AutoSuccess July 2010

2010

JULY

Check out the latest podcast featuring Chuck Patton of Traffic Builders at autosuccesspodcast.com

So you’re NOT a direct mail Dealership.

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AutoSuccess Magazine is published monthly at 3834 Taylorsville Rd., Building A, Ste. 1B Louisville, KY 40220; 502.588.3155, fax 502.588.3170. Direct all subscription and customer service inquiries to 877.818.6620 or info@autosuccessonline.com. Subscription rate is $69 per year. AutoSuccess welcomes unsolicited editorials and graphics (not responsible for their return). All submitted editorials and graphics are subject to editing for grammar, content and page length. AutoSuccess provides its contributing writers latitude in expressing advice and solutions; views expressed are not necessarily those of AutoSuccess and by no means reflect any guarantees. AutoSuccess accepts no liability in respect of the content of any third party material appearing in this magazine or in respect of the content of any other magazine to which this magazine may be linked from time to time. Always confer with legal counsel before implementing changes in procedures.© All contents copyrighted by AutoSuccess Magazine, a Division of Systems Marketing, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part is prohibited without express written consent from AutoSuccess. AutoSuccess may occasionally make readers’ names available to other companies whose products and/or services may be of interest; readers may request that names be removed by calling 877.818.6620. Printed in the USA. Postmaster: Send address changes to AutoSuccess Magazine, 3834 Taylorsville Rd., Building A, Ste. 1B Louisville, KY 40220.

ALGEBRA BOOKS AND CRAYONS

THE DEATH OF THE TRADITIONAL DEALERSHIP, PART 1 ChuckPatton

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MID-YEAR EVALUATION OF YOUR AUTOMOTIVE MARKETING STRATEGY

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sales & training solution

marketing solution BillPhillips

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The Trouble With Your Lead Management Tool

PatriciaJ.Roberts

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DO MEN AND WOMEN SPEAK DIFFERENT LANGUAGES?

MattBaker

34

LEARNING THE LANGUAGE

TimJames

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INVENTORY PROCESS: IN-HOUSE OR OUTSOURCE?

DougBurkert

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FISH WHERE THE FISH ARE

DavidMoline

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LOOKING FOR NEW ADVERTISING IDEAS? IT’S TIME TO RE-EXAMINE DIRECT MAIL

JimRadogna

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CAN MODERN SOLUTIONS PROTECT AGAINST OLD SCHOOL PRACTICES?

An Interview With ShawnKloppman

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DIRECT MAIL FROM THE DEALERSHIP’S POINT OF VIEW:

An Interview With Rosner Toyota Scion’s Shawn Kloppman

StephenCravens

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MAKING THE PHONE WORK FOR YOU

RichardWinch

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DON’T FORGET ONLINE REPUTATION MANAGEMENT FOR FIXED OPS

Susie Horne, Account Manager John Warner, Sales-Improvement Strategist shorne@autosuccessonline.com jwarner@autosuccessonline.com

MANAGE YOUR ONLINE MERCHANDISING, PART 1

Brian Ankney, Account Manager super6@autosuccessonline.com

Three Communication Tactics to Increase Closing Percentages

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patricia roberts

MarkTewart

Dave Davis, Editor & Creative Strategist ddavis@autosuccessonline.com

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shawn kloppman

leadership solution

Thomas Williams, VP & Creative Director design@autosuccessonline.com

2300 Hurstbourne Village Dr, Suite 1200 Louisville Ken Kentucky 40299 | 877.818.6620 / 502.588.3170 | AutoSuccessOnline.com / AutoSuccessPodcast.com | info@autosuccessonline.com

An Interview With NancyTonkin

Susan Givens, Publisher sgivens1@autosuccessonline.com

SeanStapleton

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A SALES STRATEGY TO ACHIEVE SELF SUFFICIENCY KirkManzo

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feature solution July 2010

leadership solution

THE DEATH OF THE TRADITIONAL DEALERSHIP The traditional dealership is dead, but some have not had their funeral yet. It seems as though as much as some things change in the auto industry, as many things stay the same.

Every week our trainers observe things in dealerships that look and feel like holdovers from the 1960s.

Let’s take a look at some things still commonly observed in dealerships that are outdated and should be changed.

1. Manager Towers

High towers built for managers where salespeople go to get their proposal figures.

The common reason for these towers is to create a good observation point of the inventory for managers. What these towers signify is demeaning to salespeople and adversarial to customers. These towers create a manager haven for never moving, as well as an air of supremacy.

Solution: Tear down the towers. Look around your dealership and ask yourself the following question: “What do I see that looks like it’s from the 60s?” Please tear it down.

Solution: Manager/Coach/Team Leader is

actively involved in the sales process from the greeting of the customer. The new focus is to open the relationship so the sale can be closed. The days of sitting behind a desk and screaming at salespeople to bring a deal are dead. Managers will be hybrid sales coaches, assistants and information providers that involve the sales process, deal process and F&I assistance. No longer will the manager be expected to save a lost deal, but will be involved throughout the process with the emphasis on creating, not on saving. You manage things; you lead people.

4. Seat of the Pants Used Car Inventory Management

The days of the guru used car manager — who knows all the hot cars, market figures for every car on the market, what the correct appraisal is on every trade, what every other dealership is doing and managing the used inventory strictly by feel — is dead. The truth is that person never really existed. It was a myth and a fairy tale. Nobody — and I mean nobody — is that good at what they do.

Solution: If you do not have a used

2. The Big Green Sharpie Deal Proposals

These proposals scream of adversarial “you vs. me” negotiations. The figures seem less real and more of just a thought.

Solution: Use printed or screen proposals with full disclosure.

3. Manager TOs at the End of a Sales Attempt

For those of you who may be new to the auto business, a “TO” means a “turnover.”

Old-school selling means the salesperson turns over the customer to a manager when he/she cannot close a deal. Often, the new salesperson is berated for not turning the customer to the manager. The reason is the new salesperson feels as uncomfortable as the customer with this process.

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inventory philosophy, system and technology to assist you, you will forever be making mistakes that are, in today’s market, unforgiving. You must use your knowledge combined with inventory technology and up-to-date market data to be relevant in the market. The shocking truth is that the 90-, 60-, 45- or whatever-day turn systems used strictly by themselves are also outdated models that not only do not work, they create problems. Your goals are high sales, profit, ROI and yield — not just turns (more on that subject in future articles).

5. A Staff Full of Professional, “Do it All” Salespeople

This one can actually still be accomplished, but very, very few dealers actually do the things to recruit, hire and train the right people to make this happen. If you have

PART 1

MarkTewart

never done this before, you will probably not do this in the future. Don’t kid yourself.

Running a help-wanted ad in the newspaper, interviewing candidates without a prethought out plan for recruiting, interviewing, testing, screening, training and ongoing development is not trying to develop a staff of professional salespeople.

Solution: The solution for many is

something most do not want to hear. For most dealerships, you will never put the amount of time, money and energy to set up a high-level approach to getting and keeping great people.

It’s just a fact. The solution is to create a process that involves heavy involvement with team leaders, assistants and technology that narrows the scope of your sales staff.

Most dealerships are hiring average to below-average people and expecting them to do a myriad of things they are not only not doing, but not capable of doing. Worse yet, the managers are not showing these people or inspecting the process to make sure it happens. If you are honest with yourself and this description fits your dealership, then you must try something different. The long-term health of your customer base and dealership depends on this.

I invite you to take a moment today and before you get busy with the everyday tasks to take a strong look at your dealership and what is being accomplished or not. Be honest. Are you fighting a battle you have never won? Do your salespeople, managers, processes and dealership reek of the 60s and 70s? It may just be time for a funeral.

Mark Tewart is the president of Tewart Enterprises, and the author of the best seller, How To Be A Sales Superstar. He can be contacted at 866.429.6844, or by e-mail at mtewart@autosuccessonline.com.

marketing solution

MANAGE YOUR ONLINE MERCHANDISING Online merchandising means merchandising the right items, at the right time, to the right people and determining the best products and services in your inventory to promote to your prospects and current customers.

Simply put, your goal is to increase click, hits, views and sales by prominently displaying, in an appealing manner, the items customers are most likely to want in as few of clicks as possible.

Now all you have to do is get them to your sites.

With millions of cars and trucks online and thousands of dealerships selling products online it takes more than nice Web site design to be competitive and profitable. One of the greatest ways to create a relevant, engaging shopping experience is through an effective online merchandising strategy.

This is even more apparent when you consider a few key facts:

• 57 percent of users on a Web site are highly likely to use the search tool • Shoppers abandon retail sites within seconds of not finding a product • More than 85 percent of automotive shoppers use the Internet to help influence their decision.

2. Ease of Use: One of the Easiest Things to do is Make Sure Your Online Experience is Easy for the Consumer to Use

Today, we know that effective online merchandising leads to more people finding what they’re looking for and, therefore, higher conversion rates. Increasingly, however, online merchants are realizing it takes expert merchandising strategies and regular updates of those strategies to keep shoppers engaged, and not only achieve higher conversion rates as a result, but to keep them coming back for more.

3. Display With Appeal

Here are some best practices for online merchandizing that have helped dealers increase customer traffic and conversions.

1. Be Found Early and Often: You Must Make the Golden Triangle

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PART 1

SeanStapleton

The key location on Google for visibility as determined by the eye activity in the study is a triangle that extends from the top of the results over to the top of the first result, then down to a point on the left side at the bottom of the “above the fold” visible results. This key area was looked at by 100 percent of the participants. In the study, this was referred to as the “Golden Triangle.”

Generally, this area appears to include top-sponsored, toporganic results and Google’s alternative results, including shopping, news or local suggestions.

When customers can find what they’re looking for — especially with heavily advertised and time-sensitive products — they buy.

Many times it’s just simple merchandising tactics that can help you make the sale.

Remember the fewer clicks, the better.

Take control of your inventory merchandizing. Do you have the best possible photos? Are they fresh, or are they a week old? Do they still show the car in four inches of snow in May? Do you have 20+ photos of each unit? Are you taking and using highresolutions photos? Can you zoom in on your high-definition photos to see more detail?

Are you posting videos? Do you have the best possible comments that are more than just the basics? Let me ask you this way: Do your comments make the unit stand out?

Does it include your branding “Home of the Free Car Wash” or “Home of the Free Loaner Car,” etc.? Are you regularly changing your comments, or do they stay the same until the unit sells? How does your pricing look online? Are you priced to get any action or just priced? Have you incorporated the latest incentives on all of your units, including leases? Do you update your descriptions, pictures, features and links daily?

4. What Does Your Web Site Say About You?

An online presence for your dealership is a must. It is a powerful marketing and communication tool, an incredible source of cost-efficiency leads and a sign of professionalism. Your clients or customers are building brand impressions from your Web sites and merchandising. When they get there, will it support your brand image or sell you short? Just think about the number of prospects that are not converting because of your online merchandising, or lack of it. Are you taking advantage of the latest technologies for online merchandising? Can you view the picture in a full-screen mode? Are you changing your follow-up based on what they looked at or how often they have been back? Are you tracking views, clicks and conversions? What does your Web site say about you?

Next month, we’ll take a look at some more best practices that dealers have found helpful in increasing their bottom line that you can put into effect in your dealership.

Sean Stapleton is the executive vice president of VinSolutions. He can be contacted at 866.587.7629, or by e-mail at sstapleton@autosuccessonline.com.

The Ron Tonkin Auto Group is one of the most storied businesses in the automotive industry. The dealer group’s namesake, Ron Tonkin was president of NADA in 1989 and is a legend for his tireless and outspoken defense of dealership rights. Following in the family tradition of leadership, Ed Tonkin, currently serves as this year’s NADA president. Now, Nancy Tonkin, Ed’s daughter, has joined the business to help drive the dealership’s e-commerce operations. We sat down with Nancy Tonkin to ask her how they are approaching today’s consumer.

AutoSuccess: The Tonkin name is quite well known in the industry.

You’ve just recently joined the organization. What do you think so far?

Nancy Tonkin: Of course the automotive business runs deep in our family,

so I grew up absorbing much from my dad and grandfather. Of course, now that I’m working directly in the business, I realize that there is a lot involved in making it work. I’ve been involved for about three years now and have learned so much. It’s exciting learning all the aspects of our company and I’m learning more and more every day.

AS: What types of things have you been doing over the last year?

NT: I’ve been learning each area of the dealership, and have attended the

NADA Dealer School. Dealer School really helped me learn all about the car business, starting with the financial statement. My favorite aspect of the business is working with customers, and making sure they have the best car buying experience possible. I suppose I wouldn’t be a Tonkin if I didn’t like that. My grandfather taught me that your month is built one car deal at a time; that each opportunity to do business with a potential customer is important. I think this type of ethic is one of the things that’s made our company so successful.

AS: So what is your current role?

NT: I’m now in charge of driving our e-commerce and CRM

initiatives. This is a very exciting role for me because it’s always evolving. I think being relatively new to the business gives me a fresh perspective to using technology and digital marketing techniques that maybe some of the old school guys are apprehensive about.

Fortunately, our organization has always been very forward thinking when it comes to using the Internet and CRM to grow and manage our business. We have a great technology partner, DealerPeak, that we’ve been with for years. They help keep us on the cutting edge of technology and help us sort through all the fluff that’s out there.

AS: What type of solutions does your technology partner provide you with?

NT: DealerPeak is our vendor for just about everything except our

closing ratios and gross profits are both generally higher than our traditional deals.

DMS system. Their solution is unique in the industry because they can provide so many things on one single platform. They provide our Web sites, CRM, online negotiation, inventory, mobile sites, lead management and e-mail marketing; plus I can manage all of these applications for all of our 16 locations with just one login. I am approached all the time with vendors who claim they can provide all of these things, but I’ve yet to see any solution that can provide one holistic system like they can.

AS: That’s surprising. Why do you think your closing ratios increase with online negotiation?

NT: To me, it makes perfect sense. The customers who engage in the

For instance, they’ve just created a feature that allows me to view exactly what someone on our Web site is looking at and which pages they are on from within the CRM. By logging the Web-surfing activity and making it available in the CRM, I can get tremendous insight into the customer’s thinking. As an example, let’s say that a salesman has been working with a lead and for some reason closed that lead.

Well, we know that many times a salesperson might close a lead that shouldn’t be closed. Now let’s say that same customer comes back to our Web site a day later and starts looking at more vehicles or maybe they visit our finance application but don’t fill it out. I can see all this with our CRM. So as a manager, I know that this person might be concerned about their ability to get financing, but they are still very much an opportunity. At this point I would send the customer an e-mail describing our many financing options and phone call. It’s like a “Save a Deal” meeting using the customer’s Web site activity. I can even see their past surfing activity prior to the customer submitting a lead. This kind of stuff is very exciting.

AS: That’s sounds amazing. What other marketing strategies do you guys use in this tough market?

NT: Something that has had a big impact on our sales is online

negotiation. We piloted this system with our technology partner last year. Essentially, it allows us to desk deals with our customers over the Internet and through our Web site. We have two Honda points about six miles apart. We initially just put it into one of those stores.

Within 30 days, the number of leads we were getting from the site with online negotiation doubled with the same amount of traffic. We didn’t do anything as far as traditional marketing to promote it, either. Just by allowing our customers to negotiate the specific terms of the deal online, we were able to double our conversion ratio.

AS: How has online negotiation been working for you since then?

NT: It was a real lifesaver last year. While most of our competitors’

Web traffic and leads were significantly down last year, we were able to maintain — and even eek out a slight increase — in our Web leads last year. I attribute this to online negotiation. Today we consistently see hundreds of leads each month from online negotiation. Our

online negotiation process are usually farther down the buying funnel.

They have usually landed on a specific vehicle and are now ready to discuss the specifics on payments, financing and what they can receive for their trade. They are amazed that they can get all this online. When you are very transparent with the customer, they become engaged and are much more likely to end up purchasing with us.

AS: But how can you hold gross? Doesn’t this make it easier for the customer to shop your competitors?

NT: This is what many people in our organization were afraid of, but

what we found was just the opposite. Again, by giving the customer all the information they need to make a decision, we found they are less likely and less able to shop. I think this is probably because, in order for the customer to shop it around with a competitor, they would have to physically go down to the dealership. There aren’t many people, especially in my generation, that think this is a good time.

Plus, by being up front and transparent, the customer has a positive experience from the start. That way when they do come to the store to take delivery of their vehicle, they aren’t exhausted and are much more receptive to considering the F&I products that we offer.

AS: Does the online negotiation system work with your CRM? NT: Absolutely. Like I said, DealerPeak’s online negotiation system

provides one unified platform for the entire Tonkin organization, so customers who call in or visit the showroom without purchasing can easily be channeled into the online negotiation system. This is one of the initiatives I’m working on now. We believe that using online negotiation tools will allow us to re-engage customers who have not yet purchased. I’m also working with our advertising agency to develop a marketing campaign that lets our market know that they can have a hassle-free experience with our dealerships. After all, that is exactly what today’s modern consumer is looking for. As a dealership, if we do a good job at offering that, everyone wins.

For more information about Nancy Tonkin, or the Ron Tonkin Auto Group, visit www.tonkin.com.

For more information about online negotiations, contact Jock Schowalter at 866.885.9751, or by e-mail at jschowalter@autosuccessonline.com.

TimJames

marketing solution

INVENTORY PROCESS: IN-HOUSE OR OUTSOURCE? I’m often asked about the benefits of bringing the inventory process “in-house” vs. “outsourcing,” which is really a “cart before the horse” discussion. Before determining who should perform your inventory process, you should determine what your inventory process should accomplish.

Because of the Internet, your inventory process is more important to the success of your dealership than it has ever been.

You spend more money now than ever to increase your points-of-presence (POP) on the Internet. You’ve probably purchased a search engine optimized (SEO) Web site and utilize sites such as Craigslist, AutoTrader. com, Oodle.com, etc. You are probably trying to figure out how to maximize Facebook and other social media, too. Make no mistake, the people responsible for your inventory process are no longer just shooting photos and printing window stickers; they are creating what are potentially the most important ads that your dealership has today.

Establishing an inventory process that maximizes your online advertising’s potential and provides the greatest ROI can be easily accomplished by following some simple rules: Create the most informative and emotional ad that you can.

1. Video — Every vehicle needs a video.

• If named and referenced properly, a video can dramatically increase SEO. • A video is only as good as its content.

A video that “sells” a vehicle’s unique features will create trust, reliability and urgency, dramatically increasing the emotional response to your ad and inspiring mental ownership.

• Live video is king. Live walk-arounds are incredibly engaging and humanize your dealership in a sea of regional competition.

Again, the content of the video must “sell” the vehicle the same way you would sell it “on the lot.”

2. Photos — The number of photos that you have is less important than having the right photos.

• If named and referenced properly, photos also increase SEO. • To the consumer, every vehicle is different.

Photograph everything unique or different about each vehicle. The easy rule to follow is that if you would discuss it with a consumer “on the lot,” show photos of it online.

• Consumers get tired of seeing the same set of vehicle photos for every vehicle on every

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Web site they visit. Your goal should be to exceed the consumer’s expectation and make yourself stand out from the crowd.

3. Vehicle Description — The vehicle description is your opportunity to “sell the vehicle.”

• The content of your vehicle description can increase your SEO. • Canned vehicle descriptions are dull, and shoppers will ultimately just stop reading them. Your goal should be to create the best vehicle description that you can; not putting the least amount of effort into it that you can.

• What you say isn’t always as important as how you say it. Be creative and have fun.

Build value and inspire mental ownership.

If you would highlight it on the lot, say it in your online ad.

4. Price — You use “price” to drive traffic

from all of your other media ads, why not on the Internet?

• You use “was-is pricing,” “specials,” “demo pricing,” “manufacturer incentives” and multiple other price promotion techniques to create urgency on the lot and throughout your other media; utilizing these same pricing techniques online can generate the same response.

• Be transparent. Inconsistent pricing can cause you to lose consumer confidence, and you may read about it (along with thousands of potential consumers) on a social network or blog.

5. Engagement Tools — Provide tools

that allow shoppers to contact you the way they want to contact you.

• The means by which people communicate with each other has changed. When wanting an immediate response, people now often prefer to send text and chat messages.

• If your dealership offers consumers the ability to communicate with you the same way they prefer to communicate with one another, they are more likely to do so while online and looking at your vehicle ads.

6. Window Stickers — In the old days, an

inventory process evolved around creating content for a window sticker and then sending it (along with a few standard photos) to a Web site provider as an online ad. Today, your inventory process must evolve around creating the content for your online ads and then once you have the rich content necessary, push a button and extract some of that content to create your window stickers.

Create the ad as soon as possible!

1. Your vehicle’s online ads can be seen by

more people in one day than most of your other advertisements are seen in a week (or month). Every day a vehicle sits on your lot without an effective online ad costs you thousands of potential online shoppers and hot leads.

2. As previously established, the content of your online ads can dramatically increase SEO, further increasing the need for your inventory process to accommodate your online ads being created the same day a vehicle hits your lot, or the day it comes out of detail at a minimum!

3. Dealers from hundreds to thousands of miles away are now prospecting your customers. Your inventory process must facilitate a timely creation of the most robust, personalized and compelling ad to win.

Display the ad across the Internet as soon as possible!

1. Obviously, the number of people who

can potentially see your vehicle’s ad depends how soon the ad is distributed and displayed. The goal of your inventory process should be to distribute and display your ads the same day they are created.

2. You pay a lot of money to establish online points of presence (POP) to display your vehicle ads across the Internet and create visibility 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Every day (every hour) that you have a vehicle ad created but not displayed with your marketing partners is costing you money!

Imagine if your dealership was around when one of the previous mass media channels first emerged. Would you have adjusted your business strategy to maximize its potential?

Your Internet ads could potentially be the most important ads in the history of your dealership, so before we start pondering who should be responsible for creating the ads (in-house or outsourced) let’s first spend some time discussing the impact of your ads and the importance of defining a process that creates highly emotional (and informative) ads for your inventory and then distributes (and displays) those ads as quickly as possible with the day the vehicle is ready to sell on the lot as the goal.

Tim James is the director of sales with HomeNet, Inc. He can be contacted at 866.924.6573, or by e-mail at tjames@autosuccessonline.com.

ChuckPatton

leadership solution

MID-YEAR EVALUATION OF YOUR AUTOMOTIVE MARKETING STRATEGY It’s time for a mid-year review. Remember the automotive service marketing objectives you put into place at the beginning of the year? How are they working for you? Are you on track to meeting your goals? Are you ahead or behind where you wanted to be?

Depending on the answers to these questions, you may want to consider making adjustments to your marketing plan for the second half of the year. As you take stock and plan your next six months, consider the following areas of opportunity upon which you can capitalize.

Retention

The retention measurement that makes the most sense is the one that measures the share of your customers’ business within a year.

Start by separating your customers into the following categories: • Number of times your customers have come in during the past 12 months • Number of customers doing all their service with you • Number of customers added in the last 12 months What are you doing to retain your customers?

Are you providing the best service in the market and going the extra mile to keep your customers happy? Consider loyalty programs and perks to show your commitment to a long-term relationship.

Unique Opportunities

Warranty work affects us all, and Toyota corporate is learning all too well how much cost is associated with it. For the dealer, however, warranty work can be a gold mine.

Some dealers are saying that close to 40 percent of recall customers were new to their dealerships. Recalls are a great opportunity to make an impression on customers who are not typically working with the dealership.

Train your team to spend some time to

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convert each recall customer into a longterm fan. Have your service manager meet every one of them — such as you might with the sale of a new car. Target them with a segmented letter or make a phone call to address the opportunity. Every dealership has warranty opportunities.

things because “this is where the market is going” or “your competitor is doing it.”

Be careful about experimentation. Conduct some research and make sure that any technological expenditure fits within your budget and is a long-term solution, not a short-term jump on the latest bandwagon.

Older Model Programs

E-mail Marketing

The units in operation most associated with dealership loyalty (newer cars or cars under warranty) have diminished significantly, and it will be quite some time before service opportunities are where they were several years ago. Create a strategy to become the new home for all older model vehicles. You have master technicians who have been with you longer than the age of some of those older vehicles! Who better to fix those vehicles? Loyalty or older model programs that can be quite profitable do exist. Make sure your writers know how to sell the program and be willing to give a standard discount/benefit package.

Dealerships set high expectations for e-mail because they are sold on the concept that it can replace direct mail. E-mail marketing is cost efficient and a great way to directly reach the small segment of your customers who actually respond to e-mail. However, our average client has e-mail addresses for only about 21 percent of his or her customer base. If you use e-mail marketing, make sure you incorporate it with direct mail and other solutions. To maximize your e-mail marketing efforts, create an e-mail collection process. Ask your customers how they prefer to be contacted. That will give you a good indication how to really reach your customers.

Marketing

Spend Your Time Being a Great Manager

Separate your marketing investments into what has produced a direct result versus what has kept your name in the marketplace — and track the results for each category. This will allow you to look at what each investment yields in order to determine whether or not you’ve invested your marketing dollar wisely. If you haven’t already, plan through the end of this year — and even include all of January 2011. Most people give up on the last and first months of the year just because they didn’t have anything planned. These are wasted opportunities if you have not prepared for them.

Technology Assessment

Embrace the technology that comes your way as long as it helps you manage your customers and your employees better. Too many companies are telling clients to do

This is an old-school concept. Because most service managers are being pulled in so many different directions, they can’t do any one thing well. This is an environment where managers can stray from their core purpose of taking care of customers and managing the shop. Be sure not to lose that perspective when faced with additional expectations and responsibilities. Every purchase you make and every partner you work with should strengthen your position within the dealership, not give you more work.

Chuck Patton is the founder and CEO of Traffic Builders, Inc. He can be contacted at 866.859.8520, or by e-mail at patton@autosuccessonline.com.

DougBurkert

marketing solution

FISH WHERE THE FISH ARE

In today’s economy, it is easy to try to cast a wide net, hoping and praying to catch a buyer. While it is true that buyers come from all directions, each summer — and in warmer climates, every day of the year — prospects gather in one place: the local golf course.

Not only are these individuals prospects, they’re great ones. Whether they are taking part in a charity event or corporate outing, golfers represent a highly coveted market segment. With average income north of $100,000 and total net worth averaging more than $500,000, golfers have money to spend.

Considering the average golfer is around 50 years of age, they often have a new driver or two in the house. In addition, when they visit dealerships, they are less likely to haggle as much on price, which makes for a better sale.

partner should be able to help with this.

Of course, displaying a prize is another way to gain positive exposure. Drive the prize vehicle and position it by the contest hole.

Be sure to bring along literature describing the contest, the prize and, of course, the dealership. Don’t forget business cards.

Often, dealership staff will play in tournaments to meet golfers. One dealer we work with sends a retired salesperson to help with registration and then staff the tee area for the prize hole, where he points out to participants that their second best drive of the day might be when they drive the car home!

Such personal engagement is an incredibly valuable way to generate greater interest in the dealership, its products and its services.

represents an opportunity for continued exposure and each sponsorship represents a chance to adorn dealership walls with photos and press clippings that build good will.

Whether or not someone wins big, sponsoring charity and corporate events delivers ongoing positive effect. Golfers who take part are often community and corporate leaders. As such, they have a broad sphere of influence on other buyers — buyers with a similar demographic. Be certain they will spread the word about the event and your dealership’s involvement.

Many dealers leverage their involvement in the showroom. Before and after an event, they display event signs and banners, leading to year-round reinforcement of the positive community involvement and support.

Ongoing Opportunities

Sponsoring golf events delivers tremendous opportunities to reach these potential buyers and strengthen relationships with them.

Working with an insurer to offer prizes for hole-in-one contests, shootouts, putting contests and closest-to-the-pin competitions can bolster dealership marketing efforts and lead to even greater success.

Engaged and Accessible

By sponsoring charity golf tournaments and corporate golf outings, car dealers gain repeated exposure to potential buyers — from pre-event publicity to opportunities during the tournament itself to post-event follow-up. It is important to maximize this; work closely with event organizers to do so.

At the event itself, opportunities to engage these prospects intensify. Because they are golfing, participants are relaxed. Moreover, because they are supporting a charity they believe in or because they are being treated to golf at a corporate event, their frame of mind is likely positive; this is an ideal situation for dealership interaction.

It’s important to make good use of signage — at the registration area, throughout the course and at the post-event venue. A prize insurer

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A key benefit of tournament prize sponsorship is that the ability to drive sales does not end when the event does. By arranging with event sponsors to get names or by engaging participants and gathering leads throughout the tournament, dealers have a collection of prospective buyers for potential follow-up. Some events provide participants goodie bags, which can include dealership coupons or other materials.

Focus on Returns

Of course, if someone does win big, the resulting publicity and its value skyrocket.

Last year, for instance, a participant in an insured event scored a hole-in-one after a string of rather disappointing — okay, embarrassing — performances on earlier holes. His success not only earned him a brand new $30,000 German import, it generated publicity throughout his community and beyond, leading to a wealth of positive mentions for the sponsor.

Because insurance is available to cover the cost of prizes, the bang can be much larger than the buck spent to generate it. It is possible to reduce costs for this, as well, by insuring the value of a vehicle lease or down payment, rather than an outright car or truck giveaway. Again, working with an insurer with prize and promotion experience allows such customization.

With more than 1,000 vehicles awarded to hole-in-one winners, we have seen similar situations play out around the world. Years ago, we awarded a prize to someone who made a hole in one on the first shot he ever took at a golf course. We have had winners as young as seven years old. Each winner

Perhaps the best part of integrating such sponsorships into a dealership marketing plan is the relatively low cost involved — and the potential large return on investment. It is easy to incorporate announcements about the event and sponsorship into an ongoing ad budget.

On-site promotion is, at most, an incremental cost — production of some print material and deployment of one or two staff members.

Regardless of the extent of involvement or sponsorship, taking part in such events can help dealers catch more buyers by fishing where the fish are — on the golf course.

Doug Burkert is the president of the National Hole-In-One Association. He can be contacted at 866.859.6407, or by e-mail at dburkert@autosuccessonline.com.

KirkManzo

sales & training solution

A SALES STRATEGY TO ACHIEVE SELF SUFFICIENCY It has often been said that to be successful we must learn to master those things that we can control. As a sales professional, what can you control?

The dealership’s inventory? The manufacturer’s incentives? The dealership’s advertising? Your manager’s mood? Your competition’s offers? Product pricing? Your attitude? Your sales skills? Your product knowledge? The number of sales opportunities (Ups)?

Let’s focus on the last item, sales opportunities (or Ups). Whether you are new to the industry or have worked at your dealership for years, there are certain numbers that you should be aware of when planning your sales effort.

The average sales person in America will sell how many vehicles per month? When presented with this question, most students in my sessions respond with 10 to 12. The results are unfortunately much lower. The monthly average is around eight. Annualized, we are talking about approximately 96 units. To keep the math simple we will use 100 as our reference point.

The first question you might ask yourself is, how did you do last year? Were you above average? Below? If you were above then good, 2009 was a tough year for our business. If you were above average then how much better were your numbers? 120?

150? 180? 200?

While I have worked with sales professionals

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who sell 300 to 400 units annually and even one that sells 800 to 900, this is not the norm.

So what common trait do these top producers have that makes this possible? There are many elements that contribute to these superior results. Certainly one common thread is they don’t just catch ups on the lot; they work their customer base.

So the question might be, how many customers would you need to become self sufficient? The idea is to put yourself in a position where you control the things you can control, like your relationships with your past customers.

There are two fundamental audiences to target when searching for new sales opportunities: Internal vs. External. Internal would be customers you sold to previously or perhaps the dealership (orphans). External would be new customers.

What advantages does the Internal customer provide? They already know the brand. They were willing to conduct business with your organization previously. This individual may even have purchased from you personally.

So how many of these great people would you need to become self sufficient? Referring back to our conversation above, most automotive sales people will sell approximately 100 units per year. Now estimate: How often does the average consumer replace their vehicle? Sure it would be fantastic if they replaced them every three to four years (think leasing), but the dominant cycle remains four to five years.

To be conservative, we will use five years for our conversation.

If the average customer replaces their vehicle every five years and an average sales person sells 100 units, then how many customers would you need to become self sufficient?

That’s right, 500! It would take about five years to become self sufficient. Now ask yourself how many cars are in your household?

One, two, three, or more? The typical customer will have two. Taking this into consideration, do you have 500 sales opportunities or 1,000?

Would it be unreasonable to think that you could receive one referral from each customer once every five years? Sure you could, if you ask. Now you would have 1,000 customers who on average have two cars per household.

This would give you 2,000 sales opportunities.

Divide that by five years and now you have 400 units sold each year. Feel free to go ahead and cut those numbers in half. You would still end the year with 200 units sold.

Oh, and by the way, if you had sold 200 units in 2009, would you have been upset? I would imagine if at the end of 2010 you sell 200, units, it will have been a good year.

Good luck and good selling.

Kirk Manzo is the president of The Manzo Group. He can be contacted at 800.858.6903, or by e-mail at kmanzo@autosuccessonline.com.

DavidMoline

marketing solution

LOOKING FOR NEW ADVERTISING IDEAS? IT’S TIME TO RE-EXAMINE DIRECT MAIL key. Therefore, a synergy must be created between the different media. One medium will influence the effect of the other and generate an overall higher impact. For example, a TV spot with a specific offer supported by a direct mail campaign will most certainly increase response. By integrating media, creative and planning, you will deliver a stronger dealership “brand” in a more cost-effective way. It has been suggested e-mail advertising will replace direct mail, yet it is direct mail that drives Web traffic.

dealership “brand” and driving traffic to your store and your Web site.

There is no question that the Internet is embraced by dealerships. Properly executed, dealership Web sites — along with texting and social media like Facebook, Twitter, etc.

— can provide a meaningful and long-term contribution to sales.

Another advantage of direct mail is accountability. Because a mail campaign is a unique one-on-one communication tool, you can easily determine your cost-per-person reached and, by tracking the results, calculate the costper-response and cost-per-sale.

But in the frenzy to increase one’s digital presence, let’s not forget about one of the most effective and targeted mediums around — direct mail.

Today, developments in information technology provide you with a wealth of personalization possibilities to help identify and select the right set of demographics for a targeted mailing and the ability to digitally print variable and personalized data, giving direct mail a leg up over the increasingly fragmented coverage of mass media. It’s this ability to address every prospect and every customer as one person with a “made-to-measure” message that showcases your dealership with a relevancy that encourages action.

Direct mail can be key in helping build and maintain a one-to-one relationship between your dealership, your customers and your prospects. Let’s face it: With all the Web sites, e-mails, tweets and “friends,” not to mention TV messages, radio messages, outdoor and guerrilla advertising bombarding us every single day, mail is still the cornerstone of human personal communication. Today, technology allows us to personalize each mail piece to the customer or prospect.

A well-designed and well-written direct mail campaign will command the attention and time of its recipient, establishing your

So if you’re looking for something “new” for your next campaign, consider direct mail as an integral part of your mix. Remember, direct mail is an intimate communication. It enters the consumer’s sphere through their mailbox.

It offers a physical contact; they touch the paper and you can influence their behavior through your message.

David Moline is the owner/manager of Advertising Marketing Partners. He can be contacted at 866.406.6493, or by e-mail at dmoline@autosuccessonline.com.

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JimRadogna

marketing solution

CAN MODERN SOLUTIONS PROTECT AGAINST OLD SCHOOL PRACTICES?

Much has been written about automotive online reputation management and, fortunately, there are a number of companies and consultants now available to assist dealers in getting a handle on this crucial subject.

Reputation and customer satisfaction is of the utmost importance to dealers, and there is little doubt that many negative online postings are either questionable or do not reliably portray the true culture of the dealership.

However, I believe that a dealership’s reputation is difficult, if not impossible, to manage when certain staff members do not operate ethically and resort to “old school” deceptive practices. Looking through some of the sites that rate dealers, I found some interesting examples: • A dealer reviewed on one of the sites has dozens of negative posts about bait and switch, refusal to sell at advertised prices and other questionable acts. I was a bit surprised at the volume of negative feedback and I have to wonder who’s watching the store. But fear not, the brilliant perpetrators of all of this negative feedback had a plan. They simply added some positive posts to the site, which of course were exposed as coming from the dealership’s IP address. So much for that idea. How does this dealer defend against various staff members allegedly lying to customers and then trying to cover it up?

It’s sure not going to be easy.

• A post on another site accused the dealer

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of deceptive advertising. Now, I long-ago realized that some customers have tendency to misread advertisements, so, in order to give the dealership the benefit of the doubt, I looked up the ad on their Web site. Well, sure enough it was questionable at best and went astray of state advertising regulations.

The people who wrote that ad may be patting themselves on the back for bringing customers across the curb, but at what cost?

The customer not only did not buy from the dealer, but also gave a glowing review and recommendation of the competitor who ended up earning their business.

• The next dealer was accused of payment packing by the finance department.

According to the post, the customer attempted to rectify the situation by returning to the dealership to discuss the issue but apparently received no satisfaction. After the customer posted the negative review, a customer relations rep from the dealership responded with a nice apology and offers to help — so far, so good, (although it was 21 days after the original post). Here’s where it goes downhill: The next post comes from an “anonymous” employee of the dealership who proceeds to berate the customer by accusing him of posting fraudulently. The employee stated that the customer’s issue couldn’t have happened; the company is wonderful, etc. “Anonymous” actually remarked that the customer should be “ashamed of himself” and “should be

man enough to discuss his concerns and not hide behind a fraudulent posting.”

Is it just me, or is this the worst possible way to try to handle a negative review??

Eventually, the GM got involved and the problem was finally rectified to the customer’s satisfaction (so I guess it was a real customer with a real complaint and not a fraudulent posting). The customer very graciously posted an update about the resolution, but also responded about the employee that attacked him and called him a liar. The question that comes to mind is this: What has more significance in the mind of someone reading this review — that the dealership ultimately handled the complaint or that someone in the dealership raked the customer over the coals for complaining in the first place?

There are a number of excellent firms that specialize in online reputation management and I highly recommend that dealers consider utilizing their services. But it important to realize that while these companies do an outstanding job, it may not be possible to mitigate the damage caused by ethicallychallenged personnel. The first and most important step in managing one’s reputation is having zero tolerance for bad behavior by employees.

Jim Radogna is president of Dealer Compliance Consultants, Inc. He can be contacted at 866.704.8657, or by e-mail at jradogna@autosuccessonline.com.

An Interview with ShawnKloppman

marketing solution

DIRECT MAIL FROM THE DEALERSHIP’S POINT OF VIEW An Interview With Rosner Toyota Scion’s Shawn Kloppman “I think direct mail is huge,” said Shawn Kloppman, general manager of Rosner Toyota Scion in Stafford, Virginia. A 21-year veteran of the car-selling game, Kloppman has seen the industry go through a number of expansions and contractions. While he’s embracing new technology to keep a marketing edge on his competition, he also believes there’s no substitute for the basics, done correctly. We sat down with Shawn and talked about the way his dealership uses direct mail in their marketing, and how things have advanced.

AutoSuccess: Shawn, where does direct mail fit into your overall marketing strategy?

Shawn Kloppman: It’s currently about

one-third of our budget. If we look at what we spend on advertising on a monthly basis in any form — print, cable, radio or direct mail — we spent a lot of money trying to get new customers every month. We’ve found, though, that there’s always more that can be done to continue to harvest the database we currently have, and that’s where direct mail plays a big role for us.

AS: How has the way your dealership uses direct mail changed over the years?

SK: In the past we’ve tried to mail outside

of our existing customer database to gain new customers, but it was costly and for the most part “hit or miss.” In the past, we’ve experimented with different mail pieces — like those using “credit cards” and giveaways — and testing new markets. Lately, we’ve really put more time into looking at our database, dividing it up and coming up with a marketing plan where we can every month drop a direct-mail piece to a portion of our database and generate some income off of them coming back in.

AS: What methods have you used to integrate direct mail into your overall marketing strategy?

SK: It kind of varies on a month-to-month

basis. If we have a very strong message from the manufacturer, we will try to carry that on

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with some of our direct mail. We’ll take it a step further from our mainstream advertising and really try to bring it into the homes of our current owners and make sure they’re aware that “Hey, this is a really big deal, and it doesn’t come around that often.” On the flip side, if we don’t have a strong message from the manufacturer, we’ll go for certain needs that our dealership might be facing. If we need pre-owned vehicles, we will target certain year/model owners. We’ll look to service department R.O.s for cars that have 60,000 miles or are three years old and higher and will drop to those customers. Basically, we’re going to get what we’re looking for.

AS: Can you describe for us a direct mail campaign that you’ve used that was particularly successful?

SK: For us right now, Toyota has a 0 percent

financing plan, which has been going on for couple months. Typically, they don’t have a very big incentive — especially at 0 percent — so we believe that’s huge and we been able to reconnect with a lot of our customers who are two or three years into a purchase. We’ve been able to get them out of their vehicle and into a new one, and trade for some really nice pre-owned vehicles that have been maintained here. We’ve been able to keep them at or close to their same payments and in a newer car.

AS: Is there a time of the month where you’ve found direct mail to be particularly useful?

SK: If I had to pick, I’d say the beginning and

end of the month. I think most dealerships give away the first week of month, ourselves included, but we are constantly trying to improve.

AS: Based on your experiences, what techniques with direct mail would you recommend to drive traffic into a dealership?

SK: You really need to take a look at your

entire owner database and determine how many viable people you have there, and then come up with a marketing plan on how often you want to send mail to the people. I believe that anything more than once a quarter is just too much, so you really want to divide it out where you have a decent sampling every month. You need to have a consistent message and make sure that entire sales staff knows what’s going on any particular week or month when people do come in or contact us; it lends credibility to the entire process.

AS: Any final thoughts?

SK: The days of the direct mail “drop and

go” company are gone. There are a lot of companies out there that tell you they’re the next greatest thing, but I think you need to find one that not only will assist you in determining what’s best for your specific dealership needs, but has a CRM that can help the whole process and monitor as it goes along and is in constant communication with you. I believe that’s key.

I’d like to share with your audience more information about direct mail strategies. There are some effective processes that our provider would like share with the first 10 dealers who respond to the e-mail address below: Specifically, their offering a free download and clean-up of your database, along with special reporting on purchase trends.

AS: Do you use different direct mail pieces to target different segments of the marketplace, such as subprime?

SK: We will occasionally do some beacon

For more information about Shawn Kloppman or Rosner Toyota Scion in Stafford, Virginia, visit www.toyotaofstafford.com.

driven direct-mail pieces. We’ll do more predictors where we would go after import owners than particular credit scores and demographics.

For more information about Strategic Marketing, contact Todd Strause at 866.426.5182, or by e-mail at tstrause@autosuccessonline.com.

BillPhillips

sales & training solution

ALGEBRA BOOKS AND CRAYONS The Trouble With Your Lead Management Tool I have worked for more than 15 years in the automotive sales industry — my formal education includes a bachelor’s in engineering and a master’s in marketing.

That stated, I in no way intend to demean the intelligence or ability of any of the hardworking people in this business by the title or contents of this article. I consider this business to be challenging, exciting and extremely dynamic given all of the market forces driving change in the traditional business model. Personally, I am privileged to have been able to build a career doing something I love for so long.

The lead management tool, used by most Internet sales organizations, is a necessary and extremely important element to selling cars. The tool manages the prospect data, schedules salesperson actions and reports on key information like response time and closing ratios. It aggregates multiple lead sources into a single database. This tool and the invaluable data about potential customers are critical to the success or failure of any

dealer who intends to be where this industry is going and not captivated by past habits.

Here’s what I’ve learned in 15 years and by personally experiencing every lead tool available in the market:

who can blame them? They will naturally operate at the level they need to for their own well being, and they will capitalize on the complexity and confusion to justify noncompliance to your Internet sales process.

The usability of any lead management tool can only be best understood by those who have spent time successfully managing Internet sales within a dealership.

Evaluating the Salespeople Defines How You Evaluate the Tool

Most of the lead management tools available on the market today have been developed by software programmers unfamiliar with the dealer or the sales environment. They then consult well-meaning but unknowledgeable people about what their database should do.

So those who barely know have consulted to those who don’t, and quite frankly, shouldn’t know how to manage and run successful Internet sales within a dealership.

This leads us to the result that most lead management tools are far too complicated visually and operationally for the people who use them. Multiple paths to arrive at customer data or to generate e-mails or complete scheduled events creates confusion, dilutes the training experience and kills the intended goal of engaging and managing the customer.

It’s even worse for the manager overseeing the sales team who must maximize his time across multiple sales functions to try to manage a system with numerous complicated reports and multiple click paths to get to basic, real-time meaningful information.

Hence, the title: If you give algebra books to kindergartners and they color on the pages with crayons,

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Being able to quickly understand and evaluate what your Internet salespeople actually do during the day is singularly critical when selecting a lead management tool. How quickly was the incoming lead responded to? How many calls in what time frame, and what was said? At what point did the Internet salesperson turn the contacted but non-responsive lead to a manager?

And so on. DMS compatibility, Web site integration, automated programming and reporting breakdowns are all secondary reasons to select a lead management tool.

Simplicity of the user interface, process creation, reporting and oversight are your primary concerns. Get references and check customer service availability, service uptime, response time and time to resolution as well.

Regardless of the Lead Tool, It’s the Process

Process management is the key to the ills of poor Internet sales in your dealership. This marketing medium will require more work from your sales staff and managers, but the net is dramatically higher. If you don’t have the same level of measurable control, results and accountability in your Internet sales as you do on the floor, find someone who can help you now. You’ll see dramatic results and run circles around your competition, who has no clue on how to get results with it. The smart dealers of this market will get in the trenches and figure out what really works.

As a wise man in this industry once said to me, “Not everything we do in this industry is wrong.” We still have to sell cars and make profit. How we get customers and manage salespeople is changing. Select your tools wisely and beware of sales pitches and promises from those who haven’t done what you do, or who don’t use the tools they sell. Look through the eyes of a salesman/ manager. In the end, they are the ones who deliver the sales or are hindered from them.

Bill Phillips is the president and CEO of Automotive Internet Management, Inc. He can be contacted at 866.593.7212, or by e-mail at bphillps@autosuccessonline.com.

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StephenCravens

marketing solution

MAKING THE PHONE WORK FOR YOU Make the most informed decisions on which forms of advertising are generating the leads you want, and which ones are costing you money. Call tracking helps dealerships capture prospective customers at the point of interest, when they showed intent, rather than receiving a form to generate a call later. To illustrate, here is a short tour of how a typical dealership uses call tracking:

will allow them to monitor the effectiveness of their team’s response. Are incoming calls being handled properly? Are customer service representatives hitting their talking points? When the sales team makes a followup call, are the agents sharing consistent information with the new leads? These questions can be answered by monitoring the recordings of inbound and outbound calls.

Level 1: Validate Media Spending

Level 3: Capitalize on the Knowledge That has Been Collected

Advertisers are initially drawn to the idea of call measurement and call tracking because of the prospect of eliminating wasteful spending on ads that are not working.

Dealerships can measure the number of responses an ad generates to gauge which types of media (or which providers) are producing the highest rates of return.

Level 2: Evaluate How Calls are Handled

When a dealership’s managers are ready to move beyond simple quantitative analysis, a comprehensive call measurement program

At this point, the marketing manager has focused spending on top-performing placements (Level 1) and then ensured that all calls are being handled properly (Level 2). The next step is to utilize the data that has been collected through the call tracking program. Are these leads being converted into long-term customers? If the initial call is simply an information query, are the proper follow-up procedures in place to stay in contact with this prospective customer?

Will new marketing campaigns be focused

on the preferences/habits that have been demonstrated in the responses to prior campaigns? Is the call data being effectively integrated with the company’s day-to-day business software and processes?

The progression from the first level to the third happens quickly and naturally. Many of the advertisers we work with initially think they only need to validate their marketing expenditures, but we go ahead and throw in the call recording capabilities. It usually takes about one day before the sales manager wants to listen and track every business call. Moving from the second level to the third level requires a bigger push, but managers quickly realize the value of efficient lead management.

Stephen Cravens is a business development specialist for Century Interactive. He can be contacted at 866.652.3704, or by e-mail at scravens@autosuccessonline.com.

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PatriciaJ.Roberts

sales & training solution

DO MEN AND WOMEN SPEAK DIFFERENT LANGUAGES? Men and women think, speak, and process information very differently. Gender communication differences are very real and, yes, they do matter a great deal. If one is to succeed in the retail world, everyone needs to understand what those are and also why.

Before you can sell your product or service to a woman, you have to speak her language.

Whether you are selling in a professional or a retail environment, gender differences really do matter. Make sure that you and your employees are properly trained so that you too can attract, sell, retain and increase your

loyalty with women consumers, and thus your ROW. Patricia J. Roberts is the director of business development for AskPatty.Com. She can be contacted at 866.652.3970, or by e-mail at proberts@autosuccessonline.com.

Tell the Time or Build a Watch

Women are storytellers and men like to speak in sound bites. Women like and want to build up to the bottom line or to the end with paragraphs of information, with examples and with stories to build the rapport and to build the picture. Men like to get to the “bottom line,” then provide the details in bullet points to support that end game. Storytelling is frustrating for the male and the bullet point format is equally frustrating for the female. To effectively communicate with the opposite gender, it will be necessary to change the approach by women in stating the bottom line first and by men to give many more details when communicating with women.

Look at the Floor or Look Her in the Eye

Women use about 25,500 words in a day, where men use about 12,500. On average, women maintain eye contact while speaking for 12 seconds vs. a man maintaining eye contact for three seconds. As a male interacting with the female consumer, changing the approach by balancing the needed eye contact and number of words spoken will make the woman feel like they are being taken seriously.

Trees or the Forest

Women can perceive “the fine points” better than men. They see and recall more elements and nuances in products, services or communications. They do more research before the decision and the purchase.

In evaluating elements of a product or service decision, women want the same things as men, they just want more: more facts, details, information, feedback from others and time to make their decision. If woman says “I need more time to think about it” she means it, and she will get back with you.

The Bottom Line-Row (Return on Women)

Women do a lot of research before reaching a decision. Once they make that purchase, women tend to be more loyal to their choice of product and service provider, generating more referrals through more active word-of-mouth. the #1 sales-improvement magazine for the automotive professional

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RichardWinch

marketing solution

DON’T FORGET ONLINE REPUTATION MANAGEMENT FOR FIXED OPS Online reputation management has generated a lot of buzz in 2010, and for good reason: Great SEO, combined with managing what customers say about your dealership at the review and social media sites, are the two most logical, sustainable and cost-effective ways to drive online business today. But almost all the talk about online reputation has centered around the sales department; having a powerful, positive online review presence for your service and parts departments has never been more critical.

Why Service Reputation Management Is So Crucial:

Dealers have heard a lot lately about how fixed ops is the key to survival in tough times — how every year it represents a greater lion’s share of profits — along with how much business they continue to bleed to independent repair shops and parts superstores every year. You’ve heard it many times, but can’t hear it enough, because the opportunities – and lost dealer opportunities – are only intensifying.

• According to AAIA data, the U.S. auto aftermarket will grow to roughly $290 billion in 2010 – up roughly four percent from last year.

• Service/parts have accounted for a whopping 80 to 100 percent of dealer profits over the last couple years, according to NADA data.

• At the same time, NDP data found that dealers increasingly represent a smaller piece of the growing service pie, capturing only 44 percent of total service dollars.

• A J.D. Power & Associates study predicts that dealership service traffic volumes are expected to decline 20 percent between 2009 and 2013, resulting in a 25 percent decrease in those ‘lifeline’ service dollars.

Today’s Service Shopper – A Searcher and Online Review Reader

Add to this mix that online reviews have an dramatic impact on how consumers select their service providers. The latest study from 2008, reveals that three out of four auto consumers turn to online dealership reviews,

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and more than one in five change their mind based on what they read. And roughly onefifth of a dealership’s reviews will be for the service department.

There are other unique factors making reputation management for service key.

For one, car service/repair is a consumer “pain point,” and it seems I’m always reading a new study revealing “vehicle repairs cost 34 percent more at dealerships than independent shops.” There’s a wider dealership-for-service “reputation” battle (over pricing, “honesty,” etc.) that’s out there in the press and the world, so it’s out there in consumer minds. Establishing real-world consumer trust for your service department, when you’re in brutal competition with independents, is increasingly paramount.

Reviews Catapult You To the Top of the Service-Search Results

just competing online against your dealer competitors, but also, typically, hundreds of other local businesses, from independent shops to the PepBoys and AutoZones (total auto service businesses outnumber dealerships by about 20:1). So, when even a precise search like “Honda transmission repair Cleveland” returns a noisy 300,000plus results on any given day — and seven in 10 searchers only click on the first-page results — and a high volume of reviews would catapult your dealership to the top of that first page, you can see how the review equation works.

The savvy dealership with those 100-plus service reviews, and that shining 4.7 star rating, has staked out one of the most powerful “billboards” possible today: broadcasting their brand and claim, right up against the independents, to local servicesearchers 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

And it’s exposure no paid search or banner ad could ever buy, because it’s the endorsement of your real-world, satisfied customers.

A review campaign will have an outsized impact on your service business because today’s service shopper is first and foremost a searcher — when’s the last time you picked up a Yellow Pages? — and the review sites have incredible traction in first-page search results. Google loves review sites because they love consumer relevance.

I’ve argued why dealerships must tackle a review game plan for fixed ops; next issue I’ll outline a proven, practical, servicespecific dealership process.

Try a search like “Toyota transmission repair San Francisco,” or “Honda brakes Los Angeles.” Typically, the Google Local listings will be dominated by independents, while the first-page organic results will heavily return the big review sites like Yelp or Citysearch. But a dealership with a properly optimized Google Local listing and lots of service reviews (across numerous sites) will break right into that coveted search real estate. In fact, a dealership set up properly at review sites/directories, who also has a high volume of reviews, can even come up on top for generic service searches like “Car Repair, Bremerton, WA.”

Because all online reputation management involves radical culture change at a dealership, the very first step is getting management buy-in. Share the facts with the dealer principal and service manager.

Help them grasp these online realities and lost opportunities: the disconnect between how much attention the sales department gets vs. service, given the glaring profit discrepancies, and how your service reputation could be your most powerful future marketing weapon — and a true competitive advantage — but is given the back seat it takes at most dealerships.

Service: A Crowded Online Market

Here’s another unique factor about reputation management for service and parts, as opposed to new-vehicle sales: You’re not

The First Step:

Richard Winch is CEO & Founder of eXtéresAUTO. He can be contacted at 866.476.4389, or by e-mail at rwinch@autosuccessonline.com.

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MattBaker

sales & training solution

LEARNING THE LANGUAGE Three Communication Tactics to Increase Closing Percentages

Think about the last time you purchased something. Why did you decide to buy it?

What problems did the item help to solve?

What did that item do to make your life easier, more comfortable or more enjoyable?

homework. Can I ask you something? If I am not as up to speed on XYZ car as you are, will you get upset?”

One of the rules my company follows states, “People buy for their reasons, not yours.”

Unfortunately, most people won’t come right out and tell you why they are talking to you.

They want to give you little info, and expect unpaid advice.

Salesperson: “Here’s what I know; I’ve never lost anyone over price and you won’t be the first. What else besides price is important to you? I may not be able to do everything you want…”

Many times in a selling situation the customer will put pressure on a sales person to answer questions they don’t want to answer yet, or don’t know the answer to. This article offers you three techniques to help your salespeople combat these situations, and keep the conversation moving toward a sale.

We all know that the key to successful selling is asking questions. Utilize these three techniques to help your sales team feel more comfortable asking questions to discover a customer’s buying signs.

Cushion Your Approach

Since consumers often regard salespeople as being “pushy,” it’s incredibly important to set the stage for your conversation with the appropriate cushions. Cushions are initial questions or phrases that soften the approach.

They allow customers to respond to your requests without getting defensive. Tone of voice plays a key role here. Don’t frighten the prospect. Speak in a soft and friendly voice.

Need a way for your sales team to remember the importance of cushions? Use another rule we follow: “If you feel it, say it gently,” which serves as a guideline for communication throughout the sales process.

Examples of cushions are: 1. “Sounds like you’ve done your homework….”

2. “Tell me if I’m wrong, but….”

3. “Can we talk off the record?”

Each example stated above respectfully redirects a potentially uncomfortable situation. Example No. 1 could be used to address customers who are pressuring you on price after shopping online. Here’s how this scenario would go using the appropriate cushion: Customer: “I’ve been looking at XYZ car online. What’s your price?”

Salesperson: “Sounds like you’ve done your

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Customer: “No. Just want the price.”

Like this scenario shows, cushions give you the power to control the conversation. They provide ample opportunity to test the waters and find other factors that are important to the customer, but were not revealed to you upfront.

Deflect Pressure to Gain Insight

Deflections help to keep the conversation moving. Many times in a selling situation, the customer puts tremendous pressure on the salesperson. The salesperson often feels as though they must have a perfect answer to each of the customer’s comments, or they’ll lose that customer. The act of deflecting utilizes challenging questions and statements to place pressure back onto buyers. This entices the customer to reveal more information and helps the salesperson gain clarity regarding what the customer really wants.

In many cases, sales reps assume they know what the customer is asking for. To ward against this mistake at your dealership, use the rule, “Assumptions are the mother of all screw ups.” Making your sales team aware of this will help to ensure they ask more and assume less.

Examples of deflections are: 1. “What were you hoping for?”

2. “How do we get around that?”

3. “Let me make sure I understand…”

Examples one and two push the conversation along by answering the customer’s initial question with another question. This tactic is very effective, but only to a certain extent. If the buyer grows impatient and you still need answers, try starting a sentence and pausing as though you’re searching for a word. This method, as illustrated in example three, gives the buyer the opportunity to finish the statement for you.

Rescue Me

Let’s pretend one of your most veteran sales reps just greeted a new customer on your lot. The customer is in the market to buy, but spends much of the time badgering the sales rep with detailed questions and pressure on

price. In an effort to prove his intelligence, the sales rep is quick to answer each of the customer’s pressing questions. Yet, what this sales rep fails to realize is that his attempts to seal the deal with educated answers will only hurt his odds of selling in the long run.

The knowledge of a salesperson is valuable.

Customers understand this value and push to get as much information as they can for free.

Don’t let your salespeople become unpaid consultants. Help them gain information as opposed to giving it by utilizing the rescue technique.

The rescue technique serves three purposes: to help sales reps test the waters, to guard against information overload and to decrease buyer resistance. While acting like a “dummy” may seem unnatural for most salespeople, it could determine the life or death of their next sale.

Examples of rescues include: 1. “I’m a little confused…”

2. “You tell me if I’m wrong…”

3. “My bad. I didn’t do a good job explaining…”

These examples provoke the customer to rescue you with an informational yet empathetic response. This technique keeps the customer talking, and allows the salesperson to discover more useful information. This technique brings customer defenses down quickly because the customer feels that they are smarter.

Remember this: The best form of humor is always to make fun of yourself; and the best way to build rapport is to make someone laugh. By utilizing rescues, you have the power to diffuse the customer and build rapport in seconds.

Since this is a one-page article, I only shared a small sampling of cushions, deflections and rescues; and how utilizing these techniques can help your sales team convert more buyers. If you are interested in more examples, please e-mail me at the address below with the subject line “EXAMPLE.” I will send you a PDF copy of G&A’s “Guide to Improving Sales Talent: Cushions, Deflections and Rescues.”

Matt Baker is the vice president of sales for G&A Marketing. He can be contacted at 866.618.8248, or by e-mail at mbaker@autosuccessonline.com.

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