As I peruse the new car sales numbers by dealership in some of the top markets in the US, I can’t help but look at the calendar month sales data as a negative indicator of things to come.  Although sales have performed better than expected this year, deeper data diving (BASED ON CALENDAR MONTH) indicates big dealers got plowed this past May. How bad were new car sales if you compare May of ‘18 with May of ‘17 (sans the Ford F-150 which seems to be an evergreen)?  You be the judge. Here is an overview you’ll find nowhere else based on near-real time numbers at their time of collection.

LA Market Quaking? (Down Approximately 25.37%)

The LA new car market is getting absolutely shanked with catastrophic 30-50% downturns in sales across the areas top 10 dealers. Longo is still the world leader in auto sales, but sold 475 less cars this May than last!  That difference alone would be a hugely successful May for most car dealers across the country, but a 32.53% slide still isn’t the worst fall off in the market. Car Pros Kia sales have been KIA (Killed in Action), down 42.06% despite the release of the company acclaimed “Stinger”. Overall, minus luxury brands and Ford F-150s, the LA market has lost 25.37% May ‘17 over May ‘18.

Phoenix New Car Sales Drying Up As Well (Down Approximately 32.53%)

There is good news and bad news for AutoNation in the Zone.  First the good news; their Honda dealer in Chandler sold 287 cars this May vs 245 in May of last year.  Now the bad news; their Tempe Toyota store sold 217 cars less this May than last May! If misery loves company, AutoNation must love other Toyota dealers. As LA’s Eastern-most suburb, Phoenix too experienced a downturn in new car sales .  The average top 10 dealer is 30% south of last May’s sales numbers. That loud wind you hear is an Arizona scirocco carrying off new car sales and tumbleweed in its wake. Overall new car sales are down 32.53%!

No Wind in the Windy-City/Illinois Sales Down 25.21%

Toyota stores in Chi-town are getting mugged by Honda dealerships Valley Honda, and Schaumburg Honda Automobiles, as the 3 biggest Toyota franchisees in that market are averaging a 43% downturn in sales. Overall, Windy City new car sales are on life support as downturns in sales far exceed upturns. The good news is that Muller Honda and Ray Chevrolet are up over last May.with both dealerships plus 13%  Ray Chevrolet was somewhat of an anomaly when we consider that Phillips Chevrolet was down 29%. Although Currie Motors Chevrolet didn’t sell enough cars to make the top 10, it only missed by 3 (151) and had a 31% increase in sales which was somewhat of a positive outlier in the market. In total, Chicago area new car sales were down 25.19%.

Bay Area Bombing (Down Approximately 30%)

Fremont Toyota, Stevens Creek Toyota and San Francisco Toyota are all down an average of 32%, with 8 out of the areas top 10 dealers deep in negatives. Seemingly operating in an alternate universe, Honda has the only few stores that aren’t falling flat although Honda in the Bay area is pretty much halfway to the water treatment plant.  Anderson Honda is up almost 7%, and Capitol Honda is actually up 28% in sales from last May, but their Chevy store is down nearly 9%. Overall, the Bay area is down just under 30% in new retail car sales. With housing prices through the roof, the cost of living in the Bay area has to be hurting auto sales. Commuters spend 72 minutes per day going back and forth to work so the cost of gas, which is on the rise, especially in California, is having an impact as well.

Beantown Blow Out (Down Approximately 33.11%)

Boston dealers are getting hammered with the average dealership well into double figure disappointment.  Boch Toyota in Beantown is down nearly 54% from last year with only Quirk Works Subaru and Subaru of Wakefield (not a top 10 Beantown dealer) seeing any significant upswing in sales from last year.  Boch apparently botched some sales that Kelly Honda scooped up having sold 8 cars more this May than last. In fact, the Boch performance may have been the worst of any top 10 Honda dealer in any city in the USA.  The fall off of new car sales in the Boston area is 33.11% comparing May ‘17 with May ‘18 with nearly 1,000 fewer cars finding new garages.

Did You Know that San Jose is a Top Ten Market? (Down Approximately 29.6%)

They are!  The only top SJ market dealerships improving over last years numbers are Capitol Honda, and Anderson Honda. Dealerships there, as in DC, overlap with other major markets.  In San Jose, it’s San Francisco. The top 2 makes in No. Cal are Honda and Toyota with the average dealership experiencing a 25% fall off or more in sales. Only one American brand, represented by Capitol Chevrolet, made the top 10 list for new car sales in the area, but they were down by 8.76% over last year.  In total, the SJ market is down 29.6%.

Atlanta Hardly a New Auto ATM (Down Approximately 20.24%)

The top 8 dealers in Atlanta all dropped off from May of last year with another AutoNation disappointment, this time in the form of the Toyota Mall of Georgia. It fell off 99 sales from last Mays sales. They may have lost market share to Stone Mountain Toyota who sold 166 new cars.  Stone Mountain is a relatively new Toyota dealership. Toyota South Atlanta went from 90-175 sales last month which explains why all the other Toyota dealers tanked last month. It’s hard to believe that being down 20.24% in new cars sales is well below the national average but it’s true.  

DC Is Loaded With Rich Politicians and Lobbyists (Down Approximately 29%)

Sadly, far fewer of them bought a new car this May than they did last May. In the DC top 10, Hamilton Honda is one of the only major area dealers to shop an increase in new cars sales over last Mays numbers. They sold 37 more vehicles than in May of ‘17. Smithtown Nissan actually did very well with an increase of 105 new cars leaving their lot.  That’s a 33.55% increase, mind boggling considering how sluggish the national market is. The Honda brand dominates the DC market. There are 30 Honda dealers in the expanded DC market, and 8 of the top 10 selling dealerships in May of ‘18 sold Hondas. In that top 10, only Open Road Honda and Hamilton Honda showed growth. Huntington Honda sold 308 new cars, selling 149 less new cars this May than they did last May.  In total, new car sales were down May 18 over May 17 by 29%.

San Antonio New Car Sales Going the Way of the Alamo? (Down approximately 20.23%)

Again, we see a May over May trend that just sits in our craw.  New car sales are down 20.23%. Texas is its own glorious economy, but even Texans suddenly stopped buying new cars at the pace they previously were. WTS, there were a few outliers such as the Ancira-Winton Chevrolet which sold 96 cars this May more than they did last May, Vara Chevrolet sold 44 more new units, and Nissan of San Marcos sold 43 more than they did the previous May.

Sadly, we have no dealer-specific Ford data, but we know 85K or so F-150s are sold every month, and is clearly the most popular vehicle in the US - especially in Texas. Top Toyota dealers are now relying fully on Highlander, Tacoma, and RAV4 sales to keep them competitive against other brands.  On the San Antone battlefront, only North Park Toyota of San Antonio held serve in May up by just 1% over last May. Gunn Honda stayed flat moving 266 units while Gillman Honda of San Antonio was actually up 3% although they sold 98 fewer units than Gunn. Other than that, Toyota/Lexus make up 6 of the top 10 selling dealerships and 5 of the 6 were down approximately 23%.  Minus Ford/Lincoln, Audi, or VW, it’s fair to say that the May sales swoon may be an indicator of the much anticipated car sales slowdown...even in Texas.

Philadelphia Free Fall, New Car Sales Fell 28%

As has become pretty apparent, May comparisons over the last two years demonstrate a sector of the economy that may be set to implode.  Here’s what we saw in the Philly top ten last month:

The top two dealers both improved over May ‘17s numbers.  Hamilton Honda sold 37 more cars and Open Road Honda sold 2 more cars than they did in May a year ago.  Reedman - Toll Subaru sold 30 cars more than the previous May but that’s pretty much the end of the good news.  Top dealers DCH Toyota sold 115 less units, Burns Honda sold 96 less units, and aside from smaller players like Porter Chevrolet, Freehold Chrysler Jeep, and All American Subaru of Old Bridge which improved their lot, most did not.   

DFW New Car Sales A Little Bit Good, A Lot of Bad (Down Approximately 26.28%)

Let’s talk about the cup being half full. Vandergriff Chevrolet sold 162 more cars than they did last May.  That’s a 114% increase in sales for you mathematicians. They sold just 4 cars less than Clay Cooley Nissan who also was up 43.4% in sales.  At the top of the list was Classic Chevrolet with 322 sales, down 21.27% from last May’s numbers. Chevrolet is strong in Texas and El Dorado Motors another Chevy dealer, also saw a strong month up 18% over May 2017.  Overall, DFW new car sales are down 26.28%. The DFW market is big on Lexus with two dealers in it’s May ‘18 top 10, but neither did well comparative to May ‘17. Park Place Lexus Plano was down 16%, and Sewell Lexus was down 37%, while Park Place Lexus Grapevine was down 11%.

The data crunch we performed takes a look dealership specific numbers with certain data sets simply not available to us, but would not have skewed numbers all that much.  There are 4 brands not reported in the spreadsheet and that makes this incomplete. Still, most of the major sellers are on the list and until we see how June pans out, we can’t make any rash judgments or definitive statements, but there is something odiferous emanating from the fan.  The big disclaimer is that we are basing all of this not on sales month, but calendar month.  This doesn't take into consideration 11 other months, but with new car loans (at decent rates) tougher to get, interest rates rising, and off-lease inventory glutting, how can it get better?  You never know.

For the National Dealership Standings, check us out at each week.

1. Identify Keywords That Under-Perform or Perform Incorrectly (Negative Keywords) –  Google Analytics will give you insight into which keywords are working, which are not, and which broad matches are pulling traffic you aren't specifically intending to draw.  An example of this could be words that have multiple meanings or are demographically undesirable. Knowing which keywords do not work is just as important as knowing which ones do.  A quick example would be "Dealer near me".  This could be any kind of dealer right?  "Car dealer near me" would be the more specific (exact match) phrase.  Adding a modifier like "used car dealer near me" would be even more strategically sound.  I would assign "dealer near me" to the negative keywords list in my campaign. Check carefully in the "search terms" section and you'll see which terms are being used to find your site. For terms that are confusing or not relevant, make sure to add them as a "negative search term", and you'll no longer pay for them again.  Meanwhile, you'll also find keywords and keyword phrases that you never thought of that you can add as keywords and assign to the specific Ad Groups in the campaign with the push of a button. 

2. Your Landing Page and PPC Campaign Need to Jive – If your PPC ad is about your dealership's wide selection of used cars, when shoppers click on that ad, it better take them to your used car section.  Furthermore, the use of keywords in that ad better match the copy of the page the ad clicks to. Failure to do so is met with Google's wrath!  Ignoring Google Best Practices will saddle you with low quality scores, and that means increased ppc costs, and lower ranking of your website and overall visibility. On the flipside, good synchronization means high quality scores, better organic ranking, and lower ppc costs and consistently higher positioning. *Remember, match keywords in ad copy with the same keywords on the landing page at the very least. 

3. Adjust Your Bid Strategy Accordingly – Along the lines of experimenting with your campaign ideas, targeting methods, and keywords, adjusting your bid and campaign budget during a campaign is crucial.  Always check out your impression share and see if you're spending enough to make your ppc campaign worthwhile.  If your pulling a 48% impression share, you may not be spending enough to keep your ads up all day long - although there are other reasons as well why your ads aren't being shown (see above).

Depending on what your products or services are, you may or may not want to allow Google to default Max CPC which means you're willing to exceed your competitors max bid by a minimum of 10%.  If a keyword fetches $3.28 a click, and you set to max bid at $6.20, it will only charge you $3.28 plus 10%, not $6.20.  If your website is tight and you have a high quality score and abide by Google Best Practices, you'll rank consistanty higher at a lower cpc than some guy bidding the same way you are.  This is why SEO ES MUY IMPORTANTE!

I believe in being #1 in all searches because it's been proven that you get the best ppc traffic, and although it's not the most cost-effective means of running a campaign with a limited budget, I rarely take on those kinds of budget-limited clients. For smaller budgeted concerns, Google Analytics will tell you when you're getting the most traffic, so you can always adjust your ad schedule accordingly. 

At times, you may want to pause an account and activate it during the busiest hours based on your GAs. I have to plug Tracie at DealerAnalytics.com for providing a great agnostic service that helps dealers make heads or tails out of how their vendors are truly performing based on what Google Analytics clearly and sometimes not so clearly suggests...at a fair monthly price.  For those who need help on the ppc campaign front, CarDealerppc.com has a good grip on Google Best Practices soooo, you may want to check them out as well as some of the great marketers that post on this platform.

4. Know Your Market – The most important thing for all businesses advertising online, especially dealerships, is knowing who your customers are, and tailoring the content towards them.  If your city or town is comprised of middle-class families, target those who are looking for leases on SUVs, mini-vans, or used, off-lease cars and trucks that you may have in stock. Just like television or radio, when you pay to advertise online you want to maximize your investment. Test your PPC ads and see which ones are most effective.Test and learn is every marketer's mantra.  NEVER assume in marketing.  Companies that build PPC campaigns for dealerships have the tools to make the most of targeted advertisements online, and Google makes it easier.  Work with your AdWords campaign manager by providing them with as much info about your client base as possible. It's not a bad idea to point a bird dog towards the bird. 

5. Do Not Be Afraid To Experiment – When you are creating an effective PPC campaign, you need to be comfortable with throwing different things at the wall and seeing what sticks. As I mentioned before, test and learn.  Experiment with keywords, experiment with ad copy, targeting and bidding strategies. I know more than one dealership that dumped all of their classified ad budget (AutoTrader, Cargurus.com, and Cars.com) and put it back into traditional ads on TV, and radio.  They went from #6 in their market to #1 in one month.  It was an experiment that paid off in a big way.

It never hurts to engage in multiple trial campaigns and observe the results. Dump the bad ads, and under-performing AdGroups, and stay creative with fresh ad content and video, see what delivers and what doesn't.  It's called A/B testing and surprisingly few actually do it.  You should be as creative and engaged in this process as you can be. Don't rely on any one vendor's word or opinion.  There's a lot of hot gas out there in the consulting world, the kind of gas you hear before you smell it.

PPC is an extremely effective way to drive legitimate, bottom of the funnel buyers into your dealership. Make sure you have a certified Google AdWords, and certified Google Analytics personnel on your team to make sure your SEO and PPC (SEM) campaigns are fully optimized, else you'll be overpaying like someone driving a flaming pie (Ford Taurus) on a subprime loan at 11.75%.  There is virtually NO difference.

Kelly Kleinman

A Swedish meta-study, which analyzes and summarizes studies completed  in the EV field, found that around 150 to 200 kgs of CO2 equivalents (environmental impact equivalent to that of the release of CO2) are produced for every kilowatt hour (kWh) storage capacity of electric car batteries.

The impact isn’t due to any kind of vehicle emissions, and doesn’t even taken into consideration the incremental pollution to landfills from dead batteries. Rather, it’s all about the source of extraction of raw materials including lithium from mines, the processing of raw materials, and production of lithium-ion batteries in factories.

Ironically, a gas powered engine can run for 8 years until it has the same environmental impact as a Tesla Model X. Since the Nissan Leaf has a smaller battery, it takes 3 years to have equivalent impact. That’s the ugly truth folks. For those of us who proudly drive our hybrids and EVs due to environmental concerns (sorry Larry David), we’re driving an illusion. My chosen illusion is that I’m sticking it to OPEC by using less gas.

According to Mia Romare, one of the researchers; “Unnecessarily large batteries weigh more on the environment. One should therefore consider whether one can manage with smaller batteries.”

Even Toyota admits it’s production of the Prius Hybrid emits more CO2 than it’s conventional models due to more advanced componentry which includes a smaller gas engine, and large lithium battery packs.

A 2013 report by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Design for the Environment program concluded that batteries using nickel and cobalt, (lithium-ion batteries), have the “highest potential for environmental impacts”.  It cited negative consequences like mining, global warming (conflicting data here), environmental pollution and human health impacts.

Although lithium-ion batteries are considered non-hazardous waste, would you be willing to filter drinking water through a funnel consisting of 1,000 lithium-ion batteries and not fear for your life?

The reason why more lithium ion batteries aren't recycled boils down to simple economics: the scrap value of batteries fails the economy of scale test - at $100 per ton, Conversely, the cost of collecting, sorting and shipping used batteries to a recycling center is greater than the scrap value (BRP>SV), so batteries are classified as garbage by you and I. What’s sadly overlooked is that the industry does not factor in the fact that recycling battery metal material like cobalt has a much lower economic and environmental impact than mining raw materials.

The reality is that there will never be a fully environmentally safe technology to replace the combustion engine until either free energy is harnessed or solar energy moves a quantum leap forward. 120 years ago, the streets were covered in horse crap. It was a huge issue as cities stunk to high heaven from road apples and dead horses. The car was supposed to alleviate the issue of such “pollution”, and it did...for a while. The ironic twist is that our green solution - to our green solution of 120 years ago isn’t green at all, regardless of how the media labels it as such.

Kelly Kleinman

A recent survey of 334 used car dealers by Dealer Control shows that only 19% actually responded to lead forms that were filled out on their websites!  

The survey was conducted by contacting used car dealers who are currently using a popular website service that charges $99 per month as a subscription fee, parks the dealer on a templated website of choice, and then controls all email engagement and implementation of a lead gen/form fill system.  There are apparently a number of templates in use by thousands of subscribing dealers, but one thing they all share in common is the reticence of the vast majority of those dealers to follow up on lead forms and vehicle queries.

Quality, 1st generation leads are hard enough to come by so there has to be a reason used car dealerships have such a bad track record responding to queries. Eliminating technical issues, unethical lead rerouting by the vendor, leads blocked due to billing issues, or dealers no longer in business, one is left scratching one’s head. What makes this even more perplexing is that these sites aren’t truly responsive (mobile friendly) according to Google best practices. They aren’t likely to rank very high in organic search as buyers shop for vehicles.  One would think that each lead would be treated like gold.

Is it an Issue with the Website Design?

The mobile versions of these sites go directly to VDPs with no branding marks, or anything that remotely matches the “on-site dealership experience”. You don’t even know what dealer it is you’re getting a canned email response from in some instances.  A properly designed “responsive website” maintains its “look” and brand identity no matter what device is used by the consumer as their technology of choice in the search process.

A state-of-the-art dealer site mirrors the look and feel of actually being in the dealership. With that said, a thought occurred to me that maybe these websites were just old and out of date since many of the URLs don’t even match the business name of the dealership!  The mobile versions even looked like antiquated (m.subdomain) stop gap constructs to comply with Google’s 2 year-old mobile best practices initiative - else disappear in the search engines. Problem is, such constructs do not adhere to Google Best Practices simply by ignoring the user experience portion. Still, although the sites aren’t winning any awards, they still seem to be functional...so maybe the dealers aren’t?

Could Used Car Dealers be Relics of a Bygone Era, Ignorant to the Emergence of the Digital Consumer?

Maybe the majority of used car dealers just aren’t tech or even business savvy which may be why they pay for cheap site templates and don’t understand the latest tenets of digital consumer behavior.  Whatever the reason, the lack of response was shocking considering the hue and cry heard by all listing sites and digital marketing agencies that they’re never getting enough leads!

Of the 19% that actually had a response, 73% of the responses were via a cold “no-reply” email messaging template with no dealer branding footprint on it at all, rather the name of the vendor who supplies the service and maybe a message from a mystery salesman promising to get back to the potential buyer. Most dealers took at least a couple of days to follow up.

Consider the long-lived paradigm that a potential buyer is most likely to interact with the first dealer or two who contacts them, and know that this lackadaisical response can hardly be an acceptable industry business practice. According to research by the folks at InsideSales, “50% of buyers choose the vendor that responds first.” Per researcher Dr. James Oldroyd, “the odds of the lead entering the sales process, or becoming qualified, are 21 times greater when contacted within five minutes versus 30 minutes after the lead was submitted.” The Oldroyd data also suggested that the average company response time to a lead is 61 hours.  Of the 334 dealers in our study, 3 dealers responded personally within 5 minutes.

Dealers, Take Control!

On average, a typical car buyer will spend 16.75 hours researching online for a vehicle and will ultimately visit 1.6 dealers before they buy a car (MAXDigital study). You had better have your digital-self cleaned up else you’ll rarely be one of the 1.6. Responding to that initial query already puts you way ahead of your competitor according to our finds. Used car dealers need to understand what new car dealers have finally learned about the importance of branding across all channels, most importantly, online. You need to have full dealer control of your branding which includes how your website looks, how you respond to sales inquiries, and deal with customers. You cannot let a lead get sucked into the vacuum of space because you’re system is antiquated or broken else your business will get sucked into the cosmos as well.  

It’s an Epidemic of Inefficiency!

The Oldroyd data suggests we have a bunch of lazy salesmen out there, systems for lead cultivation are put in place but not worked as efficiently as they should be, and businesses across all categories, not just used car dealers, are letting sales slip through their fingers!  With that said, there were several dealers whose follow up was incredibly professional and methodical. To those who know how to sell...I salute you.

Props to the following car sales professionals and dealerships for utilizing effective lead follow up practices via CRM tools or good old-fashioned customer service. Of 334 inquiries, this group of 9 individuals stood out.

Simon Laski of Best Rate Auto Sales at http://www.bestrateautosales.com/

Dan Lentz of Palmetto Ford at www.palmettoford.com

Jim Davis of Taylor Hyundai at www.taylorautomotive.com

Joe Burlett of Frank Motor Cars at www.frankmotorcars.com

Larry Kahle with his auto-respond CRM of Mile High Motors at usedcarsinmontana.com

Jordan White of Exceptional Motor Car at

Don Piper of Consolidated Auto at http://www.consolidatedauto.com/cms.cfm

Betty Entralgo of the Stephen Auto Mall Center at http://www.cusecars.com/

Sam Dorsey of Crossley Ford who for 3 months after the initial lead was sent is still cordially following up to my alias. www.garycrossleyford.com

The US gov't has closed down all eclectic classified sites that deal with questionable "personal" sections that may deal with sex trafficking.This means that vendors and dealers that list vehicles on Backapage.com, Craigslist.com, and others, are seeing a substantial drop off of traffic and auto leads, and it's being noticed by our industry. Apparently, people like to shop for cars while they shop for companionship.

Vendors that service dealers by listing inventory on Craigslist cheaply, also regularly posted inventory to Backpage.com for free, and got extra bang for their client's buck, especially when Craigslist started charging for automotive listings.  Whereby you'll get a lead in an hour, or at least in the same day by listing on Craigslist, Backpage, would list inventory for free, but you might see a lead show up the next day.  There was far less traffic on Backpage.com, but it was the wild west for hook-up ads, and did drive some leads because of that increase in volume traffic it inherited from Craigslist when Craigslist started to charge for listing inventory.

The Craigslist personal section drove a ton of traffic into the auto section and was apparently a robust source of automotive lead traffic.  That "cruising" traffic that provided healthy automotive leads, has hit a road block and now vendors that don't own their own classified sites on which to list their client's inventory are sweating it out, trying to figure out the most cost-effective alternatives to get inventory visibility, leads, and not lose a client.

DealerLeads.com has been inundated with inquiries.  They own their own classified sites (350 of them), and work on a performance basis which many dealers find attractive.  In fact, one of their sites, usedcarsforsale.com, is a totally free classified site for used car inventory.  Their spokesman says it's free for life so, I'll take them at their word.  It's certainly no Craigslist, but what is?  Still, their sites show up organically in the search engines so, if I were a nervous vendor or dealer who has been listing on a far less "busy" Craigslist, that would be a good place to start.  Anybody have any other cost-effective solutions?

Craigslist says bye-bye to personals:

US Congress just passed HR 1865, "FOSTA", seeking to subject websites to criminal and civil liability when third parties (users) misuse online personals unlawfully.

Any tool or service can be misused. We can't take such risk without jeopardizing all our other services, so we are regretfully taking craigslist personals offline. Hopefully we can bring them back some day.

To the millions of spouses, partners, and couples who met through craigslist, we wish you every happiness!

“Old school selling? Take your automation, I’ll take a smile, a handshake...and sell more than you”, said the 68 year old car salesman from Cleveland, Ohio.  

His comment was brash, and ignorant of facts based on countless studies generated by the top marketing groups in the US. But really, have we gotten to the point of no return with face to face selling?  Have we willingly given devices, and AI reign over how we communicate with other people, or do we have to re-discover the lost art of selling, following up leads, and being responsible dealership representatives?  Could it be a bit of all the above?

Are we that repellent of a profession, or are car salesmen so conniving, and distrustful that we now need to initiate contact via texts, anonymous live video streams, emails, and algorithms defining to us the probability of a lead being truly “in-market” and not just a tire kicker? 

There are thousands of metric tonnes of consultants out there setting dealerships up with state-of-the-art technology that initiates contact with customers, responds to leads, sends emails & review prompts by software, and other clever ways to squeeze dollars out of customers in every inch of the dealership. I even saw one dealer with signs in the urinal asking if the customer was flushing dollars down the toilet by not getting an extended service contract!

WTS, I’m not against automation. My blog site focuses on emerging technology and creates a spotlight in which new and old vendors can wax on about their various solutions, technologies, and philosophies. I do EVERYTHING in my power to help new vendors get huge exposure but...I believe the practice of developing person to person skills  is lost with technology.  Technology dulls our senses, and truncates our ability to communicate with each other the way nature intended.  

Meanwhile, while online yesterday, I uncovered some ancient texts written by some of the world’s greatest sales people, on how to achieve success as a person.  After all, we’re all always selling something right?

Without further ado; here are some success secrets of some of the most accomplished ancient sales people of all-time...just in case your algorithm breaks down.  Notice, these are more like life tips rather than sales advice. It’s about you being the best human you can be, not the best software or sales management tool.  I've included the translations of these texts as Takeaways.

THE ANCIENTS TEXTS

QUOTE: “I determine to render more and better service, each day, than I am being paid to render. Those that reach the top are the ones who are not content with doing only what is required of them.”

-Og Mandino, The Greatest Salesman in the World

TAKEAWAY:  The whole is greater then the sum of its parts and rewards are oft-times bestowed upon us based on effort, effort is energy, and energy is NEVER wasted. Remember, the love you make is equal to the love you take!  Go that extra mile...every day!

QUOTE: “Personally I am very fond of strawberries and cream, but I have found that for some strange reason, fish prefer worms. So when I went fishing, I didn’t think about what I wanted. I thought about what they wanted. I didn't bait the hook with strawberries and cream. Rather, I dangled a worm or grasshopper in front of the fish and said: "Wouldn't you like to have that?"

Why not use the same common sense when fishing for people?”

― Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People

TAKEAWAY: Listen to your customer and introduce them to something they want, not what you want them to have. It’s not about you. They bait their own hooks!

QUOTE: “Never allow two people to do a job which one could do. George Washington observed, ‘Whenever one person is found adequate to the discharge of a duty by close application thereto, it is worse executed by two persons, and scarcely done at all if three or more are employed therein.” -David Ogilvy, Ogilvy on Advertising

TAKEAWAY: If you want something done right, do it yourself!  Believe in yourself, rely on yourself, and stay focused on making sure your customers are happy!  You may hand them off, but make sure you never drop the ball!

QUOTE: “Most people think “selling” is the same as “talking”. But the most effective salespeople know that listening is the most important part of their job.” -Roy Bartell

TAKEAWAY: God gave us two ears and one mouth for a reason.  Fools speak, wisdom listens. The customer will tell you exactly what they want, make sure you can hear it.

QUOTE: “Talk to someone about themselves and they’ll listen for hours.”- Dale Carnegie

TAKEAWAY: Show people you are interested in them, everyone needs attention, be your customers spotlight.  Make them feel warm and bright.

QUOTE: “The reason it seems that price is all your customers care about is that you haven’t given them anything else to care about.” -Seth Godin

TAKEAWAY: Ask questions, listen to answers.  Your customer will tell you why they value what they seek, it will likely never be price first.

QUOTE: “Pretend that every single person you meet has a sign around his or her neck that says, ‘Make me feel important.’ Not only will you succeed in sales, you will succeed in life.” -Mary Kay Ash

TAKEAWAY: People want to feel loved. So do you.  “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”  Who said that?

QUOTE: "To build a long-term, successful enterprise, when you don't close a sale, open a relationship." -  Patricia Fripp

TAKEAWAY: Not making a sale isn’t always a loss, if you make a friend, you always win.  

KK

Have you been paying attention to car sales lately...or the lack thereof?  Everywhere you look on the freeway here in Southern California you see SUVs, pickups, and of course, luxury cars.  From what I can see, the same is true for most major metropolitan areas including New York, Miami, Chicago, and Dallas/Ft Worth where pickup trucks are as common as Starbucks is in LA. Car sales continue to decline, and aside from a hurricane or two to inflate future sales numbers, is there anything that can save them?  

Car Sales and Nudibranchs: Endangered Species?

Car sales are down nearly 11% so far this year and the vacuum those sales are leaving is being filled by light trucks and SUVs, specifically crossovers. Purchases of EVs, and hybrids is growing as well, and may be the saving grace of a segment seemingly in the same danger as my favorite nudibranch, Proctonotus Mucroniferus. The decline in auto sales is precipitous and has been collapsing for 4 years...in direct relation to the decrease in gas prices.

In 2011, Obama put forth an initiative for fuel efficiency that mandated specific standards be met by 2025, and the industry spent little time and a whole lot of money complying in a race to meet those standards that were recently reversed by President Trump.  Crude oil markets sustained high price levels in 2011, as the spot price of Brent crude oil averaged $111.26 per barrel, marking the first time the global benchmark averaged more than $100 per barrel for a year. Instead of coming up with a strategy that would decrease oil prices by increasing domestic production, penalizing other OPEC entities, or even stifling futures trading in some way, Obama opted for a longer term solution.

Artificial Price Hikes Enrich Investment Firms and Banks, Spike Small-Medium Car Sales

Even if the price of a barrel of oil is as low as $40, Investment firms and major financial institutions like Goldman Sachs and Citigroup and their unfettered, shady, greed-laden  speculation practices can jack the price of a barrel of oil from $40 to $100. Currently, oil prices are up to nearly $74 a barrel, 36% higher than last year and steadily increasing at a 30 degree upward angle. Is this enough to push prices up enough to dampen SUV and light truck sales?  I say yes...over time.

Although it may not profoundly stifle sales of SUVs and light trucks immediately (to a 10%> drop in sales), it may have that effect in the long run. Remember Obama, the guy who set groundbreaking standards that would have increased fuel economy to the equivalent of 54.5 mpg for cars and light-duty trucks by Model Year 2025?  Automakers have already started to incrementally increase fuel efficiency in SUVs and light trucks, not to 54.5 mpg yet (and now maybe never), but enough to stave off the negative effect of $3.60 per gallon gas prices while the economy is on the upswing. Currently, prices are a dollar less per gallon than when Obama set those standards. We live in good times, but there is a rumbling not just under Yellowstone Park, but the economy as well.

Current Increase in Gas Prices, Repos, Signify the Beginning of a Cycle

As the price of a barrel of oil continues to rise out of the ashes like a fat, greedy, Phoenix, sales of less fuel-efficient SUVs and trucks will slow down as gas becomes too expensive for commuters to afford.  A 10% fall off of sales of SUVs and light trucks in California, where gas prices are highest, will have real impact, and potentially, be enough to flat line sales for those segments. Add an increase in interest rates for subprime borrowers, and you have a recipe for a cyclical downturn in sales for gas guzzlers.

Have you seen the increase in repossessions lately?  6.3 million Americans are over 90 days behind on their payments!  An even more precipitous drop in sales is currently being staved off by really low unemployment rates, but start jacking up gas prices and watch the camel’s back break, gas prices will be that last straw. How many people can even afford those SUVs and light trucks currently being sold in record numbers (rhetorical question)?  Answer is; many cannot.

For Paycheck to Paycheck People; Consider the True Cost of Driving an SUV or Truck

Small and mid-size cars get much better gas mileage than SUVs and light trucks do, it’s not even close. The average in-city mileage for an SUV or light truck is between 19-20 mpg. Those metrics are relative only in optimum driving conditions. The average is probably even less.  Small and mid-size cars average in-city 25-59 mpg if you include hybrids. It’s my conjecture that gas prices may not be an immediate driving force to push down sales of SUVs and light trucks, but I hear the train a comin’.  

Hindsight is Foresight That Happens Too Late

For folks living on the edge, paycheck to paycheck, who want to buy a new SUV or light truck, I urge you to make sure you look at the big picture, and consider the true costs of driving such vehicles for the next several years. History is here to teach us. The oil producers still have a lot of power, and the price of gasoline will forever be artificially pushed upward through market manipulation or even wars. The law of supply and demand doesn't even seem to apply! I chose to buy a Prius when I noticed gas prices were being sucked into the troposphere back in 2011.  I still drive one.

As far as nudibranchs are concerned, and for those of you looking to buy one: https://atmosphereresorts.com/10-things-you-did-not-know-about-nudibranchs/

For those looking to book someone with a fresh outlook on the automotive biz for your expo, convention, discussion panel or Tupperware party, feel free to contact me at Kelly@dealershipnews.com, www.dealershipnews.com

We've had some great discussions regarding auto sales finding a viable platform on a variety of social media platforms.  My contention, fully based on dozens of Facebook campaigns I've actually directed, is that only items with low cogs and a 10x markup can succeed.  This includes factoring in "Save-a-Sale" strategies, upsells, continuity, and bulk buy pricing.  I've never seen anything that sells for over $399 have long term success on FB.  I'd love to hear other folks thoughts!  

Thanks to Josh Wardini at www.webmastersjury.org for the infographic (small part of a huge infographic)

Some of you are wondering why I left out Facebook.  So am I. Realistically though, up until its recent debacle, Facebook has easily been the best social media in which to sell products, and still is at certain price ranges. The issue with Facebook  is CPA when it comes to higher priced items with smaller profit margins. If your COGs are under $5 with a selling price of $79, and laden with up-sells, you just may sell a bunch of units. Not so with cars.  Nevertheless, FB owns Instagram so let’s just overview the two lesser platforms and see how they fit into the mix.

Twitter

Until 2015, Twitter had been adding approximately 12-15 million accounts per year at a 6% growth in ad revenue (over a half billion each year). It’s growth has reached stasis and has slowed considerably to 3 million per year. 54% of its users are between 18-49 years old, which matches the age demographic of those most-likely to buy a used vehicle.  Currently, there are 300 million Twitter users BUT, 79% of Twitter users are outside of the US.  There are 67 million Twitter users in the USA.

My rub on Twitter is that although it started out mostly as a way to express a quick opinion, thought, or Influencer endorsement, it wasn’t visual enough to be engaging.  With the addition of a picture or video to a tweet, engagement increases 150%. The biggest hold back to Twitter was the 140 character limit which is now at 280. It allows you to hashtag more effectively and get more exposure syndication faster (to grow your following) which has long been Instagram's magic bullet. The 280 character limit still limits the platform and because of that, I consider it a supplementary social media platform.  It’s # 3 on my social media list as it is likely yours.

Twitter, the Modern Day Teletype

Do you have a flash sale?  Did the new Camaros come in?  Did you just have a dealership anniversary, or have an exciting new promotion to announce?  If so, Tweet it out! Those event oriented announcements work well on Twitter. Brands, individuals, and media do well on Twitter when they have breaking news to report.  Twitter is more like a modern day teletype that everyone has discriminatory access to. You don’t have to listen to the vapidness of a Kardashian tweet if you don’t want to, but if you’re a car “guy”, you can enjoy exclusive tweets from Drivingsales.com because you have chosen to follow them!  Good Twitter engagement rates vary from .09 to .33%. In plain English, that’s 3-10 engagements per 1,000 followers on Twitter. When I get 5+ likes and a few retweets, I feel pretty good about Twitter and its low bar of engagement.

Instagram Leads All Social Media in Engagement

Instagram is by far the best platform for engagement. Its frequented mostly by 18-29 year olds who make up the largest demographic, followed by Generation X that consists of 34-54 year olds.  It’s noteworthy that most first-time car buyers are actually Gen Xers, not Millennials. 800 million worldwide users attest to it’s addictive gravity. An engagement rate between 3.48% and 6.67% is considered to be high, where an Influencer would expect 34.8 - 66.7 reactions for every 1000 followers on Instagram. Additionally, an engagement rate between 6.67% and 100% is considered to be very high, with expected reactions to be between 66.7 - 100 for every 1000 Instagram followers.  

With the addition of Instagram stories in 2016, another 100 million folks added an account.  Instagram saw 28% growth in 2017 which basically mirrored the loss of 2.8 million under 25 yr. old Facebook users who dumped the platform because their parents “ruined it”.  Instagram is a highly visual medium which makes it perfect for car dealers. Most dealers use it to post pictures of happy car buyers and inventory. In fact, 91% of all Instagram posts have a photo attached.  The speed in which an Instagram post gets a reaction (engagement) is quicker than with Twitter or Facebook, and as mentioned, has a higher engagement rate than either. Here’s why.

You Like My Post, I’ll Like Your Post

Everyone is so darn insecure.  The unspoken rule of Instagram is that if I follow you, you should feel inclined to follow me and like my posts. It becomes a popularity contest with each post as users frequently check back to see how many likes or comments each of their posts generates.  If a dealership has garnered a bunch of followers, they’re hoping that they’ll get more than 10 likes per “car buyer pic post”. A decent engagement gives the dealer the perception that they’re doing something right and reduces a buyers potential cognitive dissonance.  Of course, if the purpose of the post is to congratulate the salesman for being a “sales machine”, it can have the opposite effect.

What I Do

I use Twitter and Instagram to grow my brand visibility.  I have 122,000 legit back-links in just 7 months of incarnation so I know a thing or two about this subject (and others), although I have far more to learn. In fact, if you’re reading this article, feel free to contact me and let’s see how we can collaborate! But I digress, Twitter is the more limited platform to be sure, but I suggest every serious dealer have a regular presence on it for the aforementioned reasons.  Instagram is more fun, more visual, more engaging and easier to grow. It has few limits other than length of videos.

Are either social platforms going to sell cars?  Incrementally speaking, “eh”. Neither Twitter nor Instagram are going to blow inventory out by themselves. Creating a post a day for either platform is just fine as long as they aren’t all ads.  Make the posts compelling or humorous or both. If advertising an event, double down on creativity and cover all the angles. When all is said and done, it’s the preponderance of visibility and good reviews that’s going to increase any dealerships sales.  Should you have a Twitter or Instagram? I hope this article helped as you sit there scratching your head.

KK

Just recently, a friend of mine approached me about his dealership site and how they had a consultant (SEO guru), do an SEO analysis of his site. He was concerned that he may be losing money on keyword selection based on the analysis. As I explained to him there is some confusion out there regarding the entire Google platform and that having a balance of both high-level SEO, and an optimized PPC campaign is the ideal. I also explained that you only get charged by clicks, not keyword choices (lol)

Let's cover SEO first. SEO stands for "search engine optimization" which is a practice that makes sure that your website follows all of the necessary rules of engagement to make it easy to rank as organically high on the search engine results pages (SERPs) as possible. It includes having good content in the form of copy, pictures, and video. All material should be relevant to the subject matter and have keywords and key phrases as an essential part of the site copy.  There are other technical aspects but forget those for now.  Having great SEO is the "free" way to get listed.

Offsite SEO is still a huge part of the overall SEO mix. Having other high-quality sites backlink to your website is the water that lifts the ice cube to the top of the glass so to speak. Having your dealership properly listed via all of the 300+ listing sites and the 4 main data companies (Factual, Acxiom, Infogroup and Neustar (Localeze), means that people will correctly know your company name, address, hours of operation, and telephone number. To have incorrect info strewn about the internet will definitely hurt your chances of getting highly-ranked. It will hurt your overall "Quality Score" which is essentially what Google uses to rank you in the search engine, and that's where PPC and SEO strike their balance.

What is the "Quality Score"? Quality Score is Google's rating of the quality and relevance of both your keywords and PPC ads. It is used to determine your cost per click (CPC) and multiplied by your maximum bid to determine your ad rank in the ad auction process. Your Quality Score depends on multiple factors, including:

1) Your click-through rate (CTR) (PPC campaign)

2) The relevance of each keyword to its ad group (PPC campaign)

3) Landing page quality and relevance (SEO)

4) The relevance of your ad text (PPC & SEO)

5) Your historical AdWords account performance (PPC)

As you can see, there is a mix of PPC and SEO involved in optimizing a Quality Score which essentially determines where your stores website is going to show up in a typical search operation. Great SEO alone can get you on to the first page of search, but unless you are well-branded, your position may vary from near the top, to not on the page at all. The leads you get from great organic (unpaid) placement are basically free and are high quality. However, to get into the top position and get the most clicks possible, and the best clicks according to numerous studies, you have to pay for placement.

PPC guarantees a first page presence. The cost of that presence is somewhat based on the quality of the website's SEO execution. The ads in the pay per click campaign have to be compelling enough to get a good click through rate, but the words and phrasing used in each ad must also match those keywords and phrases (long tail search terms) on the website pages they are linked to. The better the execution and matching of verbiage in ads and on the site, the better your organic ranking, and the cheaper you clicks will be. It's a seriously incestuous relationship. Google wants to reward you for creating a good user experience (SEO) but needs to make money so they have PPC to nudge those rankings to the top if you pay enough to rank high.

Google really has it figured out. It used to be that Google had two columns on every search results page. The left column had the organic listings (best SEO executions and/or brand names). People used to click at an 8:1 ratio favoring the organic or "free" listings over the listings in the right column which were all paid for. Google then eliminated the two column design and started putting PPC campaign ads on top of each SERP which now has only one column combining paid and free results. This cut down the ratio that favored free search results and increased Google's click revenue.

The point is, having as much visibility as possible in any search operation is crucial. It's termed "page dominance". In my estimation, the companies that do both well, win. The companies that only do PPC, run inefficient, expensive campaigns. The companies that ignore PPC, are likely too budget-conscious to compete and suffer with inconsistent visibility. Those who combine Google Best Practices, and optimize both SEO as well as their PPC campaigns, dominate their competition.

I hope this helps clarify the decade-old question of how SEO and PPC affect one and other, and how using both to your advantage is the best way to the top of the mountain.  If your dealership is looking for some expertise in SEO and PPC for that distinct advantage feel free to consult with those who responded to this article or visit www.cardealerppc.com for their solution to your current needs.