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The Square Peg, The Round Hole and Public Opinion. How Can The Dealer Win?

The factory, the product, the media coverage, the recalls, the blitz of lacking and half-cooked information. When does the dealer get the coverage? When they're closing, exposed as corrupt or so-called environmentalists torch their lots. Welcome to the square peg and the round hole in the automotive industry, if not the perfect storm.

And who's to blame for the lopsided ego-train? Yes, the factory is guilty: plain as day. More than not, they treat the dealer like a flea on the 800-pound gorilla. But so is the dealer base. For the last couple decades, the dealers have waited for the new models, created mediocre-at-best, self-indulgent print and radio ads, greeted fearful (or at least resentful) customers in less-than-desirable locations and then wondered why they have the (earned) reputations they do.

With exception to the leaders in the industry, dealers have not done much to truly brand and distinguish themselves. Don't get 'yer panties in a wad yet: We're not saying that you don't impact your communities, gainfully employ many or that you don't feed tax revenue into your city's coffers. What we are saying is that the dealer brands have not matched, let alone eclipsed, the nameplate and that is sad. Today would be one of those days if you happen to sell one of two import brands…and we all know that the domestics have had their days as well.

There has not been a better time ever to build a sustainable brand aside from what the factory does. And wouldn't you want to do something different?!?!?! Have you paid attention to most car ads? Have you seen the POPs that are created for showrooms? You're better off putting one of those 40-foot high lizards or cylindrical men with billowing arms on your roof! Actually, please don't do that, 1986 called and they want their marketing back.

How does the dealer win today?  Start competing with the factory by becoming your own media. On the web it's more achievable for less money than you'd ever imagine, if you do it right. You might even start working with your customers and actually source, communicate and retain them successfully. There are some OEMs that actually want to take over your CRM and relationships but it's not because they can do it any better than the dealer can. Truth is it's not happening correctly at retail. This evening I was talking to a successful local dealer group that has one of their import stores source nearly every walk-up the same way in their CRM: simply click the first drop down choice. CRAP!

The foundation for winning is simple, it's just not easy: unbreakable processes, management from the top down, complete comprehension of systems and support and a die-hard commitment to the customer. If we don't do that, it's all for naught.

These are still very trying times in automotive (special mention to the banks!). Maybe we can all start by simply trying to keep ourselves from making it any harder. Start internally. Then make sure your 'home' is in great shape. Then concentrate on the customers. Then, alas, take care of the factory.

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

February 2, 2010 by Gary May 0
It Doesn’t Matter How Much, You Can’t Afford Not Going All Out On The Web

With the end of the year quickly approaching and a focus on getting as many cars sold as possible, it''s also the only time you have to make sure your plan is right for your web presence in 2010.  We're talking about a plan.  If you don't have one, it's time do something that will really move the needle for you.

It's a bit of Branding 101, Internet 102, Process 201 (we'll say that since you've likely hired a more traditional "get them excited to do more of the same thing after the excitement of yelling at them wears off in 3 days" trainer although not in a while) and a number of other 'class' sounding names.  The long and short of it everything you're successful at will depend on your virtual existence.

So, when you decide to spend $X,XXX to $XX,XXX per month online, and stick with it for the long haul, start with:

WEBSITE: A thorough review of your websites via a true outside SEO review (we use @Grader at http://websitegrader.com), SEO keyword report from a third party (we use AutoFusion at http://www.autofusion.com) and a true review of best practices will have to open to change considering what most website companies offer.  If you're website is 6 years old, has 100-400 indexed pages, less than 100 inbound links and a page rank under 4, it's time to say hello to a more competent provider.

We're not going to list website vendors here this time.  Just start by knowing what you are paying for and (likely) not getting.  The most important part is how dynamic your site(s) and content are.  Yes, SEO is here to stay along with usability and design.

CRM/EMAIL MARKETING: While there has been a lot of focus on social media, email is still an effective tool for engagement.  That is as long as you make it relevant and compelling.  How do you do that?  Start really looking at who is in your database, not just deeming them as customers!  Without getting into the details here, start thinking about your message and what you would want act on instead of not thinking and leaving companies that know nothing about your business communicate for you.  Do yourself a huge favor and read what you're sending out before you simply spend money on someone to spread *&$! out there faster and more efficiently.

When you've got that done, we think that these represent some best-practice partners: VIN Solutions (http://www.vinsolutions.com), Dealer Socket (http://www.dealersocket.com)  and DealerUps (http://www.dealerups.com), which has been going though retooling since acquisition can really help you do your job more effectively with way less effort.

Using an email marketing company is important if you want to have more transparency and control (including scrubbing, deduping, targeting and more), remember to focus on content. Emma (http://www.myemma.com), Ratepoint (http://www.ratepoint.com) and Constant Contact (http://www.constantcontact.com) are leaders in their field in addition to the more auto-industry pervasive IMN (http://www.imakenews.com) in addition to surveys made easy by Survey Monkey (http://www.surveymonkey.com).  the investments made in the services is minimal compared to the results.  Again, your content must be timely, compelling and relevant or your just advertising and most people say 'no thanks' to that.

REPUTATION MANAGEMENT: What are other people reading before they ever talk to or visit you?  It's how a majority of people are deciding on where they spend their hard-earned money!  Will you spend $150 a night at a hotel with a 2-star ranking from guests?  Why spend $30,000 on a dealer that does?  Start by checking Yelp, DealerRater, Google and more.  Then set up Google, Twitter and other alerts to monitor your business' name for free is a great start.  Then there are services for a fee (in and out of the industry providers) from eXteres Auto (http://www.exteresauto.com) to Radian6 (http://www.radiansix.com) that know and understand online reputation and how to stay up on what's being said about you AND your competition.

SOCIAL MEDIA: It's all the buzz.  And for most dealers, It's another avenue to scream "BUY HERE". Start with trying to understand that it starts with social.  Think about how you're social.  If you're selling all the time, you're likely not effective.  And neither is selling all the time on networks.  Be different, unique, compelling (there it is again!) and someone that people want to talk with rather than ignore.  Here's a hint: if you get between 30 and 70% open rate on your emails but no clicks and/or your website visits crash two days later, and you're going to send the same kind of messages out via social media. there's one word for you: don't.

These are merely starting points and things to consider in your online branding.  One thing to keep in mind as well: when you do promote and advertise, make sure that your message is contiguous.  If you're a Toyota store and taking part in the Tent Event, everything you put on the web should be intertwined and you should have your store benefits and unique aspects promoted in addition to proper promotion.

If the above is already a stretch for your current resources and knowledge, get help.  There are dozens of consultants out there.  Don't hire an advertising agency to do this.  Don't take the word of your current providers.  Find out for yourself, ignore reps and figure out what you want from your money.

Get going, your competition already is or will be next.  And don't pay the Internet any more lip service about what you're going to do, start and do it so you can have the Internet paying you.

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

November 29, 2009 by Gary May 0
What Will You Focus On Tuesday After Clunkers Shuts Down? Start Inviting Your Customers In Again…

Imagine, if you can, that business becomes painfully slow. Sales, traffic, even service, is down anywhere from a little bit to 'oh-my-gosh-how-can-we-survive?' slow.  Then try really hard to imagine some gift-from-above program from an unannounced source drives a bunch of customers to your store for a few weeks.  Then…the program ends abruptly.  At the same time, consider that you expected the program to end at any time so you are not completely surprised by the news that the masked crusader and his money left town.

What will you do the next business day? How prepared you are, how well you communicate with prospects and customers alike, how creative you are and where you know your business comes from will dictate if Tuesday is satisfactorily busy or if it is just like another day before all the loads of Monopoly money arrived.

Most people we've heard from consider C.A.R.S. a blessing with all of the traffic and sales it generated, as well as a genuine pain in the butt.  Of course!  If you had the program to do for yourself, would you have done it any differently?  You absolutely would have.  So why are you going to be twiddling your thumbs come Tuesday?  What program you run is up to YOU, every day.

Now, that's not to say that you're going to be able to come up with $4,500 of "it'll get here someday" funds on nearly half of the deals you do next week or any other day.  However, it's entirely up to you how to drive people off of their scared little (and big) duffs and into your business.

It's not up to the factory, it's not up to the million-dollar advertisements, it's not up to the region or your 20-group and gosh-forbid it's definitely not up to the government.  Don't you want them out of your business…not in it?  What happens in your business, positive or negative, is up to you, your brand, your staff, your effort and your planning.

So when the here today-gone tomorrow spigot of funds is finally turned off by someone making a lot more than you with nicer benefits than you have and a pension you can't even dream about, get back into the habit of making your business happen.  Less business?  Get a bigger piece of a smaller pie!

Can't figure out how to make it work?  Ask someone for help or at least tell the receptionist that you're not "away from your desk all day" and that you'll start taking meetings again.  Business doesn't happen from thin air, it takes a lot of work and some good consistency.  And sometimes it takes outside ideas folks, as painful as that might sound to some 20-year plus veterans.

Besides, whether you call it natural selection, survival of the fittest or one of a myriad of other expressions that refer to 'business better then usual', it is always best when you're the master of your domain rather than waiting for the next shot in the arm.

Best practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

August 20, 2009 by Gary May 1
Social Media Is Just Like Sales: It’s What They Say And Think That Matters, Not You

It's been said that in business, it's not what you know but rather who you know. In social media it's not much different! It's not what you say, it's what everyone else thinks about what you say (and who repeats it that has a significant following). In today's auto industry social landscape, we're ruled by "buy here", "special of the day", "unbelievably cheap oil change", "home of the bla-dee-blah-blah-lease!" and more ranting and ravings about "me me me" than I'd care to acknowledge.

It seems that the opportunity for a bunch of folks to so-called "save" their dealership from "paid advertising" and more importantly "relevant advertising" by getting "free advertising" has horribly skewed the mindset of otherwise savvy people. I can see it now…just imagine with me….(fake clouds of dry ice are filling the stage in your mind)…

"Hey boss, you're not going to believe this! Me, your amazing but otherwise unknown Internet salesperson, just came up with the way to save $20,000 a month or more from your advertising budget! Guess who ran smack dab into Twitter and Facebook!? ME!! If you can manage, I'll take over our social stuff and you can get someone else to close all of the leads that I'll generate FOR FREE!! Ok, ok, ok, get this: I'll put all of our inventory on Facebook, post all of our specials on Twitter, upload videos to YouTube for vee-ess-ee-ohh or something like that, put photos of happy customers on Plaxo and get EVERYONE to do write ups on Yelp, Google and all the industry reputation sites! And guess what else?! I'll respond to every comment, squelch every heater and unwind and steal our competition's customers…all online!! Whatdayathink boss???!!"

Simply put, social media is not for advertisements. Ads do have their place in social media and some sites, but that's not the driver. Create conversations, share unique and exclusive information (being first still 'sells'), point to great videos, old commercials, one-of-a-kind events, validate both satisfied and unsatisfied customers, promote events that you donate or are somehow involved with and THEN take time to put up a special (and make it really special)…I hope this is getting through…

If all you post is "buy here, buy here, buy here", nobody will listen, care or interact. Imagine going to a number of parties over the summer, getting to know the regulars, and one person is promoting their business and trying to get you to buy incessantly. You'd avoid them, almost at any cost for sure.

Now think to yourself: "why would I want to be that person online"?

Kick the "sell, sell, sell" binge and start some great conversations that turn to great relationships that turn into a larger book of business than you'd otherwise have. Go be great in social media and leave the selling to the tweeps that don't get it.

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

August 2, 2009 by Gary May 0
I Think We Can…I Think We Can…We Better Think We Can

Boy, things were really humming there for the longest time and then the train ran off the track, or maybe the wheels simply came off. No matter what, we got to find out what it would be like for the industry to have a brake test. But instead of 60 to 0 in 137.6 feet, it was more like 17 million to under 10 million in a blink (try that supercars!)

Add to that the fact that somewhere along the way, we got just a little more than complacent…ok, we got really frickin' complacent! Now we have the choice to do things over the way 'we' did, or go down the road less traveled.

So we have to ask ourselves collectively some tough questions. Do we advertise the same way we did? Do we communicate the same way that we did? Do we build the same way we did? Do we sell the same way we did? If so, how can we expect different results? And for those that want to wait, how can you expect anything doing that?

Many indicators seem to show that we're doing a lot of the old things and just a few new things, and neither incredibly well. To get the results we truly want, it is so important to be realistic, admit when we can't do what's expected, challenge ourselves to new ways of thinking and get out of the way when it's time. If this train is getting back on the track, it had best be a brand new track and the engine clearly needs replacement rather then modification.

No matter what you're doing, start thinking and acting like consumers and start believing that success is our only goal. I'd like to tell you that the latest ads on TV, spots on radio, full pages in the magazine and full-disclosure rant in the newspaper were absolutely effective. Since I don't do any of those activities, I can't. And none of the people I regularly hang out with or talk with do either.

If we start thinking and believing that we can, and it truly shows, it'll likely happen. It's not rocket science. It's not about ignoring other very related issues. If we are going to be successful, we have to do it by ourselves. We have to believe that the results will be there because we did everything we had to…not somethings, everything.

And I think we can, I think we can (insert favorite choo-choo noise now).

Best practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

June 27, 2009 by Gary May 0
IM@CS Featured on BlogTalkRadio’s Lunch With Phil

This morning I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Philip Zelinger of AdAgencyOnline.net via his 'Lunch With Phil' show on BlogTalkRadio. With the impending NADA show in New Orleans and the issues, as well as opportunities, faced by dealers today, the timing was right to broadcast IM@CS' services to a wider audience. The opportunity to be featured today is greatly appreciated!

Whether it's being part of Auto Industry Insights kicking off this weekend, helping dealer and OEMs clients with their entire online presence and process or advising portals and third party solution providers, it is the time to do more and empower the industry to tackle what it's presently facing. Everything this blog shares is intended to not just tell you 'what to do', but to promote ideas, promote best practices, engage you in a dialog and challenge the market in the shift from 'comfortable and commonplace' to 'proactive and profitable'.

Follow the link  or click the logo to listen in on today's interview. Thank you for being part of what's next! http://tinyurl.com/78vpe3

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Best practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

January 21, 2009 by Gary May 0
Taking The Fear Out Of Online…One _______ At A Time

Even though you've already heard it: If you want to succeed in business today, it has to take place online. For us in the auto industry, that's truly more the case than not. But the fact is it's not harder than it looks or sounds if you have the right assistance.

Maybe it used to be much easier, in some sense, years ago when you'd place an ad insertion, sit down on Saturday, Sunday or whatever day of the week your ad would display, grab your coffee, flip the right page open and smile. "There's my ad" and "oh, so much better than their ad!" (looking at a competitors ad). You could touch it, feel it, see it and gloat over it. Somewhere before the newspapers started failing rapidly, you were paying A LOT for advertising there and in other media that is not capturing an effective audience today…in the least.

Now here comes the Internet, offering the ability to reduce budgets by 30, 50, 60 and even 75% percent and get a more effective (yes, more effective) reach and ROI, let alone transparency and accountability. You can hear the dealers backing away from their monitors right now. How (and why) can you have faith in something with no true ability to be tracked, where circulation and impression rates mean practically nothing, then look at the web and say it's not for you?

We are not talking about the "I don't get it" excuse. Let that flimsy fallacy go the way of the Dodo Bird. This is the simple message: In most markets $2,000-$4,000 monthly of well-placed spend after 60-90 days will replace what $15,000-$25,000 plus used to drive. Absorb that…call your website or SEO/SEM company and start, today. And stay in it for at least 90 days before you make any judgment. This is not a 'run and gun ad' world. This is a 'stick with it' world.

So it doesn't matter if it's one ad, one car, one store, one promo, one incentive, one anything. The only way to take fear out of something is to do it. Stop making excuses: you're astute, successful, experienced and capitalistic, even though somewhere along the line fear replaced confidence and the Internet replaced the 'Sunday Times'. Oh, you might even end up building a brand…imagine that!

And by the way, if your website company can't handle it and/or you don't have an SEO specilist, head to NADA in a couple weeks and to Digital Dealer in April and get one (see you at both events!)

Best practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

January 15, 2009 by Gary May 0