The Good Ol’ Boy Network (TGOBN) 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, it limits our success.  And our profitability.  Let me tell you my own experience with the car business TGOBN, and then I’ll address the point I’m making on limits.

I came to the car business in my mid 40’s (I’m now 56) with experience ranging from owning my own business, to Fortune 50 Consulting, to several years at Microsoft, IBM, and Compaq.  I entered the sales floor, as perhaps many do, because I had a financial issue—I had a cash flow problem with my own 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 TGOBN:  I couldn’t possibly understand the car business!  And the people they had running all the marketing and Internet were just fine.  Really.  After all, the owner knew them all very well, how could it be otherwise??

And so I sold lots of cars and left to my business when my cash was right again.  The main store’s GM called me a few months after that, though, and he said “I get it even if others 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 for several years, then to consulting, and for me the rest is history as they say: I’m now with a vendor, but I still have all that experience to bear, both inside and outside the car business.  Plus I qualify now for some level entry into that TGOBN.  Who knew??

Though that’s still not true with everyone who considers me and who I am, 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 TGOBN-oriented).

So, what are a few of the most common TGOBN limits that hurt dealership success?  First, that experience outside the car business cannot be any strong help to a dealership; second, that running the dealership AS a business, instead of by TGOBN “relationship decisions", is not possible nor profitable; and, third, that women are never, ever part of TGOBN.

Yeah.  I said it.  Women are limited by TGOBN in the car business.  Still.  Even in 2015. I’ll write more on that in a minute.

First, what I see for TGOBN 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 so I’ll ask some more questions:  How many women GMs and managers are there?  Why do lots of capable women leave the sales floor?  Why do the ones who stay do so well and yet cause such jealousy?

TGOBN, that’s why. For all of that and more. I see more women than ever, but there’s still TGOBN. And you know it. And more than just women are affected by it.

For success, we need experienced, capable people with new ideas; we need to run our dealerships as businesses, not as clubs; and though we have improved some, we still need more women in sales, management, and ownership. 

And we lag on all these because of the limits of TGOBN, 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 TGOBN hates change.  Have you noticed?

So did the dinosaurs, perhaps, and they are now encased in rock.  Don’t be a TGOBN fossil and miss modern success and profit.

We know now, in the car business, that what we do—wrong or right—with our customers on Social Media is very important to how they and hundreds of other potential customers see us. Well, what I’ve seen lately on Facebook is a lot of car business people disregarding how very important Social Media is also to how our peers, dealer peers, and dealer clients see us.  Our business can hang by a thread, albeit nowadays it’s hanging by a post and the comment thread. And it can be a doozy.

For example, what I’ve witnessed just this week is how common the eternally-obvious and ever-stupid practice of “group add bombing” has become with vendors in the automotive business. You know, overnight (literally) you’re added to groups you don’t recognize, and it turns out it is from a blind bulk group add effort by folks who are unashamed to drag whomever into whatever groups they instantly created for their own purposes. All done that way so that the number of the group members grow, so that some report on “social reach” looks good, and, well, I’m sure somebody has a pay plan that crushes the enormous and loud social media common sense against doing just this thing.

So, let me tell you more about the “social reach” of that practice: Not only is it exceptionally irritating to be added to a group more than once (at that point, you realize to check the “don’t let anyone add me again” button), but it is amazingly rude to ALSO be added to “new” groups whose only function is advertising for the business (auto vendor) involved. So you’re added again and again and again to groups, new groups, etc. And folks see it. And talk about it. And go to hating. HELLO SOCIAL MEDIA! That’s Social Media 101, maybe even Social Media 100.

And, oh, were it to just stop there. It gets worse: Next, when some businesses in question get angrily called out ON SOCIAL MEDIA for this practice, instead of just explaining themselves and apologizing, and stopping there, they consistently begin to complain themselves, petulantly and loudly, about the posts against them right there ON SOCIAL MEDIA. And drag out stuff like “remember, the car biz is a small world”, “I know your businesses’ owner”, “We secretly know your principal and/or GM”,  and because … because … <INSERT SOCIAL SPAMMER EGO FIT HERE>. What in the world are they thinking? Do those secret principal clients of these businesses have any idea how whiney this hugely PUBLIC practice appears to the giant SOCIAL MEDIA AUDIENCE as it’s happening ON SOCIAL MEDIA? Do the owners of this business perceive how lame they look pulling out this kind of trash on to the street OF SOCIAL MEDIA to not only current clients but clients to come?

Ugh! I really want to help them, but they just have to STOP. Social Media in this case is NOT about tattling to some Big Daddy Dealer, it’s about how you LOOK to hundreds, if not thousands, of clients, potential clients, peers that can refer business, and . . . your COMPETITION.

Social media doesn’t demand perfection. It does, however, demand as much positive attention as you can give it. Making things negative, threatening, SPAMing, and/or just disregarding the social media amplifier of negative behavior (folks drive REAL slow past your Social Media Car Wreck, doncha’ know). . . creates things like this blog.  And the reaction?  I hope for a positive one.

I’ll let you know. :)

Keith Shetterly
keithshetterly@gmail.com

We don't have an "accountability culture" in the car business, and we need one. Badly. For great examples why, just look at the sports we love that are so successful!

The NFL keeps stats on players that boggle the mind and produce hours and hours of ESPN commentary; basketball hinges on free throw percentages that can haunt a player’s (and team’s) season; and, from long ago to now, baseball has led them all with stats that kept the players accountable in a witches brew of information.

These are all sports we know and love in the car biz. And they are accountable in every play they make. Or don’t. Every day in every season.

And yet somehow we don’t have that same Accountability Culture.

What do I mean? Imagine this:

• Every call you make or receive for vehicle sales is logged and followed up on for sales-making appointments using your CRM.
• Every prospect that walks on to your showroom floor is properly greeted, gets a needs assessment, and is logged into your CRM along the Road to the Sale.
• Every unsold prospect that leaves your showroom is pursued with strong follow-up via phone and email, all contact logged into your CRM, to create as many sellable be-backs as possible.

And so:

• You know your true store closing ratio because of these two items inside your CRM along with the SOLD unit number. You begin to see the real state of sales and make adjustments from these facts to grow your business—everything from advertising to inventory goes into this.
• You begin to know what real follow-up call and email methods and schedules work in your market, and you make sales *and* CSI gains.
• You use the unsold and sold customer information in the CRM to create call and email campaigns where every email opened and call made and received is logged and known for sales and service results.
• And the Internet Department grows into even more sales than today, because it is by nature the most-accountable work (lead/call/visit) in the entire dealerships.

Accountability is MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY!

Doesn’t this sound great?? And yet far too many dealerships don’t have the Accountability Culture in place: The owner wants accountability tools and processes but too often turns away to leave them solely in the GM’s hands; the GM may or may not want an Accountability Culture, but gets really uncomfortable if the tools and processes seems to say he or she isn't doing the proper job; and the salespeople in general don't want accountability at all because they want to be judged on the sales they make, not on the UPs they burned through to “make their eight”.

I guarantee most dealerships in the USA don’t use their CRM properly, and they don’t have processes that lead to true accountability to show true results. At all. Replacing the CRM has become almost a hobby at some dealerships, thinking that it’s a tool holding them back.

Well, an Accountability Culture would even work with a pen and paper. Because it starts in the heart and is led from the top, and it flows down to every position from there.

If you lead a store and believe your CRM “is not working”, make sure you look into a mirror before you spend $100,000 to make that change. Because even the simplest-to-use CRM, or even the least-expensive CRM, needs you to USE it. 

For example: Do you even know how to log into, much less use, the CRM you have? And If you lead a department, are your folks truly accountable to you for their work towards sales production— is your “22 car guy” burning through 200 UPs a month and you don’t know?  In other words, as a department manager DO YOU USE THE CRM? As a salesperson, aren’t you trying to be more efficient and work less hard for MORE MONEY? All that is in the CRM if you go there.

Because accountability isn’t a discussion at the coffee machine. And it isn’t just the sales you made this month, either.

It’s the sale you missed.  You know, the ones you’d be accountable for, too, if you really wanted accountability for everyone? The ones you can get with beback efforts of follow-up? Accountability Makes Sales Happen!

Accountability is for Winners. What is your culture?

Read on for The Best CRM in the Business at a dealership near you!

Bob met new customers on the lot, and he brought them inside the comfort of the showroom and sat them down for a friendly discussion about the car they wanted. Reaching the right point in the conversation, Bob logged Mr. and Mrs. Smith into the dealership’s CRM, including their cell phones and email addresses.

Up in the tower, Bob’s manager Fred noted the showroom visit as it popped up in his CRM screen, and he periodically kept his eye on Bob’s progress there. Bob also came to the tower to tell Fred some information about the Smith’s vehicle needs, and Fred notated the progress towards the sale inside the dealership’s CRM, all while giving Bob some tips on how to proceed. Which Fred also noted inside the CRM.

At another desk, salesperson Sue is making calls to her prospects and unsold clients, prompted by the CRM on her computer screen. Sue notates each call result and appointment set, and also follows up with calls and cards for anniversaries and birthdays this month for her existing clients. As well, social media interactions with her potential clients and sold customers are logged by Sue and tracked inside the CRM to provide an opportunity path for even more sales. CSI for her clients is through the roof!

The Internet Department is a humming spot at the dealership, full of activity by salespeople, with inbound leads, inbound and outbound emails, outbound and inbound calls, all zipping through but being tracked in the CRM. And all according to follow-up schedules in place inside the CRM that strongly help gather Internet sales to the dealership in a coordinated fashion.  Appointments, calls, leads, texts, social media, sales, and unsolds are all logged by the salespeople inside the CRM, moving Internet interactions towards more sales and better online reviews and CSI—and these also lead to more sales, all tracked inside the CRM.

Back on the showroom, Bob and the Smith’s have started their test drive right after Bob left the keys for the Smith’s current car with Fred so he could arrange a trade evaluation. Bob noted the test drive in the CRM, and Fred also follows through with noting the trade evaluation inside the CRM. Everything about the Smith’s progress towards a purchase is available inside the CRM to help sell a vehicle, and later on in the day they will happily buy on a deal penciled with help from the CRM.

Across the dealership, many other salespeople like Sue and Bob proceed through their day, as well, logging customer visits, interacting with customers via leads, emails, calls, text, and social media. All these events are logged by the salespeople and their management team (like Fred) inside the CRM.

Prospects visit the dealership, some buy, some don’t; inside the sales team, calls are made, leads are answered, and some of their prospects visit and some don’t; however, every prospect and sold customer has a follow-up schedule in the CRM, and the salespeople make every effort at contact and sale. All this effort is logged, monitored, and tracked by the staff inside the CRM.

This all sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? What a great dealership! What a great CRM!

Notice something?

Before I reveal what that "something" is, think about this: Technology is a great thing. However, all “CRM” selling effort was once done with paper and pen, and much was lost and wasted, gained and won with that old system.  Well, we also once ran an entire coast-to-coast nation with horses and buggies, but now we sell, rent, lease, and use motorized transportation.

For a dealership, if you missed it, this means cars and trucks.

So, we don’t have horses and buggies any more as common transportation, and we also don’t have the pen and paper “CRM” any more that is their technology equivalent. We have a computerized CRM to match the technology of our cars and trucks.

Then why do we treat the CRM like a “horse and buggy”? Why do we ignore and NOT USE our CRM?  And, in fact, seem so all in favor of not using it that we instead use ineffective methods so old that they might not need paper but could instead belong on a cave wall??

To be fair, even today the Best CRM isn’t really defined by technology. The Best CRM also isn’t defined by “usability”, which has as many definitions these days as CRMs have users.  And the Best CRM isn’t defined by training or education, either.  And certainly not by changing to a new CRM every year because That Is Going to Save Your Business Don't You Just Know It.

No. The Best Automotive Retail CRM in the Business For You is simply defined by whether YOU USE THE CRM OR NOT.

That is the revelation you can see in the description of salespeople above. Nothing was said there about technology. Scanners. Built-in Texting. Social Media buttons. Phone system integration. Website tracking. None of that. Nothing was said, either, about usability or training. Education. Field personnel. Support lines. Nothing.

Why? All the technology and services that any CRM company provides for you will actually come together for your success in one way. And one way only.

Because The Best CRM in the Business for you, ever and always, no matter what is...

The CRM that you actually USE.

by Keith Shetterly, VP of AutoLoop Engage Call Center
former eComm Director and Internet Consultant
keithshetterly@gmail.com

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!  :)

Your website is not advertising--not an ad source. Stop treating it like one. It is like your building, it's for customers to visit. And generate an event. Consider other events:

A showroom visit has an ad source.

A phone call has an ad source.

Even an Internet Lead has an ad source, albeit it is usually inherent in the lead SOURCE itself.

Prospects come to your website for the same reasons that they drive in: Because advertising (and even location is a form of advertising!) eventually drove them to visit. Even repeat customers come because they perceive you are still in business, and for all the lawyers out there we need to stop right there with the exceptions.

Because now you KNOW that your website is NOT an ad source. You spend money to maintain your website for hosting and support, just like you pay for your building and electricity and water. None of that is not ad sourcing! We do, though, need to know what our advertising does. Desperately. 

Yes, I know it's hard. And we can somehow go back to ancient Egypt, I suppose, if we chase advertising far enough. However, one ad source will be the most prominent, most recent "trigger" cause of that visit to your website. Google Search. PPC. Autotrader. Craig's List. Etc. THOSE are advertising spends. NOT your website!

Anyway, let's probe and find the true ad source. You'll be happy to know. And you will be able to spend less on advertising for more effect than ever before. :)

Thanks!

Keith Shetterly
Vice President of Research
CAR Research
keiths@carxrm.com
http://www.carxrm.comwww.carxrm.com 

You know this story: The new GM comes in, sweeps out the current management, and replaces them all with "his" or "her" guys and gals.

Maybe this is smart, but it doesn't seem so. ESPECIALLY with eComm Directors and Internet Directors who are juggling websites, reviews, reputation, lead sources, training, marketing, and CRM, all while very often leading a sales team AND desking deals.

Revolution is a natural affair of human organizations, and--though dangerous and painful--revolution is very different from a radical takeover and replacement of the government by the military in the RESULT. History shows that a coup is hardly ever an improvement.

And just this week a good friend of mine, really an excellenteComm and Internet leader, was swept out. I'm sick of "that's the way it is". Really?

Thank God nothing ever changes in this business. Like the Internet. Do we REALLY have to live with regime changes that decapitate every key department?

I don't think so. That dealership will be a long time recovering from this particular loss. Right about the time the Google Reviews fade, the Internet stops producing, thepay-per-click goes south, and the sales drop off . . . it will be time, sadly, for another GM. And another house cleaning.

House SMASHING, more like it. And we need to stop doing it.

Keith Shetterly
VP of Research, CAR Research
keiths@carxrm.com

Traffic is everything—traffic is ALL. And I don’t mean traffic to your site, or any digital referrals at all. And I don’t mean phone calls, either.

I mean floor traffic:  folks that drove over, parked, and entered your showroom to consider buying a car from YOU.

THAT is Traffic. And it is EVERYTHING.  Prospects visit, and you sell them a car. If they don’t visit, all the other things you do mean NOTHING.

Yeah, that’s old school. Before OEM's CSI, before online reputation, before SEO, before PPC, before CPM, before websites, before phone training, before Internet leads. Back when you papered the tower with the ads from the newspaper.  Remember what you worried about?

It was Floor Traffic.

And it is STILL Traffic. Throw out any consultant or trainer or company or entity that argues it is anything else. Why?

All dealerships spend effort on CSI, and money and effort on other things like online reputation, SEO, PPC, CPM, websites, cable TV, radio, print, direct mail, email, appointment-setting, and so on—all in order to GENERATE TRAFFIC TO THE STORE.

However, the way some people talk and advise in our business, you’d think all of that is done for some other reason. Like we do these things for some lofty goal, some point of artistic beauty. 

Baloney.  Guess what? We do these things ONLY TO GET TRAFFIC, PERIOD.

Don’t agree? Ask any successful GM or owner if they had to choose only ONE thing to spend money on this month, which would it be: a) train their staff, or b) pay to generate more traffic.

The answer will be TRAFFIC. And don’t split a hair in your own answer—we’re not talking “well, we’ve got to train in order to HANDLE the traffic.”  That’s not the point.

And how do you handle and track all this traffic?  CRM.  However, the worst feature of every CRM out there is the lack of CRM use by the dealership.

Well, you can bury every problem on the floor with good sales from great traffic.  Even that one.

However, a great dealership will generate and marry great traffic with great use of CRM by great, trained sales staff. No doubt. And have great sales and make lots of money.

A good dealership will generate great traffic and let the salespeople and managers sort it out. And haphazardly use the CRM. And still make money.

A poor dealership will spend no money to generate traffic and also no money on training the salespeople. And pay no attention to the CRM. And make little money.

So choose to be a great dealership!  Because it is, and has always been, all about:

Traffic. Traffic. Traffic.

By Keith Shetterly
Vice President of Research, CAR-Research
281-229-5887 cell/text keiths@carxrm.com   www.carxrm.com
Copyright 2013 All Rights Reserved

The Truth About Your Data almost always begins with contracts.  

I know that dealers are often unaware of the full content and ramifications of vendor and services contracts, and that's why the vendor's sales people make a visit and explain the service delivered by the contract.  To sell you on the value.  And the dealer applies his or her trust of the vendor, weighs the value of the vendor's service, and when he or she buys then makes that decision believing the description matches the service.  

The problem can come for the dealer when, in the contract, as I put it, "The Large Print Giveth and The Fine Print Taketh Away".  And that can happen with your data, where it goes, and to what purposes it is put.

For example, your vehicle inventory can be syndicated to whatever additional partner websites you allowed in your contracts with any vendor handling your inventory information--and you often don't know who those sites are!  Or how they represent you.  Or that this is even happening.  Why?  Well, contractually worded, that list of "extra" sites can simply be left to the discretion of the first inventory-using vendor with whom you contracted (though you may be able to find out what it is if you ask them--that is, if you KNOW to ask).  And this inventory syndication can happen (but does not always, be sure to check) under contracts from your website provider, your inventory management company, your merchandising and advertising company, your CRM company, and perhaps even your OEM.  Anyone can ask for this contractually.  And sometimes they syndicate to someone else who further syndicates the inventory!!

Specifically, a lot of discussion is happening about CarGurus.com as one of the sites to which some vendors syndicate.  Or further syndicate.  And some folks think CarGurus.com is good for dealers to get leads from folks who don't necessarily like dealers, since those folks buy cars, too.  And some seem to think CarGurus.com is a dealer-bashing website that deserves no support by dealers no matter what leads it generates.

And, as a dealer, I'm sure you'd agree that is your decision to make.  If this or ANY service by any vendor is right for dealers, the vendor's salespeople should be able to convince dealers, right?  Except, it appears that too often the syndication is done by what the contract allows rather than what you might decide if you were asked.  Well, why do vendors syndicate?  To help you with more online exposure of your inventory, the vendors can say, which sounds like a good thing, right?  And it certainly can be.  However, as well, capitalism is great, so understand that some of the vendors are also re-tasking your inventory in manners to boost their OWN profits (lead generation, trade-off partnerships, relationships, etc. can come into play).

If this syndication can help everyone, including the dealers, is any or all of this bad?  That's up to you. Now that you know about it, you can learn more by investigating and then decide for yourself what is good or bad, and what you do and don't want done with your data.  Which is my very point to begin with, that vendors who want to use your data for their business profit should "man up" (or "woman up", as the case may be) and simply explain to you how it benefits you.  And let you decide.

I'm not bashing anyone or any vendor.  I'm just saying that you have every right to review your contracts and ask these questions.  And a responsibility to do so.  I know that, when I worked at a dealer, that's what I did, so I know it can be done.

Contracts that include access to, and use of, your data:  Inform yourself about them.  And take action as you see fit.

And that's The Truth About Your Data:  YOU are in control.  Just step up and make it so!

by Keith Shetterly
Copyright 2013 All Rights Reserved
www.keithshetterly.com
Opinions and viewpoints expressed on this blog are my own.

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

I’ve often asserted that a shot glass is the perfect gift for both the pessimist and the optimist, as it is never half empty or half full!  It’s a “Zen” point, to me, as the statement generates an opportunity for clarity amongst disparity and confusion—because, if shot glasses are used properly, they are always a full gulp taken, or a full gulp declined.  They have no middle ground to argue about, no viewpoint of half-way down or half-way up, no half-way back or half-way ahead.  You are either taking the shot or you are not.  And that’s another Zen point about shot glasses:  They clearly represent a spiritual step in the act of taking the full shot.

And that’s commitment—It either is or isn’t; it’s either made or not.  Commitment is then the “Shot Glass of Life”, and yet so often we hedge our bets on that shot.  We try to sip it, or we try to wait it, or deny it, or talk around it.  Think about it.  A full and successful life has no half shots in it, nor does it allow half shots to last.

Is someone engaged without a wedding date?  They’re trying to take a half shot.  Are they afraid to talk to someone about hard things because they might lose them?  They’re trying to take a half shot.  Are they trying to hold out for more money at work by not working as hard?  They’re trying to take a half shot.

And a full and successful life, as I wrote above, doesn’t allow that.  Even committing to the full shot doesn’t guarantee success—however, the Zen point is that, in attempting to take only those half shots, from the beginning of raising that glass then a person has already accepted failure as an option.  And they’ve planned for it, even.  And so, guess what?  They eventually fail.

A full shot taken is a guarantee only of commitment to success; a half-shot attempted is a guarantee of failure.  Because, in the Zen, the spiritual commitment to oneself and one’s life is not made in the half-shot.

So, take full shots of life, and you’ll have the best success.  And you’ll never have to listen to pessimists nor optimists, just to the sweet feeling from the Zen of your own settled spirit.

Commitment is not half-lost or half-attempted.  And so neither is success from Zen and the Art of The Shot Glass.  To life –

Drink up!

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