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8. SusanGivens marketing solution
CHECKERED FLAG ACHIEVES 190
PERCENT INCREASE IN ROs AND 25
PERCENT INCREASE IN MARKET SHARE
Checkered Flag Toyota has dramatically potential lifetime value by targeting
improved its business by improving its consumers who historically have had
marketing and communication strategies. a higher probability of buying and
“The best customer you can ever find is the returning for service. The dealership
one you already have,” said Tim Rayfield, discovered that sales from customers
General Manager of Checkered Flag Toyota. who drive long distances to buy a
Checkered Flag has increased their sales vehicle at the dealership often have
and service business by implementing a lower gross profits and a low retention
targeted one-to-one marketing strategy that rate for service and repeat sales. On
targets what they consider to be the “perfect the contrary, customers who live in
prospects” in their market. Checkered Flags “perfect market”
not only have a higher probability
Since ad budgets have tightened up, dealers of doing business now but spend
have shifted from expensive mass marketing more and are more loyal. As a
to more cost-effective targeted marketing that result, the consumers who live in
generates better returns. Checkered Flag started the dealers “perfect market” have a
by defining the perfect market and prospects higher probability of closing for a
to target. The perfect market was defined by larger dollar amount and they have a
aggregating the dealership’s sales and service much higher lifetime value because of their to extend their warranty and service their
history over the last five years combined with loyalty to service and sales. Based on these vehicle or to upgrade into a newer vehicle for
multiple consumer databases to identify where statistics, dealerships are asking themselves a similar or lower payment.”
90 percent of their business has come from in if it makes sense to give a better deal to a
the past. “There are approximately 1.5 million local customer who has a higher lifetime Checkered Flag has also elevated their brand
consumers in the Virginia Beach market but value than a customer who comes from far image by paying more attention to what they
only 60,800 have the statistical probability of away and generates less long-term revenue. put in front of their best customers. “We had
buying or servicing a Toyota from Checkered “Some sales managers get excited when they multiple companies contacting our customers
Flag,” said Budd Blackburn, the founder of a sell a customer from another city or state, but and sometimes the production value of the
targeted marketing company that works with they really should be celebrating the local creative had the potential of hurting our
Checkered Flag. “Checkered Flag has done customers that will come back to them to brand,” said Rayfield. “Today we make sure
well because they market to the consumers buy and service more often and pay more per that everything we send to our customer
who have the highest statistical probability of visit,” said Blackburn. base is top notch and builds our brand image
doing business with their dealership and that at every touch point. Our materials have a
are less expensive to reach.” Checkered Flag Toyota not only targets higher-end look and feel that builds trust and
the right customer but they also speak to credibility with our customers, and it gets
“Since we know where most of our them the right way. The dealership sends better responses.”
customers live we target those areas,” customized messaging to each customer
said Rayfield. “We send custom e-mails based on what they need at the time. “We Checkered Flag’s holistic communication
and mailers to in-market consumers who used to spend too much money sending too strategy is helping them attract, sell, service
live in those areas and drive Toyotas or many campaigns to our customers from and retain more customers for less cost
conquest vehicles that have a high historical different departments, and it confused our than traditional mass marketing. Rayfield
crossover percentage and the response rates customers and cost too much,” said Rayfield. summarized it best when he said, “It works
are fantastic. Our goal is to reach in-market “For example, in the past a customer with a because we are marketing more effectively
consumers before our competitors, so we three-year-old Camry could receive e-mails to customers who have a higher probability
take them out of the market before they buy and mailers from sales, service, finance of buying and servicing more with our
elsewhere. We are also picking up a lot of and the manufacturer. Now we send one dealership.”
great one-owner trade-ins for a lot less than campaign that promotes multiple profit
we would pay at auction, which has helped centers by customizing the message to what
our certified pre-owned business.” our customer needs at the time. Now our Susan Givens is the publisher of
customer who drives a three-year-old Camry AutoSuccess. She can be contacted at
Checkered Flag also markets more receives one targeted e-mail and mailer that 877.818.6620, or by e-mail at
aggressively to consumers who have a higher has custom offers that give them options sgivens1@autosuccessonline.com.
08 autosuccessonline.com
9.
10. SteveBrazill leadership solution
READY OR NOT
What may be done at any time will be done at people have time to think — not rush — and without seeing plans and projections for new
no time. it’s early enough in 2010 that you can plan, and used unit sales. That process of multiple
— Scottish proverb have inventory and marketing in place before iterations allows them to conspire for success
the holiday crunch, then launch on January 2. by multiplying their insights and leveraging
We are already into the final quarter of 2010, their talents off each other. That can’t happen
and a new year lies in ambush ahead, ready to Your October statement is also an excellent if you compress the process into one or two
pounce upon all who approach it unprepared. planning tool. Consider this: quick sessions in November or December. You
Have you thought about it yet? It’s time. • It contains 83 percent of a full year of data can’t afford to give away days in early January
on your operation, and the two months it’s without compromising the entire month and
This is the time to plan for the success you
missing are among the months least likely you can’t afford to compromise January
expect to enjoy in 2011. Are there company-
to be representative of your normal market. without damaging the entire year.
wide goals, objectives, conditions, restrictions
• Because it contains 10 months of data,
or other considerations department heads must
the year-to-date totals can be converted It’s been said that good management
factor into their plans for 2011? If so, this
to average month reference points at a doesn’t solve problems; it anticipates them.
is the time to communicate that before they
glance. Your year-to-date P&A sales total Beginnings are fragile times and the strength
begin crunching numbers. Hint: You can’t
of $2,272,412 is easily seen to be a monthly with which your department or dealership
communicate expectations until you have
average of $227,241, for example. enters 2011 will depend on how aggressively
developed them yourself.
you prepare now.
If you fail to give your people enough time to By starting now, you enable your team to
digest your expectations, you deny them the prepare a draft forecast, share it with each Steve Brazill is the chair of automotive
opportunity to fully apply their talents. other, revise it, meet again, polish and improve marketing for Northwood University,
it. Your parts manager can’t plan for next Texas Campus. He can be contacted at
October is a good month in which to hold year without seeing the service manager’s 866.861.1515, or by e-mail at
sbrazill@autosuccessonline.com.
preliminary planning meetings and to forecast, and the service manager can’t plan
communicate expectations to staff. Your for new vehicle inspections and reconditioning
10 autosuccessonline.com
11. Hansel Auto Group
used inventory turn
100% increase
14
7
Before
Before
fore
Before After
After
After
vAuto
vAuto
vAuto vAut
vAuto
vAuto
How did we top four generations of
success in our used vehicle operations?
We applied the power of the
vAuto franchise ... the results
speak for themselves.
— Justin Hansel, Vice President
Hansel Auto Group
Santa Rosa, California
Beyond the leading-edge technology. Beyond the exclusive features. Beyond the data-driven
insight. For a select set of dealers nationwide, vAuto has become much more. It has become
all the power and the privilege of a franchise — refocused on used car operations.
License to proprietary software proven to drive profitability. Access to the Velocity
Management™ playbook and coaches. Entrance to a community of like-minded, highly
successful dealers. Contact with customers predisposed to buying from you. It’s
“the franchise”— reinvented for today’s used car market. vAuto is The Franchise 2.0.
Get a live demo today. Visit www.vAuto.com/nextfranchise or call 888-365-1032.
12. The world of online auto sales is ever-changing and requires the best dealer’s site has to be attractive to draw the customer in and keep
tools and partners to succeed. Dealerships need the ability to turn on a them engaged, but it also has to function properly. In other words,
dime and make immediate changes to be both reactive and proactive in the interface has to be intuitive and easy to use. We’re able to do this
maximizing the effectiveness of their online marketing. AutoSuccess because everyone at DealerFire is pro-active in their field of expertise.
Publisher Susan Givens recently sat down with Eric Hoopman, owner That means keeping up with industry trends, being leaders in research
and founder of DealerFire to discuss how dealers can dominate their and development, and bringing new tools and enhancements to clients in
online world and increase their sales. a timely fashion.
AutoSuccess: How did you get started building Web sites? AS: Can you describe some enhancements
Eric Hoopman: I started at NetObjects, one of the first Web software that dealers need today?
firms and, most famously, the developer of NetObjects Fusion, one of EH: Dealers need the ability to edit and customize their own title
the most powerful and well-known Web design applications. At the and meta tags. We give our dealers this power using our exclusive
time, NetObjects was an IBM subsidiary, having been acquired by Big Ignite management system. This system is custom-built to give
Blue for an investment of $100 million in 1997. Eventually, it became dealers user-friendly access to the tools they need to manage every
apparent that there was a staggering need for custom Web sites. That aspect of their Web site.
led me to strike out on my own with Neleven.
AS: What about SEO?
AS: What led you to build the DealerFire platform? EH: Dealers need to take SEO very seriously. All of our URLs are
EH: Our first client in the automotive marketing industry was from reworked to be 100 percent user and search engine friendly. No one
Texas. While working on that and related projects, it became evident should be using URLs that are hard to understand, much less type
just how difficult it is to properly search engine optimize (SEO) a in. This will help dealers rank higher in search engine results pages
template-based site. To address this need, we began work on a custom (SERPs) because both humans and spiders utilize these URLs more
Web site platform, aiming to provide a better solution for dealers, and effectively. Spiders, for instance, crawl these pages more efficiently
one that would lend itself to bringing much better SEO capability for and index them more accurately, and that helps dealership pages
the automotive marketing industry. In fact, we’ve been focusing on appear much more consistently in relevant search results — and that
this industry ever since, aiming to perfect our platform and extend leads to more traffic.
our services and capabilities. And it has paid off — we won a 2009
Automotive Search Marketing Architecture (ASMA) Award in 2009. AS: What types of hurdles do dealers
encounter when trying to track their online marketing?
It starts with form and function. A EH: We sometimes run into a situation in which a dealer has worked
with us to develop and deploy their site, but uses an ad agency to run
their marketing services, like AdWords or PPC. In that
situation, a dealer might have trouble installing analytics
or conversion tracking code, for example. It is important
that dealers have the power to easily place a conversion
tracking code or Google Analytics UA code into their
site. It should be as easy as copy and paste for the dealer.
Once they have pasted the code into the correct place, it
takes only a single click to save that configuration and
start tracking their site’s performance. Ultimately, we want
to make it easy for our clients to get the results they need
using our tools, even if they use another provider for some
of their business needs. But I want to stress: Our services
to clients run through the full gamut of capabilities.
We ensure proper use of alt tags, for instance. We
host sites in the cloud to maximize site speed and
performance. Our sites are engineered to ensure
one-click navigation and we provide custom
forms and goal tracking — anything a client
13. needs to make sure their site performs beyond their wildest expectations. everyone is with a customer or
unavailable. Support needs to be real
AS: The technology sounds formidable; time. We do not do support tickets;
how can a dealer stand out? we do personal. I make sure that our
EH: We recognize and focus on design and customization. At customers can call us and speak to someone whenever they want
DealerFire, we are committed to always providing our dealers with without waiting on hold for a long time. If a customer needs a change
100 percent custom design for every Web site we build. We understand or tweak to their Web site, they need to be able to simply e-mail what
that each dealer has unique needs and we recognize the value of a they want to our support team and, in most cases, we respond within
strong brand in today’s automotive marketplace. Knowing that, we a few hours (although it’s often faster than that). This way, the issue
never use a stock template or a cookie-cutter design. We make sure is addressed and solved as quickly as possible. We then go back each
that each client’s site is completely customized to their specific need. week or month and see if we can find support requests that are similar
We believe this is crucially important for branding and marketing and then, based upon that data, we will tweak or make changes to the
because it helps the dealer stick out in the consumer’s mind by being system so that all of our clients can benefit from each other — almost
different and having a unique look and feel. like an open-source model. When you send in a support request, you’re
really sending in a vote or request for a system change or update. It
We also focus on providing custom tools and solutions designed works well, and our clients love it because we are constantly updating
to meet specific needs. In one case, a dealer needed to be able to features for them every month.
sell vehicles at wholesale or auction within their 20 rooftop group
before spending the additional time and manpower sending it to AS: How important is it for dealers to be able
the auction. We met that dealer’s unique need by building a custom to take some control of their Web sites on their
auction platform, similar to eBay. own, so they can react to market forces more quickly?
EH: With an emphasis being placed on dealerships getting proper
AS: How do you help dealers stay on the cutting edge? SEO for their Web sites, we have listened to what the consumers want;
EH: Dealers need a Web site that is fresh and up to date. We do we can now offer end-user meta tags and title tags management right
not have product development life cycles like most companies. We in the Ignite management system that we provide to our dealers, so
approach our product with a real-time update and support system that that they can tweak their site immediately based on what they see in
“rolls with the punches.” This is really what dealers should look for in their selling environment. We empower our dealers to achieve the
a provider. The Internet changes at an almost impossible speed to keep success they want by not limiting the availability of specific tools and
up with; if we locked ourselves into a 12- or 18-month development functions, as some providers do. We have a very open concept, and we
cycle, our clients would get updates that are already outdated or on the love to help our dealers increase ROI in any way possible.
verge of being outdated.
AS: How do you see this industry evolving?
AS: How can dealers keep up with EH: It’s an exciting time for the industry. The automotive world is
the continuously changing online world? evolving and buyers are moving away from nationwide third-party
EH: If there is some ground-breaking change in the way people sites and manufacturer brands. We know buyers first shop online —
search or shop online, dealers need to have access to new features but what is coming is a change to where they go online to shop. More
and new technology as quickly as possible. With access to new tools and more car buyers are bypassing the third-party and manufacturer
and technology, dealers can enjoy market advantage and market sites and are going straight to their local dealer’s Web site. For the
dominance. We start work on building technology to implement dealer, this means the pressure is on to deploy a fully modern site with
change or to adjust to change immediately. Usually, this results in top-flight SEO and competitive features. If you are a dealer, and your
some of the fastest turnaround times in the industry for product provider does not offer the types of search engine friendly Web sites
features and enhancements. and customizations you need, you are missing out on a fast-growing
market of Internet shoppers.
AS: Why is support so important to dealerships?
EH: Support in any industry is extremely important, but even more so
in automotive sales. The cost of inventory is higher, so the opportunity
cost of inventory being inaccurate or incomplete is higher, as well. For more information about Eric Hoopman, founder and owner
Dealers don’t want to open a support ticket and wait for someone of DealerFire, contact him at 866.406.8374, or by e-mail at
to pass it on to someone else and eventually get a call back when ehoopman@autosuccessonline.com.
14. JoeAbraham leadership solution
OPTIMIZE YOUR
PART 2
MARKETING
Last month, I started to describe a marketing toward social buying. That has opened
S P A
plan that was easy enough to use without the door for marketing companies to C E
paying a consultant all your profits to make now come in and sell “social media U R C V
O L A
it work. I call it S.P.A.C.E., a marketing services” (which, in my opinion, is a S C N
funnel that works for virtually any business total oxymoron). S I
TRAFFIC P P
O G
E
at any time — no consultants needed. The E
concept was a funnel that starts out with your Listen, a dealership that really E E U L
N N I
target audience (“Suspects”) and narrows it understands it’s brand, target audience C C S
down to people who are ready to talk to you (Suspects) and value proposition does T T T T
(“Prospects”). not need to spend countless thousands T
of dollars doing what the competition
Once you have a Prospect, the next step is does. Consumers are going back to basics.
to make them a first-time buyer — we call They are buying where they feel the most identified your dealership’s biggest fans (ask
them “Accounts.” This is a Prospect who has connected and “taken care” of. Focus on your sales team and service writers for help),
reached into their pocket and pulled out at that, like the folks at Marquardt Buick and then go to step two.
least a dollar to hand you in exchange for a Pontiac in Barrington, IL. They aren’t the
vehicle, part or service. This step is less about flashiest dealer in town. They don’t do TV Step two is to profile those Evangelists. What
marketing and much more about selling. The commercials or massive colorful ads that do they have in common? What makes them
quality, morale and professionalism of your cost a hundred grand. During the heyday of tick? Is there some golden thread you can
sales process and salespeople will determine the auto industry, they didn’t rake it in as pull through all of them that starts to show a
how many Prospects turn into Accounts. much as other dealers did. But during this pattern of the type of person who becomes a
tight economy, they didn’t lose their shirts, fanatical fan of your dealership?
Once you have an Account, the next step is to either. They are still thriving. That is because
turn that first-time buyer into a repeat buyer. they focused on targeting the right Suspects. I think you see where I am going with this
We call those “Clients.” I think we can agree Then they used optimized marketing to one....
that the result of moving first-time buyers get those Suspects to raise their hand and
to Clients is critical, because this is where become Prospects. When that happened, If you do Step two correctly, you will have
profits really kick in. When you look at the they treated those Prospects well and took the perfect answer to the first question I
amount of money it takes to find Suspects, care of them. Some became Accounts. Most asked you in this article. “Who is the person
convert them to Prospects, go through the Accounts became Clients. A big majority of and situation for which your dealership is
sales and follow up process to make them Clients also entered the final category in the always the best choice?” The biggest “aha!”
an Account — then pay selling costs and S.P.A.C.E. funnel. moments I get to have with business owners
commissions and cover overhead — we’re and management teams is when we go full
fortunate if we break even on that initial sale. The final category in the funnel is when circle through this process and truly define
The profits come when that same Account Clients turn into “Evangelists.” I don’t have who they are here to serve.
buys again and again and again. to explain this one much, do I? We all know
who the Evangelist is. They are our fanatical Do this process within your team and I can
So take a look at your business development fans who can’t stop talking about us. Every assure you that you’ll end up cutting your
engine and ask what systems are in place to business has Evangelists. It’s just that you and marketing spend by 25 percent (or more)
move someone from first-time buyer to repeat I just wish we had more of them. Well, there and end up with better-quality leads, happier
buyer without someone “remembering to do it.” is something that you can do about it. Most (and wealthier) salespeople and lots of
businesses sit back and wait for Evangelists Evangelist Clients.
I do have a bone to pick with marketing to appear. Great businesses like Apple and
companies that sell dealerships all kinds Google invest in, and build Evangelists. I commend this exercise to you for the
of automated marketing machines — from It is part of their strategic plan. There are benefit of your dealership.
e-mail autoresponder messaging to direct steps they engage in to make sure a certain
Joe Abraham is the founder of the BOSI
mail and telemarketing. I guess to a certain percentage of Clients turn into Evangelists. Performance Institute. You can contact
extent, those things do work. But there him at 866.461.5751, or by e-mail at
has got to be something better than that. One simple step you can deploy right now is jabraham@autosuccessonline.com.
Consumers today are tuning out old-school, to identify who your Evangelists are. Most
in-your-face
in your face marketing and moving more don’t
dealerships don t really know. Once you have
14 autosuccessonline.com
15.
16. DrakeBaerresen leadership solution
TUNE UP YOUR TEAM TO
TURN UP THE SALES EVENT
Event-oriented advertising is the best way to 1. Get Psyched up a fun spiff or game and, of course, spiff
sell a month’s worth of deals in a matter of It is important to get the entire store psyched salespeople on sales. Have both daily spiffs
days. Event sales allow a dealership to turn up for a successful sale. Managers must and a cumulative team spiff based upon the
a slow month into a record-breaking gross make their salespeople and the entire staff total units sold goal. The idea is to make
profit win for the whole store. Effective sales understand and believe in the concept it fun. The more fun you have, the more
events can drive hundreds of prospective of a sales event and that it is a big deal. excitement your customers will feel and the
buyers to a dealership in a short amount of Everyone in the store must be excited — this more vehicles you will sell. For managers,
time, such as a four- or five-day event. When excitement will rub off on the customers. The spiff on gross profit. A daily spiff structure
an event is done right, the needle can be perception that the sales event is a big deal that works well is to start the manager’s spiff
moved significantly. can be one of the most influential factors that at an easily attainable gross profit and then
make the difference between a sales event increase the spiff with every $5K of gross
While thousands of run-it-yourself (un- and a great sales event. profit thereafter.
staffed) sales events are performed across
the United States every week, dealers and 2. Selection! Selection! Selection! 4. Knowing is Half the Battle
managers often find themselves focusing on Just as “location, location, location” is Effective event advertisements will
what they are going to do during the event, critical in real estate, selection is of equal dramatically help bring the perception of the
rather than what we are going to do before importance in retail auto sales. During a sales big sale to prospective buyers. The message
the event. Not preparing a store and staff event, prospective buyers will be looking and the marketing will bring in the customers.
for the event is like a doctor attempting to for a range of vehicles from inexpensive Be sure your people know the message in
do surgery without anesthesia — you don’t to high line. Just as customers expect to the marketing. The wonderful once-in-a-
want to be on that operating table. There are have 31 flavor choices at Baskin-Robbins, lifetime opportunity the customers feel will
five simple steps that a dealership can take to so should the dealership’s inventory reflect disappear immediately when the salesperson
make their sales event very fruitful. many choices and trim levels. Sales events doesn’t know the details of the sale. Don’t
can entail a sizable pull the rug out from under your successful
investment to bring sales event. Discuss the marketing with
customers onto everyone involved. Be absolutely sure that
the lot. Secure your salespeople vigorously study all of the
the investment advertisements for your event. Use sales, BDC
by having a great and receptionist scripts. Give salespeople the
selection of high- opportunity to learn the script and speak it
demand vehicles. naturally to the prospective buyer. This way,
everything that the prospective buyers sees
3. Put Out an and hears ties in with the sales event.
Extra Carrot
For salespeople, 5. Communication
spiffs are a great Last, but not least, always keep open
and inexpensive communication between management
way to amp up and salespeople before, during and after
the deliveries at the sale. Many problems begin with bad
your event. You communication. However, most solutions
have already spent begin with open communication.
thousands or tens
of thousands on Utilizing the preceding steps can drastically
marketing. The help tune up your team to turn your sales event
marketing will in to a big win. Sales events require energy,
bring them in. The excitement and focus. Before the event begins,
salespeople will be it is best to alleviate any potential hang ups by
the ones to send having a well-prepared dealership.
them home in new
vehicles. Invest in E-mail or call me for your free copy of our
your success with Easy Sales Guide.
spiffs. Little spiffs
can go a long way.
Spiff salespeople
Drake Baerresen is the vice-president of
on every guest sales and marketing at Turn-Key Events. He
that is converted can be contacted at 866.900.7714, or by
to a demo. Make e-mail at drakeb@autosuccesonline.com.
16 autosuccessonline.com
17.
18. JimRadogna leadership solution
YOUR CUSTOMER’S
PERCEPTION IS REALITY
I get it. It’s tough out there. Customer access “If a customer is willing to pay more than the then I find out that the ‘one owner’ was Hertz
to information on the Internet continues to ad price, I’m not going to talk him out of it.” Rent-a Car! Why did you lie to me? I still
squeeze margins. Dealerships are just trying Customer Perception — “It’s ridiculous might have bought another car from you if you
to make a buck in a fiercely competitive that you have multiple prices. Why is it that had told me the truth.”
marketplace. You have to do whatever it takes you advertise one price on the Internet and a
to stay ahead of the competition. different price on the lot? Why must I have “I’ll over-allow on the trade to make them
to try to negotiate down to the price that you happy; just close them at this payment.”
I also get that some may view compliance as have already advertised? I want a fair deal and Customer Perception — “You told me you
unnecessary, overrated, annoying, a waste of don’t want to be treated like an idiot if I fail to would pay off my trade then I found out
time and money, and downright harmful to turn over every rock to find your ‘best’ price.” you added thousands to the price of the car I
profitability. These are the perceptions and, as bought. I would have sold the car myself if I
they say, perception is reality. “The only reason we advertise those loss knew you were going to charge me more.”
leaders is to get people on the lot. No way am
Some employees may be tempted to step I going to sell a car and lose money.” “We need get rid of those grounded demos.”
over the line ethically when trying to make a Customer Perception — “I tried to buy a car Customer Perception – “I was told that the
deal. After all, the chances of getting caught at the price you advertised in the paper and car I bought was new and had a full factory
are pretty slim, right? That’s one way of you told me that the ad was a mistake and the warranty. When I asked why it had 7,000
looking at it. Another way is to ask yourself real price is higher. I don’t believe that for a miles on it, I was told that the manager drove it
what’s really more important in the long second.” back and forth to work. Then I found out that a
run: flying under the radar or satisfying your good portion of the warranty was used up.”
customers? In my view, when it comes to “We need to close the customer at the highest
compliance and ethical behavior, the true payment possible so we can make some money.” “If a customer asks about that painted fender,
payoff is customer satisfaction and retention. Customer Perception — “You told me that just say it was key-scratched and repaired.”
It really comes down to one simple premise: the service contract and other accessories were Customer Perception – “When I asked you if
Your customer’s perception is the only reality included, but when I read my contract I see the car have ever been in an accident, you said
that should matter. that you charged me thousands more.” it hadn’t. Then my neighbor, who runs a body
shop, checked out the car and told me tells me
“We have to advertise aggressively and “This customer is credit-challenged; she’s that it’s been wrecked.”
do whatever it takes to drive traffic to the lucky to get approved at all.”
dealership.” Customer Perception — “You told me that “Let’s just roll the deal. Once they fall in love
Customer Perception — “I hate the way the bank wouldn’t finance me unless I pay a with the car and show it to all of their friends,
you advertise. Why is it that the deal is never higher price for the car and I buy a service they’ll re-write at a higher payment.”
what it seems? Like when you advertise a car contract to ‘protect the loan.’ I’m willing to Customer Perception – “You told me my
for $7,000 and when I get there I find out that pay a higher interest rate, but I don’t think it’s loan was approved, and then you called me
the $7,000 is only the up-front payment for fair that I have to pay more for the car, too.” back and told me that I need to put more
a pre-paid lease and the residual is $11,000. money down and agree to a higher payment or
Why can’t you just advertise the real price “Your customer’s debt-to-income ratio sucks. you’ll take the car back. I wouldn’t have taken
with no tricks?” We need to give him a raise and hope the bank the car if I knew this was going to happen.”
doesn’t stip for income.”
“Customers make ridiculously low offers. If Customer Perception — “You lied about my This article is intended as food for thought.
we don’t pack the payments they won’t feel like income on the credit application and told me You may agree or disagree. One final thought
they got a deal. It’s all part of the game.” not to worry because the bank won’t ask for though: A consumer law firm or attorney
Customer Perception — I hate that damned proof. What else are you lying about? And general’s perception of the above scenarios
“four-square” thing you do! It really tempts what happens if the bank calls me — do you probably wouldn’t be pretty.
me to do something uncivilized with your expect me to lie to them, too? It doesn’t seem
green sharpie. I didn’t come here for a shell like the right thing to do.”
game; I came here to give you the opportunity Jim Radogna is president of Dealer
to give me real numbers and perhaps sell me a “That’s the perfect car for your customer. Do Compliance Consultants, Inc. He can be
contacted at 866.704.8657, or by e-mail
car. If I didn’t like your car, I wouldn’t be here whatever it takes to send her home in it.” at jradogna@autosuccessonline.com.
— why do feel it is necessary to play games Customer Perception — “You told me that
with me?” the car I bought is a ‘one-owner creampuff,’
18 autosuccessonline.com
22. SeanV.Bradley marketing solution
FREE ORGANIC
SOCIAL MEDIA SEARCH
ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
That may be a powerful title, but what does time and money invested in social media. dealership in Iowa could be “Ford F150
it mean? Well, I am going to give you some I have a totally different spin on social Davenport Iowa.”
ideas on how you can acquire, you guessed media. While I acknowledge that there is
it, free organic social media search engine value in the “social” aspect of social media • Proper Description — Since many social
optimization. Let’s break it all down so it (communicating with current customers and media sites allow you the opportunity to add
makes sense. prospects, etc.), another strategy is to use the a description to your content, make sure in
various social media sites as incubators for the you start with a hyperlink – http://www.
“Free” SEO. Sites like Facebook (the No. 1 visited abcmotors.com. Be careful, because certain
I don’t know about you but if it’s free, it’s site in the world), YouTube, Twitter, Ning, sites, such as YouTube, will not make a site a
for me. There are a lot of things that you can Flickr, Tumblr and others get tremendous hyperlink if you don’t use the “http://” prefix.
buy that may or may not be successful. There amounts of traffic. Millions of people use Specifically, if you have “www.abcmotors.
aren’t a lot of things (technology wise) that these sites, so they get major search engine com” in your description, all you have is your
you can do for free and get massive results relevancy points with the search engines. URL — it might not be a hyperlink, which
— that’s why you’re reading this article. So, if you open accounts on these sites and will not count as a back link.
properly optimize content, you get multiple
“Organic” benefits. First, Google says that part of the • Tags and Meta Tags — Social media
This means placement on the search engine’s way they rank sites in relevancy is that if sites allow you to add tags, meta tags, and
first page in the top-10 listing naturally, other sites that are prominent and get a lot keywords to your content (pictures, videos,
without pay per click or search engine of traffic link to your site, that makes your articles, blog posts, etc.) Make sure you
marketing (SEM) campaigns. Why is this site credible and relevant. So, if you have use relevant tags and keywords to what
important? Pay per click and SEM (at least signed up for sites like the ones I mentioned you are trying to accomplish. Begin with
on Google) do not get as much visibility above and you have hyperlinks from those the end in mind. I recommend that you use
as organic search engine optimization. As sites to your dealership’s main Web site (back geo-targeted keywords and tags, franchise,
a matter of fact, only about 20 percent of linking), that will increase your dealership’s model, competing brands (not the names of
people actually click those pay-per-click ads SEO relevancy. your competitors). There is no problem if you
and links. That means 80 percent of people are a Ford dealer and you have a video on
are going to skip it and go to the organic Another opportunity that dealers can a F150 that you have in your tags “Chevy,”
listing. One reason for this is that people maximize on social media is optimizing all “Chevrolet,” “Silverado,” “Ram,” etc. You
know and understand what an advertisement content uploaded. This might sound a little can also put descriptions that are relevant like
is. On the other hand, if they search confusing, but it is not that difficult once you “new,” “used,” year of the vehicle, etc.
something and the search engine serves up get the hang of it and develop good habits.
a Web site or link, then it must be what they When I say optimizing all content uploaded • Consistancy — You must be consistent. All
are looking for — it must be important or to your social media sites, I mean to make of this has to match up. Your title tag, header,
relevant. Why else would the Google gods sure that all content (pictures, video, articles, description, keywords and tags all need to be
bring forth these answers to the questions blog posts) have: consistent.
you ask if they were not the right ones? • Properly Named Root Files — When you
take a video or a picture, you usually have an If you have any questions on this article, or
“Social Media Search Engine automatic file name such as “00251.jpg.” You you would like me to show you for free how
Optimization” should rename these files to whatever the you can do this for your dealership, please
For a lot of people, this might be the very content is. For example, if there was a picture feel free to either call me or e-mail using the
first time you heard or read about this phrase. of an F150 for ABC Motors dealership in information below.
Social media SEO is a new concept and a Philadelphia. You might want to rename that
different spin on social media. Most dealers picture “Ford_F150_Philadelphia.JPG.”
are still struggling to simply understand Sean V. Bradley is the founder and CEO
of Dealer Synergy, a nationally recognized
social media and having even more difficulty • Proper Title — Make sure the title is training and consulting company in
trying to incorporate it into their business. relevant to the content, as well as geo- the automotive industry. He can be
The majority of dealers are not able to targeted with dealership and/or model. For contacted at 866.648.7400, or by e-mail at
quantify the opportunity or calculate ROI on example, a picture of a Ford F150 for a sbradley@autosuccessonline.com.
22 autosuccessonline.com
