The most popular blog posts this week were (drumroll, please!)... 

#5. Customer Experience on Dealer Websites        40% of people abandon a website that takes more than 3 seconds to load.        What does this mean for auto dealers?

#4. Customer Acquisition Can be More Effective When You Spend $0       What if I told you there's a customer acquisition strategy that costs ZERO dollars?

#3. It's Time to Address the 10,000-Ton Elephant in the Room       Why are you paying Google to drive traffic to your site?

#2. 50 Creative Ways to Increase Sales       These 50 things can help you make it happen in sales.

#1. The Truth About CarGurus       CarGurus' founder wants to clear up a few things.

These were the most popular blogs in September:

1. The Truth About Car Gurus

2. 50 Creative Ways You Can Increase Your Sales

3. Is Dealer.com Corrupting Your Data?

4. It's Time to Address the 10,000-lb. Elephant in the Room

5. 13 Rules for Social Media Success in the Car Dealership

Here's your look at the most popular DrivingSales blog posts this week:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Fastlane, the Dallas-based startup e-commerce platform for automotive dealers, will be exhibiting at the DrivingSales Executive Summit, October 22-24 at Bellagio in Las Vegas.  Driving innovation and excellence in the auto industry, the Executive Summit gathers the most progressive dealers in the country to collaborate on innovative trends and formulate business plans for the following year.
Experts from inside and outside the industry will challenge attendees to think outside the box to create value in new, exciting ways and teach tactical strategies used at dealerships across the country.

Much like the conference itself, Fastlane utilizes innovation and excellence to improve online car buying. The platform offers dealerships the ability to showcase their inventory, help customers pick out the car they want and choose other purchase components such as financing, service contracts and insurance for a seamless start-to-finish buying experience.

Though Fastlane is reinventing car buying, the platform is not eliminating the need for a middleman. “Our goal is to supplement current dealer operations by adding a unique customer experience through our online checkout. We are here to make online car buying advantageous for car dealers and customers alike by fostering new ways of engagement and creating a dynamic shopping experience for all parties. It’s the best of both worlds,” says Brandon Hall, Fastlane’s CEO.

About the conference

DrivingSales Executive Summit keynote speakers include Jared Hamilton, CEO and Founder of DrivingSales; Kristin Hadeed, Founder of Student Maid; David Bell, Professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School; Dr. Heidi Grant, Associate Director of the Motivation Science Center; and Jay Acunzo, Host of award-winning podcast Unthinkable.

Join Fastlane and be part of the industry shifting conversation. Save your seats and register for the summit today at http://www.drivingsales.com/dses/registration/ and visit Fastlane at their booth.

About Fastlane

Fastlane, with headquarters in Dallas, Texas, is a developer of innovative e-commerce and showroom technologies for automotive dealerships. Fastlane creates value for dealers by providing them with an online checkout experience and enhancing dealer’s in-store purchase experience, giving them the power to sell more cars, be more profitable and increase overall customer satisfaction. By offering Fastlane’s turnkey purchasing solution, dealers give customers a convenient way to complete the purchase transaction while the sales team focuses on engaging with customers and building long-term relationships that last well after the car is purchased.

Fastlane’s technical integration team, based in Dallas, Texas, customizes the Fastlane e-commerce platform to meet the specific and unique needs of individual dealerships and dealer groups.

For more information about Fastlane, please visit their website, www.fastlane.car and their online newsroom, www.newsline360.com/fastlane. Contact Fastlane at sales@fastlane.car.

# # #

Media Contact:

Kurman Communications, Inc.

Cindy Kurman or Lee Barrie

(312) 651-9000

team@kurman.com

Cox Automotive has named Janet Barnard as its new chief people officer, and Grace Huang has been name as the new president of Cox Automotive Inventory Solutions.



Barnard will replace Rock Anderson, who is retiring, and Huang will take Barnard’s place as president of Inventory Solutions.

Sandy Schwartz, Cox Automotive president, to whom Barnard will report, said in a news release: “Janet’s leadership style and passion for developing people are exactly what we need to further integrate Cox Automotive teams. Her creativity, operational expertise, and outstanding industry reputation will help us solidify our place as a destination for top talent.”

Huang most recently served as senior vice president of Manheim Inventory Services, a Cox subsidiary. She will report to Cox Automotive COO Mark O’Neil, who said in a press release, “Grace is the right leader to take on this important position, as she’s been instrumental in the growth of Inventory Solutions. She is a strategic thinker with an outstanding track record for executing initiatives that enhance our operations, team member engagement, and client success.”

What do you wish you had known when you were brand new to the automotive industry? Post your best advice for newbies here, whether it's related to sales, service, customer relationships, or anything else relevant to our business!

This article is super informative. Some of the insights it offers are things most of us already know by now, such as the fact that today's market is customer driven or that customer experience now tends to trump mere product/price considerations. But it also offers some poignant wisdom about what goes through the buyer's mind when making a decision, as well as providing some questions to ask yourself when considering whether your strategy is up to par in today's market.  

Here are some highlights from the article (portions in Italics are direct quotes):

The factors that contribute to a customer’s overall buying decision:

• Transaction orientation. Customers buy according to how well a salesperson meets the customer’s expectations regarding the buying process. Some customers may want an easy, intuitive transaction that is predictable and hassle-free. Others may desire a more engaged and consultative buying process.
• Reliability orientation. Reliability of products and services is paramount, often because the customer’s operations depend on it. These customers will invariably choose the most reliable offerings over those with the lowest price.
• Quality and performance orientation. Customers desire the best product and service quality and are willing to pay a premium for it. High reliability is assumed. Customers place a premium on the supplier’s sustainability record.
• Brand and image orientation. Customers place a lot of trust in the supplier’s brand, reputation and market history.
• Relationship orientation. Customers appreciate their history with the supplier and the knowledge the supplier has of their business. Long-entrenched relationships between various parts of the customer and buyer organizations are key, and these relationships act as a barrier to the entry of new suppliers.
• Customized solution orientation. The supplier’s ability to innovate to meet customer specific needs is very important to today’s customers.

The five main customer demands today:

1. Be on our side. Customers expect salespeople to be their representatives within the seller’s organization.
2. Be personally accountable for our desired results. Customers want salespeople to take responsibility for every aspect of the relationship between buyer and seller.
3. Be proactive. This means you stay ahead of the curve with customers, anticipating problems and acting in advance to solve them.
4. Solve our problems. In the past, the closing of the sale usually marked the end of the salesperson’s responsibilities. Customers now expect salespeople to not only solve their problems during the transaction itself, but throughout the business relationship.
5. Be innovative in responding to our needs. Because change is the only constant in today’s environment, your customers expect you to respond to their spoken and unspoken needs.

Key questions which may help you develop a new strategy for today’s customers:

• Do you have a clear understanding of the customer’s needs and what matters most in the buying process?
• Do you have a compelling and unique value proposition that creates a differential customer experience?
• Do you fully understand what your customers want to buy and why?
• Do you understand how you can drive growth from both existing customers and new prospects?
• Will your sales strategy improve customer retention while identifying new prospects?

The two things that stuck out the most to me are (1) the relationship orientation bullet point, and (2) the fourth customer demand, solve our problems. The importance of maintaining strong customer relationships after the sale cannot be emphasized enough!

What do you think? Did this article cover it? What stands out the most to you? What do you feel that you and your dealership do really well when it comes to customer experience, and where do you think there is room for improvement?

(Read the full article here.)