“The difference between genius and insanity is paper-thin.” Old Japanese proverb.

There is an inherent truth in that statement. How many times have you said to yourself “That’s crazy!” about something someone did only to find out later that it wasn’t really crazy at all and in fact was genius.

Those Dealerships that are Profitable in their Fixed Ops are not that different from those Dealers that are not Profitable. It’s paper thin actually.

There are hundreds of things you can do but there are 3 that will make an impact almost immediately.

First, get committed to making a change. The Dealerships that are Profitable in Fixed Ops decided that what they were doing was not working. They looked at the results they were achieving and realized it did not meet their expectations.

That is a crucial first Action Step. Make a Commitment to Making a Change. Nothing will happen and nothing will change without this first step.

Second, they got Training. Yes, I am employed by a Fixed Ops Training company. Yes, I come from a background that includes providing Seminars and Training to companies all across the country. Yes, I am biased.  But I’m not wrong.

You can’t argue with results. Every Successful Organization on the Planet we live on has a Training Program. You are a product of Training. Whether it’s a formal education or school of hard knocks, you have been Trained. Your Success to this point can be traced to the Training you received along the way.

Fixed Operation Department Personnel that have been Trained will outperform and out sell an untrained Department every time, no exceptions.

Third, they monitor for results and Coach on performance daily.  And you know what? The employees in that Dealership expect it. They want to know how they are doing. They want the feedback.

The difference between Profitability and Profit Loss is paper-thin. Start by doing these 3 Action Steps and get results.

Related articles

• People say the darnedest things, don't they. (dealerproblog.com)
• It's been 60 days. (dealerproblog.com)

If your dealership would like to receive free training on paid search strategies and opportunities, please join hundreds of automotive professionals for the 2012 Automotive SEM Study.  

To register, join the community page found at:  http://www.AutomotiveSEMStudy.com

The four part online training series will be covering Google Adwords, Facebook Advertising, display advertising, mobile paid search, video pre-roll, retargeting strategies, and promoted videos marketing on YouTube.

Training Schedule

The four webinar series dates are listed below and all run 90 minutes.  Each day from 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm.

• June 19th
• June 25th
• July 3rd
• July 19th

Get everyone from your dealership registered so they can learn the important features and strategies related to paid search.  The popular webinar series is being offered again this summer due to overwhelming demand from attendees who participated last time the series was offered.

Training Leaders

The 2012 SEM Study will be lead by Brian Pasch and Dmitriy Gamarnik and will also feature guest speakers from the paid search industry.  Attendees will receive copies of the Powerpoint slide decks for further study and to apply the concepts and strategies provided in their own dealership.

The Study will be limited to the first 200 dealers who register.  So, what are you waiting for?  Go to http://www.AutomotiveSEMStudy.com and complete your user profile.  Please include an updated profile photo.

If you have any questions on the scope of the webinar series, send an email to:  semwebinars@pcgdigitalmarketing.com 

Lon Safko - Noted CEO, Author of "Extreme Digital Marketing", "The Social Media Bible", "Fusion Marketing" and Marketing Consultant to Fortune 500 Companies Keynotes AutoCon 2012!

The AutoConnections 2012 Conference and Exposition has secured Lon Safko for the event's premiere keynote general session.  Lon is one of the most successful marketing consultants and speakers in the world, a good friend and writes the best marketing books I have ever read.

Lon is an author of remarkable breadth, writing seven innovative best selling books, which have shown corporations how to train managers to think creatively, detailed the secrets of launching a successful on-line business, offered advice to new homeowners on reducing building costs, and related amazing stories about the serendipity of life.

His best selling book with John Wiley & Sons "The Social Media Bible", which hit #1 on Amazon in both their Marketing & Business categories, unlocks the mysteries of the hottest new Internet wave, Social Media, such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube for business. This book is transforming corporate, government, and non-profit marketing strategies and how they use these new media to reach their desired audiences with powerful messages and efficiency and is now in it's third edition, which hit #1 on Amazon in both Business & Marketing categories.

Lon is also a professional blogger for Fast Company, appointed the first Ambassador for SCORE, and the USA Today CEO Advisory Board.

Lon is a professional speaker, wowing audiences in a hundred cities nationwide with his insights into innovation, creativity, and how to be a successful entrepreneur / intrapreneur in this global digital age. Said one executive of First American Title Insurance, "This is the best presentation I've been to in 25 years."  Teledyne said Lon's presentations are "Informative and entertaining, packed with useful information." And the U.S. Postal Service called Lon "Inspiring and Motivational."

Lon also privately coaches Fortune 1,000 companies on harnessing Innovative Thinking and social media strategies... 

Lon S. Safko,

“The FUSION Media Profit”

Amazon #1 Best Selling Book In Both Business & Marketing Categories!

Now in its Third Edition and four languages!

Be sure to watch for my newest “Bestseller”

“The Fusion Marketing Bible”

Google+: gplus.to/lonsafko
Author: “The Social Media Bible”
Lon: www.LonSafko.com
Book:  www.TheSocialMediaBible.com
Content: www.ExtremeDigitalMarketing.com
CEO Advisor to The Business Journal, Tech News World, and USAToday
Professional Blogger at Fast Company
United States Ambassador for SCORE
Second Life: Lon Sands, Pinastri: 215, 8, 21 - http://tr.im/nQCL
Twitter: @lonsafko

I’ve always believed that Internet customers have the same objectives—and objections—as showroom customers: the only difference is the way they choose to contact the dealership.

So it’s interesting to me when I hear from salespeople who have different expectations from their Internet leads than they do from their showroom guests.

Take the classic on-the-lot objection, “I’m not looking,” or “I’m just looking but not buying today.” When a customer visits a showroom and a salesperson hears that phrase, what is the proper response? Get angry? Refuse to help that customer? Pass them off to a co-worker? Of course not. It’s pretty well accepted that “I’m not looking” is code for “don’t pressure me,” and it’s the first objection we train our salespeople to deal with when they start their career.

In such a situation, it’s generally accepted that the salesperson should immediately set the customer at ease. Acknowledge that it’s OK for the customer to just look, and offer to be a resource for them. It doesn’t mean that the customer won’t buy on that visit or that you won’t ask for the sale when the time is right—but they’ve told you the time isn’t right yet. So you work the process, build value in yourself, the dealership and the vehicle of interest, and take them as far as you can during their visit. And if they leave after your best efforts?  Be friendly, offer to help with whatever they need going forward, then follow up, follow up, follow up.

Now, let’s say that a salesperson is sitting at their computer looking at a response from an email sent to an Internet lead. They read “I’m not in the market,” or “I’m just doing research right now, I’m not planning to buy for a while.” The salesperson rolls their eyes, complains that they shouldn’t have gotten the lead, and immediately closes the lead out. That’s the equivalent of a lot drop after the greeting.

Why would they treat that Internet lead any differently than a showroom customer? Here are a few reasons why the response should be the same:

1. Both showroom and Internet customers have to be brought down funnel. A salesperson has to earn the right to ask a customer for the sale.
   
   
2. Both showroom and Internet customers ARE in the market for a vehicle, despite their objections. Why would anyone take the time to visit a dealership or submit an online lead (which does take some time) if they’re not?
   
   
3. Both showroom and Internet customers have the same first-contact conversion rates. NADA estimates that the conversion rate for first-time, walk-in showroom customers is 12-15%. The average dealership’s close rate for Internet leads from all sources combined is 10-15%.
   
   Wait a second, you’re thinking. Any decent salesperson can close 30-40% of showroom ups. Maybe even 50%. But that figure includes prospects from a variety of sources; appointments, referrals, repeat visits and first-time walk-ins, all combined. If a floor salesperson was assigned to first-time walk-ins only, they’d close 12-15%. We know that “the point” is the least-productive place to spend your day, and your planner’s where you make your money.
   
   
4. Appointments set with “be-backs” and Internet customers alike show about the half the time. Of those, most stores close upwards of 50%. Customers who set and show up for appointments are more likely to buy, regardless of whether they first contacted the dealer through the Internet or by walking onto their lot.

When faced with objections from Internet leads, some salespeople tend to give up more quickly than they would with a walk-in. But if they invest the same time and effort as they do with showroom customers, focusing on working the sales process and earning the right, they’ll get results. Make the customer comfortable, offer to be a resource, bring them down funnel, and Internet lead conversion rates will improve.

What tips do you have for the “I’m just looking” or “I’m not in the market” objection? Do you think the same tactics that work in the showroom are successful with Internet leads?

When Google does something, they go BIG! 

We have all had a day to take in the changes that Google made yesterday with the roll-out of Google Local.  This change impacts every business that had a Google Places page and the reviews that were there.  It is important to understand these changes and what this means to your dealership.

This latest change is further evidence that Google is placing a lot of importance on Google Reviews.  Your Review Score will be presented in search results and will be part of that first impression that users have of your dealership.  In addition, your Google Review Score becomes content that Google can incorporate into its search algorithm, impacting where you dealership appears in search results.  If you have not been concerned about your Google Reviews before, this change should heighten your awareness of the importance of managing your Google Reviews, including encouraging customers to provide reviews, delivering awesome service, and responding to reviews when they are posted.

New Reviews Scale

Google is trying to get us to speak a new language as it relates to ratings/ reviews.  They have adopted a new rating scale and scoring system that is based on the Zagat scale, made famous by the Zagat Restaurant Guides that have been around since 1979. This new scale is out of 30 points and is derived from a 3 point rating scale [explanation of Google / Zagat Rating Scale]. 

For all business reviews that had been submitted to a Google Places page in the old 5-star format, those reviews have been converted automatically by Google to the new 3 point scale.  Then all the reviews are averaged together and multiplied by 10 to get an overall rating in the new 30 point scale.  Below is a summary of what the scoring means:

• 26-30 Extraordinary to perfection
• 21-25 Very good to excellent
• 16-20 Good to very good
• 10-15 Fair to good
• 0-9 Poor to fair

Rating Categories

With the Google acquisition of Zagat last year, Google obtained a large amount of content of professional reviews of restaurants, museums, golf courses, and other local businesses.  Now Google is integrating that content into the Google+ Local business pages and giving it to users for free, as well as assimilating user reviews into the overall rating of a business. Link to: AP article on Google Local launch and integration of Zagat content.

Zagat broke down restaurant ratings into Food, Decor, Service and Cost.  Now that these Zagat style ratings are propagating to different types of businesses, Google is adapting the rating categories so they apply to different industries.  For car dealers, when a customer submits a review, he/ she will be asked to rate the dealership on a scale of 0-3 in the following categories: Quality, Appeal, and Service.

More to Come... 

There is a Google Places to Google+ Transition presentation that is attached, which provides some more screen shots and details about the overall transition and how this impacts dealerships.  This data is as of May 31, 2012.  That is important to note because more changes will have likely propagated by June 1, 2012.   

I love to learn from the best and the brightest our industry has to offer! If you are thinking of becoming a sales consultant, New York Times best selling author Gus Cardone will arm you with the skills necessary to become successful; Learn To Lead master Dan Anderson will help you establish foundational principles to lead yourself and others. Prospect king Frank Taylor will show you creative ways to attract more prospects and VIPautosLIVE’s Bill Compton will help you virtually market your message. Don’t forget about Chuck Saraceno and Matt Myers as well as Ronald Paglia, the masterminds who created the automotive social media platforms DealerElite and Automotive Digital Marketing.

Saying Grant (Cardone), Dave (Anderson), Fran (Taylor), Bobby (Compton), Chris (Saraceno), Mike (Meyers), and Ralph’s (Paglia) names wrong won’t warrant me any favors nor will not taking the time to know or pronounce your customers’ names correctly yield you a sale. If you wouldn’t marry your spouse not knowing her name nor insist your newborn remain nameless for years, then why would you begin to write up your customers and say, “What’s your name again?” Your customers aren’t willing to invest in your vehicle, because you are not willing to invest in them-not knowing their name is the ultimate sign.

Who doesn’t love it when your Starbuck’s barista barks out your usual upon seeing you? Having your dry cleaning waiting as you pull through the drive thru is the extra wink. Checking into a hotel and having the guest relations attendant personalize your check-in using your name makes you stand a little taller-even having an email personalized with your name instead of “Dear Valued Customer,” will more likely trigger a response. Customers demand service, but pay a premium for personal service.

94 oz Thirst Busters, 99 cent chicken biscuits, and Get It & Go gas are commodities; $5 premium walnut/ pecan blend java, foie gras, and that $38,000 vehicle are not. Customers don’t need what you have to offer, but you need them to want what you are selling. What’s in a name? Your future…

See you on the blacktop!

Ken Cosgrove couldn’t believe his ears. In no uncertain terms, the president of theJaguar Dealership Association had just offered to cast his vote for Ken’s ad campaign – if he could sleep with the agency’s voluptuous queen bee, Joan Harris. Ken blinked rapidly, visibly unseated by the scandalous request for both bribery and prostitution. “Was that what I think it was?” His associate Pete Campbell bore a similar look of disgust. “Yes…it was.”

Ken grimaced and got up to leave. “Well, we wanted to be in the car business.”

Sunday’s installment of Mad Men, AMC’s award-winning 1960s drama, had a lot to say about the car business – and none of it was good. Don Draper, the show’s main focus and advertising wunderkind, pitched his Jaguar campaign with the tagline, “At last, something beautiful you can truly own.” In an episode largely about trading women like commodities, the slogan seems eerily appropriate. In a dimly-lit diner, one character consoles another: “Car guys are scum.”

Of course, these are fictional characters in a time period free from sexual harassment lawsuits and the poison of negative press. But do “car guys” still carry this old reputation as womanizing predators around with them? Ad Age reports that Jaguar received Sunday’s episode with equal parts of shock and amusement. David Pryor, Jaguar’s VP of brand development, says that “at the end of the day…we’re confident that people know it’s a fictional character.”

The “car guy” is historically one of the most reviled professions in America, right up there with lawyers, telemarketers, and even advertisers – but what has the industry done to distance itself from the demons of its past? Despite a few recent instances of bad publicity, our profession as a whole has completely reinvented itself within the last decade. Car sales is now a business that is completely consumer-oriented – so much so that sites like these exist to discuss how we can improve our customers’ experience not just in physical dealerships but on their websites as well.

I am proud to be a part of outstanding networks like Automotive Digital Marketing, DealerElite, andDrivingSales. On a daily basis, I watch car guys raise industry standards by banding together, sharing advice, and making the Web feel like a true community. With the spirit of partnership and unity found on these forums, I believe that harsh critiques like those in Sunday’s Mad Men will soon be a thing of the past.

_

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If you're doing the SEO for your own auto dealer website, it can be difficult to know where to focus your energy first. Here are the pages you should start optimizing first to get the most bang for your SEO efforts:

Main Navigation Pages: Your home page and those that have direct navigation from your home page (mainly your inventory) should be optimized since they are the ones potential customers are most likely to find.  Also, if people are linking to your site, they are probably linking to your homepage or inventory pages.  Back up these link "votes" by optimizing these pages to help their rank in search engine results.

Your Most Profitable Vehicle Pages: Help potential customers find the vehicles that bring in the most money for your dealership.  Optimizing your more expensive cars and trucks, as well as your service and parts department pages will help interested buyers find these dealership website pages first.

Your Best Performing Pages: Which of your website pages provide your dealership with the most leads, highest time on site, and lowest bounce rate?  Spend some time here to help interested customers find these pages in their search engine results

If you're using a third-party SEO company, or your car dealership website provider is responsible, make sure you ask them which pages they focus the most SEO effort and energy. While each of your dealership website pages need to be optimized for search engines, make sure your SEO provider is paying special attention to the pages that will ultimately help your dealership sell more cars.

What’s the most incredible act of customer service you have ever performed for a customer, and did it inspire their undying loyalty? In this story by Peter Shankman, he recounts how after a long travel day he boarded a plane, tired and hungry. As a joke, he tweeted out to Morton’s steakhouse to please have a Porterhouse waiting for him at the airport when he landed. Of course he was not expecting any response, but guess what? At the airport Morton’s was there, waiting for him with a Porterhouse.

Shoe purveyor Zappos is also well-known for its great customer service. When this blogger’s mother was suffering from health issues and related problems with her feet, she had to return some shoes to Zappos and ended up getting into a long conversation with the customer service agent. The customer service person sent a bouquet of flowers to the mother and gave the mother, daughter and sister VIP memberships. The sister vowed to buy every pair of shoes from Zappos from then on.

And there’s the famous example of Southwest Airlines holding a plane flight for a grandfather who was flying to Denver to see his three-year old grandchild who had been beaten to death by his daughter’s live-in boyfriend, and who was scheduled to be taken off life support that night. When the grandfather arrived at the gate twelve minutes late for his flight he was shocked to find the plane still there. The pilot said, “They can’t go anywhere without me and I wasn’t going anywhere without you.” Cost of delaying flight: who knows and who cares? The knowledge that Southwest did the right thing and the amount of goodwill it created: priceless.

Of course, you don’t have to be a restaurant, retailer or an airline to provide outstanding customer service. Opportunities exist every day in your dealership. When was the last time you dealt with an upset customer or noticed that a customer seemed stressed? What did you do? Did you avoid them, get defensive, or did you ask questions so you would understand their concerns, stresses, problems or fears? Then did you go out of your way to provide a service that was above and beyond what was expected?

We hear many things in Service.

Stand on any Service Drive on any given day and you will hear Customers describe all kinds of noises related their vehicles. The variety of sounds people make describing their vehicle and situation is utterly amazing at times.

And no doubt you will hear conversations between Service Department personnel as they conduct their daily business.  Everything from “When will that part be here?” to discussions about lunch and everything else in between. In Service more words are exchanged on an hourly basis than nearly anyplace else on earth.

But there are things that you will never hear in the Service Department or even in the Dealership.  Here are a few of them.

1. “Don’t take care of the Customer.” Is there ever a situation when you would not take care of your Customer? Maybe…I can’t think of one.  The chances are that 99.9% of the time you will be doing something.  Whether that is driving to their home to deliver a car to making sure that the waiting room coffee pot is full. The first word in your Department’s name is “Service.”
2. “You are doing way too much maintenance work.” We recommend Service and Maintenance because that’s what we are supposed to do. The person doing that job is called the “Service Advisor” not the “Service Guy” or “Service Man/Service Lady” or even “Service Writer.”  The Service Advisor needs to be the most Professionally Trained and Knowledgeable person in the Dealership.  You can’t talk to a Customer intelligently about the vehicle and the maintenance required to keep it functioning as it is designed if all you know how to do is punch letters on a keyboard and say “Have a seat in our waiting room.”
3. “You don’t need to be profitable this month/this year.” Just not going to happen. The Service Department is the heartbeat of the Dealership. Have you ever been to a Dealership where the Service Department was on its last wheezing gasps? That’s a Dealership in trouble because just like a human, you can’t live without a heart.
4. “You can close early every day this week.” Nope, not going to happen either. Service stays open because vehicles break and more importantly Customers need us at to be open. For some people the family car is the one and only thing they have to get them around. For others it is the difference between making it to the doctor’s appointment or not. Service stays open because there isn’t a crystal ball made that can predict when it can be closed.
5. “You don’t need to Train anymore.” There is not one single Successful business, military branch, professional sport, popular band or orchestra that does not Train on a regular and continuous basis. Not one. It’s impossible to put a marketable product, military presence, winning team or great sounding band into the world’s eye without it. Training is the beginning of Profit and the basis of Professionalism. You can’t have one without the other.

Take a listen the next time you walk through the Service Department. You will hear many things. Some of them might even be humorous. But chances are, you won’t hear these 5 things anytime soon.

Search Engine Land Reports: Google Places Is Over, Company Makes Google+ The Center Of Gravity For Local Search
" As of this morning roughly 80 million Google Place pages worldwide have been automatically converted into 80 million Google+ Local pages, according to Google’s Marissa Mayer."

Twitter, an online micro-blogging social networking site, can be a difficult thing to manage for a business profile. However, if you think of it as a cocktail party it might make things easier for you. Don’t be the drunk guy spilling over his words, constantly saying things that don’t make any sense but also, don’t be the person in the corner that holds onto his drink never saying a word. Be the person that is engaging, fun, and the life of the party.

First off, let’s get familiar with Twitter lingo, if you already know this, you can just skip to the next paragraph.

@ = reply or mention

ex. @activengage your last blog post was great!

.@ = allows your tweet to be seen as a broadcast, meaning EVERYONE can see it.

ex. .@activengage your last ebook was awesome!

RT = retweet or in other words, sharing. It has been said that the most effective time to RT is around 5pm.

ex. RT @activengage: Happy #memorialday! Enjoy the day off - and be sure to check out our tribute to vets: livechat.ae/memorday

DM = Direct Message, no one can see this tweet but you and the person you are tweeting to

ex.  DM here is link to Todd's cameo clip from NADA that I plan to use in the upcoming @lead2show video ow.ly/94QdJ

#=  this hashtag symbol is short for a trending topic. On Friday, the trending topic for the day is #FF (Follow Friday) in which you mention fellow Tweeters

ex. #FF TGIF @vickioneill @joe4pres@GeorgeMagda @Toddlearsmith@HookLogic @drivingsales @RalphPaglia

Now that you’ve mastered the Twitter lingo, you might be asking yourself, what do I Tweet? Simply put, you want to Tweet things that add value, not noise, to your followers. A dealership, for example, can Tweet about a new shipment of vehicles that just arrived, special giveaways,  service specials for the week or even some pop culture posts. Below I’ve highlighted some examples of good tweets.

Hendrick Atlanta has a good example of a giveaway:

To make this Tweet even better you can see if there are any trending topics on hashtag.org 
I typed in Dale Jr and noticed a lot of tweets on him as well as the Camaro and autographed. So I would have written this Tweet like this to get the most exposure and chance of being re-tweeted.

Win #DaleJr 2011 #Camaro delivered by #Jr himself. One ticket will win an #autographed prize pack this week! <link>

This Tweet by Charleston Honda has good use of #hashtags

Here Charleston Honda focused on keywords that are trending topics, and in turn, the chance of their tweet being re-tweeted is higher.

Here is a good example of a mention that Rosen Nissan had with a customer:

Not only does this tweet humanize Rosen Nissan as a dealership, but it also has great use of a #hashtag!

Taking notes? I’ll make it easier for you. Let’s review the do’s and don’ts of Twitter for your dealership:

DO

• RT and give props - if your Tweeps (Twitter Users) share something interesting, give them credit.
• Comment
• Share interesting links (ones specific to your audience)
• Ask questions - get your Twitter followers involved!
• Use link-shortening services such as bit.ly  and ow.ly which make it easy to incorporate condensed, trackable links that don’t take up so much of the available 140 characters of space in tweets.
• Check sites like hashtag.org, Monitter , Tweetmeme , and Trendistic to see what’s trending and currently being tweeted the most.
• Respond to a RT, DM, or mention in less than 4 hours.
  • Here is a Tweet, that if it wasn’t quickly responded to, would have been bad news for Chevy:

DON’T

• Tweet nonsense or the same message every hour- it’s annoying.
• TUI (Tweet under the influence). Think of Twitter as living in a glass house, everyone will see what you post, sure you can delete it, but to those who managed to see the tweet before termination, will not forget.
• Tweet about sex, religion, or politics - these topics should be seen as the plague. Be like Switzerland and stay neutral.

Are you ready to Tweet? Wait! Take time to do a little research by listening in on the Twitterverse so that you can get a feel for the conversations taking place and discover the ways your Tweeps  like to interact and engage on Twitter. Twitter has various built-in tools to help you in your research:

• Twitter has a search engine  that produces real-time RSS feeds for the keywords orphrases you enter.
• If you are trying to figure out whom to follow, you can start by connecting with people you already know by importing your email address book. 
• You can also use Twitter’s general “Who To Follow” function which offers suggestions based on those you’realready following.
• And, you can select by topic of interest  when figuring out whom to follow.

Remember, building a Twitter following doesn’t happen overnight, unless you're a celebrity with a substance abuse or criminal record. If you keep at it,   make valuable contributions, add to your stream, respect your community, and show that you’re in it for the common good,  they will come.

I wanted to personally invite you to an upcoming New Jersey Automotive Conference event on June 12th at the Sheraton Hotel in Eatontown, NJ.  I will be presenting a workshop at the NJ Dealer Pit Stop so join me! 

The Dealer Pit Stop is a one day event that will feature 12 workshop sessions hosted by top industry speakers. Rarely are conferences held in New Jersey that attract the best speakers and the most timely subjects. Workshops are design for all members of your dealership team. Breakfast and lunch are included in the registration fee.

Visit the event website with the conference agenda, workshop titles, and details: http://www.dealerpitstop.com 

Dealer Principal and author Tracy Myers presenting a keynote address. In addition to Tracy Myers, you will see that Dealer Pit Stop has subject matter experts on Digital Marketing, Chat, Social Media, Fixed Operations, and CRM/Internet Process.  

Here is the link to the full color conference brochure: http://slidesha.re/KswrjN

The brochure explains additional details on the event including workshops, agenda, and featured speakers.

It is going to be a great day of networking and education and I hope to see you there!    ADM members receive an extra $100 off registration and Dealer Principals can attend for free.  This offer is only for ADM members so get your Dealer Principal to take you to the Dealer Pit Stop. 

Ralph Paglia

Last night several new rollouts were seen in Google+ Local, seeming to merge Google Places accounts into the newest social search display of your Google+ dashboard. Here's what we've seen in our research about the new way search and reviews are changing for Car Dealers for automotive internet marketing on Google.

Do the new changes show in Google Search today?

As of this article's publishing, no. However, we're sure its only a matter of time before the Google+ Local becomes integrated into your standard search engine results page from Google. Where can you find the new Google+ Local Search? Log into your Google+ account. You'll find the new Local button on the left dash.

From there, the Search boxes at the top are broken down into two uses: What you're looking for | Where.

In the following example, we went looking for "jeep dealers" in "Philadelphia, PA". Just like in Google search, the auto complete starts as you begin to type, and its obvious some of the "Categories" from Google Places have made it over to Google+ Local.

What do Google+ Local Search Results Look Like?

From the looks of the new search results, Google has been busy! Immediately we're presented with a new layout of information. You've got your standard Company Name, Address in a lighter color text, then your overall review score, At a Glance terms, and a quote from your most recent review. Photos are a bigger deal taking up a larger portion of the listing.

Even more shocking, where did your star ratings go? Some car dealerships will notice that reviews have been dropped in the transition, something we hope Google notices and fixes in the future. (Read more about reviews below)

While Google has dedicated more room to the first photo of your account, and the new reviews rating system, it has left a lot of the "Where did that come from" information on the listing, namely the "At a glance" terms.

I was fortunate enough to have spoken with some of the Google Places team at a conference earlier this year and I asked them where the "known-for" or At a Glance terms came from. Their response: "even we don't know", its another part of a Google formula most of the Google Places team is not familiar with, or was unable to comment on. My speculation, its from an old patent Google applied for several years ago surrounding actionable or descriptive wording. Type "great customer service" in a review, Google might be grabbing those  descripters after positive or negative indicators.

The map display with pins is nothing new along the right side of search results and the "Key To Ratings" helps describe how the review values have changed.

30 is the new 5! Big Reviews Change for Car Dealers on Google+ Local

There have been many changes in the way review information is handled in Google+ Local. First point of business, they've moved away from the STAR value reviews. Its now apparent Google's acquisition of Zagat several months ago was only the beginning, as  they've rolled out No Stars, but a point scale ranging from Zero to 30. This also brings up the question, will Google move away from displaying Star values in standard SERPs from other sources like Yelp & DealerRater, only time will tell.

Past reviews are there, some have been dropped, but most have made it over. The new 0 to 3 values are a departure from 1 to 5 stars. Perhaps this is an answer to the requests from review writers to be able to give a Zero star rating in the past, so Dealers be warned, no longer can you score a 1, you can be a zero. The overall formula is pretty simple to grasp. Previous reviews are still rated in a conversion of 5 stars now equals 3, averages are made, and then multiplied by 10, rounded and there's your 30 points.

When writing new reviews on Google+ Local, you're prompted for 3 different ratings. As seen in the screen shot above, Google is asking for your feedback based on different "Labels" or areas of review. By default, the systems asks you for a 0 to 3 rating on Quality, Appeal & Service. It appears right now that there are no specific review types for "Car Dealer", so hopefully this will be a change in the future. Even when testing and writing for this article, we found different variations for the "Labels" that were available, first only 5 selections, then by mid-day 7.

Its easy to see that once enough of these new reviews have been created, Google will roll out the individual Label ratings like they do for restaurants; the threshold at which point that will turn on was not apparent in our testing like it is for Places (the star rating turned on when you hit 5 reviews).

Photos, Reviews now pop on Business Listing

The company name is still front and center, but if its more than 33 characters its currently being cut off after character 32 with an ellipsis (...). For some reason, the address is in the listing info twice, once under the company name, and again under About. Fancy new icons represent different parts of the data. Phone number and Toll-Free numbers are displayed but not labeled, and the website URL seems to stand out less. Categories carried over from Google Places, along with the Hours of Business. We'll be watching the "actions" in the Google Places metrics to see how this new layout changes the way customers use the listing.

If you're wondering where all the time you spent picking those 5 key categories went, and now you're only seeing 2 or 3, click on the new Categories terms, and you'll see a list of hidden items, who really knows why they didn't display all by default, there's certainly enough room.

Your standard Description from the old Places listing has been brought over and is now called "From the owner:". The once large, bright red "Write a Review" button has changed to a more soothing white text on light blue. Another more transparent black on white Review button has also been added at the bottom of the page.

Abilities to Google +1, Share (only on Google+ of course) and upload a picture have all been added or moved around, but are in a logical flow as buttons under the Map on the right side of the listing.

Hopefully, the amount of personal data that is now displayed via the Google+ profile when you leave a review will discourage those hit and run negative reviewers.

Claiming and Optimizing your new Google+ Local page

Not much has changed when it comes to claiming your listing, even Google admits this process is the same as it has been.

You're still presented with the old Google Places claim interface asking for verification.

However, from the outside trying to update an unclaimed or claimed listing that is not yours, the editing screen is significantly different, as seen in this screen shot.

You can now select which part of data is incorrect and how it should be corrected. While the old radio buttons are still available a level or two down into the editing screen, there's more specificity to your edit suggestion.

What's a Car Dealer to do now that Google+ Local is taking over Google Places?

Go with the flow. Google is just asking you to do what it feels is best business practices. Claim your account, add a description, photos of the staff & showroom, pick the right default categories, fix your marker, ask for reviews in the service lane and at sales.

Start to focus on social indicators like Google and Bing are now doing. They want a personalized feeling for your customers, and increased engagement with social factors like +1, Shares, Tweets, Links and Likes.

Expect that the next change is just around the corner, and when Google flips the switch you'll need to be on the cutting edge to keep up with automotive internet marketing.

UPDATE! As of May 30th @ 5pm Eastern:
There seems to have been an update to Google Maps searches, but not to Google SERPs for straight search. What we're seeing now is if you do a search in "Maps", it now displays the new Google+ Local review ratings and upon clicking "XX reviews" are brought to the new G+ L listing page. Interesting, we'll see if tomorrow brings us the actual Google Search change.

AutoUSA Internet Solutions is conducting a survey and is inviting auto dealer Internet marketing personnel to participate.

We plan to share the information in a special presentation this October during the 13^th Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition. But we can’t do it without you!

Share your metrics and you will be able to see how you compare with industry averages, and what processes need to be in place to make your Internet sales department a success. All information will remain anonymous. Contact information will only be used to notify you in the event that you win the gift card.

Participants who complete the survey will be entered in a drawing to win a $400 American Express gift card!  Just click on this link to get started with the survey and we thank you for your participation!

Use this link to complete the survey:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/QSHBMXF

Automotive Mobile Marketing Rising Sharply in 2012, Despite the Challenges That Stunt Growth

Automotive Mobile marketing programs and related budget allocations by car companies and dealers are projected to increase in 2012. However, 37% of automotive marketers report that a lack of strategy inhibits their adopting mobile marketing, and 22% cite a lack of resources. Those results are according to [pdf] the “StrongMail Mobile Marketing Survey 2012,” conducted in April 2012, of more than 800 business leaders worldwide.

Car Company and Dealership Mobile websites (70%), mobile applications (55%) and QR codes (49%) are the most popular forms of mobile marketing, but less than half of automotive marketers are currently running any of them.

Of those who are, 57% have only been running them for a year or less. However, the opportunity is not lost with auto industry marketers, as 75% of car companies and auto dealers not currently running programs plan to within a year or more – and of those businesses that are, 70% expect to see their budgets increase over the same time period. The survey results also highlight a real opportunity for automotive marketers to embrace and integrate mobile with email and other digital channels to properly engage automotive consumers at various stages of the vehicle ownership lifecycle.

“With smartphones now accounting for nearly half of all devices in use by mobile users, it is more imperative than ever for automotive digital marketers to adopt and integrate mobile marketing tactics into email and their overall marketing mix,” said Kara Trivunovic, vice president of agency services, StrongMail. “Email marketers who are serious about garnering and maintaining consumer attention in this new era of mobile need more than just a solid strategy; they also need the right tools and resources to execute.”

Retail’s Tablet Influence

Smartphones may account for nearly half of the devices in use by mobile users, but when it comes to actual sales automotive retailers are reporting, tablets outrank smartphones nearly two to one.
According to the 2012 Shop.org/Forrester Research Inc. “State of Retailing Online” survey, tablet and smartphone sales as a percent of retailers’ total web sales in 2011 were 3.2% and 1.5%, respectively. Some 49% of retailers say their average order value via a tablet is now higher than traditional web sales. Nearly three in 10 (28%) retailers say they are seeing about the same average order value from tablets as their website.

“Overall, we expect smartphone shopping adoption rates to stay low but fully believe tablet sales will continue to change how retailers garner the attention of new and current customers,” said Shop.org Executive Director Vicki Cantrell. “With tablet usage marching towards true ubiquity, retailers will continue to plan ahead by examining their customers’ behaviors and shopping patterns.”

Strongmail Survey Highlights

• 45% have adopted mobile marketing; 57% have been doing it for 12 months or less
• 37% cite lack of strategy as top reason for lack of adoption, followed by lack of resources (22%)
• 55% reported increased mobile marketing budgets for past 12 months; only 2% saw a decrease
• 70% expect their budget to increase in the next 12 months
• 43% have integrated email marketing and mobile marketing

Businesses Understand the Benefits of Mobile Marketing

Despite lacking a clearly defined strategy for how to get into the mobile space, respondents were clear about the expected benefits. More than 50% of respondents believed that a mobile program could help them increase sales and acquire new customers, while nearly 50% of respondents say a strong automotive mobile marketing program would increase brand awareness.

Mobile and Email Integration Gains Ground but Lacks Sophistication

Forty three percent (43%) of businesses have achieved some level of integration between their email marketing and mobile marketing programs, but with mobile landing pages (32%), mobile number capture at email sign-up (25%) and mobile optimized templates (22%) being the top areas of focus, progress needs to be made in implementing more sophisticated programs. To that point, only 27% are running cross-channel, life-cycle marketing programs that include mobile messaging. Similarly, only 29% have used mobile response data to optimize offers in email or other channels.

Mobile Marketing Adoption Held Back by Lack of Strategy and Resources

When asked to identify the top obstacle to launching a mobile program, 37% of automotive related businesses cited lack of strategy, followed by a lack of resources at 22%. Mobile marketing budgets also remain a small fraction of overall auto industry interactive budgets, with 54% of car companies and auto dealers allocating 5% or less to mobile programs. Nearly a quarter of all businesses reported less than 1% allocated to mobile. On the positive side, 55% of automotive marketing professionals report increased mobile marketing budgets over the past year.

About the Data: The “StrongMail Mobile Marketing Survey 2012” was conducted in conjunction with Zoomerang. The poll, which gathered feedback from 802 business executives in a wide range of industries, was conducted from April 11 - 23, 2012.

Source: www.MarketingCharts.com

The best time to post content with a link on Twitter is 1 to 3 p.m. EST Monday to Thursday. Over on Facebook, between 1 and 4 p.m. mid-week is the sweet spot, while Tumblr users are more likely to click after 4 p.m. and especially on Fridays. How can these networks be so different?

URL shortening service Bitly has released a series of graphs demonstrating the optimal time and day to post on each of these three social networks.

“By understanding the simple characteristics of each social network, you can publish your content at exactly the right time for it to reach the maximum number of people,” Bitly advises in their blog post announcing the data.

Friday a Dead Zone on Facebook & Twitter, Optimal for Tumblr

Posting a link to Twitter after 3 p.m. on a Friday is pretty much pointless, based on their cumulative data on the number of clicks on bitly links from each social network. Over on Facebook, traffic peaks mid-week, with Friday and weekend posts apt to receive far less attention. Posts between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m. any day of the week are fighting an uphill battle for clicks.

On Tumblr though, Friday is a great time to post, says Bitly. Here, they actually recommend waiting until after 4 p.m. to post.

The traffic peak on Tumblr occurs between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, with Sunday just slightly behind. In fact, posts made after 7 p.m. receive more clicks over 24 hours, on average, than links posted during the week, mid-day. This runs counter to what you see on Facebook and Twitter, thanks to the culture and behavior patterns of each network, they said.

Early Afternoon a Great Posting Time on Twitter & Facebook

Early afternoon from Monday to Thursday are optimal times to post links to Twitter, specifically between 1 and 3 p.m., says Bitly. The peak traffic time runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., but posting later in this window increases the likelihood of content going viral.

On Facebook, links posted between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. get the most clicks, with the absolute peak being Wednesday at 3 p.m.

Bitly’s latest look into time and day posting trends expands upon their September research into the half-life of links posted through Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. In that study, they found that their links have, on average, a 3 hour half-life (the point at which the link has received half of all clicks it will ever receive). See the original post on the half-life of links for specifics on links from each network.

Bitly on understanding their charts: “Day of the week, starting with Monday, is on the Y axis, and hour of the day, starting with midnight, along the X axis. For the first plot in each section, the darker the blue block, the more traffic on average links posted during that hour received in the following 24 hour period of time. White blocks show when links got less traffic.”

Source: http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2173631/When-to-Post-on-Facebook-Twitter-Tumblr-for-Maximum-Effect-Study

(Photo credit: Flickr user XIGLER)

All referrals start with the keyword. A positive SEO strategy understands brand and location, promotes creativity, and is the path to getting you referrals. Last year Cobalt’s Jon Goad discussed the power of keywords on dealer websites (digitalmileage.com). Jon’s strategies are certainly fundamental, but we need a starting point. Keyword research helps us identify and meet the goals of our sites.

Keyword Research Questions to Ask Yourself: Who, What Why, Where?

Keyword research always begins with questions. Ask yourself the following and you’ll find yourself having a much easier time identifying the keywords for your SEO strategy. You’ll also gain valuable insight into who your referrals are.

• Who does your site to serve?
• What are your top products and services?
• Why should customers choose your site?
• Where are you located and where are your potential referrals looking?

A quality SEO strategy is based around the search strategies of the potential customers. When you ask yourself the questions above, always imagine being the customer using the search engine.

The Fifth and Sixth Questions: Other Factors to Consider

• How does your geography get identified?
• Do people know your brand?

After you’ve nailed down the basics to your geography strategy, it’s crucial to think about the culture behind the geography. Consider implementing relevant nicknames and acronyms. Other great geographical identifiers may include counties, regions, metro areas, or, for denser urban areas, neighborhoods.

If you’re stuck, you can always try free keyword research tools available on the web. These can help generate new ideas and validate your strategy.

Free Google Keyword Research Tools:

• Google AdWords (adwords.google.com) –

This tool allows you to find new keyword ideas, estimate traffic for your current or potential keywords, and also identify irrelevant keywords. You can generate ideas based on your current keywords and categories.

• Google Insights (www.google.com/insights/search/) –

This tool allows you to see what phrases people are searching for based on regional interest. It is helpful in identifying new target markets and understanding current search trends for you industry.

Keyword research in any SEO strategy can often feel overwhelming. Indeed, it is a never-ending, experimental process.  After you conduct your research, don’t implement all your keywords at once. Start with the basics, such as your brand and hometown, before moving forward to expand or reduce.

After you’ve implemented the keywords, make sure you monitor them before removing or changing them. Give the keywords time to start ranking well on the search engines. Typically three months will allow the search engines to rank your site, though it might take longer. Often external factors like market changes and other marketing campaigns can affect ranking and traffic. Search engine algorithms updates can also have an effect on keyword performance. Make sure you track how your customers are discovering your site and how you could tweak your strategy using a tool like Google Analytics, and stay up to speed on the technology by following SEO blogs. There are always more options for your strategy than you can initially implement, and many more for you to discover along the way. By matching the effects of external factors with your internal keyword optimization, you can ensure your site is reaching its potential. At the end of the day, the most important part is staying on top of the keywords you’ve chosen and the strategy you’ve decided.

Yeah, you know the Road to the Sale (RTTS) like the back of your hand, right?  Do you also know the Road to the Sale From the Sale?  Or the Road to the Sale from the Unsold?

And do you train your staff on any of this?  Even if you like a shorter RTTS, take a look below and see what you are missing!

This post is short and sweet, because sometimes the best things are simple.  Good selling!

Keith Shetterly
Copyright 2012 All Rights Reserved
www.keithshetterly.com keithshetterly@gmail.com 

TEN STEPS ON THE ROAD TO THE SALE

1. Meet and Greet 

2. Interview 

3. Vehicle Selection 

4. Walk-Around 

5. Test Drive 

6. Trade Evaluation 

7. Present Numbers and Ask for the Sale 

8. Close 

9. F&I Turn 

10. Delivery and Service Drive Intro

FIVE MORE STEPS ON THE ROAD TO THE SALE FROM THE SALE

1. Ask for Referrals at Delivery 

2. Ask for Online Review at Delivery 

3. Make a Properly-Timed CSI Reminder Call (New Vehicle Sales Only) 

4. Follow-up at Six Weeks and Mine the Household 

5. Follow-up every six months AND Birthdays/Anniversaries and Mine the Household 

FIVE MORE STEPS ON THE ROAD TO THE SALE FROM THE UNSOLD

1. Follow-Up Objection-Isolating Call From Manager/3rd Party ASAP the Customer Leaves the Lot

2. Follow-Up BeBack Call Next Day From the Salesperson

3. Follow-Up Beback Call EVERY Friday From the Salesperson for a MONTH

4. Put Customer on Monthly eMail Newsletter

5. Follow-Up Beback call EVERY Mid-Month for Four Months

Dealers don't get many opportunities to attend powerful automotive conferences in New Jersey.  Why the Garden State is ignored, it is hard to tell.  However, on June 12th, East Coast dealers will have a chance to send their team to a one day conference with 12 relevant workshops.

Here is the conference brochure:  NJ Pit Stop Brochure

Here are the workshops that we will be offered at the Dealer Pit Stop in Eatontown, NJ on June 12th.

9:45 am Workshops

• Effective SEO Strategies & Why Google+ Is A Powerful New Marketing Friend – Matt O’Such
• How To Identify and Correct All Profit Leaks on Your Website – Brian Pasch
• How To Credibly Build Hundreds of Reviews on Google Places – Glenn Pasch

11:00 am Workshops

• Video Marketing and SEO Tips for Google, Yahoo, and Bing – AJ LeBlanc
• Bulls, Owls, Lambs, Tigers - How to Incorporate Personality Selling into Your email Templates – Julie Chisum
• How To Leverage All Current Google Adwords Strategies – (Display, Mobile, Retargeting) – Devin Jones & Brian Pasch 

1:30 pm Workshops

• Optimizing Your CRM + ILM Systems – Julie Chisum
• Exploding Website Conversion – Benchmarking & Converting 50% of Your Website Visitors – Dave Page
• How to Use Objective Data to Create Performance Plans and Compensation Models for Dealership Employees - Ralph Paglia 

2:45 pm Workshops

• Benchmark and Measure The ROI Of All Your Marketing Investments – Brian Pasch
• Gorilla Marketing Strategies & Google Adwords Tactics To Crush Your Competition – Ralph Paglia 
• Fixed Operations Software & Strategies To Increase Appointments and Profits – Dave Page 

Affordable Admission

The conference is very affordable, a dealer can send three employees for less than $1,000.  Breakfast and lunch is also provided, so what are you waiting for?  Register online at:  http://www.dealerpitstop.com

Hi All,

I collaborated on the following Edmunds’ article. I think the ADM membership may find it very interesting and helpful. A dynamic has developed into search queries on Edmunds, and the broader web, where customers who are holding on to cars much longer than in years past, are increasingly searching for service advice on their aging vehicles, many out of warranty. Coming from a sales background myself, I may have been somewhat dismissive of service SEO/SEM and even service contacts in the past, today, it’s a BIG mistake. There are MANY opportunities to engage with customers and win business if handled properly. -- Johnny G

Turning Service Into Sales

By Aaron Lewis & John Giamalvo

The cars on America's roads are older today than ever before. A recent study by Polk found that the average age of registered cars in the U.S. is almost 11 years old. The average car owner, meanwhile, holds on to his or her vehicles for more than six years — well past standard warranties for most cars.

But as vehicles are growing older, they're developing more and more ailments, and in a down economy, that is driving consumers to be more proactive in how they service their vehicles. The Wall Street Journal reports that searches on Google for terms like "auto repair how to" and "how to change spark plugs" have surge since the financial crisis hit in September 2008. Of course, there are still many fixes that most car owners simply cannot perform on their own. According to Edmunds.com's internal monthly statistics, visits to our site's repair shop pages have grown almost six times faster than the growth of visits to the homepage since the beginning of the year. And reports on Edmunds.com's participating dealers show more service inquiries and engagement on Dealer Service Reviews than ever before.

The influx of vehicle repairs presents dealers with more opportunities to engage car owners in their local communities. Edmunds.com identifies some tips and best practices for dealers to build and maintain connections with their customers, and improve their chances to turn services into sales.

GET 'EM TO THE GARAGE

The first step to building and reinforcing the relationship with customers is securing that all-important face time - and that requires drawing them to your service shop in the first place. A recent survey by Consumer Reports found that most car owners prefer independent shops over dealerships for their repair and maintenance work. The primary reason for that is cost, since dealerships are more likely to use factory parts than aftermarket parts.

And that's where service discounts can be helpful. Ads or online specials for oil changes, tire rotations, brake inspections and general tune-ups are all good ideas to entice drivers for services, even when their vehicles are running smoothly. Franchise loyalty discounts can also keep customers from choosing not only local independent shops, but also competing dealerships in the area.

EARLY BIRD GETS THE WORM

Many customers bring their cars in for services early in morning, and that creates lines of drivers with time to kill. Smart service advisors and salesmen can work these early-morning lines to engage drivers and learn about how long they've owned their vehicles and some of the issues and problems they might be having with those cars. This gives dealerships the opportunity to inform drivers about extended warranty programs (more on this later), parts discounts, and trade-in valuations.

GET GOOD INTEL

Service advisors can get a jump on car owners with scheduled maintenance appointments by doing their research ahead of time. Advisors can access customer and vehicle history and understand the issues ahead of time. This allows them to be prepared with specific information and pitches before the vehicle even arrives at the shop. So, if an advisor knows that an incoming customer has just six months left on a current lease, then they might be interested in some of the current "pull-ahead" promotions that are available.

WHO NEEDS A NEW CAR?

It might be tempting to try to convert as many service customers as possible into new car buyers. But not every visit to the service bay is an invite to bull rush drivers into buying a new car. Customers are easily turned off by overly aggressive tactics that try to get them into a new vehicle when they just aren't ready, and that sort of behavior can damage a dealer's reputation through reviews and word of mouth.

But there are two situations when it may well be in the consumer's best interest to trade up for a new car:

The current vehicle has a relatively high market value on the used car market , and, in turn, could likely command a higher appraisal at trade-in.

The current vehicle has been diagnosed with major repairs that approach or exceed its market value.

Service advisors can quickly and easily show car owners how much their vehicles are worth through Edmunds.com's car appraisal tool or through the Edmunds.com iPhone and iPad app. Edmunds.com's True Market Value® (TMV®) reflects the average price that consumers are paying for similar vehicles in the area, and offers a fair price for both buyers and dealers.

LOAN 'EM A KEEPER

If a customer is bringing in a vehicle for lengthy repairs, then offering a loaner is a great opportunity to get him or her to try out a vehicle that makes sense as a next new car. The most obvious options are to offer the same vehicle in the most recent model year or even a similar vehicle in a slightly higher class. But if the driver pulls up a sedan with child seats and toys clogging up the backseat, this could be a good time to get him or her to consider the space and convenience of an SUV or minivan.

LOYALTY REWARDS

Many customers are unaware of the loyalty programs and incentives that are available at most franchise dealerships, so it's a good practice to make sure they know that these programs exist during their service visits. And while car buyers will decide whether to stick with a brand for many reasons (not the least of which is the quality of customer service over the life of their car), it never hurts for them to know that a little extra cash incentive awaits them.

EXTENDED WARRANTIES

Everyone knows better health habits, advances in technology, and better health insurance all contribute to people living longer, but do they know that those same principles hold true for cars? Factory and aftermarket extended warranties can stretch major repair coverage in vehicles for many more miles and years than ever before. Dealers should explore these options with their service customers to win — and keep — their business.

Edmunds.com is available to help all participants in its Direct Dealer Program to build their businesses and maintain best practices. Find out more by contacting 1-855-EDMUNDS or dealersupport@edmunds.com.

I believe most of us understand and acknowledge the increasingly significant relevance of social media in our industry.Unfortunately, the buzz can lure us into overlooking the use of potent traditional social networks. We ignore them at great risk.

Social media that incorporate these overlooked social networks are more inclusive than efforts that simply solicit consumers to “like” the dealership on Facebook, “follow” it on Twitter or submit a favorable Google review about their dealership experience.

Dealership social media must also incorporate the basic social network of our business, the Road to the Sale.

As we travel this road with customers, every step presents opportunity to win fans and likes. We capture positive impressions each time we handle correctly the meet-and-greet, walkaround and demo drive and turnover.

When we fail to deliver a great Road to the Sale experience, we often fail to capitalize on the social marketing opportunities each step along it presents. When we poorly execute these steps, we risk creating unfavorable impressions about our professionalism, knowledge and care for the customer. Misstep here and we create the most destructive kind of social media for an auto dealership, negative word of mouth.

Because this risk can be so damaging to our social standing, more social media marketing dollars and effort might better be spent shoring up this neglected network. As evidence, 71% of those who walked from a dealership without buying did not receive basic Road to the Sale steps, reported the Unsold Research Call Center last year, which had interviewed 250,000 customers from more than 250 dealerships across the U.S. As a reminder, the Road to the Sale consists of:

1.         The product presentation

2.         The demo drive

3.         The service introduction and walk

4.         The manager TO interview

Work these steps properly with customers and you’ll create “likes” and “fans” that convert to higher CSI scores and positive word of mouth.

Finally, no social media effort is complete without attention paid to another overlooked social network, how staff engages with others when outside the dealership.  Encourage your team to engage these overlooked networks as they go about their day:

• The Community: Whether volunteering or joining a civic group like Rotary, ever encounter is a potential customer. Gain fans and likes through interaction in activities of mutual interest.
• The Neighbors: Being neighborly is a hard these days. Be intentional about getting to know your neighbors. Make the effort to socialize as you observe them out and about. Neighbors need cars and car services too. Let them know who you are.
• Lure ‘Likes’: Do you like the face staring back in the mirror? Is yours a friendly, warm face?  Never forget that people form an opinion of anyone they meet within seconds of that first encounter. Be sure you put your best foot forward, in your appearance, manners and enthusiasm. This isn’t just your meet-and-greet persona; people watch you throughout the day. Be sure they always see the example you want to set for yourself and your dealership.

I’m all for social media as a marketing tool for building community and affinity for the dealership. I am likewise adamant that the most meaningful social interaction takes place foremost in the showroom, and with the neighbors, friends and family.  

Let’s be sure we leverage any social medium right, including those often overlooked. When we do, true social engagement will mean the most value for your dealership, both short and long term.

Recently I started to talk more about blogger outreach with dealers to test the waters on how effective it would work in the automotive industry.

Blogger outreach means developing strong online relationships with key influencers in your market and having them promote your business through their blog or social media channels.

This isn't anything new. Every social media specialist talks about it.

But what I'm proposing is to take it a step further through blogger outreach. Dashboards such as BlogDash or communities like BlogHer and BlogWorld allow you to get both the social and the search benefits of a blogger turning into your new brand ambassador.

Have you thought about having a blogger come into your dealership and film them test driving your cars?

How about "hire" them as an employee for the day and they blog about their experiences trying to learn the ropes (think "Undercover Boss" TV show)?

Or maybe you can lend them a car for the weekend and have them blog about all the crazy places they took the car - road trips, soccer games or maybe a drive-in movie theatre?

Last night I tweeted at @WhitforBrit - an award-winning blogger I follow regularly - and told her that I liked her eyeglasses she wore in a video. She tweeted back where she got them, and the business then immediately sent me a link to the glasses she bought.

How would you like to have those experiences every week, or maybe even every day?

In my speaker proposal for AutoCon2012, I'm going to propose a workshop just on Blogger Outreach. This isn't for social media newbies, this is for those looking to take their own blog and social media profiles to the next level for the ultimate digital marketing search and social strategy.

I'm talking about real bloggers with real connections in your market. After all, it's not just about the amount of links you get but also links coming from different sources.

To spice up my workshop, I'll even be attending BlogWorld in NYC and working with bloggers directly to learn how they want to be contacted, when they want to be contacted, and how these current relationships are working for both sides.

Look for my video in the next coming weeks and be sure to tell Ralph Paglia and Carrie Hemphillwhether or not you'd be interested in learning more about Blogger Outreach.

If you are planning on attending the AutoConnections Conference and Exposition at the Aria Hotel City Center Las Vegas from September 5th through September 8th, 2012, then we want to feature you in a video.

We need you to make a video of yourself saying so! This video can be made with a cell phone, a Flipcam or whatever device you have at your disposal.  Your clip will be used to market and promote AutoCon 2012 and help make the event the best in the industry… Because the video will be so short, they can be emailed to Carrie Hemphill and Ralph Paglia. Send the video files to rpaglia@gmail.com and carrie@pcgmailer.com - Here is the word track we are looking for:

“…My name is [your name] and I am the [title] at [business name] in [city, state]. (pause) You can connect with me at AutoCon 2012 in Las Vegas…”

The entire clip should be no more than 15 seconds and will be used as part of a compilation video promoting dealer attendance at AutoCon 2012. 

We will make you a bigger star than you already are!

Ralph Paglia
President
Automotive Media Partners, LLC
C. 505-301-6369
rpaglia@gmail.com

Carrie Hemphill
Managing Director 
First Class Educators
O. 732.734.6993
C. 908.601.6475
carrie@pcgmailer.com

Registration

Does your car dealership sell have more than one location?  If so, big news from Google Places.  In the past, it was difficult and cumbersome to create and manage more than one Places account.  To help their users, Google Places has created a new Bulk Listing Management Tool.

This new tool allows your dealership to edit one or more listing, search your listings (filtering by specific info or by listing with errors), and upload new listings from a data file or individually.

Google also created this video to help users become verified to bulk uploads.

Once your account is verified, the following video gives more information on how you can use the Google Places Bulk Listing Management Tool.

If you don’t manage your Google Places account, check with the person or company (maybe your auto dealer website provider) that does to ensure everything is properly optimized.

For more than 100 years, PepsiCo.and Coca-Cola have waged one of the fiercest corporate brand wars in the history of marketing. The two soft drink companies have long vied for the top spot in the global market for brown, fizzy, sugar water. Some consumers claim they can taste a difference between the two colas (and maybe they can), while others see soda as a commodity (and simply buy the cheapest option) – but shoppers actually choose their soft drink brand because of something much deeper than price or taste.

In an environment where the price of two similar products is identical, a brand’s identity can be the driving force behind a purchase decision. Buyers form serious relationships with brands, and some of these bonds are just as strong as those that we form with other people. That might sound a little far-fetched, but think about it: Whether you own a PC or a Mac, you probably have some kind of opinion of Apple computers, simply because you are familiar with the brand’s personality. Love it or hate it, you know the characteristics of the Apple image – as if the company was a living, breathing human being.

Consumers have similar attachments to almost every product imaginable – including something as simple as soda. Coca-Cola has formed an image as the essential American product – their ad campaigns generally depict a survey of Americana or the festivity of a traditional Christmas. Coke regularly releases “retro” editions of older product lines, such as the iconic glass bottle and the experimental New Coke flavor. Pepsi, on the other hand, has struggled to find itself, and has often been forced to follow Coke’s leadership (see Pepsi’s Coke-inspired callback of old-school, cane sugar soda). The soda pop has never had a consistent brand identity of its own.
But Pepsi may have found a formula that works for them. The company seems to have recently realized that if Coke is “timeless,” then Pepsi can be “timely,” as the modern, edgy cola brand. The new Pepsi “Live for Now” campaign features plaid hipsters living life to the fullest as Nikki Minaj croons her hit “Moment 4 Life.” While this branding strategy isn’t the most original concept, it stands in stark contrast with Coca-Cola’s antiquated Santa Claus.

Leonard Buchholz posted about the subject of advertising earlier this week on an ADM blog. This excellent post exposes how poor customer service can completely eliminate the benefits of advertising, but we disagree on one small point: Leonard opines that “customers don’t make a connection with an ad.” However, I believe that a vast majority of consumer relationships are developed through marketing campaigns – before the customer ever purchases.

Auto dealers should constantly be asking themselves, “What kind of personality do I want my store to have? Who are we?” Your shoppers form relationships with you long before they meet you – through your marketing campaigns, from something a friend told them, or from your website – and these impressions collectively make up your brand identity. Can you describe your dealership’s personality?
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Stephen is a social media specialist at ActivEngage, Inc. – the most trusted name in automotive live chat. Stay on top of our team’s marketing insights by subscribing to our blog.

Have you ever blown up a balloon and then just let it go and listen to the sound it makes? If you have children or a crazy Uncle Lenny, chances are you've heard this noise before. It is so distinctive that once you've heard it, you are not likely to forget it the rest of your life.

I've heard this same noise in my head many times in the service drive right after an Advisor says something he or she shouldn't have. In our business there are many things that must happen to make sure that the Customer has a great experience.

And it all starts with a person to person interaction. This “point of no return “occurs when the Advisor opens his/her mouth and says…______________.

In the past few years I have heard some things come out of the Advisors mouth that were, quite frankly, ridiculous, stupid and condescending. Here are a few that sounded bad (think balloon noise) when I heard them and still sound bad along with a list of alternatives that you might consider using.

• “We can’t take you today/tomorrow/etc.” or “You’ll have to make an appointment.”
• “Can you come back tomorrow, I’m afraid we’ve overbooked.”
• “We don’t offer __________.”
• “We don’t do____________.”
• “We don’t take those coupons” or “Those are too old for me to use.”
• “What’s your name (Bud, Chief, Boss, Miss)?” or “Wow. That’s a strange way of spelling your name.”
• “Is that your mug shot?” referring to a Customers  driver’s license
• “Don’t stand there. You are blocking my light/view etc.”
• “Can I help you?”
• “Do you have an appointment?”
• “Man, your car looks bad. What’dja do…run it into a ditch?”
• “No.”

I can’t make these up folks. I have heard this and many more on the service drive from Advisors who thought they were being cute, funny, friendly…whatever. In some cases, doesn’t it sound like they just didn’t care? Yeah, it sounded like that to me too.

Let me ask you this. When you say these things out loud, how do they sound to you?

When you hear them in your own voice, does it make you want to stay and do business or does it make you want to reach over the counter, grab that silly Advisor by both ears and ask them “Hey, are these broken? Because what you just said to me, your Customer, did not sound so good just now. Let me say it back to you and you tell me what you think.”

Here are the alternatives.

• “Mr./Ms. Customer, I can work your vehicle into the repair rotation and give you a report late today or possibly tomorrow. Would that work with your schedule?”
• “Mr./Ms. Customer, I can work your vehicle into the repair rotation and get it back to you tomorrow. Does that work with your schedule?
• “Mr./Ms. Customer, here is a list of services we provide to all of our Customers. In order for me to take care of _______, I would need to send it to another specialty repair facility that handles these types of repairs. Would you like for me to take care of it or is this something you would like to do?”
• “Mr./Ms. Customer, this is one of the very few services we don’t provide, however, I have made a list of someone locally that does this type of service, and I’ve taken the liberty of calling them and advising them that you will be in contact soon.”
• “Mr./Ms. Customer, these coupons are from a previous campaign and they have expired. What I can do is____________.”
• “Hello, my name is __________, and yours is?”
• “Thanks for providing a license for me to copy the information from. It makes things easier.”
• “It’s going to take me a minute to complete the paperwork. Would you like a cup of coffee or a seat while you are waiting?”
• “Hello, my name is ________ and I can help you.”
• “What brings you into the Dealership today?”
• “We can take a look at your vehicle. Let’s get started on the paperwork.”
• “Yes” or “Let me see what I can do.”

It’s not that hard. It’s just common sense and common courtesy. Just take a second and think before you open your mouth to say something. That extra second or two is the difference between sounding Professional and sounding  ridiculous, stupid or condescending. Don't make balloon noises.

Professionals know that effective verbal communication is the key to high CSI and repeat business.

Check out this great blog by Andrew Pasternak our SEM Director, as he tells us what's next in search engine marketing.

Anyone who is a real techno-geek about this stuff knows that there are two primary types of ads you can run through Google: text ads on the search network, and display ads on the display network.

Traditional text-based ads can only be run alongside unpaid organic search result listings on Google.com or other websites they partner with. The only images you will ever see on these pages are for related images or videos. But, in general, these are not display ads.

Display ads (often referred to as banner or image ads) show up on other websites across the Internet that provide content users are interested in. These “destination sites” partner with ad networks, like Google, to auction off space for advertisers to display their ads.

While there is far more to know about the intricacies and nuances of both search network ads and display network ads than this overview, they remain significantly different.

Until…

I stumbled upon this:

“What is that image and blurb to the right side of my search engine results,” I thought to myself? There seemed to be no mention of it anywhere online; until, digging through the depths of pages inside Google’s brain I came across this- the answer, which we will all soon become familiar with.

It’s called Knowledge Graph, a feature being rolled out to Google.com users over the next few days. I suggest checking out the video that can be found using the link above, since really only Google could explain a concept like this. If I had to take a stab at it, though, I would say it’s an intricate web of related things and places (similar to six degrees of separation) designed to make it easier for us to find things we are seeking but can’t seem to find the search terms that trigger our desired results.

Be on the look out for Knowledge Graph on your Google.com page in the next few days, and see for yourself the possibilities for your ad campaigns that this new Google feature can bring.