The first question I had for the panelists was also be tied to the ZMOT study. This is a must read for retailers. Here is a slide for those only interested in the summary:

According to Google, all purchases start with a stimulus. In the case of an auto purchase, the stimulus could be a Tier 1 spot that the prospect watches. Once the stimulus initiates action, 80% of people will then use a search engine and the potential purchaser typically uses 10.4 sources of information. One source may be AutoTrader.com and a second source may be a dealer website.  The Zero Moment of Truth is a situation when the prospect is conducting a search for a product, or they talk to friends about the product, or they comparison shop online.

These ZMOTs shape the decisions of the shoppers, according to Jim Lecinski, managing director, U.S. Sales & Service for Google, who is the author of ZMOT. Lecinski reports that 70% plus of the prospects will read reviews and watch videos. The prospect then ends up at the shelf to buy the product off the “shelf.” The shelf could be a grocery store, or Target, or your dealership. A key point referenced in this book is the importance of both testimonials and video content to create a stronger moment of truth. It is the impression that a consumer gets that will move that person down the sales funnel.

In preparing for the Digital Dealer panel discussion, one of my panelists forwarded a white paper from Lauren Freedman, president of the e-tailing Group. Freedman has worked in e-commerce for 15 years.  Freedman’s research revealed five key points tied specifically to video:

1. Consumers set the pace: they want, expect and watch video.
2. Video plays a multi-faceted role and is ideal for building consumer confidence.
3. Video quality matters.
4. Many website locations merit video integration.
5. Beyond site experience, target shoppers want video in all places where they spend their time: e-mail, social and mobile.

Here is a sample of the companies engaged with video referenced by Freedman with her research: Belk, L.L. Bean, Kendall Jackson, Dell, AutoZone, Crocs, Toys R Us, Babies R Us, Moosejaw, Golfsmith and Verizon.  Why would these companies use video to promote their products and their value proposition? I would suggest that they had metrics supporting the impact of video long before Google published the ZMOT study. Freedman’s website is: http://www.e-tailing.com/thegroup/freedman.html

Your reaction to this may be, Fortune 200 companies can afford to have a video strategy, but applications for auto dealers simply don’t apply. You may wonder if dealers are tracking results because of a video strategy. Is video a phase? Is a video strategy simply producing VIN specific walk arounds?

To answer some of these questions, I will introduce Beth VanStory. Beth is principal for Thinkout Consulting.  She consults to auto dealers and helped Toyota Sunnyvale become one of the top online Toyota dealerships. Beth launched and led OfficeDepot.com to profitability in one year. Earlier she led the new media group at The Weather Channel, bringing weather.com to one of the most visited sites on the web.  Beth believes in the power of video for driving visibility with Google and creating a stronger first impression on the sites of the dealerships that she consults with. I have met others who have migrated to the retail automotive world with impressive corporate backgrounds. The strategies being used by Toys R Us or Weather.com should be studied by the retailers to understand how to drive traffic to the website and how to create a wow moment when the consumer first looks at the website.

Let’s go back to some of the questions that I listed:

Question 1: Is a video strategy simply producing VIN specific walk arounds?

Answer 1: No

Question 2: Can I afford a video strategy?

Answer 2: Yes. Give up on some of the dated traditional advertising approaches not gaining traction and focus on a video strategy.

Question 4: How much do I need to get started?

Answer 4: $1,200 per month with the right company can get you into the game.

Question 5: What should I be focused on?

Answer 5: A home page player to showcase video content, monthly sales and service specials, new model content, content tied to the service department, customer testimonials, “how to” videos and high quality VIN specific video walk arounds.

Question 6: Why should I pay attention to the ZMOT book?

Answer 6: If you gain knowledge of how Google operates and apply it, you will sell more cars.

Question 7: What can a video strategy do for me?

Answer 7: It can help gain ZMOTs. Google places a higher value on relevant video. A video strategy will help differentiate your website. A video strategy will slow a consumer down and drive the time on site metric. If time on site increases, your website conversion rate will increase. 

Question 8: What are some good retail sites to review?

Answer 8: Visit the Jim Ellis stores, Mile One, Toyota Sunny Vale, Germain Cadillac of Easton, Hoffman Honda, Jeff Wyler Florence Honda, Ed Morse or O’Hare Honda for some ideas. All of these are high performing operations.

Question 9: How do I come up with ideas?

Answer 9: Get your management team involved and identify a point person who has a creative side. 

Question 10: Have we figured out all the applications for video?

Answer 10: We are only beginning to understand opportunities for online video. The key is to jump into the game. You can’t grow unless you are participating.

I recently had a meeting with John Peifer from Suburban Chevrolet in Minneapolis. John summarized his marketing focus this way: “My marketing efforts need to accomplish the following in this order: drive showroom traffic, get the phone to ring, drive emails and drive traffic to my website.”

John stated, “The retail game is an easy one to figure out.” I believe that the retail game may be easy to understand, but it is very hard to master. I would add that retailers must be willing to adapt to the advertising game. John embraced video seven years ago, long before the statistics or studies proved that it was a good investment. John also focused a higher percentage of his ad spend on the digital side compared to other dealers in his market. What about you? Are you embracing video as an opportunity?

Regardless of which type of first contact we made with our prospects, be it via live chat, a phone call, a lead or as a guest on our property, it is imperative that we understand and master commonality based rapport building. What I mean is, when there is always enough money in the emotional and mental bank, you can consistently make the proper withdrawals. This creates the commitment that leads to the art of closing. By closing I am referring to selling on a much greater scale than one person, or one couple, in front of us at a time. Your vision must be from the beginning to not just sell them a vehicle, but to become their quote, “I gotta guy.”

Humanizing the conversation, sharing rather than telling and following through with strong “pacing” statements explaining why we understand and why things aren’t a problem. Include your own personal experience as well, i.e. I have kids too. This solidifies commonality, which is ultimately the rapport that you need to have the strongest ROR.

You establish value in the sale.

ROR, mental ownership and a commitment from your sales consultant help people feel good about buying the right thing and give the ultimate perception that they didn’t pay too much. It is essential to adjust the steps and ensure that the psychology of human instincts and personality types are addressed from the first contact. Do it the right way every time, even when nobody is looking.

You become their ‘I gotta guy.’

Referrals happen more often because of the stimulus and validation of liking someone, positive recall of their experience and fundamentally how we made them feel. It is a cycle. The timeless saying “people don’t care how much we know, until they know how much we care” has never been more true. How many people reading this very article is someone’s “I gotta guy”? No matter the length of time in the industry, we develop a “Friends and Family program.” Imagine multiplying that by the number of sales consultants and business development representatives you have representing your company. Facebook and other social media will also expand your referrals as your customers’ “I gotta guy.” Catching a photo of your customer with their new vehicle, happily standing with their sales consultant and immediately uploading that photo to their Facebook account from their smartphones (no signatures or paperwork needed), will produce more customers and positive reputation for your business than word-of-mouth referrals ever have in the past.

You have a diverse evidence manual.

When returning from the test drive you need to relax the customer, take a service walk and then take them to the “buyers pending” area. I must say, now is when you will make or break your deal. Where have all of the evidence manuals gone? Would you rather have your customers sitting, waiting for your “pencil” being distracted by their cell phone, reading others emails, listening to voicemails and shopping online? Or would you rather they be reading a very presentable book that might have a picture of a little boy titled, “The Top 10 Reasons to Buy from My Dad.”

The point is, an evidence manual will solidify that they have made a good choice. In the first aspect, it validates that they are buying from good people through our “About Us,” community involvement and charities. In the second aspect, by providing expert write ups from magazines, detailed consumer reports and comparisons on the vehicle of choice, as well as various other supporting evidence, you assure them that they are buying the right thing. It should include all of the thank you notes, pictures of happy customers, social networking posts, reviews and lastly, pictures of you outside of work with your family, your hobbies and your interests. It doesn’t matter if it is fishing or pictures at the beach that will bring commonality between you and the customer. Perhaps you include some pictures of a local area they might recognize. The point is to have them viewing you as a neighbor, as a peer, as a friend, as someone they can trust, all of which should be true anyway.

Remember your body language speaks volumes. It is over 60% of communication and their decision process is being made based on how well you are presenting the options. Be it one price or negotiation, be it Four Square or going over the numbers and introducing them to finance, the key is to not just say thank you and shake their hand. When, not if, they say yes, validate. Tell them what a good choice they have made, what a pleasure it has been and how much you are looking forward to them being a part of our Friends and Family program.

Your CRM notes are thorough.

CRMs are only as good as the notation that goes in. Be quick to notate all that you have learned about your customer. It won’t be long until you are making a taillight call, picking up the phone, staying in touch and developing a relationship. Leave no question or pause to how they will react whenever they learn of anyone they know in need of a vehicle. Of course this is the same timeless response that you would give someone in any other industry that you know trust and enjoyed working with.

Remember there is zero downtime in the car business. Consistently practice and utilize all of the continuing education material at our disposal. I am baffled how the NextGen Automotive sales professional representative could ever be bored. We found more than enough to keep busy long before there ever was the Internet. Contact us with any questions in regards to these techniques, the basics or how in fact SMS, MMS, headshots, reverse TOs, Facebook uploads and all of today’s technologies help with the classic steps to the sale. We are happy to talk about it. Good selling my friends.

In this series of blogs I am addressing common processes within a dealership that present challenges that are not easily solved. In my last blog I talked about how important it is to track how long it takes to get trade-ins out to the front line.

In this blog I’d like to address the issue of finding cars. For many large dealerships, one of the hardest things to do is to find a car. How many times are your customers left standing while a salesperson goes off searching for a vehicle? This is not a great way to get the customer into a buying mood, let alone the fact that it’s a very unproductive way for your salespeople to be spending their time.

One dealer I know has locator beacons on every car. Another dealer bar-coded every car and every parking space. One of the largest Chrysler dealers in the country uses Radio Frequency Identifcation (RFID) tags on every car, then has employees drive around in golf carts reading the tags with a wireless device, which then updates the database with the location of the vehicle.

These are examples of some high-tech solutions available, but unfortunately they are also very expensive solutions. What if you don’t want to–or aren’t able to spend that kind of money? Can you think of any low-tech, or analog solutions?

When I was a general manager at a large, multi-line dealership, we had four lots for about 600 cars. Once a salesperson got into the right lot, usually they could find the vehicle pretty quickly. But knowing which lot a car was parked in was always a problem. It could take anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour to find a car.

Our solution was to color code the lots and then buy little round stickers of each color: red, blue, orange, yellow. Then, whenever somebody parked a car, they would take note of the lot color and put the appropriate colored sticker on the key box in the key machine. Knowing which lot the car was parked in dramatically cut down the time necessary to find the vehicles, in a very low-cost manner.

Before you decide on an expensive technology solution, have you considered if there’s a low-cost, analog solution? I always suggest getting several employees together on a cross-functional team to brainstorm ways to solve a problem. Cutting down the time involved with finding a car is critical if you’re trying to increase efficiencies in the sales process and keep your customers happy.

What about your dealership? Do you have a process in place that enables salespeople to find cars easily? What has worked and what hasn’t?

If you caught the wave that hit auto retail in the late ‘90s, you’re now sitting on the top of the digital marketing world today. We learned to call this wave online lead generation services.

This wave continues to build speed and power. Staying on top means smarter paddling if you want to ride at the top of this online lead generation curve.  Here are five new crests to ride if you hope to stay on top of this digital sales and marketing wave.

1.    Single sign-on:  Single sign-on for multiple platforms like DMS, CRM, online inventory management and listing systems reduces IT maintenance costs; provides a single bill to pay for accounting; reduce overhead costs. Delivers single support and help desk, simplifying remote assistance.

2.   Real-time data aggregation and exchange: Reduces or eliminates time delay when posting inventory and when changing inventory descriptions and/or pricing on line. Pricing, description and image consistency across all posting sites, including the dealership web site, enhances click and conversion rates.

3.    End-to-end lead control: A single, integrated platform for end-to-end lead control enables sales staff to work leads more effectively and efficiently, increase closing rates and sell more vehicles. Ties inventory optimization and publishing together with robust website content management and CRM functions.

4.    Automated windshield inventory tags. QR Code and SMS Short Code based high-tech window stickers replace old school paper tags and hand-marked windshield signage. Stickers can print right out of the showroom with “was/is” pricing and other content. Keeps prices up to date on on-lot vehicles. Eliminates time wasted to walk the lot to remove old markings and write new labels.         

5.    Dynamic CRM: Modular CRM systems give dealers options – they can start with a system that helps them crawl, upgrade to when they’re ready to walk, and as they become more experienced and their needs grow, upgrade again to a run-paced level system. There is rarely any justifiable reason to buy more technology than can be used currently or for the near term.

Many recognize that their true passion might not be the back-and-forth, face-to-face, or peer-to-peer selling that goes along with the title “Internet Sales Manager,” but it is the new digital marketing initiatives that intrigue them. This is the common metamorphosis that many ISMs go through. They recognize their desire is the digital and not the Internet sale. And therein lies the problem.

Many dealerships and executive managers don’t yet understand the value of having a full-time digital liaison. They can’t always track the results, can’t measure the ROI, and therefore can’t quantify the payroll expense. These dealerships feel that the little things you do here and there to improve the online presence of the store are plenty and the main job of the ISM should be to focus on getting customers in the door and selling them vehicles. Their beliefs are both right and wrong.

Understand that they are correct on one main point… they hired someone for a specific job (as Internet manager…to respond to leads and sell cars). Sure, maybe the ISM had a couple of digital duties assigned to them such as keeping the website updated, CRM running smoothly, and inventory fresh. However, if an ISM has been in the game for at least three to four years, they must realize that they were hired initially for something the manager could quantify.

Where management may be wrong, though, is thinking there is not a need for a digital position in today’s dealership. Seasoned Internet professionals know that there is a big need… but it isn’t what they brought the individual on for initially. If an ISM has been managing leads, calls and customers for years, I understand the grind that it can take and the open air that a digital marketing role may bring them. It just may not be what is in store for that particular ISM. Some will work in a progressive store where ownership sees the writing on the wall and takes the leap to reward their proven ISM with a digital-focused position. Others won’t see the light and will keep their ISM in the position they originally hired them for. The position they understand and can evaluate easier.

So if you are an Internet sales manager, here are a few different steps you can take:
1) Do your job. Do everything asked of you on your job description and do it extremely well. Don’t dedicate work hours to more interesting tasks. Bust your butt at what you were paid to do and in your off-hours, do what you love. Digitize your dealership up and down in your off-hours, document your measures and track the store’s growth. Maybe then you can prove yourself in one position, but quantify the second position based on the extra-hours of work.

2) Lay out a detailed job description for the position you want and give them expected growth estimates on what they could achieve (financially) from your position. Then present the importance of the store’s digital development to ownership.
(There are caveats to this one. If you aren’t succeeding at what they hired your for, you don’t have a leg to stand on when asking for a new role. Also, if you think a dealer sees the value of a social media manager as much as someone responsible for personally moving 14-16 cars a month out of their store, you are mistaken. Understand that, as important as you believe the position may be in the future, you likely won’t be able to deliver same sale results in your new position. Lastly, have a replacement for your current position in mind and a training program prepared for them if they do indeed give you the new position. Otherwise, if there is no one to take your place when you take on the new role, and that department slips, they’ll blame you and then just move you back into the previous role. And that will have been your only shot.)

3) Move on. As the Internet evolves, more and more dealers are recognizing the glaring need for a digital-minded executive to help cross these rivers. If it isn’t your dealership, maybe it is another close by that sees the value in this role. Just understand that it might not be you. You have the majority of your experience as a lead-handler and sales manager. This is a major need for dealers everywhere and you may be typecast in that role for a while. Many dealers hiring for digital are looking for someone from outside the industry to give a fresh perspective. Don’t take offense to this. It is just one mindset. Keep looking and you’ll find a place that values the position you seek.

The metamorphosis from Internet sales manager to digital media specialist for a dealership is one commonly desired. Countless Internet managers feel this way. As a matter of fact, I tend to believe that any ISM who has been performing their job well for over five years would relish the opportunity to take on a full-blown digital position. If you are a general manager or owner reading this, and you value your current ISM, ask them their long-term goals. If they talk about controlling more digital initiatives for your store, consider a new position for them, or someone else may take them away and give them the role they want.

A change of pace is nice, but realize that it isn’t always necessary. At least that is what many dealer operators believe. It is up to the ISM to prove the purpose of the new position first, but they shouldn’t lose sight of their core responsibilities and what they were originally hired to do. Over time, through evolution, all ISM positions will incorporate digital. It is just up to the Internet sales manager and dealership operator as to when that dramatic shift takes place.

The good news is, location doesn’t have to be a problem. If you know where your customers are but you’re not getting the amount of leads you’d like from those locations, there are a few things that you can do:

1) Work with your independent lead provider to come up with a custom, geo-targeted territory that will produce leads from the areas in which your customers live. Drawing a radius around your dealership is not always the best marketing strategy; especially if there’s a geographical obstacle like a river or mountain near you. This is also a major advantage that an independent provider can give you over your OEM; with independent lead providers, you are not restricted in the areas that you can target!

2) In every single e-mail template or phone call, give customers a reason to visit you. Tell your brand story. Does your service department have a great reputation and good user reviews? Tell that story. Are your sales people friendly and honest? Tell that story. Is your dealership involved in your community and does it support local charities or the Little League team? Tell that story. Customers will drive out of their way to shop somewhere if they feel good about the people, the store, the reputation, or the product.

3) Consider an incentive marketing program. Have you ever received a gift card for a restaurant or retail outlet? Chances are you’ve redeemed it, even if you had to drive across town to a place you normally don’t frequent. Gift cards provide real incentive for customers, and they will drive right past a same-brand dealership in order to redeem them at your store. Yet the nominal amounts are not incentive enough to attract people who aren’t in the market for a vehicle. Incentive marketing programs are producing great results for many dealers, and may be worth trying.

Is location a challenge for your store? What other best practices or tips do you have for attracting customers?

# # #

Arizona: Every year during monsoon season dozens of drivers decide to drive their vehicle across a flooded roadway or wash. Of course, many don’t make it as cars can get washed away in as little as six inches of water. The Stupid Motorist Law holds drivers liable for their own stupid decisions, fining them up to $2,000 per incident to cover costs associated with emergency rescues. This law was enacted in1995 and inevitably somebody gets cited every year.

Colorado: It is illegal to ride a horse under the influence (I assume they mean the rider and not the horse). This law is rarely enforced but apparently in 2009 a man in a cowboy hat was cited under the law. The biggest dilemma for the police was what to do with the horse? You can’t impound it like you can a car. Finally a local stable owner volunteered to haul the horse back home.

Anchorage, Alaska: It is illegal to strap your dog or any other live animal to the roof of your vehicle (I can understand strapping a dead animal to the roof of your car, but a live one?)

California: No vehicle without a driver may exceed 60 miles per hour (now that would be something to see!)

Montana: It is illegal to leave sheep unattended in the cab of your truck or car (I guess this means that if you really want your sheep to ride along in your passenger seat, you’ll have to move him to the bed of the truck or take him with you if you plan to leave the vehicle for any length of time.)

Glendale, California: It is illegal to jump in or out of a moving vehicle.

Long Beach, California: Cars are the only item allowed in the garage (This law must have been enacted before A&E’s Hoarders came along).

San Francisco, California: It is illegal to wipe one’s car with used underwear (but new is OK?)

West Virginia: It is legal to take road-kill home for supper as long as the fatality is reported within 12 hours. This law was passed in 1998 as a cost savings measure, but sparked controversy when animal lovers suggested that some West Virginians would try to run down animals on purpose. Other West Virginians embraced the law and hold road-kill cook-offs that attract thousands of attendees every year.

What are some other funny driving laws that you’ve heard of in your state? What are new laws that you would suggest?

Becoming operationally superior is powerful in its own right. It means you are more likely to get the sale, more likely to please the customer, more likely to have high CSI and to see positive reviews about your dealership online. But that is just the beginning. If you can achieve operational superiority, you set the foundation for a powerful social media strategy.

Think about it. Social is the new advertising. What is advertising, at its core? It’s about creating awareness, consideration, opinion, and purchase intent. From an auto industry perspective, what is social? It’s about creating awareness, consideration, opinion, and purchase intent. There’s only one difference, and it’s huge. Advertising is about spin. Social is about truth.

So, let’s come back to operational superiority. If you have the best dealership in terms of the customer’s experience—if you respond to a customer’s lead in 10 minutes with a competitively priced and information-rich multi-vehicle price quote, make the first phone call in 30 minutes, follow up regularly for the first 14 days with thoughtfully scripted calls and emails, and then implement a gentle but persistent 180 day e-mail follow-up process—you will not just generate more sales, but (assuming your in-store processes are also sound) you will generate more happy customers.

If you have more happy customers, you are in an ideal position to implement a powerful social media strategy. Now you can create a compelling online presence on the 50 or so social sites that matter most. You can regularly publish content into those sites, including OEM messages, tips on buying a car, service tips, service coupons and your latest vehicle inventory. You can implement a comprehensive monitoring program, to track comments about your dealership and respond quickly and proactively every time. You can survey your customer’s post-sale, and discover which customers are happiest—and encourage them to post a positive review. In short, you can engage the social web with confidence, knowing that at your core you have a strong operation and have nothing to hide.

This is huge. Operational effectiveness plus social media effectiveness equals explosive competitive advantage. You have built the foundation for market domination.

If you’re not there yet, recognize that Rome wasn’t built in a day. Seek out the right partners, and take it one step at a time. As you continuously improve your operations, and as you begin to engage the social web with confidence, you will create a virtuous cycle. Your marketplace will tell you where you can continue to improve. Your improvements will be noted and appreciated. That appreciation will appear online. And your reputation will continue to grow, driving more leads, more sales, more happy customers, more positive reviews. How cool is that?

A true equity data mining tool takes the power of the data held in your Dealership Management System (DMS), accounting for total sales history, and combines that with service history, current inventory, current wholesale values, as well as national and regional rebates and incentives. Managers can provide this data manually by pulling finance and lease deals over the past few years and then identifying qualified customers who, with no money down, could lower their payments. Many of these customers can purchase a newer vehicle for less. Equity tools provide a much faster and easier method to deliver a daily list of invaluable leads, which are calculated by combining:

1. Original sales contract
2. Calculated payoff while taking into consideration refundable F&I products
3. Current book value for each vehicle based on model, mileage and market conditions
4. Specific term and rate based on buyer history
5. Best match to your current in stock inventory
6. Customers buying habits

However, these calculations are just the tip of the iceberg. For years, many dealers were manually predicting a customers’ equity position by comparing the book value to the payoff. With the abundance of customer data, the “old school” approach leaves a lot to be desired. Do you think that matching customers with your current inventory would result in more sales? Would giving your sales managers everything they need to desk deals make the buying experience much more positive for you and your buyer? Are sales calls with a guaranteed advantage for the customer going to drive even more business? In my experience from working with hundreds of auto dealers across the country, equity tools provide all of that and more.

Some would say you should not talk to a customer that is upside down by a few hundred dollars. Why not? An intelligent equity tool will uncover upside down customers that you thought were not important and create even more opportunities. These equity tools identify available rebates and incentives to get the customer even or better yet, right side up. So again, why would you not contact these customers?

Auto dealers are trying to find ways to make the most out of what they are spending. With sophisticated technologies out there it can make an auto dealer’s life much easier. The importance of an equity-mining tool these days is imperative. It is a great way to find customers who are not currently in the market and push them into it. After finding customers who can buy today, start thinking about ways to market to them effectively. This is a way to intelligently discover new business opportunities in your highly-qualified equity customers. Start generating even more business from every customer today.  Stop focusing on just the tip of the iceberg; what you cannot see under the surface has far greater potential!

Acceptance of new technology needs to start long before you buy the technology. I’ve met lots of technology salespeople that tell me they will only talk to the dealer when making a sales presentation. I always disagree. If you sell technology first to the employees, then acceptance comes easier. Nothing is worse than having a dealer buy a new product and have it shoved onto the employees. A better method of acceptance is when an Internet manager attends the Digital Dealer Conference and Exposition (next month in Orlando) and sees a new product and then goes back to the dealership and presents it to the technology committee and dealer for approval. Technology committees are new to our industry, but a long time tradition in larger corporations.  A typical mission statement for a technology committee would be “the forum for reviewing, evaluating, and recommending strategies, plans, and policies for dealership information technology. The specific elements of the committee’s charge include: Identify strategic directions, capabilities, and objectives IT support, including learning technologies. Identify opportunities where IT can help achieve the dealership’s goals and recommend priorities.”

Typically the technology committee would include the parts manager, Internet manager, controller, dealer or GM, and other interested employees. If this committee gets excited about new technology and then talks to the other employees – you’ll get better acceptance.

Training is the next step in avoiding technology inertia. If you used to play the game Frogger, you’ll remember that the risk in crossing the road is getting smashed by cars. Inertia can come from fear. Nobody likes making mistakes and new technology seems to either create mistakes or point out mistakes, like forgetting to put in email addresses on every repair order. If employees are well-trained, it will ease their fears, but what is the best way to train? An old saying is; “I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.” This means that you need to do result-based training. Instead of making employees go through the typical learning process of lessons, instead they perform an action that provides results. There are three levels of training; data entry, inquiry, and results.

As an example, if you are installing a new DMS, then you would start with training on data entry. This level requires accuracy and speed. Accuracy should come partly from the software and the rest from company policy. An example of this is requiring the color on trade-in entry (company policy) and making it a required field (software.) Speed comes from practice. While developing data entry training at DealerStar, we’ve tried to make it fun by having records of the best times that someone can enter a repair order, parts ticket, check, or quote a payment. It becomes more of a game.

The next level is inquiry, which involves being able to retrieve valuable information like, “How many cars do I have over 60 days old?” Results happen when we take that same report of over 60 day old vehicles and find where they were purchased (trade-in, auction, etc.) and provide information to management that enables them to make decisions or policy to avoid these mistakes in the future.

Hopefully you can use these two steps; acceptance and training to avoid technology inertia in the future and if you’re already suffering from inertia with your current technology, you’ll need to focus on training to get the results that you’ve been expecting from your technology investment.

• A projected Seasonal Annual Adjusted Rate (SAAR) for vehicle sales of 13.95 million and J.D. Power & Associates estimates annual sales will surpass 14 million.
• Internet lead volume will increase by as much as 10-20%, with the average dealer getting 85 leads per brand per month, up from 75 leads in 2011.
• Much of that growth will come from third party web sites, like KBB.com, Cars.com, Edmunds.com and other sites
• An estimated 30% of OEM retail sales originate from Internet leads.

That’s the good news, but here are the challenges involved:

• More than 30% of customers submit a request to at least two dealers, increasing competition for dealers
• 30% of dealers still don’t quote prices online to buyers, which could be costing them business

Increased competition means that dealers have to respond to leads not only quickly, but with a quality message. According to Urban Science’s best practices for lead management, dealers should include the following critical elements in their online customer responses: responding quickly, quoting a price, providing alternative vehicles in a similar price range, confirming that the vehicle requested is available in a range of offerings and that the dealer offers the customer next steps – such as coming in for a test drive.

I would add these four best practices to that list:

1) Persistent follow up. Not everybody who submits leads buys within 30 days. Continue to follow up over at least 90 days and have a long-term follow-up plan in place. If your lead volume overwhelms your follow-up capacity, consider a technology solution that focuses on lead re-engagement.

2) Manage lead volume. No more than 80-100 leads per month for an experienced salesperson. If your current sales staff is overwhelmed, consider using a technology that can engage with thousands of leads every month to raise closing rates from the average 6-12% up to 28%.

3) Management involvement & accountability: The more the GM is involved in the process, the more successful it will be. Every week the GM should review the metrics with the Internet department. How many leads did we get? How many are open? How many calls have been made? How many appointments set? Accountability breeds responsibility.

4) Manager confirmed appointments. Customers feel special if they are contacted by the manager and offered a warm welcome, increasing their likelihood of showing.

How is your Internet department preparing for the increased lead volume? What best practices are you implementing to stay competitive?

There are a few ways I’ve learned to avoid the cold front that occurs when a new manager is hired. One method is to get your current team bought-in and even excited about the new arrival. “How the heck do you do that?” You ask — Simple.

The first step is by involving the sales floor in the hiring of said manager. It is unlikely that your sales team is native only to your dealership. My guess is they’ve worked elsewhere and experienced other processes and people. Your sales team understands the makings of quality management material. For that reason, get them involved. If you are shopping for a sales manager (and not looking to replace someone on the floor currently), ask your top sales reps if they have worked with any great managers at other locations. Since sales managers are such valuable commodities for a store, why not try to reach for the best and snag away a competitor’s top performer? If your team feels you are valuing their opinion, they will be more open to a change at guard.

The second step is by bringing a leader from the sales floor into the interview process. Most dealerships have that one popular salesperson that can both stir up the pot, but also lead the pack. When you are interviewing candidates for executive management positions, by all means, allow the salesperson to interview them as well. If you can get buy-in from the leader on the sales floor, they will, in turn, share their approval with others and immediately generate goodwill before they ever start. One little “I like him. I think he’ll be really good” from their lips to the ears on the showroom floor can go along way in minimizing any anxiety that occurs when a new manager begins.

If you don’t give your sales team a voice during this hiring process you are opening up the ability for them to resent the decision, thereby causing bad blood.

How else can new blood negatively infect the positive vibes on a sales floor? Allowing them to make immediate technology decisions. Any good manager measures the tools at their disposal when they come into a new store environment. However, many new managers want to immediately surround themselves with only solutions and technologies that they know. They try to create a “former dealership west” or a mirror image of the store they recently came from. Just because it was being used at their previous store doesn’t mean it was successful there. Unfortunately, some managers just like working with those tools they are most comfortable with. They bring in these vendors, not because it is the right thing for the store, but because it is most convenient for them.

When looking to change up the technology (think CRM, websites, desking), make it an organizational decision rather than a one-person, “they must know what they are talking about” situation. (Same goes for any major process overhauls they recommend.) “This is what we did over at my last store,” isn’t worth anything because all dealerships are different. If new blood brings in these wrong solutions and processes, then it will negatively affect the entire sales floor’s performance and the sales floor will blame them and you for it. Don’t allow that one person to change the direction of the ship without proper guidance from the crew. Don’t get me wrong… I don’t believe the sales team should run the roost. However, a strong, motivated crew in the showroom goes a LONG way to a store’s success and overall culture.

One last way to help create a positive relationship between new hires and current employees is to sponsor regular lunches with them. A few times a week after the new hire begins, send a small group of your employees out to dinner with them. Pick up the tab. It doesn’t hurt a dealer’s pocketbook to cover a few lunches and the time your salespeople (as well as service and parts managers) spend getting to know the new manager outside of work breeds a better working relationship. Also, your salespeople won’t get disheartened when a new floor manager starts as it means free lunch for them. It’s amazing how the little things can have such a big impact.

As ownership, it is imperative that the people you hire into your dealership adhere closely with the culture. Nonetheless, even with the right hire, there will always be hiccups and hesitation that must be overcome early on. You must do your best to ensure that the infusion of new blood into your store doesn’t cause a cancer in the rest of it. Take a few measures to involve your sales team into the process and you will see much quicker buy-in and better working relationships.