Do you ever just feel like enough is enough?  Too much negative press, too many one sided conversations rehashed again and again until it feels like gospel or you dread to hear the next update.  Let's face it, it gets old after a while. 

Now we are constantly being hit with old stuff rewrapped to look different.  Buzz words come and go an they are usually defined by something we already know or have heard about.  It is just renamed to make it look fresh.  Yawn...  It makes me tired to even write about it.

Blurred are the lines and finding an easy way to manage and decipher all of the things we are hit with is not an easy task.  Personally I subscribe to around 100 blogs via RSS, two dozen daily email newsletters and don't forget the "special updates" that entails.  What is amazing though in all of that content that comes to me daily I can pick and choose what matters.

One thing I have surely noticed is the updates from auto industry related content providers is usually depressing, unless you are picking and choosing depressed auto stocks right now, and the content that comes from the other side of the online world tries to deliver solutions and information that people can use to increase their online marketing presence, improve a process,build customer bases and create products that people want.

It is the latter type of content this industry needs right now.  Ways for dealers to enhance their business today without sacrificing integrity, increasing budgets or being sold snake oil.  It is tactical, measurable results that dealers and their people on the ground need.

That is the culture here at DrivingSales and if you are reading this and not a member you need to get involved and sign up today.  The car business is entering a new age and if you are going to be a part of the industry pay attention to what matters, not the things that don't.

For now on when I find those gems that can apply to our industry you will find them here and hopefully my readers can benefit.  All I ask from you is when we meet you shake my hand, buy me a drink and, sit down and chat for a spell.

Dealerships are closing daily.  In my local market area over the last week eight stores have closed and a new group which owns three stores is teetering.  This after the announcement of the Bill Heard fiasco.  This has really affected a lot of people I know and the strong professionals have already repositioned prior to the notice of the closings.  I personally worked for a dealer that folded in the early 90's and probably held on longer than what was prudent before finding a new home.

When I look at the closing that have taken place one thing really stands out, in my opinion, is that these dealerships closing was long over due.  It was amplified by the current market conditions and poor management and consumer perception finally caught up. The groups that have shut their doors were constantly having problems even when business was good.

This has placed the dealerships that have sound business practices in a position to capture business that these stores were taking out of the market.  Yep the strong will survive and these ones standing are in a position to increase their market share.  It is capitalism at it's best.  The opportunities abound..

 

The automotive industry is one of the most competitive retail industries in the United States and dealers have been competing with each other for years in their marketing efforts.  Running print, radio and television in competitive markets is nothing new.  Achieving the same results online is easier than what most will lead you to believe.

You can accomplish this using a variety of mediums and your own websites.  The real question is how do you go about this.  An aggressive SEO campaign can help if you and the vendor providing the services understand what are the right keywords to go after.  This can only be accomplished with research of the search markets.

There is little value in optimizing a site for keywords that are never searched for.  I am going to use my local markets as an example.

Having your site to optimize well for a term such as "Used Car Kingsland" (a medium to small sized town) has very little benefit compared to ranking for a terms such as "Used car and truck sales Jacksonville Florida" (a major metro).  The search volume is nil for the first term and the second one only averages eight searches a day.  However if you can rank number one for the Jacksonville term it should generate you around 200 clicks a month.

Then if your copy is compelling you should be able to generate click throughs to your used car inventory even if you are located in Kingsland, about 30 miles from Jacksonville.  People searching for used car dealers in Jacksonville can be from surrounding markets and even your own.  It would give you the opportunity to cut your competition off at the pass and score a lead for business today.

Paul Rushing
Community Development
912-266-1629
www.drivingsales.com
paulr@drivingsales.com
www.ismintraining.com

 

There were a lot of people in attendance at the recent Digital Dealer V and the JD Powers Internet Round Table yet I have yet to see a detailed round up from dealership or vendor participants barring one from VinSolutions. Thanks Matt!! Who else have successes to share or tips to give to those who were not in attendance? It would be great to get a recap since no one took the time to give updates from the conference floors..

The buzz words of the day are social media and social networking.  For those that are doubting the viability here are some very interesting numbers.

56% of American consumers feel both a stronger connection with, and better served by, companies when they can interact with them in a social media environment.

When Americans were asked about specific types of interactions:

• 43% say that companies should use social networks to solve my problems
• 41% want companies to solicit feedback on their products and services
• 37% feel that companies should develop new ways for consumers to interact with their brand
• 33% of men and 17% of women interact frequently (one or more times per week) with companies via social media

What is more impressive is that 85% of consumers that fall into Generation Y (born after 1979) participate in social networking and 57% reported involvement with blogs. The biggest thing to take away from this information is that 85% of American want companies to interact with them via these channels and 93% believe they should have a presence.  (source 2008 Cone Business in Social Media Study)

Interaction is more than a one way pitch.  It is about receiving feedback and helping consumers before they have a desire for your product.  This gives you the opportunity as a company and as an individual professional to reach more people faster than any other traditional medium. Developing a social media / social networking strategy for attracting new business and retaining customers is not a simple by the numbers proposition.  It requires you to get in and get your hands dirty to develop these presences or you can outsource it.  The real key is to get started now if you have not already. Stay up to date with marketing strategies and auto industry best practices at DrivingSales

Owning your own business is the dream of many, while many are in business for themselves and do not even realize it.  When I first entered the car business in 1990 I had an awesome sales manager that took the time to really ingrain in me that I was in business for myself.  The dealership provided me with free inventory, a free office, a free phone line and even a few potential customers.  He also reminded the entire staff daily that if you are just waiting for ups to walk through the door we were never going to be very successful. We all know that people that have already done business with us are the best people to market too, especially if their purchase and service experiences were extraordinary, not a new concept.  One of the things that was taught to me way back then was a dedicated follow up process to follow.  To bad we did not have the technology then that is available to us now. Today while unpacking my office, I just moved, I found that old follow up routine in my treasure trove cabinet.

Follow up on sold customers: Day 1 or Day after - Congratulations call and thank you for your business.  Maye sure there are no unanswered questions.  Mail thank you card. Day 3 - Follow up/Fact Finding - How are you enjoying your new ride, what other kind of vehicles are in the household, Which of those will be replaced next. Day 5 - Recent nice trade.  Mr and Mrs Jones we just traded for _______ . This would be a great vehicle for ________.  Who do you know that may be looking for something like this? Day 7 - Are you tired of me calling you yet?  Let them know that you just want to make sure that they are enjoying their new car and you are available if they ever have any questions. Day 15 - Hey I got something for you.  Give a free first service.  Ask questions about neighbors cars from criss cross directory.  (Note to self: Not even sure it this is still around, need to find online resource) Day 30 - Referred lead talk.  Mr Customer who do you know. Follow up every thirty days for the first year.  Follow up every sixty day for the second and third year. Fourth year start 30 day follow ups again.

These were just the notes from my initial training almost two decades ago.  Of course as you progress documenting your customer contacts some will leave your list, others will refer you a tremendous amount of business and you will earn repeat business. Aggressive follow up like this is how you hit "honey holes" where you wind up selling everyone in the family, office, church, neighborhood cars in a 30 -60 day period.  One of my favorite types of customers were young soldiers and sailors.  If you treated them right and followed up aggressively it always meant additional sales. Now technology has made this type of constant contact easier and faster and a heck of a lot easier to manage.  Index card boxes and tickler files are a thing of the past, for some, but for sure the techniques will still apply today.  Chances are if you are In the Trenches and following up properly you probably have some other good tips to give yourself, as this was just an over view.  Please fire away in the comments below.  

An established competitive edge in today's market climate may separate the ones who make it from the ones that will not be around when cycles do as they always have, rise after falling.  It is what we do that differentiates us from Johnny down the road.  This is just not in retail but in business to business as well. While my goal is not to tell you how to run your business, chance are you have been doing that well already.  My main purpose is to remind you to seek ways to push your competitive edge further and wider than you have without looking back. We are constantly reminded in any sales and marketing training material that it is easier to market to current customers than it is to attract new ones.  In service businesses, dealer vendors, it may as simple as taking time to find out what your customers really want.  If you have an established clientele look to create products for the people who are already doing business with you versus finding the expensive to attract new one.  In retail pushing the edge may be as simple as picking up the phone to call your customers to see how the world is treating them without leading with a pitch.  The conversations you have will surprise you and should lead to referrals and sales. Don't believe me?  Try it and let me know how bad these ideas are..

Daily I speak with people who work in the car business, mostly online connections.  Today I decided to reach out to those I know locally about how things were going for them.  These are people I have worked with in the past. One thing that stood out is that used car guys were not groaning as loud as those that work at franchised stores.  Everybody I asked "How's business?" rolled their eyes and replied with different comments and variations that equated to it has been better.  We all know that!! Some of the people I visited have seen management turn over 3 times this year and stores had high turn over on the front end on the sales floor.  Here are some of the things that they said attributed to that:

1. Stress at all levels in the dealership.
2. Owners and managers insisting on unobtainable sales goals.
3. Pay plans being scaled back as a result of number two.
4. New managers bringing in "their" people and ignoring those in place.
5. Long term customer relationships being ignored.
6. Dedication and longevity is no longer rewarded.

What struck me the hardest was the pack teams coming in on false promises work their pay plan as hard as possible and jumping ship after pouring on tons or water to used car inventories and and running off others that have been with the store for three years or longer.  Anybody that has been in the car business for any length of time has seen this happen either first hand or at one of their competitors. This phenomenon does many things to hurt a business long term and attributes to many of the things listed above.  Is this a completely avoidable situation and what are the first signs of this happening so it can be frozen in it's tracks?

Long tail SEO is one of the easiest ways to draw traffic to your site. Long tail search terms are very specific search terms. In automotive I would describe them as "Used Red f-150 in Seattle" or "Hyundai Sonata w/nav near Jacksonville". Real easy to rank for but hard to define. A real life example where long tail searches influenced my buying activity is where I need to replace a laptop keyboards for two l laptops. I did a search for "replacement keyboard laptop model#" and found exactly what I was looking for right away ordered them and they will be here tomorrow. The site that had one also had the other. A win win for me. I spent less for two replacement keyboards than I was getting prices for one. Longtail will get buyers in that are looking for something specifically that you may have in stock. Take advantage of it.

Reaching critical mass in online marketing involves many different techniques and disciplines.  Building upon your foundation can provide incremental traffic to your site and help spread your marketing message beyond your core online marketing property. 

The recent winning strategy is using some very inexpensive and free tools to help build more layers of content for customers to find their main website and to interact with their company in a permission based format.  This accomplishes a few things in their online marketing efforts, in addition to the direct interactions through these alternative mediums.

• SEO for their main site - Having other properties that you are in control of brings in links to your main site which helps elevate it in the search engine results pages.
• Tapping markets they are not in directly - Having multiple layers of content beyond your regular site will help you broaden the number of keywords that deliver traffic to properties your control.
• Traffic from other sources - When you create value added content that is not a direct marketing pitch others will link to you thus pushing traffic and link juice.

The main thing is being in control of the content. So that way you have will always have it at your disposal. Whether you are doing for personal branding or dealership branding. He who pays for it owns it. There are some opinions about this being shared on our discussion board as well.