Think about it.  Would you buy a Ferrari if you did not own a garage to park it in?  I sure wouldn't.  Now apply that theory to your marketing strategy.  Look at where you spend your marketing money every month.  Is it SEO, or internet leads, do you pay per click, or page visit?  You are paying an extremely high price based on your return.  I am willing to bet 90% of the dealers out there are spending at least 75% of there advertising and marketing budget on something they don't fully understand, or are not yet prepared to handle.  "Search Engine Optimization" is a fancy term, and the young trendy internet salesperson that shook your dealership down for a huge portion of your marketing budget, loves the fact you have no idea what you are buying, and that you have no idea how to track.  Sure they will give you click data, and page visit numbers.  Now tell me what that means to you.  It is no different than telling you how many cars drive past your store every month, compared to how many people drive into your lot.  Only there is not an emotional connection to the web traffic.  You have spent hundreds of thousands or more likely millions on the appearance of your store, and the staff inside.  You are prepared or at least you think you are, when a customer visits your dealership.  How much have you spent on Internet Marketing?  Do you even have a real Internet Department?  I am willing to bet a lot of dealers answer those questions, a lot, and no.

 

 

Until your process includes a clear and concise response to a given stimulant, do not stimulate.  Meaning don't spend money on SEO until you know what it is, how to handle it, and how to measure it.  You cannot have value without measurement.  This means if you cannot compare something to something else, it is either worthless or priceless, and in this case it is worthless.  So you may ask where should I be spending my money?  Yeah, everyone has told you 90% of all buyers (and then they say, the real number is much higher) research their vehicle purchase on the internet.  Yes this is correct, and more importantly it is irrelevant to you.  It is important to know this, but not profitable to sell a vehicle on the internet.  Somebody is always going to have a lower price.  My advice is build your reputation online.  Reviews are the single most powerful online traffic pipeline for your dealership.  Offer a free oil change for a review, and no it doesn't have to be a good review.  Think about it, somebody has a bad experience, and wants to take advantage of a free oil change.  That gives you another chance to keep their business.  Without a free oil change they would have never stepped foot in the dealership again, you would not have had that second chance, and they would still tell all there friends and family about there bad experience.  Car buying is still an emotional process, and until the customer walks into your dealership that emotion cannot exist.

 

 

 

If I could suggest one thing.  I would suggest to invest in your current customer base, and your staff.  You need to create a process that caters to your customers.  Make it Personal.  Make it Different.  Make it Great.  If your staff does a great job start to finish, and are able to achieve a personal intimacy with the customer, you will be different than your competition across the street, and in turn you will have earned your customer's trust.  Trust must be achieved before meaningful business can be done.  When you gain trust, you create a relationship with a customer that will in turn buy from you again, and will refer their family and friends to you.  Make a referral process part of your sales process.  Below is a graph that illustrates a very conservative representation of a referral process.  It represents a 1% success rate, which any dealership could achieve with a bad process.

 

As you can see over time you will get a significant increase or ROI.  I will use a starting average of 100 units per month, and an average total front and back total average of $3000.  I will break it down below.

 

Initial Average Gross Front and Back Revenue Per Month $300,000

After 1 Year you will see a 12% Increase or 36,000 per month

After 2 Years you will see a 26% Increase or 78,000 per month

After 3 Years you will see a 42% Increase or 126,000 per month

After 4 Years you will see a 60% Increase or 180,000 per month

after 5 Years you will see a 80% Increase or 240,000 per month

 

Now that is some strong ROI!, and remember all you have to do is get 1 referral to purchase per 100 units, that's just a 1% effectiveness factor.  I think we can do better than that, by implementing a strong process.

 

Scott Ordines

Professional Dealer Consultant and Trainer

716-397-3229