The topics discussed exceeded expectations and delved into a level of knowledge beyond that of basic seo offerings available to car dealers today.  While many website providers do offer basic services the discussions delved much deeper.

Some of the topics covered were:

• Changes in search that are becoming a reality such as universal search and the Google search wiki.
• Why tag and keyword stuffing are a waste of bandwidth and the negative implications to be expected from these practices.
• Website analytics and why independent third party site performance measurement trumps vendor provided tracking.
• Building search engine trust and the importance of outbound links and linking partners.
• Techniques for ranking for competitors names.
• Inbound linking strategies and internal linking strategies.
• The importance of updated content and the challenges dealers face.
• Pros and cons of website provider platforms.
• Blogging for car dealers and effective use to help build search engine relevance.
• Search engine saturation and how to eliminate third party lead providers from dealers “money term” searches.

Those in attendance were top level website providers, automotive marketing consultants, inventory distribution partners, micro site providers, analytic providers and search marketing providers and consultants.

This years conference was by invitation only and the next one is scheduled for September 18th-21st of this year in Las Vegas.  Make sure you subscribe to ISMinTraining.com to receive details on the next automotive seo conference and for tips and opinion of online automotive marketing.

Technorati Tags: auto industry events, automotive digital marketing, automotive seo

The time the sales manager spent with me was gratuitous but very discouraging as well.  It was almost like he was trying to dissuade me from being in the car business, nonetheless I survived, was put on the floor after being reminded continually to:

1. Meet and greet build rapport
2. Qualify – Find out about what they wanted to buy
3. Select a car
4. Walk around and test drive.
5. Get agreement to buy the car if the numbers were right.
6. Fill out a buyers order get the customer to agree in writing.
7. Get a manager and keep my mouth shut.

That system worked well for me.  My first month on the floor I sold 15 cars.   I started following up with my sold customers like I ws told to do and was off to the races.

Fast forward almost 20 years and my 20 year old son has started as a car sales person.  I asked the group over at ADM for new sales person advice everybody that responded gave some great tips.  Here are a few that stuck out to me.

Comment by Jim Vogel

To be a salesperson in the car business you must know a couple of things… It is your passion before you realize it is. Bell to bell takes on a new meaning. Success is when it is just you and the F&I guy left… and finally, THICK SKIN, SENSE OF HUMOR and SHORT-TERM MEMORY. Gotta have it!

I have literally taught hundreds this advice. Stay passionate. If you are a true “car guy”, you know what I am talking about. Good luck, my little brother in profit!

Comment by Ryan Lucia

1) focus on what you can control
2) know the flow of the store
3) set goals and write them down
4) work smarter not harder
5) sell yourself….tell people stories (people love stories) get personal with your people
6) listen….listen….listen….listen….to many sales people talk and never listen
7) Never be afraid to ask for the close (people want to be asked if they will buy)
if your funny be funny if your not don’t
9) don’t be afraid to ask for advice
10) have your dad build a website to help you generate leads

Comment by Phil Whitehead

Give your business card to everyone you meet – the guy making your sandwich at the sub shop, the lady behind the counter, etc. They may not be in the market but maybe they know someone who is. They certainly won’t come to your dealership and ask for you if they don’t know you sell cars!

Ask everyone you meet “What kind of car do you drive?” “Why did you pick that car?” “What do you like about it?” “What one thing would you change about it if you could?” You’ll learn a lot about what people do and don’t like about cars and why they decide to buy what they buy. When you ask these same qualifying questions on the lot, it will seem like a natural conversation and not a bunch of nosy questions.

Comment by Joe Webb

As a green pea in this market, I believe you must first
1) Learn the layout of the dealership like the back of your hand
2) Learn the product extremely well
3) Role play with managers and test drive as many vehicles as possible – thereby learning the sales process
4) Get on every single educational site possible – Edmunds, KBB, etc.

Bill Playford

….. I certainly remember my first days on the lot (and getting stuck with everyone’s leftovers), and I identify with all of the advice that’s been given so far. I’ve seen a lot of turnover in my day (after three years, I quit counting at 27, which is more than 300% turnover at the store I worked at!), so I feel compelled to share some advice. If one of my children were starting in the car business, here’s what I’d share with them:

1.) Spend time getting to know the dealer’s staff (Service Writers, Service Techs, Office Admins, Detailers, Porters, etc). Not only are they (usually) great people to know, but they will also make your life easier. The referrals are nice too!
2.) Show initiative. It doesn’t hurt to turn the lights on in the morning, and lock the door with the Dealer Principal on a Saturday.
3.) Don’t be afraid to call your old customers “out of the blue, just to chat.” Fanatically keep notes about what you learned about your customers during the selling process (Rick’s hot rod Nash, Jenny’s ballet classes, Mike’s youth ministry…). Follow-up is fun when you have a personal relationship with your clients.
4.) Make yourself irreplaceable. Find a niche that is not being filled, and make yourself the best at filling that niche. Whether it’s being a product guru, a walk-around pro, or an Internet selling machine, find an area of improvement, and make it your own.
5.) Don’t be afraid to say no to a client. Evaluate what the sale is worth, beyond the gross. (Are they ever going to refer friends, family, and/or coworkers to you? Will they ever buy another vehicle from you? Are they going to have their vehicles serviced at your store?) Constantly being demoralized by customers puts you on the fast track to a new job.
6.) Don’t give up. Although it’s difficult, don’t measure yourself by your paycheck: measure yourself by your peers. In a business of attrition, the longer you stick with it, the more successful you will be.

There were some other great responses and you can see them all here.  If you have anything you would like to add please do so in the comment there or here.

Technorati Tags: car salesman, new job selling cars

CarFolks.com Main Purpose

What is completely lost in this diatribe is the fact that networking is a great source of business, online or otherwise.

It leads to referrals, direct sales and staying in touch.  While I agree that people can go over board with networking online but what about the great networkers that sell cars to members at their church, the masons lodge or the golf course?  While these activities can take away from business time too they can be a huge marketing tool.

Businesses do not network online or otherwise.  People who work in them do.  Online is no different.  Our friends, old classmates and family are utilizing online networking sites to reconnect, stay in touch and to share memories.  Anyone who has been in auto sales for more than a month knows that people buy from people they like and staying in touch is the best way to insure repeat business.  Online has made that easier.

Nobody wants to connect with “Old School Dealer Group” they want to connect with the individuals who work there.  Everyone has a sphere of influence and by connecting with you online they are opening letting you into their circle where as they may be more hesitant to do so in real life.

• Will they want to follow you on twitter if the only thing you share is the deal of the day or hour?
• Do people want to really want to read your blog if it is nothing but a pitch?
• Would your brother 350 miles away be interested in your facebook wall if your message is to call for a great deal on a car?
• What would your grand ma say if all you did was try to get her to fill out a credit app because “Everybody Rides” from your myspace account?

Not only would it be counter productive to think that is the way to use networking sites it would be just as asinine as the Carfolks.com model.  If you took the time to make connections and become a part of the community and be a participant not just a marketing machine then these sites can work for you.

It is great to reconnect on facebook with an old high school buddy and to catch up on what has been going on in each others lives.  If  you really reconnected with that lost friend they would travel hundreds of mile to buy a car from you and to enjoy a dinner and a drink.  Two good things come from that interaction by not leading with the pitch.  Just by letting people know what you do.  (Personal Story)

The web today is about being connected with others and the applications that help bring everything together.  I get excited about finding applications that can help promote your business.  I was recently sent a press release by Wei at www.easyautosales.com that talks about how they developed an application where cars can be posted via facebook connect.

I see the application being a great tool if used properly in a networking environment.  Consumers can post a car they find and ask their friends for their opinion of it and a salesperson with a large network could feature a recent trade in and tell the cars story to their connections or use it to recommend cars to those that ask.

The line will have to be walked for dealership peronel using it as a marketing tool so not to appear spammy, there is already to much of that at every level in our industry.  Moderation is the key,but if your profile is strong enough you become the car expert in your circle and your friends will appreciate it.

People are going to Facebook not Carfolks.  With monthly visits topping 60 million and growing versus less than 1000 and falling where would you rather your people be? (I know a few blogs that get a lot more traffic than that)

Remember my motto: “Without Traffic Everything Fails”

Technorati Tags: automotive seo, automotive social networking, carfolks.com, facebook.com, myspace.com, online marketing

The automotive digital marketing space is now the wild west of the auto industry and represents the best opportunity for dealers, who have the ability to make informed decisions, to promote their dealerships and inventory online. Unfortunately for most dealers they rely on recommendations from individuals or companies that have a back end motive in recommending products and services to them. Like the scouting reports that General Custer had before “the Battle of Little Big Horn” and are being lead to the slaughter.

Carnival like atmospheres and gee whiz presentations with recommendations from people who have not changed their game plan in relation to digital marketing in several years is a recipe for disaster. In this space with enhanced consumer awareness and online trends changing at an alarming rate cookie cutter products with declarations of how well they did in 2005 should tell the dealer to be weary.

This problem is not only presented by consultants and agencies who are trying to carve out a space in a niche that they do not understand it is compounded by the fact vendors that operate in the digital space make recommendations that only serve them and not the dealer.

Today there are so many different flavors of cool aid that is being served up to decision makers it is easy for the dealer to become paralyzed and choose to do nothing. Another big mistake.

The list of terms, tools and disciplines in itself can be confusing to a lay person. Automotive digital marketing, online best practices, search engine optimization, search engine marketing, micro sites, landing pages, CRM, ILM, SEO, PPC, websites, process, conversion ratios, email templates, social media, social networking, dealer ratings, click to call, online chat, online classifieds, twitter, linkedin, plaxo, leads, online merchandising, pop ups, pop unders, text advertising, banner advertising, online directories, blogging, squidoo, consumer generated content, have you got lost yet?

Now you have vendors pitching these individual products or combinations of them in packages as the answer to the dealers online marketing effort. Not to mention the training that must be performed for the use and implementation and process development.

Here is the typical situation. A dealer attends a conference and hears buzz words such as social networking, web 2.0, blogging, seo and sem. Currently they have a website and are sending their inventory to classified sites such as cars.com and autotrader.com and realize that they are not getting the best return on their time and investment.

So they contact a SEO vendor and a SEM vendor to help deliver more traffic to their website and realize that their process is broke after examining their lead handling. In comes the process consultant that gets them signed up with a state of the art ILM and CRM system and buying every lead in a 200 mile radius of their store. However the dealer has set a budget for expanding her Internet presence and soon realizes that all the based are not covered so she starts exploring more options. The SEM vendor tells them how they are going to deliver traffic to the stores website through an intelligent PPC campaign and the traffic will be almost instant and the leads will pour in through the site and they don’t need to buy leads and give them more money to drive traffic that closes at a higher ratio.

Now the SEO vendor explains to her that SEM is not permanent traffic and gets is more expensive over the long haul and tells her that she can buy leads for half the price that most lead vendors charge by buying direct from the lead aggregators while they establish a permanent search engine presence.

Now the autotrader rep and cars.com rep are waiting in the showroom to discuss the cancellation letter that was sent in because the process consultant told her not to waste money there to free up more budget so she can access discount credit leads that have been sold to six dealers already in the last 90 days.

Finally after three weeks of this circle jerk she has decided that she has tried the Internet and it is not worth it because it is not working in her store. She can’t find the ball no matter how hard she searches for it.

All the time her inventory data feed has been down because the modem for her DMS is infected with cockroaches where the parts manager dropped a burrito behind it in the parts warehouse where he hides to take breaks during the day and every email from the store is going into a spam filter because they have a local mail server and the F&I manager and title clerk are sending porn and the email around that says microsoft is going to give them $286 for every time it is forwarded to their 800 person contact list putting all the email address in the to field and the person who did online sales two years ago has an autoresponder set up to send every person who has ever submitted a lead through the website a daily email to call him on his disconnected cell phone to get the best damned service and because they need a car today and it is time for them to step up.

And people wonder why dealers have such a hard time getting it.  It is not their process that is broke it all the processes going on around them inflicted by the vendors who ply their trade in the niche or people who are trying to figure out a way to stay in the car business in a consultave role when they do not even know how to set up an email client.

The good thing is for people who are serving the dealers with integrity and for the dealers that operate with integrity and own a franchise other that one of the big three there is hope.  Current market conditions are going to rid the industry of posers and carnies at all levels.  OEMs, Dealers, vendors, consultants and dealership employees who have been faking it for years.

Now is the time for the dealers to act to own their competitive markets and make rational choices.  This can be done through education or finding consultants that can guide them who do not have an interest in pushing a certain vendors products.

Transparency is a buzz word that vendors and consultants use in their pitches to dealers telling them they need to be transparent with their ionteractions with consumers now dealers need to hold them transparent as well.  If a consultant or vendor that is recomending other widgets for the dealer to use in their online marketing efforts will not provide full disclosure as to ther relationship with these other parties the best thing the dealer can do is tell them to play their shell game at down the road motors and seek education and non biased recomendations.

Now that you are ready to leave and go back about your day take a minute and leave a comment and let me know what you think.

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Technorati Tags: automotive internet sales, automotive vendors, online marketing