Modern Dealership - June 2018 by Modern Dealership

VOLUME 2 â&#x20AC;¢ ISSUE 2 JUNE 2018

Coloring Outside the Lines

With Kristina Coverdell WHAT

Bad Communication IS CO$TING YOU

CXM

The FANG Stocks Does Your Software Measure Up?

The Future of

Dealership Communication AI ASSISTANTS

IN ACTION GLENN PASCH

3 Pillars of Success

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Use AutoAlert’s CXM (Customer Experience Management) platform, and keep the sales cycle going and going. CXM is the first in the industry to combine Data Mining, Social Media, Messaging, CRM, and Reputation Management into one big data platform that can be shared by everyone in your dealership. You’ll always know where your customers are in the sales cycle, and when they’re ready to buy. And since we're constantly creating and adding new products, you'll always find a tool that's useful for you.

Make data more actionable. Visit autoalert.com for details.

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M O D E R N D E A L E R S H I P. C O M

contents table of

volume 2 • issue 2 • june 2018

on the cover

F E AT U R E S

26 4

AutoAlert’s Julian Johnston explains CXM and the future of dealership communication.

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Give Your Customers the Independence They Deserve Renee Perri, Vice President,

Corporate Division, Wheel’s Automotive Dealer Supplies

Artificial Intelligence Is Your Car-Selling Reality

Is Your Technology Multi-Generational?

Dave Marod, Senior Vice President of Sales, Conversica

Joey Little, Director of Social Strategies at AutoAlert

D E PA R T M E N T S modern sales

Serve To Sell on the Drive

Bryan Armstrong, e-Commerce Director of VW Dealerships in Mo. and Utah

Use Technology to Run Past Your Competition

Jason Forrest, CEO & Chief Culture Officer at Forrest Performance Group

modern fixed ops

Transparency + Technology = A Strong Service Drive

Ryan Schwank, Product Training Specialist, Toyota Motor North America

Talking Tech With Your Customer

Corrina Baird, Content Manager of Greenslips.com.au

modern operations 3 Pillars of Success

Glenn Pasch, CEO of PCG Companies

Ineffective Communication Is Expensive

Save Money & Grow Your Brand Through Connecting Your Team

modern communication Communicating With Today’s Ups Steve Stauning, CEO of SteveStauning.com

5 Ways to Become a Thought Leader

Maximizing Social to Grow Your Readership and Attract Customers

modern dealerhip insights How the Nation’s Mood Influences the Cars We Drive Auto Financing Report

36 45 38 40 09 22

in the box

IN TH BOX E

Kristina Coverdell shares how she sells both “by the book” and creatively.

12 14 17 42

from the editor: We’re guessing that whatever point in your day you’re reading this, you’ve already communicated (or been communicated to) via text, email, social media, and possibly the phone. You’ve tuned into the news and visited your favorite websites at least a few times. With the constant deluge of information today, how can your dealership ensure that its communication stands out? And importantly, how can you stay connected with your employees in the age of distraction? Read on for practical, innovative solutions from Julian Johnston, AutoAlert’s VP of Innovation and Platform Philosophy (p. 26); Glenn Pasch, CEO of PCG Companies (p. 09); David Marod, Senior VP of Sales at Conversica (p. 19); and other industry leaders paving the way for better dealership communication. – The MD Team M O D E R N D E A L E R S H I P. C O M 5

GIVE YOUR

CUSTOMERS THE INDEPENDENCE

THEY DESERVE

By Renee Perri Vice President, Corporate Division, Wheelâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Automotive Dealer Supplies

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This can include window stickers, banners, and professional-looking CPO signage. At Wheel’s Automotive, for example, we make customized DashMaster Vehicle Info Displays that sit behind the windshield, Magic Cling Vehicle Info Displays that stick to windows, Dry Erase Mirror Tags and other customizable products that easily identify a vehicle’s specs.

It is extremely important to understand the effectiveness of online communication in today’s car-buying world. After all, every customer who is looking for a vehicle nowadays has done all of the research they need to do about that product online before they even show up on a lot. Statistics say that, on average, a prospective vehicle purchaser will go to two dealerships, maximum, before making a transaction. You want to be the one location that makes the sale.

Traditional media, as opposed to online, should not be overlooked.

For example, if a customer knows all of the information about the car they want to buy before they show up on the lot, but then can’t find the actual car, that’s when physical signage is vital.

I was in the dealership business for 11 years and know that a customer is usually very informed about the vehicle that they are looking for before coming to the dealership. But as a former salesperson, I am also very aware that as much as one might know about a car, they are not necessarily familiar with a dealership lot and how to find what they are looking for. That’s why it’s important to have detailed signage directing customers to where they need to go as well as informational pamphlets on the cars corroborating their online research. For example, body styles might not always be as recognizable as one would think with subtle to drastic modifications that might be made from year to year. Also, it’s impossible to tell if a certain vehicle is a four-cylinder model or a six-cylinder model unless you look under the hood. One of the first steps is to make sure that when a person shows up on the lot, they are aware of what section of vehicles they need to look at. As we know in the dealership business, OEM-certified, pre-owned vehicles are the most in-demand cars that customers want. It is important to point them in the right direction with signage. If a customer has to search too hard it opens up the potential for them to look on their phone and find another dealership, and a purchase is lost for good.

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SIGNAGE BACKS UP

THE RESEARCH THE

CUSTOMERS HAVE DONE ONLINE.

The same goes for the identifying signage on the vehicle. The customer might think they know everything about the make and model of a particular car, and all of its features, but it’s still reassuring to see detailed info in writing with the physical vehicle. It’s also daunting for many to ask a car salesperson for help and only resort to this when they have run out of options. This is especially bothersome to those who have done their research and don’t want to hear everything they already know. There is no way to underestimate the importance of digital communication in today’s society. Dealerships need to partner with the right vendors, such as AutoAlert, to help them connect with customers before they get to the lot. But there is also value in assisting in your customers’ autonomy when on your lot. Presenting a well-organized, customercentric environment at your dealership will not only evoke independence in their shopping experience but also translate into trust for your dealership. Using a combination of digital and physical on-site promotion strategies to move vehicles off of your lot is the best way to sell more cars and make sure that reluctant buyers are comfortable making the decision to choose your dealership, again and again.

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3 PILLARS OF SUCCESS

for Turning Your Dealership Into a Well-Oiled Machine

GLENN PASCH

CEO of PCG Companies The most successful businesses – including dealerships – seem to almost run themselves. That’s only because a lot of work has been put in behind the scenes to ensure that at any time, on any day, everything is handled efficiently and professionally by all team members. I see dealerships accomplishing this through consistency in what I call the three pillars of success: structure, training, and accountability. With these in place and working together, a foundation is set for business to run smoothly.

consistency creates a reliable “machine” for success.

The three are also required for addressing the numberone complaint I hear from dealers today: How do I get my team to use the software tools I’ve purchased? You’ve probably been there – you might even be there right now. Because technology is so tied to the success of your daily operations, having a solid foundation in place to support your team every day will go a long way in supporting their use of technology.

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Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s take a closer look at how to implement the three pillars at your dealership.

STRUCTURE During a presentation at NADA Show 2018, I asked my audience (a group of more than 150 dealers) how many of them had 75 percent of their processes documented so that employees know exactly what to do. One or two people raised their hands. The response was a little better when I asked how many had 50 percent somehow written out, with maybe 15 or 20 percent raising their hands. Clearly, structure is lacking at most dealerships. One of the best ways to build it is through having processes in place for the daily actions at your store: sales, new-hire training, used-car sourcing, detailing, answering phones, etc. Without them, everyone will do things their own way, which leads to chaos and confusion, especially for new employees. Once you have processes in place, hiring and retaining employees becomes much easier too. Discuss your exact procedures and expectations during the interview to see if the person is a good fit.

Great dealerships know exactly why they had a good month or a bad month.

In today’s quickly changing marketplace, with technology that’s changing quickly too, your team requires regular training now more than ever. Most dealers don’t know how to choose the right person for the job. In fact, they usually choose the wrong person: the best sales person on the team, for example. This obvious choice seems logical, but often those who are the very best at what they do aren’t very good at teaching it. Michael Jordan is arguably the best basketball player of all time. But he wouldn’t make a good coach. So how to choose? Let’s say the person in charge of sales or your BDC is on vacation all week. To whom does your team turn with their questions? That’s your trainer. This person is usually patient, approachable, and helpful. They’re in your top half in sales, but likely not at the very top.

ACCOUNTABILITY The first pillar – structure – provides a basis for improving accountability. Your dealership is different from any other dealership, and anyone you hire should be made aware of your specific processes. If employees know exactly what to expect from day one, it’ll be much easier to hold them accountable later. Another thing dealers can do to improve accountability is to be consistent with their feedback to their team. New employees often get a lot of attention, but then the communication drops off, or the employee is only approached with criticism. Keep feedback consistent, and see conversations foremost as a chance to challenge, motivate, and inspire. Scripts and metrics are great tools for facilitating accountability, and the best technology will include them for you, along with ways of tracking employee engagement and efficiency.

PUTTING iT ALL TOGETHER Great dealerships know exactly why they had a good month or a bad month. The others don’t. The biggest difference I can see between the two is how consistent they are in the three pillars – consistency creates a reliable “machine” for success. With this machine built, you’ll have a much better idea of whether an applicant is a good fit for your team. Your employees’ strengths and weaknesses will be more apparent, helping you determine what training they need, or even what department is the best fit for them. You’ll know what to expect from your sales and marketing teams, and have a clearer view into areas that are ripe for growth. You’ll know which processes are working, and which aren’t. Software tools are becoming more powerful and more capable of helping dealerships succeed. Build a solid foundation at your dealership where technology and your team can flourish, and reap the rewards! M O D E R N D E A L E R S H I P. C O M

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TRAINING

Communicating With Today’s Ups By Steve Stauning CEO SteveStauning.com

I was setting up a large, centralized BDC a few weeks ago when one of the agents pushed back while I was detailing the proper use of emails and voicemails. “People don’t email anymore, and they definitely don’t listen to their voicemails, because millennials dread talking on the phone!” she exclaimed. “Shouldn’t we focus on texting, and not worry about outdated communications?” To be clear, we were discussing ways to reconnect with an Internet prospect after a form lead submission. Texting, coincidentally, was the very next slide in the training deck. The lesson that followed for this brand-new BDC agent and her coworkers is an important one for everyone in your dealership to learn, especially for those who speak in absolutes and/or believe everybody else is just like them.

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Don’t Get Hung Up on Popularity Texting has been a viable reconnection tool for Internet sales teams for more than a decade. In fact, texting usage overtook voice usage on mobile devices in 2007. This means we’ve long passed the decision stage of “should we text our prospects?” The answer is a resounding “yes” for those who’ve opted-in to receive your SMS messages. If you’re hoping to communicate with today’s Ups, texting is the most important and effective way to do this. But – and this is the lesson – it’s not the only way. Moreover, anyone who abandons other forms of communication because they’re not as popular as texting is, to put it nicely, a tad shortsighted.

All communication channels are valid because all communication channels are in play. That is, while there are certainly people who prefer texting to email, there are still plenty of prospects who would prefer to work with your team via email. Similarly, just because you don’t listen to your voicemails doesn’t mean that no one else listens to theirs.

Phones Are Still King, However While many consumers prefer texting because it’s efficient and limits the use of unnecessary greetings, and still others prefer email because it allows them to remain anonymous, your team should be focused on driving its Internet prospects to the phone. That’s correct. Your processes should all be designed to drive prospects to the phone. Once on the phone, your goal is to set an appointment that shows. Once they show, well, you get how that whole sales thing works, right? Save the hate mail. I’m all for allowing consumers to communicate the way they want. This doesn’t mean, however, that your team shouldn’t ask for the phone call. The phone offers advantages to you, the seller, that texting and email simply cannot match.

Why the phone? It’s simple. When we get a prospect on the phone, we can hear their voice. This allows us to decode meaning and more easily uncover and overcome real objections. People are more honest on the phone than when they are hiding behind a screen. The phone, you see, gives context to what we say and what the prospect says. Context, by the way, that you simply cannot get in text or email. Finally, the phone is more intimate, which gives us a chance to start building a relationship.

Focus On The Goal If your goal is to sell more cars to those who submit sales leads to your dealership, resist the pressure to focus solely on the most popular communication medium, or even the one your prospect wants to use. Ensure your team leverages all communication channels and encourage them to take charge when communicating with today’s Ups. This might even mean asking the prospect to move the conversation to the dreaded, outdated phone.

“Save the hate mail. I’m all for allowing consumers to communicate the way they want.”

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From direct mail to phone to email to chat and text, most dealers enjoy a good return on investment (ROI) with every channel. Great salespeople and managers know there is no one way to communicate with every Up, and trying to fit everyone into your favorite way of communicating leads to subpar results.

Again, don’t get hung up on popularity, or how you like to communicate, and especially don’t get hung up on how you think the prospect wants to communicate. You should be asking them to reconnect with you via phone, while also providing options for text and email.

5 WAYS TO BECOMe a thought leader THROUGH CONTENT & DESIGN MAXIMIZING SOCIAL TO GROW YOUR READERSHIP AND ATTRACT CUSTOMERS

IT DOESN’T MATTER HOW IMPORTANT OR USEFUL YOUR CONTENT IS ...

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... if viewers aren’t drawn in by the way your post looks, they won’t read it. And if they won’t read it, they sure won’t share it. The amount of work that goes into your dealership’s content creation shouldn’t be wasted, and that’s why thoughtfully designing it is imperative to boosting your readership and expanding your reach. Getting content and design to work together in harmony isn’t hard, but it takes a knowledge of what consumers look for when site browsing. “If you’re not putting relevant content in relevant places, you don’t exist,” says serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and VaynerMedia CEO Gary Vaynerchuk. Strong design of your content grabs consumer attention, provides an overview of your post, makes for an easy read, and brings the message to life. Here are five ways to better position your dealership as an industry leader with you content and design.

1. USE SUBHEADS Like it or not, many of your readers aren’t going to read your writing word for word. An effective technique to grab the attention of your audience is to use subheads. Subheads capture attention and then keep readers engaged throughout your article. They can feel like a mini-headline, preparing the reader for what lies ahead in the next section, while also ensuring your content remains organized throughout. Make sure your subheads are intriguing but not over-exaggerated. You wouldn’t want to lose credibility by using a phrase that sounds good but doesn’t convey the theme or idea of the next section.

2. MAKE LISTS Lists work for readers because they mesh well with the natural way our brain works. Everyone has two sides of the brain, and each part is responsible for controlling a specific way of thinking. The “left brain” is analytical and prefers a step-by-step approach (i.e., lists), while the “right brain” prefers to see the overview first and process details later.

Many social media users want to know exactly what they’re in for, and lists cater specifically to that need. In addition, describing a blog or article in narrative form to someone who hasn’t read it is not always the easiest. Lists are much easier to remember and discuss, and because of this, they will be shared more often. M O D E R N D E A L E R S H I P. C O M

3. ADD HIGHLY RELEVANT LINKS Your content must include external links if you use other sources in your writing. That alone demonstrates that you’ve researched the topic and want to credit other experts. But if your dealership really wants to promote its own content, internal links will keep people reading your original material. Internal links lead back to your own site and help expand readers’ understanding of topics you cover.

4. STRATEGICALLY FORMAT Using various formatting tools can add emphasis to your content. Be wary of liberally formatting everything, as this would be the same as not formatting at all. Instead, strategically emphasize the key points so the reader can quickly pick them out. Formatting includes bolding, underlining, italicizing, and capitalizing. With effective formatting, readers should be able to grab a few main points with one quick glance and decide if you’re providing the kind of content they want to read.

BrightLocal found that 60 percent of consumers are more willing to consider local search results that include images, and 23 percent are more likely to contact a business showcasing an image. Even if you don’t choose the right picture, images spark curiosity among readers — enough to make them read the article. A visual symbol of your content will give readers a more dynamic preview of your post rather than simply using a plain-text update. Images are more likely to stick with your readers, and using them is important in establishing your brand as a content marketing leader. Videos are also popular, but be sure to keep them short and interesting.

Dealerships have an opportunity to build brand loyalty and engage consumers on a deeper level through the thoughtful design of their content. Knowing how to design content will help gain the attention of their market and engage readers, turning prospective buyers into customers.

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5. Include an image (or video) in every post

How the Nation’s Mood

influences THE CARS WE drive

1. SPEED When we’re feeling good we want to go fast, and the auto industry obliges by releasing cars that break power and speed records. On display at this year’s North American International Auto Show was the Koenigsegg Agera RS, a car that reached a top speed of 277.9 mph. Toyota is now offering a 300-horsepower, six-cylinder Camry that goes from zero to 60 mph in less than six seconds, which is about two seconds quicker than the four-cylinder version.

3. DEBT Here is a downside to the positive social mood. All this optimism and confidence can lead to a rise in car-buyer debt as ebullient Americans choose pricier cars and often stretch out the payments over more years. In 2017, the total auto-loan debt in the U.S. topped $1.2 trillion.

A positive social mood brought on by a strong stock market – like we’ve seen over the past year or so – influences our car choices in these

4 ways according to Murray Gunn, head of global research for Elliott Wave International and a contributing author to Socionomic Studies of Society and Culture.

2. SIZE Positive social mood also drives up the demand for sport utility vehicles, trucks, and larger vehicles in general. That was evidenced at the auto show, where passenger cars, crossovers, and pickups were bigger than in the past. Even the 2019 Kia Forte, a compact sedan, was 3.2 inches longer.

4. COLOR When the social mood is good, people prefer cars that are bright colors along with black, white, and silver. When the mood goes sour, they opt for earth tones like brown, green, and beige. The popularity of those colors tracks with the ups and downs of the stock market, which is the best measure of the country’s social mood. M O D E R N D E A L E R S H I P. C O M

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Artificial Intelligence Is YOUR CarSelling Reality BY DAVID MAROD Senior Vice President of Sales, Conversica

If you’ve ever been on a car dealership’s website, communicated with someone there via a chat application, or swapped texts or emails – and felt you happened to be talking to a physical person – there is a good chance you actually weren’t.

That doesn’t mean you were duped. What it displays is the astounding progress that we have made in the realm of Artificial Intelligence (AI), and what an excellent customer experience it can create.

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Through Conversica’s conversational AI platform, we are now able to facilitate online discussions with potential customers, and actually understand the nuances of people’s preferences while doing so. And despite the potential purchaser of a vehicle feeling like there’s just a friendly human on the other end, they are in reality speaking to an AI agent. Let’s say, for example, that the AI Assistant being used is named “Rachel.” Rachel might just be a dealership’s most reliable employee. She is polite, persistent and engaging. She connects with more people and does so in a highly consistent manner. For example, a dealership might, on average, try to reach a client two or three times, but “Rachel” will make up to eight attempts in a very human way. She will ask them the best way to get in touch. She will introduce the salesperson. She will ask the client to let her know if they would rather not have any more communication from a dealership. These are important because you have to engage before you can start the sales process. So now, instead of salespeople burning through leads, you have an automated tool to actually get in contact with people, engage with people, and get them into the sales funnel. Many dealerships are under the impression that their CRM already does this work. That’s a common misconception. But this is well beyond a templated email. Just because a campaign can be set up in a CRM does not mean it can create truly human-like twoway conversations that engage prospective customers and put them at ease. Moreover when you look at a CRM, it sends out a lot of emails, and those emails half the time don’t make it into the inbox. At Conversica we adhere to all the spam rules to automatically keep you compliant. You won’t find pictures or hyperlinks, and our communication goes through as a regular email.

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Every single one of your potential customers receives all the personal attention they need. And like any good employee, the AI Assistant works with and takes advantage of the tools you already use, such as AutoAlert. The great thing about using Conversica with a partner like AutoAlert is that the latter does a lot of the heavy lifting, going through all of the data points in the DMS records and providing a list of who needs to be sent an alert, or who can trade out their vehicle easily. When you combine that with the power of a smart, polite and persistent AI Assistant, we now see miraculous success because you are hitting someone at the right time, with the right offer, and the entire process is automated. The intent here is not to trick people. Instead, it is to ensure that every single one of your potential customers receives all the personal attention they need to have a great experience and engage with your dealership. In fact the experience is so good that we have come across situations when people try to find “Rachel” at

the dealership, or have had competitors even try to poach her. The AI Assistant gives the customer a very personal, warm, engaging experience and makes sure they don’t drop through the cracks when humans are left to do this task, due to forgetfulness or inability to follow up with as much frequency because of outside circumstances. And not only does AI do a better and more consistent job in this instance, it also cuts out a lot of the costs that a dealership might incur if employees were assigned to do it. The cost of “Rachel” is less for the dealership than the cost of hiring one human who, by the way, also needs to take breaks, gets sick, requires benefits, and probably doesn’t enjoy following up on Internet leads in the first place. So with AI, everybody wins, both the dealership and the customer. AI is not only an effective and efficient way to connect with a customer, it also improves a dealership’s bottom line.

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Save Money & Grow Your Brand Through Connecting Your Team Communication is key for busy dealerships, and engaging ineffectively can be like trying to shove that key into a touchscreen passcode entry form. It certainly doesn’t work, and it ends up costing you time and money. Although today’s frequently and drastically changing communication methods can seem overwhelming, staying connected with your employees and customers is one of the most important things your dealership can do, and it doesn’t have to be difficult.

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What’s the Price of Poor Communication? If a dealership isn’t communicating efficiently, the cost will come through losing potential customers, employees, and money. According to 360Solutions, the average business with 100 employees spends 17 hours a week clarifying communication. In monetary terms, this costs the business approximately $528,443 annually. If that isn’t convincing enough, here are some additional facts and statistics to reinforce the cost — both literal and otherwise — of inefficient communication at work. Employees who don’t feel engaged cost their dealership an average of $3,400 for every $10,000 in annual salary.

Disengaged employees reduce earnings growth by up to 11 percent. When employees feel engaged, they generate sales through their personal online platforms, and content shared by employees receives eight times more engagement than brand channel information. Engaged employees are more likely to stay at their dealerships and contribute above-average productivity.

Communication with the Consumer Statistics: • Thirty-four percent of new car buyers begin their search with mobile research. • Sixty-two percent of employees say that when they feel engaged, they have happier customers — and happier customers lead to more business and more referrals. • Eighty-five percent of mobile users feel more at ease with apps compared to mobile websites. • Connecting and sharing via mobile marketing costs a fraction of other advertising and allows dealerships to reach and connect with more people on a regular basis. • Nearly two-thirds of mobile marketers said mobile produced a return on investment, and 70 percent said the channel was a critical enabler of products and services — up 13 percentage points year over year.

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Disengaged employees reduce operating income by up to 33 percent.

How to Strengthen Communication in the Workforce The type of communication that’s often overlooked in a business is the communication between leadership and employees. In a study done by SocialChorus and Dimensional Research, 94 percent of employees said they wanted to hear more about what’s happening from leadership, and 86 percent of employees said they’d feel more engaged if they knew more about what was happening; yet 68 percent of executives said they do a good job of communicating, while only 21 percent of employees actually agreed with that. To get you started, here are three simple steps a dealership can take to improve its communication and save money: 1. Provide an internal communication platform that’s easy for everyone to use.

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2. Involve, acknowledge, and engage employees regularly. 3. Highlight career benefits of professional sharing on social media, and make it clear what you want employees to share. Forty-four percent of employees are unsure about what they’re allowed to share.

How to Strengthen Communication with Consumers Communicating with consumers in today’s mobile-friendly environment via social media and mobile marketing is a necessity. Taking advantage of the mobile market, having an online presence, branding your dealership, and even creating an app are all innovative ways to strengthen your dealership’s communication with consumers in a cost-effective manner. Consistently acknowledging and engaging with consumers online and through mobile marketing is a steadfast way to connect with current and potential customers. Cultivating a personality and providing a constant stream of beneficial information will gain positive attention and, in turn, brand recognition and more business.

Improving Communication Is Critical Communication is critical to saving money and creating happier employees and customers. Engaged leaders have a profound impact on their employees, and engaged employees report happier customers, which makes all the difference in benefitting the dealership. By strengthening communication, your dealership can save hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. It can also grow your brand and make your dealership accessible to all consumers and potential customers who use their mobile devices to shop – which is more and more shoppers every day.

“THE AVERAGE BUSINESS WITH 100 EMPLOYEES SPENDS 17 HOURS A WEEK CLARIFYING COMMUNICATION. IN MONETARY TERMS, THIS COSTS THE BUSINESS APPROXIMATELY $528,443 ANNUALLY.” 24

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here have been some major developments at automotive data-mining and customer-dealership connection vendor AutoAlert, starting with the announcement at the NADA show about its CXM (Customer Experience Management) big data platform, which combines its suite of Data Mining, Social Media, Messaging, CRM, and Reputation Management software solutions. To help direct the platform, Julian Johnston was recently promoted to the new role of Vice President of Innovation and Platform Philosophy from Senior Director of Product Consulting and Sales. Johnston spoke with Modern Dealership about his new role, and how the CXM platform will change the way communication is done between dealerships, customers and OEMs.

The

FUT DEA 26

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TURE of ALERSHIP Communication M O D E R N D E A L E R S H I P. C O M

That is an interesting title. Tell me a little more about what it means and what you will be doing at AutoAlert going forward? You cannot drive continuous innovation of a platform as complex as ours without a deep understanding of what all of the components do, how they work together, and a philosophical understanding of why the platform was built the way it was. As a dealer-partner, we have to strike a balance between equipping our dealers with the tools they need to be successful today and look into the future to provide solutions that will allow our dealers to thrive in a landscape that they might not be aware of, with tools that they likely don’t know they need. I have worked with AutoAlert’s Mike Dullea (CEO), Tom Walls (CTO), and team for almost 10 years, and they have perfected the art of building innovative platforms in this space. They did it with VinSolutions, and now we are doing it again with AutoAlert. In working with this team, you quickly realize that building a platform requires much more strategic vision and decision making than building a standalone product. Even from early on, I began to understand that there is a philosophy that drives the company and its platform forward and all decisions have to made with that philosophy in mind. When you are moving as quickly as we are, it is vital to make sure all stakeholders in your organization are well versed on what we are building for our dealers and why we are heading in the direction we are heading, which is why change management is incredibly important in my role. If our goal is to provide a forwardthinking solution while at the same time offering top-level support, then we can’t possibly accomplish that mission if all of our employees aren’t on the same page and singing the same tune.

I have heard you use the term “platform” already, and it is in your title. What exactly does platform mean, and how is it any different than any other software solution?

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At AutoAlert, we have a series of products that all provide tremendous value on their own; however, it is the collaboration of all of those tools that drive real change. So, we have built an environment that allows for enhanced integrations between all of the solutions that we offer. This environment allows us to connect dots that wouldn’t even be there if these products were siloed. For example, a reputation management tool is vital to the marketing efforts of a dealership, and we offer one of the best in the space; however, when you integrate the data captured from that tool into our CXM platform, then you can activate that data in real time. This integration has allowed us to build a Conflict Resolution Process to handle negative reviews that the industry has never seen before. This is just one example of many that make up our platform.

What do you think about the consolidation taking place in the industry, with companies such as Cox Automotive, CDK Global, Dominion Dealer Solutions, and others, making platforms through acquisitions? Building an integrated platform through acquisition is incredibly difficult, and I think all of the companies you mentioned above are starting to realize that. I have been on both sides of the fence and think what many of these companies are finding out, is that building a platform through acquired products goes a whole lot deeper than just integrating code. It is a monumental task to integrate software solutions that weren’t built to be integrated. The deeper you get into the infrastructure of the software the more you find yourself rebuilding to patch tools together. We dealt with this exact issue ourselves when AutoAlert purchased MotoFuze. For us to integrate these products together, we had to rebuild everything from the ground up — which we did — and it took a lot of effort and sacrifice to pull off. But that is only part of the challenge. When acquiring a company, you are adopting their people, their culture, and most importantly the company’s “why.” To try and align those things with the greater good is easier said than done and often times takes years to accomplish … if ever!

Now, when you couple all of this with the pressure of making sure the acquisition bears fruit financially for the parent company, it becomes nearly impossible because every decision is made with the bottom line in mind and often times this focus clouds the judgment of what is most important: providing solutions that help dealerships better serve their customers.

around; but the ones that have tried it have proven how difficult it can be. We will start to see decisions made by the companies above proving exactly that.

At AutoAlert, we have the freedom to put all of our focus on creating value for our dealers and their customers, instead of chasing the justification of a purchased company or bottom line.

It is important to point out, that CXM is not a new concept. Many of the other retail verticals have been practicing CXM for years. It just has yet to be introduced in automotive because our business model is so unique.

I am a firm believer of building platforms from the ground up because I’ve seen it work. That is not to say it cannot be done the other way

As many people have heard, AutoAlert recently released it’s Customer Experience Management (CXM) Platform. What exactly does CXM mean and why is it so important?

We knew that we had to step back and redefine what the relationship between a dealership and their customer should look like. In the eyes of the customer, they don’t realize all that goes into marketing and selling a vehicle. They don’t understand the difference between a Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3 marketing strategy; or, how many partners a dealership needs to effectively market in a super competitive landscape, and frankly they don’t care. To them, a cohesive, personalized experience when purchasing and servicing their vehicle is all that matters. We want to help bridge that gap. Every single touchpoint is the most important moment to that customer and should be treated as such. It should come as no surprise that we believe communication is the most important aspect of any positive relationship and if we can use data and modern technology to help manage the entire customer journey and communication strategy with the customer’s needs in mind, then we have a better chance of creating customers for life. M O D E R N D E A L E R S H I P. C O M

How is this different than the CRMs that most dealerships are using today? I got my start with a major CRM company and owe everything I know to the foundation they helped me build there. I’ll also say, CRMs in our industry truly changed the game in how we managed the relationships with customers and will always have a place in automotive retail. With that said, most of the communication to the customer is automated, and all of it is time-based. Customer-relationship management is mostly driven by an automated scheduler. An automated email fires 24 months after purchase. A followup call on month 32 … why? And say what? It is no wonder that most of the notes we find in our CRM tools are “left message.” Outside of a happy birthday call, not much of the communication is relevant and, frankly, it is a broken process. The digital world we live in offers up capabilities that we simply didn’t have 5 or 10 years ago when many of these CRM tools were developed. The

Many of the OEMs are starting to have conversations about CXM, and if you dig into these Tier 1 strategies, you will find that much of the conversation revolves around employee engagement. Truthfully, it makes perfect sense because, let’s face it, it doesn’t matter how the customer is driven to the dealership; if the employee they interact with is disengaged or, even worse, disgruntled, then all of the hard work is done in vain. The question for us was how do we develop a tool to help support the need of keeping your employees engaged to your brand and your mission … because up until now, there has never been one in place. What we have found is that, much like the relationship with your customers, maintaining employee engagement and satisfaction is driven by communication, which, again, shouldn’t surprise anyone. Whether we like it or not, today’s workforce demands open communication with their employer and fluid collaboration with their

“Much like the relationship with your customers, maintaining employee engagement and satisfaction is driven by communication.” -Julian Johnston amount of data and intelligence we are able to draw from today is astounding and the technology we have available to us to create actions using that intelligence is what is allowing us to redefine this process; and, even in the early stages, we are proving that the impact a data-focused communication strategy has on our dealers and the relationships with their customers is profound.

It sounds like communication was the missing link in making CXM a reality. Why is that? The final phase of our journey in creating the CXM platform was taking the personalized experience that customers have come to expect online, and transferring that same experience to the brick-and-mortar. In order to do that we have to make sure we are not only communicating the right message to the right consumers, but also communicating the right message to the right employee at the right time. 30

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peers. For us, the goal in the development of our communication tool – Pando – was to encourage communication, inspire collaboration, and drive operational efficiency. What we are proving is that even the smallest adjustments in how you communicate with your employees and how they collaborate with each other has a huge impact on how they feel when they come into work every day. Your employees are the key driver in the relationships customers have with your dealership. They create the perception that customers have when they think of your brand. Dealers take a tremendous amount of pride in their brand and how they are perceived in their community; don’t let a disengaged employee destroy that goodwill.

So, by engaging employees you are helping dealerships set the foundation. Then what? Once we have a team of engaged employees, we can start arming them with new tools and heightened intelligence to provide customers with the best overall experience. The most exciting part of our platform is the algorithms running in the background and the fact that they get smarter every day. Every single transaction creates an opportunity for our algorithms to learn and get better at predicting behavior. The more data we feed into this, the more intelligent the engine becomes. Imagine how powerful it would be to arm the dealership’s staff with the same level of intelligence every single time they interact with a customer. So, for example, when BDC Agents pick up the phone to call a customer, we want them to have an understanding of who they are calling and why, and know exactly what the conversation should be, based on what we know about that customer. Or, when a salesperson ups a customer on the lot, they know exactly what drove that customer to the dealership in the first place.

Once we can start connecting these dots on a consistent basis, that is when we can drive serious change, not only for the dealership, but for our industry as a whole.

I recently saw an interview with your CEO, Mike Dullea, where he emphasized the importance of integration. Would you agree with his sentiments, and why? Absolutely! Three years ago, when we started the discussions on Pando and CXM, we had to make the strategic decision of whether or not we will open up the platform for integration; and, honestly, it was a no-brainer. Our CTO, Tom Walls, said it perfectly when he said: “We want to be an ecosystem enabler.” Truth be told, we drew a lot of inspiration from what Salesforce is doing. They are one of the best CRM tools in the world, and nobody will dispute that; however, what truly sets them apart is their willingness to integrate their platform with anyone that provides value to their mutual customer — even if that third party has competitive functionality. If you take a step back and look around in our industry, you will see that we simply don’t operate the same way … and it is to the detriment of our dealers. Dealerships have a portfolio of vendors handling different aspects of the business. A DMS. A CRM. A Website. Third-party lead sources. A marketing company. An inventory management tool. Most of which don’t communicate with each other. It’s no wonder why the customer experience is so fragmented and disjointed. This is why integrations among all the different verticals within our industry is absolutely vital. Our CXM platform is built with the infrastructure needed to allow for the synergies to provide our customers a great experience. If we can encourage other vendors to come together to collaborate with the interest of the customer in mind, we will all be better for it. The integration and collaboration of vendor partners within our industry will be the single most important movement in our industry going forward … and we hope to be the catalyst in making that happen sooner than later.

By Joey Little Director of Social Strategies at AutoAlert

Is Your Technology

Multi-Generational Engaging Employees with Modern UI/UX

Just as important as having the software tools that will help your dealership succeed is having a team that’s excited to use them. That excitement is born at the ground level, with the platform itself, and will grow as the team’s understanding of the processes around the technology grows.

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Remember Everett Rogers’ “Diffusions of Innovations” theory? His research showed that as five successive groups of consumers adopt new technology – the Early Innovators, then the Early Adopters, then the Early Majority, etc. – its market share will eventually reach the saturation level.

You want “saturation level” at your dealership to happen quickly, with your whole team on board and using your tools right away. One main way that Beth Moore, Senior Director of Global UI/ UX at AutoAlert, achieves this in the creation of innovative software is through familiarity. She gives the example of Facebook. Although primarily a sharing platform, it has made taking pictures, messaging, and sending images and videos as intuitive as when using a standard cell phone. “UX (user experience) is constantly changing, but building in patterns and conventions that people are familiar with allows the user to ease into a new modern user interface, even if it houses a new sophisticated process,” she says. “Even when we release innovation not yet seen in automotive, users only need days to fully understand it.”

The Need for Advanced UI/UX Much of the software used by today’s car dealerships was designed years ago and has become outdated. Even if they did jump on board right away, users drop off because they can’t relate to old-school interface and processes. We see this in the example of CRMs and millennials who refuse to make phone calls because they don’t see the point of it. The CRM demands detailed information made through customer connections, but if millennials don’t have a good “why” for making a phone call, they’ll push back and refuse to do it, or do it half-heartedly resulting in the dreaded “lvm.” With the oldest members of Generation Z – the first true digital natives – now entering dealerships as employees, it’s only going to get dicier. That’s why having multi-generational software platforms and corresponding processes in place is so critical for dealerships today.

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“Sometimes it’s best to start fresh and give life to your software. Doing this also attracts younger generations, who will want to work for you if you innovate often.” – Beth Moore, Senior Director of Global UI/UX at AutoAlert

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Each of the FANG platforms have notable multi-generational aspects: Facebook: Easy to share content with a community, and a simple messaging platform. Amazon: Great AI (artificial intelligence), and a simple process to execute tasks. Netflix: Possibly the best multi-generational platform of them all. Easy and Simple UI (user interface), and high positive UX feedback. Google: Simple search capabilities on the front end of the design, but complex algorithms that make the UX easy.

The FANG Factor The FANG (Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, and Google) stocks are some of the most popular stocks in the market today. This is very likely due to these companies’ genius ability to create innovative services via a platform that just about everybody can understand, without instruction – platforms that are easy for me, my grandmother, and my 12-year-old boy to use. One of Facebook’s goals from the start was “to make something as simple as we can so that [users] will understand it,” company CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, told Congress in April. For dealerships, the question is: Is the software at your dealership easy for everyone on your team to use? Baby Boomers, Gen Xers, millennials, and Gen Zers? It doesn’t have to be as intuitive as the FANG companies; what they offer for users is a more singular service (one person who’s buying things, watching movies, searching the internet, etc.) than technology that’s designed to help your entire team sell more cars in a variety of new ways. But it does have to be modern, sophisticated yet simple, and of course, effective. “When it comes to automotive, that software should hand users their tasks. We wouldn’t want our users to miss an existing opportunity or a

new lead, or forget to greet their customer, as they came through the service drive. At the same time, we need to track those interactions to make sure they’re happening as expected,” Moore says. Once you’re sure that the software platform is user-friendly for everyone on your team, the next step is to make sure multi-generational processes are in place.

Consider the Processes What have we learned from the dealership millennials who refuse to make random phone calls? The most important lesson, perhaps, is that dealers have a large customer base that doesn’t want to receive those phone calls either. And that base is only growing. Software that considers users and the end customer will have processes that make sense to multiple generations as well. This includes data-backed communications, like car-buying options for the customer and other helpful information. Technology should make your team’s job easier, not more complicated. Sure, there will be a learning curve with anything new, but having a good base to grow from – one that everyone can relate to – will make that curve seem less steep. M O D E R N D E A L E R S H I P. C O M

SERVE TO SELL ON THE DRIVE BY BRYAN ARMSTRONG E-COMMERCE DIRECTOR OF VW DEALERSHIPS IN MO. AND UTAH

f you want to get the best out of any kind of data-mining solution, it’s worth the time to backtrack to your verbiage and rethink what you’re saying when you approach the customer. It is here that the differentiation between an “owner base” and a “conquest customer” is the most pronounced. Typically, though, in this industry the same approach is used universally: “Would you like to buy a car?” “We really need your car!” “What if I could pay you more than it’s worth?” “I have a customer looking for exactly a car like yours! To compensate you, I’ve been authorized to take 10, 20, 30, 40 percent off!” One message comes through to our current customers when any of these, shall we say “lessthan-transparent,” lines are used: We are lying. 36

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Granted, used cars are harder to obtain than they’ve ever been, and if the acquisition cost is going up anyway, it only makes sense to pay the current client base those monies. After all, we know the history. And the recon cost will be lower. The consumer door rate should be lower than the internal rate, so the margin will ultimately be better. The approach, however, in my opinion, should be radically different. You see, current customers care as little for your conquest verbiage as my lovely wife, Tamarra, does for my spirited tales of my high school prowess. Using a data-mining tool in the service drive to print a new payment exchange option is the perfect execution of “pull” marketing. You can even just leave it on the passenger’s seat after their service appointment – no pressure.

Thank them. Check on their satisfaction. Send them a $10 thank-you coupon for future service. Offer to be their future point of contact next time they can’t get through to Service. Offer to check on their car status and relay messages. Schedule their next service.

Build the “garage” around your customer, so that even if one of the vehicles in it isn’t your brand, the next one will be. Oh, and don’t be surprised if they bring up an interesting paper they found on their seat!

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You enter the zone of “servi ng to sell” when you’re keeping the client aware of opportunities, then following up to:

After you’ve shown interest in helping them, it is totally acceptable to inquire as to how their car is fitting their needs, ask what they would change, and see if there is any other need for a vehicle in the home, etc.

TRANSPARENCY + TECHNOLOGY = A STRONG SERVICE DRIVE BY RYAN SCHWANK Product Training Specialist, Toyota Motor North America

The service drive is a place at dealerships where direct-toconsumer transparency and technological advances can be overlooked–it is important not to make this mistake. After all, the service drive is an excellent opportunity for customer retention, and if customers consistently have favorable experiences this can lead to more new vehicle sales. One example at Toyota is the third-generation multimedia system known as Entune 3.0. It was first introduced in the All-New 2018 Camry. This multi-media system is enhanced by offering several connected services including Service Connect. This tool provides current vehicle information along with service transparency through vehicle health reports and vehicle maintenance alerts.

This allows Toyota dealerships to directly communicate with their customers and their vehicles specifically through Service Lane Portal. Once the customer commits to a new Toyota vehicle with these features, they will download the appropriate apps, register through our website, opt-in for Service Connect, and input the preferred dealership’s phone number in their vehicle’s audio system head unit.

It is designed to strengthen the bond between customers, dealers, and the brand.

The service feature provides a tremendous amount of value for the customers, dealers

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There are many new ways to mesh transparency and technology at dealerships.

and the brand. For example, “Mr. and Mrs. Jones this is ‘Dave’ from ‘ABC Toyota,’ I’m in the Service Department or Business Development Center (BDC) and we can see your vehicle is approaching your 10,000-mile service, for your convenience can we schedule you a service appointment?” Another impressive feature of the platform is while driving, the Maintenance Indicator Light (MIL) alerts the driver and a message appears on the vehicle’s audio system head unit. The driver can do one of three things; A) They can play the message in the vehicle. B) Call their preferred dealer. or C) Dismiss the message and revisit later. The dealership is also notified through “alerts,” and can contact their customers directly. Innovations such as Service Connect, and similar features likely offered by other OEMs, CRMs and vendors, are an effective way to get your customers back in your service drive as opposed to aftermarket competitors. In sales, transparency is evident with the internet and technology in today’s environment. Consumers are so much more informed than they once were and often know exactly what they want and don’t want due to their own research prior to dealership arrival. Just as there can be mistrust with a dealership’s sales department, the same can be true with a dealership’s service department. The perception the service department at an OEM-certified dealership is overpriced to the consumer still exists, and dealerships continuously strive to change this perception through effective customer communication.

Toyota enrolls their Master and Certified Technicians through stringent on-going technical training to make sure they are well versed in the vehicles they are working on. The factory trained technicians are experts that specifically work on these vehicles day in and day out to ensure their customer’s vehicles are repaired correctly and efficiently the first time. It is critical this expertise and specialization is communicated to all customers to build value regarding the health of their vehicle. In the aftermarket landscape, you may not have the consistency or frequency of each make and model. Therefore, having factory trained technicians working on vehicles makes great sense while reducing the time it takes to get vehicles in and out of the shop, whether this requires general maintenance or heavy repair. Today, the vehicle technology is so advanced and evolved that it is highly encouraged for each dealership to enroll their service and parts personnel in the factory recommended training throughout the year to increase customer satisfaction as well as improve customer retention. When you have a solid tool like Toyota’s Service Connect, or a similar product from another OEM or vendors, it simply provides customers with a “peace of mind” and this is extremely important in today’s environment.

This mixture of transparency and technology will help keep your customers coming back to your service drive and build trust, so when it’s time to buy a new vehicle, your dealership is the recommended choice. M O D E R N D E A L E R S H I P. C O M

TALKING TECH WITH

YOUR CUSTOMER By Corrina Baird Content Manager Greenslips.com.au

From the moment you wake up in the morning, to the moment you go to bed, you’re probably using some kind of technology. Who would have thought that gadgets would become so central to our lives? Experts say that technology is even changing our brains. If that’s true, we may be less and less resistant to its pull.

Changing the Way We Think It’s no surprise that some people feel like technology is running them. In fact, Ford’s 2018 Trends Report found that 37 percent of adults worldwide believe technology already does too much of their thinking. Technology is transforming our world in a big way, cars included. The old internal combustion engine is starting to look decidedly shaky. Now, it’s electric or hydrogen, autonomous or semiautonomous – even cars that fly.

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But Does the Tech Work? When customers buy a car today, it probably comes equipped with advanced driver assistance technologies (ADAS). What this means depends on the manufacturer and the vehicle. But it may include adaptive cruise control, brake assist, blind-spot monitoring, and more. However, a recent J.D. Power survey found that technology glitches are all too common across the auto industry. Most common are misunderstood voice commands or Bluetooth phone pairing. In fact, electronic problems pushed the problem average up from 152 to 156 per 100 vehicles. That’s 1.5 glitches in the average vehicle, which means some vehicles have no problems, but others have a lot more. This result is the worst since 2015.

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WHAT DEALERS CAN DO The next time a customer comes in and asks about technology, look at it as an opportunity to build trust.

Give a simple demonstration

Use language they understand

Drivers like to experience technology when they go for a test drive. Find out which features really matter to them. While everyone can read an owner’s manual, they probably don’t want to. This is a golden opportunity to show, not tell.

Calling an airbag an Air Cushion Restraint System is confusing, but automakers say it. Every brand has its own “dictionary.” Surely, automakers should get together and start naming features in a standard way – but that’s not going to happen anytime soon.

Explain the difference between autonomous vs semi-autonomous

Explain privacy in the context of connected vehicles

An MIT study found that people had no idea about levels of autonomy (0 to 5) and struggled with different branded terms. What’s an Intelligent Cruise Control compared to Active Cruise Control? Is a Pilot Assist the same as Driving Assistant Plus? Even the word “assist” was tricky – they didn’t know if the system was assisting drivers or the other way around.

Dealers must help customers understand the risks of connected vehicles and the possible impact on driver privacy. Automakers can’t control the many plug-ins added to their vehicles.

It’s probably safe to say we’re pretty far away from self-driving cars if we can’t keep our phones paired.

Understand, or Overestimate In the end, drivers will come to understand new automotive technologies much better than they do today. But until then, you can provide a good service by educating your customers and becoming a resource for them. Ultimately, if you’re on top of technology, you can help your customers get on top of it too.

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The personal-finance website WalletHub recently released the first quarter installment of its...

AUTO FINANCING REPORT Along with a list of cities that overspend on cars (11 of the top 20 are in Texas) and under-spend (California is home to seven out of 20).

The report had three statistics that really stand out.

42%

The amount below-average borrowers save when financing a new car from an OEM compared to other sources.

14%

The amount consumers save on interest with a new car loan vs. a used car loan.

500%

The amount more that consumers with fair credit pay in car loan interest vs. those with good credit.

Illustrating the last number further, WalletHub pointed out that a person with fair credit would pay about $6,267 in interest over the life of a five-year $20,000 loan when financing a car. 42

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Make the end of every sales cycle...

...the beginning of the next one.

AutoAlert’s CXM keeps the sales cycle going and going. Because now, Data Mining, Social Media, Messaging, CRM, and Reputation Management are all combined into our Customer Experience Management (CXM) platform that can be used by everyone in your dealership. So you’ll know exactly where potential customers are in the sales cycle and when they’re most likely to come back and buy again. And since we’re constantly creating and adding new products, you’ll always find a tool that’s useful for you.

Visit AutoAlert.com to find out how CXM can start working for you.

USE TECHNOLOGY TO

RUN PAST YOUR COMPETITION BY JASON FORREST CEO & Chief Culture Officer at Forrest Performance Group

Imagine a customer strolling into your dealership, and you launch into your sales pitch. You do all of the things you were taught: establish rapport, guide the conversation, handle their objections and paint the need. You’re feeling good, until the buyer throws out a curveball.

“The dealership across town offers incentives on newer models. What do you offer?” M O D E R N D E A L E R S H I P. C O M

What now? The truth is, a lot of sales pros have been taught not to worry about the competition. I can practically hear it now: “Just ignore your competition. Your product is all that matters.” The problem with this notion is that it’s an outdated theory rooted in 1950s ideology. Customers didn’t know that much about the competition back then, so it didn’t much matter if sales pros didn’t have a handle on it.

Now customers use technology to research. And so should you.

Back in the old days of car shopping, customers would go on lot tours, visiting a handful of dealerships to check pricing and get a feel for their stock. Nowadays, the vast majority of the research is done online. Customers visit an average of 1.9 dealerships before making a purchase. Think about that. A huge percentage of customers visit a grand total of one dealership before buying. That means you might only have one crack at a buyer, and the easiest way to send a customer to the competition in this modern sales climate is to ignore the competition altogether. The first step is to make sure your online presence is informative, attractive and succinct. Since so much research happens solely online these days, you need a website that packages a ton of information in an aesthetically pleasing way. The auto industry is unique in that customers shop online and buy in person, so you need to have a smooth transition from your online presence to what your people see on the showroom floor. Even still, the real meat of the sale still happens face to face. One thing I know about the 21st century car shopper is that if they’re looking at your website, they’re also looking at other sites as well. If you ignore that because you don’t want to bring up the competition, then I promise you’re missing out on sales.

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So here’s an example. Let’s go back to our intrepid customer asking about incentives at the dealership across town. A sales pro who hasn’t studied the competition will be left twisting in the wind. A sales pro who has studied the competition can say, “Here’s why they’re offering that incentive. We choose to put our savings into other areas because it has more benefit to you at the end of the day.” To put it simply, the more you know about your competition’s incentives, the more you know about how what you offer can better improve your customer’s life. And the advancement of technology makes this easier than ever.

Your best bet is to assume that your competition is innovating all the time. A great way to do this is to put together a competition binder. This includes things like your own pricing as compared to your three biggest competitors’ on similar products. You never want to be in a position to lower your prices or offer your customer more incentives to buy. The easy way to handle the competition is to just throw out more discounts to sweeten the pot. The best way to handle the competition is to know what their incentives are, understand why they’re offering them, and then sell against them with what you already offer. The key is to not be afraid of the competition. Focusing on the new frontline for auto sales is of course key. Things like social media promotion and website design are as important as ever. But don’t forget that using every technological resource at your disposal on the back end is just as important. Your best bet is to assume that your competition is innovating all the time. Don’t pretend they don’t exist. Do your research, know the competition as well as you know your own company, and get ready to unleash your sales.

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The biggest key to running toward tech as a sales pro is to do your research. Imagine you’re a customer and put yourself in their shoes. Shop the competition. See what incentives they’re offering that you might not be. Make note of them. If you talk to a debate coach, they’ll tell you to know the opposition’s argument so you can more effectively argue against it. In sales, that means knowing the perks your competition is offering so you can direct the conversation the way you want it to go. Remember, you’re always in control.

IN TH BOX Kristina E Coverdell With

Sales Consultant, Volkswagen Lee’s Summit

Celebrating her 25th birthday recently, Kristina Coverdell has already discovered her key to success: balance. OK, and probably also her love for Volkswagen! Here, she shares tips for selling more cars “by the book” as well as via getting creative with social and dating apps.

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How long have you been at Volkswagen Lee’s Summit?

Two years and nine months, basically my whole career [selling cars]. I was at Infinity for one month – they recruited me. I thought, “OK, it’s a premium product, maybe I could make more money over there.” But it’s not what I thought it was. It did make me a stronger salesperson, though. And I realized how awesome our product at Volkswagen really is, and our culture.

Why did you want to get into the car business?

I love Volkswagens – I’m an enthusiast – and I thought I’d be able to sell them to anyone. I wouldn’t say I was into cars, but I loved my Jetta. I got it my freshman year of college six years ago. I liked the reliability of it, getting me back and forth from school. And I didn’t have to do anything to it, just oil changes! German engineering has real value.

What’s one word you would use to describe your sales approach?

Passionate. About the product, and about customer service too. I make sure every customer has the best car-buying experience ever. We have a process, and for a good reason. Without it, it’s like taking a test that you haven’t studied for. If you didn’t study for it, you won’t do as well.

With your own personal marketing, you don’t seem to follow any processes – it sounds pretty creative.

Yes, I don’t want to rely on the store for all of my leads. I actually obtain more referrals through social media and dating sites. Facebook is limited, because I can only have 5,000 friends, but dating sites work really well for me to get leads. I actually got the idea to use dating sites after I stopped going out so much and wasn’t meeting as many people. So I had to network in a different way. And my boyfriend is supportive because I’m really upfront with people and don’t lead them on.

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Can you share a little more about your process?

I swipe right on everyone, females and males. I never message anyone back on the dating sites, though. They add me on Snapchat – it’s in my story in my dating site profiles, along with lots of pictures of me with my boyfriend. And then I wait for them to message me on Snapchat. That’s when I tell them, “If you ever need a car, I’ll hook you up.” One day they’re probably going to need a car. I sell two or three cars a month this way right now. Through social media and dating sites combined, it’s probably five to seven. I think it’s a good idea to rely on sources other than the store’s.

Women are a minority in this industry. Do you work with a lot of other women?

There are about 20 sales reps right now. Four are women. We even have a female service tech. Eventually I’d love to be able to do that, once I can get my expenses down even more, and then build that up to, say, instead of being express lane service, I’d be an advisor. I’m definitely interested in the full Volkswagen experience. Maybe sales management one day, or even Corporate. It’s a dream!

What would you like to see change regarding your job in six months?

I see myself in the same spot, but hopefully with even more people coming in and asking for me. Four cars I sold this month already (this interview took place on April 12) were from referrals.

Any advice?

Follow the process. Know your product. Treat your customer how you would like to be treated. Always have a smile. And market yourself – don’t just rely on the dealership. You just gotta go for it!

Marketing Health Report ABC Motors | Grade: DCritical Alerts Detected

SEO Goals are set up in Google Analytics Organic traffic gradually increasing Blog is created with relevant content Metadata best practices are followed Strong keyword strategy is implemented

FAIL FAIL PASS FAIL FAIL

PAID SEARCH Ads lead to relevant landing pages Ad groups & campaigns appropriately mapped out Sessions Increase year over year Using keywords that indicate buyer intent

FAIL PASS FAIL FAIL

SOCIAL MEDIA Content Optimized for Social Sharing Posting on consistent basis Contact Information Section Completed All positive and negative reviews are responded to Advertising strategies set up for sales and service

FAIL PASS FAIL FAIL FAIL

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