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

This brought back memories of some of the things he taught me back in the day, 1990 to be exact.  For example, how he introduced himself to customers on a T.O. “Hey, Joe, how much do you owe…” in his slow, long southern drawl and my favorite, “Do you think we can get it for a dollar,” his way of saying that he was not going to book a trade.

Today, Ol’ Low Ball has one of the most profitable Buy Here Pay Here lots in the country and wanted to come school us young bucks on how the car business really should be.

He told me before our interview he wanted to set up his own blog and was going to show us how it’s done.  I offered him a compromise, because there is enough competition in the automotive blogosphere here and here.  I told him he could access one that is already up and running, with readers and advertisers.  This way he did not have to worry about setting up a new shop and he could have a desk and get a portion of the profit with none of the expense.  (He really liked that idea by the way.)

Paul Rushing (PR) : Ol’ L.B., I am glad you took the time to run me down.  Seeing as how I thought you would be in a nursing home or dead by now.  How did you find me?

L.B. Gross (Ol’ L.B.) : Well buddy, I am glad I found you as well.  I saw your picture when my secretary printed out a newsletter, for me to read, from that other site you are involved with.  I told her to get in touch with you.  She used the computer to find you she said.  I don’t know about all that.  We have one in my office for the grand kids to waste time on myspace.com and for her to get my emails from olelb@aol.com.  I have not been able to check it myself since they quit telling me when I had mail.

P.R.:   Well the business sure has changed since we worked together 18 years ago.  I guess you don’t have a website since you are still using an AOL email address.  Don’t you realize that AOL is more washed up than Detroit?

Ol’ L.B.:  All I know is if people want to send me something via that email, that is the one my secretary tells them to send it to.  I have had it since the mid ’90’s when I got my son the computer that he gave me back 5 years later after he bought a new one.  I don’t know why he did that though, it still worked fine after he showed me how to use AOL.  Then, I had to pay for my email, plus get off the phone to check it.  Now I have to get Sally Ann to turn off the soaps to check it.  She has to unhook the cable TV in her office to do it; I like that.  ‘Bout them boys in Detroit – they really blew that one I think.

P.R.: You know L.B. she just needs a $2 part and some extra cable to not have to turn off the soaps.  But what I really want to know is, how do you think they blew it in Detroit this week?

L.B. : About that part, it did not come with the computer and I ain’t puttin’ no more money in that mess.  I think she is tricking me anyway.  The other day I told her to get my email and the picture was still on.

About them asking for money like that, they really messed up.  You know I am flashy as all get out, especially when I travel to a place like Vegas, but come on Paul, if you’re gonna beg, look like a beggar.  I am sure they had an old K Car or Maverick on the back line they could have all piled into and driven to D.C. It would have taken them prolly 6 hours to get there.  Heck, I bet Marvin, my old auction driver, could have done in 5.  Plus, they should have wore some old kicks, not suits that most people can’t buy with a month’s pay.  You save those for special occasions.  Don’t tell no one but the jacket I got on in that picture came out of the trunk of a car I stole, er bought, at an estate sale.  It still had the plastic on it from the cleaners, but I would’na even wore that.  Some overalls or somthin’, look poor if you gonna talk poor.

P.R. : You have always had a flair.  Now I know why you can burn money like you do.  You don’t pay for much.  What do you think the Internet has done for dealers, seeing how it is a less expensive way to reach people who are really looking for car and not lining bird cages?

Ol’ L.B.: Well, I have not got my website up yet and won’t until my contract with the newspaper is up.  They guaranteed me the back page every Wednesday, coupon day, if I signed a 10 year contract with them for $16,000 a month.  I know it is still working because my salespeople always come to me to work a deal, asking where this or that car is.  I bet 400 people a month miss those special deals we put in there, like the ’07 Prius for $9,000 and ’02 Odyssey van for $2,500.  We switch a few of them to cars we really have and Kapowee, we sell a car; only every now and then does it cause us a problem.  See I tell my people when they call on those “Specials” they need to tell them it is here right now but they better hurry.  Someone is coming in on it.  It is always sold by the time the marks get here.  Every now and then someone calls us from on of those danged cell phones on the lot, but we have gotten good at wiggling around that one.

P.R. : Wow, I am surprised your search engine reputation is not screwed up.  I’ll have to check on that and let you know.  I noticed you used “Kapowee, you sold a car” and wiggling.  I guess you have seen the Badger Commercials.  I thought you did not know much about the web.  You had to be surfing the web to see those, right?

Ol’ L.B. : I get my grandson or my secretary to play them for me and to go to some other places.  I was hoping to get the Badger in here to train my sales people; he knows his stuff.  They also show me other things on the computer, too.  There are a few people around this online stuff that know what they are doing.  I like it when I see the same people putting the same stuff everywhere, or ending all of their writin’s with the same 5 paragraphs at the end.  That looks smart to me.  I am just trying to figure out what a spammer is and why my grandson keeps callin’ it that.

P.R. :  Well, Ol’ L.B. it looks like you got a lot to learn about the right way to use the Internet.  Those things are as dated as your white shoes and belt.  How often do you think you can contribute and start your education?

Ol’ L.B. :  I am gonna do the teachin’ here, son.  Don’t you forget it.  Seein’ how there is so much room for people to pay too much for Internet consulting; that is gonna be my new sideline.  Seein’ as how I can’t get my friends to sell me their old cars anymore; they tell me they get more from Craig List.  My secretary showed me his website. I don’t see that as a way to sell any cars.  Looks like a bunch of garbage to me.  So now I am going get this going.  I’m gonna give these people an education and show them the right way to leverage the web.  My game plan has not changed in over two decades, it is time to get them back on track.  I’ll be back from time to time.  Can you let them know when I send you something to show them?  Let my secretary know and she’ll print it out for me!

P.R. : Will do LB we are looking forward to it.  They can put their email in up top, subscribe to the feed below or bookmark Internet Sales Manager in Training.

Technorati Tags: humor, internet training, L.B. Gross, old school

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

The top 10 reasons to avoid wordpress.com for a dealership blog

1. Lack of flexibility – You cannot use plugins that help your blog become truly SEO friendly.  No custom title tags or Google sitemaps.
2. Siphoning traffic is against their TOS – If your blog at wordpress.com is only designed to send traffic to your website and not to provide real information to the visitor it will get DELETED.
3. Unprofessional – A blog hosted on a free hosting site says to your visitors that you are not serious enough about what you are doing to be a person they should trust to spend money with.
4. No real customizations – You can add a few custom headers to blogs at wordpress.com but you cannot use a completely customized wordpress theme there.
5. No custom html or .js – You can only use their stats and cannot add form tables or other useful html.
6. “Hey go see my blog at www.imanidiotdealer.wordpress.com” – Get your own domain.
7. Advertising – WordPress.com displays ads on your blog to certian types of visitors.  You may never see them, they code it that way, but your vistors may.
8. Space – The limits at wordpress.com are generous on their free blogs but if you need more space you gotta pay for it.  Which you should be doing anyway.
9. You are placing your content in someone other peoples hands.  You are already doing it with your dealership website, you should own something that belongs to you in your virtual space.
10. By the time you pay to remove adds, add a domain and the extra space you are still subject to their TOS and you can do it yourself and have complete control of your content.

Bonus – WordPress.com does not index your individual post just your home page all keyword indexing is via tag clouds which can be shared by your competiton.

Domain at godaddy – $7.55 a year for .com

Your own hosting account $4.95 a month

Owning your content and not having to appease others: Priceless

If you need help setting up a blog using the software from wordpress.org subscribe to my feed or email subscribe as I am preparing some tutorials to help you learn to set up Car Dealer Blogs.

Technorati Tags: automotive blogging, car dealer blogs, cheap car dealer blogs, wordpress.com dealer blogs

Email marketing is a powerful tool if used properly, car dealers and vendors understand this. Of course I mystery shop dealers and vendors and watch the emails I receive for ideas and also see some examples of not what to do. One thing is clear is that you must have a call to action in every contact via email. It can be anything, try to get a phone call or a visit to the dealership or a links to a special promotion which also has a call to action.

But first you must have your prospects open your messages!!

I currently have access to Cobalt’s LMCC product as part of our online marketing package we receive for being a 5 Star Chrysler Dodge Dealer, but I do not use it any more than needed for us to maintain compliance with the 5 Star Program. The problem I have with the Cobalt LMCC is that the subject lines are prepended with a customer number.

A potential customer is not a number and relegating them to one in your opening line to them does not endear them to being receptive of your message. Also they do not allow you to change the from field to make it personally identifiable. A dealership has never sent an email message people do!!

As I was exploring options on a replacement I checked with several other vendors in the market place and went with AVV. In my research I contacted several vendors I looked at iMagic Labs and BZ Results as well. I do not think I will ever do business with iMagic Labs based on the interactions I had with their owner when I was researching their product.

Apparently BZ Results uses their own product to manage internet leads. Which is probably an adaptation of an open source product Sugar CRM. For them to be one of the leaders in the market for CRM and ILM solutions they sure do not get the deliverability part right. If you are going to send out html emails you need to send the out in “Multi Part MIME format” which basically sends out a text version or an email as well.

While open tracking and click through rates can only be tracked using html format it is still more important to get your message delivered versus tracking them 100%.

(click the image to see it full size if it does not display properly)

You will notice that a recent email that I received from them in a gmail account does not load the images unless I chose to allow them. What this could do for most consumers is cause them to hit the “Spam” button and permantly delete all emails that come in this poor html format and eventually will cause all emails sent from that domain to a gmail account to goto the spam folder thus alienating a portion of business for them and their customers.

The bold announcement of the message being “Permission Based Marketing” is typical of declarations that mass spammers use and their message does not comply with The CAN-SPAM Act. They do not include their Physical Postal Address which is a provision of the act.

Even when I set up our account with AVV they do not even mention that to their customers. I just wonder if the whole industry is out of compliance? What would be interesting to see is when a case does come forward where a dealership and a vendor are held accountable for not being in compliance if the industry will wake up. This is a huge liability and eventually some litigious minded consumer will nail someone to the wall if it has not already been done. Keep in mind I am not an attorney so this is not legal advice but if you will visit The CAN-SPAM Act it tells you exactly what you need to do to be in compliance.

Technorati Tags: bz results, crm, email, Email Marketing, ilm

I just thought I had a task before. Now I have a real rebuilding process to go through, the difference now is I have a defined budget and complete latitude to make all of the decisions on where the money is spent. My job is to produce ROI. All “paid” services were shut off when I arrived other than the crappy Reynold’s sites, which are not charged to my budget.

Here is what I have for Free:

• Two Reynolds Sites that will eventually be merged into a “Group” website by the end of this quarter. Already in place before I arrived. Will kick and scream to get a location only site back on it’s own domain after this takes place. Those cost will be charged to my budget then.
• Cobalt’s LMCC – For being a 5 Star Dealer. I personally don’t like it other than the price.
• Inventory inside of the 5 Star Site, new and used. It does generate some leads and the price is great.
• Hyundai is rolling out some new features which will be similar to the 5 Star deal it appears. I do not have full details yet, I was made aware of this late this afternoon and did not have time to look at it.

My budget for the next 30 days is only $3000.00 and here is how I am spending it:

• Secondary Finance Leads – $1050. I am not real fond of this but I need to breed some fast activity and this seems to be the best way right now. We have a strong F&I manager and we have some new secondary finance sources available, which I did not have before.
• Automotive classifieds with Cars.com – $900. If it were not for a co-op that we have in place I would not of done it.
• Regional Classifieds – $175 on a rollout package the price is right!!
• Vehix.com – $250 again a rollout. Comcast has a high penetration of the TV market here and they are advertising it like crazy. Being sandwiched between two major metros with Comcast as the main cable provider as well as my local market’s only provider it is another no brainer.

So in all I have spent $2375 in just three days in reworking this. While that does leave some room to take on another project or lead source chances are I will not utilize it unless it is the right opportunity, I may start a PPC campaign with a microsite or two.

Of course I have some blogs going that are delivering leads to affiliate programs and may change their direction in the near future. However since the returns on this are known it may benefit me better to leave those alone as they are not subsidized by my employer. This is a fine line I am walking I know but in the for what it is worth category those are mine and were not developed on their time or dime. Any benefit I receive from them is mine alone. This does not mean I will not create or outsource some user generated content in social networking/publishing platforms to benefit the store, but even then I will maintain control.

Technorati Tags: automotive, benefit, budget, Carl Gregory Chrysler, Cars, Cobalt's LMCC, Comcast, Free, Hyundai, Internet, Inventory, ISM My, leads, Now I, Ok I, PPC, Regional Classifieds, Reynold's, ROI All, Secondary Finance Leads, Sites, Star, Star Dealer, Star Site, TV, Two Reynolds Sites, Vehix, While I

Todays customers are not looking for one directional contact from companies as evidenced by two of the largest online merchants, Amazon and Ebay. Not only do customers provide feedback for the world to see but they also review products and get the word out about those they do business with. Nothing will kill a merchants potential success at either venue faster than negative customer reviews.

Selling has always been about relationships and meaningful interaction is what customers want. They don’t really care if they will save a few hundred dollars on a car by doing business with you. What they care about is how they are treated before and after the sale. Your customers are talking about you at work, church, the local bar and now they are talking about you online and how you handle this can make or break your online reputation.

Online marketing is not just about generating leads it is also about branding, reputation and open dialog. Dealers now display their inventory through a multitude of venues and bomb customers with flash presentation, annoying popups and auto played audio with gee whiz websites. What has happened, dealers have sold themselves on what they think will attract the customer to send leads and have thrown the baby out with the bath. I have not seen one good instance where a dealer was flogged, put on RippOffReport.com or youtube with a negative review to at least attempt to satisfy the customer in the open.

One of the worst things I have seen was done by Planet Hyundai in Las Vegas in response to www.planethyundaisucks.com by having an attorney threaten a lawsuit because they pissed off a customer. All that did was give the disgruntled customer more traction in bringing out negative information about them. They added fuel to the fire.

While that example is extreme it happens everyday and not just to car dealers, because companies rather stick their head in the sand and hope these things just go away. What happens is the record is preserved forever in the online archives and empowers other to strike out when companies do not meet the issues head on. Not only do they lose that one customer for life but many other potential customers along the way.

Think about that before you refuse to give a customer a set of floormats because it was not on the we owe! Be rest assured it may not just be the two or three people they tell at work about it. They may tell the world and how you respond may make all the difference in the world to your online reputation.

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I had turned off PPC campaigns, not worked sites such as craigslist and updating inventory comments to their fullest while optimizing a lead management system. This task was/is a huge task when the system that was in place had not been monitored or optimized in the past. I found over 1,000 leads sitting in our LMCC that had not been contacted ever! This is a huge waste of a resource that the dealership was not even aware that was available to them.

So for the last two week I have been working on work flows, email series and working customers. The short term benefits were low. The long term benefits will pay off in spades. Needless to say it generated some concern from management that the internet department was not doing its job as well as it could have been, because internet sales were slow for two weeks in the middle of the month and I was spending a lot of time on my machine.

After taking the time to explain the process and the net effect for future business it was like a light bulb went off with my boss. The comment I received was your “Gettin’ ready to get ready and you just keep getting ready”. Unfortunately I feel that this process is something that I must personally perform and the net short term effect is negative while the 60-90 day outcome will be highly positive.

After returning to the automotive industry after a nine year absence and taking a position as an ISM you forget about the the car mentality of what have you done for me today from management. As an online affiliate marketer I know that online projects can take up to 90 days to be fully optimized to generate maximum revenue. For example I am putting together properties for Christmas ’07 for maximum return during that period, when I am not working, the good thing is I have my spouse to help me with product research.

In retrospect I do think they are “Gettin’ It” at the dealership and the support has been there. That coupled with a strong close has generated a lot of support from upper management.

If you have a “product” that you think can help and feel that is the perfect answer for me based on this post please read the about tab. Any links dropped pitching a product in comments will be deleted.

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Our calls to action have to be straight forward, you need to give the customer a reason to provide a number, make an appointment, give a deposit and buy the car. Take every contact with a customer and turn it into call to action to move them one step closer to making a purchase.

Here is what I do in certain situations:

• In responding to online shoppers that do not provide a phone number I will follow up with an email to give them something for calling me or giving me their number and best time to contact them. It can be anything free full carfax report, special discount or anything else you can do to ad value to your contact with the customer.
• Getting the customer to make an appointment – In every contact with a customer I attempt to close on an appointment for a test drive or trade appraisal. I usually don’t do this via email unless the customer request an appointment via email. I use the email contacts to get them on the phone.
• Getting deposits – We receive a lot of inquiries outside of our market area. if the customer has made an appointment for a test drive this is a good time to ask for a deposit. Be very frank with your customer. “Mr Customer you are driving two hours to test drive this car, how disappointed would you be if you made the drive and the vehicle was not available?” This is a perfect opportunity to take a customer out of the market and to test their commitment to you. If you are not refunding a few deposits you are not taking enough of them.
• Closing the sale – I am not going to write a book on closing, there is enough competition out there for that. That really depends on your style but anytime a customer is in my office they are going to get every opportunity in the world to make a buying decision. More sales are lost because the salesperson does not ask for the business.

I have been in sales for for 17 years and I don’t like to be sold either. But lets face it, that is how we earn our living, either directly selling or managing salespeople. Not every day is a diamond and not every customer is a buyer, but we need to give them every opportunity to become one.

Just remember ABC – Alway Be Closing in every step of the process.

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