In part one of this series, I discussed the importance of dealerships using their data effectively in marketing and how, when done properly, it can increase vehicle and service sales while improving customer loyalty. Now I’d like to discuss why a great majority of dealers aren’t already using their data to its full potential. I can’t think of another business today that is as antiquated as we are in the automotive business when it comes to truly understanding our customers purchase habits and buying preferences.  That’s primarily because we don’t take the time and make the effort to understand them, even though we have the data right at our fingertips.

The principal reason that many dealers aren’t using their data correctly is a lack of understanding about exactly what data they have, how to access it, and how to segregate it into valuable subsets of customers. Most dealers realize and understand that data mining can be an important asset and do use it in some very broad, general ways. It is most frequently used for following up with orphan owners and customers coming off-lease. While this is certainly a start, there are surely many more practical and effective ways to use the data. The underlining issue always seems to be a lack dealership knowledge as to how to get the data, segment it and then market it properly to the correct audience.

The big DMS providers like Reynolds and ADP certainly don’t make this process easy for dealers. In-fact they have implemented changes that actually make it harder for a dealer to effectively use their own customer data, especially if the dealer chooses to enlist the help of a third party marketer. There have been numerous public conflicts between dealers and their DMS providers regarding who actually owns the dealerships customer and transaction data, and just as importantly, who should have access to it. Despite the hurdles you might encounter with your DMS provider, it is well worth the effort to familiarize yourself with the process for extracting and marketing to these very valuable customers. If you don’t currently have an ongoing business practice in place for this you should add it to the top of your to-do-list.

Getting the data is one thing. But another challenge is that your data is only as good as the information that was put into the system by your employees. If customer data isn’t collected with diligence and accuracy every time a customer visits your store, you are missing a significant opportunity to learn more about that customers contact information and buying preferences. Do you have a process in place that every service writer asks the customer if their email or mailing address has changed?  A recent survey of over 100 individual service departments indicated that only 6% routinely asked for updated customer contact information. The most recent US Census indicated that approximately 36 million Americans changed physical addresses last year. At a 6% update rate, dealers missed out on 34 million new customer contact points, just last year alone. Add in the number of email address and phone number changes and the total number of outdated customer contact records in dealers systems is staggering.

Compounding these issues, many dealerships don’t police how data is entered into their system and end up with multiple entries for the same customer. Not only does this make it more difficult to accurately track the customer’s transactional history, it also does a disservice to the customer, as the dealer will thus be frustrated in the effort to provide accurate detailed service records or tie the purchase of the vehicle to its entire service history.

There are many points along the way in which a customer can be duplicated. They can be entered multiple times in the CRM during the sales process. For example, if handled by multiple salespeople, or if the original record was in one person’s name, but the actual sale happened in another person’s. They could be entered as different customers if the husband brings a vehicle in for service on one occasion, and the wife brings the vehicle in a separate time. It’s even possible that a customer makes a purchase within the parts department and is then entered another time. Many dealerships work with CRM companies that create a database on top of the DMS that serves to further increase duplication.

Dealerships should have a strong business policy in place regarding their data and implement best practices for the collection of good, clean data, including full information on every customer contained in a single record. It would be wise to verify with each customer at every touch point that the information contained in their system is accurate, complete and current. Mandate that each customer has a single customer ID and that every transaction is recorded within that ID. Invest the time into cleaning up your CRM and DMS, with the ultimate goal of having identical databases with the cleanest data possible. This is an ongoing process that should be policed consistently. Unfortunately, many dealerships don’t have anyone tasked with marketing that has the right skill set to effectively accomplish this.

In my next blog, part three of this series, I will talk about how to get your data then clean it up so that it can be used effectively in target marketing.

In part one of this series, I discussed the importance of dealerships using their data effectively in marketing and how, when done properly, it can increase vehicle and service sales while improving customer loyalty. Now I’d like to discuss why a great majority of dealers aren’t already using their data to its full potential. I can’t think of another business today that is as antiquated as we are in the automotive business when it comes to truly understanding our customers purchase habits and buying preferences.  That’s primarily because we don’t take the time and make the effort to understand them, even though we have the data right at our fingertips.

The principal reason that many dealers aren’t using their data correctly is a lack of understanding about exactly what data they have, how to access it, and how to segregate it into valuable subsets of customers. Most dealers realize and understand that data mining can be an important asset and do use it in some very broad, general ways. It is most frequently used for following up with orphan owners and customers coming off-lease. While this is certainly a start, there are surely many more practical and effective ways to use the data. The underlining issue always seems to be a lack dealership knowledge as to how to get the data, segment it and then market it properly to the correct audience.

The big DMS providers like Reynolds and ADP certainly don’t make this process easy for dealers. In-fact they have implemented changes that actually make it harder for a dealer to effectively use their own customer data, especially if the dealer chooses to enlist the help of a third party marketer. There have been numerous public conflicts between dealers and their DMS providers regarding who actually owns the dealerships customer and transaction data, and just as importantly, who should have access to it. Despite the hurdles you might encounter with your DMS provider, it is well worth the effort to familiarize yourself with the process for extracting and marketing to these very valuable customers. If you don’t currently have an ongoing business practice in place for this you should add it to the top of your to-do-list.

Getting the data is one thing. But another challenge is that your data is only as good as the information that was put into the system by your employees. If customer data isn’t collected with diligence and accuracy every time a customer visits your store, you are missing a significant opportunity to learn more about that customers contact information and buying preferences. Do you have a process in place that every service writer asks the customer if their email or mailing address has changed?  A recent survey of over 100 individual service departments indicated that only 6% routinely asked for updated customer contact information. The most recent US Census indicated that approximately 36 million Americans changed physical addresses last year. At a 6% update rate, dealers missed out on 34 million new customer contact points, just last year alone. Add in the number of email address and phone number changes and the total number of outdated customer contact records in dealers systems is staggering.

Compounding these issues, many dealerships don’t police how data is entered into their system and end up with multiple entries for the same customer. Not only does this make it more difficult to accurately track the customer’s transactional history, it also does a disservice to the customer, as the dealer will thus be frustrated in the effort to provide accurate detailed service records or tie the purchase of the vehicle to its entire service history.

There are many points along the way in which a customer can be duplicated. They can be entered multiple times in the CRM during the sales process. For example, if handled by multiple salespeople, or if the original record was in one person’s name, but the actual sale happened in another person’s. They could be entered as different customers if the husband brings a vehicle in for service on one occasion, and the wife brings the vehicle in a separate time. It’s even possible that a customer makes a purchase within the parts department and is then entered another time. Many dealerships work with CRM companies that create a database on top of the DMS that serves to further increase duplication.

Dealerships should have a strong business policy in place regarding their data and implement best practices for the collection of good, clean data, including full information on every customer contained in a single record. It would be wise to verify with each customer at every touch point that the information contained in their system is accurate, complete and current. Mandate that each customer has a single customer ID and that every transaction is recorded within that ID. Invest the time into cleaning up your CRM and DMS, with the ultimate goal of having identical databases with the cleanest data possible. This is an ongoing process that should be policed consistently. Unfortunately, many dealerships don’t have anyone tasked with marketing that has the right skill set to effectively accomplish this.

In my next blog, part three of this series, I will talk about how to get your data then clean it up so that it can be used effectively in target marketing.

I recently read a very thought-provoking article asking this very question; “Is the simple fact that the customer has money enough to make the purchase a determining factor for you?” Too often the customers dealerships try and attract aren’t necessarily the customers they really should be targeting.  According to the article, it’s solely the dealership’s fault. Retail automotive dealerships are known for throwing out all sorts of mixed messages trying to attract the widest audience possible.

No matter what dealership department you work in, you have those customers that take up a lot of your time, sometimes are difficult to deal with and that, in general, are customers you’d rather not have. There are countless stories of sales that were not made simply because the sales manager decided that it would be more trouble trying to get the deal closed than it was really worth. According to the article, while these troublesome customers “did indeed have the money [for services], they were hard on the staff, on occasion disruptive and were gone as fast as they came.”

You may be a dealer who specializes in special finance, obviously there’s nothing wrong with that. However, you must be cognizant of the simple fact that the message you put out there will dictate the type of customers you get. If you don’t want your finance department spending a lot of time trying to get financing, collecting stips and having bank fees eat into your front-end profit, then you may want to rethink your approach in attracting credit-challenged customers with your marketing.

If your marketing message is attracting un-loyal customers who are only doing business with you short term, this will detract from any sensible growth strategy and cause the very thing you don’t want; a shift in focus away from customer retention and an increase towards acquisition. If you’re a 100-car a month store, you’ll never be a 150-car a month store if you are continuously having to seek out customers, especially if those customers are the ones that have no intention of sticking around. There’s nothing wrong with deep discounting a car to a person who lives in your market and will be servicing their vehicle with you. At least there is an upside to that loss. If you’re doing the same thing for a customer who doesn’t live in your market and you will never see again; you’ve taken a loss with no opportunity for future growth. The same applies to your service department. If you are trying to acquire customers with $19.95 oil changes and find very little up-sell happening, chances are good that those customers won’t be back… that is until the next $19.95 oil change.

Many dealerships don’t know how to isolate or segregate the customers who are doing this when in fact, it’s a very simple process. Technology offers solutions to dealers that allow them to track purchases and customer interactions through sophisticated loyalty programs. The installation of a loyalty program would help you identify the customers that only come in for these deep discounts but also allow you to separate them from your marketing efforts. It becomes very simple then to not offer coupons or deals to those specific customers that are in reality actually costing you money. The opposite also applies. When you have a customer that you consistently up-sell when they come in for a $19.95 oil change, you can send them these types of offers on a more frequent basis. They are the predisposed profitable customer, and will in all likelihood make that same purchase again.

As the article states, “…in order to build a business that truly can thrive, you must understand who you are equipped to serve best and you must do everything in your power to attract, serve and choose them over all else.”

Next time you are contemplating marketing strategies, think about which customers you want to attract. Then tailor your message to them and ensure that you are equipped to offer those customers everything they need and want. By doing so, you’ll decrease the number of customers you don’t want, and position your dealership to choose your customers. Chances are good that if the choice is mutual, everyone will win in the end.

I recently read a very thought-provoking article asking this very question; “Is the simple fact that the customer has money enough to make the purchase a determining factor for you?” Too often the customers dealerships try and attract aren’t necessarily the customers they really should be targeting.  According to the article, it’s solely the dealership’s fault. Retail automotive dealerships are known for throwing out all sorts of mixed messages trying to attract the widest audience possible.

No matter what dealership department you work in, you have those customers that take up a lot of your time, sometimes are difficult to deal with and that, in general, are customers you’d rather not have. There are countless stories of sales that were not made simply because the sales manager decided that it would be more trouble trying to get the deal closed than it was really worth. According to the article, while these troublesome customers “did indeed have the money [for services], they were hard on the staff, on occasion disruptive and were gone as fast as they came.”

You may be a dealer who specializes in special finance, obviously there’s nothing wrong with that. However, you must be cognizant of the simple fact that the message you put out there will dictate the type of customers you get. If you don’t want your finance department spending a lot of time trying to get financing, collecting stips and having bank fees eat into your front-end profit, then you may want to rethink your approach in attracting credit-challenged customers with your marketing.

If your marketing message is attracting un-loyal customers who are only doing business with you short term, this will detract from any sensible growth strategy and cause the very thing you don’t want; a shift in focus away from customer retention and an increase towards acquisition. If you’re a 100-car a month store, you’ll never be a 150-car a month store if you are continuously having to seek out customers, especially if those customers are the ones that have no intention of sticking around. There’s nothing wrong with deep discounting a car to a person who lives in your market and will be servicing their vehicle with you. At least there is an upside to that loss. If you’re doing the same thing for a customer who doesn’t live in your market and you will never see again; you’ve taken a loss with no opportunity for future growth. The same applies to your service department. If you are trying to acquire customers with $19.95 oil changes and find very little up-sell happening, chances are good that those customers won’t be back… that is until the next $19.95 oil change.

Many dealerships don’t know how to isolate or segregate the customers who are doing this when in fact, it’s a very simple process. Technology offers solutions to dealers that allow them to track purchases and customer interactions through sophisticated loyalty programs. The installation of a loyalty program would help you identify the customers that only come in for these deep discounts but also allow you to separate them from your marketing efforts. It becomes very simple then to not offer coupons or deals to those specific customers that are in reality actually costing you money. The opposite also applies. When you have a customer that you consistently up-sell when they come in for a $19.95 oil change, you can send them these types of offers on a more frequent basis. They are the predisposed profitable customer, and will in all likelihood make that same purchase again.

As the article states, “…in order to build a business that truly can thrive, you must understand who you are equipped to serve best and you must do everything in your power to attract, serve and choose them over all else.”

Next time you are contemplating marketing strategies, think about which customers you want to attract. Then tailor your message to them and ensure that you are equipped to offer those customers everything they need and want. By doing so, you’ll decrease the number of customers you don’t want, and position your dealership to choose your customers. Chances are good that if the choice is mutual, everyone will win in the end.

In a recent announcement by Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, it was revealed that Yahoo will soon stop allowing its users to login using their Facebook or Google credentials. This move is an effort by Yahoo to better control its content and services. On the surface, the move makes sense and doesn’t seem as if there would be significant backlash from consumers. Facebook and Google log-ins have become very prevalent over the past couple of years, accounting for 80 percent of consumer social logins. Consumers have widely adopted these because they allow easy access to many sites using one secure log-in. Forcing users, some of which don’t even have Yahoo accounts, to register and use those login credentials may hurt traffic and users may choose to patronize other sites with similar services.

Yahoo has seen its ups and downs over the past decade in web traffic. Since Marissa Mayer became CEO, she has guided the company back to become the most trafficked site in the United States, according to comScore data, even surpassing the search giant Google.

This is not the first such experience for Yahoo. A few years ago, in an attempt to increase traffic to it’s popular photo-sharing property Flickr, it dropped the Yahoo-only login requirement. In a 2012 article, Flickr’s product manager Markus Spiering said, “We don’t care so much about what kind of passport you have – a Google ID, Facebook.”  However, now, in one swift move, Yahoo has decided that it does, in fact, care.

Yahoo has some incredibly popular services including Flickr and Fantasy Sports, yet both of those services have very tough competition, from most major sports networks ESPN and CBS on the Fantasy Sports side, to Instagram, Facebook and others on the photo sharing side.

Convenience aside, social logins are attractive to users because they allow the user to share of photos and content with a wide variety of networks, without actually leaving the site they are on. By disconnecting Facebook and Google passports, Yahoo will effectively be isolating its visitors, and content, to its properties. With a billion people sharing content on platforms such as Facebook, Google+ and Twitter, a Yahoo user would now find it necessary to leave Yahoo in order to share that content.

Will this inconvenience detract from the user experience in a big enough way to actually deter users from sharing content originating from a Yahoo property? If it does, Yahoo properties may experience a decrease in audience. When users share content with their social networks, that content delivers more traffic to Yahoo. If people stop sharing it, it would seem logical that Yahoo would experience the opposite.

It’s obvious that Yahoo feels confident enough in the quality and value of its content and services that its willing to bet that any loss of traffic through defected users will be replaced by the increase of registered users on its site and, perhaps, to an increased loyalty base. It’s certainly a risky experiment. In our increasingly inter-connected world, choosing control over user experience could either be a huge mistake or a brilliant move. Only time will tell.

In a recent announcement by Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, it was revealed that Yahoo will soon stop allowing its users to login using their Facebook or Google credentials. This move is an effort by Yahoo to better control its content and services. On the surface, the move makes sense and doesn’t seem as if there would be significant backlash from consumers. Facebook and Google log-ins have become very prevalent over the past couple of years, accounting for 80 percent of consumer social logins. Consumers have widely adopted these because they allow easy access to many sites using one secure log-in. Forcing users, some of which don’t even have Yahoo accounts, to register and use those login credentials may hurt traffic and users may choose to patronize other sites with similar services.

Yahoo has seen its ups and downs over the past decade in web traffic. Since Marissa Mayer became CEO, she has guided the company back to become the most trafficked site in the United States, according to comScore data, even surpassing the search giant Google.

This is not the first such experience for Yahoo. A few years ago, in an attempt to increase traffic to it’s popular photo-sharing property Flickr, it dropped the Yahoo-only login requirement. In a 2012 article, Flickr’s product manager Markus Spiering said, “We don’t care so much about what kind of passport you have – a Google ID, Facebook.”  However, now, in one swift move, Yahoo has decided that it does, in fact, care.

Yahoo has some incredibly popular services including Flickr and Fantasy Sports, yet both of those services have very tough competition, from most major sports networks ESPN and CBS on the Fantasy Sports side, to Instagram, Facebook and others on the photo sharing side.

Convenience aside, social logins are attractive to users because they allow the user to share of photos and content with a wide variety of networks, without actually leaving the site they are on. By disconnecting Facebook and Google passports, Yahoo will effectively be isolating its visitors, and content, to its properties. With a billion people sharing content on platforms such as Facebook, Google+ and Twitter, a Yahoo user would now find it necessary to leave Yahoo in order to share that content.

Will this inconvenience detract from the user experience in a big enough way to actually deter users from sharing content originating from a Yahoo property? If it does, Yahoo properties may experience a decrease in audience. When users share content with their social networks, that content delivers more traffic to Yahoo. If people stop sharing it, it would seem logical that Yahoo would experience the opposite.

It’s obvious that Yahoo feels confident enough in the quality and value of its content and services that its willing to bet that any loss of traffic through defected users will be replaced by the increase of registered users on its site and, perhaps, to an increased loyalty base. It’s certainly a risky experiment. In our increasingly inter-connected world, choosing control over user experience could either be a huge mistake or a brilliant move. Only time will tell.

Dealerships today are continuously seeking new ways to acquire new customers. Endless services and platforms pop up almost daily that offer businesses new ways to reach out to the world and attract new customers – whether that’s through online media, social media platforms, mobile ads or database mining. The problem is that many businesses concentrate far too much on leveraging other companies’ data to identify, segment and target potential new customers; but ignore the most important data in existence – their own. 

Loyalty isn’t something that can be bought and a well-designed loyalty program shouldn’t be expected to do that. A great loyalty program, in fact, shouldn’t be viewed as a customer acquisition tool at all.  People shouldn’t start doing business with you simply because you have a loyalty program. If that’s the only reason they do, you’re probably having a tough time retaining customers in general. Loyalty begins with an interaction and then a soft relationship and is generally something that is earned and with proper engagement it will certainly grows stronger over time.

The best way to start earning customer loyalty is by focusing on first person data – yours. The data you collect from your in store systems can provide critical insights to drive better, and more frequent, marketing and messaging decisions. Mine it regularly and strategically. Your DMS and CRM are both full of information that will assist you in identifying the three main groups of people that you should be focusing on

1. Your existing loyal customers: This is the group of people that have been doing business with you consistently over a period of time in some cases maybe even years. It may include people who have purchased multiple cars with you and/or people who are consistently servicing their vehicles with you, regardless of where they were purchased. Through your sales and service records, it is very easy to identify these people. These are your Tier 1 customers and the foundation of your business.  Loose a Tier 1 customer and it is very difficult and costly to replace them not to mention their lost revenue.
2. These existing customers whose loyalty you will need to earn through timely engagement: This group of Tier 2 customers include customers who have purchased vehicles from you but may or may not be utilizing your service department on a consistent basis. Identify these people by looking for service records of customers who are getting warranty work completed, but not regular service. There may also be customers who only get regular service when they bring their vehicle in for warranty work. Additionally look for customers who have inconsistent service records with you. Maybe they have their 10,000-mile service completed with you, but did not visit you again until their 30,000-mile service.
3. New customers that you can begin earning loyalty from: This group includes everyone who purchases a car from you, (new or used) as well as all new service customers. Pay close attention to customers with really low mileage vehicles that were not bought from you. Chances are that you are the closest franchise dealer to them, so they have a high-percentage conversion into becoming a loyal customer. You may not have earned the vehicle sale, but that doesn’t mean you can’t keep the customer.

These are three very different groups of people and you must tailor your retention marketing and engagement activities appropriately. Think of these three groups in terms of relationships. You’re married to the first group. You’ve been on a couple of dates with the second group. You’re on a first date with the third group. As any married person knows, interaction on the first date is much different than after you’ve been married a few years. It’s natural to act different on a first date. You don’t know each other very well, but there is a potential for a relationship. As each date progresses – first date becomes a second date then a third date – each party becomes more invested in the relationship and more familiar with how they should act with each other, and what to expect.

Sadly, a high percentage of loyalty marketing has messages that assume the customer has already married them. Segment these three groups and tailor your loyalty marketing to be appropriate for each stage of the existing relationship. This will help you find increased success in progressing a customer down the path to marriage. 

Dealerships today are continuously seeking new ways to acquire new customers. Endless services and platforms pop up almost daily that offer businesses new ways to reach out to the world and attract new customers – whether that’s through online media, social media platforms, mobile ads or database mining. The problem is that many businesses concentrate far too much on leveraging other companies’ data to identify, segment and target potential new customers; but ignore the most important data in existence – their own. 

Loyalty isn’t something that can be bought and a well-designed loyalty program shouldn’t be expected to do that. A great loyalty program, in fact, shouldn’t be viewed as a customer acquisition tool at all.  People shouldn’t start doing business with you simply because you have a loyalty program. If that’s the only reason they do, you’re probably having a tough time retaining customers in general. Loyalty begins with an interaction and then a soft relationship and is generally something that is earned and with proper engagement it will certainly grows stronger over time.

The best way to start earning customer loyalty is by focusing on first person data – yours. The data you collect from your in store systems can provide critical insights to drive better, and more frequent, marketing and messaging decisions. Mine it regularly and strategically. Your DMS and CRM are both full of information that will assist you in identifying the three main groups of people that you should be focusing on

1. Your existing loyal customers: This is the group of people that have been doing business with you consistently over a period of time in some cases maybe even years. It may include people who have purchased multiple cars with you and/or people who are consistently servicing their vehicles with you, regardless of where they were purchased. Through your sales and service records, it is very easy to identify these people. These are your Tier 1 customers and the foundation of your business.  Loose a Tier 1 customer and it is very difficult and costly to replace them not to mention their lost revenue.
2. These existing customers whose loyalty you will need to earn through timely engagement: This group of Tier 2 customers include customers who have purchased vehicles from you but may or may not be utilizing your service department on a consistent basis. Identify these people by looking for service records of customers who are getting warranty work completed, but not regular service. There may also be customers who only get regular service when they bring their vehicle in for warranty work. Additionally look for customers who have inconsistent service records with you. Maybe they have their 10,000-mile service completed with you, but did not visit you again until their 30,000-mile service.
3. New customers that you can begin earning loyalty from: This group includes everyone who purchases a car from you, (new or used) as well as all new service customers. Pay close attention to customers with really low mileage vehicles that were not bought from you. Chances are that you are the closest franchise dealer to them, so they have a high-percentage conversion into becoming a loyal customer. You may not have earned the vehicle sale, but that doesn’t mean you can’t keep the customer.

These are three very different groups of people and you must tailor your retention marketing and engagement activities appropriately. Think of these three groups in terms of relationships. You’re married to the first group. You’ve been on a couple of dates with the second group. You’re on a first date with the third group. As any married person knows, interaction on the first date is much different than after you’ve been married a few years. It’s natural to act different on a first date. You don’t know each other very well, but there is a potential for a relationship. As each date progresses – first date becomes a second date then a third date – each party becomes more invested in the relationship and more familiar with how they should act with each other, and what to expect.

Sadly, a high percentage of loyalty marketing has messages that assume the customer has already married them. Segment these three groups and tailor your loyalty marketing to be appropriate for each stage of the existing relationship. This will help you find increased success in progressing a customer down the path to marriage. 

One of the challenges that dealers and managers face when analyzing their marketing budgets is sourcing traffic. Do you find anomalies in your sources when reviewing the sourcing of your store’s traffic? Is every customer being reported in your CRM as generated via a Walk-in, Billboard, Auto Mall or AAA?  AAA sounds great until you realize you don’t even have a program with AAA. So you take that source off and the first one becomes “Auto Mall.” And guess where most of your traffic comes from the next month…. You got it, the Auto Mall.

Dealerships have powerful resources available that, if used properly, can help them better manage their marketing dollars and use that money more effectively. Garbage in, garbage out, however. 

Wise dealerships have processes in place designed to source clients. Most will ask this question during the initial customer interview on first contact as part of the salesperson’s “Meet and Greet,” while others do it in the box during the initial write up. Some dealers also do this while the customer is in finance as well.  Quite a few dealerships, however, neglect to integrate this into multiple touch-points.

A customer may not want to reveal what brought them into the dealership because they had a poor experience with their first contact and are afraid they will get immediately ushered straight back to that person (which is often what happens). Maybe they didn’t get the answers they wanted to hear from the first person (i.e.: the price was firm, etc.). Regardless of why the customer doesn’t want to be honest, getting accurate information out of them is imperative in analyzing the effectiveness of your marketing budget. The reality is that what most customers report to the salesperson is different from what they report to the finance manager. Most dealerships will assume that the source reported in the finance department is most accurate since the customer has successfully completed a transaction and is less likely to have motivation to hide what originally brought them into the dealership. The purpose of multiple touch points and effective software is to increase the likelihood that credit for the traffic generation is accurately given to the proper source. If you don’t know the source, you won’t be able to analyze which of your marketing is effective.

Whether you actually have a giant inflatable gorilla or wavy tube guy as part of the décor of your dealership or not, I challenge you to add one (or both) to your CRM as sources. If you actually have one, install that. Don’t tell anyone; just add it as a source. Then sit back and watch what happens. It’s Interesting but a recent study conducted by Performance Loyalty Group indicated the majority of dealer customers were sourced simply from drive by traffic, and in some cases it was as high as 40%. It may be noted that none of the survey participants have an inflatable gorilla.

I guarantee you that you’ll start seeing customer traffic from the “giant inflatable gorilla,” regardless of if you actually have one or not. And this is a problem. How can you truly analyze your marketing spend without accurate results? Sure, Internet and some other types of leads go straight into your CRM so you know those are accurate. But I am sure that you also get plenty of showroom traffic that you may, or may not know the correct source for. Was it your website? Was it your radio ad?

You need to know this. Your software & database can be a more powerful tool for your store if you put timely and accurate information in it. It can help you truly analyze where your money is spent and can even help save you money by identifying poorly performing vendors. The use of unique call-tracking numbers in all of your marketing is also valuable in sourcing and is recommended for all of your marketing including traditional and online efforts.

Despite all of the software and uses of technology to assist in proper sourcing, you have to rely on your people to do their job and get you the right information. In the end, it will help you better manage your marketing dollars which, as a result, will help increase sales by making your marketing more effective. Salespeople are afraid to ask customers because they fear the dreaded “half-deal.” Their biggest fear is that they’ll have worked with a customer for hours and be right on the cusp of making a sale.  But then the customer says they submitted a lead on the Internet, or spoke to someone on the phone. They’d rather not ask and, if this were the case, they’d prefer that someone else discover it. 

In these cases, there exists “plausible deniability” for the salesperson. If the customer has never been in contact with anyone at the dealership or, if they have been and it goes unnoticed, they stand to get the whole deal. If someone does notice, they can truthfully deny knowledge of the customer’s previous interactions with your store. They still lose half the deal (potentially) but the opportunity to keep the whole deal is too tempting.

For this reason, you need to make sure that you have as many ways and as many opportunities as possible to properly source your marketing. If technology doesn’t accomplish this, make sure that customers are asked multiple times, by multiple people during different parts of the sales or service process. While the customer may not want to disclose where they came from in the beginning for reasons I’ve mentioned, once a deal is closed and they are in finance, they may be more willing to share accurate information.

This fear of “half-deals” is costing you money. You have software in your store to manage your customer relations and track activity. It also helps you make decisions that can cost (or save) you tens of thousands of dollars. Install processes in your store that mandate accurate sourcing from your salespeople and enforce them with real consequences.

If you don’t, you’ll probably find that a giant inflatable gorilla brings you quite a bit of floor traffic… even if you don’t have one.

One of the challenges that dealers and managers face when analyzing their marketing budgets is sourcing traffic. Do you find anomalies in your sources when reviewing the sourcing of your store’s traffic? Is every customer being reported in your CRM as generated via a Walk-in, Billboard, Auto Mall or AAA?  AAA sounds great until you realize you don’t even have a program with AAA. So you take that source off and the first one becomes “Auto Mall.” And guess where most of your traffic comes from the next month…. You got it, the Auto Mall.

Dealerships have powerful resources available that, if used properly, can help them better manage their marketing dollars and use that money more effectively. Garbage in, garbage out, however. 

Wise dealerships have processes in place designed to source clients. Most will ask this question during the initial customer interview on first contact as part of the salesperson’s “Meet and Greet,” while others do it in the box during the initial write up. Some dealers also do this while the customer is in finance as well.  Quite a few dealerships, however, neglect to integrate this into multiple touch-points.

A customer may not want to reveal what brought them into the dealership because they had a poor experience with their first contact and are afraid they will get immediately ushered straight back to that person (which is often what happens). Maybe they didn’t get the answers they wanted to hear from the first person (i.e.: the price was firm, etc.). Regardless of why the customer doesn’t want to be honest, getting accurate information out of them is imperative in analyzing the effectiveness of your marketing budget. The reality is that what most customers report to the salesperson is different from what they report to the finance manager. Most dealerships will assume that the source reported in the finance department is most accurate since the customer has successfully completed a transaction and is less likely to have motivation to hide what originally brought them into the dealership. The purpose of multiple touch points and effective software is to increase the likelihood that credit for the traffic generation is accurately given to the proper source. If you don’t know the source, you won’t be able to analyze which of your marketing is effective.

Whether you actually have a giant inflatable gorilla or wavy tube guy as part of the décor of your dealership or not, I challenge you to add one (or both) to your CRM as sources. If you actually have one, install that. Don’t tell anyone; just add it as a source. Then sit back and watch what happens. It’s Interesting but a recent study conducted by Performance Loyalty Group indicated the majority of dealer customers were sourced simply from drive by traffic, and in some cases it was as high as 40%. It may be noted that none of the survey participants have an inflatable gorilla.

I guarantee you that you’ll start seeing customer traffic from the “giant inflatable gorilla,” regardless of if you actually have one or not. And this is a problem. How can you truly analyze your marketing spend without accurate results? Sure, Internet and some other types of leads go straight into your CRM so you know those are accurate. But I am sure that you also get plenty of showroom traffic that you may, or may not know the correct source for. Was it your website? Was it your radio ad?

You need to know this. Your software & database can be a more powerful tool for your store if you put timely and accurate information in it. It can help you truly analyze where your money is spent and can even help save you money by identifying poorly performing vendors. The use of unique call-tracking numbers in all of your marketing is also valuable in sourcing and is recommended for all of your marketing including traditional and online efforts.

Despite all of the software and uses of technology to assist in proper sourcing, you have to rely on your people to do their job and get you the right information. In the end, it will help you better manage your marketing dollars which, as a result, will help increase sales by making your marketing more effective. Salespeople are afraid to ask customers because they fear the dreaded “half-deal.” Their biggest fear is that they’ll have worked with a customer for hours and be right on the cusp of making a sale.  But then the customer says they submitted a lead on the Internet, or spoke to someone on the phone. They’d rather not ask and, if this were the case, they’d prefer that someone else discover it. 

In these cases, there exists “plausible deniability” for the salesperson. If the customer has never been in contact with anyone at the dealership or, if they have been and it goes unnoticed, they stand to get the whole deal. If someone does notice, they can truthfully deny knowledge of the customer’s previous interactions with your store. They still lose half the deal (potentially) but the opportunity to keep the whole deal is too tempting.

For this reason, you need to make sure that you have as many ways and as many opportunities as possible to properly source your marketing. If technology doesn’t accomplish this, make sure that customers are asked multiple times, by multiple people during different parts of the sales or service process. While the customer may not want to disclose where they came from in the beginning for reasons I’ve mentioned, once a deal is closed and they are in finance, they may be more willing to share accurate information.

This fear of “half-deals” is costing you money. You have software in your store to manage your customer relations and track activity. It also helps you make decisions that can cost (or save) you tens of thousands of dollars. Install processes in your store that mandate accurate sourcing from your salespeople and enforce them with real consequences.

If you don’t, you’ll probably find that a giant inflatable gorilla brings you quite a bit of floor traffic… even if you don’t have one.