Sometimes in Florida, I see the occasional flock of birds fly in a V formation heading south(probably to Miami, they have a great party scene). That got me thinking, how does that V formation help them fly faster and farther? Of course, I found the answer and ways it can relate to creating the ideal team environment for your dealership.

In 1972, Dr. Robert McNeish, a science teacher from Baltimore wrote, “Lessons From Geese.” Here is the simplified version of it:

Observation: Geese fly in a V formation because as each goose flaps its wings, it creates an uplift for the geese that follow and the whole flock adds an estimated 71% greater flying range than if each bird flew alone.

Lesson: Employees who share a common direction and sense of community can get to where they are going quicker and easier because they are utilizing the power from each other to get there. All of your staff should understand the common goal of your dealership and where, as a group, they should be striving to go.

Observation:  When a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of flying alone. So, it quickly moves back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front of it.

Lesson: If we have as much sense as a goose, we would stay in formation with those headed where we want to go. However we know there are always a few employees who leave the formation. For your straggler employees, processes should be in place that have them feeling the drag when they remove themselves from your dealership’s common goal.

Observation: When the lead goose tires, it rotates to the back of the formation and another goose flies to the point position.

Lesson: It pays to take turns doing hard tasks and sharing. You should continually rotate who is taking the lead on special projects such as updating new employee training, testing your email marketing effectiveness or vendor reviews and exploration. That way, your employees are not being tired out by juggling their day-to-day tasks and special project tasks.

Observation: Geese flying in formation honk to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.

Lesson: Encouraging others is important and will be much appreciated by your staff. Openly recognize top performers and remember to provide honest feedback when an employee asks for it. However, we need to make sure our “honking” is helpful and not harmful. Make sure any reprimands must be done in private and not in front of the entire team.

Observation: When a goose gets sick or wounded, two other geese drop out of formation and follow it down to help and protect it. They stay with it until it dies or is able to fly again.

Lesson: We must stand by each other in difficult times as well as when we are strong. Sometimes there is an employee who needs some extra training or help to get up to speed. Have someone take them under their wing and help them out until they are able to fly on their own again.

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There you have it! More lessons we can learn from animals! What do you think of the lessons that we can learn from geese?

There’s a chance that not many have heard of the new "Six Strikes" copyright alert system, a new program that is being rolled out soon to crack down on illegal web piracy — downloads from Mega, BitTorrent, etc.

The big Internet Service Providers (Verizon and Comcast) are behind the push to stop the downloads, which according to a report in New York Magazine, costs the economy about $58 billion annually.

How does this Six Strikes rule work?

Ars Technica earlier this month reported some details on exactly how the oft-delayed six strikes policy will work in practice. Basically, there are three “stages” Internet Service Providers will go through before taking action: a “notice” phase that “involves letting users know they’ve been tracked on copyright-infringing sites”; an “acknowledgement” phase in which “the customer will have to actually acknowledge having received those notices”; and finally, the “mitigation” phase where “users who have traded copyrighted files are actually punished” through either having their speeds throttled or blocking access to certain sites.

How does this affect my dealership?

This may sound like it doesn’t pertain to dealerships, but it does to those who offer free Wi-Fi in your waiting areas.  If your customers are regularly downloading or distributing pirated content from your establishment, you could be liable.

The solution?

This rule applies to residential internet connections, so it may be time to upgrade to a business level-internet connection.

If you would like to learn more about this rule, click here to read a FAQ about this rule.

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What do you think of this new rule? Is it fair?

It’s a digital shopping world, we all know it. I go online to find the best products and yourcustomers are doing the same thing.According to a recent survey by Deloitte,60% of consumers say they are going online more often to find the best products and services – and their decisions are heavily influenced by the tools, information, and service they find when they go to websites or perform a search.

What’s even more interesting about this survey is what customers expect:

83% of shoppers surveyed said they needed some form of support during their online journey. This is a particular issue for 'dependent' shoppers, those with limited experience of online shopping, where this increases to 90%.

While shoppers say they need help, they aren't too persistent in accessing it:

• Half of online shoppers (51%) will either try once or give up immediately when seeking help before an online purchase.

• If they need help post-purchase, shoppers are prepared to persist to get their issue resolved, 76% trying at least twice.

They also expect to receive support quickly. 71% expect some assistance within five minutes. If they don't get it 48% will abandon the site.

How fast do they want this support?

31 percent expect it immediately, and 40 percent expect help within five minutes. What’s

worse, if they don’t get help when they want it, nearly half (48 percent) will leave your site.

How do they want this form of support?

A telephone number, an email address, or LIVE CHAT!

Dealer Takeaway: Implementing live chat will meet the demands of your digital showroom shoppers. If you need help in deciding which live chat solution is right for you, download our FREE eBook In-House vs, Managed Chat.

Also, yesterday we released our newest eBook: The 5 Top Reasons Managed Chat Fails. You can download it here for FREE.

In 2008, I bought my 2009 Honda Fit in red and to this day it still turns heads. When I stop at a gas station people always approach me and ask about my Fit and I spill my heart out on how much I love the vehicle.

Congratulations Honda, I’m doing some Fit marketing for you FREE of charge! But how can YOUR dealership make product evangelists like myself for your vehicles? I’ll tell you how!

1. Give confidence after the purchase. Congratulate them on making a smart purchase and arm them with enough information so that they can tell others about how wonderful your vehicle is.

2. Reward the customer. Give your customer incentives for referring a friend!

3. Make Refering and Liking Easy. Tweet and Like buttons on your site have a huge impact! Note: these buttons are different than links directly to Twitter or Facebook. So make sure you are using the correct icons!

4. Hold Contests! Everyone likes a fun contest, especially if your customer is recognized for it! Take a look at the Honda Fit Facebook Fan Page! There are so many fan posts about the Fit and the customers are recognized by name! If you feel that isn’t enough, throw in a t-shirt or something.

5. Make it all about the customer. Encourage customers to post photos of themselves in their new vehicle. Again I will refer you to the Honda Fit Fan Page - they have done a great job of showcasing the Fit fan.

People who love your vehicle will have no problem sharing their great experience with it. It comes naturally to them. Every chance I get to show off my Fit, I take it! All you have to do is provide the opportunity for your happy customers to do the same. Make it easy and make it fun, and they’ll make it profitable for you.

Facebook users have shown that they’re more willing to interact with content in their newsfeed than traditional advertising. With Facebook Offers, you can deliver deals to your fans’ news feeds each day without having to use an outside website like Livingsocial. These offers can spread quickly when your fans share them with others in their networks. Anytime someone clicks and claims an offer, a notification shows up in their friends’ news feeds. That gives more people an opportunity to claim your great offer for themselves.

How Much Does it Cost?

It depends on how many people you want to reach. When you're creating your offer, you can pick one of the suggested budgets from the drop down menu.

To set up a Facebook Offer: 

• Sign into your Facebook account. On your page, look at the top left side for “Offer/Event” next to Status and Photo and click on it.

• Choose “Offer.”

• Create your offer.

Facebook also offers the following best practices:
 

• Make discounts substantial. Discounts should be at least 20% off regular prices. Offering things for free typically performs better than discounts even if the percentage off is the same implied value as the free item. For example, "Buy one oil change, get one free."

• Keep it simple. Describe your terms and conditions as simply as possible, and don't make customers perform unusual activities.

• Use a clear and engaging image. Photos of people using your product typically perform better than photos of your product by itself, and both of these generally perform better than your dealership’s logo. Your Page's profile picture will also show next to your offer in most places, so don't use the same photo for both. Make sure your photo looks good when viewed at thumbnail size.

• Keep language natural and direct. Your headline should lead with the value of the offer instead of marketing slogans. Avoid using unconventional capitalization or punctuation.

• Set a reasonable expiration date. Give people at least a few days to see and claim an offer. Take advantage of word-of-mouth marketing by allowing time for your offer to be shared between friends.

• Promote your offer. Add a budget and pin your offer to the top of your Page so people will notice it. We recommend re-sharing an existing offer instead of creating the same offer twice so it's easier to track how many people are claiming it.

• Train your staff. Make sure your employees know the terms of your offer and how people can redeem it. Some people will print out the offer while others might show the offer on their phones or tablets.

If you want more information on Facebook offers go to their website here.

What do you think of Facebook offers? Would you use this for your dealership?
 

Are you incorporating social media into your customer service strategy? If you’re not doing so yet, your customers are already doing it for you. “Customers are turning to social media for customer service, whether you want them to or not,” cautions NM Incite’s 2012 State of Social Customer Service Report. Dubbed “social care,” this trend is escalating rapidly. 

What did this report reveal?

• Nearly half (47 percent) of all consumers surveyed by NM Incite have used social care.

• Although rates are highest among 18- to 24-year-olds, social care is pervading even the oldest generations, with some 30 percent of those over age 65 having used it.

• One-third of customers would prefer to engage with customer service representatives via social media rather than by talking on the phone.

• Of those who tap into social care, just 37 percent say their issue was resolved quickly. And 10 percent say they never get a response from companies at all.

Now, let’s take a look at some best practices for your dealership when implementing customer service on social media channels:
 

• Presence: be there for the customers when they need you.

• Discussion: provoke interactions and build relationships.

• Responsiveness: don’t make people wait for each answer.

• Honesty: acknowledge your mistakes, show you deserve to be trusted.

One negative comment about your dealership on social media wipes out the effect of previous positive comments. Make sure your social care is meeting you dealership’s customer service level standards. 
 

No matter the size of your company, people will always find a way to distance themselves from one another and form cliques; or in this case--fiefdoms. Some may say that they don’t like the people in the front of the office because they play their music too loud or they some may feel that people in the back of the office receive better treatment from the boss because they are located closer to his office. In essence, these people are separating themselves and creating fiefdoms.

Derek Irvine, vice president at Globoforce, a provider of employee recognition and reward programs, says these “fiefdoms”—groups that exist not for a valid business reason, but to support their leader—destroy companies. “Little Napoleons” run things, without concern for the larger goals of the company.

Believe it or not, recognition programs can create fiefdoms. If you let your employees decide their own recognition program, fiefdoms will pop up very quickly. Irvine states, “If a company decides to pursue one culture of appreciation through a single, universal (or global) strategic recognition program for all employees, then executives must step up and clearly, firmly inform divisional leaders (especially fiefdom lords) that local recognition programs will no longer be funded or encouraged. The expectation is for all units to join into a One Company culture and engage with each other through the single recognition solution.”

Fiefdoms will always erode any company culture. If people are to work together effectively as a team, they must accept these differences. They don’t have to like everyone at work, but need to respect and contribute to one driving company culture.

How do you recognize your employees? Do you feel there are fiefdoms in your workplace? 


 

In his new book, To Sell is Human, bestselling author Daniel Pink argues that selling has changed more in the last ten years than it did over the previous 100. Think about it, whether we’re trying to push a product to someone or just trying to convince someone of our point of view, we’re always in selling mode. 
 

Why We’re All in Sales

Pink identifies three crucial elements of macro socioeconomic trends driving the changes in sales and selling. He calls them “the 3 E’s”:

1. Entrepreneurship. The enormous rise of small entrepreneurs in the economy means more of us are in sales. The research firm IDC estimates that 30 percent of American workers now work on their own. Some analysts project that independent entrepreneurs could become the majority of the workforce by 2020.

2. Elasticity. Workers can no longer rely on doing one task at work. The new breadth of skills demanded by companies means that more people are engaging in both selling and non-sales selling. As elasticity of skills becomes more common, the ability to move others becomes crucial.

3. “Ed-Med.” Education and health services are by far the largest job sectors in the U.S. economy, as well as a fast-growing sector in the rest of the world. Education and health care have more in common with selling than ever before—convincing someone to part with resources to leave them better off in the end, whether that means studying for a test, doing physical therapy or adhering to a drug regimen.

The New ABCs of Selling

The old ABCs of sales was “Always Be Closing.” The new ABCs, Pinks writes, are “Attunement, Buoyancy, and Clarity.

• ”Attunement is “the ability to blend one’s actions and outlook into harmony with other people.”

• Buoyancy is “the quality that combines grittiness of spirit and sunniness of outlook.” To be buoyant means to apply three components before, during and after any effort to move others.

• Clarity is “the capacity to make sense of murky situations.”

In the end selling, is about moving others. We can no longer ignore our human nature when we are selling.

For the past 40-something years, a German Wolf Researcher named Werner Freund has operated a wolf sanctuary in Saarland, Germany, where he has personally raised more than 70 animals.

In 1972, Freund acquired the land to build his Wolfspark as a loan from the city of Merzig. The reserve currently houses 29 Mongolian and Arctic wolves. Most of the  wolves were acquired from zoos or animal parks as cubs.

Freund, who contentedly describes himself as half wolf, says that unlike dogs, which can be easily domesticated, he had to transform himself into a wolf in order to interact with his animals.

Before stepping into the wolf sanctuary he changes into specific clothes so that the wolves can recognize his scent. The alpha male of the pack approaches him and licks Freund’s lips which is a sign of acknowledgment and a sign of membership of the pack. After this ritual, Freund pulls a deer carcass out of his truck, puts it on the snowy ground and held it in a manner as if it were his prey.

Dealer Takeaway

I’m not writing this blog to entice you to try to become a member of a wolf pack and get your lips licked by an alpha male wolf. I’m writing this blog because there are a couple of lessons we can learn from Freund.

1. In order to FULLY understand your customer/target market, you must BECOME the customer.

   1. I’ve said this in previous blog posts, but creating a buyer persona is a great tool to help you better understand your ideal customer.

2. Do not be afraid to fully commit.

   1. Whether it’s your sales goal, personal fitness goal, or even a fundraising goal for the charity your dealership sponsors, commit to it with every bone in your body! This may mean taking one for the team even when you don’t have the time to. No manager likes to hear the words “It’s not my job”.

3. Create a familiar and inviting presence with your customer.

   1. This can be done by dressing appropriately with a clean fresh scent, placing pictures of your family (or pets) around your desk, or even showcasing a hobby of yours.

4. Do something you enjoy.

   1. Freund held many positions before he finally recognized his calling in life. Even in his 80’s he is still working on his wolf reserve! Do what you love!

After reading this blog is there a life lesson to be learned from the Wolfman? Share your thoughts in the comment section below!

Great weather, fun things to do and see, (you can meet Mickey Mouse!) - why wouldn’t you want to attend the 2013 NADA Conference in Orlando? From February 8th - 11th you’ll enjoy great workshop sessions and keynote speakers like our very own Todd Smith.

Below is what Todd will be presenting, along with the schedule of presentations:

Your Digital Showroom: Conversion Tools and Tactics

Today's competitive dealerships need to think of their website as an extension of their showroom. Learn powerful techniques that help you keep consumers interested and engaged as they shop your website for their next vehicle. Uncover conversion optimization techniques that top retailers use to empower shoppers to take the next step in the shopping funnel, and learn how to effectively integrate the four most powerful lead-capture tools for your website.

Presenter: Todd Smith, ActivEngage, Inc., Orlando, FL
Schedule:

Here are some other sessions that I think are worth attending:
 

Double Your Internet Sales and Profits This Year!

Internet-sales success is actually easy to achieve when you follow a proven path. In the last 15 years, countless dealers have achieved success, and this workshop will cover ten proven practices you can adopt for immediate and long-term success. Imagine doubling your Internet sales and profits in 2013. What could that do for your bottom line? This workshop will provide specific details on what you can and must do to take your Internet operation to the highest possible level.
Presenter: David Kain, Kain Automotive, Lexington, KY
Schedule:

Mystery Phone-Shop Challenge

Three volunteers from the audience will be selected to mystery-shop their dealership or a competitor live. After each call, the speaker will evaluate the performance and offer suggestions for how that salesperson can improve. The dealership performing the best as voted by the audience, will win a Kindle touch.
Presenter: Jerry Thibeau, Phone Ninjas, Charlotte, NC
Schedule:

Are you going to the NADA Conference and want to visit the ActivEngage office ? Let us know in the comment section below!