Let me be completely clear – it infuriates me on how much valuable time I spend every day telling vendors to quit calling!!!!  How often do you hear this, “I only need 2 minutes of your time to help you increase car sales and gross profit.”  Give me a freaking break…. 2 minutes?????  The only thing I hate more than lying vendors is losing money… and I hate losing money.  A big way people lose money is by not having effective ads online.  If you are as perplexed on the right way to market vehicles online as I was – I highly suggest you read on. 

I’m an extremely hands on GM, and for me and my internet leads, it’s all about conversion rate – in the sea of sameness on the cars.com and autotraders of the world– how I get my car to stand out?  I've been having great success with MAX Ad for a while.  It's created the best customized vehicle listing for online marketing that I've seen so far; pulling in almost all possible data on the car.  This product takes virtually no work; I put in the VIN number and BAM – everything auto populates.  Not only does it include all the information that customers are looking for but it puts in a format that stands out, not just the garbled lines of text usually seen.

I have been piloting the new MAX 3.0 and it got even better.  Here are a few of my favorite new features:

• Executive Dashboard:  at a glance I can see how all of my ads are doing on all the different sites my vehicle is listed on.  How many SRP’s vs. DRP’s, what vehicles aren’t attracting any traffic and even cars that haven’t been listed yet: all this on one screen.
• MAX for BMW (I am sure they have this for almost every manufacturer): pushes directly to bmwusa.com for my certified vehicles and even pulls in competitive data like “The new X3 has better fuel economy than the Audi A5 and more cargo space than the MB GLK”.  Love this part – I don’t have to ride my used car manager to pull that data from anywhere else.

I just started using the iPad app: absolutely amazing!!!  Shoppers are now doing all their research BEFORE they come to our store and they will visit less than two dealerships before making a car purchase – I need empowered client advisors with the resources to defend our pricing strategy right away, not come up to the desk and ask for help.  The Max Ads iPad App gives us that power.

My whole inventory is on there with all the features; Carfax, expert reviews, pictures of the vehicle – it even allows them to email that directly to the customer.  Car shoppers are now more equipped than ever, with the Max app I can pull up competitive cars right there on the showroom and show how our car compares – all customizable to distance from my store. 

            My relationship with MaxAd and Firstlook began many years ago and since I’m such a hands-on GM, I’m really looking for partners, not just somebody who takes my checks each month.  This product and this design team is for real.  My reason for staying with this company as long as I have is this: they genuinely care about my stores success and LISTEN to what I need.  Updates come often and their team is always available to work through any issues I have.

DO NOT let technology scare you and DO NOT let savvy customers get the best of your used car department or your sales staff.  Max Ads 3.0 and Max Ads iPad app has really put me back in the driver’s seat.  Has anyone else had this kind of success with Max Ads or seen other options it has?  What else are you all using out there?

Happy Selling,

Ricky Wood

President, Faulkner BMW

rwood@faulknerbmw.com

717-569-4269