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8. SusanGivens leadership solution
‘dealer of the Year’ Jessie
armstead a proven champion
on and off the field
Jessie Armstead, a five-time Pro Bowl “It’s an honor to share this award with other Jeep Grand Cherokee was named “Truck of
linebacker for the NY Giants and Washington leaders in the industry who acknowledge the the Year” and the VW TDI Jetta was named
Redskins was recently recognized as “Dealer multicultural communities that support our “Green Car of the Year.”
of the Year” at the 15th Annual Urban Wheel businesses,” Armstead said. “I can only hope
Awards in Detroit, MI. When a pre-season that the awards show will continue to inspire Hamilton Honda’s extraordinary growth
injury prompted Armstead to retire from the my colleagues in the industry to not only has been a result of their active community
league, he would continue to win off the field consider, but to embrace the diversity that involvement, exceptional customer service
and on the lot of Hamilton Honda in Hamilton, exists across the nation.” and their volume-pricing strategy, which gives
NJ — the 65,000-square foot, state-of-the-art consumers guaranteed low prices, along with
dealership he opened in May 2009 with partner Editors at Decisive Magazine and an free oil changes, loaner cars and car washes
and automotive veteran Mike Saporito. Just independent panel of 15 professional for life. The dealership has become known for
one year after opening the doors, Hamilton automotive journalists and business its customer-friendly team and its state-of-the-
Honda skyrocketed into one of the top organizations selected all nominees, finalists art facility is equipped with an Internet café
10-largest Honda dealerships in the nation. and winners. Armstead accepted this notable offering free refreshments and a mini-museum
honor alongside other industry trailblazers who with Jessie Armstead artifacts from the brightest
Now, as the dealership prepares to finish its distinguished themselves for their approach to moments of his career that makes every visit to
second year in business with tremendous the multicultural consumer base. the dealership a top-notch experience.
momentum, Armstead was recognized as
“Automotive Dealer of the Year” at the 2011 Other awardees included Tony K. Brown, “On and off the field Jessie is a leader and
Annual Urban Wheel Awards. For 15 years Ford’s group vice president of purchasing, he inspires greatness from all those he works
running, the star-studded ceremony has who accepted the award for “Executive of the with,” said Sean Wolfington, owner of the
honored companies, executives and suppliers Year” from two distinguished presenters; his marketing company Hamilton uses.
for recognizing the growing multicultural boss, Ford CEO Alan Mulally and U.S. Senator
Armstead’s recognition as “Automotive Dealer
consumer and embracing diversity in Debbie Stabenow (D-MI). NASCAR’s Max
of the Year” comes on the heels of other
operations and missions. Armstead took Siegel, owner and CEO of Revolution Racing,
notable achievements since his venturing into
home the Oscar-style statue that celebrates received the “Pioneer of the Year” award.
the automotive world. Last year, AutoSuccess
the dealer’s creation of products and “Lifetime Achievement” awards went home
recognized Armstead and Saporito as
implementation of services that keep the with Rodney O’Neal, president and CEO of
“Automotive Pioneers” for their role in
diversity of their consumers in mind. Delphi; Andra Rush, president of Dakkota
growing Hamilton Honda into one of the top
Integrated System; and Frank Venegas,
10 Honda dealerships in the nation.
chairman and CEO of The Ideal Group, Inc.
Although Armstead has received a lot of
Held at the MotorCity Hotel and Casino national recognition, he is deeply committed
in Detroit, the awards show drew in an to serving his local community and supports a
impressive crowd of 1,500 automotive number of not-for-profit organizations including
executives, supplier executives, politicians and YMCA, where he was honored as the recipient
members of the public. Celebrities, awardees of the prestigious 2010 Community Enrichment
and community leaders also graced the VIP Award. Armstead is also actively involved with
“Green” carpet, hosted by Ed Foxworth III and DARE, Cystic Fibrosis, My Sisters Place, City
Naomi Patton. Master of Ceremonies and CBS Meals on Wheels and Make-a-Wish Foundation.
News Analyst Jamal Simmons kicked off the New Jersey Senator Tom Goodwin recognized
award celebration that honored leaders in the that “Hamilton Honda has become an important
automotive industry and showcased the Urban member of the New Jersey business community
and Green Vehicles of the Year. since in its first year, employing more than
100 individuals and generating more than $90
The ceremony marked the start of the North million in sales revenue.”
partners Jessie armstead and mike
American International Auto Show, one of
saporito skyrocket to become one of the the most prestigious auto shows in the world, Susan Givens is the publisher of AutoSuccess.
top-10 honda dealers in the country in by recognizing the following vehicles: The She can be contacted at 877.818.6620, or by
less than 12 months. Chevrolet Cruze was named “Car of the Year,” e-mail at sgivens1@autosuccessonline.com.
08 autosuccessonline.com
10. GregW.Coleman sales & training solution
growing crm use
leads to growing
dealership
Conventional wisdom says that keeping prior been creating monthly newsletters to keep our information and vehicle history records, along
customers and selling to them is far easier than brand both relevant and recognizable to our with their driver’s license, making paper and
making cold calls to potential new customers, previous customers. even typing a thing of the past.
and that is as true — if not more so — for the
auto sales business as any other industry. as: how do you use your crm as: when looking for a crm provider,
system in areas of your dealership what are the most important thing a
The CRM is a vital tool in creating a other than sales? dealership should look for?
relationship with customers that turns into a gc: Other than the initial sale, we use it for gc: A dealership should first do an internal
rewarding experience for both the customer birthdays, anniversaries and even service analysis. First of all, are we ready for a CRM?
and the dealership. Many dealerships, campaigns. If you only think of a CRM as an Will it be a culture change, and do I have the
however, only scratch the surface on utilizing initial sales tool, you are probably missing right personnel to embrace this technology?
their CRM to its fullest. We recently spoke half of the potential benefit to your dealership. Are we ready to accommodate the customer
with Greg Coleman, director of business Having the ability to e-mail campaigns to and sales personnel with computer terminals,
development of the Oxmoor Automotive hundreds — sometimes potentially thousands driver license scanners and other technology?
Group in Louisville, Kentucky, about how — of prospects and customers at no cost is an After this is answered, a request for proposal
they found a CRM provider that met their extremely valuable and powerful resource. should be sent to potential providers. A
needs and how they are growing to use their cookie-cutter approach won’t work for every
system to build their future. as: describe how your crm system dealer. Make a CRM provider partner with
is used in the path to the sale. you, not sell to you. Also, consider initial
autosuccess: describe how the place gc: Our CRM is utilized in the path to the training and support — these were the two
of the crm system has evolved within sale as a guide or road map. Once a prospect most important factors for us.
your dealership in the last few years. is engaged, either on the lot or through the
greg coleman: The CRM has evolved in Internet or phone, a set of steps is initiated. We as: what would be your advice to
our dealerships dramatically, and continues to don’t believe in templates as a crutch, but we other dealers on different methods of
be more of an asset each month. As recently as do utilize templates to begin the conversation utilizing their crm that they might not
the spring of 2010, CRM was only utilized by so we have a consistent approach to all of our be using?
our Internet departments. Traditional “paper prospects. We also utilize it as a daily guide gc: One piece of advice I would give would
logs” were used by closers for the sales floor, for our sales staff. Each has a plan for the day be to incorporate newsletters and e-mail
and accountability was just a guess. The CRM to follow up on unsold customers as well as campaigns into their marketing. I have found
was introduced to the dealership as a whole those previously sold. In the winter months, that to be time well spent. It can be used
and communication, as well as accountability, the “up bus” is not coming; it is important to for prospects, sold customers and non-sold
has improved dramatically. We follow up have a plan, and the program our provider has prospects, and is absolutely free. This is
with each customer, processes have been set up, helps give us that plan. obviously nothing new, but in the regular
streamlined and, with continued monitoring, mystery shops that I conduct, I find that maybe
we look forward to an increase in ROI of our as: what would you like to see crm only five percent of dealers over a several-
marketing dollars. systems grow to include in the next month time period will use a newsletter to
few years? follow up.
as: how do you use your existing gc: It is hard to fathom now what the
customer database in your marketing need will be in a few years. It seems like
efforts, and how does the crm help technology is changing by the day, and in my For more information about Greg W. Coleman,
with that? opinion, we could use a couple of years to MBA, director of business development
gc: We utilize our existing database perfect all of the systems and processes we for the Oxmoor Automotive Group, visit
for several marketing campaigns. Lease have available to us now. I can only imagine www.oxmoorautogroup.com.
renewals, service reminders and data mining mobile capabilities though, and can envision
For more information about eLEAD CRM,
for customers in equity positions have been the time when a customer comes in and can
contact director of marketing, Melissa Maxey.
some examples of successfully using our scan their iPhone into a system that will She can be contacted at 866.922.0175, or by
current database. At a minimum, we have know their credit, and have all of their trade e-mail at mmaxey@autosuccessonline.com.
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12. their situation? beyond “challenging”
When RBM of Atlanta-North’s location was selected in 2006 for a brand-
new Mercedes store, the stars looked aligned for sure success for the
Alpharetta, GA dealership. Atlanta was the fastest-growing city in the U.S.
— Forsyth County ranked among the fastest-growing, highest-income
suburbs in the nation — and car dealers were basking in five straight years
of more than 16.5 million new vehicles sold. As hard as it is to replay the
recent recession, we know the next dark chapter: RBM North opened its
doors in late 2007, precisely when the economy sank into recession. Their
grand-opening balloons deflated fast as housing prices, jobs and car sales
began their downward spiral. “Our location, Forsyth County, took some of
the most severe blows in the entire country,” said GM Randy Powell.
To make matters worse, not only were they the youngest Mercedes
dealership in a market with four established players, they were a near-
rural, “destination” store with severely limited natural traffic. Internet
manager Bethany Johnson joked, “Most of our drive-bys are cows.”
forging the strategy
Powell had to take a hard look at their situation: the harsh economic
realities, their near-remote location and the fact that, in a brutally
competitive market, no one knew who or where they were. “We needed a
cost-efficient strategy that would get us found, and fast,” he said. Powell,
who serves on MBUSA’s Regional Dealer Advisory Board, said that
while he has 35 years of experience in the car business, the strategy he
devised didn’t come from him being a “car guy,” but by taking a clear-
headed look at what actual consumers did when they bought anything.
Powell used his wife as his “strategy muse.” “No matter what she was
after, she was online, all over the search engines and review sites, and
she always managed to nail the right choice, even if she had to go out
of her way,” he said. “I knew we needed to think like her, and focus
aggressively on our search presence/SEO and our online reviews. About
90 percent of car buyers use search engines, so first they have to find
you, and then you need to answer their main question: ‘Do I want to
do business with you?’” While RBM North’s “online visibility” quest
evolved over the next three years, they flew out of the gate with an 85
percent digital strategy (which has now grown to 90 percent). Their
strategy revolves around two core pillars: have a powerful, first-page
organic search presence, and stand out as the No. 1 consumer choice,
with great online reviews.
getting seo right
Powell had a freshly minted URL, but it was, as he puts it, “on the 400th
page at Google.” He initially bought his way onto the first page through
PPC, and then in 2008 hired one SEO company (and then another), but
met with mediocre results, only achieving 30 percent first-page placement
rates. He ultimately chose eXtéresAUTO to try a more collaborative
SEO approach — and one that cast a far wider geographical optimization
“net,” given that Atlanta metro is more spread out than Massachusetts.
And, given the state of new-vehicle sales, they decided to intensely
optimize pre-owned inventory, service and wholesale parts, with tens of
thousands of make-, model- and city-specific optimizations established
around keywords such as “certified,” “used,” “parts,” “service” and
“repair” across Google, Yahoo! and Bing.
seo impact
Powell reports that their subsequent organic results “reveal why dealers
should never give up on SEO, and why they (who know the market trends
best) should collaborate with providers.” Johnson said that within just
three months they saw “a massive impact on new, used, service and parts
sales, and a huge jump in out-of-state parts and pre-owned business.”
• First-page search engine placement rates skyrocketed from 32
percent in early 2009 to 85 percent today.
• The dealership has had nearly 700 percent growth in Website
traffic: 765 unique visitors monthly before the campaign (Feb. 2009)
to 1,215 by Nov. 2009 to 5,905 by Dec. 2010. Search engines now
drive the lion’s share of their Web traffic (49 percent), followed by
direct-to-site (43 percent) and third-party lead sources (six percent).
tackling online reviews
By early 2009, Powell and Johnson realized that the impact of online
reviews had reached a tipping-point. And they also saw the major
13. competitive opportunity, given the striking disconnect between the instance, when Google Places rolled out in October (a major change in
good customer experience luxury dealers actually provide, and their the way local search results are displayed, giving far more visibility to
often far less positive online reputations. “It had become a far bigger a business’ reviews) Johnson said, “Our dealership’s 220-plus, near-5-
animal,” Johnson said, “and while we were committed to keeping our star reviews now really leap out in local dealer searches at Google, as
online reputation management totally authentic and organically-driven, does our competitors’ complacency. Reviews are all stacked up against
we needed help with the heavy lifting.” They again partnered with each other on the first page, and it’s pretty obvious who I would call.”
eXtéresAUTO, setting in place processes and tools to systematically The upshot: RBM North saw an immediate 30 percent increase in
track, manage and gather reviews. calls from Google/the review sites across the last two months of 2010
(traditionally rotten traffic months for dealers), compared with their
their process summer numbers.
• Let the whole store know how serious this campaign was — and they
“funded the party,” replacing CSI survey bonuses with rewards-per- RBM’s North’s strategy was 100 percent-based on what auto shoppers
positive-review. actually do most (search online) — and what they seek most (the right
• Implement a back-office tool to track all reviews/posts about their dealership, with a great reputation). Despite the nearly absurd challenges
dealership to immediately respond to any unhappy customers. they faced, their SEO and online reputation management campaigns
• Top management personally calls to make it right, following up with ensured they not only survived the recession, but they prospered. And
e-mails linking to sites where posts were made, making it easy for they’ve really put themselves in the pole position today, as search evolves
customers to retract reviews or post new reviews. and online review activity ramps up across the Web and the big auto sites.
• For each new, positive CSI survey and with every visibly satisfied “At the time, the decisions we made weren’t ‘safe,’ but they turned out to
customer (sold/unsold), they politely request a review, following be right,” Powell said. “No marketing strategies have a higher impact, are
up via e-mail templates that make it easy for customers to post by more cost-efficient or deliver a greater ROI.”
including links to targeted review sites.
• Templates are loaded on every sales/service reps’ computer and can For a free, step-by-step playbook on how to implement this proven
be customized and deployed with three clicks. reputation management process at your dealership – and/or a free,
• Rotate review site links to saturate reviews across targeted sites. customized report on whether your dealership is ready for the new
• Don’t aim for all 5-stars or try to remove/rebut negative reviews Google, e-mail or call us at the information below.
publicly online. If negative reviews appear, use templates to gather
positive reviews at those sites to “surround them with love.” For more info on RBM of Atlanta-North, visit www.rbmnorth.com.
• Establish online pages for salespeople to showcase their reviews, and
then train them to use positive reviews to convert prospects. For more information about eXtéresAUTO, contact the director of
• Include reviews in outgoing e-mail signatures, at the Website and dealer training, Merla Turner. She can be contacted at 866.462.6914,
or by e-mail at mturner@autosuccessonline.com.
in marketing.
• Insist on great customer service. Identify anyone less than happy
before they leave the dealership.
reputation management impact
“Our 20-month review push has led to an ever-escalating increase in
phone, Website and e-mail inquiries; walk-in traffic; and closing ratios,
as we’ve blanketed reviews across many sites,” said Peter Leavy, the
dealership’s GSM. The numbers bear this out:
• The number of reviews has grown from 13 before campaign started to
296 (near-5-star) reviews by Dec. 2010.
• There has been 1,000 percent-plus growth in review-site-generated
calls.
• Review-driven customers close 15 points higher than all other leads.
• One-third of review-generated customers specifically ask for
salespeople by name.
• Overall new, used and service business was boosted by 10 to 15
percent.
combined roi:
SEO and reputation management combined have had a dramatic impact
on their bottom-line. “We are by far the newest, most remote store, with
the leanest budget among our competitors,” Powell said, “but because
we’ve established the best search and review presence, we’ve quickly
cornered 10 percent more market share.”
search engines + review sites now drive:
• 500-plus, tracked calls each month.
• 70 percent-plus of their digital business, and 60 percent-plus of
total store business, at only 6 percent of their total digital spend.
google places and developments on the online review front
RBM North’s online visibility campaign helped them thrive over several
of the toughest years the auto business has ever seen. And, in just the last
few months of 2010, there have been a host of rapid-fire developments
on the online review front, from Google Places to Google’s HotPot
(their new location-based review platform) to Edmunds’ new site putting
a huge emphasis on dealer reviews to Cars.com’s announcement that
they’ll unveil dealer reviews this March (putting the muscle of two Super
Bowl commercials behind the launch).
All this means that RBM North’s past, present — and future — hard
work in the review trenches has — and will — pay off even more. For
14. SeanV.Bradley leadership solution what three qualities do you look for
when hiring a new salesperson?
internet sales • Personality, drive and communication skills
PART 3
• Good communication skills, good
20 group personality (reflects on phone calls) and
organization skills
review • Appearance, aggressive in work ethic and
very personable
This month, we’ll finish our look at the and sheriff deputies with their motorcycles, • Personality, appearance and hunger
responses we gathered from our recent, K-9 units and a helicopter. We also had a (willingness/wanting to work/wanting the
successful Internet Sales 20 Group three-day trick or trunk contest where children could sale)
event. 20 Groups are great because they show trick or treat and vote on each vehicle.
real-world situations and real-world solutions.
There are few unique problems; odds are, • Willingness to learn, creativity, and a person
if you had to pick one area for your who follows through and completes projects
someone out there has faced what you’re facing, salespeople to work on for professional
and has figured it out. Reinventing the wheel is on time with the brand in mind
development, what would that be?
a waste; learn from the experience of others. • Phone skills and training • Desire (the will to do what it takes to
steadily perform), professionalism (someone
what are some unusual ways that • Work ethic and self motivation who customers will feel comfortable
you’ve been able to build an identity for
• Listen, listen, listen! with) and attitude (positive attitude lead to
your dealership to separate it from the positive results; negative attitude can be a
competition? • Customer e-mail follow-up, texting and cancer to your team and dealership)
• We engage in a lot of community involvement. social media
We sponsor local sports teams, host annual • Self motivated, coachable and good listener
flu shots through the Red Cross and sponsor a • Learn to drive traffic for themselves, and
scholarship at the local high school. create their own book of business • Personality, good attitude and self-
confidence
• We hosted a child safety and trick or trunk • Willingness to accept the Internet
event with 40 other co-sponsors, which department and the ideas/changes that we Sean V. Bradley is the founder and CEO
brought more than 2,000 people to our would like to implement of Dealer Synergy, a nationally recognized
training and consulting company in the
dealership. We had our local fire department • Time management automotive industry. He can be contacted at
and Northstar ambulance display the “jaws 866.648.7400, or by e-mail at
of life” in action, plus we had local police • Confidence, confidence, confidence sbradley@autosuccessonline.com.
AutoRaptor CRM
•
•
•
14 autosuccessonline.com
16. MarshBuice leadership solution
want to sell
PART 2
more? eat more!
In hopes of improving our sales career, we one table to the next as if they were on ice — Clients like to work with people who do not
recently peered into the world of fine dining making it seem effortless. look like they are standing on a corner waiting
in order to gain an insight of what great for a cab. When negotiating with your clients,
servers do so well to enhance their guest’s Lesson learned: “Deception” in the world of a great consultant should follow the 3 P’s:
evening and to improve their paycheck. We sales can be interpreted as a nasty, negative Prepare, Present and Patience. Preparation
now know that great servers make themselves word, unless put in its proper perspective. is critical when working with a client. An
approachable to their guests, are attentive to Sales is infested with rejection, missed quotas, unprepared sales consultant can be snuffed
their needs and have extensive knowledge product failures and disgruntled clients. A out within seconds. Uninterested clients make
about the foods they are serving. Here are a masterful sales consultant deceives the fact comments like, “We will think about it and
few more lessons sales consultants can learn that, although calamity may be happening all get back to you.” They then take a “three-year
from great servers: around, it must be put in its proper perspective business trip” – always away on business each
by dealing with one issue at a time. If sales time you call to follow up. A made-to-order
be deceptive were easy, you would have never replaced the presentation is presented showing what the
Great servers are masterful deceivers. They person who jumped ship in hopes of finding an client will benefit from your product. If the
make their guests feel exclusive. At their last easier gig. Be grateful that you have the rare first two have been done correctly, a sales
table, no tip was given and the guests left the quality of being able to handle rejections, fight consultant can then display patience by asking
charred remains of crackers and foods strewn through missed quotas, give superior service for the order and silently waiting for an answer.
about by three children who apparently when a product fails and be empathetic toward Great consultants are wave makers; they strike
have never had the privilege of feeling the your frustrated clients. Sales consultants the water (preparation) causing ripples of
leathery, disciplining power of a belt. Great wear many hats. It is not your client’s more waves to reverberate (presentation) and
servers deceive their anger and do not carry responsibility to deal with your personal continue to sell even when nothing is being
their frustrations from one table to the problems, but it is your responsibility to care said at all.
next. Servers act like a host of the Emmy’s, for their needs. Do not let all of the hard work
keeping the atmosphere light, festive and you have worked for hours, days, even months servers are artists
moving. Servers have the ability to glide from get flushed away because you are having a A great server is an artist who uses his unique
bad day. Solutions creativity to show sensitivity and imagination
to problems are to his guests in hopes of making the evening
the mortar in the as unique as a thumbprint. A magical,
building blocks memorable evening creates a relationship and
Phone? of your character
and you must
never take things
has guests coming back for more. My wife
and I have a restaurant we frequent on very
special occasions, but if our favorite server
Smart! personally.
be alive,
is not there, neither are we — she makes the
evening that special. What a great server is to a
restaurant is what a three-wine reduction sauce
not a corpse is to a steak: the missing link.
Loyalty Driver Waiting in a state
of repose is not Lesson learned: You are the award-winning
E-newsletters are what great servers artist of “You.com.” Market yourself in such
now available on do. Servers do not a way that, through selling a superior product
believe in hovering and creating a memorable experience, a
all smartphones over their guests, relationship will be formed. People do not buy
as if working for great products; they buy quality products from
the Secret Service. a great consultant. Relationships trump price
Great servers are every time.
experts of running
a covert operation Congratulations, you have rekindled your
making the guests relationship, brought your pallet out of
Just another way to reach customers on the go. feel alone, but hibernation tasting five-star delicacies, as well
never further than a as put your sales career back on the right tracks
Now that’s smart. Really smart. glance away. toward your quest of being a superior sales
consultant. Eat from the tree of success, be
Lesson Learned: fruitful in your relationships, and multiply your
Innovative E-newsletter Solutions Great consultants sales exponentially.
For more information, visit our website, or give us a call:
should be in a
AutoSuccess.LoyaltyDriver.com | 866-964-6397 constant state of
motion. I teach
my consultants to Marsh Buice is the sales manager of Mark
appear to be busy, Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep. He can be contacted
even if they have at 866.535.5006, or by e-mail at
nothing to do. mbuice@autosuccessonline.com.
16 autosuccessonline.com
IMN-3.6875x4.875-v4.indd 1 9/17/2010 9:47:58 AM
18. DalePollak marketing solution
selling cars is
like popcorn “In other words, if you have the wrong cars and
Many dealers are familiar with the phrase vehicle is on page four and the shopper only
“popcorn cars.” This refers to cars that sell or looks at vehicles on pages one, two and three. poor marketing, bargain basement
“pop” quickly off the lot. The analogy between In this case, your dealership does not get credit pricing will never be enough.
cars and popcorn, however, may have more for an SRP until and unless the shopper looks Similarly, you can have the most
relevance today than ever in the past. at page four, the one that contains your vehicle. desired vehicles and tremendous
If the shopper who looks at page four drills marketing skills, but if the vehicles
The essential ingredients of popcorn are down on your vehicle to see all the photos and
p p.”
kernels, oil and fire. Anyone that has cooked description, then you get credit for a VDP. are overpriced it just won’t
popcorn knows that some kernels pop quickly Keep in mind that on a third-party classified
while others more slowly. When most of the advertising site, nothing of any value occurs
kernels are popped, there are always some left for a dealer until and unless the dealership gets
over that never popped. a VDP view on their vehicle.
Assume that your used vehicles are the Now, consider an example of two vehicles in VDP performance of their inventory. Ironically,
kernels, the oil is your photos and descriptions stock. After 15 days in inventory, the first car SRP and VDP information for every car has
and the fire is your pricing. It’s obvious that has 50 SRP hits and 15 VDP hits. The second been available for a long time on the back end
no matter how hot the flame, you can’t make car has six SRP hits and 0 VDP hits. What does of well-known sites like AutoTrader.com and
popcorn with feed corn or without oil. In this information tell the dealer that wants to Cars.com. Typically however, most used car
other words, if you have the wrong cars and pop these two vehicles off their lot? managers are unaware that this information
poor marketing, bargain basement pricing exists or its relevance to the desired outcome
will never be enough. Similarly, you can have The first vehicle that received 50 SRPs is of moving cars quickly. Such information
the most desired vehicles and tremendous one that is much more sought after than the has traditionally been viewed as merely
marketing skills, but if the vehicles are second vehicle that received only six SRPs. Internet metrics without much relevance to
overpriced it just won’t pop. The reality is, Essentially, the first vehicle is gourmet corn, used vehicle production. In fact, the tracking
like popcorn, you have to have the right cars, while the second vehicle is feed corn. The fact of SRPs and VDPs on a per-vehicle basis
great marketing and proper pricing. that the first vehicle converted SRPs to VDPs is probably the most important used car
at the rate of 30 percent suggests that its photos management metric in the car dealership today.
Today, dealers have access to information that and description are superb and the price is Knowing whether the vehicles in stock are
can help them pop every car perfectly every proper. The fact that the second vehicle didn’t ones that people are searching for, whether
time. This new information is the number of convert any of the SRPs into VDPs suggests the photos and descriptions are differentiating
search result page (SRP) hits and vehicle detail that the marketing and/or pricing is not and whether the current price is right are the
page (VDP) conversions. So what is an SRP right. Put another way, all the ingredients for essential ingredients for used car success.
and a VDP? If an online shopper searches for popping this car off the lot are missing.
a 2009 F150 truck, they may get five pages of Dale Pollak is the founder of vAuto and a
F150 trucks returned. Depending on the site, The question is whether the individual in your best-selling author. He can be contacted
there are usually between 25 and 50 vehicles dealership who is responsible for popping cars at 866.867.9620, or by e-mail at
on a page. Assume that your dealership’s off the lot has any awareness as to the SRP and dpollak@autosuccessonline.com.
18 autosuccessonline.com