late to that party.

An easy way to get around it is just to set up an automotive page.  If your "friends" are real friends, they will probably like your page.  I did this just under a month ago just to push automotive related topics to that page and keep my personal page just to personal everyday life.  

What have you done to capitalize on social media? 

So what is your brand?  I'm not talking about what brand you sell, but how are you branding yourself?  We all know Jared as "Superman."  Ricky Walters as UCR a.k.a., Used Car Ricky. Kathi Kruse as Kathi Kruse sitting in the convertible.  Tracy Myers is always in the Uncle Sam hat.  Jeff Kershner has the same picture on every site as his profile picture.  When we see "Think Tank Tuesday", we think of Paul Protratz.  The 'Everyday I'm Hustlin'" of course is Craig Belowski.  When we see that crazy girl behind the wheel, we think of Renee Stuart.  You see the PCG in red and you think of Brian Pasche and his crew.  So what is your brand?

A report was just released recently that an average Facebook user has over 600 social connections.  That is HUGE!  I also heard that 1 in 8 people on Facebook are looking for or are in the market for a new or used car.  That would mean that 75 of your "friends" are actually in the market for a new or used car.  Do they actually KNOW that you are in the car business?  

All of our employees for the most part have Facebook, but are they leveraging it like they could?  Here are a few things that they can do.

•   Set up a "like" page and create their own brand.
•   Post a picture of a used car that was just taken in on trade.
•   Post something that is out of the norm that the manufacturer is doing.

I know that for me personally have been afraid in the past to post car stuff on my personal page.  I would come across a personal article and would be hesitant to share it just due to the fact that so many of my "friends" on Facebook are non-auto industry people.  I know that they have Facebook set up to put people in different groups, but to be honest, I am not going to go through all 900+ of my friends and put them in different groups.  Facebook was just a little too late to that party.

An easy way to get around it is just to set up an automotive page.  If your "friends" are real friends, they will probably like your page.  I did this just under a month ago just to push automotive related topics to that page and keep my personal page just to personal everyday life.  

What have you done to capitalize on social media? 

Last week, I had the opportunity with about 100 other dealers to attend the Digital Summit at the Google Headquarters in Mountain View, CA.  It was an experience in itself just to be at the Googleplex.  There was great info at this conference shared by Googlers (employees of Google) and some industry leaders.

The week kicked off with Todd Rowe and how are you defining your market.  Are you defining it by the company down the street, the local market, or something else?  The big thing is that there is so much 'stuff' that we are competing against when coming to online marketing.  It isn't just dealers, but also some of the big hitters like Autotrader and cars.com.  We all have to get smart, get involved, and get excited.

Next up was Guy Kawaski talking about being "Enchanting."  Guy was a dynamic speaker and I loved everything that he had to offer in being enchanting.  Big takeaway from Guy was achieving 'likability.'  No one buys from someone that they don't like.

Of course, a meeting at Google HAS to involve a conversation and presentation on ZMOT.  We all have heard the 18.2 sources over the last several months, but one thing that set me back was in the age bracket of 18-34 year olds, that number jumps up to 25.6 sources are used in researching a new or used car.  That was my big takeaway on that part of the presentation.

Duncan Scarry was up next and he was talking about Influence without Interaction.  A couple of takeaways here.  The first was that 76% of the public that are on an OEM site will visit a dealer site within 30 minutes of being on the OEM's site.  60% of those people that get to your website have not decided on what make or model they end up buying.  

Surojit Chatterjee from Google was up next and he is the head of Mobile at Google.  A few things stood out here.  One third of all Americans will own a tablet by the end of 2015.  Is your website tablet friendly?  Also, he said that 57% of the public would not recommend a company if they have a bad or no mobile site in place.  If they don't, 40% will go to another competitor's website.  

Grant Cardone spoke after lunch, and he was a dynamic, funny speaker to keep those sleepy eyes that can happen after lunch at any conference.  We need to make the sales process shorter.  Customers want to be in and out quicker.  What are you doing to shorten that process?  The one phrase that stood out with me is that we need to be "persistent and consistent."  This comes in every aspect of sales whether you are selling a pen or a car.

Nicholas Boos from Google shed some more insight on mobile marketing.  1 in 5 searches are being done in relation to your desktop and 1 in 3 are localized searches.  Nearly 30% of Google searches are being done on a phone.

Jason Ezell from Datium and Amir Amirrezvani from DealOn talked about website conversions.  They shared some insight that the average bounce rate on over 10,000 dealer websites is 63%!  That number just blew me away.  That just goes to show that customers are using the internet to look up phone numbers and they will leave.  What are you doing to engage that customer?  Average conversion of customers visiting dealer sites were at 2%.  

These are just some of the takeaways from the conference last week.  Biggest takeaway was mobile is key in the coming years.  Nearly 30% of Google searches are done via phone.  I have seen this firsthand as the mobile traffic and usage to our website go up month after month.  So what do you see yourself doing in the next year or two?

Last week, I had the opportunity with about 100 other dealers to attend the Digital Summit at the Google Headquarters in Mountain View, CA.  It was an experience in itself just to be at the Googleplex.  There was great info at this conference shared by Googlers (employees of Google) and some industry leaders.

The week kicked off with Todd Rowe and how are you defining your market.  Are you defining it by the company down the street, the local market, or something else?  The big thing is that there is so much 'stuff' that we are competing against when coming to online marketing.  It isn't just dealers, but also some of the big hitters like Autotrader and cars.com.  We all have to get smart, get involved, and get excited.

Next up was Guy Kawaski talking about being "Enchanting."  Guy was a dynamic speaker and I loved everything that he had to offer in being enchanting.  Big takeaway from Guy was achieving 'likability.'  No one buys from someone that they don't like.

Of course, a meeting at Google HAS to involve a conversation and presentation on ZMOT.  We all have heard the 18.2 sources over the last several months, but one thing that set me back was in the age bracket of 18-34 year olds, that number jumps up to 25.6 sources are used in researching a new or used car.  That was my big takeaway on that part of the presentation.

Duncan Scarry was up next and he was talking about Influence without Interaction.  A couple of takeaways here.  The first was that 76% of the public that are on an OEM site will visit a dealer site within 30 minutes of being on the OEM's site.  60% of those people that get to your website have not decided on what make or model they end up buying.  

Surojit Chatterjee from Google was up next and he is the head of Mobile at Google.  A few things stood out here.  One third of all Americans will own a tablet by the end of 2015.  Is your website tablet friendly?  Also, he said that 57% of the public would not recommend a company if they have a bad or no mobile site in place.  If they don't, 40% will go to another competitor's website.  

Grant Cardone spoke after lunch, and he was a dynamic, funny speaker to keep those sleepy eyes that can happen after lunch at any conference.  We need to make the sales process shorter.  Customers want to be in and out quicker.  What are you doing to shorten that process?  The one phrase that stood out with me is that we need to be "persistent and consistent."  This comes in every aspect of sales whether you are selling a pen or a car.

Nicholas Boos from Google shed some more insight on mobile marketing.  1 in 5 searches are being done in relation to your desktop and 1 in 3 are localized searches.  Nearly 30% of Google searches are being done on a phone.

Jason Ezell from Datium and Amir Amirrezvani from DealOn talked about website conversions.  They shared some insight that the average bounce rate on over 10,000 dealer websites is 63%!  That number just blew me away.  That just goes to show that customers are using the internet to look up phone numbers and they will leave.  What are you doing to engage that customer?  Average conversion of customers visiting dealer sites were at 2%.  

These are just some of the takeaways from the conference last week.  Biggest takeaway was mobile is key in the coming years.  Nearly 30% of Google searches are done via phone.  I have seen this firsthand as the mobile traffic and usage to our website go up month after month.  So what do you see yourself doing in the next year or two?

I hope that this caught your attention because I do have a secret.  I was reading this week's issue of Automotive News on Monday and there is an article on page 24.  If you don't get it, or your owner or GM hangs onto it for a few weeks and then passes it around, go find it.  It is about Internet Leads.  It basically comes down to how much dealers are not responding effectively to i-leads.

The survey was conducted by Piper of Monterey and shopped 4331 different dealerships and brands.  Here are some of their findings:

• Nearly 1 in 4 queries went unanswered within the first 24 hours.
• Only 16% of the leads submitted received an auto-responder.  I know that there is room for argument whether or not to have one, but I was surprised how low that number was.

Breaking it down by brand, there were some shocking things brought to the surface.  You would think that Toyota/Scion would be great in responding to leads since it is a little more geared towards Gen-Y (particularly on Scion).  They scored second worse with 36% of their dealerships not responding to the leads submitted.  Mini was actually worst in not responding to leads.

The top six brands were Lexus and Infiniti tied for first; Acura, third; Lincoln, Ford, and Honda tied for fourth.

Along with this article, Cobalt just released it's eshopper results from 2011.  The results are very similar.  Here are some of their results and taken from their study:

• 2 out of 10 leads never were responded to.
• 2 out of 3 weren't invited in for a test drive.
• 75% of the leads weren't quoted a price when requested.

These are just a few of their results.  There is a wealth of information out there on this thing that we call the internet on message boards like Driving Sales among others.  Car people are engaged on there and sharing ideas and practices, but the results are showing that so many dealers are missing the mark.

Here is my secret to our success and don't tell anyone.  Answer the leads!!!  It's just that simple.  Yes, response time is important, but more importantly, the quality of the content maybe more important as the Cobalt study revealed.  Now, respond to this post, and go respond to those leads sitting in that "New Bucket" in your CRM.

You can read the Cobalt study here. (Take note what you have to do in order to get a copy of the study.)

I hope that this caught your attention because I do have a secret.  I was reading this week's issue of Automotive News on Monday and there is an article on page 24.  If you don't get it, or your owner or GM hangs onto it for a few weeks and then passes it around, go find it.  It is about Internet Leads.  It basically comes down to how much dealers are not responding effectively to i-leads.

The survey was conducted by Piper of Monterey and shopped 4331 different dealerships and brands.  Here are some of their findings:

• Nearly 1 in 4 queries went unanswered within the first 24 hours.
• Only 16% of the leads submitted received an auto-responder.  I know that there is room for argument whether or not to have one, but I was surprised how low that number was.

Breaking it down by brand, there were some shocking things brought to the surface.  You would think that Toyota/Scion would be great in responding to leads since it is a little more geared towards Gen-Y (particularly on Scion).  They scored second worse with 36% of their dealerships not responding to the leads submitted.  Mini was actually worst in not responding to leads.

The top six brands were Lexus and Infiniti tied for first; Acura, third; Lincoln, Ford, and Honda tied for fourth.

Along with this article, Cobalt just released it's eshopper results from 2011.  The results are very similar.  Here are some of their results and taken from their study:

• 2 out of 10 leads never were responded to.
• 2 out of 3 weren't invited in for a test drive.
• 75% of the leads weren't quoted a price when requested.

These are just a few of their results.  There is a wealth of information out there on this thing that we call the internet on message boards like Driving Sales among others.  Car people are engaged on there and sharing ideas and practices, but the results are showing that so many dealers are missing the mark.

Here is my secret to our success and don't tell anyone.  Answer the leads!!!  It's just that simple.  Yes, response time is important, but more importantly, the quality of the content maybe more important as the Cobalt study revealed.  Now, respond to this post, and go respond to those leads sitting in that "New Bucket" in your CRM.

You can read the Cobalt study here. (Take note what you have to do in order to get a copy of the study.)

The other day I was at Panera Bread.  As I was sitting there eating my lunch during the busy lunch hour, I watched 8 people walk in the door within 45 minutes, and every single one said something to the effect of being too busy and “let’s go somewhere else.”  This was all within an earshot of employees that were helping clean tables.  Not one word was said to any of those customers as they just turned and walked out.  What if those employees were able to offer them a cookie or a pastry to keep that customer there and have a great lunch?  Would that have been enough to keep that customer in the restaurant?

Most managers have gotten a call or an email in their career where the customer states, “I was on the lot for 5 minutes and wasn’t helped.  I left and bought a car down the street that same day.”  So what is that first impression when we don’t help that customer?

Most dealerships will spend somewhere around $300+ to get a customer in the dealership.  So what are we doing with those customers when they get there?  There has been a lot of discussion about ZMOT over the last few months.  But what about the first moment of truth when the customer gets to the dealership?  Are we making that great first impression when they set foot on the lot to look at a car or make make that call to the dealership that we marketed online?  Are we getting to those customers within a few minutes, or are we letting customers go?  We work so hard and spend so much money to get the customer to the dealership or on the phone, and sometimes we have failed.  Too many times have I listened to phone calls where the customer is describing the vehicle to the salesman and then they are looking it up on the website themselves.  Salesmen need to walk the inventory and know it like the back of their hand.  It is their paycheck.  As far as i am concerned, if the customer knows more about the vehicle they are looking at than the salesperson, the customer hasn't done their job.  So when we fail that customer, or potential customer, what was that customer worth?

When that customer comes on the lot, be enthusiastic.  Are you going to sell the sizzle or the steak?  I have too many times seen a salesman walking the lot with his/her hands in their pockets and head down.  There is just no enthusiasm some times.  It goes back to the basics of selling yourself, the dealership, and then the product.  They need to know their inventory and where it is and show the customer what they are looking for in their wants and needs interview.  This will make them stand out from the guy on the lot a few blocks away.  So what are you doing to make yourself stand out from the rest of the crowd?

The other day I was at Panera Bread.  As I was sitting there eating my lunch during the busy lunch hour, I watched 8 people walk in the door within 45 minutes, and every single one said something to the effect of being too busy and “let’s go somewhere else.”  This was all within an earshot of employees that were helping clean tables.  Not one word was said to any of those customers as they just turned and walked out.  What if those employees were able to offer them a cookie or a pastry to keep that customer there and have a great lunch?  Would that have been enough to keep that customer in the restaurant?

Most managers have gotten a call or an email in their career where the customer states, “I was on the lot for 5 minutes and wasn’t helped.  I left and bought a car down the street that same day.”  So what is that first impression when we don’t help that customer?

Most dealerships will spend somewhere around $300+ to get a customer in the dealership.  So what are we doing with those customers when they get there?  There has been a lot of discussion about ZMOT over the last few months.  But what about the first moment of truth when the customer gets to the dealership?  Are we making that great first impression when they set foot on the lot to look at a car or make make that call to the dealership that we marketed online?  Are we getting to those customers within a few minutes, or are we letting customers go?  We work so hard and spend so much money to get the customer to the dealership or on the phone, and sometimes we have failed.  Too many times have I listened to phone calls where the customer is describing the vehicle to the salesman and then they are looking it up on the website themselves.  Salesmen need to walk the inventory and know it like the back of their hand.  It is their paycheck.  As far as i am concerned, if the customer knows more about the vehicle they are looking at than the salesperson, the customer hasn't done their job.  So when we fail that customer, or potential customer, what was that customer worth?

When that customer comes on the lot, be enthusiastic.  Are you going to sell the sizzle or the steak?  I have too many times seen a salesman walking the lot with his/her hands in their pockets and head down.  There is just no enthusiasm some times.  It goes back to the basics of selling yourself, the dealership, and then the product.  They need to know their inventory and where it is and show the customer what they are looking for in their wants and needs interview.  This will make them stand out from the guy on the lot a few blocks away.  So what are you doing to make yourself stand out from the rest of the crowd?

DealerSocket hits the market with 3 new products within their CRM to take them to the next level at NADA in Las Vegas this week.  I was able to get a sneak peek of the 3 new features that they are rolling out last week that should bring their CRM up towards the top of the market.

The first part of the CRM enhancement is SocketTalk.  SocketTalk is a fully integratable texting feature within the CRM that will store everything in the history of the customer file.  When you click on the button to text a customer from within the CRM, it will open up a window and look like a text string like an iPhone.  You can also have instant messaging between employees that will pop up on the desktop.  The other nice feature is that it will integrate with your DMS so that when a customer’s vehicle is done in service, it will also alert them when the RO is closed.  Everything is opt in to cover any state and local laws to make sure that they dealership is compliant in texting laws.

The second enhancement that DealerSocket is releasing is Revenue Radar.  Revenue Radar is an equity alert program that will alert the sales rep when there is equity in a vehicle and can trade the customer out of their vehicle early.  This is a great program where you can do searches within the database for customers with specific vehicles in their ownership that you can trade for and source for your used car department.  The filtering within the program was very user friendly and all in drop down menus.  DealerSocket is tied in with the manufacturer programs so you will have the most relevant information to get to the customer when you call and try to schedule that appointment.  DealerSocket also has call centers that you can take advantage of and have them make the calls for you.

The last element of the enhancements is the Mobile CRM.  It is accessible on iPhone and Android platforms.  It was a very clean app as they were going through all of the paces of the product.  It is tied in with the main CRM so the Sales Managers can know what is going on out on the lot.  They can do a quick entry with basic customer info and they can fill out the rest as needed when they get to the computer.  The other nice feature is currently on the Android platform and coming soon to iPhone is the scanner for the customer’s trade in within the customer information screen.  One concern we all have as managers is sales people ‘faking’ their calls.  When they are clicking within the app and making the calls from their cell phones, it is a verified call and we as managers know that the call was actually made. 

If you are looking at adding a CRM or changing CRM companies, swing by the DealerSocket booth at NADA and they would love to show you the enhancements in person.  They are at booth 3180 and will be happy to go over all of their platform enhancements with you.   

DealerSocket hits the market with 3 new products within their CRM to take them to the next level at NADA in Las Vegas this week.  I was able to get a sneak peek of the 3 new features that they are rolling out last week that should bring their CRM up towards the top of the market.

The first part of the CRM enhancement is SocketTalk.  SocketTalk is a fully integratable texting feature within the CRM that will store everything in the history of the customer file.  When you click on the button to text a customer from within the CRM, it will open up a window and look like a text string like an iPhone.  You can also have instant messaging between employees that will pop up on the desktop.  The other nice feature is that it will integrate with your DMS so that when a customer’s vehicle is done in service, it will also alert them when the RO is closed.  Everything is opt in to cover any state and local laws to make sure that they dealership is compliant in texting laws.

The second enhancement that DealerSocket is releasing is Revenue Radar.  Revenue Radar is an equity alert program that will alert the sales rep when there is equity in a vehicle and can trade the customer out of their vehicle early.  This is a great program where you can do searches within the database for customers with specific vehicles in their ownership that you can trade for and source for your used car department.  The filtering within the program was very user friendly and all in drop down menus.  DealerSocket is tied in with the manufacturer programs so you will have the most relevant information to get to the customer when you call and try to schedule that appointment.  DealerSocket also has call centers that you can take advantage of and have them make the calls for you.

The last element of the enhancements is the Mobile CRM.  It is accessible on iPhone and Android platforms.  It was a very clean app as they were going through all of the paces of the product.  It is tied in with the main CRM so the Sales Managers can know what is going on out on the lot.  They can do a quick entry with basic customer info and they can fill out the rest as needed when they get to the computer.  The other nice feature is currently on the Android platform and coming soon to iPhone is the scanner for the customer’s trade in within the customer information screen.  One concern we all have as managers is sales people ‘faking’ their calls.  When they are clicking within the app and making the calls from their cell phones, it is a verified call and we as managers know that the call was actually made. 

If you are looking at adding a CRM or changing CRM companies, swing by the DealerSocket booth at NADA and they would love to show you the enhancements in person.  They are at booth 3180 and will be happy to go over all of their platform enhancements with you.