I am seeing a lot of social media activity from automotive professionals being concerned about what to expect from the Driving Sales Executive Summit in Las Vegas next month. This post is a little bit different coming from since usually when I write about conferences I write from experiences. I have been to most automotive industry conferences and for odd reasons have missed each and every DSES event (scheduling conflicts or work related projects). Well this year I adjusted my schedule to go to DSES.

I am beyond excited to attend DSES this year because of the impressive line up of speakers and educational opportunity. I have attended most of the big conferences as a guest and even a speaker so I know quite a bit about the automotive conference. I have noticed that Driving Sales Executive Summit was one of the first conferences to have keynote speakers from other industries. One year they had Gary Vaynerchuk and another year they had Billy Beane as keynote speakers (boy do I regret missing those events). 

This year the DSES conference continues to deliver "outside the box" keynote presentations with big names like David Amerland, Frank Cespedes (Harvard Business School Professor), Robert Rose (best selling author) and many others. Additionally, there are some great automotive industry related speakers including Justin Brun and Ben Koller (Dynamic Beacon and Acton Toyota), Joe Chura (Launch Digital Marketing), Shaun Raines (DealerOn), Dennis Galbraith (Dealer eProcess), Joe Orr, Dale Pollack (vAuto), Eric Miltsch, Joe Webb (DealerKnows), Brian Armstrong and many others. Just look at these names and do some reasearch of their successful backgrounds and make the decision for yourself if this conference is worth the trip.

I am personally looking forward to attending and learning from some of the brightest minds in the business. Automotive industry conferences all offer quality education and networking opportunities (speaking from my experience) and this one will be just as great. Generally, after each conference I write a review so follow me on social media and on here to get my review. I look forward to seeing you at the Driving Sales Executive Summit this year. If you are interested in meeting up to discuss strategy and make a new friend in the business please feel free to reach out to me by emailing me at Stan@dealeretraining.com.

Thanksgiving is around the corner with Christmas and New Years approaching even faster. The retail automobile industry is coming off of a great year. Car dealers are selling cars again and showing signs of growth. In fact, there has been a tremendous amount of dealership buy-sell activity in 2014.

Yes there are plenty of conferences, seminars, webinars and even “experts” going around dealerships creating best practice solutions. While only a small percentage of car dealers get involved in attending these events there is still a lot of great information out there. In fact there are a lot more dealership executives that are gaining more knowledge as their vendors educate them and they read industry publications. This however is a very crucial period for dealers as business slows down in some parts of the country and we get into “panic mode” sometimes canceling services that have been proven to generate ROI.

Now is the time to sit down and evaluate everything in the store from advertising budgets to employee performance. Even though we are in a business that competes on a 30-day cycle we still need to look back to what it was that made us successful in the previous months. Sure when business is going great we work hard and enjoy the success. But when business slows down it is easy to start pointing fingers and playing the blame game. Since business is slow and people can easily get into “holiday” mode it is important to coach, train and motivate teams so that they continue to perform. A drastic change must only be made after discovering that something is not working.

Example 1: A business development department in a dealership sets appointments at 50% and generates a 60% show rate but only closes at 7%. The dealership is emphasizing paying BDC reps on shows in order to focus on bringing in traffic and taking off the focus on selling cars. The dealership changes the pay plan for the business development department to only pay them on the sale. What is wrong with that? Now appointment setters are focusing on selling the car over the phone and have no care about what they bring in. It also means that there might be turnover because if cars are not sold and they are not making money they leave. Why not focus on reasons why the store closed 7% of the appointments? Why not focus on training the sales people and managers? Where is the accountability?

Example 2: The Internet Sales Department or business development department is not bringing in enough people and sales are down. Management decides to eliminate the department which includes firing people or if these people are lucky getting shifted into another role. Does the management at the store look at how many leads came in? Do they look at how much follow up is being done to leads? Are they evaluating quality of follow up (lead response time, number of phone calls, amount of emails sent, amount of texts sent, spelling and grammar of engagement, notes in the CRM, etc.)? It might be time to consider looking at a Lead eXaminer type product for a solution. Who is monitoring phone calls?

While there can be hundreds of other examples that can be pointed out it is important to understand that everyone and everything needs to be properly accounted for when managing a multimillion dollar business. I want to urge all general managers and dealer principal to evaluate every issue in detail. Take a look at what you are spending, what you are getting and how your people are performing. If a department is not performing, come up with an “outside the box” solution to properly train and manage your people. Your business will grow exponentially as soon as you become fully accountable for it.

I urge every general manager and dealer principal to evaluate every issue in detail. Take a look at what you are spending, what you are getting and how your people are performing. If a department is not performing, come up with an “outside the box” solution to properly train and manage your people. Your business will grow exponentially as soon as you become fully accountable for it.

Christmas is over and New Years just passed. They say the New Year brings positive change and opportunity. Since the big celebration, 2 days have passed and there are 363 days left in the year. So I ask the magic question, "Is your dealership prepared for 2014?”

Being that we are in such a competitive industry that changes by the month it is common for sudden changes to be made at the dealership level. These changes usually involve Budget (spending), Human Resources, Vendor Selection and the question of what to do with the Internet Sales or BDC department. It is no secret that changes are being made in the glorious New Year as evident by how many more job postings are out now as opposed to just a few days ago. While changes may or may not be made at the dealership it is still important to consider if these moves are really the right thing to do.

Let's evaluate the four things that I brought up in detail.

Budget (Spending): Will the dealership continue on the same path as last year just because business was good or is the dealership increasing/decreasing spending?

This is a very important factor to consider because the tools made readily available change, the incentives given by the OEM change monthly, OEM requirements may change, staff may change and even Google may make changes. The fact is everything around is changing with companies buying out other companies to bring better technology to the table as well as eliminate competition. There is even talk of 2014 being a big year for more dealerships to be bought and sold.

When we look at spending we need to look at the costs associated with employees. Some dealerships downsize management to save spending while others increase a budget to afford additional management with increasing business. A dealership is profitable when the right tools are in place and the right people are hired and properly trained. If 2013 was a bad year for your dealership then it is time to evaluate strategy right now.

Human Resources: Are you planning on recruiting new sales people?

This is very important. Let's take a minute and think about the fact that each and every employee in the dealership is a human being that is trying to make an honest living. Each employee deserves the proper management, mentorship and training. In fact, if you are still hiring someone and launching him or her less then two weeks later then you really need to stop for a second and evaluate your situation. If you are not sure what you want to do with employees then do the dealership and the employee a favor and stop toying with emotions. When you hire someone to generate profit for your business it is your duty to provide him or her with the appropriate tools and training to help them maximize opportunity.

Sales professionals that get recruited and hired need to have proper training and guidance. Do not hire five people and get rid of two. Those two other people do not deserve to waste their precious time being treated poorly when they can find a normal career opportunity. Dealers do not like when people quit inappropriately and without notice. The saying of "treat others they way you wanted to be treated" applies here.

Vendor Selection: Are you worried that your service provider was sold to another vendor? How is the support and training that your vendor is providing your people?

I urge all dealers to evaluate and qualify your vendors. Review what services you have and make sure that these vendors are providing proper support with training to your staff. As a matter of fact sit down with your management, service and sales staff to make sure that they are using the resources properly. If your dealership has marketing tools that should help make sell the cars simpler then make sure your staff knows how to use the tools. Technology assisted objection handling should be practiced at the dealership.

If a change needs to be made then make a plan. NADA 2014 is right around the corner and there is no better way to look at opportunity.

Internet Sales/BDC: Did you fire yet another BDC/Internet Manager? Are you thinking about what better ways your Internet leads and Phone calls need to handled?

Let's stop and take a look at what the problem is. If you had a BDC Manager working at the level of a Sales Manager and they were earning a six-figure income then everything should be fine. If that same BDC Manager was not worth what they made then take a look at what it was that made you unhappy. If a dealership employs a BDC Manager at $70k or less and they are not getting the proper results it is because they are getting what they pay for. Internet and BDC Managers need to be involved in training. There are so much more aspects to the job then most other positions in dealerships. The Internet manager has to constantly keep up with marketing trends and improving ways that the dealership is bringing in more people. Sales Managers do not have as much responsibility. In fact they desk deals, talk to customers and should be managing their sales staff.

My suggestion to dealers is to figure out what they want to achieve and how they want to achieve it. Once you know that, hire the right manager and create a process of managing that manager. The process should include reports and meetings to discuss what is going on. Do not just hire someone, throw them in the department and let them work without expectations being set. Automotive Internet Sales and Business Development is a fast changing aspect of the business. Dealers that have been avoiding the trend and the educational opportunities need to start taking advantage of them now in 2014. Again, stop hiring people without the willingness to properly give them a chance. Dealers that hire Internet and BDC Managers and make a change in 90 days or less never give themselves a chance to really evaluate ROI.

- Final Thoughts -

At this point you should know if you need to make appropriate changes at the dealership. If there is anything to take away from here it is the importance of expense control, vendor selection and showing the proper appreciation and respect towards the people that you hire. Think about these things as you operate your business and your business will not only be more profitable but also a better environment to be a part of in 2014.  We at Dealer eTraining would like to wish you a Happy and Prosperous new year.

Does your dealership have a call monitoring solution in place? Does your dealership consistently train phone skills? Chances are if the dealership has a large advertising budget and a proper setup for a BDC the answer is "yes". However, it is mind blowing to see how many dealerships in 2013 still do not pay attention to call monitoring. I look at websites and see local phone numbers. Even worse I see dealers doing traditional advertising and still using local phone numbers. I later talk to these dealers and they complain that they do not get enough phone calls coming in or they are not making enough appointments. I ask them if they have a call monitoring solution and all I get told is that they just have what AutoTrader and Cars.com give them in their backend tools. I am not going to get into the importance of content and optimized websites to convert more lead opportunities. I will get into the importance of call monitoring. Every business needs to have a call monitoring tool. Every business needs to have management listen to phone calls for quality control, training, and measurement of quality of advertising. I spoke about this topic at the Internet Sales 20 Group in October of 2012 as well as conducted a webinar for KPA about 8 months ago on this topic. It can be viewed here: Call Monitoring - Stan Sher (Dealer eTraining) Now here are some best practices: 1. If the dealership has a large ad budget and a very large call volume they need to hire a call monitoring company that will listen to the calls in real time and send alerts to inform managers rights away of any profit leaks. I know of many companies that provide this service. While it might be a $1500-2500 monthly investment there is a potential for an ROI of $30,000 or more when used properly. 2. Every single day a manager (BDC or Sales) needs to sit down and review reporting of all calls from the previous day and listen to 9 calls (3 morning, 3 afternoon, 3 evening). This will give an idea of what was done right and what needs training. 3. Take the good calls and the bad calls to review them in team meetings 2-3 times a week. These meetings should be 30 minutes and should be positive. Let the team listen and let them chime in with ideas for improvement. Do role playing exercises to provide quality automotive phone training. My advise is to have the team meet at 8:30 before the day gets started. 4. Some call monitoring companies send weekly and monthly recap reports. Review the missed opportunity reports and review them with the CRM to see what happened with that phone number. In the case when the call was not logged in have a process where one person gets on the phone to call those missed opportunities as a guest relations representative and see what we can make happen here. 5. AutoTrader and Cars.com reports. I love when dealers complain how little traffic they get and how expensive these sources are. Cars.com does a great job sending daily phone call reports detailing each call that came in the day before. Dealers and BDC managers that do not pay attention to them are losing out. I have been preaching this for years. Cars.com call reports show calls that come in before and after hours. I see dealers average 1-2 calls a day like this and they get missed sometimes. In some cases these callers call during hours and they are logged. But what about the calls that do not come back. They are not logged and the opportunity is missed. It is a simple 5 minute per day process that needs to be reviewed. 6. Every advertisement or campaign, digital and/or traditional, even special finance needs to be planned. A phone process needs to be created and trained a minimum of 2 days before the campaign hits. Monitor the calls daily and listen for profit leaks. Adjust accordingly by proper training. This is the most proactive way to manage a BDC or sales calls in general. The bottom line is that at Dealer eTraining we believe that every dealership no matter what size needs a call monitoring solution. There are cost effective solutions for every dealership. It is the perhaps the number one ROI measurement tool in my opinion.

Does your dealership have tools that should help your sales and business development people be more effective?

As consumer transparency becomes more important in the automotive industry dealers are hooking up with more vendors that allow for transparency.  It is no secret that some of the most effective dealers are making it easier to retail pre-owned vehicles online by employing consumer driven tools.  It is shocking to see how many people at dealerships do not even know that such tools exist.  This is a common issue where a lack of communication between decision makers (Owners/GM) and middle management (Sales Management) happens.  I am noticing this in dealerships all over the country where I review a dealership’s website, inventory, and other marketing aspects only to find tools that front line staff have no idea they can use.

For example, there are so many dealerships out there using tools like PureCars, vAuto RealDeal, or AutoVisor in order to enhance VDPs and vehicle listings.  These tools are meant for the consumer to learn more about the vehicle and see the value that they are getting.  However, the buttons to these tools are usually only found in the listing and the consumer does not always know to click on it.  At Dealer eTraining, I have recognized the importance of educating all management and front line staff to take advantage of these tools so that they can do a better job building value on the phone to secure more appointments as well as close more deals on the showroom floor.

There is nothing more disturbing then to listen to a phone call get mishandled because the customer takes control of the situation only to put fear in the call handler (BDC or Sales Professional).  They say you do not need to know anything about the vehicle to make a solid appointment.  While that may or may not be true, one thing is true and that is that these tools provide immediate product knowledge at your fingertips.  There is no need to just rely on “old school” word tracks that get trained to every single dealership out there.  Technology is created to help us become better professionals and not to replace us. 

These same strategies are important on the showroom floor.  Why should sales people run back and forth to the desk to work the sales manager for a bigger discount when they can use these tools to sell, justify, and create value?  It is important to learn how to be a better presenter of value and incorporate the old with the new.

While the vendor might have some tools to train everyone at the dealership on how to be more effective it is very rare that management pays attention.  Just a few weeks ago I was inside a dealership training sales people in the conference room and reviewing how they can leverage DealerRater as a closing tool.  I also reviewed how they should be using AutoVisor (a tool they had).  The bottom line is that dealers need to communicate the changes in technology and train their staff on how to use it properly.   The proper use of these digital tools will increase ROI in the long run and create better sales professionals.  I encourage dealers to evaluate the tools that are in place or are being considered and communicate with your people.  It is also important to provide the proper training to inspire and motivate your people to adapt to these solutions.

Stan Sher is the founder and president of Dealer eTraining (www.dealeretraining.com), an elite automotive Internet sales and business development training/consulting firm.

Do you spot check your employees?

Do you spot check your customers?

If you are confused about what I am talking about then read on...

Too many times when a manager asks their people if they did something they get an answer and they take their word for it.  In some cases this happens because of too much trust or just because the manager is too busy to check the situation themselves.  The same happens in a car deal when working with customers.  I am going to use the example that I saw about a week ago when I was onsite doing consulting at a dealership.  The General Sales Manager at this dealership is one of my mentors who I used to work with years ago where together we fixed a dealership.  I was watching him work the desk on a Saturday.  He gets a credit application and runs the credit.  He then looks over the application and the credit report to analyze how to work this deal and the banks.  In this particular situation, the customer stated that they make $10k per month yet on their credit report it shows that they have an open mortgage for over $1 million.  He saw really quick that something is not making sense.  He had the sales person go out and verify income only to find out that the customer makes way more money and gave them a figure to use that they can get away with so they do not have to show all of their income.

The point I am trying to make here is that it is important to verify everything before moving forward.  This is how successful managers build success while maintaining compliancy in the dealership or any business out there.  We have all heard the saying in the car business, "stop taking shortcuts".  The saying applies exactly to this post.  Always inspect what you expect.

There are many schools of thought as to how an internet sales department or even a BDC should be setup.  In fact, similar ways of thinking apply to managing the success of a whole dealership.  After years of attending conferences, seminars, working in dealerships and consulting dealerships I have learned something that is still being misunderstood.  What is being misunderstood?

The fact that managing a process or even a department is a science.  It is true that we cannot learn in school about how to build and manage a car dealership.  In fact, after working with some high level executive managers I learned the difference between what it takes to be an average performer versus an above average performer (superstar).  The difference is all about who is willing to push the boundary further.  Dealers, General Managers, Sales Managers, Service/Parts, and Internet/BDC Managers need to ask themselves the following questions:

1. Are you working hands on with your people?  
2. Are you providing on the job training to mentor your people through best practices?  If you are, is it becoming a natural habit?
3. Are you leading by example?  Do you expect your people to do everything that you are willing to do?
4. Do you micro manage your CRM?
5. Do you give your vendors a difficult time in order to achieve the success that you need from them?

These are five very important questions.  It is important to strategize for the future success that is currently being built.  There are many obstacles that come everyday that range from lack of traffic, lack of training, technology glitches, team members state of mind not being in the game, etc...

Once these things are understood, get prepared to tackle everything that gets in the way.  Learn from the best dealers in the country on best practices even if they are not in the your market.  There is a reason why some stores are selling 500 units per month and the average dealer is only doing 80-100.  Mystery shop your competition especially if they are outperforming your dealership.  Always, always, always be prepared to make adequate strategy changes because what has worked 30 years ago will not work completely the same way today.

The automotive industry is always evolving and with that evolution we must constantly adapt to the changes.

Question: When is the last time you thoroughly reviewed your CRM processes in your dealership?

Think about it.  A CRM in the dealership is generally setup for sales people to enter an UP and follow up with sold/unsold customers by scheduling phone calls and email actions.  The CRM is sometimes setup to properly follow up with internet leads.  However, not many CRM systems are setup to follow up with lease retention, equity mining, service, birthdays, and other events that can enhance the guest experience of doing business with the dealership.

Now if the proper processes have been setup for he dealership, when is the last time they were updated?  Do you continue to send the same old message month after month?  It is amazing how most of the time I walk into a dealership to setup and train processes only to find that the dealership is relying solely on what the CRM company had installed during installation.  Every dealership needs to have an effective action plan for proper CRM management.  This includes templates, action plans, and reporting.  A large dealer group needs to employ a CRM administrator to work the CRM a full 45 hours a week while smaller operations need to have proactive management.

The bottom line is that it is very important to manage and maintain the CRM system in dealerships on a daily basis.  In many cases, the proper use of merging can clean duplicates.  When a CRM is used properly there should never be a need for excel spreadsheets to measure performance.

by Stan Sher
www.dealeretraining.com
Practices and viewpoints expressed on this blog are my own

Recently, I have been playing around with various tools in order to increase how BDC departments connect with their internet leads.  It has been painful to watch BDC coordinators solely rely on the telephone that the dealership provides.  At one dealership I asked for an investment of a mobile phone and the dealer did not want to do that.  I had to come up with something fresh and exciting.  This particular BDC had older gentlemen working and they did not mind using their own cell phones to make additional calls from their phones.  We noticed our connections with customers increase, literally double just by calling these leads off of a different phone number.  Even still I felt uncomfortable with them using their personal cell phone numbers.  I decided to try to using google voice.  The internet lead management process had increased with phone calls going out 3x per day.  Once in the morning, once around lunch and once at night.

Why do we extend this process?  Since most of the time we are making phone calls we are leaving voice messages 85-90% of the time we become counter productive.  An effective processes will tell you to make more then one call to the lead on any given day.  Why not call from a phone number that is unrecognizable?  We were the only dealership in the area trying this out and it worked.  Days where we averaged 5 appointments set grew to 8-10 and 10 appointment Saturdays grew to an average of 18.

I am including a graphic detailing what happens when you mix google voice calling with traditional dealership telephone calling.  The connection rate increases by 2-3X allowing the BDC to create more appointments through relationship selling.

Just a quick tip for all Internet and BDC departments out there.  When you cannot reach your prospects, try free tools like Google Voice.

by Stan Sher
www.dealeretraining.com
Practices and viewpoints expressed on this blog are my own