1. “Quiet Panther” (安靜的每週獅): Websites Should Be Seen and Not Heard
You wouldn’t set off the horns of every one of your showroom cars just as a customer opens the door—so don’t do it on the Web! Remember, customers with jobs don’t need the “Boss I’m Car Shopping Instead of Working” alarm to go off at their own desk. Use sound where it makes sense, but let the shoppers choose when to turn it on:  Make friends and sales with your site, not unemployment!

2. “Running Tiger” (執行老虎): Driving Traffic via SEO is More Than Just Meta Tags and Page Titles
Don’t expect your current success via yesterday’s SEO to last—are you creating and posting online video on your site?  Do you use off-site video?  Are you pursuing back-links from Social Media? Do you blog?  The Internet isn’t a RonCo “Set It and Forget It” appliance, so don’t treat it that way.  Stay on top of it. And if you use a vendor, use one with a great SEO reputation in automotive.

3. “Dancing Monkey” (跳舞猴子):  Live Chat to a Dead Head is Only Good at Concerts
The mega fans of The Grateful Dead should never provide live chat services—are you checking what you’re getting with your online chat service? Make sure they answer well and successfully set appointments by “mystery chatting” them yourself.  And do it often.  Good chat is a very valuable sales conversion tool—you worked hard to get the shopper to your site, so start the sales engagement there…and not lose sales to a bad website “Hello”. Which happens all too often.

4. “Lightning Snake” (閃電蛇): Using Short Videos Means Never Having to Say We Suck
Twenty seconds is a long time on the Internet.  Don’t be afraid to edit down your customers’ video testimonials before you post them, or better yet tell them briefly how to “get to the meat” when they talk.  Even the most positive but too-long testimonial says “We Suck!” out in the wilds of the Internet.  And also get that video walk-around down to the “Quick and Powerful” level.  And one more thing: Be sure to scroll your website and phone number across the bottom of all videos—don’t waste those precious few seconds of a customer's attention by not doing the right self-promoting.

5. “Knowing Crane” (知道蒼鷺): The Buzz of Social Media Might be From the Chainsaw You’re
Taking to Your Business
You need to get past the buzz words with Social Media, and in a hurry—you shouldn't just "buy services" for this, you need to understand and plan what you're doing.  Do you know how to use social media for your fixed ops, how to respond to Facebook issues on sales and service, and how to create business for yourself on Facebook and other Social Media?  You would laugh at someone who walked into a party and shoved his business car rudely under everyone’s nose—so don’t be that dork in Social Media! Learn how to interact or you'll get ignored, or, worse, derided in business-killing ways.  Do you watch your social media reputation? Google? Yelp?  Do you manage your Facebook fan pages several times a day? Do you watch Twitter for your business’ name—what are people saying about you?  And there's so much more!

by Keith Shetterly, Consultant
keithshetterly@gmail.com

Low CRM usage is a combination of several factors, but in general the better CRM is the one you use.

The best CRM is the one you can easily use.

We used to worry about salespeople “Watching the Glass” for UPs pulling into the lot. Now, they are all the same as everyone else: Heads down on their smartphone. If smartphones are the new “Glass They Watch for UPs”, let’s get CRMs on to mobile and marry their attention to what they need to be DOING. After all, they are looking at their phone, on average, over 150 times a day!

Mobile CRMs fall into two categories: Those that lose features in order to fit the mobile device, and those that are built around mobile. The second category of CRM is the one you want, because it will enable your sales team with the most power.

And then they can log UPs, call customers, email leads, and do follow-up from the same device they are, on average, just to hit that statistic again, looking at over 150 times a day!

So, get aboard with the new century and the new “glass” your salespeople are looking at—remove their excuses and use that "mobile attention" to your advantage to make more sales.

Keith Shetterly, Consultant
keithshetterly@gmail.com 

A CRM that you actually use is almost a license to print money.

Seriously: Would you argue with a printing press expense every month if you could print many times the expense in money you could use? Do you realize that a CRM is really an ATM full of money that you can, with a few clicks, get money and sales from, directly? Did you have an “OMG” moment right there? “CRM is an ATM, OMG!”? :)

Yes! Tens of thousands of dollars A MONTH sit in your CRM, and you don’t withdraw it: For the last ten years, I am always surprised that CRMs are seen as some expense and so often not used. It starts on the sales floor, which by the way is only about 10% of a CRM’s value.

On the floor, salespeople grouse about CRM usability, so CRMs fix that. Hopefully. And CRMs also go mobile (when they can), which, by the way—if you haven’t figured it out yet—cell phones are the new “glass” your salespeople watch while waiting for the mythical Up Bus. And so CRMs help you manage the sales process, from the door to the sale—but as I wrote above that’s all about using a CRM for only about 10% of its value!

In fact, casting a CRM as a tool JUST for your sales floor actually BURNS the money in your CRM ATM. Did you know that you can do email marketing from your CRM to generate high-dollar service and sales business from your owner base to your unsold traffic? And do it every month?

Did you know that you can generate call lists for your salespeople and/or for your BDC? And keep track of the revenue from those calls and their results? Or create your own solid lists with real money in them that you can use with Direct Mail? CRM, ATM, OMG! Right??

So, now, get to withdrawing your money with those vehicle sales and service ROs from your CRM ATM today. If you want more advice, since I was an eComm Director for almost six years doing this and more, contact me--I will help you, even if you don't use my CRM.

Because CRM = ATM! OMG! :)

Thanks,

Keith Shetterly, Consultant
keithshetterly@gmail.com 
 

Getting anyone to recommend a BDC process, lay out a live agent pay plan, and do some comparison between an in-store, centralized, and 3rd-Party BDC at the same time is often difficult.  Especially written down and public--well, here is mine on the link below.

Local Market factors must still be taken into account, and I'm willing to learn from anyone doing it or who has done it.  I've done it, and I'm doing it, too, so let's discuss, if you want.

And there may well be a typo or two.  One thing about putting something like this out there is that, whether folks comment or not, there will be a LOT of opinion.  :)

Enjoy!  Here's the link to the file, which you can share to your heart's content:

Thanks,

Keith Shetterly
keithshetterly@gmail.com
www.keithshetterly.com
Copyright 2012, All Rights Reserved

Getting anyone to recommend a BDC process, lay out a live agent pay plan, and do some comparison between an in-store, centralized, and 3rd-Party BDC at the same time is often difficult.  Especially written down and public--well, here is mine on the link below.

Local Market factors must still be taken into account, and I'm willing to learn from anyone doing it or who has done it.  I've done it, and I'm doing it, too, so let's discuss, if you want.

And there may well be a typo or two.  One thing about putting something like this out there is that, whether folks comment or not, there will be a LOT of opinion.  :)

Enjoy!  Here's the link to the file, which you can share to your heart's content:

Thanks,

Keith Shetterly
keithshetterly@gmail.com
www.keithshetterly.com
Copyright 2012, All Rights Reserved

Yeah, I said it:  GM’s Internet lead response measurements are wrong-headed.  The age of pushing dealers to a better 24x7 response time is over, and the results are misleading.  And they are unfortunately too often focusing dealers, and therefore precious resources, AWAY from car sales.  And here’s why. 

First, the requirement:  To be measured as “passing”, a dealer has to have an average response time—across 24x7—of under ONE hour and 95% of the dealer’s leads must be answered in under 5 hours (and NOT by an autoresponder).  It’s that second time measurement that makes no sense at all, and here's why . . .

Second, the "Lead Response Math":  Say a dealer gets 100 leads.  Then that means, no matter what effort they make on response time, NO MORE THAN FIVE leads can ever go over five hours.  That's very, very few mistakes allowed, and it can be very hard to achieve even for dealers with average response times of under 1 hour.

Third, why this doesn’t make sense:  For a dealer who is open 9am-9pm Mon-Sat, then leads can come in randomly during closed hours (9pm-9am Mon-Fri AND/OR any time on Sunday) and be missed.  Even rotating your Internet Dept. through “Sunday duty” doesn’t stop the risk for “midnight leads”, as remember you only have FIVE per 100 that can have a response time over five hours.  That means that EVERY NIGHT someone has to watch leads until 12:30am and someone (else, I hope) has to get up no later than 5:00am (4.5 hours later) to check until you open.  Otherwise, just one night with no one watching and five leads might come in at once . . . or a couple of nights the Watchman (or woman) falls asleep . . . 

Fourth, what dealers have done:  They’ve hired, in most cases, an off-site BDC of folks who just respond with silly “We’ll contact you when we’re open!” emails.  Because the RESPONSE TIME is what GM measures, not the quality or relevance.  And who can say this isn’t enough relevance, anyway, considering that these leads do NOT necessarily represent actual people online BUT ARE RELEASED INTO THE LEAD FLOW for many other reasons.  When this all started with GM, they were batching leads at night, but I can’t say that’s specifically what’s happening now.  By the way, I’ve personally been coached by more than one GM SFE coordinator to get one of these “midnight lead” services to keep the response time down . . . hooookayyyyy, so even the people pushing this realize it is silly!  Can you say “Emperor’s New Clothes”?  (for those who know that old fable). 

Fifth, what the SHOPPERS have done:  They have moved away from the Internet lead.  Fewer leads come from the web, and everybody knows it.  Customers are coming in without leads, though many do call before getting into their car.   They’re just educated now on what effects come from giving up their contact info, even to an OEM:  eMails and phone calls TO them, INTERRUPTING them, from MULTIPLE dealerships, etc.  Better to just view inventory and pick up the phone.  And more than a few just come on in. 

SO, because NO MORE THAN FIVE leads can go over five hours on a 24x7 clock, GM and their lackeys have a nation of dealerships distracted by nightly response time and less focused on daily sales--dealers focused THE MOST, in fact, on the response time of the few folks shopping at 3am (IF that’s really going on, which is debatable) rather than those shopping during work hours.  Don’t you think a lead dropped to a dealer during a shopper's work day is most valuable?  They have a job, they have an income, they have interest, and they probably WILL buy a car if they can. 

GM’s 24x7 measurement of lead response time doesn't clearly result in sales, though they try mightily to make that case.  Any Internet closing rate is a function of total advertising, inventory, and Internet sales skill, not just response time, even for those closing as high as 10%:  “Jim Smith” might come in and buy, but he may in fact have never responded to the email you sent or the call you made from his lead!  He was just in-market, filled out a form online, totally ignored your efforts to contact, and came in because he heard about 0% from his TELEVISION.  And maybe you’re the only game in town for his type of vehicle, anyway.  Jim Smith never bought from a lead or your contact:  However, he’s counted as an “Internet Sale” by GM just the same. 

True sales measurement is how is a STORE doing.  Not response time to what is, via Internet leads, at MOST, 20% of your sales contacts.  (What’s going on with your phone and/or lot visits the other 80% of the time is pretty important!).  And GM driving any store, from those successful to those not-so-good, towards these leads is not heading them towards sales but instead off a cliff of distraction.  Especially at 3am.

Unfortunately, GM’s “lead response math” seems to have too little to do with sales and more to do with what can easily be measured.  Well, just because something CAN be measured doesn’t mean it is the ONLY thing to look at. 

If you can take your eyes (and precious sales resources) off your "3am Clock", how are your SALES doing?

by Keith Shetterly, keithshetterly@gmail.com
Copyright 2011 All Rights Reserved
www.keithshetterly.com

Yeah, I said it:  GM’s Internet lead response measurements are wrong-headed.  The age of pushing dealers to a better 24x7 response time is over, and the results are misleading.  And they are unfortunately too often focusing dealers, and therefore precious resources, AWAY from car sales.  And here’s why. 

First, the requirement:  To be measured as “passing”, a dealer has to have an average response time—across 24x7—of under ONE hour and 95% of the dealer’s leads must be answered in under 5 hours (and NOT by an autoresponder).  It’s that second time measurement that makes no sense at all, and here's why . . .

Second, the "Lead Response Math":  Say a dealer gets 100 leads.  Then that means, no matter what effort they make on response time, NO MORE THAN FIVE leads can ever go over five hours.  That's very, very few mistakes allowed, and it can be very hard to achieve even for dealers with average response times of under 1 hour.

Third, why this doesn’t make sense:  For a dealer who is open 9am-9pm Mon-Sat, then leads can come in randomly during closed hours (9pm-9am Mon-Fri AND/OR any time on Sunday) and be missed.  Even rotating your Internet Dept. through “Sunday duty” doesn’t stop the risk for “midnight leads”, as remember you only have FIVE per 100 that can have a response time over five hours.  That means that EVERY NIGHT someone has to watch leads until 12:30am and someone (else, I hope) has to get up no later than 5:00am (4.5 hours later) to check until you open.  Otherwise, just one night with no one watching and five leads might come in at once . . . or a couple of nights the Watchman (or woman) falls asleep . . . 

Fourth, what dealers have done:  They’ve hired, in most cases, an off-site BDC of folks who just respond with silly “We’ll contact you when we’re open!” emails.  Because the RESPONSE TIME is what GM measures, not the quality or relevance.  And who can say this isn’t enough relevance, anyway, considering that these leads do NOT necessarily represent actual people online BUT ARE RELEASED INTO THE LEAD FLOW for many other reasons.  When this all started with GM, they were batching leads at night, but I can’t say that’s specifically what’s happening now.  By the way, I’ve personally been coached by more than one GM SFE coordinator to get one of these “midnight lead” services to keep the response time down . . . hooookayyyyy, so even the people pushing this realize it is silly!  Can you say “Emperor’s New Clothes”?  (for those who know that old fable). 

Fifth, what the SHOPPERS have done:  They have moved away from the Internet lead.  Fewer leads come from the web, and everybody knows it.  Customers are coming in without leads, though many do call before getting into their car.   They’re just educated now on what effects come from giving up their contact info, even to an OEM:  eMails and phone calls TO them, INTERRUPTING them, from MULTIPLE dealerships, etc.  Better to just view inventory and pick up the phone.  And more than a few just come on in. 

SO, because NO MORE THAN FIVE leads can go over five hours on a 24x7 clock, GM and their lackeys have a nation of dealerships distracted by nightly response time and less focused on daily sales--dealers focused THE MOST, in fact, on the response time of the few folks shopping at 3am (IF that’s really going on, which is debatable) rather than those shopping during work hours.  Don’t you think a lead dropped to a dealer during a shopper's work day is most valuable?  They have a job, they have an income, they have interest, and they probably WILL buy a car if they can. 

GM’s 24x7 measurement of lead response time doesn't clearly result in sales, though they try mightily to make that case.  Any Internet closing rate is a function of total advertising, inventory, and Internet sales skill, not just response time, even for those closing as high as 10%:  “Jim Smith” might come in and buy, but he may in fact have never responded to the email you sent or the call you made from his lead!  He was just in-market, filled out a form online, totally ignored your efforts to contact, and came in because he heard about 0% from his TELEVISION.  And maybe you’re the only game in town for his type of vehicle, anyway.  Jim Smith never bought from a lead or your contact:  However, he’s counted as an “Internet Sale” by GM just the same. 

True sales measurement is how is a STORE doing.  Not response time to what is, via Internet leads, at MOST, 20% of your sales contacts.  (What’s going on with your phone and/or lot visits the other 80% of the time is pretty important!).  And GM driving any store, from those successful to those not-so-good, towards these leads is not heading them towards sales but instead off a cliff of distraction.  Especially at 3am.

Unfortunately, GM’s “lead response math” seems to have too little to do with sales and more to do with what can easily be measured.  Well, just because something CAN be measured doesn’t mean it is the ONLY thing to look at. 

If you can take your eyes (and precious sales resources) off your "3am Clock", how are your SALES doing?

by Keith Shetterly, keithshetterly@gmail.com
Copyright 2011 All Rights Reserved
www.keithshetterly.com

"Negotiation is the art of reaching agreement by trust while lying."  -- Keith Shetterly, 2011

Wow!  My friends have pointed out that I needed another article for "trust-eroding" words and phrases--spoken or written--that can kill sales, so here comes Part 2 of what is now a series.  What do I mean by "trust-eroding"?  Well, that's best explained by going right to the first example:

Honestly.  You're eroding trust directly with the use of this word--because when you reach a point in a conversation where you say, "Well, honestly, . . .", does that mean to the customer that you were lying the entire time before you said that phrase?  YES.  My opening quote is true of negotiation, in that the customer knows things like the dark history of their trade and/or their credit score that can kill a deal, while the dealer knows the invoice, holdback, step money, bonus motivations, etc. that can make a deal happen.  And nobody wants to reveal any of that right out at the front.  It's hard enough to establish trust in any negotiation because of that situation, so you don't need to call yourself out in some mistrustful way while you are negotiating!  Using "honestly" puts you backwards immediately and erodes trust.

The Fix: Instead of saying "Well, honestly, . . . ", say "Let me share something more with you . . . ".  The first says you're a liar, the second says to the customer that they've successfully negotiated and corned you into revealing more information--and it's usually a very good idea to stroke the customer's ego during a sale.  So, "Let me share something more with you . . . " is now your trust mantra!  And, as well, never, ever, use the next phrase . . .

To Tell You The Truth.  This sounds a lot like "honestly", and there is certainly that full aspect for this phrase, so if necessary please read the previous item on "honestly" again.  However, there's even more for this phrase:  It's often mis-applied as a bonding-with-the-customer moment, as in "I'm breaking a rule here to reveal this . . .", but "To tell you the truth" actually says to the customer that, not only have you perhaps been lying up to this point, but that you also might lie again in the future!  You'd have to beat this phrase to death as a preface to every statement you make in order to theoretically offset that, but that repetition in reality would just erode trust even further.  Avoid "to tell you the truth", even as a preface phrase like "To tell you the truth, I don't know."  Really?  Thank goodness you didn't give another lying answer to the other questions I asked already or as you will to the next ones I'm going to ask!

The Fix:  Use the phrase "Let me tell you one of our secrets . . ." instead.  Again, you're stroking the customer's ego, bonding with them, and telling them (again) that they've cornered you in the negotiations into revealing more information.  And NOT eroding trust!

The Honest Truth Is.  Yep, here's the "Ultimate Trust-Eroding Combo Pack" built on the last two phrases.  Are you saying there is a "dishonest" truth?  And, whatever that is, the customer is now thinking, again, that you're a liar, that you're going to be a liar--and, additionally, that the very next words you are now about to utter after this phrase are most certainly a lie.  "The honest truth is that my sales manager has done as much as he can, and this is the lowest price he can offer."  Sure it is.

The Fix:  Say, instead, in this case "The fact is . . ."--because facts are evidence, and truth is philosophy.  You are telling them a fact they can choose to believe because they know you've worked hard on their behalf with your sales manager.  You've let them know that, right?  You're not using "The honest truth is . . ." because you're shortcutting the sales process, are you?  Exactly.  Use "The fact is . . ." because your work on their behalf is a fact, your sales manager has negotiated fairly, and your dealership does treat its customers the best in the area.  

We Aren't Here to Rip You Off.  Ugh!!  Really?  If you're not here to do that, why did you have to tell me that??  Alert!  Alert!  Trust erosion ahead!  This phrase, and those like it, attract customer suspicion like honey attracts bees. 

The Fix:  Just learn that real trust is built, not on what you aren't, but on what you are--and say instead:  "We are an honest dealership . . .".  Simple and says it all.  And back-able by appropriate additions such "our online reputation with our customers shows", "our fifty years in business means", etc.  Trust is built on positives, not negatives!

Now, hit your sales floors (phone, UPs, Internet, email, etc.) knowing how to get, and keep, trust from your customers with the words you use.  Honestly, they're very important!  :)

by Keith Shetterly, keithshetterly@gmail.com

Copyright 2011, www.keithshetterly.com

All Rights Reserved