Your Store on Social-PCG Pitstop 7-16-11
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Managing and integrating Social Media into your dealership's daily operation is your formula for generating leads. Kathi Kruse shares her secrets that attract eager, qualified leads to your dealership.
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Your Store on Social-PCG Pitstop 7-16-11
- 1. Your Store on Social More Leads Through Social Media Integration Kathi Kruse Kruse Control Inc. @kathikruse
- 3. “I don’t like talking to a screen. I like face-to-face.”
- 5. Targeted marketing & relationship building is how we succeed at selling cars today.
- 7. Car shoppers spend 11 hours online researching their next purchase. AutoTrader/Polk Car Buying Study June 2011
- 8. Social Media = Word of Mouth ...Digitized
- 9. What’s Driving These Changes?
- 10. Baby Boomers rejected conformity. Today’s generation rejects pretense.
- 11. Born into a world of hype, their BS-detectors are highly sensitive and calibrated with Social feedback.
- 12. Consequently.... Tried & true selling methods that worked as recently as 2 years ago work less well today.
- 13. “Biggest” & “Best” mean nothing when your friends say otherwise.
- 14. Today’s customer doesn’t just buy what you sell...they buy WHO YOU ARE.
- 15. Social meets the customer where they are & preps them to buy. Relationship = Trust = Sales
- 16. The Social Shift: Daily Operations
- 17. #1: Re-allocate advertising dollars to Social Media
- 18. #2: Wake up to your Social Community
- 19. #3: Your Staff = “Brand Advocates”
- 20. Social Media: Managed & Integrated
- 21. 2-Step Approach: >Build Fans >Turn Fans into Leads
- 22. There is no short cut to trust.
- 23. Social Media: Managed & Integrated
- 24. Success: Integration with daily operations
- 25. KEY: Get Buy In from “Brand Advocates”
- 26. 7-Steps to Integration: Train Frontline personnel Signage Tell your stories Tap into your “Brand Advocates” Motivate, recognize & reward Customers & Vendors Video Testimonials
- 27. Social Media Policy: No Need to Freak Out
- 29. Where From Here? Give Kathi your business card for today’s free info &slideshare.
- 30. Kathi Kruse kathi@krusecontrolinc.com 714.251.6440 Facebook: kathikruse Twitter: @kathikruse LinkedIn: krusecontrol .
Editor's Notes
- I’ve spent my life in the car business. Joke: An older guy working out in a gym spotted a sweet young thing. He asked the trainer that was nearby, “What machine in here should I use to impress that sweet young thing over there?” The trainer looked him up and down and said, “I would try the ATM in the Lobby.” Today’s “sweet young things” are internet car shoppers. We’ll talk about their buying habits and what influences them tonight.Car shoppers have money in their pockets & they’re ready to buy. They’re not impressed with advertising hype. Tonight we’ll find that the “ATM in the Lobby” is called Social Media.
- Pre-recession things were wonderful. I’ve always loved the fun of the car business. “Have fun, sell cars, make money”Social Media is fun too. Sure it’s about business, sales, and profit but it’s also fun. We make connections with friends & customers we’d otherwise never meet. When I sold cars, I always looked at my customers as my friends. Today, Social Media is the tool to keep those connections updated and in-touch.
- Someone said this to me the other day...and I totally get it.Post-recession, the internet has changed everything. A shift has happened for the consumer. They’re more savvy.Technology has shifted where people look for trustworthy information. Today’s dealerships compete with the internet for believability. When we use words like “amazing”, “fantastic” and “spectacular” in traditional advertising, those words are translated into “blah, blah and blah”. The real reason we’re moving away from traditional advertising is because it doesn’t work anymore.
- Your customers are looking for good, trustworthy information and feedback.Give them quality information and YOU are who they’ll interact with. When they feel comfortable with you and believe you, they buy from you.Your potential customer is looking for you right now.They’re looking for you on Facebook, for instance, and if you don’t have a Facebook page to welcome them and interact with them it’s the equivalent of customer walking on the lot and no oneupping them.
- Targeted marketing & relationship building is how we succeed at selling cars today. SEO, PPC, Facebook Ads target your buyer with precision.They’re better than traditional advertising to reach car buyers.When you use targeting marketing in tandem with Social Media, it generates leads & builds lasting sales relationships.
- AutoTrader & Polk just released a study. The MOST Influential source leading to the dealership is the Internet. What’s the 2nd? A Referral from friends and family—word of mouth. Bottom Line: Your online marketing has the potential to influence 77% of car shoppers decisions.
- Car Shoppers spend 11 hours online researching their next purchase. They visit the manufacturer’s site for specs.They visit your site to look at inventory.They go to 3rd Party sites like Social networks to talk about it with their friends. When word of mouth is the #2 most influential way customers buy, Social Media is word of mouth. Social Media is where buying decisions happen.
- Social Media is word of mouth...digitized.It facilitates the speedy delivery of referring buyers to your store.There’s a buzz about you, just like any social situation...people talk.What’s new about the buzz is that Social Media amps it and puts it all out there for the world to see.
- What’s driving the changes in the way customers purchase?It was started by a generational preference.
- Where Baby Boomers rejected conformity, today’s generation of buyer rejects pretense.They’re connected, clever and highly-perceptive.
- Gen Y-ers were born into a world of hype.Their BS-detectors are highly sensitive & calibrated with Social feedback.
- Consequently...Tried & true selling methods that worked as recently as 2 years ago work less well today.We have to step up our game and build a community where savvy shoppers want to buy from us.
- Social Media connects us all. We can talk about how we’re the best place to buy but our marketing message better deliver all that we promise.Claims of “Biggest” & “Best” mean nothing when your customers have friends who tell them otherwise. The new trend in decisions-to-purchase is alignment.It’s shared values and shared perspectives between buyers and dealers.
- Today’s customer doesn’t just buy what you sell...they buy who you ARE.
- Social Media allows you to meet the customer where they are.You reach them on their network, start conversations around your store and prep them to buy. It’s about building relationships, establishing trust & converting leads to sales.It takes a very focused effort that involves your whole store.
- The question is...How do we handle the operational changes to make our Social Media marketing a success?What are the shifts we need to make?
- First, re-allocation of advertising dollars to Social Media. It’s OK: Ford spends 25% of their ad budget on Social. We’ll talk soon about the Social Media marketing 2-step process and it’s effectiveness at generating leads.You’ll see why advertising expense should be re-purposed to support managing it. Social Media IS more labor-intensive but it’s still much cheaper than cable ads and billboards.
- Second: Wake up to your Social Community. Often I have potential clients say “I’m not on Social Media”. That’s a misconception: If you’ve sold more than 5 cars, you’re on Social Media. Even if you think you aren’t, one of those Buyers is talking about you on their network.Conversations are happening on Social Networks, including ratings sites, with or without you.
- Third: Your staff are your Brand Advocates. Engaging your staff in the Social Media process increases your chances of success ten-fold. In your current daily operations, each employee has their responsibility, the job they perform, that adds to the success of the bottom line. Now it’s just a matter of tapping into your workforce to participate inyour marketing and sales goals.
- Whether you do it in-house or outsource, the management of Social Media must include a go-to person in the store. Communication between your fans and your store is vital. Internal communication is just as important. Having a responsible person, your social leader, ensures it’s done timely and accurately. Even outsourced, Social Media is not a “launch it and leave” proposition. You’re still on the hook because it’s your brand & your fans. Nobody has a greater stake in your money and brand reputation than you.
- Social Media = FacebookCreate awareness of your store’s Facebook presence with a 2-step approach. Build Fans with:Welcome page with Reveal Tab (Fangate)Something to entice them to like your page: Contest, enter-to-winCall to ActionLead Generation Form to capture any leads immediately.Facebook AdsTurn Fans into Leads with:Engaging content that’s relevant, recent and local.Balanced content: 80% targeted content—20% “selling” content (specials)Share or solve...don’t shill.
- There is no short cut to trust.Engaging fans and building trusted relationships takes time. Social Media is a new way of marketing for the car business. Step 1: Capture leads immediately by getting traction with Facebook Ads. Step 2: Once the visitor likesyour page—you now havepermission to market to them.Engage them with content that matters to them.It could be a week, a month or more: over time your compelling content develops that trust. THEN They think of you when it’s time to buy.That’s your 2-step process.
- Integrating Social Media in the course of daily operations is a challenge. There are specific processes make integration successful.
- Your success with Social is knowing what those specific processes are and implementing them in each department.The first place to start is your frontline personnel.Sales people & Service Writers—they’re the most pivotal because they are who your Social customer meets in real life.
- The ultimate goal of your Social campaigns is to get a steadystream of fans/followers to market to. Leads are generated from a consistent message. Getting grassroots participation from your staff is critical. The frontline people are first but it really takes your whole team’s participation. I’ve developed 7 Steps or tactics to help you integrate Social Media into your operation.
- Train front-line personnel on how to ask customers to “Like” our Facebook page and follow you on Twitter - Salespeople, Cashier, Service Advisors, F&I, even office staff. Encourage your front-line personnel to create their own Facebook page. It’s a simple way for them to stay engaged with their customers & market to them.2. Signage. Display “Find Us On Facebook” signs throughout the store. F&I, Sales Offices, All Entry Doors, Waiting Room, Service Advisor offices. Anywhere the customer’s eyeballs are. Add reminders on the Repair Orders and Counter Tickets. “Follow Us on Facebook (logo) for weekly specials and contests” 3. There are stories everyday to be told. Managers and employees can email your “community manager” with stories they’ve been part of: sold a car to a great family, new products that are cool, service specials, any positive experiences with customers. Stories evoke emotion and that’s the best kind of content. You can spotlight a customer too! It makes them feel important and they share that with others.4. Tap into your Brand Advocates: Create awareness with all staff by adding memos to paychecks, signs in the lunchroom, etc. Ask the staff that are already on Facebook to “like” the store and then have them show the other staff members how to do it – even if it that means showing them how to sign up for Facebook. After that, they can ask their network to “like” the store’s page. The more involved the staff gets on Social Media the sooner it will become part of their daily routine, just like CSI did.Motivate, recognize & reward: Run a contest among the staff. Recognize staff members who get new Fans with a spiff-$ or with recognition. Create a “Fan-ilicious” board in the customer waiting area where the employee's name is recognized. Hold a gift card or cash drawing for the whole store. Customers & Vendors: -Email marketing -Enlist the Parts Dept to ask their Wholesale Parts customers to like your page. Return the favor if they have a Facebook page—it’s a fantastic opportunity to cross-promote. -Office to compile a list of your vendors. When it's slow, they can contact those vendors (with a script) to ask if they’d become Fans. Offer to reciprocate for the vendor’s Facebook page. Video Testimonials. Video is the single most popular thing shared on FB. Communicate that value to your sales and service frontline people. The first few are always the hardest. As time goes on, they’ll develop a mindset especially when they see others doing it. Of course not all customers are enthusiastic so it takes good communication and motivation from management. Reward: Sales/Weekend: Give a spiff to the salesperson that’s able to obtain the first video of the day or weekend or week.Service: Give a spiff to the Service Advisor or Cashier who’s able to obtain the first video of the week. Monthly: Have a contest to award the best video of the month.
- For those in the room wondering about employees’ access to Social Media, I look at it like this: They are already on Social Media at work. They have their laptops and smartphones and it’s a fact. Embracing that fact is the first step. Next, as with everything else that comes with involving employees in specific processes, you’ll need an established policy. I’ve created a Social Media policy that works quite well. It’s an aggregate of 4 others, including Cisco Systems and John Boggs. It’s yours FREE for being here tonight.I’ll be right over there so see me after and give me your card so I can email it to you.
- After 3 decades in the car business and the worst recession in my lifetime, I’m excited about the fun and the new wave of buyers Social Media draws into dealerships. We have an opportunity to create a bond with customers that’s never been available before.To manage Social Media means to embrace a very lucrative tool, a tool that drives business to your store.It’s about creating a community of sustained relationships. Community members buy from each other. Theysupport each other.Your Brand Advocates make the difference. Tap into that source to celebrate your store and foster the community.Create great word of mouth, generate leads and build lasting sales relationships. Or, you can go to that ATM machine in the lobby and hope there’s enough left to keep going the old fashioned way…