The more and more I think about this years DSES and the lineup we have the more and more I get excited.  And I will be honest, I feel a little giddy like its the first day of school back in 5th grade.  I believe that of any and all conferences I have ever attended this is the one that I am most pumped and excited about.  

So why I am I on the verge of giddiness?  Expectations.  I am expecting to walk away a better dealer, digital marketer, and without getting too philosophical, a better person.  There will be world class industry leading speakers, CEO's of some of the largest companies in our business, and some of the most progressive and forward thinking dealers in the country that I get to rub shoulders with.  Talk with.  Share with. And just be a digital marketer with.    

I am humbled to be a part and next to so many wonderful people as I get to speak at one of the break out sessions.  I will be speaking to Processes Principles, Passion, & Paying Attention and how those four pillars have allowed our team to be one the best General Motors Internet dealers in the nation out of a small town of 25,000 people right outside of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.

It's the end of the month and some of you that are attending DSES haven't thought twice about the coming weeks in Vegas.  What I am challenging myself as well as you the reader is to come with expectations.  Come with wanting to walk away with actionable material that will take your dealership's digital marketing strategies to the next level.  I am getting out of my comfort zone and going to network like crazy.  Not for the sake of rubbing elbows with some of the "who's who" of our industry, but for the sake of I want learn and grow from those that have gone before me.  I want to stand on their shoulders and help lead the charge of being the best digital marketing strategist I can be.  

I have huge expectations and look forward to seeing old friends, making new ones, and ultimately walking away changed.  

Expect great things for DSES11.  

I am.

As one gets to know me they will soon find out I am a passionate person in all I do.  I love what I do and am passionate about digital marketing and online reputation management specifically.   So when given the opportunity to take a sneak peak a new Online Reputation Management (ORM) solution – I jumped on the chance.

Last week I sat in with Beth Latta from Cobalt/ADP and took a peak at their new Reputation Management Solution.  Most of us know the importance of ORM and the impact it can have on our business, but what I have found out is how hard it is to keep up with our entire ORM along with my other duties as an Internet Director for a large autogroup. 

This was one of the driving forces on why and how Cobalt/ADP built out their solution.   They recognized the busy lives of dealers everywhere and wanted to build a solution that meets the needs of today’s dealer. 

Here’s where their solution kicks in.  It is a one-stop shop for us as dealers.  They attack ORM with a three-pronged approach:

A Dedicated (Real Life) Reputation Manage Specialist.  This persons role will be to come along side the dealer and help them with all things related to the dealer’s online reputation management.  At first they will be setup and get you going to maintain all of the business listings across the web.  After the initial setup – they are that person that is always checking, always monitoring, and ultimately the dealer’s ORM wingman

A proactive process to generate reviews by polling a dealer’s DMS system for service & sales transactions and them automatically sending an email to solicit customer feedback within 24 hours. 

Lastly, a dedicated testimonial website that will showcase your dealership customer reviews and opinions.

So what all does that mean?  Basically as a dealer we will have a wingman or wingwoman looking out for us watching our ORM’s every move.  Calling us, prodding us, and helping us raise the bar.  This by far is my favorite aspect to their solution.  They have the other technology to help the dealer, but this is what differentiates their solution.  Someone’s job is to watch and monitor my ORM.  That’s nice.  What’s even better is the roll up of all your ORM metrics delivered to you by your wingman in a monthly report.  It’s not just a data dump but actionable insight into the dealers ORM with an expert to help craft your strategy based on those metrics.

Secondly what happens is that they poll our transaction data and then send out an email asking for a quick review.  Super quick, super easy.  At that point after they finish the simple survey the customer is then directed to leave a review on Yelp and/or Google. 

With the growth of Yelp and domination of the Google Place Page – they thought this was the two best places to direct our customers.  I love the fact that there is a quick and easy survey and review to grab the customer immediately.  Those are the surveys and reviews that are then pushed to a dedicated website that we can embed inside any website of our choosing. 

I like the idea in theory for this and any review is better than no review – but my main concern is will the customer leave 2 reviews?  One for the dedicated website and one for Google or Yelp?  The weightiness of reviews on Yelp and Google by far outrank the reviews that would be left for our own website by the sheer visibility factor.  So – will they leave two reviews?  I don’t know, BUT, with the customer already leaving one review they might be swayed to leave another.  I guess time will tell if this approach will work.

So – dedicated ORM specialist, automated process to request reviews, and then a dedicated website to host said reviews = a one-stop shop for any dealer’s ORM. 

Bottom line is that I like it.  Dealers will benefit from it, and ultimately increase their exposure and klout around the web.  If interested in talking with me more one one - feel free to shoot me a message.  This is available to all dealers right now - so if you are serious about ORM, it's worth a look.

“You’re good enough.  You’re strong enough.  And gosh darn it, people like you.“

I remember watching Jack Handey on SNL years ago and laughing my hindquarters off at this guy’s skits.  (side note - through the wonders of Google I also just learned there really is a Jack Handey).  As funny and cheesy as the aforementioned quote is – the heart behind it rings so true with me right now. 

How?  By calling myself and my team to be something greater than we are.  Not average. 

It’s the last day of the month and our department has surpassed its best month ever by 7% already and will end up around 15% ahead of our best month.  EVER.

EVER in this economy?  EVER with current inventory levels?  EVER with insert excuse here?  Yes.  Best EVER!  So what’s the secret sauce?  The magic template?  The phone script, pricing matrix, or process we implemented?

BHAG.  That’s what.  A Big. Hairy. Audacious. Goal. 

We implemented a BHAG that we could get excited about. One thing I have been blessed to be apart of is Grant Cardone’s Mastermind Group that meets via Google+ Hangout every Thursday night and discuss his most recent book The 10X Rule.  One of the biggest lessons I have learned is that success truly is my duty and obligation and with that,  

“failing to insist upon abundant amounts of success is somewhat unethical.  To the degree that electing to do our personal best each and every day is ethical, then failing to do so is a violation of ethics.”

The month started on an average August Monday and I had set some realistic average goals my salespeople, one that they would most likely hit.  I need to forecast correctly.  Right? 

Wrong! 

Who gets excited about being average?  Who gets pumped to sell 8-10 cars?  What drives someone to being greater than themselves?  Average goals?  For me – average doesn’t get me going.  You?  Mostly likely neither do your salespeople.

So – I set some new goals for each of my salespeople to “go big or go home.”  We set out to have out best month ever and we have since crushed it.  I constantly let them know where they were at with sales.  How many selling days are left in the month, and how many we need to sell per day to hit our BHAG.

Guess what – they arose to the challenge.  To say that I am filled with pride is an understatement.  Not pride in myself because *they are the ones in the trenches.  My pride is centered on my team.  All I did was put out a goal….oh…and there was no financial incentive either.  No contests.  No games.  Just a unified vision and passion to have our best month ever.  They got excited about being better than average.  They got excited about being great. 

So let me ask you this.  Are you calling yourself and your teams to be greater than you all are?  Is your goal to be average?  If not – just remember what Jack Handey said, “you are good enough, you are strong enough, and gosh darn it….YOU CAN DO IT!”

In the not so distant past I became the proud owner of a BMW 645ci.  As any good new owner would do, I wanted to get it all tuned up, shined up, and touched up at a local BMW dealership.  I did some Googling and thought I had found the nearest dealership to me.  Come to find out – the dealership with the Google Place page that popped up was in fact NOT the nearest dealer (insert head scratch and blog I wrote about said head scratch here).

I finally decided to go to the BMW dealer that was closest to me out of sheer convenience.  All went well and I had a phenomenal experience and will definitely be back to service my car there….or will I?  You will soon find out that I am now thinking twice about servicing my vehicle at said dealership.

A few weeks ago I became the proud owner of a used 2011 Volvo S80 (I know, I know…I work at a GM dealership – but I am a sucker for a good deal).  So what do I do to find the nearest dealer?  Google it.

AGAIN – no Google Place page! (insert head scratch and this new blog post)

I don’t find a Google Place Page but I do find a thread on a BMW Forum from a very unhappy customer that was 5 links down on my Google search. 

What I had soon discovered inside the forum made everything else make sense.   I am not going to go into details about what I found but the skinny is this:  a customer’s BMW M5 was wrecked while in the dealers possession; insurance will only cover part of the damage; customer wants to be reimbursed appropriately; dealer says nope; dealer and customer are heading to court; customer starts thread on forum; dealer’s online reputation goes down the toilet…fast (like the toilets that at certain airports that cause a vortex and you literally almost get sucked down….that fast)

That brings us now back to the reality of the situation.  In twelve months this thread on a fairly small BMW forum now has over 840,000 views and close to 1,600 comments!  I haven’t read all 1,591 comments but what I have seen is something a case study could be written about.

This small community of BMW and M5 owners have literally changed the way this dealership does business.  These are passionate people.  They have nothing in common besides their love for BMW’s and their disdain for how their “friend” has allegedly been treated at this dealership. 

They have banded together to let the World Wide Web know of this dealer’s alleged doings (or lack thereof).   They have forced the dealer to not have a Google Place page due to this community destroying their reviews every time the dealer has tried to put their place page back up.

They have went to Yelp, Dealer Rater, and the likes preaching their gospel of their friend being wronged by a supposedly unscrupulous dealer.

To say that this scenario intrigues me would be an understatement.  I love digital marketing and here is a prime example of how social media and our online reputation can and will effect us as dealers.   Unfortunately for this dealer – it is affecting them to the ‘Nth’ degree.

I don’t know how many customers will see this forum the customer started, or possibly even care, but I do know this:  My Google Place page is my #1 source for phone calls and traffic to my site.  How many calls and opportunities is this dealership missing?

I know that the local customers who have ran across this forum will now think twice about taking their car for service to this dealership.  It has for me.

This dealer’s online reputation is forever scared and possibly broken.  Can and will they ever be able to compete with local dealers now that over 840,000 eyeballs have read about this incident…but more importantly how many more have not even had the opportunity to see them due to not being able to have a Google Place page. 

I don’t know who’s right and who’s wrong on this scenario – but I do know this – I am not sure if this fight was worth fighting due to the ramifications that I have since taken place.

Bottom line is this – if you upset off the wrong customer – watch out because they now have the power to destroy our online reputation.  This is social media at its best and worst.

My good buddy Jim Bell reminded us last month what it takes to be successful.  Last night I sat in on Grant Cardone's Mastermind Group going over his new book, "The 10X Rule".  I can honestly say I was blessed and challenged throughout the entire evening.  Grand asked each of us,  "What is success in MY eyes?"

I fumbled and stumbled out something to the affect of, "as long as I am proud of myself".  You can hear my ambiguous definition around the 17 minute mark on Grant's UStream page.

I realized in that moment - if I don't know where I am going, how do I know how to get there?  So literally as I am typing this - I am brainstorming, thinking, and truly searching within myself of what success means and looks like to me.  Grant challenges us to realize success is our duty.  It's what I MUST do as a leader and manager of people.  Success is not an option.

So - let me ask my DrivingSales peeps this - what is success to you?  But more importantly, what are you doing to acheive that success?  I would love any and all feedback....

Wordpress.  Simple.  Easy.  Effective. 

We all know (or at least have an idea) of how simple, easy, and effective a wordpress site is for a car dealership. Given the time, energy, and resources Wordpress is built in such a way that virtually anyone can take advantage of it.

There is just one small problem for most of us inside the dealership.  Time. 

Not only do we have to manage our websites, manage and evaluate our lead providers, work on the ever changing Google game, as well as every other responsibility we have…at the end of the day we still have to sell cars.

This is where CarDealerPress comes into play.  I had the opportunity to chat with Mike Fitzpatrick, VP of Sales and Marketing of DealerTrend last week and discuss their new product, CarDealerPress.  Mike and their team’s philosophy and passion is to come alongside dealers and give them the tools to take control back to their digital marketing platform. 

They see and know the benefit of using a Wordpress site for a car dealer but also recognize we are short on time and/or really don’t have the resources to do it right.  On one of their training sites www.sellingcarsonlineacademy.com they show you how to built a website in UNDER 5 MINUTES! 

So what is CarDealerPress?  Basically it is a Wordpress market place for car dealers.  You have the ability to download Wordpress plugin’s for your inventory, mobile site, rebates and incentives through AIS, dynamic SEO for inventory, staff page, carfax integration, virtual showroom, credit app, as well as dynamic video with voice over and then load those into your Wordpress site.

You can buy these features a la carte or if you don’t even want to do it yourself Mike and their team will be offering a “one stop shop” Wordpress Premier website for approximately $499/month.  They build it out for your team and you manage it, change it, and manipulate as you see fit.  They are always just a phone call a way to help or search their forums for help as well.

I was truly impressed with CarDealerPress – it’s not just fancy widget – rather I see it as a valuable tool I could use (if and when I build out my own Wordpress site).   For those that are hands on with Wordpress – this is an ABSOLUTE MUST!  Take a look around.  It will only get bigger and better as more and more developers add their own plugins.

For those (such as myself) without any dealership Wordpress sites – this is a tool that will get you to where you want to go without breaking the bank.  I am truly excited to see how this will grow and transform into a vast network for us as dealers to use with our WP sites.

Kuddos to the team at DealerTrend for putting together a great product. 

eCarlist + DealerTrak Acquisition Vision

Yesterday was just like any other morning in my life.  I get in, take a look at the leads our dealerships received from the night before, and then check my morning news and Facebook status updates (yes – news and Facebook checking go hand in hand, along with my cup of joe).  My heart jumped a touch when I saw Len Critcher’s post that DealerTrack is acquiring eCarlist.  I will be honest – my first thought was how happy I was for Len and his team, my second thought was, well…what is going to change for me as a dealer.

It’s no secret that I am a fan of eCarlist and their team.  I have worked with them for over the past two years to build suite of solutions for our dealerships that can go toe-to-toe with any dealer in the country.  So with a publicly traded company now acquiring this “boutique company”  it really made me wonder what and how they do business is going to change. 

I had the chance to talk with Len and ask him some very pointed & blunt questions about this acquisition and how it will affect their dealer body me.  To say I walked away more confident in where this company is going and where it will be is an understatement.  The theme that resonated in everything Len spoke about was that this partnership will help eCarlist become what it was created to be: a leader, innovator, and true asset to the dealers around the country.

If you have ever had a chance to talk with Len you know that he is a visionary and is usually thinking 5, 6, or 20 steps past the here and now.  After asking Len directly, “how will this help me as a dealer today, and a year from now,” he very succinctly told me that he now has more resources, tools toys, and a distribution channel to allow his vision to be created at a much faster pace yet still keep the same level of customer service and innovation they are known for.  Thus, as a dealer, we will have more intelligent tools to help us buy, sell, and market our vehicles.

I also felt much more comfortable about who will be running eCarlist and ultimately how it will be ran.  Len and the leadership staff at eCarlist will be staying intact and virtually no major changes of leadership will be taking place (now or anytime soon).  DealerTrack loves the fluid and responsive nature eCarlist is able to operate in which is what has allowed them to adapt and change to the current market conditions of our industry.

The excitement and confidence I heard in Len’s voice is very magnetic.  You can’t help but be excited for a team who truly loves to create and wage war within themselves to be the absolute best at what they do.

eCarlist will be a force to be reckoned with in the coming months and years.   They have been quietly leading an innovation charge in our industry.  As of yesterday...quiet is no longer a part of their business plan.  

I just received a service lead from a company, and this is what was in the body of the comments of said lead:

Hurshmotors.com Team, I thought you might like to know some of the reasons why you are not getting more organic (FREE) search engine traffic for 1. Your home page rank is 3, this can be improved further. 2. Open directory listing is not available. 3. Your site has 155 yahoo back links, this can be improved further. There are many additional improvements that could be made to your website, and if you would like to learn about them, and are curious to know what our working together would involve, then I would be glad to provide you with a detailed analysis in the form of a SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO) SITE REPORT. To brief you about our company, in addition to SEO, we provide Social Media Optimization (SMO) and reputation management for our clients. Our efforts on behalf of our clients have brought thousands of keywords to the first page of Google organic search results with excellent conversion rates. I will be happy to provide you with a list of clients with contact details, keyword rankings, etc. Our clients will be happy to talk with you about their experience with our services. Our clients consistently tell us that their customers find them because they are at the top of the Google search rankings. Being at the top left of Google (#1- #5 organic positions) is the best thing you can do for your company's website traffic and online reputation. Sounds interesting? Feel free to email us or alternatively you can provide us with your phone number and the best time to call you.

Dear SEO SuperRockstar ORM Guru Vendor,

1) I am not Hurshmotors.com - but thanks for doing your homework as it really shows you care.

2)  Anything you say to me has just got thrown out the window because you are speaking about my SEO, my page rank, etc, etc - yet you have the wrong dealer!   #Winning

3)  155 backlinks...um....lets try again (Here's a hint - add 9,649)

4) You would really talk to me and let me know how I can improve your wrong statistics?  Thank you Mr. Guru!

5) Thank you for spelling out what SEO means - very much appreciated Mr. Rockstar. I was lost until that clarification.

6) As much as I would love to see your referral sheet, I think I have already learned enough in a few sentences.

7)  Once again - thank you for telling me what organic listings mean.  I was getting lost once again and you reigned me back in.  

8) Lastly thank you for giving me your contact info so I can reach out to you about my horrible rankings, back links, and all around ignorance regarding this whole internet "thing".  Where would we be if we didn't have businesses such as yours submitting bogus service leads with wrong information regarding websites.

Take care and have a nice life sir.

Signed,

Not Impressed by your SEO Mad Skillz

in·fec·tious
adjective /inˈfekSHəs/
1) Likely to spread or influence others in a rapid manner

No – this is not a public service announcement warning my fellow DrivingSales.com members of a potential health hazard that is spreading throughout the industry.  What this is though is a challenge to each and every one of you to evaluate what type of carrier you are with your infection.  We all are carriers of something called “uniquely you.” 

The gentleman that taught me the car business (ironically Nicki Allen’s father) has to be one of the smartest men I have ever met.  He injected me with his wisdom and knowledge that I could have never learned about through a book.  If you were working for him and teachable – you would be successful.  He was also the biggest pain in my hindquarters I have ever met.  He was able to build you up and tear you down in one fail swoop.  He was and is a man that I have the upmost respect for.

I learned both what I wanted and aspired to be from him, as well as what I didn’t want to be (no offense Richard).  As I have “matured” though my years I can say that my eyes have opened.  My ears and heart have been more in tune to those around me as I:

(A) am able to see what I am depositing in those around me (my self-awareness)
(B) care about what those deposits are (my heart) and
(C) make a difference in myself so that I am able to lead and “infect” those around me to the best of my ability (my desire)

What I have found through the years is that everyone wants to be lead.  People want to be around folks they trust, they love, and have an infectious spirit….myself included.  Who doesn’t want to be around someone that makes them a better version of themselves, challenges them, teaches them, cares about them, and ultimately infects those around them with positive influences.

I believe the car business is one of the best industries someone can be associated with.  I LOVE and take pride in what I do, but it can also be one of the most demanding and challenging careers.  Our days can turn on a dime for an upset customer, drama on the floor, or in my case – Google changing their algorithms on a daily freaking basis!!!  My desk at times looks like a small dog came through and wreaked havoc on my nice neat desk.  (PS – this dog didn’t eat my homework – it chewed it up and spit it out while running all over my desk).

Our days are long, challenging, and stressful but we must never forget that those around us are being infected by us – either positively or negatively.  We are injecting, infecting, effecting, and changing people’s days and lives due to how we act that day.  Have you ever realized that customers and co-workers alike talk about us over the dinner table? We have the ability to infect folks on a daily basis.  How are folks talking about you to their spouse and kids

Take a hard look at how you are acting today.  How are you treating those around you?  Would you want to be around you today?

We are all are infectious …but are we infectious with a spirit-killing disease or one that strengthens those around you?  #justsayin

As the community here at DrivingSales gets to know me and my eccentric and sometimes odd ways – everyone will soon find out that my writings, rantings, and ravings are usually based on my own personal life experiences and what I am working through at that moment in time. 

So as I was deciding what I write I ran across April Rain’s blog about her experience at a recent automotive conference.  Besides her wit and funny stories of her experience – one of the things she spoke about was networking and the power that social media can have on said network.  

What’s funny is that I finally signed up for a twitter account at last years DSES. My good friend and fellow community editor Nicki Allen made me join linkedin last month.  All this to say…I am not a networking kind of guy.   What I am is a “car guy” through and through – but more than that – who I am a people person, which is what makes me great at what I do. 

I am genuine to the core and customers, clients, co-workers, and vendors alike are able see that in my day-to-day operations.  I drive a hard bargain (just ask some of my vendors) but I have never been a hand shaker, work the room guy, or just flat out networker…but that is all changing…on my terms.

Networking to me is surrounding myself with people that help you raise the bar in business as well as life, and in turn hopefully you return the favor.  As I have been able to get to know folks in this industry I am learning that I am blessed to be in the car business.  I am blessed to have been able to get to know some of the brightest and best in life and in business.

I am currently surrounding myself with people who make me a better version of myself.  I strive for excellence and look for those who do as well.  I love visiting the offices of eCarlist to hear Len Critcher, Terrence Gordon, and the rest of the team talk so passionately about what is going on in their neck of the woods. I look forward to sitting down over dinner with Nicki Allen (Classic of Denton), Jim Flint (John Eagle Auto Group), Hagen Durant (Classic Chevrolet), and Amanda Eagle (John Eagle Auto Group) here in a couple weeks.  I am not lying when I tell Brian Pasch that I am going to come train with him on the Jersey shore.  I am not just looking to hang out when I take a night out with the boys from VinSolutions at a Ranger game to have a couple beers, talk shop, and just enjoy getting to know each other.

So what’s my ‘thesis’ of this blog?  Why waste a perfectly good blank Microsoft Word Document?  It’s a cry to those reading this to look around and see whom you are standing next to.  If you are alone or don’t like who’s next to you…get to work.  Change.

Someone told me yesterday that in order to have great friends, you have to first be a good friend yourself.  To me life is about people and relationships.  Yeah – we can sell a ton of cars – but what’s most important and why I choose to network is for a selfish reason.  I want great friends and partners in this business. I have been so richly blessed to be a small part of some of great people – even if its via facebook, twitter, or linkedin.   

So – look around, see who’s walking with you, beside you, and truly partnering with you.  Then take a look in the mirror.  Today you can start networking.  Today you can learn to be a better friend and partner in the car business.  Today can be the first day of the rest of your life...as someone who networks. 

Can you hear me now?