Local Search Group CEO & Founder Jim Flint shares some advice for dealers on how to best prepare for the Spring selling season.

Are you paying "tax" on your website to Google? CEO & Founder of Local Search Group Jim Flint explains in this video blog.

The hottest new models in the automotive space aren’t relegated to cars anymore.

Cars are key, but statistical models are catching favor and acclaim. Rightfully so.

The Houston Auto Show recently debuted the 2019 Aston Martin DBS Superleggera TAG Heuer Edition at their Havana Nights Charity Preview Night. With a carbon fiber interior and a matte Monaco Black exterior, the car provided the kind of power and possibility that one dreams of when looking at a new, exotic supermodel of a supercar.

An incredible car to behold, some of the hottest 2019 models available are multiple regression models. Some of you would otherwise know this to be predictive models, predictive of when people will buy. There’s a lot of buzz in this space presently and just like this Tag Heuer edition of watch acclaim, it’s all about being on time AND in front of the right people at the right times with the right information.

Speaking of on time. Google’s predictive model--also known as its algorithm-- produced 263,000 results for “aston martin dbs superleggera tag heuer edition” in 0.54 seconds. Fast car. Hot model.

A cautionary tale about fast cars and fast models though—a company can no more explain 100% of the variation in a model than you can guarantee a customer’s 100% satisfaction with a vehicle purchase.

For what it’s worth, Google’s algorithm is a model, a real-time, multiple regression algorithmic model that cranks predictive results in nanoseconds. AT&T advertising delivers the same, and Amazon, and Facebook, and . . . you get it.

The hottest search models are looking to predict sales for the hottest car models.

And as a dealer, your predictive models should tie back to your sales models. Otherwise they’re not so hot.

In working with a vendor, your models should explain 40% of your sales. Your Super Statistical Models should explain 70% of the variation in your sales. If someone tells you they can explain 100% of your sales, run for the hills! It’s not possible.

Interested in moving past first click, last click, time decay and other attribution models and into the world of sales-minded statistical models? Find a service provider who can help you.

It will cost you a lot less than a new Aston Martin and will help stack the selling odds in your favor.

San Francisco is famous for fog. The city’s given a nickname to its fog - Karl. Karl the fog even has an Instagram account with 243k followers.

 As I traveled back from the NADA Show 2019 held in San Francisco, I’m reminded that our industry resides in a fog of Digital Retailing.

I met with many capable and reputable vendors while at the event--often per their request, --and while we move closer to Digital Retailing, it doesn’t appear that we’re approaching the finish line (as much as some would like us to otherwise believe).

The typical Digital Retailing demo that dealers see involves a sequence of quick clicks, a price point and the vendor hitting the “Easy” button.   As Lee Corso, of College Game-Day fame, might say, “Not So Fast My Friend.”

Most demos for digital retailing products, at present, only take a quick request for an accessory addition or an extended warranty product to make the whole process collapse. Add finance rates, lease residuals and APR calculations to the mix and the possibilities explode as consumers look for a penny perfect solution.

When consumers accustomed to a check out price, don’t get that penny-perfect experience, the resulting friction will make the idea of shaving with sandpaper seem like a soothing experience.

We know that the digital retailing technology is ready and that consumers are comfortable with it. I’d even argue that dealers are prepared for it (albeit hesitant). The issue to me is the fog of Big Data and the corresponding intricate integrations. Big dollars are at stake—for customers, dealers, vendors, and data exchanges alike.

There will be winners and losers. The service levels for customers and to dealers on this will be tactical, technical and not unlike what we’ve seen in the internet decade that’s transpired since the Great Recession of 2008.

Since 2008 the business model for most Internet service providers has been to grow to critical mass and then merge or be acquired by their larger brethren. Then, many ISP’s, albeit not all, watch as the need for quarterly earnings overtake Research and Development costs. Service levels dip as savings are identified and adjustments are made. The cycle after acquisition usually takes 18 months to play out before a true metric of customer service for a given company shows its face.

And therein may lie the opportunity for the entrepreneurs or even the Amazons amongst us. There’s seemingly little value in establishing an enterprise as an add-on to an internet site, but there’s little doubt that that is where it will reasonably reside--at least initially.

As such, I’m happy to sit through any presentation that a vendor would like to deliver or with any retailer that’s purportedly figured this out. In fact, I’m eagerly awaiting the invitation.

Because, while the industry and I may have left San Francisco, Karl and the associated fog remain in place.

The concept of common currency is such a great idea. Except that for the most part, people want their own currencies. Dealership employees want their own pay plans. 180 currencies are used in 195 countries across the world. And even Bitcoin is trying to establish a different currency at some level.

The common currency for marketing metrics for dealers could be CPM (cost per thousand impressions).

CPM’s a great level set, but there’s a reason why it hasn’t received widespread adoption and/or utilization. Like other Hulu and YouTube wannabes, Disney will deliver its own platform. In addition, ESPN, AT&T and Xfinity seem to be down an additional path to advise and sell you on over-the-top advertising.

And on the other side, Amazon and Netflix are starting to crank out more content than ABC, CBS and Fox, and you’ve got to wonder if we’re coming together or fracturing at unprecedented levels?

We’re fracturing.

With the inherent, instant, internet competition, don’t look for there to be a union of the masses anytime soon. We can watch what we want when we want on our phones. The cable box of the past is now the smart phone in our hands.

The common currency of marketing won’t be reliably available any sooner than when 16,000+ franchised dealers and 20,000 independent dealers across the US agree to the adoption of similar accounting standards and practices.

Don’t dream the impossible dream. Find someone that understands the VALUE of the advertising you buy and who’s able to share how to measure performance through results.

Heading into the New Year, even the speed of speed seems to be picking up speed.

Commercials compress. Attention spans shorten. Faster is better. Learn it quickly. Make the adjustment. Get to where you are going sooner.

Significant business strides will be made with Over The Top (OTT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Artificial Reality (AR) and Digital Retailing (DR) this year.

Some might call them keys to success, but at the same time, many others won’t define or gather the critical mass to command the concepts. When you’re responsible, how then do you orchestrate the human elements required to operationally implement them?

We want the waiter to help guide us through our entire alphabet soup of confusion.

This we know though--we want to eat the soup while it’s hot. Knowing that “now” matters in a society that so values speed. If the page doesn’t load in 3 seconds, consumers leave. Same for you. IDK (I Don’t Know)  turns into a search, and if not delivered, it’s so BRB (Be Right Back). Get going. Seriously. Now. Fail. Fast. It’s BLTN (Better Late Than Never), but it better be quick, too.

Not unlike the Doctor that needs something now, we reach out and shout “Stat!” True to its own definition, “Stats” are a shortcut, too. “Stat” comes from the longer Latin word statum and means immediately. In a world of Big Data, we need the “Stats” to get us to where we’re headed.

ROI matters, “Stat.” What are your sales metrics, “Stat?” Appointments, Shows, Turn Ratios, Gross Profits? “Stat!” Do you have a game plan for Digital Retailing?

Find one soon, for whatever you do, you’re going to need to do it “Stat”!