Kbb.com just released a study recently that they did on the online shoppers: New Car Intenders. There are a few things that really took me back and have to make sure that I was actually doing it right to fall in line with their results.

They found in their research that the average person will research for their next new vehicle for an average of 2.5 months. I then started thinking about some of the leads that come in that we think are "junk leads" just because they won't respond to us. This is an important number so that we don't just drop that prospect that isn't responding to us for some reason. People request for information to keep themselves anonymous. We need to keep our name in front of them in our ongoing marketing and sending them relevant information on the vehicle that they requested information on. Stay with them for 30, 60, and 90 days and beyond. How many times have you had a customer just show up out of the blue that you have emailed and called and just left messages for several months and ask for a certain salesperson?Just like your walk-in traffic, stick with them until they fly or die.

The next thing that took me back was that 70% of those shoppers see a dealerships's website as valuable. Take away on this one is to make sure that your site is customer friendly. We are car people and chances are the people that designed your website are car people. Look from the outside looking in and make sure that there is no car lingo on your website. Make sure that prospective customers can find things easy. Have your links clearly defined and any call to actions on your site to stand out.

Photos on new cars are beginning to become more valuable year after year. Prospective customers want to see the actual vehicle they are looking at on your website. They can see stock photos on any website. They want to see actual photos of the new car just like the used cars. KBB found that the shopper like to see an average of 18 photos. 76% of the shoppers were more likely to go to the dealership with actual photos of their vehicles. 61% were more apt to purchase from the dealer that had photos. 51% would email or call over a dealership that doesn't have photos of their new vehicles. The take away on this one is pretty obvious....get new car photos on your website and make sure that you push it out to your third party sites.

I had to conduct a survey with all of my Twitter followers that are in the automotive business. I was shocked at the results how many dealers were merchandising with real photos vs stock photos. I found that 63% of my automotive followers that completed the survey were using actual photos vs stock photos on new vehicle merchandising. (I was thinking it was going to be much lower or I have some top dealers following me.) What this tells me is that people in the automotive business are seeing the importance of what a consumer or future customer wants to see online. On a personal level, we have been taking photos of new vehicles for a year now. Have I seen an increase in leads? No, not really. Have I seen an increase of vehicle detail pages? Yes. Have we seen an increase in sales? Most definitely. 'Nuff said.

You can view and download the KBB report here.

Kbb.com just released a study recently that they did on the online shoppers: New Car Intenders. There are a few things that really took me back and have to make sure that I was actually doing it right to fall in line with their results.

They found in their research that the average person will research for their next new vehicle for an average of 2.5 months. I then started thinking about some of the leads that come in that we think are "junk leads" just because they won't respond to us. This is an important number so that we don't just drop that prospect that isn't responding to us for some reason. People request for information to keep themselves anonymous. We need to keep our name in front of them in our ongoing marketing and sending them relevant information on the vehicle that they requested information on. Stay with them for 30, 60, and 90 days and beyond. How many times have you had a customer just show up out of the blue that you have emailed and called and just left messages for several months and ask for a certain salesperson?Just like your walk-in traffic, stick with them until they fly or die.

The next thing that took me back was that 70% of those shoppers see a dealerships's website as valuable. Take away on this one is to make sure that your site is customer friendly. We are car people and chances are the people that designed your website are car people. Look from the outside looking in and make sure that there is no car lingo on your website. Make sure that prospective customers can find things easy. Have your links clearly defined and any call to actions on your site to stand out.

Photos on new cars are beginning to become more valuable year after year. Prospective customers want to see the actual vehicle they are looking at on your website. They can see stock photos on any website. They want to see actual photos of the new car just like the used cars. KBB found that the shopper like to see an average of 18 photos. 76% of the shoppers were more likely to go to the dealership with actual photos of their vehicles. 61% were more apt to purchase from the dealer that had photos. 51% would email or call over a dealership that doesn't have photos of their new vehicles. The take away on this one is pretty obvious....get new car photos on your website and make sure that you push it out to your third party sites.

I had to conduct a survey with all of my Twitter followers that are in the automotive business. I was shocked at the results how many dealers were merchandising with real photos vs stock photos. I found that 63% of my automotive followers that completed the survey were using actual photos vs stock photos on new vehicle merchandising. (I was thinking it was going to be much lower or I have some top dealers following me.) What this tells me is that people in the automotive business are seeing the importance of what a consumer or future customer wants to see online. On a personal level, we have been taking photos of new vehicles for a year now. Have I seen an increase in leads? No, not really. Have I seen an increase of vehicle detail pages? Yes. Have we seen an increase in sales? Most definitely. 'Nuff said.

You can view and download the KBB report here.

Phone ups are getting to be a key in the automotive business. The internet has changed our environment dramatically as customers used to visit at least 4-5 dealerships and that number has dwindled down to under 2 dealership visits before making a decision on a new vehicle. Also, call volume is trending down as dealers are being more transparent with options/equipment, carfaxes, and more photos of vehicles on the websites. We have to be sharp on the phone and also stand out.

I was walking through the showroom yesterday, and heard a salesman on the phone calling a customer that had inquired on a vehicle over the phone. He hadn't set the appointment, but he followed up with the customer the next day just to say thanks for the interest in the vehicle and he was there if they had any further questions. I have another salesman that will do a reverse look up on the phone number and not only follow up with them on the phone, but will also send them a postcard. I will guarantee there isn't any salesman in town that is doing that. This is all why he is as successful as he is in what he does.

Too many times, if a salesman doesn't set an appointment on the first incoming call, the customer goes to the side and is never followed up again. I have no idea of what that statistic is, but I am sure it is high.

To stand out, we have to ask the right questions and open that customer up to the whole inventory, not just that vehicle that they called in on. We have to listen to the customer in their needs and wants. If they call in on a 2 door smaller car and they said that they have 3 kids, that might not be the right vehicle for them if they are replacing a vehicle. We have to be there to be an advisor, not just a salesman.

Here are a few tips to make you better than the next guy the customer calls:

1. Get a name. Too many calls are going without asking for the customer's name.
2. Get their best contact info. Most dealers have caller id and use it. Mr. Customer, is this 555-555-5555 the best number to reach you at?
3. Open them up to your whole inventory. How many times have you listened to a phone call and they ask if the 1999 Honda Civic is available and you say no and they hang up right away? Are you specifically looking for that car, or something that gets great gas mileage at a great price?
4. Get their email. Make yourself stand out and do a quick 2 minute walk-around on the vehicle and send it to them. Make yourself stand out from the rest.
5. ASK FOR THE APPOINTMENT! Too many salespeople are scared to ask for it.
6. Give them your name and have them write it down. How many times did a customer that you didn't get logged in the CRM for some reason just come in and didn't ask for you and bought from your coworker?
7. Log them in the CRM! Protect yourself. Put in good notes. If you didn't make an appointment, call them back the next day and put them in your normal follow up routine.

So what are you doing to make yourself stand out?

Phone ups are getting to be a key in the automotive business. The internet has changed our environment dramatically as customers used to visit at least 4-5 dealerships and that number has dwindled down to under 2 dealership visits before making a decision on a new vehicle. Also, call volume is trending down as dealers are being more transparent with options/equipment, carfaxes, and more photos of vehicles on the websites. We have to be sharp on the phone and also stand out.

I was walking through the showroom yesterday, and heard a salesman on the phone calling a customer that had inquired on a vehicle over the phone. He hadn't set the appointment, but he followed up with the customer the next day just to say thanks for the interest in the vehicle and he was there if they had any further questions. I have another salesman that will do a reverse look up on the phone number and not only follow up with them on the phone, but will also send them a postcard. I will guarantee there isn't any salesman in town that is doing that. This is all why he is as successful as he is in what he does.

Too many times, if a salesman doesn't set an appointment on the first incoming call, the customer goes to the side and is never followed up again. I have no idea of what that statistic is, but I am sure it is high.

To stand out, we have to ask the right questions and open that customer up to the whole inventory, not just that vehicle that they called in on. We have to listen to the customer in their needs and wants. If they call in on a 2 door smaller car and they said that they have 3 kids, that might not be the right vehicle for them if they are replacing a vehicle. We have to be there to be an advisor, not just a salesman.

Here are a few tips to make you better than the next guy the customer calls:

1. Get a name. Too many calls are going without asking for the customer's name.
2. Get their best contact info. Most dealers have caller id and use it. Mr. Customer, is this 555-555-5555 the best number to reach you at?
3. Open them up to your whole inventory. How many times have you listened to a phone call and they ask if the 1999 Honda Civic is available and you say no and they hang up right away? Are you specifically looking for that car, or something that gets great gas mileage at a great price?
4. Get their email. Make yourself stand out and do a quick 2 minute walk-around on the vehicle and send it to them. Make yourself stand out from the rest.
5. ASK FOR THE APPOINTMENT! Too many salespeople are scared to ask for it.
6. Give them your name and have them write it down. How many times did a customer that you didn't get logged in the CRM for some reason just come in and didn't ask for you and bought from your coworker?
7. Log them in the CRM! Protect yourself. Put in good notes. If you didn't make an appointment, call them back the next day and put them in your normal follow up routine.

So what are you doing to make yourself stand out?

My trip Digital Dealer trip started out with an hour delay on my first flight to Detroit to make my way to Orlando. I only had an hour and ten minute layover and knew this would be close. As soon as I landed, I took my phone off plane mode and tweeted that it wasn't looking good to make my 12:11 flight when we had just landed at 12:05. Luckily, one of my "followers" was on the flight and they were waiting to back away from the gate. I confirmed with him that he was on my flight and that we would be deplaning in a matter of minutes and I tweeted him to cause a ruckus on the plane. He proceeded to let all of the staff know on the plane that myself and my coworker were deplaning our first flight and would be there and to hold the flight and would be there in the matter of minutes.

We were literally running through the terminal and and I was tweeting Cliff while running where we were. When we got to the gate after our mile and a half run through the terminals, they had just closed the plane to depart. They had held the plane for about 15 minutes.  The gate attendant called one person and they said they couldn't open it back up.  She called up to the tower to get clearance to reopen the plane for the guys that they were waiting for which they did.  Thank you Delta.

Social media was one of the big themes at Digital Dealer this spring. Social media can be a powerful tool if used correctly for your business. Almost every dealer has a Facebook page and Twitter account, but are you blasting your "friends" that like you and follow you on Facebook and Twitter with promotions and just automotive articles or using it to your maximum potential?

So how can you social network the right way in the Automotive Business?  Twitter can be a powerful tool. I am in the habit of doing localized searches of tweets for different words to see how we can help different local people out that may not be our customers as of yet. For example, I will search local tweets with oil change in the tweet nearby and see if anyone has tweeted about oil changes or is need of one. I had one person that the dealership wasn't following, but she had tweeted, "Time for an oil change, my baby is long over due." I tweeted from the company Twitter account that we had $12.95 oil changes and and a car wash at your request and she had called and scheduled an appointment and tweeted back thanks.  I've heard other dealerships have some similar stories, but they are far and few between. 

So I pose the question again; Are you just blasting your followers and likers with automotive articles and promotions or are you building relationships with socializing with them and engaging them?  What stories do you have if any?

My trip Digital Dealer trip started out with an hour delay on my first flight to Detroit to make my way to Orlando. I only had an hour and ten minute layover and knew this would be close. As soon as I landed, I took my phone off plane mode and tweeted that it wasn't looking good to make my 12:11 flight when we had just landed at 12:05. Luckily, one of my "followers" was on the flight and they were waiting to back away from the gate. I confirmed with him that he was on my flight and that we would be deplaning in a matter of minutes and I tweeted him to cause a ruckus on the plane. He proceeded to let all of the staff know on the plane that myself and my coworker were deplaning our first flight and would be there and to hold the flight and would be there in the matter of minutes.

We were literally running through the terminal and and I was tweeting Cliff while running where we were. When we got to the gate after our mile and a half run through the terminals, they had just closed the plane to depart. They had held the plane for about 15 minutes.  The gate attendant called one person and they said they couldn't open it back up.  She called up to the tower to get clearance to reopen the plane for the guys that they were waiting for which they did.  Thank you Delta.

Social media was one of the big themes at Digital Dealer this spring. Social media can be a powerful tool if used correctly for your business. Almost every dealer has a Facebook page and Twitter account, but are you blasting your "friends" that like you and follow you on Facebook and Twitter with promotions and just automotive articles or using it to your maximum potential?

So how can you social network the right way in the Automotive Business?  Twitter can be a powerful tool. I am in the habit of doing localized searches of tweets for different words to see how we can help different local people out that may not be our customers as of yet. For example, I will search local tweets with oil change in the tweet nearby and see if anyone has tweeted about oil changes or is need of one. I had one person that the dealership wasn't following, but she had tweeted, "Time for an oil change, my baby is long over due." I tweeted from the company Twitter account that we had $12.95 oil changes and and a car wash at your request and she had called and scheduled an appointment and tweeted back thanks.  I've heard other dealerships have some similar stories, but they are far and few between. 

So I pose the question again; Are you just blasting your followers and likers with automotive articles and promotions or are you building relationships with socializing with them and engaging them?  What stories do you have if any?

Thinking about last week and digesting everything that was presented at Digital Dealer is exhausting. I looked at a ton of products, and was a great week overall making connections on a vendor and dealership level.  There were a lot of really good products there and caught not only my eye, but a lot of dealer's eyes in the sea of vendors in the exposition hall, but any solution is only how great you use that product. 

Thinking on all of the sessions that I attended, they all had a similar underlying theme. The bottom line theme comes down to processes. There's a process for social media, a process for online marketing, a process for first responses and follow up, and a process for reputation management.  Everything has a process.  If your processes aren't there and not being executed, you won't see the success that you were promised by the vendor and you will fail.  But it doesn't end there. Have them in writing so you can watch the flow of things over time and make sure that all of the tasks are being completed according to plan.  No matter how great the product is, even if it is the best thing since sliced bread, it may be horrible with your dealership because of your process that is in place or lack there of.

Every dealer has different processes, but you have to find the sweet spot and find the processes that works for you. It will take some trial and error time, but in the long run, it will all be worth it. You have to come up with a good Internet process, good follow up process for unsold showroom traffic, unsold I-leads, unreachable customers that have submitted for info over the Internet. Not one process will work for every dealership. It may have the same concept or be similar, but they will be different in every store.

The process has to be unique to the customer to make you stand out from others. It will make the experience for the consumer great if you have the right processes in place.  I heard in the last week that it's not the best price that matters, it is the best experience that will get you the business. It all comes down to how you handle the Internet lead or incoming phone call.  It's all your process.  People will travel over 30 miles when the process is flawless and be executed correctly. 

If you don't have a process in a certain area, get one.  Collaborate with managers within the dealership that are involved in that area of focus and talk about it. Let that process work for 30-60 days and reevaluate it and make sure things are happening correctly and is being executed correctly. If the process that was decided on isn't working as planned, steer the ship back onto course and make changes on the fly as needed.  Once you have all of the processes in place, you will have the success you are looking for. 

What products did you see that can take your dealership to the next level and have a clean process with it?

Thinking about last week and digesting everything that was presented at Digital Dealer is exhausting. I looked at a ton of products, and was a great week overall making connections on a vendor and dealership level.  There were a lot of really good products there and caught not only my eye, but a lot of dealer's eyes in the sea of vendors in the exposition hall, but any solution is only how great you use that product. 

Thinking on all of the sessions that I attended, they all had a similar underlying theme. The bottom line theme comes down to processes. There's a process for social media, a process for online marketing, a process for first responses and follow up, and a process for reputation management.  Everything has a process.  If your processes aren't there and not being executed, you won't see the success that you were promised by the vendor and you will fail.  But it doesn't end there. Have them in writing so you can watch the flow of things over time and make sure that all of the tasks are being completed according to plan.  No matter how great the product is, even if it is the best thing since sliced bread, it may be horrible with your dealership because of your process that is in place or lack there of.

Every dealer has different processes, but you have to find the sweet spot and find the processes that works for you. It will take some trial and error time, but in the long run, it will all be worth it. You have to come up with a good Internet process, good follow up process for unsold showroom traffic, unsold I-leads, unreachable customers that have submitted for info over the Internet. Not one process will work for every dealership. It may have the same concept or be similar, but they will be different in every store.

The process has to be unique to the customer to make you stand out from others. It will make the experience for the consumer great if you have the right processes in place.  I heard in the last week that it's not the best price that matters, it is the best experience that will get you the business. It all comes down to how you handle the Internet lead or incoming phone call.  It's all your process.  People will travel over 30 miles when the process is flawless and be executed correctly. 

If you don't have a process in a certain area, get one.  Collaborate with managers within the dealership that are involved in that area of focus and talk about it. Let that process work for 30-60 days and reevaluate it and make sure things are happening correctly and is being executed correctly. If the process that was decided on isn't working as planned, steer the ship back onto course and make changes on the fly as needed.  Once you have all of the processes in place, you will have the success you are looking for. 

What products did you see that can take your dealership to the next level and have a clean process with it?

I had the opportunity to demo the new product that ResponseLogix released yesterday.  They have made some major improvements to the quote templates that they have had in place.  The email quotes that were being sent were in HTML format and are now going to what I would consider a micro site just for the customer.  It is also in a format where it is more user-friendly and has some more trackable capabilities to it. There are 5 sections to the email quote that is sent.

In the first section of the email that is sent is a personalized message from thedealership.  Along with the message, on the side, are links back to the dealership website for service appointment, credit application, online trade appraisal, specials, request another quote, and visit our website.

 In the second section, which has the quote itself on the particular vehicle that was requested, you can incorporate the window sticker itself along with the EPA portion of the window sticker.

The third portion incorporates the Truecar Price Report. It is like being on the site itselfand looking at where the dealer is priced at according to it. This feature can be turned on and off if you are priced above the market on any particular vehicle, which is a great option for dealers.

The forth section includes other options. You can choose one level up and one level down for a new car. For used cars, you can add up to four other comparable vehicles that you have in stock.

In the fifth section is the signature of the representative from the dealership. They do put a tracking number that is assigned to that particular lead to track analytics to make sure that there is dialogue with the customer and the salesperson.

The other portion is tracking. When the lead comes in, ResponseLogix will scrub the customer's phone number and assign a toll free number with an extension to track the phone calls. It will allow for tracking of the customer contact and falls in an analytics tool that managers have access to.

There is another component to the system where it will do certain emails to the customer if there is no contact in 72 hours or however you want to set it up. It will also send out an email after 14 days or however you want to set it up and it is like a survey type email. Are you still in the market, do you want to set up a test drive, etc.

There is one last portion and that is if the customer opens the lead and goes away from the email and goes to a site that has banner ads or tower ads, they somehow cookie the user. When they hit say CNN.com, there will be the car on the side of the page, click here to schedule your test drive. It then links back to your site.

I really feel this is a product that will take things to the next level for dealerships across the nation.

I had the opportunity to demo the new product that ResponseLogix released yesterday.  They have made some major improvements to the quote templates that they have had in place.  The email quotes that were being sent were in HTML format and are now going to what I would consider a micro site just for the customer.  It is also in a format where it is more user-friendly and has some more trackable capabilities to it. There are 5 sections to the email quote that is sent.

In the first section of the email that is sent is a personalized message from thedealership.  Along with the message, on the side, are links back to the dealership website for service appointment, credit application, online trade appraisal, specials, request another quote, and visit our website.

 In the second section, which has the quote itself on the particular vehicle that was requested, you can incorporate the window sticker itself along with the EPA portion of the window sticker.

The third portion incorporates the Truecar Price Report. It is like being on the site itselfand looking at where the dealer is priced at according to it. This feature can be turned on and off if you are priced above the market on any particular vehicle, which is a great option for dealers.

The forth section includes other options. You can choose one level up and one level down for a new car. For used cars, you can add up to four other comparable vehicles that you have in stock.

In the fifth section is the signature of the representative from the dealership. They do put a tracking number that is assigned to that particular lead to track analytics to make sure that there is dialogue with the customer and the salesperson.

The other portion is tracking. When the lead comes in, ResponseLogix will scrub the customer's phone number and assign a toll free number with an extension to track the phone calls. It will allow for tracking of the customer contact and falls in an analytics tool that managers have access to.

There is another component to the system where it will do certain emails to the customer if there is no contact in 72 hours or however you want to set it up. It will also send out an email after 14 days or however you want to set it up and it is like a survey type email. Are you still in the market, do you want to set up a test drive, etc.

There is one last portion and that is if the customer opens the lead and goes away from the email and goes to a site that has banner ads or tower ads, they somehow cookie the user. When they hit say CNN.com, there will be the car on the side of the page, click here to schedule your test drive. It then links back to your site.

I really feel this is a product that will take things to the next level for dealerships across the nation.