by Ryan Thompson on February 20, 2012
This should be on every salesperson's desk
In a world of “Gurus” and “Consultants” it is sometimes hard to see through the fog and obtain some good solid information. Sure the blogs and forums are out there but sometimes a nice paper book at your desk is what you really need.
Phone Ninjas put out a great 80 page in depth Phone and Internet training manual for car dealers. Jerry was kind enough to send me a copy to review.
After a few nights on the Ipad, I bombed through Jerry Thibeau’s latest manual that should be considered the “Bible for Car Sales”.
I have been following Jerry Thibeau, founder of Phone Up Ninjas since 2009 where we met on the infamous DealerRefresh Forums. Jerry was the kind of guy that would help on any issue even if it had nothing to do with padding his own wallet…my kinda guy.
It was clear from reading some of his articles that he was an amazing trainer and a wealth of information. Jerry was the one that got me hooked on Jing after his article “Turbo charging your Internet responses”. If you want to see firsthand why Jerry Thibeau has a thriving business just take a gander at this thread – “How are your phone skills” (quick answer for most dealerships .. pretty shitty)
Why should dealers care about Phone Training? Its 2012 right? The game has changed it is all about email, text, Website Chat right??
Jerry provided me with some interesting stats that will give your management team a reason to invest in phone training. Check it out.
This is taken from Page.4 of Jerry’s training manual. I had to leak this page to give readers an official State of the Union.
INDUSTRY FACTS
Customers
80% of your phone traffic will buy within 3-5 days.
90% will buy within 10 days.
76% of your customers will call before the come in.
85% will visit the internet when shopping for a vehicle. [click to continue…]
by Ryan Thompson on February 2, 2012
So Toronto went through the whole month of January with no snow!! Dealers are loving it! I’ve talked to dealers all over the GTA and they haven’t had to move the lot around once…gotta be a first.
There is a buzz around the city this month when it comes to digital marketing. Dealers have a real thirst for content which works out great for the Five Alive Series.
Holiday parties are over, budgets are being made, and it’s back to business. My Top 20 Blog Topics post received some great comments in January which I am really excited about.
Is blogging going mainstream in the dealer world for 2012? My guess is not yet, but 2013 it’s on!
Here we go with the first Five Alive for 2012. I’ve picked 5 articles that are worth a read for Dealership Marketing Professionals. If I missed any good articles please post them in the comment section.
- Dealer Apps a Nuisance or Necessity? – A lot of dealers are getting caught up in all the buzz over apps. This is a great article to help you decide if it is something you need to jump on now…. or wait and see. [click to continue…]
by Ryan Thompson on January 29, 2012
Is 2012 the year to take Social Serious?
If you are like any of the 250 million users who access social media daily, you most likely have posted a status update or tweet before you even down your first cup of coffee. Social media has become so engrained in our daily routine that we often #tweet and #retweet numerous times before we even have a physical conversation.
But, could it be possible that we have become so used to social media being at our fingertips that we are beginning to overlook its basic elements? Much like a paid advertisement or spam E-mail, there are some aspects of social media that we no longer notice.
For example, let’s take the Facebook, Twitter and blog buttons on your dealership’s website. Are they featured at the top? Are they hiding at the bottom? Hey, Mr. Social Media Guru, do you even have buttons? If Facebook is in the top three referring sites to your dealership’s website, can you really afford to be glossing over the social media connection to your dealership site?
It might very well be time to just start calling it “media”, rather than “social media.” This avenue has clearly become a preference for advertising, marketing and, dare I say, lead generation. And if there is one thing that we all know, it’s that lead generation pays the bills. Pause. Can you say that social media is going to provide insane lead generation? Not quite. Let’s all remember engagement isn’t lost on anymore [click to continue…]
by Ryan Thompson on January 14, 2012
Get your dealers blog fired up! Wooh!
So it’s 2012 and after months and months of putting it off, your dealership is ready to finally get started on their car dealership blog.
For the purpose of this article, I am going to assume that you have already bought into why you should have a blog for your dealership. At this point you are just looking for some guidance on what to start writing about.
Don’t worry I’m not going to bore you with a bunch of search engine optimization mumbo jumbo that your website provider is probably ramming down your throat. I’ve been in your shoes. Starting a blog is the easy part. The problem is a majority of blogs do not make it to see their 1st birthday because of a lack of vision, process, and content ideas.
I often stumble across a dealer’s blog and see the same patterns time and time again. Their blog will have 3-5 posts and most of the time it is a limited time special sale or a current promotion (that is expired ). Don’t forget the last entry was one years ago. They failed because they weren’t bought into blogging and were not prepared. I won’t let that happen to you. [click to continue…]
by Ryan Thompson on January 12, 2012
You want how much for your trade?
This year is different. Yes it is. This year, you will keep a watchful eye on your dealership’s sales initiatives. No more of this “every so often” review of team performance or blindly hoping the new guy is doing a decent job on the phone. Yup, you will tackle it all…but wait, what’s that?
This morning should be dedicated to an in-depth review and a conference call just came up. In the afternoon you’re scheduled for two sales meetings. Tomorrow you’re travelling for a conference and of course, deserve a restful weekend off upon return. Yikes. It’s already early March and you’ve added this resolution to the “try again next year” bucket.
If your dealership is like many others, phone call tracking is an integral piece of the sales process pie. It certainly should help in this area but unfortunately, may fall victim to the situation above. Have no fear. There is hope because good call tracking is designed to make your life easier, not harder. Below are three easy, simple, tasks you could execute right now to get ahead of the game.
1.) Set up automated reports
Easy enough right? Yes, it is actually. Creating an automated report takes seconds and provides the data you want most in your email inbox. How about a detailed daily report of all inbound calls? Maybe a weekly high level summary or a monthly overview of call trends? These can be sent to multiple recipients and generally, a specific subject line and comments are editable for each. Automated reports take the work out of retrieving data. [click to continue…]
by Ryan Thompson on January 8, 2012
Does your ad have the right stuff?
Anyone who knows me knows how passionate I am about writing vehicle descriptions. For some reason the majority of dealerships could care less about this art.
Most dealers are being brain washed that they need 40 photos on their ads to get more conversions. Don’t forget the painful stitched together slideshow video – equipped with robot voice over (is that going die soon??).
You know the one I’m talking about. Nothing like looking at a 7 series BMW and having to be reminded it has power locks, power windows, and traction control!!! What accent does that woman have anyway??
Dealers who are moving metal these days on 3rd party sites are all on the market value pricing train. One price shopping is becoming the norm for used car departments across Canada and the U.S.A. The Internet changed the rules a long time ago; however some dealers haven’t got the memo. If you need an education on the topic I would start with reading Dale Pollak’s blog.
Price will get you eyeballs on your vehicle display pages.. that my friend is a fact. The next hurdle is the conversion. Writing effective vehicle descriptions will increase the chance of a phone call, email lead, or an automotive live chat. [click to continue…]
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