It is no surprise that automotive dealers are being bombarded with vendors creating new products (solutions) all of the time.  In some ways automotive retailers are feeling like they are being hurt and their profits are being taken over.  I was at an Acura dealership the other day when the owner mentioned that cars.com sent a 30 day noticed explaining a price increase.  He was complaining about it and his words were "there is no reason to be a dealer anymore when all you have to do is start a software company".  Does this sound familiar?

The reality is that no one can stop an entrepreneur from taking a dream and turning it into reality.  The other reality is that even in the competitive market there needs to be a solution to fit different needs of automotive dealers.  I think that some vendors need to consider looking at creating quality inexpensive solutions for independent dealerships with low budgets as well.  It seems as all of these technology customers are chasing the same business and competition has become fierce.  While I believe that competition is a beautiful thing I often wonder what dealers reactions are when they get solicited more then five times in a single day.

The bottom line is that companies will be popping up and offering solutions.  There will be companies that dominate and others that fail.  There will also be mergers and acquisitions in the industry where companies will grow drastically.  However, the automotive retailing business does not need to lose profits.  The fact is that dealers need to set a budget and work that budget.  Some vendors will make price increases and if the price increase does not justify the ROI then there are solutions to cut tie and move to their competitor.  This happens with website and CRM companies sometimes.  My point is that dealers need to find ways to make the technology work so that they can maximize opportunity and create a better experience for the customer.  Also, stop looking for the silver bullet or the shiny object because in reality the shiny object is all in the performance of management and your people.

I welcome thoughts and comments.  Thank you.

As I watch new episodes of "Bar Rescue" on Spike I am amazed at some of the things that I have learned about the food and beverage industry.  I have been watching this show with a very open mind to understand what I can do to improve my business practices.  What I have found was that this show has business practices that even automotive professionals and managers need to consider taking a look at.  Let's take a look at what I am talking about.

1. "Drinks should always be 1 oz of liquor to 3 oz of mix.  The perfect oz is a 90 degree angle for 3.5 seconds."  This is one of the quotes that Jon has been using.  He talks about this in order to teach bar owners how to save money to increase ROI.  I find that when looking at the automotive sales process dealers have similar issues with untrained or unexperienced sales consultants letting the customer leave without giving management an opportunity to do a proper TO.  In fact I remember being a new sales person and this happened to me.  My manager had said to me, "congratulations, you just cost the dealership $600" with a hint that every missed opportunity costs the dealership $600.  Just like in the scenario of saving money and maximizing opportunities for a bar the proper process and training in the showroom will save the business money invested.

2. "When customers order drinks like vodka and cranberry, always suggest premium liquor with that.  About 25% of the time you will sell a more expensive brand and that's 25% more cash in your pocket".  This quote can apply to many parts of the sales process including selling add-on accessories, working with a trade in, or even selling products in the finance department.  As a sales professional it is simple to improve profits, get a customer more excited, and provide more value to them by just simply offering to take a look at some more options.  The service department does this be offering to take care of something on the current vehicle sooner then later.  This is a method of up selling.

3. "Redesigning the menu can immediately increase your profit.  Proven techniques by like boxing and shadowing your dishes can increase sales by 10% overnight and it encourages people to go for more expensive items which is the name of the game."  We have all been taught to offer our customers choices and that is a huge part of why finance managers design a menu to sell from.  While selling the most expensive package on the menu will improve the gross profit of a deal it will also offer the customer more added value.  The same added value that will keep them coming back to your dealership for service, future vehicles, and even offer you referrals.  This is the art of letting the customer up sell themselves.

4. In some episodes of the show, Jon Taffer says that "statistically guests will stay 52 minutes longer when they have a mean" when he stresses the importance of offering a food menu.  As a bar consultant and expert he teaches bar owners how to make profits using these technique to up sell guests.  The automotive business is constantly growing by up selling.  When it comes to sales think about that customer that purchased a vehicle to own for a long period of time but did not buy an extended warranty. Also, when offering to take a look at accessories and showing customers the nice things they can do to make their vehicle look and drive nicer we are up selling.  In service, advisors are always up selling when technicians notice that something will have to be replaced soon by offering the guest to get it done now instead of waiting.  Obviously, the business office is in charge of signing up guests and also offering them more value while up selling them in order to improve the gross profit of the deal.  What about vendors selling to dealers?  A dealer signs up with a vendor for a product and starts to use it successfully but to keep up with competition the company creates a new package to present to the dealership.  This is also an up sell.  

Alright, so 3/4 of the Jon Taffer quotes that I related to that automotive industry involve up selling and improving profits while the first statement involve process management.  The bottom line is that every industry practices up selling and there is nothing wrong with it.  A business will grow and maintain success through proper process, marketing, and sales techniques no matter what industry it serves. 

I would like to welcome comments and opinions to this discussion.

As I watch new episodes of "Bar Rescue" on Spike I am amazed at some of the things that I have learned about the food and beverage industry.  I have been watching this show with a very open mind to understand what I can do to improve my business practices.  What I have found was that this show has business practices that even automotive professionals and managers need to consider taking a look at.  Let's take a look at what I am talking about.

1. "Drinks should always be 1 oz of liquor to 3 oz of mix.  The perfect oz is a 90 degree angle for 3.5 seconds."  This is one of the quotes that Jon has been using.  He talks about this in order to teach bar owners how to save money to increase ROI.  I find that when looking at the automotive sales process dealers have similar issues with untrained or unexperienced sales consultants letting the customer leave without giving management an opportunity to do a proper TO.  In fact I remember being a new sales person and this happened to me.  My manager had said to me, "congratulations, you just cost the dealership $600" with a hint that every missed opportunity costs the dealership $600.  Just like in the scenario of saving money and maximizing opportunities for a bar the proper process and training in the showroom will save the business money invested.

2. "When customers order drinks like vodka and cranberry, always suggest premium liquor with that.  About 25% of the time you will sell a more expensive brand and that's 25% more cash in your pocket".  This quote can apply to many parts of the sales process including selling add-on accessories, working with a trade in, or even selling products in the finance department.  As a sales professional it is simple to improve profits, get a customer more excited, and provide more value to them by just simply offering to take a look at some more options.  The service department does this be offering to take care of something on the current vehicle sooner then later.  This is a method of up selling.

3. "Redesigning the menu can immediately increase your profit.  Proven techniques by like boxing and shadowing your dishes can increase sales by 10% overnight and it encourages people to go for more expensive items which is the name of the game."  We have all been taught to offer our customers choices and that is a huge part of why finance managers design a menu to sell from.  While selling the most expensive package on the menu will improve the gross profit of a deal it will also offer the customer more added value.  The same added value that will keep them coming back to your dealership for service, future vehicles, and even offer you referrals.  This is the art of letting the customer up sell themselves.

4. In some episodes of the show, Jon Taffer says that "statistically guests will stay 52 minutes longer when they have a mean" when he stresses the importance of offering a food menu.  As a bar consultant and expert he teaches bar owners how to make profits using these technique to up sell guests.  The automotive business is constantly growing by up selling.  When it comes to sales think about that customer that purchased a vehicle to own for a long period of time but did not buy an extended warranty. Also, when offering to take a look at accessories and showing customers the nice things they can do to make their vehicle look and drive nicer we are up selling.  In service, advisors are always up selling when technicians notice that something will have to be replaced soon by offering the guest to get it done now instead of waiting.  Obviously, the business office is in charge of signing up guests and also offering them more value while up selling them in order to improve the gross profit of the deal.  What about vendors selling to dealers?  A dealer signs up with a vendor for a product and starts to use it successfully but to keep up with competition the company creates a new package to present to the dealership.  This is also an up sell.  

Alright, so 3/4 of the Jon Taffer quotes that I related to that automotive industry involve up selling and improving profits while the first statement involve process management.  The bottom line is that every industry practices up selling and there is nothing wrong with it.  A business will grow and maintain success through proper process, marketing, and sales techniques no matter what industry it serves. 

I would like to welcome comments and opinions to this discussion.

Welcome to Part 1 of what will be a major real live hands on case study.  Less than 2 weeks ago, I was contacted by a dealer principal of a dealership within an hour from my home.  The owner is a female and a real entrepreneur that is a partner in two other dealerships and also owns a wireless retail business with multiple locations.  The store is a family environment and has been in business for over 30 years under her control.

She was looking for someone to come in and really help the dealership with all of the marketing efforts.  This includes communications, vendor relationship, and advertising budget and oversees the internet sales operations of the store.  This was because she wanted to get a better grasp on things and make improvements.  The person in this role would also be in charge of events for the store as well as local events.

As we make progress in the dealership, I think it would be great to document and write out the changes on a weekly basis.  Consider it like a new chapter of a book to entertain yourself and learn how you can make positive changes in a dealership that bring improvements on many levels including profitability, accountability, a better brand for the OEM, and a better image for the dealership as a whole.  This will include helping to create more proactive employees.

We will not be disclosing names of employees, or the dealership for various reasons.  I want to keep it exciting and new.  When the time is right all will be revealed.

So let's get started...

It has been five days since I got involved with working with the dealership.  Here is what I gathered so far.

The sales department:

1 General Sales Manager (3 Years longevity))

1 Sales Manager (9 years longevity)

1 Finance Manager (few years longevity)

8 Sales Consultants (1-5 years longevity)

1 Internet Coordinator (was 2 but 1 quit during the week) - Here for over 1 year,

The dealership sells around 100 units per month with 60-65 being new and 30-40 being used at around a $2,000 average per car.

Website: Dealer.com (OEM Mandated)
Digital Marketing: OEM Mandated
Social Media Presence: Facebook and Twitter with limited engagement
CRM: A test pilot CRM for this dealership.  The CRM is a new product that comes as an add on to the DMS.  The DMS is not a well known common company.  The DMS works great but the CRM gives nothing but trouble.  It is missing more than 50% of the features that it needs to be fully functional.  In addition, it is server based.

Process: No set process.  No tracking of phone calls, internet leads, appointments, set, show.
Sales Process: Sales works well as the GSM does a great job putting deals

The Service Department

1 Service Manager (over 13 years here)

3 Service Advisors

1 Parts Manager

2 Parts Counter Reps

The first order of business:

1) Fix and properly optimize Website

2) Fix and properly optimize CRM

3) Get involved in all marketing and advertising initiatives (meet the vendors)

4) Create plan to measure advertising activity

5) Get sales department on board with reputation management and video testimonial strategy

What have we accomplished in the first 5 days?

Website: We did a full scope of the website and communicated with the Dealer.com rep.  We started to make plans to make certain changes and additions based on some best practices that we found from other dealers on a national level.  Right now we are creating content to be approved by the owner of the dealership before we push it to get setup and go live.

CRM: We discovered that the CRM has been holding the dealership back for over 1 year now.  Everyone in the store complains about it and for the first time we see why.  We had internet leads not coming through.  We had server crashes.  The tool does not allow for certain functions to happen.  I was able to convince the owner to look at options.  We started evaluating other options and will soon come an agreement.  Meanwhile, a major conference call with the current CRM Company included the development team and key executives.  This call allowed me to tell them everything that I need; I used examples from VinSolutions, iMagic, eLead, HigherGear, WebControl AVV, and a few others.  I was told that they will build it for me and within months I will see changes while other changes will take place within a days.

Advertising: Had numerous conference calls with OEM, local newspaper representative, cars.com, Digital "Behavioral" Marketing services reps, and CRM to review and learn analytic reports.

Management: Work closely with General Sales Manager to help take his mind off of a lot of advertising issues.  Create a plan to work together and help each other in building the success of the dealership further.  The GSM is fully on board with everything and is also a key decision maker in the store.

Owner: Very open minded and over worked.  She is involved in tell me what she wants to accomplish.  When trying to setup proven email templates and process she got involved and made opinions of her own where some of the templates she was not fond of and others we made changes together as a team.  As the relationship grows she will relinquish more power when she feels comfortable.  Based on our conversations and my actions with vendors she is starting to understand that I am the real deal and I know what I am doing.

Internet Department: Once the CRM situation stabilizes we will be able to get processes in place and know what we are dealing with in terms of lead count, tracking, and performance.  We will then try to build up the department accordingly.  The current Internet Coordinator explains his views and hope for better changes,

Sales People: They are excited to see a marketing initiative come into place that will help them market themselves at a level they never thought possible.  It is an easy going environment and when it is slow no one is being proactive.  As we implement digital strategies and train them on effective prospecting techniques we should see them become better modern sales professionals.  Eventually we will train them to use their digital tools in order to be better.

Social Media: We are creating video channels on various networks (YouTube, daily motion, metacafe, video).  We are also starting to gather images and create a flick account.  The twitter and facebook page is being managed by our graphic designer.  We met and will be creating neat logos and advertising campaigns.  We will soon take over managing the facebook and twitter while planning on creating syndicated blogs in the next few days.

Reputation Management: Created Quality Control Survey that every customer in Sales needs to read and fill out.  The Survey has 7 questions that includes rating dealership experience, commenting on it, recommending the sales professional, and learning what they liked the most about their experience.  In addition, we ask for permission to take a photograph of them with their new car to be emailed to them and used in social media.  We also ask for permission to take a video testimonial.  It comes with a disclaimer notice which the customer will sign.  Afterwards, we will either take a picture and video or we will not based on the customer's permission.  I had explained to the sales consultants how some of the most successful sales people in the business do it and they were very much excited.

So far...that is all we have for the first week.  Stay tuned as we make forward strides in the dealership.

Welcome to Part 1 of what will be a major real live hands on case study.  Less than 2 weeks ago, I was contacted by a dealer principal of a dealership within an hour from my home.  The owner is a female and a real entrepreneur that is a partner in two other dealerships and also owns a wireless retail business with multiple locations.  The store is a family environment and has been in business for over 30 years under her control.

She was looking for someone to come in and really help the dealership with all of the marketing efforts.  This includes communications, vendor relationship, and advertising budget and oversees the internet sales operations of the store.  This was because she wanted to get a better grasp on things and make improvements.  The person in this role would also be in charge of events for the store as well as local events.

As we make progress in the dealership, I think it would be great to document and write out the changes on a weekly basis.  Consider it like a new chapter of a book to entertain yourself and learn how you can make positive changes in a dealership that bring improvements on many levels including profitability, accountability, a better brand for the OEM, and a better image for the dealership as a whole.  This will include helping to create more proactive employees.

We will not be disclosing names of employees, or the dealership for various reasons.  I want to keep it exciting and new.  When the time is right all will be revealed.

So let's get started...

It has been five days since I got involved with working with the dealership.  Here is what I gathered so far.

The sales department:

1 General Sales Manager (3 Years longevity))

1 Sales Manager (9 years longevity)

1 Finance Manager (few years longevity)

8 Sales Consultants (1-5 years longevity)

1 Internet Coordinator (was 2 but 1 quit during the week) - Here for over 1 year,

The dealership sells around 100 units per month with 60-65 being new and 30-40 being used at around a $2,000 average per car.

Website: Dealer.com (OEM Mandated)
Digital Marketing: OEM Mandated
Social Media Presence: Facebook and Twitter with limited engagement
CRM: A test pilot CRM for this dealership.  The CRM is a new product that comes as an add on to the DMS.  The DMS is not a well known common company.  The DMS works great but the CRM gives nothing but trouble.  It is missing more than 50% of the features that it needs to be fully functional.  In addition, it is server based.

Process: No set process.  No tracking of phone calls, internet leads, appointments, set, show.
Sales Process: Sales works well as the GSM does a great job putting deals

The Service Department

1 Service Manager (over 13 years here)

3 Service Advisors

1 Parts Manager

2 Parts Counter Reps

The first order of business:

1) Fix and properly optimize Website

2) Fix and properly optimize CRM

3) Get involved in all marketing and advertising initiatives (meet the vendors)

4) Create plan to measure advertising activity

5) Get sales department on board with reputation management and video testimonial strategy

What have we accomplished in the first 5 days?

Website: We did a full scope of the website and communicated with the Dealer.com rep.  We started to make plans to make certain changes and additions based on some best practices that we found from other dealers on a national level.  Right now we are creating content to be approved by the owner of the dealership before we push it to get setup and go live.

CRM: We discovered that the CRM has been holding the dealership back for over 1 year now.  Everyone in the store complains about it and for the first time we see why.  We had internet leads not coming through.  We had server crashes.  The tool does not allow for certain functions to happen.  I was able to convince the owner to look at options.  We started evaluating other options and will soon come an agreement.  Meanwhile, a major conference call with the current CRM Company included the development team and key executives.  This call allowed me to tell them everything that I need; I used examples from VinSolutions, iMagic, eLead, HigherGear, WebControl AVV, and a few others.  I was told that they will build it for me and within months I will see changes while other changes will take place within a days.

Advertising: Had numerous conference calls with OEM, local newspaper representative, cars.com, Digital "Behavioral" Marketing services reps, and CRM to review and learn analytic reports.

Management: Work closely with General Sales Manager to help take his mind off of a lot of advertising issues.  Create a plan to work together and help each other in building the success of the dealership further.  The GSM is fully on board with everything and is also a key decision maker in the store.

Owner: Very open minded and over worked.  She is involved in tell me what she wants to accomplish.  When trying to setup proven email templates and process she got involved and made opinions of her own where some of the templates she was not fond of and others we made changes together as a team.  As the relationship grows she will relinquish more power when she feels comfortable.  Based on our conversations and my actions with vendors she is starting to understand that I am the real deal and I know what I am doing.

Internet Department: Once the CRM situation stabilizes we will be able to get processes in place and know what we are dealing with in terms of lead count, tracking, and performance.  We will then try to build up the department accordingly.  The current Internet Coordinator explains his views and hope for better changes,

Sales People: They are excited to see a marketing initiative come into place that will help them market themselves at a level they never thought possible.  It is an easy going environment and when it is slow no one is being proactive.  As we implement digital strategies and train them on effective prospecting techniques we should see them become better modern sales professionals.  Eventually we will train them to use their digital tools in order to be better.

Social Media: We are creating video channels on various networks (YouTube, daily motion, metacafe, video).  We are also starting to gather images and create a flick account.  The twitter and facebook page is being managed by our graphic designer.  We met and will be creating neat logos and advertising campaigns.  We will soon take over managing the facebook and twitter while planning on creating syndicated blogs in the next few days.

Reputation Management: Created Quality Control Survey that every customer in Sales needs to read and fill out.  The Survey has 7 questions that includes rating dealership experience, commenting on it, recommending the sales professional, and learning what they liked the most about their experience.  In addition, we ask for permission to take a photograph of them with their new car to be emailed to them and used in social media.  We also ask for permission to take a video testimonial.  It comes with a disclaimer notice which the customer will sign.  Afterwards, we will either take a picture and video or we will not based on the customer's permission.  I had explained to the sales consultants how some of the most successful sales people in the business do it and they were very much excited.

So far...that is all we have for the first week.  Stay tuned as we make forward strides in the dealership.

Yesterday I was on my way to a meeting at a dealership.  I had left the home office earlier so I can be at the meeting earlier especially since it was an 80 mile ride.  I was within three miles of the dealership and thirty minutes early.  I had never been there before I relied on my GPS as I always do.  The GPS that I use comes from my iPhone and the software is less than a week old as I just updated the operating system.

The GPS was pulling in an address from Yelp.com.  I got the exact location where the GPS sent me and there was no dealership there.  In fact, it was a bus stop.  I got frustrated because I had been on that road before just not around that section.  I also took a different major highway then I would normally take to get there because of where I was coming from.  I ended up driving around town for 30 minutes circling and looking for better directions and everything that Google and other sources tell me was to be at that same spot.  I decided to just follow my judgment and continue to take that road further for another 3 miles.  I recognized the area and the dealership was down the road from an area that I have been to in the past.  I showed up ten minutes late to my meeting but the meeting went well and everything was fine.

What am I trying to get to?  Dealers, if you got people in place who are in charge of digital marketing especially social, search, and reputation management you need to make sure that your information is correct and always updated everywhere that you are listed.  In this case, the dealership uses a very expensive advertising agency that handles everything for them.  It is really sad that their ad agency has not helped them improve that part of their visibility.  However, this is perhaps the cause of no one ever considering this issue to be as serious as it really is.

Try to imagine that I am a prospect who called in to the dealership and your BDC schedules me as an appointment.  Like a modern day consumer, I tell you that I have a GPS and I will find it without any problems.  Now, I am not there in time for my appointment because my GPS is not taking me where it needs to take me because your dealership did not have the common sense to keep the right information online.  If I figure out where to go quick I will get there but if I do not I will get aggravated and just go somewhere else leaving the dealership with a lost opportunity.

Just like with anything else that you do.  Make sure that you have the correct information and that you are easy to find.  Today’s modern day shopper is looking for a hassle free experience and they do not want to feel like they are “pulling teeth” to find what they need.

I would like to make another note here.  This was not the first time that I have seen a dealer have improper information online with regards to location and address.  This is a common problem.

Related Links:

http://dealeretraining.com/

https://www.facebook.com/dealeretraining

https://twitter.com/DealereTraining

Yesterday I was on my way to a meeting at a dealership.  I had left the home office earlier so I can be at the meeting earlier especially since it was an 80 mile ride.  I was within three miles of the dealership and thirty minutes early.  I had never been there before I relied on my GPS as I always do.  The GPS that I use comes from my iPhone and the software is less than a week old as I just updated the operating system.

The GPS was pulling in an address from Yelp.com.  I got the exact location where the GPS sent me and there was no dealership there.  In fact, it was a bus stop.  I got frustrated because I had been on that road before just not around that section.  I also took a different major highway then I would normally take to get there because of where I was coming from.  I ended up driving around town for 30 minutes circling and looking for better directions and everything that Google and other sources tell me was to be at that same spot.  I decided to just follow my judgment and continue to take that road further for another 3 miles.  I recognized the area and the dealership was down the road from an area that I have been to in the past.  I showed up ten minutes late to my meeting but the meeting went well and everything was fine.

What am I trying to get to?  Dealers, if you got people in place who are in charge of digital marketing especially social, search, and reputation management you need to make sure that your information is correct and always updated everywhere that you are listed.  In this case, the dealership uses a very expensive advertising agency that handles everything for them.  It is really sad that their ad agency has not helped them improve that part of their visibility.  However, this is perhaps the cause of no one ever considering this issue to be as serious as it really is.

Try to imagine that I am a prospect who called in to the dealership and your BDC schedules me as an appointment.  Like a modern day consumer, I tell you that I have a GPS and I will find it without any problems.  Now, I am not there in time for my appointment because my GPS is not taking me where it needs to take me because your dealership did not have the common sense to keep the right information online.  If I figure out where to go quick I will get there but if I do not I will get aggravated and just go somewhere else leaving the dealership with a lost opportunity.

Just like with anything else that you do.  Make sure that you have the correct information and that you are easy to find.  Today’s modern day shopper is looking for a hassle free experience and they do not want to feel like they are “pulling teeth” to find what they need.

I would like to make another note here.  This was not the first time that I have seen a dealer have improper information online with regards to location and address.  This is a common problem.

Related Links:

http://dealeretraining.com/

https://www.facebook.com/dealeretraining

https://twitter.com/DealereTraining

As I conduct internet lead mystery shopping to dealers around the country I am constantly amazed at the lack of control that dealers have with their email marketing.  It is amazing to see how many dealers send me follow up email templates that go directly to my spam folders.  What is even more amazing is how many dealers fail to pick up the phone to call me.  But I will leave that for another topic.

I just called on a local Honda dealer in my area about doing some consulting work because they lacked follow up on a lead that I had submitted.  I also know for a fact that their direct competitor is working with another consulting company to be up on their game.  So when I mystery shop the other store I see that they are doing things right to a certain extent.  It is interesting to see how many dealers there are out there that lack proper marketing and follow up processes.  It seems as if the CRM gets installed by the vendor in a "set it and forget it" fashion.  These dealers are sending out emails and wonder why they are not reaching anyone.  The reality is that people try to avoid spam and usually just delete what emails go there.

Dealers need to have a strategy to constantly update their email templates and processes so that emails are sent out properly.  Remember, the goal of an email is to be intriguing enough to get the customer to call you back and increase your connection with them.  At the same time, it is important to stop over complicating things and keep them simple.  I am talking about making your the content is not "spammy" with words like "amazing savings".  The email needs to be compelling, selling value, promote a positive online reputation and be less pitchy.  Give the customer a reason to call you back and replace the impersonal with the personal.

Recently, I learned from Ford Direct an interesting way of creating a subject line.  They taught me to keep simple and to include a phone number.  The phone number allows for mobile users to press on it and call the dealership right away.  This is how it should look:

"ABC Motors 717 515 2200"

Do not include the dashes.  I was told that a subject line that simple is more likely to avoid spam.  I was impressed that I started using it and it has helped my dealers greatly.  This is just one of many strategies that needs to be considered when sending emails.

For more information or training on how to effectively create emails that trigger proper responses and avoid spam, contact me at stan@dealeretraining.com or visit my website at http://dealeretraining.com/

In addition, dealers that want to learn how to incorporate proper emails into their BDC/Internet Sales Processes need to attend my workshop at AutoCon 2012 on September 5-8, 2012 in Las Vegas.

I will also be in attendance at Driving Sales Executive Summit on October 21-23, 2012 which promises to be a real class act event.

As I conduct internet lead mystery shopping to dealers around the country I am constantly amazed at the lack of control that dealers have with their email marketing.  It is amazing to see how many dealers send me follow up email templates that go directly to my spam folders.  What is even more amazing is how many dealers fail to pick up the phone to call me.  But I will leave that for another topic.

I just called on a local Honda dealer in my area about doing some consulting work because they lacked follow up on a lead that I had submitted.  I also know for a fact that their direct competitor is working with another consulting company to be up on their game.  So when I mystery shop the other store I see that they are doing things right to a certain extent.  It is interesting to see how many dealers there are out there that lack proper marketing and follow up processes.  It seems as if the CRM gets installed by the vendor in a "set it and forget it" fashion.  These dealers are sending out emails and wonder why they are not reaching anyone.  The reality is that people try to avoid spam and usually just delete what emails go there.

Dealers need to have a strategy to constantly update their email templates and processes so that emails are sent out properly.  Remember, the goal of an email is to be intriguing enough to get the customer to call you back and increase your connection with them.  At the same time, it is important to stop over complicating things and keep them simple.  I am talking about making your the content is not "spammy" with words like "amazing savings".  The email needs to be compelling, selling value, promote a positive online reputation and be less pitchy.  Give the customer a reason to call you back and replace the impersonal with the personal.

Recently, I learned from Ford Direct an interesting way of creating a subject line.  They taught me to keep simple and to include a phone number.  The phone number allows for mobile users to press on it and call the dealership right away.  This is how it should look:

"ABC Motors 717 515 2200"

Do not include the dashes.  I was told that a subject line that simple is more likely to avoid spam.  I was impressed that I started using it and it has helped my dealers greatly.  This is just one of many strategies that needs to be considered when sending emails.

For more information or training on how to effectively create emails that trigger proper responses and avoid spam, contact me at stan@dealeretraining.com or visit my website at http://dealeretraining.com/

In addition, dealers that want to learn how to incorporate proper emails into their BDC/Internet Sales Processes need to attend my workshop at AutoCon 2012 on September 5-8, 2012 in Las Vegas.

I will also be in attendance at Driving Sales Executive Summit on October 21-23, 2012 which promises to be a real class act event.