Susan Eway, Business Development Manager at Danbury Auto Group (which includes Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep, Ram, Hyundai, and Kia brands) had to face some big obstacles when she first joined the dealership. The Internet department was only seven months old and it needed a lot of work, “Nothing was followed up on. We had to increase our digital focus to engage the modern shopper,” Eway commented.

Eway increased her staff, from only three people manning the BDC, to five. “Even with the increase in staff, I knew that it still wasn’t enough to successfully manage chat,” Eway said.

Danbury Dodge first got their feet wet with chat through Cars.com and AutoTrader.com and they weren’t impressed, “We even tried an auto-response system for our leads and it completely failed.”

Not jaded by her experience, Eway came across ActivEngage and liked what she saw, “People want to talk to other people. They want their questions answered with immediacy. I stand behind ActivEngage because each and every conversation they have with my shoppers is unique.”

As an added benefit, Eway’s team found shoppers respond better to their follow up when anActivEngage chat has taken place. “The information that the chatters get from shoppers is fantastic help in closing the sale! I can’t say enough about the engagement either.We’ve had a significant increase in our visit-to-lead conversions. The attention to detail the chat team has is superb,” Eway stated.

With nothing but positive reviews from ActivEngage chats, Danbury Auto Group sees a 15% closing ratio on their chat leads. She is easily able to calculate her return on investment with ActivEngage’s extensive reporting suite. “The backend data we get in the dashboard is awesome - no other vendor has this business intelligence. It has been a huge help in measuring our success online.”

Regarding customer service, Eway has nothing but good things to say about her Customer Success Manager, “At times, he’s more aware of my website than I am and he’s very responsive to any inquiries I have. ActivEngage has definitely contributed a lot to the success of our current presence online.”

ActivEngage, the most trusted brand in automotive live chat brings the top ten blogs and news stories right to you! We monitor industry trends, current events, and the auto dealer community every week to bring you the top ten blogs and stories from around the globe. In this weekly edition- Dealer Think Tank, DD15/DSES reviews, and marketing gold in new Chrysler ad.

10. Kill the Wolf

What's the common image of a salesperson? The big bad wolf.

The big bad wolf seeks and destroys. It's a predator who pounces on its prey, eats the weak and leaves a bloody mess behind. This image makes the job of salespeople a lot harder than it should be. The good news is that this creates an opportunity to kill the wolf and turn the negative into a positive.

9. DrivingSales Executive Summit 2013 Review with Kevin Frye

Kevin Frye’s FIRST ever review of DSES.

8. DD15 Review with Kevin Frye
Kevin Frye’s Semi-Annual Review of Digital Dealer 15 in Las Vegas

7. Empowering Employees to WOW without Fear
The key to the success of a program of this type is “giving them a framework within which to operate… and feedback about how they are performing within that framework.” This empowers employees to WOW customers while minimizing abuses. At the same time, it ensures that larger issues which cannot be resolved within this framework get escalated to a manager. It also helps ensure that the employee doesn’t brush the customer off without satisfying them.

6. Dealer ThinkTank Speaker Line-Up is Sure to Amaze
The Dealer ThinkTank Automotive Training & Education Conference will bring together some of the most innovative and interesting automotive professionals in the business today, and they are openly going to share their invaluable knowledge with you in a collaborative environment. Get ready to learn something!

5. The Failing State of Content Marketing
While some may contend that the "cream always rises to the top," when it comes to great content, there is another worthy argument that goes like this: there is too much cream and there are too many tops. Everyone is publishing - in text, images, audio and video. All of the time... and to the world!

4. Give us the Truth
More than two thirds of consumers in the US, UK and China rate ‘honesty and transparency’ alongside price and quality when considering to buy a product or brand, according to a new report from global communications agency Cohn & Wolfe.

3. How Chrysler’s Francois Scored Marketing Gold in Will Ferrell
Olivier Francois is a Parisian working for an Italian company, but he understands American popular culture better than most U.S.-born marketers. Thus the Fiat and Chrysler CMO — the man behind the iconic “Imported from Detroit” campaign for the Chrysler brand — now has scored what looks like another major marketing coup by creating another cultural touchstone with Will Ferrell’s Anchorman 2-based ad campaign for the new Dodge Durango.

2. Drop in Teen Driving Tracks with Teen Unemployment, HLDI Study Finds
A recent drop in teen driving likely comes down to simple economics. Young people today may want to drive just as much as they did a generation ago but simply can't afford it, a new report from the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) suggests.

1. Best Halloween Costume, Yet?
A little toddler girl dressed up in an LED suit that transforms her into a precious little stick figure? What is going on? Cute is upping its game in the 21st century, and this is the new frontier of precious.

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Did we miss anything important? Like our top ten blogs this week? Leave us a comment below! Or if you really can’t wait for your automotive fix, follow @activengage on Twitter for daily updates on auto industry news or subscribe to our blog! 

ActivEngage, the most trusted brand in automotive live chat brings the top ten blogs and news stories right to you! We monitor industry trends, current events, and the auto dealer community every week to bring you the top ten blogs and stories from around the globe. In this weekly edition- search and social, no to Yelp, and the TCLE Act.

10. 9th Annual Clients & Friends Workshop

Please do not miss this awesome opportunity and remember only 100 tickets are available for the November 12th -13th Kain Automotive event in Lexington, KY.

9. Great Products Do Not Sell Themselves

Assuming that a fantastic product will inevitably find a way to customers is dangerous because it’s false.  No product sells itself.  Check out the life and times of Nikola Tesla as an example.

8. The 5 “Believes”

These 5 ‘Believes’ can take you farther than just great. Master them and you can be the best. You can set the standard for your company and for your industry if you believe you can. Set your mind to it and don’t settle for anything less. You were born for greatness.

7. Search and Social will not be Separate Marketing Endeavors in 2014

Search is getting more social. Anyone who is watching the way that Google and Bing present their results and determine rankings on keywords can see this. Social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest (not to mention Google+, which is trying to seamlessly tie in search with social) are all becoming more prominent in search while continuing to improve their own internal search engines. These two facts are pushing us towards a collision course where search marketing and social marketing are becoming the same overall concept.

6.  Why a Digital Marketing Expert Still Believes in TV Advertising

A recently conducted study showed that television not only builds dealership brand awareness, it amplifies other marketing channels dealerships use to reach customers, including email campaigns, Web site targeting, direct mail and paid and organic search.

5. Why We Said No to Yelp Ads Twice

From Aaron Wirtz at Subaru of Wichita, “Yelp prides itself on being a search engine for low-funnel shoppers ready to make a decision. If this is so effective, then why are the ads served up in the Wichita area only marginally relevant?”

4. Google Glass for Vehicle Merchandising

Dan Fontaine, e-Commerce Director for the Colonial Automotive Group, shows us what dealers can do with Google Glass.

3.  How Social Data Changes Everything We Know About Marketing Strategies

Conventional marketing is like trying to hit a thousand bull's-eyes with one arrow. For too long, marketers have accepted absurdly low conversion rates for the deployment of an an email or banner ad, with a singular message for a massive audience. Personalized marketing using social data-triggered programmatic techniques, on the other hand, can be scaled from an extremely narrow, niche audience ("18-22 year old males in Portland who like Daft Punk") to an audience numbering in the hundreds of thousands ("18-22 year olds who like electronic music").

2. No Cell Phone Calls and No SMS Messages Without Consent

The new Telephone Communication Law Enforcement began two days ago. Did you prepare yourself?

1. I Love Chinese Food! Hey!

The mastermind behind the infamous, yet super-viral, Rebecca Black “Friday” song unleashed a new song, “Chinese Food,” this week that instantly became another Internet sensation.

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Did we miss anything important? Like our top ten blogs this week? Leave us a comment below! Or if you really can’t wait for your automotive fix, follow @activengage on Twitter for daily updates on auto industry news!

ActivEngage, the most trusted brand in automotive live chat brings the top ten blogs and news stories right to you! We monitor industry trends, current events, and the auto dealer community every week to bring you the top ten blogs and stories from around the globe. In this weekly edition-- DD15, DSES, and mistakes our brains make.

10.  DD15 Recommended Sessions with Kevin Frye

Hum along with me – “It’s the Most… Wonderful Time… of the Year!!!”

9. Inventory Photos Made Easy

In the case of inventory photos, many dealerships pay a vendor to do it simply because it won’t get done otherwise. Many enlightened dealers have recognized the cost savings by taking their own photos and have designated people to take them. Every minute you have a vehicle on your website for sale without photos is a minute in which a potential customer could see it and pass on by.

8.  DrivingSales Executive Summit

Experience brilliant speakers from in and outside the auto industry at this year’s DrivingSales Executive Summit.

7. 10 Social Media Stats Every Automotive Marketer Needs to Know

As savvy as Internet marketers tend to be, you’d think there wouldn’t be much they could learn about the sites they use nearly every day. As it turns out, that’s not true at all. Here are ten surprising facts about social media that every automotive marketing professional should know.

6. Are You Doing Your SEO Wrong?

With all the changes going on with encrypting keyword data inside of Google Analytics, there are still a lot of simple housekeeping things you can do to make sure the infrastructure and integrity of your site are legit.

5. Creating Parody Social Media Accounts Doesn’t Violate Computer Frau...

This is a strange lawsuit brought by an assistant middle high school principal who alleged that defendants (students) created social media accounts using the principal’s name and likeness. Defendants allegedly posted materials, including some which were obscene, that caused his reputation to be diminished.

4.  8 Common Thinking Mistakes Our Brains Make Every Day and How to Pre...

Get ready to have your mind blown.

3. U.S Unloads $570 Million in GM Shares

The U.S. Treasury said it sold another $570.1 million worth of General Motors common stock last month as it moved toward exiting its holdings in the company by the end of March 2014.

2. Don’t Point at Elephants

Listen up, humans. It's time you all stop feeling so superior about all that pointing you do with your highly-evolved fingers. Elephants are wise to this method of communicating, so it's probably best to keep your pointing finger away from your secret peanut stash.

1. Ylvis -- The Fox, LIVE!  

If you've been near YouTube or your Facebook feed in the past month, you've probably gottenan earful of "Gering-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding" thanks to Ylvis' viral video for "The Fox." But Norwegian brothers Bard and Vegard Ylvisaker hadn't personally asked American audiences what the fox says until Wednesday night, when they made their television debut on "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon.”

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Did we miss anything important? Like our top ten blogs this week? Leave us a comment below! Or if you really can’t wait for your automotive fix, follow @activengage and @kettycon Twitter for daily updates on auto industry news!

Patrick BMW Offers Customer a Choice--and it Pays Off!

Sales Manager Rocco Massarelli began to notice a trend at Patrick BMW. “Everything is done online now. Our marketing, our test drive appointments, even our service appointments are done via the Web. I’ve been in the industry for over 28 years now, and this is a big shift from the print-dominated medium of a few years ago.”

 All Online Shoppers Need a Choice

Due to the influx of web visitors to Patrick BMW’s website, Massarelli knew he needed to give their shoppers a choice.  “We are all about providing options to our prospects. We want to make it easy for them to contact us - whether through a phone call, an email, or a chat.”

ActivEngage, the most trusted brand in automotive live chat brings the top ten blogs and news stories right to you! We monitor industry trends, current events, and the auto dealer community every week to bring you the top ten blogs and stories from around the globe. In this weekly edition-- Ford buys a startup, the new Corvette, and the Australian Opel.

10. Ford Buys Software Startup Livio

Ford Motor Co. is acquiring Livio, a Michigan-based company whose software allows drivers to connect with their smartphone applications.

9. Nissan Delivering Versa Notes in an Amazon Box

To create buzz for the Versa, which went on sale this summer without a major national ad campaign, Nissan is giving $1,000 Amazon.com gift cards to the first 100 customers who buy the Versa Note through an Amazon.com link to a Nissan dealer.

8. Employee Loyalty: Is there a Silver Bullet?

When was the last time you heard of someone who had worked his or her entire life for a single company? Chances are these instances involved members of an older generation, specifically people born in the earlier part of the century. So why has something that used to be fairly common in the past suddenly become non-existent?

7. Healthy Habits = Higher Profitability

A healthy workplace means much more than occupational health and safety.  A healthy workplace starts with healthy habits.  All behavior has consequences and the negative consequences cost dealers profitability.  It’s easy to recognize an unhealthy work environment by its low employee morale, poor retention, high absenteeism, and increased conflicts.  Financially, dealers suffer decreased profitability due to low productivity and higher benefit cost. Learn how to build healthy habits!

6.  The New Corvette’s Oldster Problem

ActivEngage, the most trusted brand in automotive live chat brings the top ten blogs and news stories right to you! We monitor industry trends, current events, and the auto dealer community every week to bring you the top ten blogs and stories from around the globe. In this weekly edition -- Toyota founding member dies, Justin Brun is under 40 and rocking it, and SEO myths.

10. Eiji Toyoda, Promoter of the Toyota Way, Dies at 100

Eiji Toyoda, who as a member of Toyota Motor’s founding family and an architect of its “lean manufacturing” method helped turn the automaker into a global powerhouse and changed the face of modern manufacturing, died on Tuesday in Toyota City, Japan, where the company has its headquarters.

9. Where do my Customers Come From?

As Google puts it, “…these days, the customer journey has grown more complex.”

8. Why Can’t I get Paid to Sit on Facebook All Day?

Social media can be very beneficial to a company’s marketing efforts, but posting memes should rarely take time-precedence over handling inbound sales opportunities.

7. Kevin Frye’s Recommended DrivingSales Executive Summit 2013 Sessions

Here are sessions that Frye deems as the most valued.

6. 5 Myths to Better Google Organic Ranking Busted

In a recent interview with the Google Search Quality Team, they dish their experiences and knowledge about what impacts reach ranking and reveal a couple of tips on what you shouldn’t be doing.

5. Food Expired? Don’t be so Quick to Toss it

Most consumers mistakenly believe that expiration dates on food indicate how safe the food is to consume, when these dates actually aren't related to the risk of food poisoning or food borne illness.

4. HookLogic Named to Dealer.com’s Certified Provider Program

Two HookLogic solutions will be made available to Dealer.com members via the Certified Provider Program.

3. 40 Under 40: Justin Brun

Justin Brun's success at using the Internet to generate sales for Acton Toyota of Littleton has earned him high marks and some hassle from Toyota.

2. The Rise of the Brand Advocate

Brand advocates are defined as individuals that promote and embody a brand’s core values and ethics. External agents promoting a brand not only result in boosted sales and awareness for a company, but they are 50% more influential than the average customer.

1. Adding Sound to Stock Videos Doesn’t Make them Any Less Awkward

Stock footage is weird, isn't it? It never looks quite right. Even though they supposedly filmed real people, it never actually seems like it. It's also generally silent, and this video from Getty Critics proves that might be a good thing.

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Did we miss anything important? Like our top ten blogs this week? Leave us a comment below! Or if you really can’t wait for your automotive fix, follow @activengage on Twitter for daily updates on auto industry news!

When you’ve been in the auto business for almost 30 years, you learn to appreciate quality. Fort Wayne, Indiana’s Curt Richards has seen it all. From the sales floor to the finance department, as an Internet Manager, and most recently as a BDC Administrator, Curt oversees the operations of a business development center that supports sales, parts and service operations for 4 franchises. 

Choosing a Live Chat Provider was a No-Brainer

“Chat was first brought in by the manufacturer as part of an e-Commerce package. It was terrible. We just didn’t have the time to fully utilize it in-house,” says Richards, whose days are already packed with sales leads programs, incentive administration management, and direct sales support. It was time for the dealer group to upgrade – and they discovered a professionally managed chat partner in ActivEngage. 

30% Appointment Rate and 20% Closing Ratio

Two years after enlisting the help of ActivEngage’s fully managed live chat team, Curt can’tthink of anything bad to say about the service. “The ActivEngage Virtual Sales team studies our website, they know our promotions, and they are trained to have fluid conversations,” says Richards, confirming that ActivEngage sets walk-in appointments for 30% of all chats taken. Richards’ sales team at Fort Wayne is also able to close 19 - 20% of the chat appointments set.

“I speak with my Customer Success Manager about twice a month, and they have proven that I can expect nothing less than superior service from the ActivEngage team. There are no glitches or mishaps that aren’t immediately resolved,” Curt says. “You just can’t put a price tag on our relationship with ActivEngage and the service they provide to my stores.”

Curt Richards knows that car shoppers are now making purchase decisions almost entirely online. “From our standpoint, ActivEngage simply offers an extremely cost-effective solution. They’re a very valuable partner in our sales process. We can see the difference.”

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Would you like to be featured in an ActivEngage My Chat Story? Simply comment below and we'll get in touch with you right away! 

ActivEngage, the most trusted brand in automotive live chat brings the top ten blogs and news stories right to you! We monitor industry trends, current events, and the auto dealer community every week to bring you the top ten blogs and stories from around the globe. In this weekly edition-- ad blocking software, empowered employees, and Google+.

10.  Over ⅕ of People Use Ad Blocking Software

Based on data from 220 clients, PageFair found an average ad-blocking rate of 22.7%. It estimates that one of its “typical” clients, with a 25% block rate, loses about $500,000 a year due to ad blockers. Based on data from a small sample of clients, PageFair says ad blocking is growing at 43% every year.

9. Auto Dealers say the Darndest Things

This eBook was created to serve as a quick guide to be sure you are always creating a positive showroom experience that will turn into SALES!

8. Empowered Employees and Pizza: A Success Story

A simple act of generosity can create something very hard to find: a brand advocate.

7. The New Playing Field at the Dealership – Are You Playing?

Let’s face it: the customers that come to the dealership for information are most-certainly a dying breed.

6. Made-for-Web Video Remakes the TV Landscape

Viewers don’t seem to make huge distinctions between TV and made-for-web video ads. A January 2013 Starcom study found that US internet users had similar attitudes toward ads during traditional TV and original streaming content.

5. Google+ Said to Top Twitter in Mobile App Popularity Around the World

Despite having a highly engaged mobile user base, Twitter falls behind Google+ in mobile application popularity around the world, according to a recent study from GlobalWebIndex

4. American Auto Earnings Show Signs of Beating Best of 90s

The 17 percent surge in U.S. auto sales last month pushed the annual rate to a pre-recession, boom-time level. Even more significant, Detroit automakers are reaping profits not seen since the turn of the century

3. Gone in 90 Seconds: America’s Quickest Selling Cars

U.S. consumers bought cars more briskly in August than they have in six years, according to a batch of sales data released yesterday. Low-interest rates, gathering momentum in consumer confidence, and pent-up demand are combining to fuel the gains. Check out the list.

2. Kia’s Hip-Hop Hamsters Are a Branding Bargain

Kia’s latest hamster ad video went viral, in part because Kia is careful to post its videos on the Web long before they air elsewhere. This is the kind of social fuel that a lot of car companies and their advertising shops fail to accomplish. It’s interesting enough to see Jennifer Lopez tool around her old neighborhood in a little Fiat (F:IM), but it’s not necessarily the type of thing one might e-mail to a friend or post on Twitter. Ditto for Clint Eastwood growling about Detroit.

1. What DOES the Fox Say?

Norwegian group Ylvis finally answers the question that your old See 'N Say never could. We all know that cows go moo. Dogs go woof. Fish go blub. But what does the fox say? These two Scandinavians try several of their best onomatopoeic guesses before a CGI-animated fox schools them both. The video is almost beyond words - imagine Old MacDonald having a nightmare about a Flaming Lips concert - so you'll need to see for yourself. Watch (and love) every minute of it.

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Did we miss anything important? Like our top ten blogs this week? Leave us a comment below! Or if you really can’t wait for your automotive fix, follow @activengage on Twitter for daily updates on auto industry news!

How to Provide the Most Positive Digital Showroom Experience

Car buyers are spending more time online shopping for a car than ever before! According to a Polk Study, internet usage has increased significantly, with ¾ of buyers indicating they used the Internet in their car-shopping process--up from 71% in 2011.

Since your shoppers are spending more time online, why are you alienating them on your digital showroom with confusing banner ads, dreadful vehicle walk-arounds, and lousy emails?

You only have seconds, literally a blink of an eye, to impress your shoppers once they hit your site or check their email! That’s why we created this eBook, Auto Dealers Say the Darndest Things, to serve as a quick guide to  creating an always positive digital showroom experience.

You’ll learn valuable tips such as:

• How to film a proper video walk-around

• What makes your banner ads confusing

• How to create the perfect email headline

• and much, much more!

Don’t hesitate to download your COMPLIMENTARY eBook today and save yourself from saying the darndest things!