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1. The New & Improved AutoSuccessOnline.com, Check It Out!
April 2010

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jwarner@autosuccessonline.com
feature solution
leadership solution
marketing solution
sales & training solution
IF YOU DO WHAT YOU’VE ALWAYS DONE, YOU’LL
Dealership’s History
the Best Year in the
How Gary Crossley
REALLY MOVE THE NEEDLE WITH YOUR DIRECT MARKETING
Ford Made 2009
IS LEASING THE KEY TO INCREASE SALES BY
‘RIGHT TARGET’ AND ‘NARROW DOWN’ ARE OVER-USED
PHRASES IN E-MAIL AND DIRECT MAIL...HOW YOU CAN
PLANNING FOR RETIREMENT IN STAGES
DEALERSHIP OWNERS - HOW TO BUILD
SELECTING YOUR LIVE CHAT SOLUTION
KEY QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS FOR
TURNING T.R.A.S.H. INTO TREASURE
ARE YOU OFFERING A COMPETITIVE
EXCELLENCE IN YOUR DEALERSHIP
GET WHAT YOU’VE ALWAYS GOT
TOP DEALERS WORK TOGETHER
HOW CLEAN IS YOUR PREVIOUS
FIX WHAT YOUR PEOPLE CAN’T
THE ANSWER IS PRODUCTION
FOCUS ON THE RIGHT THINGS
ARE YOU HITTING THE MARK?
CONVENIENCE ADVANTAGE?
CUSTOMER DATABASE?
ON NEW AD NETWORK
RESOLUTIONS, PART 3
ARE YOU A HUSTLER?
WINNING ONLINE
30 PERCENT?
An Interview with ToddCrossley
29
18
33
24
10
08
22
28
16
26
34
36
19
20
17
32
30
MarshBuice
SteveShaw
SowmyaIyer
StephenR.Covey
BillPhillips
TomMohr
JoeAbraham
KirkManzo
ToddSmith
MarkTewart
DalePollak
SteveBrazill
JohnFreund
BudAbraham
ToddStrause
JockSchowalter
pg 8 SusanGivens
pg 6
pg 6
pg1
pg1
pg3
April 2010
joe abraham dale pollak todd strause

8. leadershipsolution StephenR.Covey
RESOLUTIONS 3
part
The principles self-denial can be severe in all areas of life; sleep, rest and leisure. How many times do
of temperance, likewise, the rewards of self-control can be you set the alarm or your mind to get up
consistency and self-discipline are amazing. As an example, let’s look at a battle early, knowing all of the things you have to
foundational to a person’s whole life – not all of us wage every day. do in the morning, anxious to get the day
just in the area of their profession. The organized right, to have a calm and orderly
costs of not maintaining self-discipline and Many of us succumb to the longing for extra breakfast, to have an unhurried and peaceful
preparation before leaving for work? But
when the alarm goes off, your good resolves
Does your DETAIL DEPARTMENT dissolve. It’s a battle of mind versus mattress!
Often the mattress wins. You find yourself
look like this? getting up late, then beginning a frantic rush
to get dressed, organized, fed and be off. In
the rush, you grow impatient and insensitive
to others. Nerves get frayed, tempers short.
And all because of sleeping in.
A chain of unhappy events and sorry
consequences follows not keeping the first
resolution of the day to get up at a certain
time. That day may begin and end in defeat.
The extra sleep is hardly ever worth it. In
fact, considering the above, such sleep is
terribly tiring and exhausting.
It COULD look like this...
Organize your Detail Department
& Boost Productivity What a difference if you organize and
DETAIL PLUS will provide you with everything you need to help improve arrange your affairs the night before to get
your Detail Department’s appearance, increase productivity, reduce to bed at a reasonable time. I find that the
last hour before retiring is the best time
chemical & supply costs, reduce labor costs, and improve work quality. to plan and prepare for the next day. Then
DETAIL PLUS can Provide you with: when the alarm goes off, you get up and
prepare properly for the day. Such an early-
Consulting Personnel Selection morning private victory gives you a sense of
conquering, overcoming and mastering, and
Shop Design & Layout Management Training this sense propels you to conquer more public
High-Tech Equipment Technical Training challenges during the day. Success begets
success. Starting a day with an early victory
Call us today for a No-Obligation Consultation over self leads to more victories.
P.O. Box 20755 Portland, OR. 97294 Tel: 503.251.2955
Stephen R. Covey, Ph.D., is co-founder of
Fax: 503.251.5975 email: detailplus@detailplus.com FranklinCovey, and is the author of The 7
TOLL FREE: 800.284.0123 WWW.DETAILPLUS.COM Habits of Highly Effective People. He can
be contacted at 866.892.6363, or by e-mail
0 at scovey@autosuccessonline.com.
8
www.autosuccessonline.com

10. marketingsolution SowmyaIyer
‘RIGHT TARGET’ AND ‘NARROW DOWN’ ARE OVER-
USED PHRASES IN E-MAIL AND DIRECT MAIL...
HOW YOU CAN REALLY MOVE THE NEEDLE WITH
YOUR DIRECT MARKETING
The past two If you really want to impact your showroom Before answering that question, you should
years have forced traffic, sales and bottom line, you need to consider one more thing. When you attempt
everyone to refocus their marketing efforts. work with firms that truly have analytic skills. to narrow down a list with segmentation
Advertising had to become more efficient, For example, let’s say you are looking to compared to using analytic algorithms, you
effective and produce a good measurable resell “inactive” customers — people who almost always send out more e-mails or
ROI or, more than likely, it was eliminated you’ve lost for whatever reason and have direct mail. This creates a long-term problem.
or drastically cut. Now the buzz is all about defected to your competition. Mailing to the Between you and your manufacturer, your
targeting the right customers and narrowing entire inactive customer segment is expensive. customers receive an enormous amount of
down your list. There are a couple of reasons There’s a reason these people are inactive, communication. Let’s face it — many of
for this. First, anytime you can narrow your and because of that reason the majority will them could receive conflicting messages.
scope and eliminate people who are not ignore your offer. Direct mail is too expensive In any given month they could receive one
interested in your offer it’s a good thing and for you to justify that expense and more than message about a sale or service program
you will be more profitable. Second, the likely you will not have a high percentage of from you and a completely different message
marketplace has changed and marketers who e-mail addresses for inactive customers. A from your manufacturer. When you over-
can’t adapt to changing customer behaviors firm with a strong analytic team will start by communicate, your customer becomes
will be left behind. identifying your inactive customers. Analytical callous to all your messages regardless of the
algorithms are then created by analyzing offer. Instead of increasing their satisfaction
The problem is that narrowing down your list data — combining information on past level, you begin to annoy.
with basic segmentation usually does not go circumstances and present events — to predict
far enough — especially today. or project which people of those inactive Over the last two years you have been
customers have the highest propensity to forced to find more efficient ways to
Marketing communication is moving away respond to your offer and, more importantly, communicate with customers. Are you guilty
from mass media toward an approach driven re-buy or service with you. of over e-mailing your previous customers?
by firms with integrated customer data, a Just because e-mail is less expensive
technology infrastructure and real customer Identifying which inactive customers will does not change the importance of every
analysis skills. Firms with this infrastructure reactivate — rather than targeting the entire message being driven by detailed customer
and skill set will improve your net results. segment — will save you an incredible knowledge, appropriate to the context of the
But to really move the needle, firms must amount of money up front and produce a interaction and aligned with communications
have deep customer insight and skills that much better ROI. A great analytic team can in other channels.
translate those insights into sales, profit become an indispensable asset to you, which
and differentiation and provide you with a you will rely on for strategic decisions. Your previous customer database offers
competitive advantage. For example, let’s go back to your inactive a wealth of customer data. But without
customers. After the inactive analytic the analytical discipline to turn that data
Firms have different competency levels. algorithms are created and a target list is found into insight, your database is as likely to
Most start out with the ability to measure you could look for more ways to leverage amplify mistakes as it is to improve results.
results and provide simple segmentation. that information with more analytics. The Poorly designed or untested models can add
Segmentation is probably the most common firm could identify behaviors of these inactive thousands to your fulfillment costs. For this
method used today at a dealership level. customers when they were active by analyzing reason you need customer analytics to identify
There are a lot of ways people describe past usage, spending, other behavior patterns where your opportunities are and then measure
segmentation to sound more valuable than and how those behaviors started to change your results. More advanced firms employ
it is. In reality, it is nothing more than being before they left you. This is what recognizing teams of statisticians with the sole purpose of
able to identify customers or prospects who “changing customer behavior” means. Now building sophisticated mathematical models to
share one or more characteristics that cause analytic algorithms can be created to identify describe and predict your customer’s behavior.
them to demand similar products and/or customers who are “at risk” or have likelihood
services. For example, rather than e-mail or to leave you in the near future. Can you see Real data success comes when you’re able to
mail your entire previous customer list, you the opportunities with this? increase the behaviors you want. I invite you
could segment it to target new, used, active, to e-mail me with any questions or comments.
inactive or lease customers. This will produce To do this level of analytic work is not
a better result, but you will not maximize cheap. In fact, it is expensive. The question Sowmya Iyer is the marketing analyst for
your sales or profit potential. We need to think becomes: What is more important to you, J&L Marketing, Inc. She can be
beyond the basic identifying characteristics price per e-mail and/or direct mail piece, or contacted by e-mail at
and the obvious relationships. price per lead and/or sale? siyer@autosuccessonline.com.
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www.autosuccessonline.com

12. In a turbulent economy, where many dealers
struggled to survive, Gary Crossley Ford in
Kansas City, Missouri found a way to thrive.
Despite the challenging environment, they
implemented a strategy that dramatically
increased their revenue and reduced their
operating costs, and just had the best month in
the dealership’s history. By the end of 2009,
the dealership became the No. 1 dealership in
Kansas City and set a record for profitability
during the worst of economic times.
that integrated everything we needed into one platform for a lot less
Susan Givens, the publisher of AutoSuccess, interviewed Todd money than what we were paying. Our new system includes our Web
Crossley to find out exactly what they did to get the best results in the site, inventory management, Internet lead management, CRM, BDC,
dealership’s history in the worst economic environment since they campaign management, reporting and service, and a desking system that
opened their doors 30 years ago. integrates used vehicle market pricing.
AutoSuccess: Everyone wants to know how you grew so AS: You said that you were able to attract more customers
much when the industry was shrinking. Can you tell us what while spending less money. Isn’t that a contradiction?
were the key factors in your growth? TC: Not at all. Previously our ad budget was too big and the returns on
Todd Crossley: After we were moved into our new location, we our traditional advertising were too small. We cut the budget and spent
knew we had to increase revenue to cover the additional costs of the a higher percentage on targeted direct mail and Internet advertising
new store and we needed to reduce our operating costs. We created because it generated more traffic. We more than doubled our traffic and
a strategy to attract more traffic for less cost than the traditional our cost per sale was cut by approximately a third.
advertising we had done in the past. Second, we converted more of
our traffic into profitable sales. Third, we increased our sales and AS: What type of targeted marketing and Internet
service loyalty and increased our average revenue per transaction. We advertising do you do?
accomplished this by making sure we had the right people, processes TC: Our CRM system notifies me 15 days before the month starts with
and tools to deliver a world-class experience for our customers. recommended campaigns that target consumers who have the highest
probability of buying or servicing their vehicle with our dealership
AS: What was one thing that had the biggest impact? that month. The system automatically sends e-mail and mail, and it
TC: We shifted our advertising to markets where customers were schedules calls for our staff to make to the target customers. The system
shopping – the Internet. We also bought technology that helps us target integrates with Team Velocity’s mail house (theVdrive.com), and they
in-market customers and automates many of our processes which fulfill our direct mail because the production value is a lot better and
allows us to do more with less people. the cost is similar to what we were printing on our letterhead. The best
part about these targeted campaigns is that we are speaking to people
AS: What type of technology did you who are in the market now, rather than wasting money on advertising to
buy? How much did you spend? people who are not ready to buy or service from us.
TC: At first, we spent too much money on
technology — we spent a total of $20,000 a AS: You mentioned that you shifted your budget to do
month with 15 different vendors to execute more online marketing. Please explain.
our strategy; it was too much money TC: We do online display ads and we send targeted e-mail campaigns
and too many different tools that to in-market consumers. Our new Web site appears on top of the
didn’t integrate. We did a vendor search engines for the most popular search phrases in our market, and
audit and decided to replace 12 of it received the top SEO Award from Brian Pasche, the Search Engine
our vendors with one company Guru. We also use Video Search Engine Optimization to get more
(VinSolutions) that had an “all- placements on top of Google page one because Google gives video
in-one” system that integrates search results 55x more priority than text results. We use Car-Mercial.
with our DMS and gave us com to produce and optimize hundreds of videos that promote our
everything we needed for dealership on the most popular search engines customers use to find a
about $5,000. vehicle in our market.
AS: How did you AS: How do you handle all of these activities while
replace 12 vendors running the business?
and save $15,000? TC: Most of what I mentioned is automated; the vehicle info, incentives
TC: We made a list of and specials are automatically updated on our Web site in real time. For
everything we needed and example, our system automatically reduces prices for vehicles older than
sent an RFP (request for 30 days to be more competitive than our competitors’ market prices and
proposal) out to multiple updates manufacturer incentives on our Web site and third-party sites as
companies, and we picked they change. If a car is reduced in price or a new incentive comes out,
a vendor with a system the system automatically sends an e-mail to all customers who were
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2

13. in our CRM and it
automatically fills in
all the other contact
information, even
e-mail. Our sales reps
scan the customer’s
license before the demo
ride and it attaches a
copy of their driver’s
license and picture to
their record. The system
interested in those vehicles during the previous 45 days. The system then pulls additional information from the customer’s social networks
also automates customer communications throughout the sales process like Facebook, Linked in, MySpace and other sites that have public
to confirm appointments, follow up when they don’t show up or buy information available. The system tells them what calls they need to
or to re-activate dead leads that in the past were not followed up. The make and provides the phone guides for each type of contact. Since
automation does the work of a 20-person BDC, but I don’t have the the tool is connected to our phone system, it records all the inbound
payroll cost. The system also manages our inventory, and includes a and outbound calls, tracks their daily follow-up tasks and notifies
camera that scans the vehicle’s bar code and generates window stickers, management if their appointment, follow-up and/or closing ratio is
detailed vehicle brochures, videos and an “Auto-Biography” for every below our store’s benchmarks.
pre-owned vehicle in stock. The “Auto-Biography” is a book with a used
car brochure, Carfax, all maintenance records and a list of other vehicles AS: You mentioned that your average gross profit has
in the market that are selling for more than our asking price. The system increased. Please tell us how your gross has increased
then sends all the vehicle info, pictures and video to our Web site and along with your volume.
third-party sites with the Kelly Blue Book retail price next to our sale TC: Our sales and desking process has greatly improved our gross.
price so consumers can see that our price is less compared to a credible We use our new desking system to give consumers multiple finance/
third-party like KBB. If the customer does not find a vehicle on our site, lease scenarios that fit their payment requirements and that are the
they can use our car finder and we automatically e-mail them when the most profitable for our dealership. We then print out a professional
vehicle they want comes into stock. work sheet that includes all their options and highlights the unique
advantages of buying a Ford from our dealership. Our salespeople
AS: You mentioned that you increased your closing ratio can also use the tutorials in the system to overcome objections and to
and gross profit. How did you increase both of them at educate our customers. For example, the tutorials include multimedia
the same time? presentations on finance versus lease, the appraisal process, certified
TC: We improved the customer experience and follow up, which pre-owned process, and Extended Service agreements, among others.
increased our closing ratio. When an Internet lead comes in, we These professionally produced tutorials help build value in our
automatically send a custom e-mail that gives the customer a custom dealership and to increase our gross per vehicle. Our desking tool also
brochure with pictures, video and five less-expensive alternative has an appraisal tool that gives us all the market pricing information so
vehicles. The e-mail directs them to complete our online credit we can value trade-ins based on what cars are wholesaling and retailing
application with a video tutorial and our online appraisal tool so they go for in our market. In addition to telling us the auction and book values,
deeper into the buying process with our dealership. When the customer it tells us how much we made on similar trades in the past and how
schedules an appointment, we send a confirmation within five minutes many prospects inquired in the last 30 days about that vehicle.
with point-to-point directions and a second confirmation is sent at
7 a.m. on the day of the appointment via e-mail and text. When the AS: Is this Reynolds desking program?
customer arrives at the dealership, the sales consultant can use their TC: No, our desking is part of a VinSolutions system, but it is
phone to view the client’s info and to gather information about their integrated with Reynolds so our managers don’t have double input —
desired and current vehicle. All of the most important fact-finding they just press a button and the deal goes into Reynolds.
questions are in the mobile CRM tool, and everything that is gathered
is saved in the customer’s record. The sales rep can also print custom AS: You also mentioned that the dealership improved its
vehicle brochures and comparisons that highlight the advantages of our loyalty. Can you tell us more about that?
vehicle versus the competition’s. This helps increase our closing ratio TC: We dramatically increased our retention by sending targeted e-mail
for first-time visitors and our new follow-up system helps bring back and direct mail campaigns to customers who are in equity and
customers who don’t buy. need service work done. We give them a custom offer
AS: How do you follow up with the customers who do not buy?
TC: The first step is getting 100 percent of our prospect’s contact
information. Our CRM system captures the customer information if
they call or e-mail the dealership, and it attaches the recording of the
call to their record. We can also see the customer’s lifetime value to
the dealership based on their historic spend so we can give our best
customers special treatment. For customers who walk in,
the sales rep puts the customer’s phone number

14. AS: Have you dropped all your
traditional advertising?
TC: No. Our advertising strategy has
improved dramatically because we
consolidated our marketing vendors and
hired one company to develop and implement
a more targeted marketing strategy that
speaks to people who are in the market. In
the past, we worked with an ad agency and
eight other companies to execute every part
of our strategy. The vendors didn’t work
together, however, so the campaigns were not
integrated. It was confusing for my customers
because my TV and radio commercials had
one message, direct mail had another, my
to upgrade their vehicle at the same or lower Internet manager was sending e-mails with
payment that they are currently making, and other offers, and none of it was on my Web
give them service offers that relate to their site or point of purchase materials. We hired a
current mileage, including the option to buy marketing company called Tier10Marketing.
an extended warranty if our records show com, that specializes in digital and traditional
they don’t have one. Our system notifies the advertising, and now we have one strategy
original salesperson when their customer that that is completely connected and consistent.
is in-equity comes in to service their vehicle. To make sure our customers are treated
The service advisor is also notified so they right, we monitor we use a company called
can put a hang tag in the customer’s vehicle CallRevu.com to monitor all our calls 24/7
to inform them of our “Vehicle Buy Back and they send real-time alerts to our managers
Program.” If the customer is inactive or lost, when a customer is mishandled on the phone.
we send more aggressive incentives to bring Our managers save a lot of deals because they
them back. contact customers immediately before it is too
late. We also review daily and weekly reports
After we sell a car, our system also creates that tell us what marketing the customers
a personal automotive Web site for each responded to, the appointment rates, show
customer with their vehicle info, owner rates and closing ratios by ad source. With
information, pictures and video, and it updates this information we adjust our marketing to
them with service reminders, recalls and other spend more where we get the results and less
information related to their vehicle. When a where we don’t.
customer spends money in any department,
we send them an automated survey, and if AS: It sounds like you are doing a lot
they rate us four out of five stars or higher we at a young age; how do you manage
automatically post their review on our Web and monitor it all?
site and their personal Web site. We then send TC: My brother Ryan and I have a great
them an e-mail to invite them to share their team, and we learned a lot from our father,
opinions on the most popular review sites on who built the business from the ground up.
Google, Yahoo, DealerRater.com, etc. If the He taught us the importance of having cost
customer gives us lower than four stars, we controls and efficient time management. That
direct their survey to a manager for follow up is why we are always looking for ways to do
as a part of our concern-resolution process. things better and cheaper.
We also target customers who bought from AS: So, what’s next?
another dealership but live in our market. TC: We just had the best month in the
When we lose a sale to another dealership, dealership’s history, but we don’t want
our salespeople have to tell our system that to take our success for granted. We will
they “bought elsewhere” and our CRM tool continue to work hard to constantly grow and
automatically sends an e-mail from me, improve how we serve our customers and our
congratulating the customer on their purchase employees.
from the other dealership and inviting them to
use our service department to maintain their
vehicle. Then system also automatically sends
out communications to our customers via
e-mail, text, voicemail and mail throughout Todd Crossley is the general manager for
the ownership cycle to retain them for service Gary Crossley Ford. He can be contacted
and re-sell them when they are in equity or at at 866.580.1013, or by e-mail at
the end of their lease. tcrossley@autosuccessonline.com.
1
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15. Used Inventory Turn
ROI increased by 33%
#%
#% 12 16
turns turns
2008 2009
Almost everything my franchises bring to our new car side,
vAuto brings to our used operations, including
pulling customers
into my front door.
—Dwayne Hawkins
President
Crown Automotive Group
St. Petersburg, Florida
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 888-536-4086.

16. leadershipsolution JoeAbraham
DEALERSHIP OWNERS -
HOW TO BUILD EXCELLENCE
IN YOUR DEALERSHIP
I was on the phone But what I am saying here is that most of the You’ll see past the politics, jockeying and
with a frustrated success in the process of transformation is water-cooler talk to find out exactly who
used car dealer the other day. Here was his within your control. really fits the brand position you have
frustration. engineered. You’ll be left with a team who
Building a culture of excellence begins with believes in you — a team who will go to
“My people just don’t show ownership,” the owner. So the big question you have to ask battle for you. You will have a team who
he said. “I just need to figure out how to yourself as the owner of the business is this: isn’t just there to collect a paycheck, but
get them to have some sense of passion there to make an impact (while getting paid
and excitement for what they do. I’ve got “Does my business need more productive handsomely for it).
to get them out of ‘J.O.B.’ mentality into a employees, a positive environment and
mindset of excellence. Don’t they know that fanatical customers?” The new team will live the creed/brand
if they do, we’ll all make a ton of money — position and it will impact everything from
together?” If “no,” skip to the next article in the how they market to how they operate and
magazine. If “yes,” then read on.… serve customers. Think about your last
He was right. experience walking into a WalMart and an
A committed dealer can build a culture of Apple store. The employees in both locations
Passionate and excited employees with an excellence into their dealership in these three earn about the same hourly wage — but
ownership mindset and a drive for excellence steps: your experience in those two stores was
do generate better results. But the question 1. The Brand — When you look at highly probably quite different. (If you have not
of the day remains, “How do we accomplish successful and adopted brands like Virgin and been into those two stores back-to-back, I’d
that in our business?” More specifically, how Apple, there is a culture of excellence that strongly recommend that field trip so you can
do we accomplish that in the highly complex permeates everything. It is a culture that is experience what brand positioning can do for
dealership environment? visible in their products, their employees and your business).
even their customers.
The answer is a bit of a “good news/bad The CEO controls and drives the company 3. The Customers — If you do step 1 and
news” situation. brand. So, if your brand is positioned 2 authentically, you will see your customer
correctly, it will result in the right culture base transform. Oh, don’t get me wrong.
First, the good news. — a culture you are proud of. If, however, it You’ll still have the tire kickers and “I’ll-only-
is not positioned correctly (or if over time, be-happy-if-you-lose-money-on-this-deal”
Regardless of how dysfunctional, negative, it has picked up some faulty DNA), it will people come by. However, you will notice the
beat down or chaotic your current corporate manifest itself in symptoms like weak morale number of fanatical customers (I call them
culture may be, you can turn it around and low productivity. evangelists) will go through the roof. Fans
(virtually on a dime). become fans when they have something to
I want to strongly encourage you to take be fanatical about. Again, walk through a
Now, the bad news…. an hour this week and go through a brand WalMart and an Apple store and ask yourself
re-positioning exercise. You can download where you feel more apt to make a purchase
Most of the work takes place in the CEO’s a free copy of my favorite exercise at and tell people about the purchase experience.
office. I know that doesn’t sound like what JoeAbraham.com/autosuccess. This is the
you may want to hear, but from having mission-critical step in the process. Commit to these three steps, and your
worked with thousands of business owners, I dealership will thrive and explode into
can assure you that is the case. You’ll come out of the process with the this consumer marketplace while your
equivalent of the mission statement that Tom competitors focus on beat-downs of their
A culture of excellence, performance and Cruise did as Jerry Maguire. sales team and service managers.
productivity trickles down and out of the
CEO’s office. Take that statement to heart 2. The Team — Just like in the movie
and understand why it actually could be a Jerry Maguire, when you present the new
very good thing. After all, if I told you that it brand position of the company, some team Joe Abraham is a managing partner at En
all begins with your GM, sales managers or members will not agree with it. They may Corpus Group. You can contact him at
866.461.5751, or by e-mail at
marketing gal, you’d be in a bit of hot soup. disagree with it enough to even end up jabraham@autosuccessonline.com.
Until you got their buy-in on a culture of leaving you. That is a good thing, because it
excellence, you’d be up a creek with no paddle. will extract any cancers in your business.
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17. leadershipsolution JockSchowalter
ARE YOU OFFERING A
COMPETITIVE CONVENIENCE
ADVANTAGE?
Imagine that your buying decision without the high-pressure
dealership was the first tactics that have given the industry such
to put up a Web site and capture the Internet a poor reputation. Whether or not your
customer in your market. Imagine further that dealership is guilty of these types of sales
your competitors didn’t catch on for months, tactics, you are a victim of this perception,
or even years. That would be an enormous even if you don’t deserve it. If you were the
competitive advantage. Imagine how much consumer, which path would you choose?
money your dealership would have made if
this had happened. It’s probably millions of Businesses have capitalized on the
dollars. Well, there is no time machine to go Competitive Convenience Advantage since
back and rewrite history; however, I believe the invention of the wheel. It is the main goal
the same opportunity to reap millions in of innovation and technology. This value
additional profit and take business away from proposition says “buy our product; it will
your competitors is making itself available make your life easier.” Some examples are
again today. disposable diapers, microwave ovens and
the washing machine. These products had
I like to call this the “Competitive profound impacts on our lives because they
Convenience Advantage.” Consumers are were convenient and saved us time and hassle.
busier than ever these days. Most households
have two full-time incomes, with both Mom Beyond the core benefits of a new product,
and Dad working full time. Throw in a marketers often lose sight of the idea that part
couple of kids with school activities, sports, of the product’s success is how that product down to the video
household chores, etc. and there is less and can be obtained. Let’s look at a few examples store. The core
less free time. This free time is increasingly that made our lives easier by offering new product is exactly the
valuable, which makes the idea of spending ways to obtain an existing product or service. same. Watching Talladega
an entire weekend haggling to purchase a new Nights on a DVD from Netflix is no different
car less appealing than ever; especially since A great example of this is the Drive Through than watching it on a DVD that you rented
most consumers see new car shopping as window. The In-n-Out Burger chain claims from BlockBuster. The difference is in the
about as fun as a trip to the dentist. to have built the first drive-through restaurant delivery of the product. On April 2, 2009, the
in 1948. Harry and Esther Snyder, the chain’s company announced that it had mailed its two
So the consumer now has a choice. On the founders, built their first restaurant in Baldwin billionth DVD.
one hand they can spend their precious free Park, California, with a two-way speaker to
time driving from dealership to dealership, enable patrons to order directly from their So if all things are equal and you are the
enduring a high-pressure sales environment cars. A hungry consumer could go to any only dealer in your market to offer this
just trying to find out what kind of a financial restaurant and get a hamburger and fries, but convenience advantage, you will have an
commitment they have to make to purchase they could only go to the In-n-Out Burger incredibly powerful competitive edge in
the vehicle they want. If there are children if they were in a hurry and wanted to zip capturing buyers that want to purchase their
involved, they must pay for a babysitter or through the drive-through window. Harry and next vehicle by negotiating online.
bring the kids along. This only adds to the Esther offered essentially the same product
stress. They have to spend money on gas. (the meal), but provided a new way to acquire If you would like to receive a free preview
They are, in many cases, going to have to that meal. Today, you would be hard pressed electronic copy of my upcoming book, On-
deal with sales staff who are not empowered to find any major fast food chain that does line Negotiation is Now a Reality, please
to give them the information they are seeking, not offer a drive-through window. Good ideas e-mail me at the address below.
which only adds to their frustration. catch on quick.
On the other hand, the consumer can choose A more recent example is Netflix. Netflix will Jock Schowalter is the president
to negotiate online from the comfort of their automatically send you movies every month and founder of DealerPeak.com and
home or office. They can do this at their in the mail. Netflix saw that there was a more WideStorm. He can be contacted
at 866.869.1108, or by e-mail at
own convenience and save hours and hours convenient way for consumers to rent movies: jschowalter@autosuccessonline.com.
of their valuable time. They can receive the by delivering them to the mailbox rather than
information they need to make an informed making the customer get in their car and drive
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18. marketingsolution ToddStrause
HOW CLEAN IS YOUR PREVIOUS
CUSTOMER DATABASE?
I have been in the old vehicle stays in the system, resulting in elect to use that particular company, you can
business for 19 years multiple pieces of mail delivered with the always do a final test.
and have found that there are key components same offer.
that make a direct marketing campaign My final test is to review the overall
successful. Just like baking a cake or making So how do you know if your current improvement percentage after the cleansing
the perfect swing on the golf course, if you marketing company is cleansing your data process. If there is not a 20 percent minimum
stick to the fundamentals, it makes all the correctly and protecting you from wasting improvement of the data from the initial
difference in the world. money? Just ask them! Make sure they can extraction, you can’t help to question their
explain in detail their processes. If they have abilities. This percentage holds true even if
The No. 1 priority for any dealer who is trouble responding (which several will), you you think your data was very clean to start. It
actively mailing to their previous customers will most likely have your answer. will back up or disprove the direct marketers
should be to continuously cleanse their abilities.
database. In fact, I recommend updating your Don’t be impressed with certain words like
data at least every six months. “data extraction” and how they run your Remember, direct marketers generally make
list through “NCOA” (National Change of more with higher volumes of mail sent. With
It’s no secret how this data gets into a dealer’s Address). These are basic surface terms used less data cleansing, in most cases, more
DMS. In most cases, someone at a computer by everyone. names will be available to mail, thus making
with mediocre typing skills is manually your direct marketer more money — an
entering data. Misspellings and typos are Dig deeper. Ask them to talk specifics about instance, in some cases, where your best
easily made and rarely corrected. their processes, such as how they remove interest might not be the primary goal.
duplicates, or which duplicate takes priority
Not only does misinformation get entered, but to stay in the system. Ask them how they Todd Strause is the president of Strategic
there are other reasons for data inaccuracy. complete “incomplete data” in the system Marketing. He can be contacted at
Customers move out of the marketplace daily, to guarantee the customer can be reached. If 866.426.5182, or by e-mail at
customers purchase a new vehicle and their you are satisfied with their answers and you tstrause@autosuccessonline.com.
Out Now
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19. leadershipsolution SteveBrazill
FIX WHAT YOUR
PEOPLE CAN’T
Golfers observe that of plucking a salesperson from the second
the quality of their scenario and dropping him into the first
play improves in a foursome with stronger showroom. His performance would probably
players, and declines in a round with weaker improve immediately — if he wasn’t tossed
players. Free-agent athletes often base from the bus by his teammates.
signing decisions on the perceived quality of
future teammates in addition to the financial These scenarios could, of course, be rewritten
benefits of a contract. Most of us understand to take place in service, parts or accounting.
that, regardless of the endeavor, our
opportunity to achieve improves when we So how do you get this feature of human
surround ourselves with high achievers. nature to work for you? There are three basic
steps:
This principle holds in dealerships. As a 1. Recognize that just as you have
salesperson, I always knew my opportunity expectations of your people, they expect
to prosper improved in a showroom you to be effective in your position.
full of salespeople who averaged 12 to
25 units per month and were CSI stars. 2. Your people have primary responsibility
Those stores put more cars on the road, for their own performance, but their
generated more visibility, created more ability to perform is often limited by
walk-in traffic and produced more repeats things beyond their control. They can’t
and referrals. Business really does beget control the quality of management,
business. But the lift came from more than advertising and inventory. If it’s bad,
just increased opportunity. When I worked they can’t fix it. You can.
in an environment where everyone was
serious about achieving, I was immersed 3. Your people can’t control who their
in a learning laboratory. Every day was an teammates are. They don’t hire and they
opportunity to watch skilled people ply don’t fire. You do. Hire carefully and
their craft, a chance to observe and learn communicate performance standards that
something new and useful. Everyone was are clear, concise and realistic. Monitor
driven to continually sharpen skills because regularly for compliance, comparing
no one wanted to be the laggard on the team. individual performance to the standards,
Success tends to spiral upward to higher then reviewing with each employee.
levels of achievement. Teammates who consistently fail to
perform to defined standards should
In contrast, there are showrooms in which be retrained, reassigned or removed.
salespeople average four to eight units per Explain your standards (unit sales, CSI,
month and where a good delivery is the whatever) to potential new hires during
result of luck more than purposeful intent. the interview process, explaining that
Those stores generally put fewer cars on the you have standards to protect their future
road, generate less visibility, create limited opportunity to achieve. If a prospective
walk-in traffic and produce fewer repeats new hire is afraid of your reasonable
and referrals. Opportunity dwindles. But standards, that might be a clue you want
one thing is unchanged: Salespeople still to observe before you make the hiring
learn from each other. In this case, rather decision.
than learning how to improve their game,
they pass the day drinking coffee and The managers of professional baseball
smoking, blaming their lack of sales on bad clubs are responsible for putting the best
management, lack of advertising and lousy team possible on the field. They regularly
inventory. New hires learn quickly that (constantly) review player performance and
effort is futile. This is the downward spiral make difficult decisions about who is on the
of failure. team and who is not. Those decisions are
often difficult, but making them is part of the
Imagine for a moment what would happen if job. Isn’t it also part of yours?
a skilled salesperson from the first scenario
was dropped into the second showroom.
Assuming she didn’t fire the organization (by Steve Brazill is the chair of automotive
resigning) in the first week, her effectiveness marketing for Northwood University,
would likely diminish with time until she was Texas Campus. He can be contacted at
a full member of the Coffee and Complaint 866.861.1515, or by e-mail at
Committee. Similarly, imagine the outcome sbrazill@autosuccessonline.com.
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