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…]
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…]
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…]
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…]
After reading this article by Rob Fontano, I started thinking of all the horrible voicemails I received over the last few years. Some of the poor guys/gals didn’t even get a return phone call from me since I could not understand the number they left. I decided to post the video Rob created as he has some skills that pay the bills when it comes to voicemail.
“A voicemail could be the difference between a customer calling you back, and you never hearing from the again”. Wow, that is powerful stuff isn’t it?
I remember a time when I was working at Leasebusters and I had to share an office with my co-worker (Randy) whose desk was about 3 feet from mine. I had to cold call dealers all across Ontario setting up appointments to demonstrate our offering.
Randy was not the type of guy who was afraid to give constructive criticism. After a day or two of pounding the phones I guess my office neighbour had enough of my lightning speed voicemails. At the time I was a bit annoyed that this dude was listening to skills on the mic – aka the phone. He said I was speaking way too fast and it was one of his biggest pet peeves. I listened to his approach and started to realize that mine sucked. I started practicing my skills in the car on the drive to work and after a few weeks I was the Voice Mail Vigilante.
Here are a few tips that I’d like to share:
Get to the point – Don’t talk about the weather, sports, or where you are standing while making the call. Think of your voice mail as a trailer for a major motion picture. Give them the highlights and a reason to call back.
Don’t be a funny guy – Be very cautious about using humour on the Voice Mail. It follows the same rules as sarcasm in texts. Stick to the game plan and leave the Chris Rock routine at home.
30 Seconds at the most - You do not have to get the stopwatch out but anything over 30 seconds is decreasing your chances of a call back and could easily result in a Number 7 (That’s what I call getting your VM deleted. My cell phone says “push 7 to delete”.
Leave messages like Barack Obama:
Barack would be the king of Voice Mails
Something about the way Barack speaks just fascinates me. By no means am I suggesting you do your best Barack impression when you get sent to voicemail, however I am suggesting you take a listen to some of his speeches.
He has what they call the “Art of the Pause”. Rob does a great job in the video above using Pauses to help his message resonate. Just watch the President’s acceptance speech to see the Pause King in action.
By: Ryan Thompson
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I was going to produce a Five Alive that highlighted the Top 5 articles of 2011. After about 2 mins of debate with myself I decided to keep the series consistent. There was just too much good stuff in the blogosphere in December, and you can always go back and read all the Five Alive Posts from 2011 Here.
Lately I’ve been reading a lot of “non automotive” blogs when looking for inspiration. Don’t get me wrong I’m a Refresh Addict, spend a lot of time on Driving Sales, and lately have noticed some great stuff over on Automotive Digital Marketing.
The problem I have with some of the writers on the “Big 3″, is that they write more for the search engines and to get link juice back to their product/service. I’d really like to see more articles from Dealers vs.Vendors but that is not going to get a few extra deals on the board.
I really have enjoyed reading Jim Ziegler’s “Dealer Defender” series which demonstrates how to write “Like ya talk”. Ziegler tells it like it is and isn’t afraid to ruffle a few feathers in the process. It’s a pretty long read so pour yourself a Scotch and roll your sleeves up first.
So here we go with the last edition of Five Alive for 2011. Would love to hear which article you enjoyed the best in the comment section. [click to continue…]
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