I’ll give you the answer. It’s yes.

How many times over the last couple months has someone at some conference talked to you about your service department? Have you changed anything? My guess is maybe a little but not enough. I know that there are a lot of challenges in making changes to your dealership but how much money are you not making due to the lack of change?

Today my wife told me that she needed to get an oil change. As I sat here at my desk, I saw her type into Google: “Oil Change Owings Mills”. It’s pretty astonishing to have seen the results and you probably know what I’m about to say. One…Count one franchise dealer showed up in the results and even that led her right to the “group home page” with no easy route to accomplish her goal of setting an appointment for an oil change.

The fact of the matter is that we as an industry have failed our customers. Sure, there are a majority of you that get enough work to be satisfied but is it enough? Customers are BEGGING for a trustworthy place to take their vehicle to be maintained but we ignore them. Heck, we don’t even try to be in front of them and they are trying to give you money.

Here are a few steps to at least right your ship:

1.  Add significant information to your service page. Consumers want to know about your “Factory Trained Technicians” but they also want detailed information about what they can get from you in regards to service. Have you checked out Jiffy Lube’s website? Mr. Tire?
2. Make it simple to make an appointment that is easily confirmed. On a Chevy site that I ended up making the appointment on, it took me about 15 clicks to find out they have no availability until Thursday. But hey, that’s better than a template that I submit my info on and never get a reply.
3. In addition to #1 above, if you’re investing on SEM for your retail sales, are you investing any to service?
4. The number one thing that most consumers are looking to do is get their oil changed. Make it easy for them to accomplish that with you versus these box store guys. Price. Speed (Time in your store). Quality.
5. **BONUS TIP** - "Dealers need to understand customers are searching for this information and solve their problems by including this type of secondary content within their website." Says, Eric Miltsch, President, Command Z Automotive Consulting. "Not only can this answer specific (local) user intent, it should also be integrated into other areas of targeted distribution such as email marketing, PPC and paid social distribution to increase conversion opportunities."

(The only thing good about this "Live" site is the giant "Make An Appointment" button.)

In my last post I discussed making your customers lives better by simplifying and speeding up the buying process. It’s not a coincidence that I am now talking about “simplifying and speeding up” their service needs. This is the generation we live in. We don’t get to choose it but you can capitalize on it by adjusting to those needs and thus building your brand, capturing market share back and growing your business.

Carpe diem. 

I’ll give you the answer. It’s yes.

How many times over the last couple months has someone at some conference talked to you about your service department? Have you changed anything? My guess is maybe a little but not enough. I know that there are a lot of challenges in making changes to your dealership but how much money are you not making due to the lack of change?

Today my wife told me that she needed to get an oil change. As I sat here at my desk, I saw her type into Google: “Oil Change Owings Mills”. It’s pretty astonishing to have seen the results and you probably know what I’m about to say. One…Count one franchise dealer showed up in the results and even that led her right to the “group home page” with no easy route to accomplish her goal of setting an appointment for an oil change.

The fact of the matter is that we as an industry have failed our customers. Sure, there are a majority of you that get enough work to be satisfied but is it enough? Customers are BEGGING for a trustworthy place to take their vehicle to be maintained but we ignore them. Heck, we don’t even try to be in front of them and they are trying to give you money.

Here are a few steps to at least right your ship:

1.  Add significant information to your service page. Consumers want to know about your “Factory Trained Technicians” but they also want detailed information about what they can get from you in regards to service. Have you checked out Jiffy Lube’s website? Mr. Tire?
2. Make it simple to make an appointment that is easily confirmed. On a Chevy site that I ended up making the appointment on, it took me about 15 clicks to find out they have no availability until Thursday. But hey, that’s better than a template that I submit my info on and never get a reply.
3. In addition to #1 above, if you’re investing on SEM for your retail sales, are you investing any to service?
4. The number one thing that most consumers are looking to do is get their oil changed. Make it easy for them to accomplish that with you versus these box store guys. Price. Speed (Time in your store). Quality.
5. **BONUS TIP** - "Dealers need to understand customers are searching for this information and solve their problems by including this type of secondary content within their website." Says, Eric Miltsch, President, Command Z Automotive Consulting. "Not only can this answer specific (local) user intent, it should also be integrated into other areas of targeted distribution such as email marketing, PPC and paid social distribution to increase conversion opportunities."

(The only thing good about this "Live" site is the giant "Make An Appointment" button.)

In my last post I discussed making your customers lives better by simplifying and speeding up the buying process. It’s not a coincidence that I am now talking about “simplifying and speeding up” their service needs. This is the generation we live in. We don’t get to choose it but you can capitalize on it by adjusting to those needs and thus building your brand, capturing market share back and growing your business.

Carpe diem. 

The title is not meant to argue with you in regards to car buying vs. “insert widget here”. This is a follow up of my last post (Are you collecting your rent?) in an effort to continue my message about the state of our industry and where we're headed or already are.

While our industry has evolved quite rapidly over the last five years, we can agree we have operated behind the curve in a lot of different fields but mainly involving technology. Face it, Amazon, Tesla and a plethora of others, are products and services driven by the most important person to all of us - the consumer. Heck, we can get everything now in a BOX like Trunk Club, BarkBox, Birchbox, etc.

What are you doing to adapt to the consumer’s wants and needs in today’s market?

By the way, I think we all know that Tesla isn’t going away anytime soon. In fact, they have only just begun. What’s crazy is that if we as an industry wouldn’t have fought them the way that we have, I’m not sure consumers would know how simple and easy it is to buy a Tesla and where they can. It’s not like regular Joes are out there looking at $100k cars. The point is that instead of fighting change, we need to embrace it now. However, first we need to do the easy stuff, right? Are you?

Based on unscientific data CONSUMERS want the following:

• The perceived “Good Deal” and know exactly what they’re getting before they get to your door.
• See compelling descriptions on what makes YOUR car – THEIR car.
• Price – This includes not having to fill out a form for price.
• Reviews – Good and Bad
• In depth Service and Warranty information. (This is so undervalued by so many dealers)
• Speed and efficiency in the buying process
• Someone they can trust, that is an expert in their field, can answer questions, who can solve their problems, who can relate personally, etc.  

Based on more unscientific data, during their research CONSUMERS DON’T want:

• To see stock images - on any car. Used or New 
• Spend countless hours with you….sitting at your desk while going back and forth (DealerKnows wrote a great piece here)
• Get spammed repeatedly to “set an appointment” without answering their questions.
• Be called when text/email is preferred
• See you berate a Pizza Delivery guy on social media.

It’s something you know because it’s how you feel when you are out shopping for yourself. Customers don't care about you. You are a medium to gain access to a product or service that they want or need. This is not to say that you’re not valued in your community or have loyal customers. However, when it comes down to you and the vehicle it’s not about you. The funny thing about that statement is that when you’re shopping, you likely value a better experience over a poor one, and no, I’m not talking about being served a bag of popcorn. We need to make the car buying process quick, simple and memorable because this all starts before they ever know who you are.

2014 was such a great year for our industry and 2015 is primed to be even better – we just need to recognize the missing items creating weak customer experiences. There is no time better than right now tweak what needs to be finer things.

Carpe diem. 

The title is not meant to argue with you in regards to car buying vs. “insert widget here”. This is a follow up of my last post (Are you collecting your rent?) in an effort to continue my message about the state of our industry and where we're headed or already are.

While our industry has evolved quite rapidly over the last five years, we can agree we have operated behind the curve in a lot of different fields but mainly involving technology. Face it, Amazon, Tesla and a plethora of others, are products and services driven by the most important person to all of us - the consumer. Heck, we can get everything now in a BOX like Trunk Club, BarkBox, Birchbox, etc.

What are you doing to adapt to the consumer’s wants and needs in today’s market?

By the way, I think we all know that Tesla isn’t going away anytime soon. In fact, they have only just begun. What’s crazy is that if we as an industry wouldn’t have fought them the way that we have, I’m not sure consumers would know how simple and easy it is to buy a Tesla and where they can. It’s not like regular Joes are out there looking at $100k cars. The point is that instead of fighting change, we need to embrace it now. However, first we need to do the easy stuff, right? Are you?

Based on unscientific data CONSUMERS want the following:

• The perceived “Good Deal” and know exactly what they’re getting before they get to your door.
• See compelling descriptions on what makes YOUR car – THEIR car.
• Price – This includes not having to fill out a form for price.
• Reviews – Good and Bad
• In depth Service and Warranty information. (This is so undervalued by so many dealers)
• Speed and efficiency in the buying process
• Someone they can trust, that is an expert in their field, can answer questions, who can solve their problems, who can relate personally, etc.  

Based on more unscientific data, during their research CONSUMERS DON’T want:

• To see stock images - on any car. Used or New 
• Spend countless hours with you….sitting at your desk while going back and forth (DealerKnows wrote a great piece here)
• Get spammed repeatedly to “set an appointment” without answering their questions.
• Be called when text/email is preferred
• See you berate a Pizza Delivery guy on social media.

It’s something you know because it’s how you feel when you are out shopping for yourself. Customers don't care about you. You are a medium to gain access to a product or service that they want or need. This is not to say that you’re not valued in your community or have loyal customers. However, when it comes down to you and the vehicle it’s not about you. The funny thing about that statement is that when you’re shopping, you likely value a better experience over a poor one, and no, I’m not talking about being served a bag of popcorn. We need to make the car buying process quick, simple and memorable because this all starts before they ever know who you are.

2014 was such a great year for our industry and 2015 is primed to be even better – we just need to recognize the missing items creating weak customer experiences. There is no time better than right now tweak what needs to be finer things.

Carpe diem. 

This Sunday (10/12/14) marks the beginning of the best annual event in the Automotive community and if you’re plans aren’t already made to be there then you’re missing out. However, the goal of this post is to educate you on what you are likely missing so that it doesn’t happen again.

I’ll give you a brief example: I haven’t seen Game of Thrones. I feel like I’m missing out on something huge! I mean there are even meme’s about 

Game of Thrones and I have no idea why they’re funny to people. You don’t want to be the person that’s missing out on the Automotive community’s “Game of Thrones” - The DrivingSales Executive Summit. 

(If you're like me and may not get that reference. Take DirecTV then. Don't be ugly Rob Lowe) 

See...I don't even know who this guy is! 

Driving Sales has had some of the best Keynotes:

• Gary Vaynerchuk talked to us about understanding the power of our peers and the world we lived in in 2011 with about as much passion and speed as Jared does when he opens the show. Funny thing. It’s been 3 years and as fast as things move, Gary is still right about this one and continues to pump out innovation.
• Billy Beane graced us with a powerful story of his Oakland A’s in 2012. This one hits home with me and dealers a like. Because when it comes right down to it, numbers are everything. We are in an emotional buying business, yes. But the path to get there is through the numbers.
• Last year, Bruce Kimbrall of Disney took the stage and shared why Disney is who they are today. One thing I took away is that they focus on the details. Everyone is equal, from the street sweeper to Cinderella. Their employees are their focus and in turn their customers are their employees focus.

And those were just the Keynotes!! I didn’t even mention the dozens of breakouts by people like Eric Miltsch, Dennis Galbraith, Dale Pollak, Joe Webb, Jeff Cryder, Megan Barto, Tracy Myers in 2011 (we need you back soon!), Shaun Raines, Tom White Jr, Gary May…. I could type a list of awesome speakers a mile long and it wouldn’t even touch on the context of what these pros have given the dealers in attendance to take back to the store. If you’ve read this far I hope you’re shaking your head in disgust for not being here before.

How about 2014?!?

This year features another all-star lineup that I’m sure you’ve read about already so I will just touch on a few for a minute:

Just a couple Keynotes:

• Rand Fishkin (co-founder of Moz) comes back to discuss “Cracking the SEO code for 2015”
• Bryan Eisenberg (Managing Partner of Eisenberg Holdings) is going to discuss “The difficult task of aligning metrics with hard-to-measure marketing, sales and customer service processes.” I think this will hit home with oh about 100% of you.

Awesome Breakout Speakers:

• Eric Miltsch – Tech Extraordinaire discusses wearables and connecting with your customers!
• Shaun Raines and Tom White Jr. – Brand! Brand! Brand! Are you different?
• Christian Salazar – You got brand…now are your customers getting you? Are they even finding you?
• Megan Barto – How Culture in your dealership affects long term profitability.
• Jason Stum – Are you creating original content for your dealership?
• Jeff Kershner – Leveraging Mobile technology for your customers.
• Jerry Thibeau – One of your first touches to a customer is the phones. Are you doing it right?

I just realized that I may need to partner up with someone to try and retain the amazing amount of content that is available this year…again!  Here’s a full list of all the awesome people speaking this year. (Breakout Speakers)

And here’s one last piece of advice for those of you coming: Network. Make it a point to meet and engage with new people. Follow up with them. Drop them a line a week after the show just to thank them for shaking your hand. If there is one thing that I love about the automotive community, it’s that it feels like a big extended family. Sometimes there’s fighting and disagreements and sometimes even worse, but at the end of the day, we do what dysfunctional families do best - stick together. #automotive

Oh and come sing Karaoke or at least laugh/cheer with the ones doing it on Monday night. Look for details at the show. 

This Sunday (10/12/14) marks the beginning of the best annual event in the Automotive community and if you’re plans aren’t already made to be there then you’re missing out. However, the goal of this post is to educate you on what you are likely missing so that it doesn’t happen again.

I’ll give you a brief example: I haven’t seen Game of Thrones. I feel like I’m missing out on something huge! I mean there are even meme’s about 

Game of Thrones and I have no idea why they’re funny to people. You don’t want to be the person that’s missing out on the Automotive community’s “Game of Thrones” - The DrivingSales Executive Summit. 

(If you're like me and may not get that reference. Take DirecTV then. Don't be ugly Rob Lowe) 

See...I don't even know who this guy is! 

Driving Sales has had some of the best Keynotes:

• Gary Vaynerchuk talked to us about understanding the power of our peers and the world we lived in in 2011 with about as much passion and speed as Jared does when he opens the show. Funny thing. It’s been 3 years and as fast as things move, Gary is still right about this one and continues to pump out innovation.
• Billy Beane graced us with a powerful story of his Oakland A’s in 2012. This one hits home with me and dealers a like. Because when it comes right down to it, numbers are everything. We are in an emotional buying business, yes. But the path to get there is through the numbers.
• Last year, Bruce Kimbrall of Disney took the stage and shared why Disney is who they are today. One thing I took away is that they focus on the details. Everyone is equal, from the street sweeper to Cinderella. Their employees are their focus and in turn their customers are their employees focus.

And those were just the Keynotes!! I didn’t even mention the dozens of breakouts by people like Eric Miltsch, Dennis Galbraith, Dale Pollak, Joe Webb, Jeff Cryder, Megan Barto, Tracy Myers in 2011 (we need you back soon!), Shaun Raines, Tom White Jr, Gary May…. I could type a list of awesome speakers a mile long and it wouldn’t even touch on the context of what these pros have given the dealers in attendance to take back to the store. If you’ve read this far I hope you’re shaking your head in disgust for not being here before.

How about 2014?!?

This year features another all-star lineup that I’m sure you’ve read about already so I will just touch on a few for a minute:

Just a couple Keynotes:

• Rand Fishkin (co-founder of Moz) comes back to discuss “Cracking the SEO code for 2015”
• Bryan Eisenberg (Managing Partner of Eisenberg Holdings) is going to discuss “The difficult task of aligning metrics with hard-to-measure marketing, sales and customer service processes.” I think this will hit home with oh about 100% of you.

Awesome Breakout Speakers:

• Eric Miltsch – Tech Extraordinaire discusses wearables and connecting with your customers!
• Shaun Raines and Tom White Jr. – Brand! Brand! Brand! Are you different?
• Christian Salazar – You got brand…now are your customers getting you? Are they even finding you?
• Megan Barto – How Culture in your dealership affects long term profitability.
• Jason Stum – Are you creating original content for your dealership?
• Jeff Kershner – Leveraging Mobile technology for your customers.
• Jerry Thibeau – One of your first touches to a customer is the phones. Are you doing it right?

I just realized that I may need to partner up with someone to try and retain the amazing amount of content that is available this year…again!  Here’s a full list of all the awesome people speaking this year. (Breakout Speakers)

And here’s one last piece of advice for those of you coming: Network. Make it a point to meet and engage with new people. Follow up with them. Drop them a line a week after the show just to thank them for shaking your hand. If there is one thing that I love about the automotive community, it’s that it feels like a big extended family. Sometimes there’s fighting and disagreements and sometimes even worse, but at the end of the day, we do what dysfunctional families do best - stick together. #automotive

Oh and come sing Karaoke or at least laugh/cheer with the ones doing it on Monday night. Look for details at the show. 

Thanks to a special friend for pointing out that some of our conversation could work towards a great post. As we dive headfirst into conference season, we all find ourselves at these events networking and reconnecting with friends and colleagues and there always seem to be a few certainties

• Useful/useless swag
• Keynotes/Breakouts (These will be the best people you listen to at any conference!) 
• After-hours events likely hosted by vendors to show their appreciation to dealers and meet new customers. 
• People looking for an open outlet 

I would like to address my peers today from a vendor perspective. We often come to these events due to our sponsorships (that big booth!) and our relationships to the industry. Depending on the conference, you may find the majority of your time is spent at the booth trying to demo your product or service. I won't dispute that this is necessary; however, I encourage each and every one of you, including your sales people, and anyone wearing your Vendor badge, to take in as many breakout sessions and keynotes as you/they can. This is absolutely imperative - not just to get a better idea of how to sell your products or to see what your competition may be doing - but also to get a better understanding of what your customer, the dealer, is doing and possibly planning to apply in their store. 

Lately the word vendor seems to have a negative connotation to it and frankly I understand that. Dealers pay vendors for a product/service and understandably expect to receive it, but it's the Vendors who need to take the next step in becoming a partner that excels in business and in our industry.

It is a privilege to attend conferences like DrivingSales and attendance gives you the perfect opportunity to educate yourself on your costumers in addition to your own products and services so that when the time comes you can step in and help them by being their partner and not just their vendor focusing on the sale. 

The takeaway from this post:  DrivingSales is one of the best conferences to meet the most progressive dealers in the country and learn from them as well as other topnotch individuals, so as a vendor, bring your people to learn everything they can from this opportunity and the sales will follow (… and this is where I could’ve inserted a Field of Dreams photo).

And now, go register! 

Thanks to a special friend for pointing out that some of our conversation could work towards a great post. As we dive headfirst into conference season, we all find ourselves at these events networking and reconnecting with friends and colleagues and there always seem to be a few certainties

• Useful/useless swag
• Keynotes/Breakouts (These will be the best people you listen to at any conference!) 
• After-hours events likely hosted by vendors to show their appreciation to dealers and meet new customers. 
• People looking for an open outlet 

I would like to address my peers today from a vendor perspective. We often come to these events due to our sponsorships (that big booth!) and our relationships to the industry. Depending on the conference, you may find the majority of your time is spent at the booth trying to demo your product or service. I won't dispute that this is necessary; however, I encourage each and every one of you, including your sales people, and anyone wearing your Vendor badge, to take in as many breakout sessions and keynotes as you/they can. This is absolutely imperative - not just to get a better idea of how to sell your products or to see what your competition may be doing - but also to get a better understanding of what your customer, the dealer, is doing and possibly planning to apply in their store. 

Lately the word vendor seems to have a negative connotation to it and frankly I understand that. Dealers pay vendors for a product/service and understandably expect to receive it, but it's the Vendors who need to take the next step in becoming a partner that excels in business and in our industry.

It is a privilege to attend conferences like DrivingSales and attendance gives you the perfect opportunity to educate yourself on your costumers in addition to your own products and services so that when the time comes you can step in and help them by being their partner and not just their vendor focusing on the sale. 

The takeaway from this post:  DrivingSales is one of the best conferences to meet the most progressive dealers in the country and learn from them as well as other topnotch individuals, so as a vendor, bring your people to learn everything they can from this opportunity and the sales will follow (… and this is where I could’ve inserted a Field of Dreams photo).

And now, go register! 

Arnold was absolutely right when he said you can become a superhero, and more importantly, you don’t have to be a billionaire playboy, alien or mutant to achieve it.

I was fortunate to attend the last two DrivingSales Executive Summits, and after each one, I have returned to work more fully equipped with cool tools (Bat Tools, that is). To echo some things that Arnold mentioned, Jared has the unique ability to capture the “it” and bring it to the forefront of the Automotive Industry.

Last Year’s #DSES raised the bar for the entire Automotive Community. We heard from Luke Wroblewski, mobile expert and founder of a few cool startups; Dennis Galbraith, CEO of Moz Rand Fishkin, and we got to hear from Billy Beane of the Oakland A’s, who equipped me with one of my ultimate Bat Tools…

His strategy changed the landscape of the Oakland A's and baseball in general, and it can be applied to almost any industry, including ours.  He talked about how we should make objective decisions in order to better "play the game," and that means taking emotion out of the equation.  I talk to dealers every day about helping them achieve their goals, and that strategy Billy spoke about last October sticks with me every time I sit down with a dealer.  When you take the emotion out of it, you can do some truly great things. In my world, that translates to taking the emotion tied to your inventory out of the game. When you understand Money Ball and the concept of going for On-Base Percentage versus Homeruns, you are simply understanding your market and adapting to it to excel as a dealer – no emotion required. 

I have high hopes that this year's DSES will again allow us all to add tools to our arsenals and provide us with knowledge that we can use in our daily quest to become superheroes.  

Arnold was absolutely right when he said you can become a superhero, and more importantly, you don’t have to be a billionaire playboy, alien or mutant to achieve it.

I was fortunate to attend the last two DrivingSales Executive Summits, and after each one, I have returned to work more fully equipped with cool tools (Bat Tools, that is). To echo some things that Arnold mentioned, Jared has the unique ability to capture the “it” and bring it to the forefront of the Automotive Industry.

Last Year’s #DSES raised the bar for the entire Automotive Community. We heard from Luke Wroblewski, mobile expert and founder of a few cool startups; Dennis Galbraith, CEO of Moz Rand Fishkin, and we got to hear from Billy Beane of the Oakland A’s, who equipped me with one of my ultimate Bat Tools…

His strategy changed the landscape of the Oakland A's and baseball in general, and it can be applied to almost any industry, including ours.  He talked about how we should make objective decisions in order to better "play the game," and that means taking emotion out of the equation.  I talk to dealers every day about helping them achieve their goals, and that strategy Billy spoke about last October sticks with me every time I sit down with a dealer.  When you take the emotion out of it, you can do some truly great things. In my world, that translates to taking the emotion tied to your inventory out of the game. When you understand Money Ball and the concept of going for On-Base Percentage versus Homeruns, you are simply understanding your market and adapting to it to excel as a dealer – no emotion required. 

I have high hopes that this year's DSES will again allow us all to add tools to our arsenals and provide us with knowledge that we can use in our daily quest to become superheroes.