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The Good Ol’ Boy Network (GOBN) Limits Dealer Success
The Good Ol’ Boy Network (GOBN) of the car business limits us in how we apply experienced and/or capable people, how we run our dealership’s business, and in how we approach women in this business for everything from ownership, to manager spots, to sales positions. And, by doing all that, limits our success. And our profitability. Let me tell you my own experience with the car business GOBN, and then I’ll address the point I’m making on limits.
I came to the car business in my 40’s (I’m now 52) with experience ranging from owning my own business, to Fortune 100 Consulting, to several years at Microsoft. I entered the sales floor, as perhaps many do, because I had a financial issue—I had a cash flow problem with my business, and so I was making an effort to offset that slowdown.
I was privileged to work with several great salespeople who were happy with me until I started selling #1 consistently. Eventually, they came back to liking me, but what really happened next was inevitable: I knew so much about sales and marketing, and the dealership group’s attention to marketing and the Internet was severely lagging. They couldn’t run a marketing program in any coordinated fashion to save their lives. I tried to help, but I ran right smack into the GOBN: I couldn’t possibly understand the car business! And the people they had running all the marketing and Internet were just fine. Really. They knew them all very well, how could it be otherwise??
And so I sold lots of cars and left when my cash was right again. The main store’s GM called me very shortly after that, though, and he said “I get it even if other’s don’t. I need your help in a BDC with phones and Internet, can you come back and help me?” And so I did. And a shout-out to my old GM, Mike, by the way: Thanks very much for that!
He and I worked together and took the BDC—even back then—to running 40% of the dealer’s vehicle retail business. I eventually moved on to an eCommerce position at a large group, and for me the rest is history as they say—I’m now an independent consultant (www.keithshetterly.com), but I still have all that experience, both outside and inside the car business. Plus I qualify now for some entry into that GOBN. Who knew?
Though that’s still not true with everyone who considers me, because I’m not twenty years in this business making all the same mistakes they are making (if not direct business mistakes, then business-limiting mistakes because they are still GOBN-oriented).
So, what are a few of the most common GOBN limits? First, that experience outside the car business isn’t any strong help to a dealership; second, that running the dealership AS a business, instead of by GOBN “relationship decisions", is not possible nor profitable; and, third, that women are never, ever part of the GOBN.
Yeah. I said it. Women are limited by the GOBN in the car business. Still. I’ll write more on that in a minute.
I already covered the GOBN’s reaction to experienced and capable people when I wrote about my own entry into the car business. What I see for GOBN for relationships that hold back their business success is perhaps best given in questions: Who knows a GM who buys a random direct mail piece because his buddy at another dealership “killed it” and sold “fifty cars” from it last month? Or has seen the management clearing-out that happens with some GM regime changes? Or still sees print advertising spend over digital because the GM has a long-standing relationship with the local newspaper? And so on. Exactly.
And back to women, then, to wrap up, and I’ll ask some more questions: How many women GMs and managers are there? Would a successful woman ever get online as a dealership Marketing Director and write on an automotive professional blog site (using both their personal name and their dealer’s name) in angry posts, some containing profanity (see the thread here, be warned)? Would even my actions there be done differently? Why do lots of capable women leave the sales floor? Why do the ones who stay do so well and yet cause such jealousy?
GOBN, that’s why. For all of that and more.
We need experienced, capable people with new ideas; we need to run our dealerships as a business, not as clubs; and we need more women in sales, management, and ownership.
And we lag on all these because of the limit of the GOBN, both in business practice and in attitude. Removing that limit will do more for long-term dealership success than any new efforts on Internet, Social Media, Reputation Management, etc. ever will alone—simply because those are all really most successful when change for business success is really embraced.
And the car-business GOBN hates change. Have you noticed? So did the dinosaurs, perhaps, and they are now encased in rock. Don’t be a GOBN fossil and miss modern success and profit.
Change.
By Keith Shetterly, keithshetterly@gmail.com
Copyright 2011 All Rights Reserved www.keithshetterly.com
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Shetterly's Three Laws of... Women Buyers
1) Hire some women! Women buyers will, on average, prefer to buy a vehicle from another woman when they can--and women salespeople are awesome. By the way, women salespeople will do a great job with male buyers, too.
2) Smile and understand their power. Lots of women are on their own and earning money these days, and, when in families, women statistically make most of the car-purchasing decisions, anyway--so, if you can pleasantly help women smartly enjoy their vehicle purchase, you will get some of your best sales. And referrals.
3) Sell with polite confidence. Women don't want to buy vehicles from mean or weak people, male or female, which means--no matter your own gender--you'll lose the sale if you are condescending or disrespectful. Or just don't know your product.
**To help be sure I wasn't a total Neanderthal about this, I vetted some of these ideas with Dr. Elizabeth Archuleta, whom I would like to thank. Regardless, though, I take full responsibility for the idea and content of this article.
Copyright 2011 All Rights Reserved
www.keithshetterly.com
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TurnUPtheSales.com
Shetterly's Three Laws of... Women Buyers
1) Hire some women! Women buyers will, on average, prefer to buy a vehicle from another woman when they can--and women salespeople are awesome. By the way, women salespeople will do a great job with male buyers, too.
2) Smile and understand their power. Lots of women are on their own and earning money these days, and, when in families, women statistically make most of the car-purchasing decisions, anyway--so, if you can pleasantly help women smartly enjoy their vehicle purchase, you will get some of your best sales. And referrals.
3) Sell with polite confidence. Women don't want to buy vehicles from mean or weak people, male or female, which means--no matter your own gender--you'll lose the sale if you are condescending or disrespectful. Or just don't know your product.
**To help be sure I wasn't a total Neanderthal about this, I vetted some of these ideas with Dr. Elizabeth Archuleta, whom I would like to thank. Regardless, though, I take full responsibility for the idea and content of this article.
Copyright 2011 All Rights Reserved
www.keithshetterly.com
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TurnUPtheSales.com
Shetterly's Three Laws of... Excellence
1) Mediocrity is a habit; excellence is a choice.
2) The ability of a competitor does not govern your excellence: Competition for excellence begins and ends within yourself.
3) Excellence is not a measure of effort--it is a measure of results.
(from the dealership series Shetterly's Three Laws of...)
Copyright 2011 All Rights Reserved
www.keithshetterly.com
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TurnUPtheSales.com
Shetterly's Three Laws of... Excellence
1) Mediocrity is a habit; excellence is a choice.
2) The ability of a competitor does not govern your excellence: Competition for excellence begins and ends within yourself.
3) Excellence is not a measure of effort--it is a measure of results.
(from the dealership series Shetterly's Three Laws of...)
Copyright 2011 All Rights Reserved
www.keithshetterly.com
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TurnUPtheSales.com
Shetterly's Three Laws of... Social Media
1) Be social: Wherever two or more of your customers are gathered, so should your dealership be there also (to paraphrase), and that applies to social media. And, if you're not there personally yourself, too, get on Facebook NOW--having a business page and not being on Facebook yourself is like buying a newspaper ad when you can't read.
2) Start smart social: Launch your social media business pages, etc. with a plan, or don't do it at all. If you can't monitor it, don't have it; if you can't add interesting content on a good schedule, don't start it.
3) Keep it social: Your Mom wouldn't care to see your inventory stapled to her walls--at her house OR on her Facebook news feed--so don't think your customers will like that on Facebook, either. They'd all like, however, to hear about your customer's new truck that trailered their boat to a great lake trip. Act otherwise and your page will be ignored by your customers--and you won't even know it.
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TurnUPtheSales.com
Shetterly's Three Laws of... Social Media
1) Be social: Wherever two or more of your customers are gathered, so should your dealership be there also (to paraphrase), and that applies to social media. And, if you're not there personally yourself, too, get on Facebook NOW--having a business page and not being on Facebook yourself is like buying a newspaper ad when you can't read.
2) Start smart social: Launch your social media business pages, etc. with a plan, or don't do it at all. If you can't monitor it, don't have it; if you can't add interesting content on a good schedule, don't start it.
3) Keep it social: Your Mom wouldn't care to see your inventory stapled to her walls--at her house OR on her Facebook news feed--so don't think your customers will like that on Facebook, either. They'd all like, however, to hear about your customer's new truck that trailered their boat to a great lake trip. Act otherwise and your page will be ignored by your customers--and you won't even know it.
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Reputation . . . "Managed"??
“Reputation Management” (RM)?? I was in one of the first group of folks who started using this term, as far as I know, and I have come to strongly dislike it: A great reputation is created with great customer service; it isn’t managed. However, if, by RM, you mean that you need to let the world know about your great reputation that you get from delivering great customer service and working to correct unhappy experiences, that’s very good; unfortunately, RM is sometimes positioned as a way to overcome valid bad reviews (get them off SERP 1, for example). Or, worse, the term “RM” is sometimes hijacked by people wanting to advertise a way to “correct” your reputation, much like the firms that advertise to “clean” consumer credit. And just as false and un-successful.
So, how do people find your reputation? Nowadays, it’s found online by searching on a make/model in you area, searching on your dealership’s name (52% of website hits are from direct searches), finding Google Places rolled-up reviews, finding sites such as your PrestoReviews site on the first SERP, getting DealerRater info, and various other review sites such as MerchantCircle, etc.
And how much impact is a reputation? Reputation is the oldest advertising, but it has been long-eclipsed by one-way, one-to-many commercial advertising. Data says that, however, if reviews are available, 82% of online shoppers will read them—but what the shoppers do with them next is currently in some debate: How much do reviews influence their choices?
Do you really want to wait for that data? Not if you want to win.
And, so, the first real “management” you need to do for reputation, besides delivering a great customer experience, is to understand and properly react to what’s actually happening with customers that is now being relayed via reviews, Facebook, Twitter, etc. And in ways it will be sometimes hard to see or measure. And sometimes in real time!
For example, in my own case I’m “friends” on Facebook with my wife’s dear friends, a couple. The husband, call him “Ted”, was on Facebook complaining he was being mistreated at a dealership during the sale, and I happened to catch that in my Facebook news feed—and I realized it was the dealership where my friend, Mike, was GM! I called Mike, and it took a few days to sort it all out, but “Ted” was finally happy and crowing about the good experience to all his friends on Facebook.
That’s “hands on” Reputation Management. Real reviews from real people, really in the dealership, that lead to a real and great reputation.
And we come to the age-old question, paraphrased: If a tree has a great customer experience in the forest, and no one is there to see it, did it really happen? In other words, how do you amplify the advertising that is a review?
The first answer? SEO! This is why I’m a big fan of PrestoReviews, which accepts reviews from customers in the dealership (allowing for the fastest resolution of any issues) and turns them into fantastic search engine results! We talk a lot about the extremely high value of “user-generated content” for great SEO, as we should, and this is “customer-generated-content”! This is the best of what I already wrote “Real reviews from real people, really in the dealership, that lead to a real and great reputation”, now leading to great SEO! Brilliant, and a great win for any dealership.
And the Presto Reviews are starting to roll up into Google Places, as well, which is even better. Here’s a screenshot of a search for a PrestoReviews client Hawkinson Kia (click on it to see it full size):
The next answer? It’s not Yelp. It’s DealerRater, in my opinion. Yes, I know DealerRater is best used a paid service, and that it runs its own search engine efforts using your reviews (your content!), and which it sometimes also turns into ads for competitors within your review listings, However, it’s dealer-centric and has a strong “review-site” foothold, and it’s not that expensive to do the paid version. AND DealerRater reviews will often roll up into Google Places, and that’s the real value. There are a few other sites like MerchantCircle to consider, as well. Here’s a Dealerrater screenshot (click on it to see it full size, and note the competitors shown are actually in Houston, which is where my IP is):
Anyway, to wrap up here, I’ll live with the term “Reputation Management”, as it’s got that strong foothold, too. However, without hesitation and regardless of what tools you use to manage letting people know about it, I’ll tell you how to simply and always have a great reputation:
Start with a great customer experience!
P.S. Check out Shetterly’s Three Laws of Reputation
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TurnUPtheSales.com
Reputation . . . "Managed"??
“Reputation Management” (RM)?? I was in one of the first group of folks who started using this term, as far as I know, and I have come to strongly dislike it: A great reputation is created with great customer service; it isn’t managed. However, if, by RM, you mean that you need to let the world know about your great reputation that you get from delivering great customer service and working to correct unhappy experiences, that’s very good; unfortunately, RM is sometimes positioned as a way to overcome valid bad reviews (get them off SERP 1, for example). Or, worse, the term “RM” is sometimes hijacked by people wanting to advertise a way to “correct” your reputation, much like the firms that advertise to “clean” consumer credit. And just as false and un-successful.
So, how do people find your reputation? Nowadays, it’s found online by searching on a make/model in you area, searching on your dealership’s name (52% of website hits are from direct searches), finding Google Places rolled-up reviews, finding sites such as your PrestoReviews site on the first SERP, getting DealerRater info, and various other review sites such as MerchantCircle, etc.
And how much impact is a reputation? Reputation is the oldest advertising, but it has been long-eclipsed by one-way, one-to-many commercial advertising. Data says that, however, if reviews are available, 82% of online shoppers will read them—but what the shoppers do with them next is currently in some debate: How much do reviews influence their choices?
Do you really want to wait for that data? Not if you want to win.
And, so, the first real “management” you need to do for reputation, besides delivering a great customer experience, is to understand and properly react to what’s actually happening with customers that is now being relayed via reviews, Facebook, Twitter, etc. And in ways it will be sometimes hard to see or measure. And sometimes in real time!
For example, in my own case I’m “friends” on Facebook with my wife’s dear friends, a couple. The husband, call him “Ted”, was on Facebook complaining he was being mistreated at a dealership during the sale, and I happened to catch that in my Facebook news feed—and I realized it was the dealership where my friend, Mike, was GM! I called Mike, and it took a few days to sort it all out, but “Ted” was finally happy and crowing about the good experience to all his friends on Facebook.
That’s “hands on” Reputation Management. Real reviews from real people, really in the dealership, that lead to a real and great reputation.
And we come to the age-old question, paraphrased: If a tree has a great customer experience in the forest, and no one is there to see it, did it really happen? In other words, how do you amplify the advertising that is a review?
The first answer? SEO! This is why I’m a big fan of PrestoReviews, which accepts reviews from customers in the dealership (allowing for the fastest resolution of any issues) and turns them into fantastic search engine results! We talk a lot about the extremely high value of “user-generated content” for great SEO, as we should, and this is “customer-generated-content”! This is the best of what I already wrote “Real reviews from real people, really in the dealership, that lead to a real and great reputation”, now leading to great SEO! Brilliant, and a great win for any dealership.
And the Presto Reviews are starting to roll up into Google Places, as well, which is even better. Here’s a screenshot of a search for a PrestoReviews client Hawkinson Kia (click on it to see it full size):
The next answer? It’s not Yelp. It’s DealerRater, in my opinion. Yes, I know DealerRater is best used a paid service, and that it runs its own search engine efforts using your reviews (your content!), and which it sometimes also turns into ads for competitors within your review listings, However, it’s dealer-centric and has a strong “review-site” foothold, and it’s not that expensive to do the paid version. AND DealerRater reviews will often roll up into Google Places, and that’s the real value. There are a few other sites like MerchantCircle to consider, as well. Here’s a Dealerrater screenshot (click on it to see it full size, and note the competitors shown are actually in Houston, which is where my IP is):
Anyway, to wrap up here, I’ll live with the term “Reputation Management”, as it’s got that strong foothold, too. However, without hesitation and regardless of what tools you use to manage letting people know about it, I’ll tell you how to simply and always have a great reputation:
Start with a great customer experience!
P.S. Check out Shetterly’s Three Laws of Reputation
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Shetterly's Three Laws of... Reputation
1) Reputation is advertising. Good or bad, you don't buy it, but you pay for it one way or another.
2) Reputation begins with customer service that people must talk about. If you fail at great customer service and you fail to be talked about positively, you are going to fail at great reputation.
3) Reputation is something you own as far as responsibility, but your customers always own it as far as content--it's what they say, not you, that is your reputation.
Copyright 2011 All Rights Reserved
www.keithshetterly.com
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