Preface

After almost a couple of  years of working with a leading internet marketing vendor and working the speaking circuit Volker Jaeckel (aka “@VJnator”) returns to the dealership world as an Internet Sales Director.  “Here is my story of rejoining the store and the steps I took that made my website the best performing in my group and achieved “#1 CPO Dealer in the state” status six months in a row.  Let me share how I believe a new Internet Manager can quickly make their store a success as well.” (Stay tuned for my  upcoming workshop “Internet Marketing Cliff Notes -short, sweet and successful.”)

Chapter I - It hurts to crawl on my knees again. Luckily it is only temporary.

That is it….I am back into the dealership world. I missed you, the world of shiny showrooms, the smell of rubber and the so-distinctive new car smell. And yes, I missed the challenge of helping a store achieve its full potential as a 21^st century dealership embracing the Internet.

Tip #1: View your site through your customer’s eyes

Where do I start? Personnel? Process? Lead Providers? – No, I decided that shouldn’t be priority #1.  What is most important is getting an idea of how your dealership appears to your prospects. I needed to first put on my “consumer-glasses” to understand what they are seeing, and then I can determine the path forward that will get the consumer to buy at my store. What did I do? Let’s crawl and see.

All of us in the dealership should know by now that at least 90% of all car shopping starts somewhere and somehow online. Shoppers “Google or Bing around” search phrases related to the model desired and the city they live in. This initial search generally leads to reviewing 3^rd parties like Edmunds or AOL.Autos for test results and independent car experts’ advice. After that, they most likely end up on the OEM’s manufacturer website, lured by whatever seasonal offers or events are taking place right now. From the OEM website, the customer drills down to find which dealership is closest to their zip code. 

 So, taking this roadmap of typical automotive buying behavior, my first action should be clear: “CHECK YOUR DEALER WEBSITE(s)”. The things I will be looking for are pretty straightforward.

Does my website has the same advertising messaging my OEM is portraying on their site? For me as an eCom Director it is mandatory to have events like “Autobahn for all” or “Sign then drive” event on all my dealership websites. I am not speaking just about having the graphics but also written content of these national campaigns on my site(s).

Tip #2: Make sure shoppers responding to OEM advertising and programs find them on your site.

Adding OEM promotional content assures that local prospects looking for those campaign deals will find familiar territory and verbiage on my site. They know immediately that “VJ Motors” is participating in these well-known manufacturer deals seen on TV, Radio, Off- and Online. As a dealer, doing this will guarantee me a fraction of the millions and millions of dollars spent by my OEM. I get my piece of the huge advertising campaign pie – and everybody knows….I love pie.

Here was my first plan of action:

• Determine my OEM’s current ad campaign (In this case the “Going Going Gone Event”)
• Update all new car specials shown in the website with the particular “Going Going Gone” phrase
• Main URL page showed as first slider Going Going Gone event participation, linked to the New Car Special page
• SEO Content was modified and “Going Going Gone Event” as well “Autobahn for All” slogans were weaved in on homepage, New Car inventory page, New Car Special page and various model pages.

Because we all know that SEO results do not show up overnight, the written content placed on the described pages is here for the long run and should be not taken down when the OEM campaign stops – most likely you will see the same named event taking place again a few months down the road and in the meantime your content pages hopefully left some impactful results in the SERP.

Tip #3: Leverage all your content in social media and see SEO results soar

Post promotional content in your social media, such as a photo montage on your blog captioned “VJ Motors in Motorville enjoys the hundreds of customers stopping by customers during the VW Going Going Gone event.” The reason for doing this is that search engines love news updates through social media streams. By optimizing these channels with your dealership name and the event name in the post, you are supporting your organic SEO piece by piece. Try it – it has worked for me! 

Tip #4: “But I have no time to do any of this”

As a busy dealer, aligning with OEM’s may sound like a lot of work and too much of a hassle. I felt this way too.

There are two main ways I’ve found to alleviate the hassle issue: Choose an endorsed website provider and work with their professional account strategist. 

If your dealership has an endorsed website provider with OEM-coordinated advertising campaigns, the work you need to perform on your end will be a little bit less, thanks to perfectly timed and “ready-to-go” websites and landing pages at the start of the national campaigns.

Another thing that helped me was that I could speak to my account advocate at the website provider to assist me in my efforts to tweak my messaging to my taste. So, if you’ve signed up for this type of service – use it, bring up your ideas, and let them do the main frame work. That way you can focus on the other things you need to do, making a dealership or dealer group successful – as I will show you in my next chapter.

Preface

After almost a couple of  years of working with a leading internet marketing vendor and working the speaking circuit Volker Jaeckel (aka “@VJnator”) returns to the dealership world as an Internet Sales Director.  “Here is my story of rejoining the store and the steps I took that made my website the best performing in my group and achieved “#1 CPO Dealer in the state” status six months in a row.  Let me share how I believe a new Internet Manager can quickly make their store a success as well.” (Stay tuned for my  upcoming workshop “Internet Marketing Cliff Notes -short, sweet and successful.”)

Chapter I - It hurts to crawl on my knees again. Luckily it is only temporary.

That is it….I am back into the dealership world. I missed you, the world of shiny showrooms, the smell of rubber and the so-distinctive new car smell. And yes, I missed the challenge of helping a store achieve its full potential as a 21^st century dealership embracing the Internet.

Tip #1: View your site through your customer’s eyes

Where do I start? Personnel? Process? Lead Providers? – No, I decided that shouldn’t be priority #1.  What is most important is getting an idea of how your dealership appears to your prospects. I needed to first put on my “consumer-glasses” to understand what they are seeing, and then I can determine the path forward that will get the consumer to buy at my store. What did I do? Let’s crawl and see.

All of us in the dealership should know by now that at least 90% of all car shopping starts somewhere and somehow online. Shoppers “Google or Bing around” search phrases related to the model desired and the city they live in. This initial search generally leads to reviewing 3^rd parties like Edmunds or AOL.Autos for test results and independent car experts’ advice. After that, they most likely end up on the OEM’s manufacturer website, lured by whatever seasonal offers or events are taking place right now. From the OEM website, the customer drills down to find which dealership is closest to their zip code. 

 So, taking this roadmap of typical automotive buying behavior, my first action should be clear: “CHECK YOUR DEALER WEBSITE(s)”. The things I will be looking for are pretty straightforward.

Does my website has the same advertising messaging my OEM is portraying on their site? For me as an eCom Director it is mandatory to have events like “Autobahn for all” or “Sign then drive” event on all my dealership websites. I am not speaking just about having the graphics but also written content of these national campaigns on my site(s).

Tip #2: Make sure shoppers responding to OEM advertising and programs find them on your site.

Adding OEM promotional content assures that local prospects looking for those campaign deals will find familiar territory and verbiage on my site. They know immediately that “VJ Motors” is participating in these well-known manufacturer deals seen on TV, Radio, Off- and Online. As a dealer, doing this will guarantee me a fraction of the millions and millions of dollars spent by my OEM. I get my piece of the huge advertising campaign pie – and everybody knows….I love pie.

Here was my first plan of action:

• Determine my OEM’s current ad campaign (In this case the “Going Going Gone Event”)
• Update all new car specials shown in the website with the particular “Going Going Gone” phrase
• Main URL page showed as first slider Going Going Gone event participation, linked to the New Car Special page
• SEO Content was modified and “Going Going Gone Event” as well “Autobahn for All” slogans were weaved in on homepage, New Car inventory page, New Car Special page and various model pages.

Because we all know that SEO results do not show up overnight, the written content placed on the described pages is here for the long run and should be not taken down when the OEM campaign stops – most likely you will see the same named event taking place again a few months down the road and in the meantime your content pages hopefully left some impactful results in the SERP.

Tip #3: Leverage all your content in social media and see SEO results soar

Post promotional content in your social media, such as a photo montage on your blog captioned “VJ Motors in Motorville enjoys the hundreds of customers stopping by customers during the VW Going Going Gone event.” The reason for doing this is that search engines love news updates through social media streams. By optimizing these channels with your dealership name and the event name in the post, you are supporting your organic SEO piece by piece. Try it – it has worked for me! 

Tip #4: “But I have no time to do any of this”

As a busy dealer, aligning with OEM’s may sound like a lot of work and too much of a hassle. I felt this way too.

There are two main ways I’ve found to alleviate the hassle issue: Choose an endorsed website provider and work with their professional account strategist. 

If your dealership has an endorsed website provider with OEM-coordinated advertising campaigns, the work you need to perform on your end will be a little bit less, thanks to perfectly timed and “ready-to-go” websites and landing pages at the start of the national campaigns.

Another thing that helped me was that I could speak to my account advocate at the website provider to assist me in my efforts to tweak my messaging to my taste. So, if you’ve signed up for this type of service – use it, bring up your ideas, and let them do the main frame work. That way you can focus on the other things you need to do, making a dealership or dealer group successful – as I will show you in my next chapter.

The first part of “Consumer Trends for 2011” – a research performed by trendwatching.com, showed three trends so far on how consumer behavior will change and how we, the dealerships can prepare ourselves successfully for the upcoming year.

We covered so far topics on “Consumer will look for more realness and human touches”, "Consumers will be more prone to try new products and new services” and that they will look out for “more targeted pricing and offers”. Which other trends will be important for dealerships to take a look at? The Part 2 will discover how important Status symbols are still for consumers and how a dealership will be able to get “Evangelists” involved in their referral business.

1. Consumers will look out for gaining Online Status Symbols Trendwatching.com clearly defines and recommends for businesses to supply costumers with any kind of symbol or badges. This “symbol” can be a virtual one (like we already know from Foursquare and their variety of “unlocking badges” and the mayor seal of one particular business location) or a “real world” one with real world prizes like T-shirts, caps or just special coupons. I can see you already frowning and ask yourself, “what in the world is a real world status symbol I can give to my customers?”, and it actually much more easier than you possible thought. Check your key fob, please! Do you see any CVS, Publix, Borders or Fitness Club member cards on it? Yes? – Here we go, that is what will be in 2011 even more valuable (and as we all know not a new idea). Checking on myself, I particular shop at these places, who had provided me with a key fob card, and as I do other consumers as well love to be members of a club, free of charge but with benefits allowing them to save more money than any other regular customers or even get a cheese bagel for free as you see here at the ad, asking particular for your card or tag.

In regards to the virtual world, we have seen and heard about car dealerships setting up their own iPhone or Android dealerships app into realty, with the idea to provide their customers with a feel of “security” (click the app and connect instantly) and “specials on demand”, without jumping on the computer, looking up the special page, hitting the print button, taking the paper…and so forth, you get the idea.

Last but not least, try to get your customers be the mayor of your dealership and reward her with a “bonus, bonus special”, just because they checked in at your dealership location again. When you didn’t do the task so far and at least checked out Google Places, Foursquare, Gowalla, Groupon or even Facebook Places please put it on your to-do list for early on in 2011. Get familiar with the Geo-location based services, promoting business who decided to create specials for particular check-ins (like mayor ships) or for everyone, who is coming by and is using your dealership for buying parts or needs service.

2. Consumers will convert into “Twin-sumers” and “Social-lites” Early on adapters, who knew how consumers selecting their dealerships in the future know what I am talking about. As trendwatching.com pointed out there will be two different kind of online shoppers in the future. One type will be the “Twin-sumer” – a consumer with similar consumer patterns, likes, dislikes and who are hence valuable sources for recommendations on what to buy and where to get the best purchase experience.

You can be certain that these consumers will know how to work review sites like Yelp, Merchant Circle or more car specific review sites like dealerrater.com, Edmunds dealer reviews and Presto Reviews. When you are not familiar with any of these review sites – Holy Moly, it’s about time for you to get your team and dealership behind the idea of reputation management. An early on adapter on “how important customer reviews for a dealership can be”, is Dick Hannah Honda and its General Manager Joe Orr with more than 220 reviews on Dealerrater, dominating the entire state of Washington and giving Honda prospects a sense of security and the right place for a good deal.

On the other hand we have consumers operating as “Social-lites”, who are using their social circles and social affiliates to spread their experiences out into the world-wide web. Owning the business and trust of a “Social-lite” consumer, will make it possible to “grow” you an Evangelist and Advocate for your business. In the old days we had asked our customers for referrals, most of the time short after the sale or around 4 weeks later, hoping the customer had a name for us. Now, we know when a “Social-lite” was satisfied and agreed to take a photo for our Dealer Fan Page or doing a YouTube testimonial, she will be happy to spread the word throughout her circle of influence. Her followers will see the video or photo and she will get immediate responses out of it – your own Dealer Evangelist was just “created”.

This concludes part 2 of Trends for 2011 – What is your customer up to Part 3 will be posted in the next couple of days.

The first part of “Consumer Trends for 2011” – a research performed by trendwatching.com, showed three trends so far on how consumer behavior will change and how we, the dealerships can prepare ourselves successfully for the upcoming year.

We covered so far topics on “Consumer will look for more realness and human touches”, "Consumers will be more prone to try new products and new services” and that they will look out for “more targeted pricing and offers”. Which other trends will be important for dealerships to take a look at? The Part 2 will discover how important Status symbols are still for consumers and how a dealership will be able to get “Evangelists” involved in their referral business.

1. Consumers will look out for gaining Online Status Symbols Trendwatching.com clearly defines and recommends for businesses to supply costumers with any kind of symbol or badges. This “symbol” can be a virtual one (like we already know from Foursquare and their variety of “unlocking badges” and the mayor seal of one particular business location) or a “real world” one with real world prizes like T-shirts, caps or just special coupons. I can see you already frowning and ask yourself, “what in the world is a real world status symbol I can give to my customers?”, and it actually much more easier than you possible thought. Check your key fob, please! Do you see any CVS, Publix, Borders or Fitness Club member cards on it? Yes? – Here we go, that is what will be in 2011 even more valuable (and as we all know not a new idea). Checking on myself, I particular shop at these places, who had provided me with a key fob card, and as I do other consumers as well love to be members of a club, free of charge but with benefits allowing them to save more money than any other regular customers or even get a cheese bagel for free as you see here at the ad, asking particular for your card or tag.

In regards to the virtual world, we have seen and heard about car dealerships setting up their own iPhone or Android dealerships app into realty, with the idea to provide their customers with a feel of “security” (click the app and connect instantly) and “specials on demand”, without jumping on the computer, looking up the special page, hitting the print button, taking the paper…and so forth, you get the idea.

Last but not least, try to get your customers be the mayor of your dealership and reward her with a “bonus, bonus special”, just because they checked in at your dealership location again. When you didn’t do the task so far and at least checked out Google Places, Foursquare, Gowalla, Groupon or even Facebook Places please put it on your to-do list for early on in 2011. Get familiar with the Geo-location based services, promoting business who decided to create specials for particular check-ins (like mayor ships) or for everyone, who is coming by and is using your dealership for buying parts or needs service.

2. Consumers will convert into “Twin-sumers” and “Social-lites” Early on adapters, who knew how consumers selecting their dealerships in the future know what I am talking about. As trendwatching.com pointed out there will be two different kind of online shoppers in the future. One type will be the “Twin-sumer” – a consumer with similar consumer patterns, likes, dislikes and who are hence valuable sources for recommendations on what to buy and where to get the best purchase experience.

You can be certain that these consumers will know how to work review sites like Yelp, Merchant Circle or more car specific review sites like dealerrater.com, Edmunds dealer reviews and Presto Reviews. When you are not familiar with any of these review sites – Holy Moly, it’s about time for you to get your team and dealership behind the idea of reputation management. An early on adapter on “how important customer reviews for a dealership can be”, is Dick Hannah Honda and its General Manager Joe Orr with more than 220 reviews on Dealerrater, dominating the entire state of Washington and giving Honda prospects a sense of security and the right place for a good deal.

On the other hand we have consumers operating as “Social-lites”, who are using their social circles and social affiliates to spread their experiences out into the world-wide web. Owning the business and trust of a “Social-lite” consumer, will make it possible to “grow” you an Evangelist and Advocate for your business. In the old days we had asked our customers for referrals, most of the time short after the sale or around 4 weeks later, hoping the customer had a name for us. Now, we know when a “Social-lite” was satisfied and agreed to take a photo for our Dealer Fan Page or doing a YouTube testimonial, she will be happy to spread the word throughout her circle of influence. Her followers will see the video or photo and she will get immediate responses out of it – your own Dealer Evangelist was just “created”.

This concludes part 2 of Trends for 2011 – What is your customer up to Part 3 will be posted in the next couple of days.

According to research of http://trendwatching.com the year 2011 will have changes in consumer behavior which screams for a change in business behavior and attitude as well. No more Business as Usual please, when you want to keep the edge.

Here are the first three points trendwatching.com is pointing out of the eleven findings

1. Consumers will look for more realness and human touches

Chances for dealerships to engage with social media sharing more than ever. Consumer’s are craving for more authenticity, realness, human touch and less canned approaches to win their business. When dealerships taking the time to analyze, or even better watch the behavior and comments of their followers – you’ll gain insights to moods, wants and even their location, which then enable the dealership to send out targeted messages. Geo location based applications like Foursquare, Gowalla and Facebook detected these trends early, early on and made targeted advertising for businesses to their clientele an easy and achievable task.

2. Consumers will be more prone to try new products and services

Danger for dealerships – falling in old and not any longer workable habits. The old formula "one time a Benz or Chevy driver always a Chevy driver" is a tale of the past. Due to globalization of new products and services the customers becoming more liberal, more tolerant and also more experienced to digest information. This means, the customers knows more than you - the sales professional - when arriving in your showroom.

TMV or True Market Value, Show me the CarFax or Yelp reviews are not any longer just terms an insider buyer knows how to obtain the best deals or to questioning the heck out of the sales persons' brain. Since manufacturers producing more models than anybody possibly can handle or needs to buy a car, customers making decisions based on following facts

1. Car Makers who are understanding the value of human globalization (Ford and their new so called World Cars) and engaging in a s subliminal but consistent way via social media interaction, and
2. Companies who will offer the biggest value (maintenance free plans, Hyundai Assurance programs, Chrysler's "you don't like it - you bring it back", etc.) to potential buyers. Further transparency is the next big word, you'll hear more and more, especially on dealership levels.
3. Transparency on dealer levels are easy to achieve, when...., when the processes are in place and everybody in the dealership buys into the idea what needs and has to happen. However, transparency and reputation can be the evil twins for a dealer or Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny at once, presenting surprises like positive reviews, testimonials, rankings and ratings displaying your performance for everybody to see. It is essential for each sales professional to ask not any longer only for referrals but also to follow up and guide the customers post sales to review site that count in the automotive industry. Ask for a good grade and let the customer tell everybody how great you are.

3. Targeted pricing and offers for your potential customers

The times of the good old shotgun advertising – blast out your pellets or in this case your ad message and possibly you’ll hit one or two potential clients and trigger a purchase are over. I actually don’t care what your advertising agency or offline advertising rep is telling you. The fact that “radio and print is so hot right now and will never die” – is just not true, especially in the huge Metro markets. Rather going for the rabbit hunting approach, blasting into a bulk of running rabbits and two will possibly not make it. Instead develop the skills of a sniper. Sit in your hideaway, observe the target(s), make no noise and wait – wait until you see the desired 13-pointer, mark it - and "boom" - touche. You got this large deer because you were hiding out where the pack is eating - you targeted exactly the location where you'll find the best of the best. So, I am asking now, why don't you "hide out" where your customers are today? Online!

For example: Look at your fan base on Twitter, Facebook – what is your average follower age group, are these more female or male customers, are they actively engaging with comments on your postings? Target your message!

A Nielsen Study revealed that Baby Boomers just discovered the power of Facebook around a year ago, and this particular customer group loves to shop online (THOUGHT: are you offering a shopping card / check-out for your automotive parts and accessories)?

The second group of valuable customers - The Generation X is looking for offers or amenities who are considered “convenience factors” – like real-time online service scheduling, pick-up service and drop-off loaner cars for families with little kids of two and more – and the most upcoming digitally involved and engaged generation –

The Millennials – are having more than 2 social media profiles, using text messaging on mobile devices more than they use the device to phone around. Using texting to submit your instant mobile coupons and discounts, flash sales and even dynamic ad hoc pricing will make you “hip” in their eyes and gain you the edge.

This concludes part 1 of Trends for 2011 - What is your customer up to

Part 2 will be posted in the next couple of days.

According to research of http://trendwatching.com the year 2011 will have changes in consumer behavior which screams for a change in business behavior and attitude as well. No more Business as Usual please, when you want to keep the edge.

Here are the first three points trendwatching.com is pointing out of the eleven findings

1. Consumers will look for more realness and human touches

Chances for dealerships to engage with social media sharing more than ever. Consumer’s are craving for more authenticity, realness, human touch and less canned approaches to win their business. When dealerships taking the time to analyze, or even better watch the behavior and comments of their followers – you’ll gain insights to moods, wants and even their location, which then enable the dealership to send out targeted messages. Geo location based applications like Foursquare, Gowalla and Facebook detected these trends early, early on and made targeted advertising for businesses to their clientele an easy and achievable task.

2. Consumers will be more prone to try new products and services

Danger for dealerships – falling in old and not any longer workable habits. The old formula "one time a Benz or Chevy driver always a Chevy driver" is a tale of the past. Due to globalization of new products and services the customers becoming more liberal, more tolerant and also more experienced to digest information. This means, the customers knows more than you - the sales professional - when arriving in your showroom.

TMV or True Market Value, Show me the CarFax or Yelp reviews are not any longer just terms an insider buyer knows how to obtain the best deals or to questioning the heck out of the sales persons' brain. Since manufacturers producing more models than anybody possibly can handle or needs to buy a car, customers making decisions based on following facts

1. Car Makers who are understanding the value of human globalization (Ford and their new so called World Cars) and engaging in a s subliminal but consistent way via social media interaction, and
2. Companies who will offer the biggest value (maintenance free plans, Hyundai Assurance programs, Chrysler's "you don't like it - you bring it back", etc.) to potential buyers. Further transparency is the next big word, you'll hear more and more, especially on dealership levels.
3. Transparency on dealer levels are easy to achieve, when...., when the processes are in place and everybody in the dealership buys into the idea what needs and has to happen. However, transparency and reputation can be the evil twins for a dealer or Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny at once, presenting surprises like positive reviews, testimonials, rankings and ratings displaying your performance for everybody to see. It is essential for each sales professional to ask not any longer only for referrals but also to follow up and guide the customers post sales to review site that count in the automotive industry. Ask for a good grade and let the customer tell everybody how great you are.

3. Targeted pricing and offers for your potential customers

The times of the good old shotgun advertising – blast out your pellets or in this case your ad message and possibly you’ll hit one or two potential clients and trigger a purchase are over. I actually don’t care what your advertising agency or offline advertising rep is telling you. The fact that “radio and print is so hot right now and will never die” – is just not true, especially in the huge Metro markets. Rather going for the rabbit hunting approach, blasting into a bulk of running rabbits and two will possibly not make it. Instead develop the skills of a sniper. Sit in your hideaway, observe the target(s), make no noise and wait – wait until you see the desired 13-pointer, mark it - and "boom" - touche. You got this large deer because you were hiding out where the pack is eating - you targeted exactly the location where you'll find the best of the best. So, I am asking now, why don't you "hide out" where your customers are today? Online!

For example: Look at your fan base on Twitter, Facebook – what is your average follower age group, are these more female or male customers, are they actively engaging with comments on your postings? Target your message!

A Nielsen Study revealed that Baby Boomers just discovered the power of Facebook around a year ago, and this particular customer group loves to shop online (THOUGHT: are you offering a shopping card / check-out for your automotive parts and accessories)?

The second group of valuable customers - The Generation X is looking for offers or amenities who are considered “convenience factors” – like real-time online service scheduling, pick-up service and drop-off loaner cars for families with little kids of two and more – and the most upcoming digitally involved and engaged generation –

The Millennials – are having more than 2 social media profiles, using text messaging on mobile devices more than they use the device to phone around. Using texting to submit your instant mobile coupons and discounts, flash sales and even dynamic ad hoc pricing will make you “hip” in their eyes and gain you the edge.

This concludes part 1 of Trends for 2011 - What is your customer up to

Part 2 will be posted in the next couple of days.