Social media is an important part of a corporation’s marketing mix when executed correctly. Businesses are recognizing the value of engaging consumers on social sites, promoting goodwill, having an online ambassador for their brands, and sharing quality content. Companies are dedicating these “social” responsibilities to others in their ranks, and, in turn, Social Media Management, in some locations, has developed into their own fully-realized positions.

In automotive dealerships, for instance, the tasks to develop a presence on social media have been primarily thrust upon their Internet Directors and Internet Sales team members. As these employees dedicate their time to these online sites, however, they often skirt their other responsibilities. Let’s face it… Facebook is fun. Instagram is fun. Twitter is fun. Vine can be even more fun. However, it is also difficult for a dealer to justify having a full-time person dedicated to the management of these sites. It is hard to account for the return from time invested on social networks, yet Internet professionals are enamored with the prospect of making it their full-time effort.

You see, Internet Directors like their social media responsibilities for three reasons:

1. Determining success rates on social media prowess is more subjective than, say, a BDC’s total appointment show rate.
2. It is a welcome break from the daily grind of phone call handling, lead handling, report crunching, and IT snafus.
3. It is a playground where they already enjoy spending their free time.

And that is the rub. Social media can be very beneficial to a company’s marketing efforts, but posting memes should rarely take time-precedence over handling inbound sales opportunities. These Internet Directors and ISMs that have been fulfilling their showroom/phone/sales duties for years often prefer to the unstructured nature of managing a Facebook page or Twitter account, so they wonder “Why can’t I get paid just to sit on Facebook all day?” They attempt to justify the need against their common sense, “If social media is SO important, why can’t I do it full-time?” Truth is, some can (and should) while others shouldn’t.

Having clients with their own Social Media Ambassadors for their stores, I see some that really get it. They dedicate their time to…

• Opening up these social portals as their own mediums with which to engage, friend, and support others
• Read up on best practices and actively find new ways to implement them
• Focus on social metrics
• Understand the nooks and crannies (and reporting tools) with each site
• Listen online for conversations in which to insert themselves
• Explore trending social apps such as Vine and Instagram
• Leave their desk to engage on-site customers and create fresh digital media from those encounters
• Survey consumers
• Generate buy-in by educating coworkers
• Shoot relevant videos
• Incorporate the company’s marketing autonomously
• And plan endlessly

Unfortunately, there are those that don’t get it. They don’t understand how to get the most out of their social media positions. Instead of all the tasks above, they foolishly…

• Think it’s all about posting
• Read other’s updates and posts without ever engaging
• Converse with other industry friends rather than their own customers
• Forget to celebrate their company’s own employees
• Take an hour to build an unnecessary meme
• Believe a Like, comment, or retweet signifies a job well-done
• Consider all followers equal (whether they’ve done business with them for 10 years or if they live in Bangladesh…all the same)
• (Worst of all) Waste time screwing around on their own personal pages, reading friends’ updates rather than the company site.

That last one… that is the one that sticks in my craw the most and THAT is why I don’t always trust those asking “Why Can’t I Get Paid to Just Sit on Facebook All Day?” Most shouldn’t, because they don’t have the drive, the desire to learn, or the discipline to use the time for the good of the company rather than for themselves. They wrongly spend their work time on Facebook for personal reasons, but they have never spent their personal time on Facebook for business reasons. If that is the case, that candidate is the last person you want handling your corporation’s social marketing.

Before you hire a full-time Social Media Manager, or restructure a current employee’s job description to focus solely on this, make sure you have someone capable to doing the job to the level it deserves to be done. Not just the way the candidate wants to do it. If they’ve already been managing your social efforts in another role, demand to see the results before you turn them loose full-time on it. Social media can be profitable for a corporation, but not if the person managing their efforts is just playing at it.

The dealership sales process has the ability to evolve into a more sophisticated, frictionless business if only it weren’t for our collective hesitation. One theme I see playing over and over at dealerships are the constant impasses that occur from one owner or manager being unwilling to make a decision.

These impasses slow down productivity, stunt growth, turn away technological advancement and more. They can hurt morale, frustrate customers, and lead to losing of market share. We live in a world where competition is necessary and moving forward is akin to breathing.

Impasses can take shape in the form of a CRM not being adopted, a website not being replaced, a conversion tool not being deployed, or a marketing strategy not given a chance. These impasses hurt the opportunities the dealership has to evolve. And they occur because someone high up is afraid to make a decision. Or they believe it’d be “too much work”, or “too much money”. If just one sales manager doesn’t have the intelligence to grasp a forward-thinking concept, they put up a road block to its inception. They play devil’s advocate and combat it until it goes away.

And for this reason, the dealership goes nowhere fast. They teeter on the brink of their own mediocrity. They don’t do excellent and they don’t do terrible. It’s like running on a treadmill. You know you’re still working, but you are missing all the wonderful things outside your comfort zone.

Dealers must adopt faster. Push farther. Get uncomfortable with some of their decisions. Don’t let something “play out”. Make the change. Make the switch. Hire the company. Lead the pack. Sitting on your hands and NOT making a decision is very much a decision in its own right. It means you don’t have the guts to take a chance to be better.

There is very little special about your dealership. You believe that consumers feel the same way about you that you feel about yourself. Unfortunately, most dealerships look the same from the outside. And they look the same to the public with their offerings. You’re no different than the dealer down the street. yet one of you is a leader and the other is a follower. Why?

You make claims that people choose you because of your “customer service”, but you can’t explain how that is different than what the dealer down the street offers. Your nearest competitor has the same friendly salespeople as you. They too are “family owned and operated”. You both can acquire the same vehicles with identical features in the same amount of time. Even your dealerships’ value propositions are similar.

There has been much talk about brand. And when I say “brand”, I’m not speaking about the OEM. I’m speaking of your dealership brand. For years, you’ve been urged to create “Why Buys” about your store. You’ve pushed to garner reviews. You’ve been told to separate yourself and offer benefits to customers that others don’t. Alas, everyone has heard the same thing and now everyone is following suit.

Paul Potratz of Potratz Advertising Agency concurs, “When a business has no unique selling proposition, the only thing that separates them from their competitors is how loud they can yell.  In other words, the amount of spend in their advertising budget.  When a business develops a Unique Selling Proposition that is customer-focused and consistent, they can spend less in advertising.  A customer-focused value proposition is one of the hardest things for a business since it often becomes “Me” focused.  If your value proposition has anything to do with your business, how long you have been in business or how many awards you have won, it loses the value to the future client.”

Why Buys won’t separate you from your competitors. Value propositions won’t differentiate you from them either. Being family owned and operated doesn’t carry with it what we want to believe it does. All of these together don’t make you stand out in a crowd. Do you know what does? Advertising.

In the corresponding picture, you can see that there is little difference between these products. (Probably similar to how your local residents feel about their choices of auto dealers). They are named the same. They have reasonably similar sizes, shapes, and look. What’s inside is pretty much the same…sugary sweetness with lacquered on powdered frosting to be consumed with milk. Do you know what separates these two products? Advertising.

As an agent pushing toward the change of Internet marketing, it isn’t often we at DealerKnows Consulting proselytize about the importance of advertising, but it is insanely necessary. Everyone has a website. Everyone is buying leads. Everyone is marketing to consumers, trying to spark interest. However, so very few advertise their Why Buys, their value propositions, their people (think about that one for a second), and their involvement in the community and relevant topics. It’s not enough just to know who you are as a dealership, though few actually do. Check out Bill Playford's breakdown on how to create a Value Proposition.  You need to tell, show, say and promote (read: advertise) who you are.

You don’t want to be the Fruit Hoops (the famously-redundant, knock off to Froot Loops).  You don’t want to be the runner-up when it comes to awareness in your community. You need to make sure you’re advertising your dealership brand. Those advertising their brand the biggest have a tendency to be most memorable. And it must be advertised across all mediums, outlets, and resources. Otherwise, people will never taste how deliciously yummy your offerings may be. It’s time to stop talking about what it’s like to sit comfortably on a shelf and start talking about how to fly off the shelves.

Growing up a majority of my youth in Cincinnati, I was a big-time Bengals fan. We didn’t always have the money to attend the games, but on a few rare occasions, we got to experience the orange and black-striped gridiron battle of the Bengals in person.

Boomer Esiason was a force. He didn’t throw the ball the farthest. He didn’t have the best accuracy. He wouldn’t put up the most yards or scramble for the most first downs. But he was a leader of his team, he managed the game, he made big plays, and he pushed his team to win.  Boomer was consistent.

It was a major life event when my father took me down to Miami for the Super Bowl in ’89 where I dressed head to toe in Bengals gear and carried Who-Dey (Hudepohl) six packs for my father around a tailgating parking lot.  We made our way inside Joe Robbie Stadium and witnessed one of the best football games ever – Super Bowl XXIII. Now, the Bengals did lose… and I cried… but it was an experience. And I was a Boomer fan for life. Now, as an announcer, he doesn’t dispense wins. He dispenses wisdom. And a recent statement of his made me like him even more, when discussing the challenge of coaching today’s players.

In an interview with Chicago’s sports radio station, 670 the Score, Esiason said, “Yes you can teach an old dog new tricks if that old dog wants to buy in and become a great player. If that old dog doesn’t want to and is going to resist everything that is happening around him, well then you’re going to have a player that’s impossible to coach.”

As a trainer (read: coach) of players in dealerships, I can say firsthand that the oldest of dogs can learn the newest of tricks. The tenured, surly vet of the floor can continue to be a well-oiled, profit machine on the lot with the right coaching. There is only one caveat: They must be willing to learn. Without the willingness to improve their game, they’ll simply stay an aging quarterback forever. You can’t throw to the same receiver every time and always count on a completion. You can’t give the defense the same looks every time and expect to move the chains after each play. You need to mix up your game. You need to improve. Aging quarterbacks that are unwilling to learn new plays just don’t win games.

Boomer Esiason recognized this. However, he decided his “new plays” weren’t to be on the football field, but were in the commentator booth. He chose to learn new skills in an effort to stay relevant. He did what it took to elevate his game in another arena.  The same way the 25-year-in-the-business salesperson must understand the consumers’ Internet experience if they expect to rule the sales floor.  Or how the 10-year, 10-car-a-month salesperson must understand the store’s Internet technology if they expect to handle Internet leads.  It takes the willingness to learn new things.

It amazes me that more seasoned sales pros don’t peel off the pads, humble themselves, sit down with their coaches, watch some game tape, and listen with open ears on how to make their game better. It is possible. You just need to listen to the coaching.  You just need to be like Boomer.  
Much like DealerKnows, Boomer Esiason knows too.

To this day, a guiding principle of DealerKnows Consulting is that a well-utilized CRM is the most valuable piece of technology in a dealership.  Some dealers bite off more than they can chew, while many others simply don’t want to consume it as much as they should, regardless of how healthy it is for them.

The Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools of today serve countless needs, but moreover, must serve countless masters.  While every single employee in your dealership should be well-versed and actively using the chosen CRM, every single different position at your store should be using it differently.  Some positions require using it to the Nth degree, while others can use it in a much more basic role.  But it must be used. 

A good CRM should be like a selection of fruits.  Here are the ways a CRM should be devoured by your team based on their role:

Internet Director/eCommerce Director: 
For them, the CRM must be like an Edible Arrangement.  Edible Arrangements are massively constructed bouquets of fruit baskets, whittled into extraordinary shapes.  They must understand it three dimensionally.  It must be able to be viewed in pieces, understood, crafted, and dined on as if it were art.

Dealership Owner/General Manager:  For an owner or GM, the store’s CRM should be a Fruit Cup.  They are looking at macro-level information and will likely not need the more granular reporting approach.  They can fill up easily on CRM and don’t need a lot of it to make decisions.  After all, it is the Internet Director likely sending them over small pieces of fruits to look at anyway.

The music industry lost a great artist when the Beastie Boys’ Adam Yauch succumbed to cancer last month. Growing up, the group was one of my early favorites and, unlike many rap acts from the mid 80’s, they actually evolved their music over the years to stay edgy. They stayed ahead of the curve. Dealers can learn a great deal about staying progressive by being a Beastie Boy.

Recognize first that your primary market area is not just your backyard. It isn’t the twenty miles around your store, despite what the third-party lead providers say. Your business is Intergalactic. It is far-reaching and widespread. You must be doing everything to focus your search advertisements locally and down-funnel, but marketing your brand globally. You must be your own Paul Revere. You must storm around your area and alert those nearby of your presence, but you must be shouting your brand. your people, your value proposition, your history, and your voice with digital assets.

How else can you have a pervasive influence? Start by embracing the power of online word of mouth. You need to Pass the Mic to your loyal customers and realize that it cannot just be your owner singing your praises, but those that actually frequent your dealership. As Google continues to grow their focus on Google Places/Google Plus Pages and the reviews they generate, your consumers will be driven either to or from your store. Consider this The New Style of compelling customers to choose you over your competition.

Now here is something that affects DealerKnows personally. I find it shocking that a dealership manager or employee can be shown something that is proven to make them more money and yet they will do everything in their power to Sabotage the new agenda. They actually turn down the opportunity to make more money because it either isn’ttheir idea or they simply don’t want to look wrong as it opposes their personal misguided beliefs. You need to Check Your Head and make sure that your management team is not trying to undo the forward movement that you are trying to instill in your dealership.  Training is a Sure Shot to guarantee your team has the Skills to Pay the Bills, and it shouldn’t challenged and led to Instant Death. If you are paying for Internet sales training, make sure your entire team is embracing it.

So What’cha Want? You want to grow your online presence and Internet sales, correct? Then you have to Make Some Noise to brand your dealership far and wide, get your Body Movin’, Fight for Your Right to garner Google Reviews, not let any Tough Guy manager get in the way of promoting new digital tactics, and you have to do it Right Right Now Now. In the meantime, RIP Adam Yauch and do what it takes to Be a Beastie Boy.

Stuck in the middle.  It’s the worst place to be as a dealership and as a dealership employee.  Yet, it happens more than it ever should.  The phrase “Don’t kill the messenger” exists because, far too often, it is the messenger that gets in trouble…whether it is their fault or not.  This is the life of an Internet Sales Director when stuck in the middle of a vendor circle jerk.

While on-site training a new client, we discovered an issue with their inbound lead submissions.  Both sales and service leads were being sent in from their website provider under the same email address into a CRM that differentiates leads based on inbound email address.  In other words, whether it be a sales or service customer, it comes into a system as leads@abcmotors.com. The CRM reads it only as a new sales lead, and pushes it to the ISM instead of to a more appropriate party.  When asking the CRM to find a new way to differentiate where the leads are funneled, they said “Talk to the web provider and tell them to submit it under a new email address such as serviceleads@abcmotors.com”.  When reaching out to the web provider, they tell the dealer, “reach out to the CRM company instead and tell them to look for the keyword ‘service’ in the lead comments.”  And so begins the vendor circle jerk.

Internet Sales Managers and Directors are forced to be the middle men (or women) when communication needs to occur between two pieces of software.  This has to stop.  It should not be the responsibility of the Internet Sales Manager to figure out why a feed from the Inventory management tool isn’t directing all data into a inventory listing lead provider.  It isn’t their job to have to pass messages from one entity to the other.  The dealership employee doesn’t have the time. 

Vendors are paid, not just for their technology, but for their continued support and service.  I believe that a committed vendor should take it upon themselves to contact the other company’s representative and sort it out.  Do you remember being in school and playing the chain message game where you tell a phrase or two to the first child, ask them to pass it along, and by the time the message gets to the 10^th and final child, it is completely different.  Messages get lost in translation.  Problems will not get solved using a third party messenger.  We need to instruct our vendors to communicate between themselves without putting us in the middle of a vendor circle jerk.  ‘He says, she says’ is not the way to get anything done quickly.  Vendors, stop relying on the dealership team to do your communication for you.  Be proactive and solve it.

I must admit… sometimes dealers do this to themselves.  They put themselves in the middle of the circle jerk because they are control freaks and want to see it through.  Sometimes, they even include others into the mix. Quite often, we at DealerKnows are the messengers for our clients.  It is frequent we receive an email stating “Can you pass this along to (vendor name) so they can put this up on our website?”  While we always serve our clients to the fullest, adding an extra person into the mix is just going to disrupt the message rather than sending it on directly.  In the end, even we are trapped in the vendor circle jerk, hearing it from both sides.  “Tell them this.”  “They should be doing that.”  “This isn’t right…it’s supposed to do this instead.”  Vendors… do your clients a favor, take the reins on these issues, glitches, and changes and contact the other vendor directly.  Work together and get to the bottom of the issue. 

So listen up, CRM companies, inventory management software corporations, website providers, Craigslist pushers, DMS solutions and the lot… Keeping the dealer out of the vendor circle jerk will make them happier and make you look less like a jerk.  Isn’t that what we all want

"Always Be Branding" ~ a mantra from the minds of Joe Webb and Bill Playford of DealerKnows Consulting

There is a famous line spewed melodically from the lips of Alec Baldwin in the genius sales film known as GlenGarry Glen Ross that most car folks can recite. “A B C – Always Be Closing!” This was the key message that Baldwin’s character challenged the sales team with before he gave them the ultimatum. If they were the best in sales, they win… “first prize is a Cadillac Eldorado. Anybody wanna see second prize? … Second prize is a set of steak knives. Third place is you’re fired.”

This has become a mantra for thousands of sales managers across the country. “A-B-C. Always Be Closing.” They preach the goal that a sale should always be front and center in your mind during every interaction. Unfortunately, this no longer is the case. Much like the movie based on David Mamet’s awesome stage play, this mantra has gotten a little older too. While Baldwin himself has stayed relevant over the years, this catchy mantra has passed its prime. So with that, DealerKnows (with the help of a young Alec Baldwin) brings you a new, more enlightened mantra. A-B-B. Always Be Branding.

Imagine during your weekly rah-rah meeting, your manager presented you with a fistful of paper leads? You’d probably have to suppress laughter. The world has moved on. Finding all of the information you need to make a sensible purchase decision can be found right online. Your best leads come right from your own website, or better yet, are emailed from your previous clients. People have already made a decision to buy before they even contact you. It’s now up to you to not mess it up.

The sale is no longer only made in face-to-face meetings. Deals are not won and lost based on a handshake over a three-martini lunch. The customer isn’t making their decision based on an interaction in-store (though a great customer experience helps). No. The marketplace has shifted online and it is your branding that either influences shoppers toward you or a lack of online brand presence that will make you less relevant in their eyes.

An entire generation has grown up with brands that are not just trademarks, but interactive entities. Look no further than Red Bull. In just 25 years the company went from formulating an energy drink to owning five soccer teams, two Formula One racing teams, a record label, sponsor countless athletes, and recently spun-off a critically acclaimed marketing wing. They now sell 4.5 billion cans of Red Bull a year, nipping away at the heels of Coke and Pepsi.

A-B-B. Always Be Branding. In everything you do. In every marketing dollar spent, every entity online, every email cent, every handshake at a chamber of commerce luncheon… you no longer have to sell. You just have to brand yourself or be able to deliver a clear brand message. Make people want to BUY FROM YOU (your people, your company, your value proposition, your deliverables) based on your brand. You are what is important. Selling is now a step down the road. Branding comes first. If you don’t realize that A-B-B mantra IS the new Glengarry lead of this generation, prepare for Alec Baldwin to give you some new cutlery. Or your walking papers.

The Meet and Greet.  The Needs Assessment.  Getting to know them on the test drive.  Making friends while waiting for figures from the manager.  All of these are associated with the idea that building rapport is the key to selling cars.  Well, building rapport is OUT!  It is no longer a determining factor for many customers when buying a new vehicle.

We all have countless sales stories from our retail days (those of us who’ve done retail at least) of instances where finding a common ground with customers has helped us sell them a car.  It still can go a long way in creating a more comfortable sales experience.  However, I will say it again… “building rapport” is out.

The new focus should be “Fostering Relationships”.  I know many of you are saying “splitting hairs” or “semantics”, but I don’t believe these two phrases mean the same thing.   Building rapport is looking for some mutual understanding or trying to find ways to align yourself with the individual person.  

 involves the development of trust before the handshake, during the interaction, and long after the customer leaves the store.

Building rapport happens mostly in person and occasionally on the phone and email.  Fostering relationships is peer to peer.  It involves creating an evidence of honesty in your interactions with other customers.  It relies on developing ways to grow your relationship further.  It carries with it the idea that a relationship should develop after the sale opposed to just prior to the sale.

I will not tell you to do away with the “Where did you go to school?” or “Where do you work? questions.  I won’t ask you to cease the “How do you use your current car?” inquisitions or the “Yeah, my sister lives in that town” scenarios.

Instead, I’d like you to think of ways to engage the customer before you are engaged.  Reviews, testimonials, video bios and more are all ways to start fostering a relationship with customers before first contact.  What is the difference between building rapport in person or fostering a relationship in person?  The former is asking questions, looking for commonalities.  The latter is discussing how you will serve them and continue to earn their business long after the sale.  (Think “new owner clinic discussions” and “loyalty program talks”.)

Put a strategy into place today (whether it is in your service department, your social media calendar, your CRM follow-up, or your post-sale deliverables) that will allow you to truly foster a relationship with this customer.  In the days of multiple mediums to communicate (especially social platforms), it is more important than ever to maximize your connection with your customers.  This connection shouldn’t just be between the customer, the salesperson and their church, but instead, how your entire organization serves the church, the community, and the individual customer with your personal services.

Stop thinking that building rapport is all you need to sell a vehicle in a 2012 world.  Building rapport is all about completing a short-term action while fostering relationships are about implementing long-term strategies.  You must foster relationships before, during and after, if you truly want to develop ongoing customer satisfaction.

Back and forth.  Up and down.  Back and forth.  Up and down.  Back and forth goes the salesperson negotiating with the customer.  Up to the sales manager’s desk the salesperson walks and then back down to their desk they go with another price.  Another attempt.  This volley with the customer has become archaic and antiquated.  It is disliked and disgusting.  The days of penciling deals over and over must end.

No more No. 2.  No more pencils.  That strategy is done.  It’s finished.  Someone tell your sales managers.  Break into their desks and steal out the pencils and multi-colored Sharpie markers.  The consumer has moved beyond this tired strategy and is ready for new days of selling!  Stop the negotiating with customers and start the educating.

It is time your sales managers and sales people end the rigmarole they’ve used for years and do away with how they’ve penciled deals.  Instead, your managers and salespeople must learn how to overcome objections and negotiate through education.  The consumers are coming in with very specific expectations and very detailed research.  Why put them through the constant back and forth?  Instead, you must utilize the online resources and data at your (and the customer’s) disposal to validate the price you charge.

Dedicate yourself to understanding what all is available to your consumers online and begin using the third-party data as evidence to defend the price you are charging.  I’m not advocating a one-price solution here.  Negotiation is still allowed and going for gross is still acceptable, but be prepared to answer the “WHY?” question when it arises with real data.

We have now entered the era of Validation Selling.  We must prove the reason we price our vehicles by utilizing the data they already have.

Moreover, we must eliminate the tactic of writing down our offer on a half-blank sheet of paper with markers and pens and begin presenting our figures on a fully-printed out pricing proposal.  All figures must be entered into the CRM and printed out as if it were an official contract.  This must happen from the very first offer.  Having it printed and available in a clean format lends credence to the numbers your sales team present.  Certainly more validity than a four-square with $24,995 scribbled across it in thick blue ink.

Get on board with Validation Selling.  (Yes, I'm coining a new term here.) Throw out any previously-held beliefs that the customer still enjoys the ‘back and forth, up and down, crossed-off price here and slightly lower price penciled there’ strategies that you’ve grown accustomed to.  Educate yourself and then educate the customer with online, third-party data – or be prepared to overcome it.  You will sell more vehicles and build a quality customer sales experience at the same time.

This is how to sell vehicles in 2012 and beyond.  Education over Negotiation.  DealerKnows are the Validation Selling Specialists.  Let us explain it to you.