Tag Archives

Posts with profit tag.
Natural Unselection (It Takes Time…)

Yes, it is getting more and more difficult for business owners to make decisions today that will positively impact their business, especially in the arena of digital marketing. You might say “bull hooey” and protest that it has become easier. And you’d be half fright…

Nothing is more frustrating to a business owner that not understanding something that should otherwise be “easy” to do so. That’s where misguided trust and blind recommendations become so darn appealing. Attend a 20 Group and you just might be amazed as to how eloquent an otherwise inept presenter can be.

We live in a world of regurgitated content, many times so prolific that anyone can claim it to be theirs. Car dealers and executive management, typically, know what has been and possibly what is happening now.  They’re still overwhelmingly blind to what is going to happen, even though it’s in front of their eyes. And smartphones.

However, the chasm that exists does so simply because the dots aren’t connecting. In other words, they “get” that they need to market in a new channel, or completely store prospective and customer data in CRM, or spend time understanding new reports. While there is no excuse, none whatsoever including “time”, to not do any or all of that, there is at least bandwidth to consider.

As much as it easy to blame the OEM for (many) programs of epically disastrous proportion, it is up to the dealer to make sure their house is in order.

The struggle that has presented itself over the past 3-4 years, and it’s gaining momentum by the way, isn’t whether to do more, invest more, hire more or attend more, it is truly around letting go of operations to those that they have in power and get immersed the way they did when they started selling, or working in the service drive, or washing cars for their owner-parent while memorizing the specifications to 95% of the cars each year. More than ever you must have a desire to consume, learn, test and challenge yourself. And, ahem, everyone around you.

Recently, especially if you get caught up in rumor, there has been more and more reports of OEM digital, education and training programs being under scrutiny. Enter in shock and awe. Well, at least for everyone but those unfortunate few of us who called into question the very under-budgeted, under-staffed, under-educated, under-facilitated, under-read, under-thought-through contracts. While the programs disserve the OEMs, dealers (at least progressive and knowledgeable ones) are pretty much disgusted. And no, the programs are not responsible for selling more than a negligible increase in amount of cars. Period.

Now here’s the conundrum….we can’t throw another conference at them. We can’t throw another “digital marketing”, or “social media”, or  “digital consulting”, or “new age training“ company at them either (you can here the shotguns loading now). And you’ll not be able to convince them that the person visiting them with zero hands-on experience in anything he/she is talking about will make a difference. Unfortunately they might have to let that person visit to make the factory happy. Ugh.

Dealers and OEMs should be able to (stop everything they’re doing and) reevaluate the broken CSI, allocation and reward programs that current exist. Then, as one example, build new models that actually reward dealers who perform exceptionally for their sales and service customers, not exclusive to volume, according to only those customers (versus third party companies), transparent, benchmarked scoring (imaging that!) and overall investment (including but not limited to the facility).

Yes, customers expect more. And that’s not going to stop, ever. And yes, more cars are selling; same with large new-technology televisions, tablets and dinner reservations. When the “easy” sales stop again, fewer dealers will be ready for reality. At least the reality they’re living on and sold by people who shouldn’t be selling them…

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

August 8, 2014 by Gary May 0
The Year 2012 In Review? (What’s An Automotive Industry Nutshell?)

(Warning, 1000 words below!)

OK,
who's got their 2013 game face on? Nobody? Good, let's make things difficult!!!
2012 was one heck of a year: consumer demand is still up and growing for cars
(although demand still outstrips what sold), mobile use is skyrocketing (albeit
not remotely matched by dealers providing strong solutions), digital demand is
still growing at a breakneck pace (while use of traditional media by
dealerships is up), vehicle technology, especially in-car, is amazing and
overwhelming (while we still can't truly get a MPG sticker correct without driving like we're dying) and quality
is better than even with IQS improving (hand-in-hand with more
"media" coverage of massive recalls). Yup, 2012 was quite the year…

So ask
a car dealership what they're doing and about 16,500 answers will flutter
around "more _________ and less ________ while focusing on our key
strengths in _____________". And that, by the way, will be the answer
around January 5-15th because, unlike other industries that revolve around
retail, we seem to be focused on a date non later than January 5 to close the
year. Newsflash: 2012 is done. Make more calls, send more emails, offer more
dealer cash/rebates/incentives/consumer cash/financing discounts and leases and
you're still not going to sell more. Hello?!?! The "Oh, we pulled 10 more
from our competitor" crap doesn't fly. You'll sell what was essentially
already in the hopper and be happy with it.

Over the last twelve months we saw
highs and lows in the automotive industry, mostly driven by International
factors like economy, emerging markets, regulation, partnership and bankruptcy.
As a matter of fact, we are more tied than ever to what happens in Europe and
Asia, even considering how insular as we tend to be. Whether or not we get to
see a new Cadillac in the States depends more on what happens in Germany than
ever while BMW's success likely depends on what happens in South Carolina. 2012
saw the continued demise of storied as well as soft brands everywhere.

In the passing of this last year, it's
important to reflect on how we actually invited people into showrooms while not
making it any more enjoyable (except for the new showrooms which mostly made
the factory happy while getting better looking floor tiles and slightly better
tasting coffee to customers and some of those neat kids' play rooms we desperately needed). We
switched website CMSs, dealership CRMs, DMSs, SMSs and POPs but did satisfaction with
dealerships actually go up as much as 2012 IQS? Jaguar is still tops
(well, 2nd behind Lexus for 2012 models) on the list and they can't seem to
sell the damn cats…

What did 2012 deliver to your business?
If you've not asked your customers more than your factory reps, your
salespeople and your accountant, you will miss the boat by a larger gap in
2013. Yes, you will continue to sell cars next year and maybe, fortunately more
again, but where does that stop based on solely looking back or not at all?

Where your concentration needs to be,
right now, is around March 2013 because your next 6-8 weeks are already figured
out for the most part. No matter how many "cycles" we have, after 100
years of automobile sales most think that there is some magic to the last few
weeks of the year. Bullhooey.

If you want to succeed starting next
Tuesday, there is no other way to do it than be steadfast in every aspect of
your staff, processes, facility and follow through. Your greatest efforts need
to be put into place around the touch points (hint: it's not the cars!). Those
are showroom (real and virtual) and people. Nothing else matters without those. We are asked regularly how to "jumpstart" sales to the
effect that many talk about in the industry. If you've not been bombarded by
spam marketing and videos, it usually sounds like "100 to 500 cars
overnight with our processes" and "our sales events will have people
driving in from everywhere" and don't forget "our websites will
optimize so well (or drive leads so easily), no other dealer will be able to
touch your numbers, you'll dominate and just have to deliver cars". Rat
dung!

Get the best assets in your business
today that understand how everyday people use technology and expect to be
communicated with. If that means more green peas, then do it! Training?!?!
Tearing down your salespeople to build them back up means you have the wrong
people and wrong processes! It's not "that Internet thing" any more
than your cars are "those things that have engines and tires". It's
time to grow up and look forward. If you 15-pounder 15% of your customers, expect 50%+ of
your reviews to scream you suck.

If you want to look at things in a
nutshell, read another whitepaper about how great a solution is (6- to
12-months after it's relevant while you signed up to get marketed like mad by the
same company) and look backward. Our industry is depending on people who look
forward with only what's needed about past performance as indicators, nothing
else. Improve incrementally prior to making the huge, sweeping changes like we
hear about so much and maybe, just maybe, you'll see about 3-4 months that the
big stuff is not so big after all because you were able to move the needle
consistently. Overnight success is a short-term facade over impending disaster.
Count on it.

2013 can be great for many, even
amongst the raising concerns about economic and other pressures. The best
always raise to the occasion, it's just that it needs to be done in newer ways
more consistently. And remember to make changes with anything that you do by
benchmarking and recording first because so many will pull the wool over your
eyes and scream "we did it for you!". We see it every day. There are
some great dealership partners out there. Remember that opportunity is missed
by most because it comes dressed in overalls. It's work and most of the time
it's slow.

So relish in the success you've had in
2012, you deserve it! At the same time try not to look back all that much. It
will take longer to catch up than you realize. The automotive world moves at
the speed of retail. That is the only truth. So stop slowing yourself down more
than needed.

Much success in 2012 and thanks for
continuing to read…

 

Best Practices: Professional
Insight, Powerful Results

Related articles
The US Automotive Market Is In Trouble
How do you hire Automotive Professionals?
DrivingSales Executive Summit 2012: A To Unmarketing
December 29, 2012 by Gary May 0
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
The Shiny New Tool Loses Luster: When The Belt Is Full

Come on, let's admit it. If someone launches a new tool, application, service, widget, doohickey, gizmo or gadget, we'll all explode. We are so full of tools, you likely feel like the Craftsman section at your local Sears…

Fact is we can probably expect more and that is what keeps pushing the bar forward. With the store closures, OEM staff reductions, agency layoffs and more you can likely look forward to more consultants, new software, increased industry service providers and just plain more 'stuff'.

And considering how most owners, GMs and GSMs buy stuff, there may be cause for more companies wanting to get their piece of a smaller spend pie because they're 'new, shiny, better, sexier or have great advertising'. Folks, we're not using all the tools you have currently, even if you don't really know how to use them in the first place (Ok, you can put all of your hands down because we know you haven't seen your so-called rep in nearly a year who promised the latest training you needed months ago).

More than ever, it's not about sticking with who you already have, simply saving a buck or not taking meetings with new vendors (excuses today are a penny a dozen). Simply put, you get what you pay for. If you are saving $200 a month between one service and another, you had better know what you're missing. If you're not investing in your staff's education/training (yes, I hate that word but the old guard will understand it), you might as well lower your unit forecast by 25-40%. And if you're not willing to take 'another meeting', you might as well hand a few extra dollars to your competitor down the street and take the rest of the week off.

Overwhelmed by technology? Don't ignore it, please! Don't understand something? Get a non-manager in your office that will use the tool/service and get THEIR take on it first hand, don't just give them a sell sheet and have them make a decision.

Over the next couple weeks, IM@CS is going to take a deeper dive into services available to the industry and write 'em up. We'll cover mobile, chat and inventory to start and see where it takes us. We hope to clear up misconceptions, especially around price since nearly everyone seems to be completely misguided on saving a buck versus being more effective. And then we'll try to take it from there…hope you get to use the information in profitable ways!!

Best practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

July 10, 2009 by Gary May 0
Cutting To Save Costs Can Cost You Greatly, So What’s Next?

It's so much a part of business today: cost cutting, staff reductions, marketing cancellations, disappearing perks. Even companies that are profitable and efficient are not exempt from the slashing and hacking (that makes sense, right? right?). Needed? Absolutely! Done right? No way! What can you honestly expect when you're name (and more) is not out there?

There's no point in kicking a dead horse: it's bad out there and those that watch conventional media just make it worse by believing what the masses do. But ignoring opportunities and not INVESTING in your future is just as bad as picking up a dime after stepping over a $100 bill. Cost cutting is not an exercise as many people profess, it's simply a knee-jerk activity. One in which you'll disappear. If you want to run through exercises and get wiser, more nimble and learn, then be smart!

Many activities related to online reputation, brand equity, lead generation, customer relation management and more are…wait for it…free! But alas, you must work at it (as discussed in today's Dealer.com 1st Party Lead Webinar, thank you Alex Snyder). Hearing "I can't afford to have my staff doing that online stuff" gives me more indigestion than eating that 72oz steak down at Big Texan!! Folks, what is your strategy? If you cut off blood and oxygen to the brain, what happens?

If you are part of the pointless cost cutting brigade today, how are you going to correctly ramp back up? What are your benchmarks? Consumer confidence, bank lending, 20% lift in units? Please! Strategy, planning, analytics, indicators and some intuition thrown in for good measure should do it along with a good long look at the competition.

If you don't have a game plan, how do you know when the 'cuts' are done? You can't, you don't and you won't. Be proactive. Be thoughtful. Be interactive. Most of all, be timely, accurate and relevant. People want to know you're around and in business.

You may have turned off the car wash and done away with the donuts and muffins but what do you still offer? Think about what's next and think about success (no matter how hard). There are some great opportunities out there just as long as you're willing to do them, putting your effort, thoughts and money behind them.

Best practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

April 28, 2009 by Gary May 0
Stay In The Driver’s Seat and You’ll Put More In Theirs

When it comes to the selling of cars today, it's not any easy task. Compared to the past twenty plus years, the cake walk has slowed to a drunk crawl. So what allows some folks in the 'Internet' sales world to deliver 15, 20 or even 25 and more per month? Control.

Staying in the driver's seat is not about dominating a conversation (or having a monologue with a prospect in front of you) or barely raising above a whisper for the fear of the person leaving the lot. Control is first about confidence, knowing that what you have to offer is more important than the piece of inventory that you're trying to sell. Being a dynamic listener and taking the time to qualify your customer keeps you from falling into sales (although there is nothing wrong with that, don't make it habit).

One of the greatest parts of staying in the driver's seat is learning, whether about the client or yourself. When you learn, you are taking steps toward the art of being in control. Once realized, you are no longer a victim or circumstance or, as Larry PInci of Sell The Feeling puts it, on the 'effect' side of the equation.

If you are typically in the driver's seat, you'll likely have your 2009 plans carved out (if not already in motion), have your targets planned for January, realized some things that you will both do and not do to cause change in the coming year and, chances are, have some 'use-of-technology' goals on the radar.

It is interesting to watch some of the data that comes out monthly (if not weekly as of late). Look at the trend in truck and SUV leads and sales over the past month. Surprised that people are buying them again, even with all of the focus in Washington D.C. over relevancy and MPG tied to providing loans to the domestic OEMs? Give people a reason to buy and they will.

Remember that people do what they want to do. Sometimes they need permission. When someone wants to buy a house, do they go to a dry cleaners or trash collector? Do you watch E! Television when you are considering which college to send your child to? Understand your market, your customers, your skills and your opportunities. Use control for all it's worth…heck you might even influence someone!

Stay in the driver's seat and people will come to you when it's time to buy a car.

Best practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

December 27, 2008 by Gary May 0