So how is your 2011 ending up for you?  Did you get to where you want to be in sales objectives?  Did you hit your goals for the different internet sales teams, sales departments, or the BDC?

Over the last several months, I have heard from several dealerships from around the country that their internet leads seem to be down.  Sales seem to be up, but not the leads.  I have heard some dealers being somewhere around 10, 20, and upwards of 30% down from where they are "normally" are with their leads.  Yes, leads may be down, but is your floor traffic down?

As you are looking at your 2012 advertising budgets, this is something to consider.  I was doing a little research within our back end tools that we have available to us from cars.com and Autotrader.  I came across a report that was intriguing to say the least.  It is the "Sold Inventory Report."  Some of this may connect the dots with your sales.  Here is what I found within our report.   Of the last 64 sales, only 7 had done a 'used car e-mail quote, 16 viewed a map to the dealership,   20 clicked through to the dealership website, and 5 printed details on our vehicles.  Can we credit all of these sales to cars.com?  Probably not, but it definitely connects some of the dots and may be a result of the 'walk-in traffic' that you may be seeing in your dealership.

So this will bring me to the Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT).  Yes, there has been a lot of rumblings going on different forums in the last week, but I will say that without having full descriptions, multiple photos (minimum of 18 on every vehicle), and reviews, you may not be seeing these types of results.  If you are doing all of the right things with all of the above, hopefully you are seeing results similar to this.

When you put some of the third party sources, specifically classified listings, under the microscope, something that you may want to consider is the cost per VDP and not so much heavily on the cost per lead and sale.  Try and get that cost as low as possible.  I know that I am always shooting for less than a dollar per VDP.  These third parties are generating floor traffic whether you know it or not.  We all hear time and time again that Autotrader and Cars.com are your new newspaper ads and I really do think that they are.  My philosophy that leads are on the decline as dealers are having to be more transparent and get on the internet with their photos, descriptions, carfaxes/autochecks, and pricing policies.  If you aren't watching what the market is doing on a particular vehicle and shooting from the hip, you just may see that vehicle start to age on you.  If you aren't using a tool like vAuto or VIN's product, you may want to make sure that you are doing your research.  This will only help you in keeping your VDPs at the maximum viewing capability and getting the most out of your online marketing with those third party sources.

What are your thoughts on the lead volumes?

So how is your 2011 ending up for you?  Did you get to where you want to be in sales objectives?  Did you hit your goals for the different internet sales teams, sales departments, or the BDC?

Over the last several months, I have heard from several dealerships from around the country that their internet leads seem to be down.  Sales seem to be up, but not the leads.  I have heard some dealers being somewhere around 10, 20, and upwards of 30% down from where they are "normally" are with their leads.  Yes, leads may be down, but is your floor traffic down?

As you are looking at your 2012 advertising budgets, this is something to consider.  I was doing a little research within our back end tools that we have available to us from cars.com and Autotrader.  I came across a report that was intriguing to say the least.  It is the "Sold Inventory Report."  Some of this may connect the dots with your sales.  Here is what I found within our report.   Of the last 64 sales, only 7 had done a 'used car e-mail quote, 16 viewed a map to the dealership,   20 clicked through to the dealership website, and 5 printed details on our vehicles.  Can we credit all of these sales to cars.com?  Probably not, but it definitely connects some of the dots and may be a result of the 'walk-in traffic' that you may be seeing in your dealership.

So this will bring me to the Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT).  Yes, there has been a lot of rumblings going on different forums in the last week, but I will say that without having full descriptions, multiple photos (minimum of 18 on every vehicle), and reviews, you may not be seeing these types of results.  If you are doing all of the right things with all of the above, hopefully you are seeing results similar to this.

When you put some of the third party sources, specifically classified listings, under the microscope, something that you may want to consider is the cost per VDP and not so much heavily on the cost per lead and sale.  Try and get that cost as low as possible.  I know that I am always shooting for less than a dollar per VDP.  These third parties are generating floor traffic whether you know it or not.  We all hear time and time again that Autotrader and Cars.com are your new newspaper ads and I really do think that they are.  My philosophy that leads are on the decline as dealers are having to be more transparent and get on the internet with their photos, descriptions, carfaxes/autochecks, and pricing policies.  If you aren't watching what the market is doing on a particular vehicle and shooting from the hip, you just may see that vehicle start to age on you.  If you aren't using a tool like vAuto or VIN's product, you may want to make sure that you are doing your research.  This will only help you in keeping your VDPs at the maximum viewing capability and getting the most out of your online marketing with those third party sources.

What are your thoughts on the lead volumes?

Here we are, it’s already the end of 2011.  Where has the year gone?  We have seen a lot of changes over the year with Google places, how reviews are showing on search results, social media taking the forefront in the automotive business, and much more.  I just got home from the Kain Automotive Workshop in Lexington, KY.  So much information, best practices, and some great ideas were shared over a two and a half day period.

One of the big topics was about planning for 2012.  Yes, it is right around the corner.  We as dealers have to evaluate what has and hasn’t worked for us, evaluate our budgets and where to spend our money the most effectively, and we also have to see what areas in the business that we as dealerships have to focus on.  What are those areas?  Is it just some basics like multiple photos, social media, responding to internet leads effectively, online reviews, or any other processes that need tweaked? 

With so many great tools in our tool boxes, we all have to find a way to stand out.  One of the speakers said this week that a lot of dealers are just like “Where’s Waldo?”  So many dealers will respond the same way, keep on emailing and leaving the same messages, etc.  What are you going to do to stand out when a lot of the dealers are using similar, if not, the same tools as yourself? 

Budgets

I know that our budgets have been under a microscope over the last month or so.  So what makes a lead source a ‘good’ lead source?  I know that when we are doing our ROI tracking, we are using a five times our spend rule.  If the source isn’t generating the five times the spend, you may want to consider eliminating them.  I know that the vendors that we use will ask how they are doing with the ROI for our store since they know that we are using that rule. 

When looking at the third party sites, look at the cost per vehicle detail page (VDP).  We look at trying to be at somewhere around a dollar per VDP.  We all have heard that more and more customers are just showing up at our doorsteps to see a particular vehicle as dealers become more transparent.  Not only look at the VDPs, but also look at the map views and other actions on each provider on a per vehicle basis.   

I can’t say what is the best or worst lead source.  It is different in every market and I don’t think that there is one silver bullet.  I know that one lead source isn’t working well for me in my area, but it is working great on the other side of the country.  It could be due to marketing efforts on the providers, or it just could be where those leads are being pulled from.  I would recommend checking out the vendor reviews here on Driving Sales to see what others have to say about them.   

Social Media

Obviously, social media has been a hot topic this year and will only get bigger in the years to come.  Todd Smith referred to social media as the new “new neon lights” in the automotive industry.  It is so true since neon back in the ‘60s, ’70, and ‘80s was huge.  The bigger and brighter the neon, the better.  That is where social is. 

So many dealers jumped into social media this year with the Facebook pages with iPad give aways and twitter with inventory posts.  I will say one thing.  It all comes down to content and interaction within these mediums.  Also, remember that social media isn’t just Facebook and Twitter.  There is a lot more to it than just that.  Look at blogs, YouTube, and other avenues to take advantage of.  But before just jumping in feet first, make a plan.  Take baby steps in what you do on the social front.  How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time.  Just take your time, make a plan, and take baby steps. 

Online Reviews

I wrote about this a couple of weeks ago about putting all of your eggs in one basket when it comes to reviews.  Spread them out among the different websites since your potential customers are on upwards of an average of 18 different website in researching vehicles.  According to cars.com, they say that a consumer is four times more likely to submit a lead or request for more information when a dealer does have reviews.  Come up with a plan and execute it.

Your steps to success

Make a plan for 2012.  We all know that success is a result of people, process, and execute.  Without a plan, it probably won’t happen.  You need a map to go where you are going, right?  I heard last week during a football game that you can have all of the talent in the world, but if the coach isn’t getting full buy-in from the team from the top down, your result may be failure. 

I said this at the Kain workshop this week.  Surround yourself with great people in the industry.  Get involved in the online communities like Driving Sales.  Get involved on twitter if you aren't.  There are a lot of awesome people to help out and lend an ear or give advise on there.  Engage, learn from others, and don't be afraid to reach out to those that post online.  We are all here to learn something and find something to apply to your dealership.    

What areas are you going to focus on next year? 

Here we are, it’s already the end of 2011.  Where has the year gone?  We have seen a lot of changes over the year with Google places, how reviews are showing on search results, social media taking the forefront in the automotive business, and much more.  I just got home from the Kain Automotive Workshop in Lexington, KY.  So much information, best practices, and some great ideas were shared over a two and a half day period.

One of the big topics was about planning for 2012.  Yes, it is right around the corner.  We as dealers have to evaluate what has and hasn’t worked for us, evaluate our budgets and where to spend our money the most effectively, and we also have to see what areas in the business that we as dealerships have to focus on.  What are those areas?  Is it just some basics like multiple photos, social media, responding to internet leads effectively, online reviews, or any other processes that need tweaked? 

With so many great tools in our tool boxes, we all have to find a way to stand out.  One of the speakers said this week that a lot of dealers are just like “Where’s Waldo?”  So many dealers will respond the same way, keep on emailing and leaving the same messages, etc.  What are you going to do to stand out when a lot of the dealers are using similar, if not, the same tools as yourself? 

Budgets

I know that our budgets have been under a microscope over the last month or so.  So what makes a lead source a ‘good’ lead source?  I know that when we are doing our ROI tracking, we are using a five times our spend rule.  If the source isn’t generating the five times the spend, you may want to consider eliminating them.  I know that the vendors that we use will ask how they are doing with the ROI for our store since they know that we are using that rule. 

When looking at the third party sites, look at the cost per vehicle detail page (VDP).  We look at trying to be at somewhere around a dollar per VDP.  We all have heard that more and more customers are just showing up at our doorsteps to see a particular vehicle as dealers become more transparent.  Not only look at the VDPs, but also look at the map views and other actions on each provider on a per vehicle basis.   

I can’t say what is the best or worst lead source.  It is different in every market and I don’t think that there is one silver bullet.  I know that one lead source isn’t working well for me in my area, but it is working great on the other side of the country.  It could be due to marketing efforts on the providers, or it just could be where those leads are being pulled from.  I would recommend checking out the vendor reviews here on Driving Sales to see what others have to say about them.   

Social Media

Obviously, social media has been a hot topic this year and will only get bigger in the years to come.  Todd Smith referred to social media as the new “new neon lights” in the automotive industry.  It is so true since neon back in the ‘60s, ’70, and ‘80s was huge.  The bigger and brighter the neon, the better.  That is where social is. 

So many dealers jumped into social media this year with the Facebook pages with iPad give aways and twitter with inventory posts.  I will say one thing.  It all comes down to content and interaction within these mediums.  Also, remember that social media isn’t just Facebook and Twitter.  There is a lot more to it than just that.  Look at blogs, YouTube, and other avenues to take advantage of.  But before just jumping in feet first, make a plan.  Take baby steps in what you do on the social front.  How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time.  Just take your time, make a plan, and take baby steps. 

Online Reviews

I wrote about this a couple of weeks ago about putting all of your eggs in one basket when it comes to reviews.  Spread them out among the different websites since your potential customers are on upwards of an average of 18 different website in researching vehicles.  According to cars.com, they say that a consumer is four times more likely to submit a lead or request for more information when a dealer does have reviews.  Come up with a plan and execute it.

Your steps to success

Make a plan for 2012.  We all know that success is a result of people, process, and execute.  Without a plan, it probably won’t happen.  You need a map to go where you are going, right?  I heard last week during a football game that you can have all of the talent in the world, but if the coach isn’t getting full buy-in from the team from the top down, your result may be failure. 

I said this at the Kain workshop this week.  Surround yourself with great people in the industry.  Get involved in the online communities like Driving Sales.  Get involved on twitter if you aren't.  There are a lot of awesome people to help out and lend an ear or give advise on there.  Engage, learn from others, and don't be afraid to reach out to those that post online.  We are all here to learn something and find something to apply to your dealership.    

What areas are you going to focus on next year? 

Dale Pollak has made a lot of ripples in the automotive industry over the last few years with vAuto.  He just announced today Provision (the new stocking feature with vAuto) is going to cause not just a ripple, but a tsunami in stocking your inventory to perform at the dealership’s maximum potential.  Last year, vAuto was acquired by Autotrader, which no one really knew why.  Well, today, we know.  He is taking the stocking feature of vAuto to the next level which no one can touch with using data from Autotrader.

I was fortunate to see Provision at a 20 group meeting 2 months ago just to get a taste of what was to come.  After the meeting, we contacted Dale to see if there was a way to get on the Beta version of the new stocking tool which he with some hesitation and parameters set forth, he said yes.  We have been able to play in the Beta version for about the last month or so and I will say that it is going to take stocking to the next level for used car inventories.

The biggest change in the stocking tool is the stocking grade.  The stocking grade is a report card based on several factors that the developers at vAuto thought was important.  It is based on:

1. Demand: the number of people in your area that are searching for this car (taken from Autotrader).
2. Interest:  the average conversion rate from SRP to VDP for this vehicle in your area (taken from Autotrader).
3. Volume: the number of units sold in your area recently.
4. Day Supply:  measures the current available supply of similarly configured vehicles and the rate at which such vehicles have been sold over the last 45 days.
5. Profitability: difference between the average auction prices of this car to the average list price of the car after adding in a fixed reconditioning/transportation fee.
6. Availability: the number of units available in auctions now.
7. Experience: measures of the success of your recent sales of this Make/Model.

vAuto will also recommend which vehicles that you should look at buying for your inventory.  It will give you 10 different models in the different categories that you need to focus on based on how you want to have your inventory set up.  It will also let you know where those vehicles are going to be on the auction block.  You have the opportunity to look at the condition reports, condition grade, and place a proxy bid all within vAuto.

Another part of the new sourcing tool is that you can see within the auctions how many cars are running on the recommendations and how many matching vehicles will be running at those auctions.  This will particularly come in handy when planning your auction schedules and whether or not it’s worth going or not.  If you have a good amount of matching recommendations and vehicles running, then go or set up your proxy bids.  If those numbers are low, it maybe not worth the time going to those auctions.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of what Dale has up his sleeve with the new stocking tool.  There will be more to come which I will leave to vAuto to announce when it comes.  For current vAuto dealers subscribing to the stocking tool, the cost is a low cost of $0/month!  Dale’s thinking on this is that he wants to have the premier product out there without gouging dealers.  It is all part of product enhancements to stay ahead of his competitors.

For dealers that are already on vAuto, there will be training webinars for the next 60 days starting Monday, November 14.  Training will be at 8 Central time on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and 4 Central time on Wednesdays and Fridays.  Contact your Performance Manager to get the details or you can click here to schedule your online training webinar. 

Dale Pollak has made a lot of ripples in the automotive industry over the last few years with vAuto.  He just announced today Provision (the new stocking feature with vAuto) is going to cause not just a ripple, but a tsunami in stocking your inventory to perform at the dealership’s maximum potential.  Last year, vAuto was acquired by Autotrader, which no one really knew why.  Well, today, we know.  He is taking the stocking feature of vAuto to the next level which no one can touch with using data from Autotrader.

I was fortunate to see Provision at a 20 group meeting 2 months ago just to get a taste of what was to come.  After the meeting, we contacted Dale to see if there was a way to get on the Beta version of the new stocking tool which he with some hesitation and parameters set forth, he said yes.  We have been able to play in the Beta version for about the last month or so and I will say that it is going to take stocking to the next level for used car inventories.

The biggest change in the stocking tool is the stocking grade.  The stocking grade is a report card based on several factors that the developers at vAuto thought was important.  It is based on:

1. Demand: the number of people in your area that are searching for this car (taken from Autotrader).
2. Interest:  the average conversion rate from SRP to VDP for this vehicle in your area (taken from Autotrader).
3. Volume: the number of units sold in your area recently.
4. Day Supply:  measures the current available supply of similarly configured vehicles and the rate at which such vehicles have been sold over the last 45 days.
5. Profitability: difference between the average auction prices of this car to the average list price of the car after adding in a fixed reconditioning/transportation fee.
6. Availability: the number of units available in auctions now.
7. Experience: measures of the success of your recent sales of this Make/Model.

vAuto will also recommend which vehicles that you should look at buying for your inventory.  It will give you 10 different models in the different categories that you need to focus on based on how you want to have your inventory set up.  It will also let you know where those vehicles are going to be on the auction block.  You have the opportunity to look at the condition reports, condition grade, and place a proxy bid all within vAuto.

Another part of the new sourcing tool is that you can see within the auctions how many cars are running on the recommendations and how many matching vehicles will be running at those auctions.  This will particularly come in handy when planning your auction schedules and whether or not it’s worth going or not.  If you have a good amount of matching recommendations and vehicles running, then go or set up your proxy bids.  If those numbers are low, it maybe not worth the time going to those auctions.

This is just the tip of the iceberg of what Dale has up his sleeve with the new stocking tool.  There will be more to come which I will leave to vAuto to announce when it comes.  For current vAuto dealers subscribing to the stocking tool, the cost is a low cost of $0/month!  Dale’s thinking on this is that he wants to have the premier product out there without gouging dealers.  It is all part of product enhancements to stay ahead of his competitors.

For dealers that are already on vAuto, there will be training webinars for the next 60 days starting Monday, November 14.  Training will be at 8 Central time on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and 4 Central time on Wednesdays and Fridays.  Contact your Performance Manager to get the details or you can click here to schedule your online training webinar. 

Dear Mr./Ms. customer:

The market is ever changing in the automotive business and you and the internet has driven that for us auto dealers.  No longer can we be deceitful, lie about previous owners and service history, trade-in values, or pricing of vehicles on our lot.  Almost all of the information is out there for you to find.

The internet has changed everything. You can't offer us thousands of dollars off asking price anymore because we don't have the thousands of dollars of mark-up that we used to.  The internet has changed it so that we have to price vehicles to be competitive in the market place or they won't sell at all or you won't consider coming in to look at our vehicle or even click on it to look closer at it on the Internet.   You and the market are driving the price, not the dealership.

We have to be more and more transparent for you before you even walk in the door. That is why you will see 15+ pictures on most vehicles that you find on the internet. You will also generally find a Carfaxes or Autocheck on every car that you find out there. Again, we are having to be more transparent with you.

Just like buying a TV, you want to make sure that you are getting the best bang for your buck.  It is no different when it comes to finding the right dealership to deal with. Go look at our online reviews on Google, Dealerrater, and any other site. See what others are saying about us and how we treat our customer before, during, and after the sale. Remember, these are people that have done business with us and are the real deal. If you don't like what you read from our customers, don't do business with us and don't waste our time.  You not only want to find the best value for your hard earned dollar, but you want to be treated great which is to be expected since this is probably your second largest purchase besides your house. That is where we can look at how we treat our customers in our online reviews.

If you want to see what others are thinking about our dealership, Facebook it or Tweet it and see what your social network has to say about us or the vehicle that you are looking at. If it gets bashed or frowned upon within your network, let's look at other options.

We are all here to earn your business for the years to come. 

Thanks and we look forward to your business,

Your new used car salesman

Dear Mr./Ms. customer:

The market is ever changing in the automotive business and you and the internet has driven that for us auto dealers.  No longer can we be deceitful, lie about previous owners and service history, trade-in values, or pricing of vehicles on our lot.  Almost all of the information is out there for you to find.

The internet has changed everything. You can't offer us thousands of dollars off asking price anymore because we don't have the thousands of dollars of mark-up that we used to.  The internet has changed it so that we have to price vehicles to be competitive in the market place or they won't sell at all or you won't consider coming in to look at our vehicle or even click on it to look closer at it on the Internet.   You and the market are driving the price, not the dealership.

We have to be more and more transparent for you before you even walk in the door. That is why you will see 15+ pictures on most vehicles that you find on the internet. You will also generally find a Carfaxes or Autocheck on every car that you find out there. Again, we are having to be more transparent with you.

Just like buying a TV, you want to make sure that you are getting the best bang for your buck.  It is no different when it comes to finding the right dealership to deal with. Go look at our online reviews on Google, Dealerrater, and any other site. See what others are saying about us and how we treat our customer before, during, and after the sale. Remember, these are people that have done business with us and are the real deal. If you don't like what you read from our customers, don't do business with us and don't waste our time.  You not only want to find the best value for your hard earned dollar, but you want to be treated great which is to be expected since this is probably your second largest purchase besides your house. That is where we can look at how we treat our customers in our online reviews.

If you want to see what others are thinking about our dealership, Facebook it or Tweet it and see what your social network has to say about us or the vehicle that you are looking at. If it gets bashed or frowned upon within your network, let's look at other options.

We are all here to earn your business for the years to come. 

Thanks and we look forward to your business,

Your new used car salesman

We've all heard the statement "are all your eggs in one basket?"  But are all your eggs in one basket when it comes to online reviews?  A couple of months ago, we all learned that lesson when Google changed the way of the star ratings on the Google Places page and only counting the Google reviews in the star ratings on the search results.  I heard of some dealers go from 400+ reviews to less than 20 Google reviews due to focusing on one review site.  I think we all look at reviews in making a large purchasing decision and we may even hit a few different websites to see what people have to say.  It is no different when it comes to vehicle purchases.  I never really saw the importance of being diversified when it comes to online reviews until this week when I attended a seminar hosted by cars.com.

What cars.com found in their tracking within their site was 73% of used car shoppers did consult and read the online reviews of the dealership.  That potential customer is four times more likely to submit a lead or call the dealership based on the reviews that were submitted.  On the new car side of things, 91% of the shoppers will look at the reviews and see how customers rated the service department.  They want to see how they will be handled after the sale.  Service departments will see 3-5 times more customers than the sales department every day.  This shows the importance of getting the service departments involved in the review process.

One thing that we are always concerned about is that bad online review.  Guess what?  It happens.  The potential customer will find the reviews to be more credible if there would happen to be a marginal review within the site and you have responded to it.  The key is, how did you interact with that customer after the online review?  Did you give them an option to contact you to resolve the issue at hand or did you just ignore it?  Are you acknowledging the positive reviews?  Remember, your possible future customer may be reading that review and may determine if they come or not come to the dealership to give you a shot at their business.

So what are the steps to getting those online reviews?  Cars.com did have a good philosophy here and included 4 steps*.

1. Monitor - Listen to feedback across the internet.  Share the feedback across the dealership.
2. Respond - Acknowledge and reply to the feedback given.  Correct any underlying issues at the store.
3. Ask - Deliver a positive customer experience.  Ask satisfied customers to write a positive review.
4. Promote - Share positive reviews with prospects.  Reward the staff  for success.

Cars.com did share numbers with us that shouldn't scare dealers.  In the last few months since they started offering online reviews, they have received 12,500+ reviews with the average score of 4.4.  79% of the reviews were rated a 4 or 5 star.  Only 24% of the dealers on cars.com had reviews.  Are you part of that 24%?

I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic and diversifying yourself with your reviews.

*Info taken from cars.com slide

We've all heard the statement "are all your eggs in one basket?"  But are all your eggs in one basket when it comes to online reviews?  A couple of months ago, we all learned that lesson when Google changed the way of the star ratings on the Google Places page and only counting the Google reviews in the star ratings on the search results.  I heard of some dealers go from 400+ reviews to less than 20 Google reviews due to focusing on one review site.  I think we all look at reviews in making a large purchasing decision and we may even hit a few different websites to see what people have to say.  It is no different when it comes to vehicle purchases.  I never really saw the importance of being diversified when it comes to online reviews until this week when I attended a seminar hosted by cars.com.

What cars.com found in their tracking within their site was 73% of used car shoppers did consult and read the online reviews of the dealership.  That potential customer is four times more likely to submit a lead or call the dealership based on the reviews that were submitted.  On the new car side of things, 91% of the shoppers will look at the reviews and see how customers rated the service department.  They want to see how they will be handled after the sale.  Service departments will see 3-5 times more customers than the sales department every day.  This shows the importance of getting the service departments involved in the review process.

One thing that we are always concerned about is that bad online review.  Guess what?  It happens.  The potential customer will find the reviews to be more credible if there would happen to be a marginal review within the site and you have responded to it.  The key is, how did you interact with that customer after the online review?  Did you give them an option to contact you to resolve the issue at hand or did you just ignore it?  Are you acknowledging the positive reviews?  Remember, your possible future customer may be reading that review and may determine if they come or not come to the dealership to give you a shot at their business.

So what are the steps to getting those online reviews?  Cars.com did have a good philosophy here and included 4 steps*.

1. Monitor - Listen to feedback across the internet.  Share the feedback across the dealership.
2. Respond - Acknowledge and reply to the feedback given.  Correct any underlying issues at the store.
3. Ask - Deliver a positive customer experience.  Ask satisfied customers to write a positive review.
4. Promote - Share positive reviews with prospects.  Reward the staff  for success.

Cars.com did share numbers with us that shouldn't scare dealers.  In the last few months since they started offering online reviews, they have received 12,500+ reviews with the average score of 4.4.  79% of the reviews were rated a 4 or 5 star.  Only 24% of the dealers on cars.com had reviews.  Are you part of that 24%?

I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic and diversifying yourself with your reviews.

*Info taken from cars.com slide