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I Before We, With No Exception To D(ealers)

It's the end of the year and the heart of the holiday season, right in between being thankful for everything we have and swearing off more than half of it (mostly weight) for the coming year. It's the time of the year when a few minutes on the automotive networks and news sites gets the mind going. It's also right after last week's (first ever) rant….

So in spelling, it's i before e except after c. Makes sense. Well, it makes no more sense than if it had never been that way and we simply didn't make the rule. No different than putting I before we, especially for the D's. The I's are the loud talkers, advertisers and general blow hards. We…in case people forgot, are the industry. And alas, the D's. The D's are the dealers. Those are the ones that move the industry.

In the event that those that believe the real deals are: the ones doing all of the talking, the media, the OEMs and the old boys club…you're dead wrong. Not that more than an acceptable level of that goes on, it clearly does. But the writing on the wall is getting more clear by the day: the dealers, customers and (ahem) the banks/captives move our beloved industry. Just because an outside person can come in and put a deal together doesn't mean that anything….anything improved the dealership.

More and more dealers are waking up to the simple fact that they've been taken for a long drive on a short road for quite a while. And since the days of milk and honey have been over for a bit, it's more painful than most would care to admit.

So check out the majority of content on our favorite places to read. More #1 this and that's. More white papers. More new, unbelievable this and that's. More covers and articles blaring horns and sirens. OK, the numbers are up in 2010, thank goodness. Even if we're at 12M new units, that's not 17M. Not playing the downer here, lots of stuff is good, but realize that yelling about being the best at something does nothing for business at retail.

Heck, there should be more practicing of the preaching. Any company claiming they're the best, don't just back it up with 1-5% of the client base with quotes. Get the bottom percentage to do the same thing. Ask them to write testimonials without any favors, kickback or kudos of any type. And if you have three times the customers of your next competitor, you should have at least three times the reviews.

We need to move the industry at retail. We can't change the banks, so let's put our efforts where they matter most. Yelling about moving a dealer's Internet sales from 25 to 50 per month, when you didn't? Screaming that you can do the best job in the industry at whatever and your clients aren't the best in the industry? Promoting as best-in-class when the company's experts can't get on the phone for days to review the company's performance in what should be their core competency? Shame on us. How many things have become more important than the customer and how many things are in the way of simply delivering?

Let's make dealers better tomorrow. If a dealer is paying for a service, every 30 days should be better in some measurable form. It's not always units or profit. Sometimes, it's efficiency (which drives profit anyway) or education or communication or retention. Something that makes more sense than simply spending more. Let's put the dealers first. Before the next award bought. Before the next accolade spun.

I before we, with no exception to D is the wrong approach. Pass on the awards, the half-baked "third party" certifications, the advertisements (please!), the 'unbiased' networks, the bling and the paid glorification. Let's get more DEALERS on the cover of Newsweek, not CONSULTANTS on the cover of….

Whooops, that one almost got out….

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Resultsego,

December 19, 2010 by Gary May 0
Gut Check: What Are We Doing? Oh Yeah, Measuring!

Overstated? Maybe….but likely not. What are we doing? If we go by the numbers, and they're estimated but well known, we've got the second largest employer in the Untied States behind our back. The automotive industry is massive, even if you don't consider the associated businesses it keeps thriving. So, let's say we have a few million directly employed in the car biz (which is likely conservative) and had less than 3,000 in Las Vegas recently for the most important events that actually can move the needle. Pitiful. This week's SEMA show will kill that in attendance. And within the first hour.

What are we doing? So add the OEM eCommerce summits, conferences and events (which represent vendors more typically than push owners and general managers into the uncomfortable zone) and you've got at best a few thousand more that are around the discussions of online marketing, online customers, online retention and online success.

Ignore it at your own willful demise. Attack it like people trying the 72 ounce steak at Big Texan, you might go crazy trying to figure out which end is up. So how do you go down the road somewhere in between the two extremes and still try to maintain that "blocking and tackling" BS mentality that makes ownership and management comfortable? Simple: a plan.

While they are in fact out there, the count of dealers who have a written-down, approved, executable monthly strategy for doing and increasing amount of activities to promote success is likely somewhere around the chance of us having a space program in 2011 that lands us back on the moon. It's on the radar, they're might even be some dollars against it but I will venture a strong guess that it won't happen. That's not quite as disappointing as a dealer that is a few months from increasing their results and market share significantly, and does nothing about it.

Folks, the information is out here. And don't be afraid to ask. Yes, you might have to do some digging through the typical crap: an article on one of the popular automotive communities that doesn't answer your question but does have the "expert's" contact information. Or one of our recent favorites: white papers that will confuse the &^@# out of dealers that also end with a signature block that looks more like a proclamation. (Hint: generally speaking, automotive communities are not the place for white papers. Link to your website from the community website. Better yet, if it's a white paper done in conjunction with a company OUTSIDE of the industry, definitely publish it but keep your post on the communities to the synopsis. Please. Tip: not only that, you get back-links!!!!!!)

There have been fantastic pointers and forecasts about what will happen in the digital/online space for the past two years. Over 95% of the dealers missed or ignored them. Maybe it's time to have 2011 be "The Year Of Great Automotive Listening" (do that will your Movie-Guy voice). No matter what, this is the year of honest measurement, in our opinion.

So here's a few places to go to get your feet wet (or immersed) in measurement:

  1. Google.com (Analytics, Trends, Insights, Alerts, Webmaster tools, etc)
    A. If you've never used the above, start with going to Google and entering "links:www.YOURDEALERSHIPWEBSITE.com" or "site:www.YOURDEALERSHIPWEBSITE.com" and see what Google sees!
  2. Hubspot.com (Website grader, Facebook grader, Twitter grader, PR grader, etc)
    A. If you attended DrivingSales Executive Summit, you got more than you need!
  3. SEOmoz.org, Yahoo Site Explorer, etc (Linking and content tools)
  4. Twitalyzer, TwitterCounter, Untweeps, TwitterAnalyzer, etc (amazing tools if you're on Twitter)
  5. FourScore (found this recently for your FourSquare ranking/effectiveness)
  6. Compete, Alexa, etc (even though many dealership sites won't rank, be creative!)

There are so many other great FREE tools available for you to do more than just count on others, like your website company, and actually improve while holding people accountable but too many to list.

It's time for a gut check. How much further can you go down the road mostly (or absolutely) blind to what is essential to grow your business and be able to talk to the main points….without fudging it anymore.

Here's to doing things with more tools than just passion. Here's to knowing what we're doing!

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

October 31, 2010 by Gary May 0
What Have You Done For You Lately? (Ooh ooh ooh yeah…)

You're back but your bags (and head) may still be packed from your Las Vegas departure. The whirlwind of powerpoints, data, applications, widgets, speakers, vendors and pitches that opened October 12 with Digital Dealer and ran through DrivingSales Executive Summit at Encore, came to a close mid-day last Friday with the departure of over 1,000 from JD Power's Annual OEM and Ad Agency shindig called Internet Roundtable at Red Rock Resort (where more upfront talks than Internet dealings happen, but let's digress).

So your notebook, FlipCam, voice recorder and brain are packed with thoughts, visions, ideas and goals around everything you heard. But the "back to normal" is so gratifying that you may have not done a cotton-picking-thing since switching off the neon and turning on the flourecents. And besides, it was kind of touching to see that 88-day old unit turn 100 now that you're back (ooops!).

So if you're stuck with not knowing where to start, you didn't leave with goals. If you've got three or four places you want to start at, you may not know what your greatest weaknesses or opportunities are. And if you didn't gather enough information on how to get started and the first steps to take from that high-ranking speaker, call them for a freebie. And you may just want to "x" off that session or conference next year because the value didn't get delivered.

So, what have you done for you lately? (Sorry Janet, it's not about you). It's time to crank that Internet machine thing to the next level, right?! Do yourself a favor and start looking everywhere else but automotive and get your bearings. Why? Because there are Facebook pages selling more Snuggies than your website sells in service. There are blogs feeding more contacts to start-up S-E-O, K-E-Y, M-O-U-S-E companies than you get leads from $199-a-month leases. And we have ourselves (and many vendors) to blame.

Start Thursday with a goal to add one task from your volume of Notes 'de Las Vegas and start it. Not Friday, not next week. October 28. Haven't secured your Google Places/Maps location? Do that or learn about it. Haven't secured your Foursquare venue? Have 60 domains you registered a bunch of years ago and one is perfect for a blog? Start it and who cares what it says as long as it says something about what your store is passionate about regarding your customers and the products you sell. But what have you done for you lately?

"Good thing I cook or else we'd starve to death…" How appropriate is that today? Automotive retailers must thank their customers for coming in year after year and driving off in new and pre-owned cars with little more than a smile. It was about the badge, the new product, the incentives and the advertisements. Now it's about you. Matter of fact it always was but the industry lucked out for more than a decade. So what have you done for you lately?

Yes there's half-cooked information all over. Yes, there's "experts" who haven fallen into something that, for obvious reasons, they can't quite explain in an hour on stage. Yes, there's going to be more consolidation in the indsutry which means your ____________ company may become part of another company you're not doing (or don't want to do) business with. But what have you done for you lately?

There are many really good, and some extremely good, tools and providers out there to settle for what someone in your Twenty Group has or what your read in an ad or study. Last week it was amazing to watch the Innovation Cup at the DrivingSales Executive Summit. The "let's never settle for me-too" juices were really flowing there. Put easily, if something can't be verified by a neurtal third party, don't necessarily run away, rather gain more information before making a decision. Chances are you're right that it wasn't a good choice in the first place.

Today you have to be prepared to do something for yourself and stick with it. Even though it's so easy to quit and go back to what you knew. It's also more costly than ever. If you invested the time and money to be around that much addictive behavior for a week or two in Las Vegas, everything you brought back deserves to come to life in your store. That is if you can find your notes among the free schwag of flying monkeys, free model cars, light-up bounding balls, mints, pens, flash drives, logo hats, t-shirts, notepads, shopping bags and fliers for products that are pay-for-it-now-cuase-it's-almost-to-market-so-you-can-be-first (wink, wink).

So what have you done for you lately? Come on, we've got to …….uh, wait….come on…..wait for it…..wait for it……you know you want it…..SELL MORE CARS!

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

October 28, 2010 by Gary May 0
DrivingSales Executive Summit…In A Nutshell

 DrivingSales Executive Summit V2.0 hit Encore (Wynn) in Las Vegas last Monday through Wednesday. A few things: attendance doubled last year’s, the start was absolutely electric and the event finished on such a high it left many attendees literally longing for more and feeling like they needed another day. The DSES crew flat out delivered.

Upon walking into the main Encore conference room at 4:00p, it was packed. Charlie Vogelheim emceed once again with his typical style. Jared Hamilton, founder of DrivingSales.com, did a more-than-typically -fast-paced tirade on where the industry is from both his and an opportunity perspective. It was mesmerizing and for more reasons than the picture of the donkey suspended in mid-air. The foundation was set.

Brian Benstock and Sean Wolfington talked about what Paragon Honda and Tier 10 did together to achieve massive results from integrated marketing. Not “let’s do this offline and see if it works on the web” so-called integration but a rarely-executed integration. The cost would strike most dealers, especially Honda dealers, as a shock today but it was a massive undertaking, shaved Paragon’s costs in what would rank as the “wow that’s great” territory and put them solidly on the map as #1. It was impressive.

Then it was time for Scott Monty of Ford (http://www.twitter.com/ScottMonty). As I’ve had the benefit of seeing a good part of the opening of his presentation before, it was crowd watching time. Simply put, Scott had the room wrapped around his finger. It’s amazing to hear about just part of what he, backed by a rare CEO in Alan Mulally, and the social media and marketing teams do at Ford. Day one’s reception at Piero’s was fantastic, the buzz consistent well into the evening.

Day two kicked off with great anticipation and didn’t disappoint. Jeremiah Owyang (http://www.web-strategist.com/blog) piqued the interest of many in the room with volumes of data as well as practical application. Brian Pasch and Erich Miltsch both hit their separate sessions, SEO and location-based services, with great engagement. Eric unveiled his CarZar application (http://www.thecarzar.com) which was definitely the talk over the rest of the conference. Grant Cardone followed with one of his rousing, impassioned pleased from stage about businesses maintaining an “eat or be eaten” mentality.

Three sessions of breakouts, then lunch, and three more rounds covered the rest of day two’s learning. The Facebook session (Albrecht AG and Lebanon FLM) was insightful but seemed to lack engagement with the audience and didn’t answer the “tough questions”. Rafi Hamid’s Enterprise Management presentation may have been a little much for some of the attendees. Fact is all could have, somewhat to completely, restructured their dealerships just from his insight.

Then it was time for the Dealer and Vendor Innovation Cup. What a great way for dealers to participate in what may change the industry next! These are some of the most innovative folks around, not hampered by other company’s offerings or what vendors don’t provide. Some of the substance was leading edge, others more common place. But the desire to execute, and what it took to continue to push the envelope, that was the compelling “meat and potatoes”. eCarList (http://www.ecarlist.com) and Marc McGurren from Jerry Durant Toyota won. Congratulations.

The one thing that continues to strike me after attending eight years of automotive conferences is this: why do we not connect the dots at the event rather than making the attendees do so themselves after the events. DrivingSales Executive Summit would have been the right place to have a Q&A session that allowed those that wanted the extra insight to get going when they returned to their dealerships later in the week. Note to promoters: breakouts, lunch sessions and other quick after-session times plus post-event webinars and curriculum are perfect for that and the speakers should be required to do their part.

Tuesday closed with another packed reception but I’d say the buzz was higher. Yes, there was even a Ralph Paglia sighting! Lots of connecting, introductions and big conversations (small chat was non-existent). It was fun to have a number of Canadians in the room as things change north of the border. The industry there is also changing rapidly and not having felt as steep of an economic decline as the US did, many retailers there are waking up to incredible opportunities for their dealerships. After hours, Sean Wolfington and Brian Pasch greeted some forty plus to their own reception which went on for another four hours plus.

Wednesday saw Dan Zarrella (http://danzarrella.com) put many on their ears and some looking inquisitively with a wide-ranging but hard-hitting session of insight all relevant to search, social, engagement, measurement and more. The accountability and opportunities dealers can create just from his time on stage would be more than a year of gains. Joel Ristuccia of Babson College brought incredible amounts of insight to the subject of change management in the industry, Dale Pollak did one of always rousing, but very up-to-date, admonitions about how dealers must change now and Jared Hamilton closed the event with John Holt of Cobalt Group on stage. Admittedly I missed that session while in the adjoining hall on phone calls and no tweets.

In closing, with definite room to grow and improve (and some more microphones around the audience for the Q&A session after each keynote), DrivingSales Exeuctive Summit was spot on in only its second generation. There was enough positive feedback to likely venture a guess as to how much the third edition would grow. And maybe room for…….

Congratulations to Jared and the entire DSES team for an impressive event!

October 24, 2010 by Gary May 1
Don’t Let Social Media Get In The Way Of Your Success With It

We're bringing a petition to DrivingSales Executive Summit, JD Power Internet Roundtable, SEMA and NADA. But you can be first to sign it here and now. The law we're hoping to get passed in the retail automotive industry is "stop calling it social media and start calling it die without it". It's not something you try, experiment with, make efforts toward or the like. At least no more than you do with sales, service, F&I and your P&L. Do more. And stop thinking so much you can't do much.

Sick and tired of consumer communication and engagement, as well as fundamental business improvement, being hawked, pitched and sold by fly-by-night companies (as well as legitimate ones) with getcha-while-you're-looking tactics, it's time to discuss, use and improve platforms no differently than you would want a CRM or website technology used and improved.

Simple question: Do you want to stay in business? Your answer has to be all the way in yes or all of the way out no. There is no in between. Many (not all) companies that have tried to be somewhere in between over the past few years show up today as the many For Lease or Going Out Of Business signs on your daily drive. Don't think for a second that we're saying that had those businesses been in social media that they'd be vibrant and profitable today. Not at all.

But to sit and wait, guess and judge, delay and save or flat out refuse social media as part of your business strategy every day is the fastest path to demise today. Period. Remember that no one aspect of your business is a silver bullet. At the same time remember you can save yourself to death no differently than you can spend yourself to death. You're not "in" Twitter and Facebook. You're (hopefully) in business using a database/contact management system, a series of processes to sell, track and report, and a solid foundation of online media to showcase your business.

Saying "I'll try Facebook for 6 months and see if it works" is the same exact thing as saying "I'll try selling our services for 6 months and see if it works" or "I'll maintain my storefront for 6 months and see how that goes". If you want to see how things go, get committed or get out. If you truly aren't prepared for success in your own business, do it for someone else and leave the tools that professionals use to…a professional.

Blogs, Wikis, Display advertising/SEM, Review sites/reputation management, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Google Places and more are tools to be a more effective, yes effective, business. Not a trend-setter, not a groupie, not one of the cool places to hang or any other way of minimizing your way to profit. Can your business survive without being on Facebook? Chances are yes if at least for a short time. Can you survive without the fundamentals that have social media thriving and being "buzz" in mainstream media? Not for one New York minute, to steal a great song title from Don Henley.

So please don't let social media get in the way of your success with it, knowing you'll not experience success without it. Even if you don't set up that Twitter page you've been hemming and hawing about for a year… Oh, and one more thing. If you're a car dealership, don't pay $4,000 plus a month for social media services. That is unless you're getting a cut of the profit.

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

October 17, 2010 by Gary May 1
Digital Dealer 9…In A Nutshell

So we're in what many call the automotive industry's event olympics, digital dunking chair, online opinion onslaught, guruexpertvendorspeakerconsultantpitchyouintosubmissionsession and more (is that a word or an insult?!?!). Anyway, last week's Digital Dealer was one heck of a kickoff with around 750 dealers in attendance.

Over the three days, we heard both the good and bad, awesome and ugly and got to share time with the companies in what was easily the largest expo at any of the series of Digital Dealer events. With an opening panel that seemed to be more about defending third party lead providers and attacking other ways to drive traffic, it may have put an interesting asterisk on the event: One of the calls-to-action that is consistent of Digital Dealer conferences (as well as growing) is the ability for dealers to create more eyeballs, consideration, conversion and sales themselves without paying large sums to the marketing companies.

The rest of day one seemed to bring an overwhelming good vibe with some frustration but nothing more than past Digital Dealers. The evening was filled with various receptions, dinners, parties and (required?) gambling. Walking around The Mirage, you could see a kalaiedascope of dealers, OEMs, vendors, consultants and service providers roaming, playing and chatting. Ralph Paglia's ADM reception was well attended again (Ralph, two words for you and ADP: larger suite. Two more: air conditioning). The first day can be marked as a success.

Day two flew out of the gates and we had hop between meetings and sessions. Overall strong buzz, especially around lunch. However there seemed to be more dissention in the ranks when it came to enjoying the speakers. Obvious or not, blatent or passive, it's hard to control speakers. One session we heard about from a lot of people seemed to end up being an over-the-top pitch along with aggressive words toward competition. There's no place for that. The popular speakers seemed to reign more supreme at DD9 which represented a good amount of feedback. One that stood out for us was Kevin Frye's. He had a classy presentation and style that seems to be more prevelant in dealer sessions. Add the trust from the crowd and it's a recipe for success.

IM@CS hosted our second #imacswebpoker tournament and ended up hosting 22 players. We'd like to thank AutoData, AutoFusion, Cargigi, GetAutoAppraise and PCG Digital Marketing for their involvement. AutoFusion presented with Reno Toyota with a complete complimentary package of website, mobile site and Facebook inventory app. Thanks to the other dealers in attendance and congratulations to Dennis Colome of AutoByTel for taking the top prize and trophy. The evening was long but distinguished.

Day three is always a short one and we attended a session and a half. Didn't get a chance to talk with a lot of dealers as they went to the peer session as we headed to the airport. The morning started off with what appeared to be a full breakfast and expo which is a great sign, considering some left Wednesday night. Jumping between sessions from Brian Pasch and Ralph Paglia, both were packed in an apparent tip-of-the-hat to their reputations for delivering the right data and engagement. Dealers tackled their last-minute vendor meetings and some started making plans for next April's Digital Dealer 10 in Orlando.

Overall, Digital Dealer 9 was a success for the majority of dealers and others in attendance. In our opinion, Mike Roscoe and his staff still have items to address to make it an ongoing success, some they commit they're already working toward but still have to focus harder on.

Next week there's DrivingSales Executive Summit and JD Power Internet Roundtable so we'll report from Las Vegas again…

October 16, 2010 by Gary May 0
The Disappointment Your Customers Experience Comes From Within

Let's face it, we're all consumers. Even the highest-paid CEOs in the world have to do it: shop and buy. They will engage a brand, a retailer, a transaction with one expectation in mind: satisfaction. Whether a $4 latte or a $4,000,000 property, there is a process we go through to self-determine the investment of time, research and transaction as well as intended outcome. So if your only measurement is analytics or items sold, you're sorely missing a huge part of what is needed.

Go to the majority of automotive websites, mobile sites, social media and advertising. Ask the average consumer, let alone highly-compensated executive, and you are likely to get an answer you don't like. Why is that? For the most part, we've been buying solutions while being complacent in our happy place: doing what we know and not changing that one bit.

The first layer of measurement was the showroom floor and service drive. Sentiment was shared, while not always freely, in a controlled environment where the impact was mitigated to the most part. That gauge has moved, for the most part, into the most transparent of places: the Internet.

And that is a double-dose of pain. So how do we change what is commonly referred to as one of the least-desired activities (going to a car dealership) that is connected with one of the most accessible of engagements (going to the web)? For starters, do it yourself. Go through your website. As a consumer. Hard as it may be, do it. Take off the dealer hat and pretend you actually need to find something you want. Easily. Quickly. The same way you'd buy an airline ticket on www.yourfavoriteairlinewebsite.com.

Then visit your website on your mobile device. If you are one of more than half the car dealerships in the country, you'll likely see a thumb-sized version of your full website. Disappointed yet? Now hop over to your Blog, if you have one of the best places to build your brand and capture eyeballs online. Because based on your website response, you likely don't offer the image, message, layout and experience you'd like yourself.

Have Facebook and Twitter pages? If not, don't necessarily jump in but if you do, look. What are you saying? Are you just displaying inventory, a feed of random content from somewhere else? Is it representative of what you do your store? Is it, like your CRM, automated? Or is it genuine?

And what about reputation management? While some have embraced it for more than a year or two, the neccessary processes and engagement still don't exist for the most part. And don't get disappointed yourself when you don't have a strategy and are ticked off with what gets displayed online.

Some dealers are starting the next generation of their dealership with consumer engagement. And guess what?! That's perfect. What better input than the people dropping thousands of dollars at your business? Customer advisory boards. Meet the dealership events. Club meets and other non-transactional ways to engage and ask your customers.

The disappointment your customers experience comes from within. And if you don't have a plan to assess, measure, change and improve consistently, the numbers that matter most will go in the least desireable direction.

If you are one of the dealers heading to Las Vegas for Digital Dealer, DrivingSales Executive Summit and JD Power Internet Roundtable, take advantage of the wealth of knowledge. But don't do it simply to compare and buy yourself. Stop. Sit down with other dealers, consultants and outsiders. Take a deep look at what consumers see. Ask the tough questions. Then engage the reps and vendors.

Start delivering online what you say you do in your brick and mortar existence. It's your greatest opportunity.

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

October 3, 2010 by Gary May 0
Getting Ready For Digital Dealer And DrivingSales Executive Summit? Here’s Some Tips

Tickets? Check. Hotel? Check. Registration? Check. FlipCam? Check. SmartPhone? Check. A plan to make what you take back with you work? Ummmm. Not checked!

Digital Dealer 9, DrivingSales Excecutive Summit and JD Power Internet Roundtable are right around the corner. Have you mapped out your sessions? Have you made a commitment to have executable items upon your return? Some alerady have planned for success.

So, here some ideas to get ready before you head to Las Vegas in a couple weeks. It might make the investment worth it!


 

October 1, 2010 by Gary May 0