The 2^nd annual DrivingSales Executive Summit is rapidly approaching and Jared Hamilton and Charlie Vogelhiem has assembled a rock n’ roll cast to open our minds to the changing efficiencies of digital marketing for dealers. As it is with all conferences, there is no reason to go if you are just going to hobnob. Last year’s event was a marvel in quick, big picture discussions, engaging roundtables and motivational learning.

• Herewitherto
• Tweetup
• Social Mediarrhea
• Flaced (the act of having your Facebook page stolen)

• “God punishes those who attempt to defy me”
• “Social media ain’t nothing’ but a thang.”
• “What’s the one thing brands, gangs, and dogs all have in common? They all mark their territory.”
• “My pillow has a heartbeat.”

• Sold vAuto to AutoTrader
• Spoke only 18 times at conferences and 20 Groups instead of his usual 25 times a month
• Defeated his sensei in battle to become an official 8^th degree Hachidan black belt in Kenpo martial arts
• Bought a sweater.

• Eff / Marry / Kill
• Contagious?
• CarZar
• NachoDaddy

• Brian Pasch and Brock Allen
• Brian Pasch and Brock Allen
• Brian Pasch and Brock Allen
• Brian Pasch and Brock Allen

Setting the Insane Parameters for a Legitimate BDC/Internet Sale

You can’t spell social media without “me” or “I”. The entire medium has become, through its own nature, a very me-centric platform. People only post as it relates to themselves, their business, or their beliefs, blasting forth their very own personal news channel that they deem worthy enough to share. Foursquare is one of the newest social networks, specifically designed to cater to those through a mobile application. Simply put, in its most common, understood form, Foursquare gives users the ability to: 1) “Check-in” to different places or add new ones worth visiting 2) Let their presence be known to their contacts and the online community 3) Lay claim of ownership after multiple visits to the same location 4) Earn “badges” for usage levels 5) Leave tips and shouts for future visitors of the establishments This can all be accomplished through the typical geo-locating (geo-targeting) found on mobile devices. Early adopters of this platform will be at the advantage as they will have simply collected more badges, visits, friends, and lay claim to more territory through their travels. Now how can this be monetized? Or, maybe less greedy, how can dealers use this to their advantage? I’ve been thinking about this recently while actively “playing” with the system. Sure, this entire post may be directed to the select few dealers on the forefront of online exploration (and many should focus their efforts on the fundamentals of internet sales), but I wanted to head up this topic nonetheless. Here are just a few ways I think dealers may be able to utilize this new social networking platform. 1) Any customer of the store (unrelated to employees) that are deemed the on-going “Mayor” of the store can have a little plaque in the service drive on a monthly basis (as long as they have the title at the start of the month) is awarded free oil change or a piece of apparel. 2) If the drivers of your courtesy shuttle(s) are given mobile devices to assist with directions or contact back with the dealership, they can help register drop off points of their customers – when delivering them to work. Provided they leave a recommendation commending the customer at that store, the recurring gratitude/retention will be easily felt and you will also be opening up a new channel of places to draw friends. 3) Have your employees check into work (not so you can track their presence on Twitter/FB), but so they can leave tips/shouts letting other customers clocking in know what some recommended specials may be. May also work for those employees you send to conferences – checking out what workshops they are attending while on-site (and not galavanting around town). 4) Actively request reviews and tips from those customers checking in regularly. Now, I am sure I am missing some obvious practices to benefit your dealership and its consumers. I’d love to hear from you all and see if you can think of some other uses for this new application/network (above and beyond getting your employees using it – which opens you up to a wider network of potential connections – because that is a common need on ALL social networking sites. So please let your imagination take off and let’s create some first-in-class best practices for this tool. As an early adopter, very few benefits or activity will approach in the beginning, but over time, as the overall public becomes more in tune with these advanced internet marketing tactics, you will have been leading the way to a dominant Foursquare user.

It's not the wand that makes the magic happen, but the magician who wields it.  All of the tools, solutions, and leads in the world may be necessary to stay competitive, but it is the people you employ that make you profitable.   If a dealership is only as good as the people speaking to their customers, we must make sure we have the right people representing us in the first place. One of the fundamental problems on our sales floors is that it is just too easy to get a job.  Candidates walk in, fill out an application, prove that they have a pulse during an interview, and are hired on the spot.  This has to change.  This builds no value in our dealerships, our profession, or our industry.  We must require applicants to earn a position rather than just getting it. As a trainer, dealers always ask me "What is the magic bullet out there?  What will help me sell more cars?"  They are likely looking for a solution/tool/CRM/website/campaign, but the true magic bullet is a great employee.  One forward-thinking person (especially in your Internet Department) can yield endless profitability.  You are the magic bullet.  The people around you are the magic bullets. Your growth will be determined by the people that work for you, with you, above you, and beside you. We develop intricate processes to bring a prospect from lead to appointment to sale throughout our showrooms, but we rarely have a process to recruit, interview, hire and train the employees of our stores.  I was able to achieve success while in the retail side of the automotive business, but I know I wouldn't have been near as successful if it hadn't been for the people I surrounded myself with during my time at my former dealership.  It is only because of the work I put into preparing them for success and the work they, in turn, achieved, have I been able to parlay my career as an automotive internet expert into starting my own consulting business.  Selling cars, not on the floor, but online, is a TEAM environment.  It is high time we begin focusing on acquiring a solid team. One question I'm often asked is 'Who should run my Internet Department/BDC'.  There are only three choices, each with a different monetary tag attached.  You can hire the best (otherwise known as 'stealing an expert').  You can promote from within.  Or you can hire a newbie and train (i.e. start from scratch).  Know that you'll pay top dollar to hire the best, but this will yield you the fastest turnaround and gross.  If you decide to promote from within, you will likely be paying a fair industry price for their services.  Lastly, you will save considerable money (rough book value) by hiring someone new to the position, but won't see considerable growth or a return on the investment for some time. Before you begin recruiting or interviewing for the position, you must do three things.

1. Determine the hierarchy of the store.  Who will this person, in a new department, be reporting to?  Often anyone from sales managers to salespeople believe they can delegate work to someone in the internet department while the top stores usually have this a director or GM as the only entity that presides over the Internet team.  Decide who is in charge of what and this will help you understand the type of candidate you need to hire.
2. Develop a pay plan based upon your goals for the Internet department/BDC and reward these specific metrics.  The structure of this position (A-Z, appointment setter, Director) will help determine the pay plan.
3. Create a written, detailed job description specifying all duties, expectations, hierarchies, necessary skills, and intended earning potential.

Many dealers ask me where they can even find quality candidates.  Above and beyond the normal classified sections, here are some outside-the-box places that I've had success finding strong personnel for my former BDC. Selection

1. College graduates.  I've had much success hiring recent college graduates.  Those individuals with the fortitude to sit in classrooms, research, and complete assignments, day in and day out, just seem to take to the environment and position of Internet Sales Coordinator/Manager very well.  There is a knowledge level and drive there that cannot be overlooked.
2. Promote from Within.  Looking internally has given me some great Customer Contact Reps (BDC personnel) as they understand the product, have good phone skills, and, even better, know the staff well enough to understand what prospects would work well with whom.
3. Vendor Referrals.  Those Cars.com and AutoTrader reps stopping by your store know who the real talent is at your competitors' stores.  Often, people pass the word that they are open for a change through these reps so approach them and see if there is someone who may be a good fit.  After all, no vendor will refer in a fool because that person would only make their life harder in your store as well.
4. Local Competition.  Many great Internet Directors have a strong #2 at their store.  This is someone that they know deserves a shot at running their own department, but can't give them that opportunity because they won't obviously give up their own jobs.  If you have a good relationship with another ID, consider calling up and asking if they have a second in command that they'd be willing to recommend.  If not, just steal them.  Also in this category, don't overlook recruiters.  They have access to many great candidates.

Regarding who you select, please do not overlook women.  If it is proven that 85% of all decisions are influenced by women and 65% of ever vehicle purchase is determined by a woman, why do women only make up 7% of our sales and service staff?  Correct this discrepancy by finding strong female applicants. Once you've acquired all of the resumes/applications, review them, ensuring they have the necessary background/skills, and then research them on the social networking pages.  Make sure their LinkedIn information correlates to what is on their resume.  Check the other sites to gain insight into their character.  Try to learn about them through the social media landscape.  Then, screen them by phone. Interviewing/Hiring A good phone screening should be no longer than 5 minutes.  You detail thejob requirements and their work history, uncover any gaps/short terms in their employment, mention the drug/background check (to scare off anyone with bad habits hoping to sneak by), and inform them of the interview process.  I won't delve into the art of interviewing (and it is an art), but make sure you provide your sales management team with all of the training necessary to properly interview.  Most managers were awarded their positions from being strong on the sales floor.  In many cases, a sales manager hasn't been in an interview themselves for 6 or more years.  They need to understand the how and why of closed ended vs. open ended questions, what to ask, and when to ask them.  Know that interviewing is a PROCESS.  It should be performed by several managers over several days.  (No one should be hired on day one).  It should involve several steps the applicant must complete and should also involve outside-the-box interview tactics like mystery shopping and role-playing.  Trust me, if every manager role-played a negotiation with the new candidate (the candidate being the salesperson and manager as the customer), not many people would be hired...or consequently later fired.  I could make interviewing for auto dealers a ten-page article alone so I will let you do your own research here - or simply contact someone who can help in this regard. Orientation The orientation is incredibly important to the success of any new hire.  Bad orientation causes a type of "buyer's remorse" and increases turnover. No new hire should begin handling internet leads or calls on day one.  This happens all too often.  On the same note, don't give a new hire "the grand tour" and expect them to remember names, paperwork, logins/etc.  Much like for Recruiting and Interviewing, there is also a process for a proper orientation. Require that your vendor trains the new recruit on all solutions - front to back.  No exceptions or find another vendor.  It is fine for the director of the department to give guidance/hints/tips, but the training must come from the vendor. Create teams where every single department in the dealership has one primary communicator.  This way, the new hire learns about the overall dealership's structure and has only one individual that they are to speak to.  Allow them to spend a little time in the different departments to get a lay of the land and understand the importance of the entire rather than the role of its parts.  Once product knowledge training, process training, solution training, and paperwork review are complete, you should then test them through a mystery shop on the system.  Make sure they are employing all of the templates/word tracks/practices that you're expecting of them before they get the green light to handle customers.  They must earn your seal of approval before they officially step into the duties.  This first two weeks of orientation should be salaried in my opinion.  This way they will be in a good place financially - and not starting from scratch - when they do assume the reins of their job.  Just ensure they are ready to tackle the position before giving them the task of performing the actions. Too many new hires are dropped onto the sales floor or into the internet department with little more than "advice" from someone they've been insanely asked to "shadow".  Do more for them than these old-school practices.  These negative impressions lead to mistrust.  If you've put them through a process to join your team, don't drop the ball now by leaving them will little guidance on how to conduct themselves. Celebrate your new employees.  Have a manager take them out to lunch the first week.  Send a gift basket to their home welcoming their family into yours.  Make sure they understand the "language" of cars sales.  (We all have those code words that we share for different aspects of the deal.  Familiarize them.)  Let the new hire know the importance of paperwork and how very crucial their role is to the organization.  Show them what type of future they can have at the dealership.  Most importantly, ask for questions.  Let them know that there is never anything they should be afraid to ask of you.  As I said, this is a TEAM environment. And don't forget to provide them long-term, on-going training and evaluations.  This will always keep them focused and prepared for the goals you'd like them achieve. Finding the perfect fit for your Internet department is one of the most difficult jobs an owner/GM has, yet it can single-handedly be one of the most profitable for them if performed correctly.  There are three things that develop people:  the training, the job environment, and their willingness to learn.  You can only control two of these three which is why you must not just support the staff, but measure their results. Provided you've created the proper processes when recruiting, interviewing, and training, you will be able to sit back and see the success of your efforts.  You won't need to pull any tricks out of your sleeves.  The magic will happen.

With the new year upon us, it is time we sit down and determine the ROI of our past (and recent) online marketing initiatives. What has worked for you? What hasn’t? What is your social networking resolution? Are you going to dedicate your financial resources (ad budget) to the failed or fledgling programs of yesteryear or try your hand at all of the digital marketing tactics you read so much about daily? If it isn’t working, at what point do you cut ties, end your relationship with the old school vendors, and spend time on a more worthy venture such as social media? If you want to succeed on a social networking landscape, you must first put yourself in your customer’s shoes. You must share their mindset. “What is in it for them?” you have to ask yourself. You need to show a benefit to the consumer for joining you on these networking sites. Stop worrying about what is important to you and start realizing what is important to your audience. This is the greatest obstacle for almost every dealer with a Twitter and Facebook account right now. So few have any idea what the hell to do with them! Remember, your customers are likely on these sites for personal reasons so recognize that it is called SOCIAL networking, not “business” networking. I’ll tell you – to do it right, you must learn how to educate, engage, and entertain your audience with multiple forms of media and user-generated content to increase customer retention, brand awareness, and positive consumer reviews all while creating interactive, VIP-styled discount/deal/contest programs to elicit referrals, responses, and business. By the way, you can’t be too intrusive, pushy, overwhelming, or generic. Let me tell you… easier said than done. The “doing” takes time, knowledge, dedication, and commitment. More than most dealers are willing to dedicate. A year ago and a half ago, you could say that social media is still early in its evolution and could have spent time figuring out the best practices on your own. Today, it is too late to experiment. You are losing market share every single time another one of your competitors joins the social site community. You no longer have the luxury to play around and wait to find out the best practices of the medium. If you are behind the social networking times, you have to make a resolution. You’ll need to either rededicate some advertising budget to training – someone who can give you a jump start on the best practices of the platform – or farm out your entire social networking campaigns to a company or group able to control your presence in this online marketplace. Or if you wanted to spend even more money, hire a professional to do it on-site full-time. I don’t know anyone who does the latter, but I can point you in the right direction on the formers. So I ask you…what is your Social Networking Resolution? Do you have a plan? If not, you better have a budget.

With this year's Thanksgiving in our rearview mirror and the holidays just down the road, I think it is time we industry folks talk about what we are thankful for. As I've been holiday shopping - or as it is known in the politically incorrect world of the Webb household "Christmas shopping" - I see a nation who isn't scared of spending their hard-earned dollar. Gift-giving is going strong and online orders are already blowing away numbers from past years. (Now if only we gave to charities as generously as we do our distant family.) All of this money being thrown around should make us grateful to work in an industry where we not only provide a necessary service, but there is forever a need for our products. Be thankful that everyone eventually needs a car. Be thankful that people still walk into your showroom everyday. Be thankful that your owners are still spending money to attract customers into the store. Be thankful that more and more ad dollars are seeing their way into digital sources, thereby having a more positive impact. Be thankful there are resources available such as Driving Sales to educate, engage, and entertain our industry. Be thankful that you are likely beating the pants off of your competitor down the street because so few dedicate themselves to learning and researching best practices from these online communities. Be thankful that Clunker season has passed and selling cars has returned to being a skill-oriented business. Be thankful that you are currently employed (realizing that there are others out there who would likely work even harder than you are for your current opportunity and position). Be thankful that conference season is over and your Vegas/Nashville hangover is just now lifting. Be thankful that the lessons and tactics you took away from the conferences and implemented are starting to pay dividends now. Be thankful that you are in a FUN industry where no two days are the same, no two customers are exact, and each day brings with it a hilarious story or adventure worthy of sharing at a party. Be thankful that dealers are still eager to expand their online presence and bring aboard professionals to better the culture of their store (this one is for us consultants/trainers in the room). and finally Be thankful for your family and friends that support you and love you - whether you shoot a zero for the day or pull a hat trick, your family loves you. Be thankful. I am.

Far too many ideas seem like good ideas after a frozen margarita with a Coors Light chaser. However, I am pleasantly surprised to find myself struck with enlightenment as I sit bar side at a Chili’s. I am out to dinner alone after delivering a successful on-site training for a dealer client. As any consultant will tell you, these dinners on the road are commonplace and very little changes from city to city. When across the bar does my curious eyes spot a sales process secretly displayed for the bartender at this Chili’s establishment. Within moment’s I arose from my stool to see what was the matter. I was incredibly pleased to see a list of steps to follow for this bartender that closely resembles our very own road to the sale. The Chili's Steps to the Upsell, so to speak. I’ve attached this picture so you can follow along as we compare proven best practices. I have made it easier for you by spelling out each step they've provided to their employees. Chili’s: The following is the minimum expectation for every bartender. If they cannot execute these, then they should not be responsible for driving our most profitable position in the restaurant. Joe’s: This is what we expect from you as a sales representative. If you cannot proudly, competently, perform these tasks and follow these steps after we’ve trained you, you may want to consider another line of work. Summary: You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here. Chili’s: 1. Greeting every bar guest with “Welcome to Chili’s, my name is ------, I’ll be taking great care of you today and your name is….? Joe’s: 1. Every customer is greeted, preferably on the lot, (at the very least on the showroom floor) before they reach a manager, with “Welcome to ABC Motors, my name is -----, and you are…? Are you here for anyone in particular? No? I will be happy to assist you and answer all of your questions. Summary: The best pick-up line in the world is still your name, asking for theirs, and asking a simple question. Chili’s: 2. “Let me tell you about a few great happy hour specials we have”, or weekends “Let me tell you get you started with our Presidente Margarita or ice cold draft.” (Yes, theirs is grammatically incorrect, or (sic) can be said, but nonetheless a similar practice would be 2. Joe’s: “Allow me to tell you about our amazing new vehicle incentives” or, used “Let me tell you what I feel are some of the hidden gems and best buys on our lot.” Summary: They’ll never like it if they don’t try it. Make sure to introduce them to your specials. Chili’s: 3. “Can I get you started with ______ or _______.” Being suggestive with appetizers choose their favorite and let guests know why it is their favorite. Joe’s: “I personally believe this vehicle is likely the best fit for you and your family because it is both ______ and ________, both features/needs you said were important to you on your next vehicle.” Summary: I told you that you were going to enjoy it. Chili’s: 4. “Check down after every item is rung up, no “I will get it in a minute.” Joe’s: 4. (If I am reading this correctly) Answer and address every question they have immediately so as to overcome any potential objection in the future and then confirm it is answered. Summary: Don’t let problems linger or questions go unanswered as it looks as if you are avoiding the subject or not caring about their needs. Chili’s: 5. Engaging lounge area tables even when there is a lounge server working. Joe’s: 5. If a customer is walking around on the lot or showroom, whether you are aware if someone is assisting them or not, make sure to approach them and ensure that someone is working with them and they are having their questions answered/expectations met. Summary: Engage every lone/abandoned customer regardless of the situation to let them know someone is there is assist them at all times. Chili’s: 6. Running bar beverages at all times when not engaging bar top guests. Joe’s: 6. If you don’t have a customer, you should be either out on the lot familiarizing yourself with vehicles, looking to assist other managers/guests/salespeople, or looking to follow-up with active/past customers. Summary: No coffee clutching. This is work. If you want “me time”, stay at home. When you are on the lot, you are there to produce and be productive. Chili’s: 7. Coaching team members on up-selling beverages that come to the bar screen. Joe’s: 7. Listen to your coworkers with their customers. If you can offer any guidance after the fact, constructive criticism and helpful hints should be widely accepted among the staff. Summary: Role-playing will help you improve consistently. Chili’s: 8. Energetic, friendly, and sociable. Joe’s” 8. No other way to say it. Chili’s: 9. Constructive with free time Joe’s: 9. Get busy. There is ALWAYS something you can be doing to improve yourself and make money. Summary: In all aspects, Chili’s has it right. And yes, in the picture below, that is a margarita. I did partake in one. After all, you have to reward a good salesperson.