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No Surprise: Pied Piper PSI® Internet Lead Effectiveness Report

Yet another wake up call to OEMs and dealers was quietly released today, showing no improvement in regard to Internet lead responses. While there were a few that made steps and improved their overall performance (Porsche, BMW and Mini), the industry average dropped a point to 56 (21 of 36 brands dropped). The report sites lack of transparency to senior management on the handling and performance of online sales leads.

According to Fran O’Hagan, Pied Piper CEO, the Prospect Satisfaction Index® Report showed that 50% of leads were responded to within 30 minutes, while 1 out of 11 were not responded to at all. Matched with a still-under-ten-percent closing rate for all leads in the automotive industry and those who understand the impact this creates look at how the OEMs and dealers deploy lead management tactics. In short, the OEM-mandated programs are not assisting dealers to better performance; they lead to standardization, lack of true engagement with and sales to consumers considering vehicle purchases, aggregation of data manufacturers don’t find useful, increases to paid marketing campaigns (mostly via retargeting and display with very poor results) and more revenue for unqualified consulting companies.

Not to mention that, while the industry sold more units in 2015, most dealers in the country didn’t increase market share last year (most of our clients did, though). That stems mostly from the inability of dealers to close more leads and execute on more effective SEO and SEM strategies for their markets. However, most dealers hear their vendors scream “we did a great job got for you last month” every month. Bullshit.

OEMs must wake up and realize that many companies selling consulting, lead management and other online services to them and the dealer body have no interest in anything besides adding top line revenue to their balance sheets, showing misleading reports of how “effective” their conversion rates are as well as how websites “convert” as more vendors count SRPs, VDPs and basic requests as sales leads. Data manipulation by many vendors in the industry hurts dealers and decision-making around and for dealerships.

While more speakers at conferences yell about “this one template kills it” and companies produce studies and white papers created to sell more duplicated templates and follow up processes, lead response effectiveness will continue to drop. And more importantly, the three areas that are the only ones that matter: lead-to-contact, contact0-to-appointment and appointment-to-show rates. And don’t even get us started on outsourcing lead management completely as some vendors pitch and a few have built their entire businesses off of, unless you have a death wish.

So with record unit sales, more dealers spending in traditional marketing again, very few dealers investing in digital education and true sales coaching especially around Internet leads and the homogenization of dealerships, don’t be surprised by the next Pied Piper report showing a further decline in results.

 

Want to discover how your leads are being handled without bothersome mystery shops? Contact IM@CS and improve your results with our lead scoring!

 

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

 

Homogenization is for Milk (If You Drink That Sort of Thing), Not Dealers

“If digital were that easy, everyone would be doing it” said no automotive OEM executive, ever. But somehow, over the past few years, it seems as though they did. Meaning, for the most part, they don’t do anything digitally and yet…they expect their franchises to through some very forceful measures.

The dealers don’t win. The consumers don’t win. The car companies win. Concessions. That’s all. And not the kind that sell more cars. No, car sales are not up due to websites, erosion of gross or 84 month leases. Car sales are up because of demand, available loans and because, yes, the cars (all of them) are being made better today than ever. Oh, and of course, because your website company says their marketing rocks and they deliver the most low-funnel consumers to your doorstep (yeah, those reports make us puke, too).

Homogenization has never been greater at a time when nearly every smart person in marketing (automotive and non) says to create differentiation in every aspect of your business. Yet your OEM digital representative, who was in sales operations three years ago and brand communications a year ago, comes in and says that you have to/should use website provider A or B (that doesn’t have a fully responsive mobile platform, let alone one site), CRM vendor C2, search marketing partner D5B and consulting company WTF (who’s consultant was born the same year your rep graduated Northwood and worked at a Verizon store last).

If you’re smart and digitally savvy, you’ll run as fast as you can the other way. Why? Because selfishly, every digital know-it-all can do a better job? No. Because, unless you have a well under-performing store that you can plug any brainless automotive digital veteran into, buy more leads and sell more cars, they’re after your data, customers, results and ideas through managed programs. Yes it’s absolutely essential to have every retailer represented well digitally, however if a dealer wants to think that digital is a fad and not put resources into the top consideration generator, let them do so. It’s natural selection in business folks, let ’em sink.

Being made to look like every dealership with the same banners, offers, landing pages, newsletters, paid marketing and social media is a slow, miserable existence. An import dealer shared today that during his recent brand marketing meeting, an OEM digital overlord told him that he should have the ability to turn off all of the factory marketing if he had his own. Unfortunately, his website company (OEM-endorsed) didn’t allow him to and the third-party, in-the-way-of-your-results consulting firm didn’t have an answer on if he could or not. (the OEM guy did take notes and will report back!)

Another dealer chatted with us about not having proper used car data on their OEM-endorsed websites for their group. You think that the car company loses any sleep over used car anything, let alone mis-equipped listings potentially losing thousands of dollars?

It’s time to take your marketing over if you want to. Yes, it’ll take time, money, measurement (you don’t understand now), resources, patience and a die-hard willingness to learn, changing your dealership culture. And it has to start with the dealer and general management. Not for a dashboard or an award, not for a magazine cover shot or being called up at a conference. And quit talking about visits or sessions, that’s so 2008. Nothing cooler than telling your dealer “we had 1,000 people on the lot and in showroom, sat down with 28 and sold 4!”. By the way that’s what your website says.

All of this is because if something doesn’t sell or service a car, or get someone back to your dealership, it’s not worth buying or using. And nobody, not one person, after working with hundreds of dealers, on OEM programs, at 20 Groups, conferences and webinars, producing second-to-none content, social and SEO, can convince us that standardizing marketing and solutions across thousands of retail points across North America can do anything other than paint the industry with a bland brush.

You don’t deserve that and your customers don’t deserve that. Will Rogers once said “If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging”. Unfortunately these OEM digital programs have created a Crab Mentality by literally not letting those that choose to get ahead. Good intentions, poor execution.

You can do much better. We hope. (310) 377-6481 or info at imacsweb.com

 

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

IM@CS Gary May Interviewed By Automotive Digest At #DSES Part 2: Mobile

As more tools are available to businesses to grow thier digital marketing footprint, it is apparent that more are simply buying turnkey services that promise to deliver traffic, conversion, imrpove SEO and other attributes. However, most of the time, they do not include any such services and are simply are scalable, profit reasing solutions for the vendor.

Mobile is now one of those fast-growing areas of digital marketing that, ilke websites, is supposed to deliver on customer expectations and value for businesses. However most mobile website experiences deliver well short of those expectaions.

Chuck Parker and the Automotive Digest team talked with Gary May during the DrivingSales Executve Summit and J.D. Power & Associates Automotive Marketing Roundtable last month in Las Vegas about what dealers need to pay attention to in regards to mobile.

If it’s all about being where the consumer is, we had better deliver am experience that matter to them, right?

 

You Lost Me At Hello

Leads. Leads. Leads. Lead? Nope, the customer that should be
yours that will buy somewhere else. All the data (little data and it’s more
well-known brothers medium data and big data) says the same thing: people that
submit leads buy. And buy in a well-defined time frame. And buy from…….well,
it doesn’t matter. Most of the time it’s not you.

So what’s the deal? The deal is this: the more leads that
are typically generated deliver fewer customers. Why? Because we can’t change
an industry of salespeople, management, training and manuals before it wants to
shed its rich history of stuffing customers into cars, only going for the low-hanging
fruit and being “busy” which is a crock of bull. Between seemingly insurmountable
amounts of information and customers buying, there is a brick wall. Yes, the
one you keep hitting your heads against; the one that prevents us from being
great and gaining attitudes that push us outside of our comfort zones.

Internet leads are gold. Back in the 1800’s California Gold
Rush a lot of people went broke while a fair number made their riches. Fast
forward to the last fifteen years and, likely for many of the same reasons, a
few are making a killing while most are screaming “bad leads” rather than
actually looking at what the heck is happening in their stores.

Between a dealership’s website and third parties, the
average store can create enough business to sustain at least one person
dedicated to managing “leads” or a floor of great communicators (which everyone
says they are) sharing all of the business. The problem lies at the point where
a response is sent. For the most part, dealerships respond with crap, period.
Invite me into any dealership in the country, I’ll show you mediocre at best
responses within the 30 days period prior and many of them.

So what needs to be done to eliminate losing someone at
hello? Ready…here’s the rocket science: 

  • Read the lead, and most of the time the source
    lead, completely prior to sending a response. Then read it again. Then slow
    down and read it again.
  • The response should include answers to every question or comment provided by the customer and validation for the customer
  • The response should include a qualifying and/or
    a closing question every time. In
    every email. Every time. No matter what. Every time. And if you can’t think of
    one, write a couple and stick it to your monitor or keyboard (would you like assistance with anything else?
    or did you have any other questions right
    now?
    )
  • Hit send after you’ve read the email thoroughly,
    ensuring that everything asked by the customer has been addressed, value or
    benefit has been identified, your complete contact information is included and
    that no significant amount of time has elapsed since receiving the
    information/email/response from the customer. Hold it!! Read it again and make
    sure it is understandable and completely
    addresses what the customer wants and needs
    without being a Steinbeck.

The reason that most dealerships don’t receive equitable
responses from customers who submit online leads is….we send garbage! If it’s
easier and more rewarding to buy a $25 item from Amazon than a $30,000 car from
your store, shame on you!

Never send an email or pick up the phone (recorded phone
calls demonstrate that we do just as s**tty of a job on the phone as emails)
when (1) you don’t know what you are going to say, (2) don’t address the
customer’s needs, (3) can’t properly invite them into the dealership and (4)
talk/write more than asking questions.

Expectations around online experiences leading to purchase
are increasing. So it doesn’t make sense to miss the mark, then defend yourself
to your GM or GSM with anything other than “you know what, I don’t deserve to
manage your leads”. And by the way, that’s not much of a defense, however at
least it’s honest.

Remember that there is no such thing as a bad lead, just a
crappy response. Yes, there are bogus leads but you’re old enough and smart
enough to sell 20+ cars a month on 100 leads. Yes, you are. Go get ‘em tiger!

Best Practices:
Professional Insight, Powerful Results

Digital Signals: Hate The Player Or Hate The Game?

No matter how much it’s discussed, there are still massive
amounts of misinformation in addition to retail kick back in regard to social
media in general and what it does specifically for car dealerships. However the
simple question still remains the same: why?

It’s almost 2013 and some social signals are already making
a significant impact on local search queries and a couple networks are
absolutely affecting search engine optimization. Almost nobody at the OEM
level, not one of the existing enterprise social media providers and most
vendors have demonstrated proper use, understanding or leverage of social to
benefit you. It’s sad, however most dealers aid in this continuing and continue
to buy “services” from them…

If you’ve simply hired a social media company to “manage”
your social network content, you’ve likely made zero or near-zero impact on
local search as well as branding, defending SERP positions and a list of other
benefits. We see this continually via mediocre dealership Facebook pages,
auto-feed only Twitter accounts, automated blog posts copied onto hundreds, yes
hundreds, of other dealership blogs and copied Pinterest photos; the result? Complete
disconnect from people on their networks.

“But it’s not selling cars!” or “I don’t care about that
social garbage, that’s not what we do”, or “When it shows results, we’ll jump
on it properly” responses demonstrate that what’s happening in digital simply
hasn’t sunk in. Yes, there’s lots of talk, just very little good action, let
alone great. So are you going to hate the player or hate the game?

Most simply want to hate the game, not who’s doing it at the
dealership or outsourced to (aka the player). 
Some hate the player recognizing that the game is not to blame. However,
it’s neither. Our focus continues to go, inexplicitly, to BS “traditional”
marketing especially when there’s a sunny financial or industry volume
report.  There’s a near blanket of
ignorance put toward the largest, yes largest, shift in media consumption. And
we all do it. Well, over 90% of us.

How can you book an airline ticket online after checking
Kayak or Travelocity, or buy a pair of boots you’ve never tried on before with
glowing reviews, or even do a stock trade on your phone, tablet or computer
followed by sharing your gain on Facebook and then turn around and ignore
what’s happening with the socialization of media and search?

Digital signals are unavoidable. More importantly,
everything we do affects how others consume products and media, let alone
search.

So hate the player if you want, or hate the game if you’ve
got a louder voice or bigger fist, but when you finally decide to pay
attention, make investments, educate staff properly and turn the tides in your
favor, don’t complain if it’s too late or that someone else is eating your
lunch. It’s already happening.

 

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

When The River Runs Dry…Pave It!

Retrench! Dig in! Block and tackle! Just wait! Awww bullshit…. More and more today it seems that the chasm between the "doers" and those choosing "planned obsolescence" is growing. You hear a lot of good stories out in the field about who's doing what and which dealers are killing it. Then the numbers come in. Reality check.

So why is it that there are dealers growing market share (the minority) while there are those than seem to want to accept and participate in a challenged market (majority)? With everything facing dealers today, and it's a bleepstorm, it seems that the path of least resistance is the one leading the wrong way. Resources, blogs, data, events/conferences, outside assistance and more, are readily available. And to the point that they're so underused, they're essentially abused.

Have you hit the end of your rope? Down-sized to the point that your store is no-sized? Pushed the factory guy back on allocation to the point that they're giving you 365-day terms just to take cars? Listening to your 20 Group buddies' stories of success and smiling while shrinking in the back of the room? OK, so stop it. If the river is dry…why not pave it? Heck, make it a raceway!

There are no silver bullets but there are a number of effective shortcuts, that get you to where you want to be. No matter what your newspaper sales rep or the online inventory advertising company reps tell you, that's not where the customers are. Sure, they go there after they end up feeling like they can't get a straight deal, attention and common courtesy starting with your website or showroom. Sorry….

Yep, the proverbial question: how do I pave the dry river?

Lead responses: effective, in the shortest possible time. with validation, options and the most engagement that drive the strongest replies, appointments, profit anad retention.

Events: inexpensive, regular, value-based, informative, community-engaging, need-supporting, fund-raising, cooperative and non-self-serving.

Social media: Compelling, revealing, engaging, fun, relevant, contextual, intuitive, brand-building and even a bit giveaway-ish for the "what's in it for me?".

You see the river can be paved fastest when it's filled by things that consumers are looking for. What doesn't pave the rider, or fill your showroom, or get the phone ringing is what's been used for the longest time: lost leaders, false advertising, packing (especially recently), full-page ads, large traditional media spends, bait-and-switch and everything else that you know is despised by consumers (and us really).

Here's a wake up call: no matter how much the river fills with water soon (if you're waiting) or how nicely you can pave it, do things differently. "Old guard" stuff, as nostalgic as it is, is about as good for the auto industry as tainted meat is for McDonald's, faulty engines for Boeing and corrupt processors for Dell. So stop accepting, if not endorsing, it.

Paving the dry river bed takes strategy, commitment, insight and foresight, transparency and a willingness to change the size, shape and location of the sandbox. What do you have to lose? Not as much as you have to gain!!!!

Pave it like you own it….

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Resutls

So Much Good Stuff…Does It Make You Want To Ignore It All?

It's no secret that over the past few months things have really been taking off in the online automotive space for dealers and a lot of attention is being paid to the more leading edge, innovative companies (and some not-so-leading-edge ones).  It really seems that retail is starting to embrace, at a minimum, the 'change' in mindset.  At the same time it's not too hard to see that it may be overload.

When you consider the amount of good information, new technology, availability of tools (especially those that are free or inexpensive), vast selection of downloads/blogs/webinars and more, it really seems like a heyday for flipping the switch and going forward like a gleaming new Boeing 787,  But just like the impressive 'Dreamliner", you can't get off the ground if your resources aren't trained for the flight.

We still seem to be hamstrung by our best resource: staff, desire, goal-setting, application, training and simple commitment.  In a recent meeting, a general manager was talking about how he'd like to offload the lead handling to a staff member.  Yes…a GM wanted to have someone else take up the task of correctly touching, responding to and managing the leads.  Huh?!?!?!?!?

All of this made me flash back to the AM/PM radio spots with their campaign "Too Much Good Stuff".  We can SEO/PPC/CRM/DMS/PMA/CPO/RO/MICKEYMOUSE a dealer to death.  By the same token, you've got to be able to execute on all of those lovely acronyms.  Start with the leads.

Don't have the right person(s)?  You had better look at all of your sales staff.  Don't apply any excuses to any one of them.  Can't type an effective email?  Chances are you can't communicate very effectively on the floor.  Sorry, you must not ignore one and not the other.  They go hand-in-hand.  Can't turn on a monitor or CPU?  Just imagine that all of the 'old dogs' on your sales floor had to learn something about navigation/Bluetooth/OnStar/Sync/back up assist/iDrive and more on new cars over the past few years.  And chances are your 40-50 plus year-old techs in the back have had to learn something (actually a heck of a lot) that's new under the hood.  Again, stop excusing lack and ignoring ignorance.

Don't have someone that can lead efforts on your website, integration, social media, templates, vendor management and more?  You need one.  Don't hire a salesperson to do it…and don't hire an IT person either.  Hire someone with a balance of skills covering all the aspects: communication, technology, customer service and ensure that it's someone that can conjugate what they'll do for you, not what they did for someone else.

Understand, staff, educate, execute and then lead with some consistent effort and passion.  Every dealer that wants to thrive, let alone survive, must be able to assess and improve on ALL aspects of their presence, brand and sales, especially online.  To get better results you've got to think and do things differently.  And that doesn't mean thinking differently by keeping the person on that has been selling 3-6 cars a month for months just to have them post in social media networks (by the way, that's a mistake!).

Here's a challenge: Make your business plans by December 31, target your staff and online needs, plot your strategy, write everything down, stick to it all year long and (here's the hard part) do everything that you're in control of and ignore the rest.

The difference this coming year between you making online work for you and not making it work can be devastating.  Make "Too Much Good Stuff" work for you and then take it all…

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

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

How And When Do You Generate Your Traffic? Your Own Program Or Someone Else’s This-For-That?

Whether or not the money lasts in the government's C.A.R.S./Cash For Clunkers program, one thing is clear: automotive retail still waits for someone or something outside of the dealer to drive the traffic. With few (and great) exceptions, people started hitting lots hard over the weekend.The question remains: what happens that's entirely up to you before and after programs?

A couple of OEMs started a little early by creating buzz around doubling or even advancing dealers money. Dealers even sent out email and direct marketing (along with radio and newspaper….aaaaarrggggh!) to promote the fact that they'd have the CARS program at their dealership! Folks, that's just not enough. Remember that people what to know what's in it for them! If they can get $3,500 or $4,500 (or more) for their car ANYWHERE, why are you yelling that you simply have the program? Is your banner bigger? Big (something) deal!

Why not detail how you understand the program's details, that you have a special team at the dealership to promptly handle customers, that you have a 'Clunkiest of Clunkers' competition for a prize or that your staff's outfits are "older than your trade!' and have them come in powder blue ruffled suits? Now, I'm not saying that you need to look like your favorite scene for The Wedding Singer or a bit part in one of my favorite industry guy's videos…what I am saying is that you have to get your head out of the "same place, same thing" mentality and start thinking about how YOU drive traffic.

No consumer typically wakes up in the morning and says "I've got to make it by some dealerships today and spend some time at each one!". That should not be news to anyone. What differentiates you (or doesn't) is the special events, programs and 'why-to-buy-here' calls to action that invite people in. Why continue to fight over the same piece of pie when you can make yours bigger? And with the current economic issues, simply take a bigger piece of a smaller pie! But your way of doing business can't stay in "wait and see", "hold on for 90 more days", "not going to do anything just now" or "watching how effective (fill in the blank)'s promotion goes before we do anything" mode.

Look at your numbers, especially your regional/area performance. Losing sales in your PMA? Why? Asked your customers why lately? How many times have you blind shopped the competition? Did you optimize your website in the last 30 days (or simply put up a C.A.R.S page and/or compete for the same keywords)?

To expect business you need to plan for business:

  • Listen to everyone (yes, your staff is part of everyone)
  • Understand trends and performance
  • Track and adjust in real time
  • Communicate and set expectations
  • Brand, brand, brand, brand, brand, brand, brand

And remember, you can't live on someone else's brand (including the government's). It is also important to be real. If you don't understand something, say so! Ask questions or your vendors, partners, consultants and industry resources (as long as you are actually using them). If they can't do something, ask them to it and if they can't/won't: drop 'em like they're hot.

See the traffic on the highway? They are all going somewhere. They either have to or want to go where they're going. You might just end up being more people's destination if you play your cards right, plan to be successful and don't reply on ANYTHING outside your place of business to bring in the business.

Be a 'traffic-generating' leader, not a 'take what's left' follower…

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

Week At IM@CS: Chats With The Industry

It's been a while, maybe to long! Considering what is happening in the market, it's time to get back on track with the folks that power the industry (yes, besides consultants!). This is another mix of providers touching different aspects of marketing and services that hopefully give you a leg up (if not a whole body length or two).

You've heard it here before and you'll likely continue to hear it: accountability. I've not yet met a vendor that tells you everything. Even the most up front company will tell you that they can/do something and then shuffle (some like mad) to get it done, even if they know how to do it. Not only do I expect this, the challenge of new things for clients makes some companies tick, while many just hide.

More than ever, dealerships want the services they pay for to get the
customer in so their sales staff can "close 'em". Just leaves you to
guess that many salespeople still believe that they shouldn't have to work for the close.

Mobile Web: Face it, you have to do it, it's absolutely here (if not passing the auto industry like a freight train), consumers want it and technology is changing faster than prices for NBA Finals tickets right now.

Advanced Mobile Solutions has a great platform they're rolling out for automotive. They know mobile, understand that life-on-the-go will extend beyond iPhones and Android Phones very soon, have the backbone to support it and want to push the ball forward. Many of the platforms I've seen for dealership inventory are lacking. This company has some great promise…oh, yes they can also do your mobile/text marketing so you can have one vendor doing both correctly http://www.advancedmobile.us

Widgets: Plenty of people still question the staying power and how steadfast of a marketing tool having some real estate of a consumer's desktop is, let alone if they'd download it. Outside of iGoogle and the 'techie' folks, many believe that this market is absolutely huge.

Already featured last December in a "Week At IM@CS", DealerBug needs to be checked out seriously (yes, by you!). This versatile tool allows great presence, branding, analytics and adaptability. It's not a question of when you need it, only how will you use it. They're delivering customized widgets for everything from pre-order vehicles (like Camaro), to car clubs (Mustang, Corvette, IS-F, EVO, etc) and developing inventory-based communication. Relevancy and timeliness has a new home on your customer's screen http://www.dealerbug.com

Live chat has developed into a tightly debated sector of consumer engagement on dealership website (and now even on videos and ads playing on non-dealership properties like YouTube). No matter what, dealerships that do it right…get the results.

ActivEngage happens to be where IM@CS believes the market is right now for car dealership live chat (ie real-time car sales folks). Every time there seems to be a wrinkle in the 'get-em-on-the-website' process, this company appears to have the iron for the job. I've been impressed this year in watching the value that they continue to provide http://www.activengage.com

Hopefully we'll keep this section of the blog a little more alive. Please give some feedback on any companies that you believe should be featured or if your experience with any ones that are featured has been less than desired (in all fairness).

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results