Marc McGurren Blog | DrivingSales

MM

McGurren Consulting

Apr 4, 2011

#SeekTruth

Will the real industry experts please stand up?!!?!

As I sit on the plane heading back from DD10 my head is a spinning. So much information from SO many voices in such a small amount of time. #Overwhelmed. I would call myself a pretty smart guy, but I am by no means an expert at all things digital marketing.

What I am is a car guy that is passionate about this business and loves to take care of customers. I have enough knowledge to make educated decisions…as well as to get me in trouble.

With that said I can’t help but feel for some dealers who are finally entering this “internet world” of the automotive industry and are just plain ignorant, and I mean this in the best possible description.

ig·no·rant/ˈignərənt/Adjective

Lacking knowledge or awareness in general

Many dealers lack the basic knowledge or awareness in general to make educated decisions. With 100+ vendors reaching at us as we walk through the shark-infested waters in the expo hall, it truly is hard to believe and know who the real experts are. Who are the ones we should trust? What is really the best thing for my organization?

As I sat on a panel next to Shaun Raines from ReachLocal he was asked the question what should we as dealers look to find and get out of DD10. Shaun’s one word answer truly hit home – “truth”. Seek the truth. Look for it high and low and don’t take anything less. Translated: don’t get bamboozled, razzle-dazzled, or taken advantage of.

So – how do we do that? How can we sort through the muddy waters of Vendorville? My advice is simple…go with the companies that have been there and done that. Lived it. Loved it, and have other clients that can scream to the roof tops on how great they are

Just as our customers are looking at our online reputations, we must do the same. We must hold the light and mirror up to the vendors we pay month in and month out. We must utilize each other; Driving Sales Vendor Ratings, other forums, and all other sources we have at our fingertips. We must not forget we are the customers. We are the ones that make this thing go around. Don’t settle for anything less.

Bottom line, do you homework, dig around, and don’t be afraid to #justsayno and #seektruth.

MM

Marc McGurren

McGurren Consulting

Founder

1426

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MM

Marc McGurren

McGurren Consulting

Mar 3, 2011

Eggs and Online Reputation Management - which basket to choose?

Online reputation management, Internet Reputation Management, or Online Reviews – whatever you call it, we know it’s been gaining traction and will continue to be a bigger part of who we are as dealers. It will be our online billboards for customers to tell others what they think of us.

Google just increased the stakes recently with their emphasis on Google Place’s and the reviews. Then upped the ante with Google Boost. Edmunds has had dealer reviews for quite sometime. Cars.com is implementing their own reviews. Autotrader will be piping in online reviews from the likes of Google and Dealerrater.com with their new S11 suite of products. The industry seems to be finally embracing something that very few folks recognized a year ago.

With that said – with the help of Brian Pasch and others I realized the importance of reviews and implementing a dealership wide embracement of ORM. It has been an uphill battle but I have fought long and hard – and it is finally paying off. We were named as DealerRater.com Finalists for Dealer of the Year with our Cadillac & GMC stores. We are now the #1 rated Toyota Dealer and Hyundai Dealer in the state of Texas per DealerRater.com. Pretty good right???

Well – here is my dilemma – there are a ton of baskets we can put our ORM eggs into. So which one is right? Which ones should be focus on? Heck – to tout our reputation is a HUGE selling tool. We have had customers walk in and ask for salespeople by name after reading reviews about this particular sales person. All great things correct. YES!!!!

Well – I decided to jump on the Google Boost bandwagon thinking my 100+ GM reviews, 70+ Hyundai and Toyota reviews would all pipe into my boost. Unfortunately that is not the case. Boost only touts Google reviews (which is not where I have been focusing my reviews) – not the reviews they pull into from other sites like judysbook, Dealerrater, insiderpages and many more.

AHHHH!!! Seriously? ?? I am a firm believer in diversification – but I also don’t want to dilute my reviews in each review site to where the handfuls of reviews are virtually meaningless. When I have 100+ reviews with an average of 4.9 out of 5 stars – there is power in those numbers. When I have 10 reviews – there isn’t that big of an impact.

I think this is where Cars.com is wrong in their thinking about how they are going about implementing their ORM. Just my two cents - but I think it is best for them - but not to us as dealers. I see fragmentation occurring and as dealers we have to figure out which basket to bank our ORM on.

My personal opinion is Google and DealerRater.com. You dominate those two – you dominate the market. Unfortunately my emphasis on DealerRater has hurt my Google Boost impact.

So my question to my dealer counterparts is – where are your eggs being placed? What has worked for you? What is your opinion on everyone jumping in the review game? Will it hurt or hinder us with the vast amount of places for customers to leave reviews?

MM

Marc McGurren

McGurren Consulting

Founder

1112

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MM

Marc McGurren

McGurren Consulting

Feb 2, 2011

No Float Friday!

Wow. That’s all I can say. I am truly amazed at our industry at times. Let me tell you a little something that happened to me – “a car guy.”

With the weather getting extremely nice down here in Texas I wanted to buy a fun car for the spring/summer to take the top down and just let the wind blow through my thick flowing hair…err…I mean my bald head.

With that said we recently traded in a 2004 import convertible. It was extremely clean and CRAZY low miles. We bought it right and I literally bought the car 3 hours after the car was traded in.

Being I am a domestic dealer I don’t have all the fun gadgets and tools for my service department to update and do proper diagnostics on this 2004. I wanted to make sure it everything was up to date as I know it needed some basic maintenance as I spoke with the previous owner.

So – what is a 30-something fellow to do to find the closest dealer to me? I Google it! I google “XXXXXXX Fort Worth”. What now pulls up immediately? Google Place pages. This is top priority in Google and that is exactly where my eyes went. I didn’t even look at the organic listings. That’s not what I was searching for – I wanted a phone number.

Again – I am just a consumer at this point. I am not mystery shopping or digging for SEO – I am literally trying to find a dealer to help me out.

So what do I do – I call the first dealer on the Google Place listings. I set up an appointment. As I am telling my co-workers where I have to go to get this done – they tell me – what about “XXXX Dealer” – it’s 20 minutes closer.

Me not being an high end import guy or car guy that deals in these types of cars – I have heard of this dealer before – but it didn’t even pop up on my personal radar – and apparently not in Google’s radar either. They don't even have a Google Place Page at all! Are you kidding me? Really???

I ended up calling this dealer just b/c it was closer – but if I hadn’t told anyone where I was going – I would have never went there and this dealer would have lost out on probably a $1000 service RO.

I am truly amazed how lazy we can be as an industry. So for those reading this – you probably have your Google Place page all set up – but is it fully optimized? Do you have a process for your online reputation management to showcase your reviews? I am a dealer and shouldn’t be even helping my competition out – but sheeesh! This is 101! This is the basics.

We have to learn to do the basics brilliantly before we look at all the fun social media gadgets or any other “widgets” that are supposed to help us sell cars. How about we actually do our jobs as e-commerce directors and leaders in our industry! Lets change how the public perceives us! Lets take back the name of a car salesperson! Let’s be better than we are!

So as I am stepping off my soap-box – lets choose to not float and be average. Let’s choose to have a no float Friday!

MM

Marc McGurren

McGurren Consulting

Founder

1220

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MM

Marc McGurren

McGurren Consulting

Feb 2, 2011

Back to the Basics: How NOT to let shiny objects tarnish your digital marketing plan

I received a call from a fellow car dealer the other day who wanted to bounce ideas off me about his digital marketing plan. He asked what I thought about Yelp, and if he should spend any time on it? Should he create his own Facebook page or use the auto group’s? He also informed me that there are vendors out there who are kind enough to charge him $1100/month to manage his business listings across the web (Google, Yahoo, Insider Pages, etc). Finally, he asked me about online reputation management and what the process at our dealership looks like. All of this set me to thinking about how we, as innovators and leaders of our dealerships, are bombarded with “solutions” for our digital marketing spaghetti bowl.

What I’ve found is that “shiny objects” are everywhere, and most have a crazy acronym of some sort: ILM, CRM, ORM, IRM, FB, SEO, SEM, DMS, PPC, VDPs, SERPS, BDC, CRC, CRS, Tweets, Deets, etc., etc., etc. One glance at the 475+ vendors rated on www.drivingsales.com can make a person’s head spin.

So, what’s someone who is in charge of a dealership’s digital marketing plan to do? Where do we start? How do we lead and continue to innovate? How can we be the best at what we do?

I’m glad you asked. The answer to each depends on what digital marketing stage your dealership is in. Most dealerships fall somewhere in, or between, one of these five stages:

1) Elementary – You just got a website. You still have a Motorola Razr because you are afraid to embrace these crazy things called smart phones. You answer leads out of Microsoft Outlook or Gmail. (Actually hotmail, because you don’t even know what Gmail is.) You’ve only heard of 3 or less of the aforementioned acronyms. You don’t believe this Internet thing is a big deal, nor do you have any idea if you’re selling any cars with it. Or on it. Or through it.

2) Middle School – You have had a website for quite sometime and you might add specials to your site when it's convenient for you. You actually have an ILM (Internet lead management tool), but it is most likely the one the OEM requires you to have, and you can’t see the benefit in having to pay any more for ILM than you already are. You have the young salesperson you just hired answering the leads since he or she is “computer savvy.” You have upgraded your Razr to a newer, color screen, flip phone that allows you to actually text your kids and friends. Percentage of total dealership vehicle sales tracked through the Internet Department/BDC: 6-10%.

3) High school – You still use the required OEM websites, but have embraced adding video and specials, and you’re even using an outside company to take pictures of your used cars. You’re sending your inventory to the major players like Cars.com and AutoTrader. You have a separate ILM (and possibly CRM) installed throughout the dealership. You own a Blackberry, Android, or iPhone but still don’t know what all the buttons do. Percentage of total sales coming directly through digital marketing strategies: 11-19%.

4) College – You’re maximizing the OEM site as much as possible, or maybe you’ve transitioned to a different website provider all together. You are intimately involved in the digital space of your dealership. You work on your Online Reputation Management, search engine optimization, and possibly search engine marketing. You also have an entire CRM/ILM installed throughout the dealership and are “pretty good” at using it. You love your iPhone4 or EVO. You dominate page one on Google when your dealership’s name is searched. Percentage of total sales coming from your digital marketing plan: 20-34%.

5) PhD. – You’re crushing your competition in SEO, SEM, and Online Reputation Management. Your website is one that people envy due to its performance. Your CRM/ILM is ingrained in your selling process and couldn’t thrive without it. You take your own pictures and describe your used cars better than anyone in your market. You’re a true innovator and continue to find ways to push the envelope. Percentage of your total vehicle sales coming from your digital marketing strategy: 35+%.

Most of us fall into one of the aforementioned stages, or somewhere in-between, but one thing that I love about the car business is that I am never stuck in the same place. I can change my destiny, and all it takes is the first of the month to get that process started. The same could be said for your digital marketing strategy. If you’re in Elementary or Middle School, don’t fret. You aren’t stuck there. You can move the needle tomorrow. It just takes some time and dedication.

All of us are on a continual learning curve, and if you have a PhD. today, you could be irrelevant tomorrow unless you have proper training and keep up with the latest digital trends. But at the end of the day, our job still is to sell and fix cars. I can have all the technology that money can buy, but I still have to come back to the basics, back to “blocking and tackling.” I still have to take the proper steps to make the sale. I still have to follow up. I still have to offer exceptional service so the customers keep coming back. And then I have to do that process over and over again.

So the question becomes: where and how do I find those “shiny objects” that have value, and how do I know which ones are tarnished? What solutions can take me from where I am today, to where I want to be tomorrow?

First, own it. Someone in the dealership has to own the process of e-commerce and everything it entails. This person has to be passionate about digital marketing for the auto industry. Most likely, if you are reading this article, that person is you.

Then, map out where you want to go, since now you have someone who “owns” the idea and understands how important this Internet-thing really is. But how do you figure out where you want to go? (Google Maps sure won’t tell you how to get there.) Start with taking an honest look at your current operations. Take personalities and favoritisms out of it and take a hard look at the entire situation.

I firmly believe that you can’t fix what you don’t know is broken. Your first step to mapping out your trek across the digital education spectrum is to examine how you’re doing now. The pieces of your digital marketing puzzle to evaluate include, but aren’t limited to:

1) How is your website performing? Conversion rates? Time on site? Pages-per-visit? New vs. returning customers? And how are they finding you (e.g., Google search words)?

· This is how you will be able to get more customers to visit your lot as well as call or email your dealership.

2) How many leads are you getting? From where? What is your closing rate on all of your leads? Website(s)? Cars.com? AutoTrader? Third-Party Lead Providers (Dealix, AutoUsa, Autobytel, etc.)?

· This is how you can tell who to hire and who to fire for your lead providers.

3) What are you spending right now on your websites and your entire digital marketing plan?

· Make sure you check your parts statement from the manufacturer. That’s where costs on digital marketing from the OEMs usually get dumped. When I stepped into my role as Internet Director, I found out we were spending 40% more than we actually thought we were. (OUCH!)

4) What are you spending per lead, per provider? What is your cost-per-sale? What is your gross profit per sale? What is it broken up for the front and back?

· This will show your dealer that you can, in fact, make $2000/copy on new cars!

· Also, a good base line to start from is having a cost-per-lead of around $20 and a cost-per-sale around $200. This will vary from manufacturer, but it is great base line.

5) How many leads is each of your salespeople getting? What is each person’s closing ratio? Who is burning through their opportunities (i.e., the dealer’s money)?

· The old rule of thumb was 100 leads per salesperson, per month, but I believe this should now be 70-85 leads per month, per salesperson.

· The national average on closing rates on Internet leads is 8%. I don’t like being average and therefore shoot for 12-13%.

Finally, once you understand where you’re at, you’re ready to map out the next step, which is to sit down and write it out. Map out what changes you want to make, who will be responsible for implementing those changes, and when they will be made. Without a written plan – I guarantee that your chances for success will be hindered.

Once your plan of action for various operations is written out – JUST DO IT! Make your digital marketing plan a priority. Make it your focal point when looking at your day-to-day operations. Are you, as the person leading the charge in digital marketing for your dealership, moving the needle forward consistently every day? Is what you are doing making a difference or just making noise while tarnishing your desired end result? Are the tools that you have chosen to use helping you – or just shiny objects that looks pretty?

I hate to say it, but many of our tools are tarnished. More importantly, they can tarnish our entire digital marketing plan by distracting us from what’s really most effective and important, causing us to take our eye off the proverbial ball. My plea to dealers today is to get the basics right before spending time with any shiny tools that are available. I’m not anti-vendor or anti-shiny object; I’m anti-take-your-eye-off-the-ball-because-of-said-shiny-object.

Know this: I am in your seat every day. I receive the same calls and see the exact same advertisements for the latest and greatest tools. I feel your pain, frustration, and concern about leading your team from elementary school to a PhD. in the automotive digital space.

Your dealership is where it’s at because of the choices you—and those who came before you—have made. You can’t change the past, but you can affect the future… starting tomorrow. Don’t get sucked into shiny-object syndrome. Why? Because that is exactly what your competitor wants you to do. Be the best at the basics and the rest will follow.Write your post here

MM

Marc McGurren

McGurren Consulting

Founder

1207

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MM

Marc McGurren

McGurren Consulting

Nov 11, 2010

To CRM or not to CRM, that is the question...

Hello friends – if you are reading this, then most likely you have already bought into the idea of a CRM and probably are leading the charge at your dealership for adoption and usage, as am I.

This is our basic story – we have been successful for 40 years now selling cars. Now with the digital age – I truly believe in having a CRM. But I want to reach out to the friends here and be an devil’s advocate (aka salesperson and manager) – and pose the question, Why?

Why should I use this system when what I have been doing for 5, 10, 40 years works? Why should I use something that is far different than I have ever done? Why change what is working now? Why?

So to you my dealers, vendors, and friends of the car business – what is your answer? Why should we as dealers, managers, and salespeople embrace a CRM?

MM

Marc McGurren

McGurren Consulting

Founder

1517

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Marc McGurren

McGurren Consulting

Nov 11, 2010

Dealer Strategy Winner: Engaging the after hours customer – A dedicated mobile site @ the point of sale

Summarize your Strategy:

My goal is to attract, entice, and inform the after-hours customer; to give them enough information so that they will contact the dealership via phone, email, and/or return during business hours. My solution is to engage customers when they visit the lot after hours by allowing them to interact with our store through a simple, fast, and informative mobile site. The customer will be able to reference directly the vehicle they are interested in—the vehicle they are standing in front of—to view pricing, incentives, and other comparable/similar vehicles.

Describe how you executed your strategy:

Every new and used vehicle will have two of the following decals placed on the windows of the vehicle directing the customer to the mobile site with a stock number as a suffix (www.jerrysdirect.net/264578).

This unique URL will take the customer directly to the specific vehicle they are interested in. Once there, available information will include: pricing, any incentives available for that particular model, options on the vehicle, mpg rating, and other similar vehicles.

This site will be used solely for the on-the-lot mobile service, with dedicated phone numbers and Google analytics to see how many people are using the system. We will continue to utilize our current mobile site as the main website for our dealership. We are also placing signs around the dealership to point after-hours tire-kickers to this unique site.

The great news about the way we are installing this is that everything is 100% transparent. Google analytics, dedicated 800 numbers, along with lead collecting we can gauge our ROI very fast. I truly believe people will use the system if it is easy. That is why I created a suffix for the stock number so there is literally no clicks – just typing in the address to get the customer where they want as fast as they want.

Describe in detail the results you have seen, please include numbers/metrics that demonstrate the impact of your strategy:

We are just now getting this installed at all of our 7 dealerships. What I do know is customers are already using our mobile site to search, shop, and call our dealership as one can see by analyzing the traffic to our website.

Without any formal marketing, we have seen a 306% increase in traffic from smart phones over the past 10 months on our main website alone. (3.28 pages/visit, 3:48 avg time on site) This shows that customers are willing to shop with their smartphones. Due to Texas state laws, we are closed one day a week—Sunday—and the business day ends at 8 pm. This gives the customer a significant amount of time to kick tires “after hours.” Our unique mobile site allows the customer to be informed at the “point of sale” in a new way so significant to the mobile generation and so influential in other e-commerce strategies.

MM

Marc McGurren

McGurren Consulting

Founder

1281

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