AutoSuccess January 2016 by AutoSuccess

2016

JANUARY

We are all things Service BDCâ&#x20AC;Ś

855 891 0010 2703 Telecom Parkway :: #140 :: Richardson, TX 75082

www.TraverConnect.com

Dealerships Have a Big Problem…

FIRST PROBLEM: THERE ARE TOO MANY CALLS TO HANDLE

SECOND PROBLEM: IT’S TOO EXPENSIVE TO DO IT YOURSELF

THIRD PROBLEM: CONSTANTLY PLAYING PHONE TAG

Advisors are busy with customers in the drive or on the phone and trying to juggle the two can ring in a bad customer experience. And the total hours of phone coverage averages 67 hours per week.

Creating your own Service BDC is costly and, fact is, most dealerships spend twice as much as necessary.

Without the proper digital tools, Advisors spend more time waiting for the ‘OK’ to provide the services and less time getting the RO completed.

Service Calls are Missed by 23% • On-hold and hung up – 30% • Advisor unavailable – 29% • Left a message – 23% • Hung up in voice-mail – 18%

Building time and mileage records to properly recommend service intervals, hiring the staff to manage it and the training that must always follow impact your bottom-line and takes away from other marketing objectives.

When customers aren’t involved throughout the process, they begin to feel like a number. Today’s customers are tech savvy and having them wait in line to make a payment is just so “LAST CENTURY”.

We are all things Service Turn Your Phone Problems Into Phone Profits by choosing any of our options: • Backstop Coverage — Let us handle all the calls you miss. Set hours or all day. • Built and Managed in Dallas, TX – Sit back. Relax. We’ll take care of it all. • Custom Built at Your Dealership – You’re in full control. • SMS Texting & Secure WebPay – Real-time notices and safe online payments. ™

™

Call or visit us on the web today to receive our no obligation Customer Experience Evaluation to discover which option is right for your dealership.

855 891 0010 :: 2703 Telecom Parkway :: #140 :: Richardson, TX 75082

FOURTH PROBLEM: IT’S TOUGH TO PROPERLY SHOP LOAD

ONE SOLUTION: TRAVER CONNECT

Many dealerships are only taking in 4, 6 , 8, maybe 10 sales calls per day (we handle 100).

Our promise… we will increase your gross margin and drive up your absorption rates by doing these five processes for half of what it cost to do it yourself.

Walk-ins and calls are unpredictable. Dealership can’t be sure they can get RO’s in because customers are considering their price, availability and commitment needs. Without that data, dealerships don’t know when they’re coming in and shop flow becomes unorganized.

e BDC…

• • • • •

We’ll capture EVERY call. Eliminate long call defections. Increase your show rates. Eliminate under-booking. And we’ll monetize time and mileage recommendations.

Can you handle moving UP TO 15 or more EXTRA units this month? Ideal Direct, in partnership with Experian Automotive, now offers live credit driven data.

Targeted Direct Mail • Experian’s Exclusive “In the market model” – This list actually pin-points prospects in the market for a car. If you are looking for great lower tier prime and sub-prime prospects, this list works. We have had dealers sell over 40 units in a month. • Campaigns start as low as $.65 a piece.

Call 855-393-2666 today and get your market locked up.

For Special offers, “Like” us on Facebook Search Ideal Direct Ad Group or www.facebook.com/IdealDirectAdGroupInc

www.idealdirectadgroup.com contact@idealdirectadgroup.com

2016

WITH YOUR SUPPORT, ONE OF US IS GOING TO

WASHINGTON ARE YOU IN?

I DON’T WANT TO BE THE LEADER OF AN IDLE SOCIETY, BUT OF CITIZENS WHO ARE WILLING TO DRIVE OUR COUNTRY INTO A MORE PROSPEROUS DIRECTION. I DECIDED TO BECOME A CANDIDATE BECAUSE WE MUST REESTABLISH DEMOCRACY. (844) - 84ROCKY

info@ROCKY2016.com

ROCKY FOR PRESIDENT www.rocky2016.com

2300 Hurstbourne Village Dr, Suite 1200 Louisville, KY 40299 / p 877.818.6620 / f 502.588.3170 / AutoSuccessOnline.com/AutoSuccessPodcast.com / info@autosuccessonline.com

Thomas Williams, Creative Director design@autosuccessonline.com

12 DalePollak FOUR FACTORS THAT MAKE AUCTION-BUYING MORE DIFFICULT THAN IT SHOULD BE 24 BillWittenmyer TAKING STOCK 26 DennisMcGinn SAFETY RECALLS: How Liable Are You and Your Dealership? 30 TimByrd IT’S APRIL 2017!: Your Fifth Quarter Review 34 SusanGivens THE INDUSTRY’S BEST EVER: “It’s The Oscars of the Auto Industry” 44 DealerPanel MENTORING: Advice From and For Mentors, PART THREE

sales & training solutions

Hannah Philpott, Media Director hannah@autosuccessonline.com

marketing solutions

28 D.J.Wehby NO-WASTE OMNI-CHANNEL MARKETING 32 KendallBillman USER-GENERATED CONTENT: Making Your Customers a Part of Your Brand

Susie Horne, Account Manager John Warner, Sales-Improvement Strategist shorne@autosuccessonline.com jwarner@autosuccessonline.com

DO YOU NEED A KIOSK IN YOUR STORE?

48 ToddKatcher

HOW TO TURN THE TIDE OF LOST SERVICE DEPARTMENT CUSTOMERS BACK IN YOUR FAVOR

JordanBentley 22

HOW DEALERS CAN CATER TO MILLENNIAL PURCHASING HABITS, PART ONE

JeremyAnspach

THE MOBILE DEALERSHIP

AaronHowerton

Brian Ankney, Account Manager brian@autosuccessonline.com

CLOSING TODAY’S INTERNET LEAD

46 RudyMartin

FREE LEARNING RESOURCES: Taking Advantage of the Educational Opportunities Available to You SusanGivens 10

AVOID THESE TWO BODYSHOP “CULTURE KILLERS” IN 2016 RobDunn

Dave Davis, Editor & Creative Strategist ddavis@autosuccessonline.com

AutoSuccess Magazine is published monthly at 2300 Hurstbourne Village Dr, Suite 1200 Louisville, KY 40299; 502.588.3155, fax 502.588.3170. Direct all subscription and customer service inquiries to 877.818.6620 or info@autosuccessonline.com. Subscription rate is $69 per year. AutoSuccess welcomes unsolicited editorials and graphics (not responsible for their return). All submitted editorials and graphics are subject to editing for grammar, content and page length. AutoSuccess provides its contributing writers latitude in expressing advice and solutions; views expressed are not necessarily those of AutoSuccess and by no means reflect any guarantees. AutoSuccess accepts no liability in respect of the content of any third party material appearing in this magazine or in respect of the content of any other magazine to which this magazine may be linked from time to time. Always confer with legal counsel before implementing changes in procedures.© All contents copyrighted by AutoSuccess Magazine, a Division of Systems Marketing, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part is prohibited without express written consent from AutoSuccess. AutoSuccess may occasionally make readers’ names available to other companies whose products and/or services may be of interest; readers may request that names be removed by calling 877.818.6620. Printed in the USA. Postmaster: Send address changes to AutoSuccess Magazine, 2300 Hurstbourne Village Dr, Suite 1200 Louisville, KY 40299.

Susan Givens, Publisher sgivens1@autosuccessonline.com

leadership solutions

s&ts sales & training solution

SusanGivens

publisher of AutoSuccess \ 877.818.6620 \ sgivens1@autosuccessonline.com

FREE LEARNING RESOURCES: Taking Advantage of the Educational Opportunities Available to You

The difference between professionals making a killing and those just squeaking by in the automotive sales industry (or any industry, for that matter) is professional development. You may come into a job with a certain skill set and knowledge base, but if you haven’t built upon those tools as your career progresses, you might find that your career simply stops progressing. Years ago, professional development not only meant putting in the time, but also putting out the money for expert training. Just as the Internet changed the auto industry, though, help is available online for those willing to search for it. And, best of all, much of it is free. This month, I thought we’d take a look at some of the material available for those wanting to go into 2016 with a plan on improving their skills and their career throughout the year. Networking

It’s difficult to find a unique problem. Almost every challenge you face has been faced by another at some point. Some problems are more common than others, but someone else’s experience, more than likely, holds the answer to your question. By networking in online communities, you can toss the particulars of your predicament out and see if the group mind holds the solution. DealerElite (www.dealerelite.net) is a perfect example of the power of online networking for automotive professionals. The site offers groups for various subjects to join, forums for sharing and seeking information, articles from industry experts and other ways to share best practices. If you’re searching for information or have information to share, DealerElite is a great network to join. Facebook Groups are another way to interact with those who are facing the same challenges that you do on a day-to-day basis. Do a search, find groups that match your situation and join up. One of the keys to finding any solution is knowing that you’re not alone. Information

There is no lack of information on the Internet;

10 read, listen, watch, share, succeed.

the trick is finding the right information that is both accurate and relevant to your situation. DealerRefresh (www.dealerrefresh.com) and DrivingSales (www.drivingsales.com/blogs) are both examples of sites with an abundance of information just waiting to be found by curious automotive professionals, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that AutoSuccess has a constantly updated blog (www. autosuccessonline.com/news/blog) with unique information from writers at the cutting edge of the industry. And don’t be shy to interact with other readers in comment sections. With many blogs, the initial post might be the kickoff to an informative, and sometimes spirited, discussion that may shed more light on the topic at hand.

voice can be the best teacher. Again, there’s no shortage of “one-on-one” training available. Podcasts are a fantastic way to continue learning when reading might not be practical. On the road, on the treadmill or just when you have a moment, there is a wide selection of podcasts available on practically any subject. AutoSuccess offers a weekly podcast (autosuccessonline.com/podcasts), where we ask our writers and other auto industry leaders questions on topics that we feel would benefit our audience. Search iTunes or other podcast directories and you’ll find shows that are aimed at your circumstance, whatever that circumstance may be. Likewise, Webinars can be a valuable tool for those wishing to participate in the classroom experience without leaving their computer. AutoSuccess offers regular Webinars for industry professionals. Another excellent source is the DealerOn Webinar Series

“It’s difficult to find a unique problem. Almost every challenge you face has been faced by another at some point. Some problems are more common than others, but someone else’s experience more than likely holds the answer to your question. By networking in online communities, you can toss the particulars of your predicament out and see if the group mind holds the solution.” When looking for information on a specific product or service, don’t forget to go to the vendor’s Webpage, because many offer their own blogs or other information particular to their service. Again, if you have an issue or question on a topic, you’re probably not the first. The answer you’re looking for might already be available. Many vendors also offer more in-depth training on their product or service than you might initially have been given. Take some time and do a deep dive into the products and services you use daily. The right bit of information could make that tool you use daily more effective. Training

While articles and blogs are wonderful ways to gain information, sometimes the human

(www.dealeron.com/webinar/). From those who would like to sit back and learn to those who want an interactive experience, Webinars can be a valuable asset in your continuing education. Like no other time in history, information is out there for the taking. Not having the funds approved for training is no longer an excuse for not pursuing continuing education. Avail yourself of the knowledge that’s out there for the taking, and make 2016 a banner year for your dealership and your career. If you know of an educational tool that’s helped you grow as a professional, share it with me at the email address above, or post it on our Facebook page.

Average Dealer... 40 30 20 10 0

100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0

29% NATIONAL AVERAGE RETENTION (New Only)

PROFIT MARGIN SALES & SERVICE

81% DFL AVERAGE RETENTION RATE (New & Pre-Owned Retention Rate)

PROFIT MARGIN SALES & SERVICE

ls leadership solution

DalePollak

founder of vAuto \ 866.867.9620 \ dpollak@autosuccessonline.com

FOUR FACTORS THAT MAKE AUCTION-BUYING MORE DIFFICULT THAN IT SHOULD BE

You might think that, with rising supplies of wholesale vehicles, dealers would have an easier time as they seek out auction cars to fill gaps in their used vehicle inventories. But the reality is much different. Across the country, dealers, used vehicle managers and their buyers still struggle to acquire the cars that will appeal most to buyers in their markets, and purchase them at prices that will yield respectable retail front-end margins. To be sure, competition accounts for part of the struggle. Even with more available cars, there are more dealers vying for them. But I would submit that the difficulties dealers face also owes to four factors that encompass the ways dealers prepare for auctions, their auction expectations and the inherent inefficiencies of sourcing vehicles from remote locations.

you need for your dealership; it’s another task altogether to locate these vehicles at auctions across the country. While some dealers have adopted new technologies to efficiently identify the auctions where the cars they need reside, many still rely only on auctions closer to home. This preference may help minimize transportation costs, but in today’s wholesale market, it also limits selection and concentrates competition for the same vehicles. The end result: Dealers restrict their opportunities to acquire the right inventory when they stay local. Factor 3: Buying at the right price. A Southwest Chrysler dealer recently shared that, while he’d love to pay less to acquire near-new vehicles for his certified pre-owned (CPO) program, he’s come to understand that it’s impossible if he wants to maintain his retail sales velocity. “I’ve found the ‘right’ price at auction translates to a roughly $1,000 front-end gross,” he said. “To me, they’re ‘spinner’ cars that we buy and then spin them through the shop and sell fast. Then, we repeat the cycle.” The key take-away: The dealer’s determined the “right” price for himself with every car. He uses technology and tools to calculate each unit’s profit potential (accounting for the costs of acquisition, transportation, reconditioning, a pack, etc.) and the maximum he might pay, before he places his first bid. When dealers complain they can’t acquire auction vehicles for the “right” money, I typically find they haven’t conducted a dispassionate calculation of the “right” price for themselves, or their expectations for a front-end profit don’t match the realities of today’s market.

“When dealers complain they can’t acquire auction vehicles for the ‘right’ money, I typically find they haven’t conducted a dispassionate calculation of the ‘right’ price for themselves, or their expectations for a front-end profit don’t match the realities of today’s market.”

Factor 1: Knowing exactly what to buy.

Despite technology and tools that can effectively and efficiently tell dealers the exact vehicles they should acquire before they go to an auction, many dealers and their buyers just show up. They do little, if any, advance homework. Instead, they rely on instinct and judgement to size up cars they believe they need on the day of a sale. The approach is far less efficient and productive than dealers who, thanks to technology, know the precise cars to pursue, even if they fail to win their first car of choice. Likewise, it’s not uncommon for dealers who rely mostly on instinct to find their auction units contribute significantly to inventory age issues.

Factor 2: Finding the right inventory. It’s

one thing to know the exact used vehicles

Factor 4: Reducing the time required. Dealers who proactively address each of the preceding

factors will, by design, become more efficient as they source used vehicles from auctions. But the level of efficiency and speed dealers achieve will depend primarily on how well they use the technology and tools that facilitate faster acquisitions of auction cars. I would also add that auctions, as well as solutions providers, could do more to make the wholesale marketplace a more-efficient place for dealers to do business.

It’d be pretty cool, I think, if dealers could count on a system that, almost automatically, began the work of re-supplying their inventories when a used retail unit heads home with a customer, if not sooner. In fact, this is the vision for an exciting solution under development that I believe will forever change the wholesale marketplace for the better. Until that day, however, there’s much dealers can do themselves to become more effective and efficient acquiring the cars they need at auction.

12 autosuccessonline.com

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As the automotive industry evolves, so do our wants and needs. This ever-changing industry has provided so many opportunities to grow, strengthen and be No. 1. It is our job at AutoSuccess to help dealerships learn what can be done to exceed your competition, bring in more customers and learn what is being offered.

Ten Hot Digital Companies That Are Helping Dealers Dramatically Improve Their Profitability

We understand that the vendor partners you choose and the decisions you make right now have the potential to impact your entire year. This is why we release our annual “Top 10 Companies to Watch” issue every January. In this feature, you will learn about companies that will help you become No. 1 through saving marketing dollars by tapping into your most valuable and profitable opportunities. You will learn about companies that focus on ROI, who target customers and learn their patterns and so much more. In short, every company on this year’s list is at the top of their game for their prospective category. Many of them are pioneers, and all of them have demonstrated the ability to produce tangible results for some of the most successful dealerships in the country. If you have changes to make in 2016, there are a number of great companies you may want to consider, including several previous winners that did not make this year’s list. However, in our opinion, these are the top 10 companies to watch in 2016.

In 2015, Cox Automotive expanded its expansive portfolio with the acquisition of DealerTrack. With this acquisition, Cox Automotive solidified itself as the market share leader in virtually every area of the auto shopping experience. With 30,000 team members and 40,000 clients, the company’s reach is unprecedented. The question is, can they evolve an independent collection of technologies into a single soup-to-nuts solution for their dealers? Although this is easier said than done, Cox made huge strides in 2015. If they continue on their current path, dealers may soon have a single, comprehensive sales and marketing solution powered by business intelligence from the industry’s largest technology platforms and backed by the industry’s largest support network. In today’s big data world, this is a very big deal.

Tier10 is an award-winning advertising agency specializing in automotive dealer associations. Located near Washington, D.C., with offices in New York and Miami, Tier10 is one of Inc. 5000’s fastest-growing companies three years straight and debuted at No. 26 on the Agency 100.

BOTTOM LINE: Huge portfolio. Huge potential.

BOTTOM LINE: Hollywood-quality creative and proven results for ad associations.

Ally emerged seven years ago, transforming from GM’s captive to a marketplace competitor. In that time, Ally has become a marketplace force, signing up 17,000 dealers, financing one of every 17 cars sold in America, originating more than 40 billion dollars a year in originations and doing business across both the credit spectrum and with nearly every OEM brand. Instead of building their brand, they have chosen to focus on building dealer brands. Unique programs like Movie Theatre takeovers, Auto Show Activations, and key sponsorships like TIME Dealer of the Year have been key to their differentiation. Their unique approach and wide rage of financial instruments are helping a new generation of dealerships achieve goals previously out of reach.

A growing number of OEMs and automotive dealer associations are choosing Tier10 because Tier10 enables automotive associations to attract, sell and service more customers while stretching their overall advertising budgets by executing data driven multi-channel campaigns that deliver a consistent message across all advertising tiers: traditional, digital, mobile, social, reputation management, publicity, targeted direct mail, niche marketing, merchandising and retention.

BOTTOM LINE: Deep pockets. Dedicated to helping dealers grow their business.

BOTTOM LINE: Big Data. Better ROI from targeted media channels.

OfferLogix was ahead of its time when it first introduced automated payment marketing to the automotive world. Today, consumer demand and strict regulatory guidelines has make OfferLogix one of the most sought after companies in the industry. OfferLogix increases customer engagement by using accurate, compelling and compliant payment options to pull customers deeper into the sales funnel. This patented technology evaluates every program offered by every lender the dealership uses to provide customers with the most attractive loan and lease payments on every new and used vehicle in the dealership’s inventory. This allows dealers to display real payments on real vehicles with fully compliant disclosures on all of their dealer Websites, social media sites and third-party marketing without sacrificing profit margins.

BOTTOM LINE: Real loan and lease payments on real new and used vehicles.

THE SOCIAL MEDIA AGENCY The Automotive Leadership Roundtable is an exclusive, by invitation only, 24-hour event that brings together the best and brightest leaders in the industry to share best practices and to recognize the No. 1 top selling dealerships from each brand. This six-star event includes intense learning during the day from extraordinary speakers and social networking experiences at night where guests enjoy a private dinner concert with an award-winning musician. Previous musical guests include Tony Bennett, Elton John and Bruce Hornsby. Previous speakers include senior executives from Fortune 500 companies like Walmart, NBC, Facebook, Google, Sony Ericsson, Spectrum Media and Ally, history-making athletes like the Bryan Brothers (No. 1 tennis team of all time) and No. 1 dealers from virtually every franchise. See the feature story in this month’s issue. BOTTOM LINE: Best place to get game-changing strategies…if you can score an invitation.

Social media advertising is the new online frontier. Those with an effective strategy are winning big. Those without a strategy are losing money. SOCIALDEALER is providing dealers with up to 20:1 ROI by giving them a turnkey solution for all of their reputation management and social media needs — both organic and paid. Their “Know Where Your Money Lives” approach allows dealers to focus their online social media marketing on the “real world” ZIP codes that provide the highest conversion rates and lowest cost per sale. Best of all, SOCIALDEALER’s full-service model allows dealers to outsource all of their social media and reputation management efforts. The combination of cutting-edge technology and world-class customer service has made SOCIALDEALER the social media agency of choice for industry leaders like Hendrick Automotive and Ally Financial. BOTTOM LINE: Social media marketing that makes money and makes sense.

VA N TA G E AutoAmigo is a membership-based Hispanic buying program that leverages America’s largest Hispanic media network to help car companies and dealerships attract, sell and retain more of the country’s fastest growing car-buying population — American Hispanics. AutoAmigo is a joint venture between GroupCars, makers of the world’s most downloaded automotive mobile app, and Univision, the nation’s most powerful Hispanic media company. This program uses Univision’s vast TV, radio and digital network to drive traffic to a Spanish-language call center where customer information captured and appointments are scheduled exclusively for certified AutoAmigo dealerships. Appointments from AutoAmigo close at more than three times the national average and dealers only pay when a customer buys a car.

As the pioneer of mobile apps for auto dealerships, DealerApp Vantage has been delivering native and hybrid mobile app solutions longer than any other company in the industry. Unlike mobile Websites that rely on emails or search engines to get visibility, the apps from DealerApp Vantage intuitively engage customers based on the dealer’s marketing calendar, the vehicle’s maintenance schedule and even the customer’s physical location. In 2015, DealerApp Vantage expanded its geo-fencing capabilities with a series of “Defensive Marketing” strategies that allow dealers to deliver targeted marketing messages and offers when customers pull into the parking lot of a competing dealership or service facility – allowing dealers to win back business when customers are most likely to defect.

BOTTOM LINE: Bilingual buying program. Backed by the worlds largest Hispanic media company.

BOTTOM LINE: Win business in your competition’s parking lot.

E N T E R P R I S E P L AT F O R M

WEBSITE: www.CoxAutoInc.com PHONE: (678) 645-0000

In 2015 Cox Automotive expanded its expansive portfolio with the acquisition of DealerTrack. With this acquisition, Cox Automotive solidified itself as the market share leader in virtually every area of the auto shopping experience. With 30,000 team members and 40,000 clients, the company’s reach is unprecedented. The question is, can they evolve an independent collection of technologies into a single soup-tonuts solution for their dealers? Although this is easier said than done, Cox made huge strides in 2015. If they continue on their current path, dealers may soon have a single, comprehensive sales and marketing solution powered by business intelligence from the industry’s largest technology platforms and backed by the industry’s largest support network. In today’s big data world, this is a very big deal.

The Cox Automotive portfolio includes Manheim, Autotrader, Kelley Blue Book, Dealertrack, vAuto, Xtime, NextGear Capital and a host of other brands. The Dealertrack portfolio includes Dealer Management System (DMS), Fixed Operations, Sales and F&I, Digital Marketing, CRM and Registration and Titling solutions. BOTTOM LINE: Huge portfolio. Huge potential.

According to the company’s Website, “Together, Cox Automotive and Dealertrack will have even broader capabilities for helping customers navigate a rapidly changing automotive marketplace and grow their business across the value chain. The combined companies will provide comprehensive, openchoice solutions that drive efficiency and deliver greater value to consumers, dealers, lenders, manufacturers and the overall automotive industry.”

TIER TWO MARKETING

WEBSITE: www.tier10.com PHONE: (888) 293-7584

Tier10 brings together a team of professionals from the automotive, entertainment and design worlds to produce topquality creative with industry-leading results. Located near Washington, D.C., with offices in New York and Miami, Tier10 is one of Inc. 5000’s fastest-growing companies three years straight and debuted at No. 26 on the Agency 100.

share on a national level. In 2015, they were able to maintain 100-percent client retention, in addition to be selected as the Agency of Record for multiple advertising associations throughout the United States. Their success can be attributed to a decision to narrow the company’s focus to exclusively serve OEMs and dealer associations in 2014.

In 2015, Tier10 successfully increased market share for their association partners, even with brands that decreased in market

Tier10 enables automotive associations to attract, sell and service more customers while stretching their overall

advertising budgets by executing data driven multichannel campaigns that deliver a consistent message across all advertising tiers: traditional, digital, mobile, social, reputation management, publicity, targeted direct mail, niche marketing, merchandising and retention. Tier10’s marketing has been featured in numerous publications of note, including Automotive News with feature stories about their work in the Northern Ohio automotive market. In 2015, they produced creative that went on to win several creative awards, including a 2015 ADDY award, two 2015 Hermes Creative Awards, two 2015 Videographer Awards and a 2015 MarCom Award. Tier10 was also listed on Inc. 5000’s fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. for the third consecutive year. Since selecting Tier10 as their Agency of Record in January 2015, the Northwest Honda Dealers have enjoyed a 5.6 percent increase in their Zone Two sales over 2014 numbers, with an overall increase of 8.7 percent in sales in 2015. As a result, market share for Honda in their market increased, even though Honda itself only experienced a 1.1 percent increase over the previous year. BOTTOM LINE: Hollywood-quality creative and proven results for ad associations.

THE TOP 10 COMPANIES TO WATCH IN 2016

WEBSITE: www.TeamVelocityMarketing.com PHONE: (866) 699-3978

D ATA - D R I V E N M A R K E T I N G

Team Velocity Marketing is a data-driven marketing agency that helps dealers attract, sell, service and retain more customers for less cost by executing multi-channel campaigns that deliver consistent messages across all of their targeted marketing channels. This includes email, mail, phone calls, search, targeted video, retargeting, social media marketing, online display ads and point of sale. Team Velocity Marketing’s technology platform identifies the dealer’s “Perfect Prospects,” which they define as those consumers who have the highest statistical probability of buying and servicing now and in the future. This technology accurately predicts 50 percent of sales customers and 75 percent of service customers every month and helps dealers produce, measure and optimize multi-channel campaigns that attract more customers for less cost than traditional mass marketing. Once a dealer’s perfect prospects are identified within their market each quarter, they implement an integrated campaign through search marketing, e-mail, text, calls and direct mail with custom offers that relate exactly to the customer’s needs at that moment, while also promoting all of the dealership’s profit centers: new, used, finance, service and parts. These perfect prospects receive “perfect offers” based on where they are in the ownership cycle of their vehicle, whether they are eligible to upgrade into a new vehicle for the same payment, need a major service, or their warranty is about to expire. Customers are driven to a campaign Website that provides more information on the offers, captures their e-mail and

drives them to call and visit the dealership. When customers arrive at the dealership, the POS merchandising validates all the marketing messaging they have received up to that point with posters, hang tags, table toppers and window clings. After they take delivery, Team Velocity communicates with the customer through a 360º-communication process that starts with “Thank You for Buying” and continues through service reminders, sales promotions, lease renewals, equity alerts and custom offers that bring customers back more, often to spend

more money. The company has helped their dealers increase market share, profits, CSI and loyalty while also experiencing more than 400 percent growth. BOTTOM LINE: Big Data. Better ROI from targeted media channels.

WEBSITE: www.Ally.com/Dealer PHONE: (866) 766-4622

key sponsorships like TIME Dealer of the Year have been key to their differentiation. Ally’s Auto Finance President Tim Russi and CMO Andrea Riley have partnered to lead this charge. Riley has been named one of the Auto News 100 Leading Women, and has been on the Forbes list of Top 50 most Influential CMOs in the World in 2014 and 2015. Russi has rebuilt the captive and, under his leadership, has become the leading marketplace competitor and has made Ally No. 1 in the marketplace.

S T R AT E G I C F I N A N C I N G

Ally emerged seven years ago, transforming from GM’s captive to a marketplace competitor. In that time, Ally has become a marketplace force, signing up 17,000 dealers, financing one of every 17 cars sold in America, originating more than 40 billion dollars a year in originations and doing business across both the credit spectrum and with nearly every OEM brand. Ally’s product bundle is unmatched in the marketplace, from retail, to leasing to unique products like Ally Buyers Choice, remarketing through industry-leading Smart Auction — which recently sold its 5 millionth vehicle — wholesale, commercial, commercial services and one of the industry’s leading independent F&I companies. And , through their recent launch of Ally Premiere Protection (VSC), Ally continues to reinvent and recreate in the industry. They have led the industry in originations the last three years in a row and consistently are the top-performing non-captive in dealer satisfaction.

BOTTOM LINE: Deep pockets. Dedicated to helping dealers grow their business.

Part of Ally’s success is their transformative services — led by unique marketing offerings and a commitment to serve their dealers. Instead of building their brand, they have chosen to focus on building dealer brands. Unique programs like Movie Theatre takeovers, Auto Show Activations and

THE TOP 10 COMPANIES TO WATCH IN 2016

VAN TA GE

WEBSITE: www.DealerAppVantage.com PHONE: (877) 531-2777

MOBILE MARKETING

As the pioneer of mobile apps for auto dealerships, DealerApp Vantage has been delivering native and hybrid mobile app solutions longer than any other company in the industry. Unlike mobile Websites that rely on emails or search engines to get visibility, the apps from DealerApp Vantage intuitively engage customers based on the dealer’s marketing calendar, the vehicle’s maintenance schedule and even the customer’s physical location. In 2015, DealerApp Vantage expanded its geofencing capabilities with a series of “Defensive Marketing” strategies that allow dealers to deliver targeted marketing messages and offers when customers pull into the parking lot of a competing dealership or service facility — allowing dealers to win back business when customers are most likely to defect.

and other practical tools that enhance their daily life. Dealers love the app because it gives them a low-cost marketing channel that allows them to deliver service reminders and sales promotions directly to the pockets of their customers. When a customer receives an offer, the dealer’s mobile app gives them a faster and easier way to schedule service, buy parts, get vehicle quotes or view dealer inventory and specials. Because the delivery rates and open rates for popup messages and text messages are much higher than email, dealers are having a great deal of success with this platform. DealerApp Vantage creates an exclusive marketing environment for every one of its clients. Every app is customized to fit the dealer’s particular brand and DealerApp Vantage does not allow third-party advertising on their apps, so there will never be competitor pop-up ads. BOTTOM LINE: Win business in your competition’s parking lot.

Customers love the apps because it gives them utilities such as Roadside Assistance, a Parking Meter Alert, a Car-finder (to help customers find their cars in crowded parking lots), a Gas Savings Navigator (that helps customers find the lowest-priced gas station)

CALL MANAGEMENT

WEBSITE: www.CallRevu.com PHONE: (866) 796-0227

CallRevu is the pioneer of call-monitoring solutions for the automotive industry. Their full-service call management system protects sales and service revenue by alerting the dealership in real-time when phone calls are mishandled, and by using their industry-leading outbound call center to reconnect with customers on the dealership’s behalf when the dealership’s personnel can’t or don’t perform according to the dealership’s stated objectives. CallRevu doubles a dealership’s sales opportunities without increasing marketing expenses by monitoring 100 percent of incoming calls and sending alerts when calls are missed or mishandled so that managers can re-engage with customers to save deals. These alerts include all of the customer’s contact information and a detailed call summary so that managers can take action without having to listen to a recording. CallRevu captures the contact information, call information and appointment information from every call and accurately enters it into the dealer’s CRM. They also perform followup calls on the dealership’s behalf to bring the customer in when they are ready to buy so that the dealer gets a better return on their original advertising investment.

HERE’S HOW THEIR SYSTEM WORKS: Step 1: CallRevu tracks, monitors and creates detailed summaries for every call coming into the dealership.

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Step 2: CallRevu delivers alerts via text message and email when an opportunity is missed. Step 3: CallRevu updates missing contact information on every customer calling the dealership.  Step 4: CallRevu accurately enters the information from every call into the dealer’s CRM. Step 5: CallRevu’s outbound call center follows up with customers to set appointments.  Step 6: CallRevu provides management and training tools so that a dealership can increase performance on day one and continue improving over time.

CallRevu’s call management solution is used by many of America’s top-performing dealerships, including Germain, Rick Case, Spitzer, Paragon and Penske. BOTTOM LINE: Close more deals from the same number of leads.

THE SOCIAL MEDIA AGENCY organizations to manage complex campaigns and maintain brand consistency across multiple dealerships with minimal effort. SOCIALDEALER gives dealers the ability to manage their online reputations while marketing to thousands of consumers for a fraction of the cost of traditional media and other digital marketing programs. Best of all, dealers can do all of this from a single, dealer-friendly social marketing platform.

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

Social media advertising is the new online frontier. Those with an effective strategy are winning big. Those without a strategy are losing money. SOCIALDEALER is providing dealers with up to 20:1 ROI by giving them a turnkey solution for all of their reputation management and social media needs — both organic and paid. Their “Know Where Your Money Lives” approach allows dealers to focus their online social media marketing on the “real world” ZIP codes that provide the highest conversion rates and lowest cost per sale. Best of all, SOCIALDEALER’s full service model allows dealers to outsource all of their social media and reputation management efforts. The combination of cutting-edge technology and world-class customer service has made SOCIALDEALER the social media agency of choice for industry leaders like Hendrick Automotive and Ally Financial.

WEBSITE: www.SocialDealer.com PHONE: (877) 326-7624

BOTTOM LINE: Social media marketing that makes money and makes sense.

Many dealerships still lack the time and resources necessary to create quality content and manage campaigns across multiple social networks. To address this problem, SOCIALDEALER offers dealerships a full-service solution that allows them to reap all of the advantages of having a successful social media strategy without the internal effort or expense. In addition to its dealership solutions, SOCIALDEALER also offers OEMs, associations and dealer groups the ability to not only syndicate content, but also advertising across their entire organization from a single location. This allows large

WEBSITE: www.OfferLogix.com PHONE: (512) 431-5677

On average, consumers consider up to six dealerships online but only visit 1.4 dealerships before making a purchase. This means that being the first to engage with a customer can significantly increase a dealer’s chances of making a sale. This is why top dealers like Paragon and Rick Case are using OfferLogix to increase customer engagement and turn more online shoppers into buyers.

OfferLogix enables dealers to standardize payment offers and disclaimers across all of their marketing channels. This includes inventory search pages, vehicle details pages, banner ads, landing pages and social media platforms. OfferLogix also gives dealers the ability to export compliant lease, loan and balloon offers to third-party advertising agencies so the they can be used in direct mail and email campaigns. OfferLogix’s Search By Payment tool allows consumers and dealerships to search new, used and certified pre-owned vehicles, together or separately, based on their desired payment and preferred financing type — lease, loan or balloon. It also allows customers to narrow their searches based on financing term, vehicle color, year, make, model, trim and body style (coupe, sedan, SUV, etc.). This gives consumers the convenience, clarity and transparency they want while giving dealerships an effective new way to engage with consumers without sacrificing profit margins. Dealer groups, digital marketers and single-point dealerships use OfferLogix because it gives them the ability to create compelling lease, loan and balloon offers on 100 percent of their new and used vehicles and standardize all of their payments and disclaimers across all of their traditional and digital marketing channels. BOTTOM LINE: Real loan and lease payments on real new and used vehicles.

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PAY M E N T M A R K E T I N G

OfferLogix increases customer engagement by using accurate, compelling and compliant payment options to pull customers deeper into the sales funnel. This patent-pending platform evaluates every program offered by every lender the dealership uses to provide customers with the most attractive loan and lease payments on every new and used vehicle in the dealership’s inventory. This allows dealers to display real payments on real vehicles on all of their dealer Websites and social media sites without sacrificing profit margins.

LEADERSHIP

WEBSITE: www.ALRconference.com PHONE: (800) 894-8377

“ IT’S THE OSCARS OF THE CAR BUSINESS!” – GRANT CARDONE TRAINER AND NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLING AUTHOR

The Automotive Leadership Roundtable is an exclusive, by invitation only, 24-hour event that brings together the best and brightest leaders in the industry to share best practices and to recognize the No. 1 top selling dealerships from each brand. This six-star event includes intense learning during the day from extraordinary speakers and social networking experiences at night, where guests enjoy a private dinner concert with an award-winning musician.

Previous musical guests include Tony Bennett, Elton John and Bruce Hornsby. Previous speakers include senior executives from Fortune 500 companies like Walmart, NBC, Facebook, Google, Sony Ericsson, Spectrum Media and Ally, historymaking athletes like the Bryan Brothers (No. 1 tennis team of all time) and No. 1 dealers from virtually every franchise. This year’s Automotive Leadership Roundtable & Awards Dinner will take place at the iconic Fontainebleau Miami Beach Hotel from March 13 to March 15, with appearances by speakers from some of the biggest companies in the world and a musical performance from a renowned artist. This high-impact event kicks off the evening of March 13 with a welcome reception on the beach at the Fontainebleau Hotel. The next day brings the high-level executive roundtable featuring some of the most innovative leaders in automotive retail and representatives from some of the top businesses in the world. The evening’s premier event is a six-star awards dinner to honor the No. 1 dealers from each brand. The event concludes the morning of March 15 with a VIP networking breakfast at the Fontainebleau. BOTTOM LINE: Best place to get game-changing strategies…if you can score an invitation.

H I S PA N I C M A N A G E M E N T

WEBSITE: www.AutoAmigo.com PHONE: (800) 339-0452

AutoAmigo is a membership-based Hispanic Buying Program that leverages America’s largest Hispanic Media Network to help car companies and dealerships attract, sell and retain more of the country’s fastest growing car-buying population — American Hispanics. AutoAmigo is a joint venture between GroupCars, makers of the world’s most downloaded automotive mobile app, and Univision, the nation’s most powerful Hispanic media company. This program uses Univision’s vast TV, radio and digital network to drive traffic to a Spanish-language call center where customer information captured and appointments are scheduled exclusively for certified AutoAmigo dealerships. Appointments from AutoAmigo close at more than three times the national average, and dealers only pay when a customer buys a car. The program has just completed a successful pilot in 18 key markets and will begin rolling out nationally later this year with a new platform and a long list of new features designed to assist Hispanic consumers with every step of the buying process.

HERE’S HOW IT WORKS: Step 1: Univision uses its TV, radio and Website network to promote the AutoAmigo buying program. Step 2: Customers use the AutoAmigo Website and mobile app to research and shop for the car they want.

Step 3: Customers call a Spanish language call center where an automotive expert gathers information about their current and desired vehicle and schedules an exclusive appointment with a certified AutoAmigo dealership.  Step 4: Customers visit a certified dealership where the AutoAmigo Program manager delivers the vehicle for a fair, pre-discounted price to a customer who has a high probability of telling their family and friends about this exciting new way to buy a car. BOTTOM LINE: Bilingual buying program. Backed by the worlds largest Hispanic media company.

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ms marketing solution

JordanBentley

national sales manager for Callbright \ 866.865.3175 \ jbentley@autosuccessonline.com

HOW TO TURN THE TIDE OF LOST SERVICE DEPARTMENT CUSTOMERS BACK IN YOUR FAVOR

Dealers around the country are losing service department customers almost immediately after warranties expire and, with the average vehicle lifespan steadily increasing, that’s a large amount of lost revenue. A 2014 report by Cars. com painted an ugly picture of the daunting task facing dealers when it comes to keeping customers coming back to the service bays. And marketing is the answer. “We do market,” you might say. “Cars are flying off the lot!” But how much marketing are you doing for service? And how effective is it? According to the Cars.com report, average dealers direct almost all of their online marketing toward the front end. While selling cars is your bread and butter, losing service customers to better-marketed chains and independent shops is costing you a chunk of a constantly-growing $215 billion service market. Stepping up your service marketing can start with better engaging customers across a channel that is already active: the phone.

Listen Up

Customers call to set up appointments. They call to get quotes. They call to find out what that clunking sound coming from the back of the car is. Customers are always calling your service department, and some have worse experiences than others. Listening to call recordings or using intelligent speech-recognition software to flag calls with key words and phrases can go a long way toward helping you find not only mishandled calls but also what customers and potential leads are looking for. This will help you direct your new service-oriented marketing at the right targets. If your customers are frequently hemming and hawing at prices, you can find this out by having speech-recognition software scan the call recordings for keywords such as “expensive” or “pricey.” The call recordings will then be flagged so you know to review them. With that knowledge in hand, you can emphasize how competitive your prices are compared to your competitors.

Most of what happens in the auto industry is out of your control.

22 autosuccessonline.com

Is the Customer Happy?

I shouldn’t have to tell you how important it is to have good customer service, but it’s something everybody should be reminded of from time to time. According to the Cars.com study, seven out of 10 shoppers believe that reviews are very or extremely important to the dealership research process and, according to an American Express survey, 78 percent of consumers have passed on making a purchase because of a poor customer service experience. You can identify missed opportunities and recover leads by listening to your service department’s call recordings. Having your software catch negative words can help you pinpoint bad customer service, which you can also use as teaching opportunities for helping your service staff improve their customer service. Keeping customers happy — and knowing why they did or didn’t choose you — can help you better market your service department and keep you relevant in the service market long after warranties expire.

ls leadership solution

BillWittenmyer

partner of ELEAD1ONE \ 866.859.6504 \ bwittenmyer@autosuccessonline.com

TAKING STOCK

The first of the year is that natural milestone for change. Many people change jobs, either voluntarily or unexpectedly. Dealerships change vendors. Radio stations change formats. Price changes seem to emanate, as well. It is also the chance for reflection. With reflection comes the admission that changes need to occur, whether it’s in our personal or professional lives. Acknowledging the need to change is one thing — taking action is another. Most of us don’t make changes unless we are forced to do so. The cycle often looks like this: • First you realize there is a problem. Usually, when the problem is so great you can’t ignore it any longer. • You look for ways to solve it through change. • Then, you implement the change. After some time, you see the results of that change, and if it’s positive, you begin to sit back and admire the change. • Finally, after admiring the change for long enough and not continuing to work on those changes, you find yourself right back to the first step, which is realizing there is a problem. This cycle continues over and over. As we enter the New Year, take the time to evaluate yourself. Take some time to look honestly at what you did personally and professionally in 2015, both the positive and the negative. As much as we try to keep our business and personal lives separate, they are intrinsically intertwined. Look at your successes and your failures. If you don’t find any failures, you aren’t looking hard enough, or you didn’t try hard enough. Evaluate

what you should have done differently — not what you could have done differently. You have the power to make the change you seek — it is just a matter of taking action. Taking stock also means soliciting honest and authentic feedback from your colleagues, family and friends. Be open to their feedback and understand that how you view yourself and how the world views you are two different things. The reality is somewhere in the middle. Ask questions like, “What improvements could I make? What do you see as my strengths and weaknesses?” Those who truly embrace your desire to change will support you every step of the way, often supplying hard-tohear but necessary feedback.

“Look at your successes and your failures. If you don’t find any failures, you aren’t looking hard enough, or you didn’t try hard enough. Evaluate what you should have done differently — not what you could have done differently. You have the power to make the change you seek — it is just a matter of taking action.” Keep it simple. It does not and should not be a full psychological deep dive. Make a commitment to not only check in with yourself but with others on a regular basis. It is easy to get caught in your own fishbowl and lose sight of the rest of the big picture and the world around us. Even small improvements can make large, positive impacts in your life. Further, this is something you should do monthly. Once you have made your evaluations and come up with your changes, make them public. You don’t have to take out an ad, but let your peers know. Most people do not have the long-term vision to stay with plans and commitments. And everyone can always use a little reminder and push. Put it in writing. Display it and you will find that people will help and support you in your goals and your journey. Ultimately, it is your journey, and you are the one who has to travel it. You will be surprised at how many people are willing to help you if they know what you would like to accomplish. People like to be a part of good things and success. They like to feel as though they had a positive impact — part of a success story. Change up your support team to get a wider viewpoint and more diverse feedback. None of these things are easy to do the first time. It’s difficult to look honestly at yourself and your production — or lack thereof. Ignoring failures make moving forward that much tougher. Have the courage to make the change and the commitment. Everyone can change and start off the New Year with a clean slate. Everyone has the chance to be better tomorrow than they are today, but not everyone will use that opportunity and take action. Will you? Good selling.

24 read, listen, watch, share, succeed.

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DennisMcGinn

founder & CEO of Rapid Recon \ 866.268.3582 \ dmcginn@autosuccessonline.com

SAFETY RECALLS: How Liable Are You and Your Dealership?

The growing vehicle safety recall problem is a menace begging for a solution. Short of that, how can you manage this risk to your business and your customers, especially in an environment where there is no shortage of bad news about vehicle safety issues? In 2014, 63.9 million vehicles were affected by recalls issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). This averaged out to 175,000 vehicles affected every day: one in every four registered vehicles.

by the OEM dealer communication systems, but often require manual review on a VIN-by-VIN basis. Off-brand vehicles are being checked one at a time with Carfax or at Safercar.gov. There are several problems with this approach. NHTSA safety recall information has been shown to have significant errors, and vehicle history reports’ safety recall information is also error-prone and subject to timing delays.

When you take this down to a single dealership with 150 used vehicles, at any one time you might have 30 cars that are affected by safety recalls. And, every day, there can be new vehicles added to inventory with open safety recalls as others are repaired.

With 10 to 25 percent of a dealers’ inventory potentially having open safety recalls at any one time, some are undoubtedly being missed. This puts you at risk. And, unless a dealership is constantly — manually — checking all cars in inventory, they are missing newly-issued recalls on vehicles that have already been moved to the front-line. This applies to both in-brand and off-brand.

With NHTSA stepping up its scrutiny of OEMs, things will get worse before they get better. Which Camp Are You In?

When it comes to managing safety recalls, dealerships fall into one of two camps: those who have decided to pre-empt any legal exposure, and everyone else. How Do You Deal With Safety Recalls?

Pre-owned vehicles with open safety recalls may be the most significant legal exposure that a dealership has today. Already there have been cases where millions of dollars have been paid out by dealerships in judgements stemming from unrepaired safety recalls. By now, most dealerships check in-brand and off-brand vehicles at acquisition. In-brand vehicles are supposed to be addressed

Do It Every Day

Because new safety recalls are being issued almost every day, checking weekly or worse, only upon vehicle acquisition, significantly increases dealer liability. Dealers who fail to use new solutions to know the safety recall status of every vehicle in inventory every day put their customers and themselves at risk.

“When it comes to managing safety recalls, dealerships fall into one of two camps: those who have decided to pre-empt any legal exposure, and everyone else.” Some dealerships have moved to workflow technology to manage their reconditioning processes and reduce time-to-market. This has essentially automated all of the steps necessary to make cars sale-ready, mechanically and cosmetically. Identifying open safety recalls, in an automated manner, can now be performed within the workflow — from the first time the car enters inventory, until the car is sold. Reduce Your Liability Through Workflow Automation

Staying on top of safety recalls to reduce your liability exposure is truly a daily management challenge and responsibility. Automating it alongside a time-to-market workflow system can make this infinitely more manageable.

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ms marketing solution

D.J.Wehby

national accounts director for Horsepower 360 Markeitng \ 866.883.9250 \ djwehby@autosuccessonline.com

NO-WASTE OMNICHANNEL MARKETING

Marketing today, as much as ever before, is a ROI game for dealerships. The many different traditional and digital marketing tools have blurred the lines of return on investment. This is a major issue when profitably running your dealership. These different marketing tools, that once had been a guessing game with ROI, have now transformed into one powerful marketing strategy called omni-channel marketing. Those who have embraced this style of marketing have seen a measurable increase in ROI by cutting down the waste in marketing dollars. First of all, and most importantly, these campaigns start with data. This is the birth of any great marketing campaign. Data must have two qualities: it must be unique and it must be accurate. Accuracy is the easiest part of the campaign; just make sure your list is complete and current. Gathering unique data, naturally, is more difficult. It involves narrowing down the data to your specific auto consumer. That sounds easy enough. Every GM and GSM knows what their customer looks like, so look at the information your dealership has gathered in past few months pertaining to your customers’ vehicles, their credit, their location, etc. This is strong data that has kept that dealership flourishing. This is a necessary step, but not unique. This will produce some ROI and will maintain the status quo. To push your marketing campaign from stagnant to thriving, one must push the boundaries of the data. This is achieved by a strategic combination of current and conquest customers. There are, no doubt, current customers in your dealership’s market share who are ready to buy a car. You have rapport with these consumers and, with a marketing push, they will be your customers again and again. This is the baseline for the campaign. This will help you attain a certain level of ROI. It’s good — but it’s not great. Conquest will push the ROI and make a campaign successful. Conquering market share from the competition is a true campaign, and a formula that results in great ROI. The customers who are sitting idly in your competition’s market share waiting for a marketing push to buy are your conquest campaign’s target. You will produce results by combating your competition’s marketing to these consumers. It is crucial to have a strategic blend of conquest and current consumers’ data as the foundation for any auto marketing campaign. Now, how do we get those customers into your dealership? The message is the next piece to the campaign. Every great message is a three-layered pyramid. The top of the pyramid, the peak, is a fine, sharp and accurate message. You want to keep the data you have targeted in mind when forming this part. Consumers should feel like the message was directed at them. The middle part of the pyramid is a slightly more general message that can hit home if the sharpened direct message doesn’t resonate. Finally, the base of your pyramid is a broad, general message. This should be something that resonates with any auto consumer. Using this process, you can come up with a message that will get across in the finite amount of time you have available to market to the consumer. Pair that with a visually creative touch and the message is complete and effective. The final part is the vessel used to deliver your creative message to consumer. Marketing today,

more than ever before, has powerful tools to carry out any variety of messages. Some auto dealers will be more inclined to do it the traditional way with direct mail, newspaper, radio and TV. Others will try a more costeffective forward digital approach using email, banner ads, social media and SEO/SEM. The question, however, is not what the GM of the dealership likes, but what resonates with the consumer. Each marketing tool has its own place and function, will resonate differently with consumers and will produce a certain level of ROI when used individually. However, like most things in life, a blend is stronger. Diversify and blend your marketing tools, and your ROI will improve. The catalyst for this success is a consistency. Without a consistent message, you’re not blending the tools to make a stronger campaign, and will continue to waste your marketing dollars with different marketing campaigns. This proper blend of marketing is known as omni-channel marketing.

“Conquering market share from the competition is a true campaign, and a formula that results in great ROI. The customers who are sitting idly in your competition’s market share waiting for a marketing push to buy are your conquest campaign’s target.” Omni-channel marketing is the strongest form of automotive marketing. In it, each part plays a role, strategically blending the different marketing tools, accurate and unique data, and a solid, creative message that will increase ROI for any dealership. With time, the evolving omni-channel marketing campaign will sharpen to cut through the waste and produce an increasing ROI.

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TimByrd

founder & president of DealerRE \ 866.347.6022 \ tbyrd@autosuccessonline.com

IT’S APRIL 2017! Your Fifth Quarter Review

2016 was a good year. All departments met or exceeded expectations. It’s time to expand. You’ve been wanting to pick up that new franchise, and now it’s possible because, in January 2016, you started using the accelerated profit access reinsurance model. You wrote $1 million in premiums in 2016 and now, instead of having $70,000 available from your reinsurance company, you have $600,000. And you know you will have $600,000 available this time next year and $600,000 the year after that.

What could you use that money for? Service expansion? Inventory? Floor plan buy down? Renovation? Build that vacation house?

Wouldn’t that be awesome, to have an administrator obligor reinsurance program that allowed access to premium above the estimated loss ratio? In the fifth quarter, no less?

Reinsurance is wonderful. The profitability of the F&I departments for most dealers who have a reinsurance company has doubled. Patience, however, is important for the franchise dealer selling long-term vehicle service contracts. Traditionally, it can take a long time for those service contracts to “earn out” and provide the dealer with access to funds. That is why it is great to see this new accelerated profit access program on the market today.

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Welcome to your future, should you choose.

Historically, dealers who set up reinsurance programs are the most profitable. The only problem, if you ask most dealers, is that while they pump hundreds of thousands of dollars into their reinsurance company, it takes several years to earn a significant amount of underwriting profit. Here’s why: The premium collected from the consumer for a warranty or service contract is placed into trust. There it remains, inaccessible to the dealer until those funds “earn out,” or are no longer subject to claims. This very conservative formula, and although it’s profitable in the long term, it’s restrictive in its access to those funds prior to earn out. Administrator obligor reinsurance programs have always been that way — until now. A dealer, for example, writing $1 million in premium in year one and experiencing a 40-percent loss ratio, could traditionally expect access to only about $70,000 in the fifth quarter from inception. However, with an accelerated profit access program, a dealer with the same loss ratio experience would have access to $600,000 instead of $70,000. Also, if that dealer wrote an additional $1 million in premiums the second year, the old formula would earn access to only about $250,000. But with the accelerated program, that dealer’s same performance could provide them access to $1.2 million instead of $250,000. If you already have a reinsurance company, then you are certainly appreciative of the benefits of that ownership. I am certain that once you reached the point that you had access to your underwriting profit, whether you acted on it or not, was a day that brought you an additional level of financial peace. Knowing it was there and available, just in case. With the new reinsurance model, you can take a quantum leap toward that financial peace — and having a renewable capital resource available just makes good business sense.

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KendallBillman

senior vice president of AutoAlert \ 866.892.1447 \ kbillman@autosuccessonline.com

USER-GENERATED CONTENT: Making Your Customers a Part of Your Brand

As your dealership builds trust and credibility in the marketplace, it’s important to continue including consumers in your brand-building process by leaning on the valuable content they create for your online platforms. User-generated content (UGC) is original content created by your brand advocates and supporters that helps you extend your reach in the marketplace. With the increasingly busy digital space and more users turning to online resources to shop, research and give feedback, consumers are more integral than ever in boosting your dealership’s visibility.

UGC exists in various formats, including social media posts, blogs, reviews, online forums and question-and-answer posts. It can be an entire stand-alone post or simply a mention of your products and services, but when individual users create content — either on your site or a site that connects back to you — it’s UGC. Whatever form it takes, content posted by users serves to help them collaborate and connect with your brand, and in turn, their posts and activity serve as catalysts to other online users to investigate your brand. Consumers Want to Support Your Dealership

Users create content for a variety of reasons, but overall it’s because they’ve found a brand they can get behind, support and trust; and they want to share it with others. Sometimes there are rewards, but often, the customer review platform is satisfying enough for individuals who want to express their product experiences. In these situations, consumers share their feedback in order to help other shoppers, with no expectation of receiving rewards. If you do offer rewards in exchange for engagement, you don’t have to go to extremes in order to satisfy consumers. For example, consider offering a service coupon to users who post or blog about their dealership experience. Often, your brand advocates are happy to simply be acknowledged and offered small tokens of your appreciation. Not only does UGC allow your dealership to continually provide fresh content, technology allows you to track who is interacting with and acting on content that’s posted, letting you know what’s working best for your brand. By monitoring your social media platforms and participating with consumers who are sharing

content online, you’ll have an inside track when it comes to knowing what shoppers are looking for and how you can provide exactly what meets their needs. Why It Works for Your Dealership

There are several reasons user-generated

You’ll enjoy better SEO. With more users interacting with your dealership and your brand, there will be more search engine indexing and search visibility. Users will apply key phrases and words that will increase your dealership’s online presence. Your customers will be happy. With a community of people available for interaction, your customers will be more satisfied. Not only

“Whatever form it takes, content posted by users serves to help them collaborate and connect with your brand, and in turn, their posts and activity serve as catalysts to other online users to investigate your brand.” content can work well for your dealership. The list below highlights some of the benefits of encouraging your brand advocates to speak up on your behalf:

will they be able to turn to you when they have questions or need tips or advice, but they’ll also be able to turn to your online advocates who will quickly respond and give valued information.

They help to build a social community. Your advocates share updates, interact and give feedback to potential customers, expanding your dealership’s reach within the community. A majority of consumers trust brand advocates, and when you have more people spreading the word about your dealership, you’ll have more potential shoppers learning about the products and services you offer.

Dealerships can benefit significantly by focusing on the ways user-generated content can work for them. Consumers are doing more online research and shopping, and many don’t set foot onto your lot until they feel they are armed with enough information to make purchasing decisions. Because of this, it’s important to focus on what customers are saying about your brand online and what you can do to boost content that reflects your brand ideals.

They know your audience. The individuals generating content about your dealership are customers — making them the perfect people to deliver insight regarding what others are looking for. The connection your customers have with other shoppers offers common ground and builds trust, making the information they share more meaningful. Your site engagement will improve. As UGC increases, more online consumers will frequent your site, boosting engagement and visibility

32 read, listen, watch, share, succeed.

for your dealership’s brand. When consumers visit and engage on your branded Website, you’ll have the opportunity to get to know them better and direct your sales efforts toward their personal needs.

By generating conversation about your brand and encouraging users to contribute their own original content, your dealership will benefit. You’ll be engaging shoppers who want to share your brand and see you succeed, earning consumer trust and boosting recognition for your dealership in the marketplace. As you build a strong base of customers who are eager to engage and provide feedback, you’ll see your online community grow, and in turn, business for your dealership will increase.

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THE INDUSTRY’S

BEST EVENT

“I T’S T H E O S CA R S O F T H E A U TO I N D U S T RY ”

“IT’S THE OSCARS OF THE AUTO INDUSTRY”

Keynote speaker Mark Burnett, #1 Producer and member of Time Magazine’s “Most Influential People In The World”

Each year, the industry’s most influential leaders gather in Miami for the Automotive Leadership Roundtable (ALR) & Awards Dinner. The Roundtable brings together the best and brightest minds in automotive to share best practices and recognize the #1 performing dealers from each brand. This year’s Automotive Leadership Roundtable & Awards Dinner will take place at the iconic Fontainebleau Miami Beach Hotel from

Doug Frisbie, Head of Automotive for Facebook, presenting at the ALR

March 13 to March 15, with appearances by speakers from some of the biggest companies in the world and a musical performance from a renowned artist. ALR is a high-impact event that kicks off the evening of March 13 with a welcome reception on the beach at the Fontainebleau Hotel. The next day brings the high-level executive roundtable featuring some of the most innovative leaders in automotive retail

Bill Clinton, Tony Bennett and his wife, Susan Benedetto, celebrating Tony’s 85th birthday

and representatives from some of the top businesses in the world. The evenings premier event is a 6-star awards dinner to honor the #1 dealers from each brand. The event concludes the morning of March 15 with a VIP networking breakfast at the Fontainebleau. In previous years, ALR speakers have included, Cesar Conde, Chairman of NBCUniversal Global and Telemundo; Andrea Riley, Chief Marketing Officer of Ally Financial; Jim Dunn, Vice President of JM Lexus; Susan Scarola, Vice Chairman, DCH Auto Group; and Mark

Brett David, Prestige Imports, #1 Audi Dealer, sharing best practices

Burnett, the #1 TV and Film Producer in history, who has been nominated for 98 Emmy awards. Burnett currently has a #1 show on TV practically every night of the week as the creator of over 40 hit shows, including The Voice, Survivor, Shark Tank, Sing Off and Celebrity Apprentice. Burnett has also been named one of “The World’s Most Influential People” by Time Magazine.

Trace Przybylowicz, Facebook

Additional 2015 ALR speakers included many of the #1 selling retailers from the top automotive brands. And, as in past years, there were also presentations from thought leaders from many of the world’s leading businesses, including Google, Facebook, Walmart, Univision and Pandora. The ALR Awards dinner is one of the event’s highlights. Previous awards dinners have

Ben Simon, VP of Marketing at Walmart, speaking at the ALR Conference

included live concerts featuring legendary Grammy winners like Tony Bennett, Alejandro Sanz and Bruce Hornsby. Tony Bennett has become a favorite of the ALR. Previously ALR attendees celebrated Tony’s 85th birthday party at a dinner concert with the legendary Elton John performing. Guests included former President Bill Clinton, Robert De Niro, Whoopi Goldberg, Katie Couric, Regis Philbin and Richard Gere.

Grant Cardone, New York Times best-selling author, speaking at ALR

#1 DEALERS SHARE THEIR SECRETS TO SUCCESS One of ALR’s many highlights is when the #1 selling retailers share best practices for building their dealerships’ success. “It was a pleasure to hear from guys who compete with each other sharing ways we can all improve. There are a number of things I’m taking away that will help us immediately,” said Joe Wilkins, COO, Pohanka Automotive Group, one of the top dealer groups in the country and owner of the #1 Acura dealership. Past Roundtables have been hosted at one of Frank Sinatra’s favorite venues – the Sparkle Ballroom, where every president since Nixon has spoken. Previous top-selling dealers who have spoken on this stage include Brett David of Prestige Imports, the #1 selling Audi and Lamborghini dealer; Lisa Copeland of Fiat of Austin, the #1 selling Fiat dealer; Jim Dunn of JM Lexus, the #1 selling Lexus dealer; Garth Blumenthal of Fletcher Jones Motorcars, the #1 selling Mercedes-Benz dealer; Hagen Durant of Classic Chevrolet, the #1 Chevrolet dealer; Sam Slaughter of Bob Sellers Buick GMC, the #1 Buick dealer; Brian Benstock of Paragon Honda & Acura, the top certified pre-owned dealer in the country and Honda and Acura’s top new and used combined dealership.

Jim Dunn, GM/ Vice President, JM Lexus, #1 Lexus Dealer

Brian Benstock, Partner & GM, Paragon Honda/Acura, #1 CPO Dealer, speaking at ALR

“IT’S ONE OF THE BEST THINGS I’VE EVER BEEN PART OF. HAVING ATTENDED MANY INDUSTRY EVENTS, I WAS IMPRESSED BY THE CALIBER AND DIVERSITY OF ATTENDEES AND SPEAKERS.” - DOUG FRISBIE GLOBAL HEAD OF AUTOMOTIVE, FACEBOOK

David Boice, Owner/Partner, Team Velocity Marketing; Garth Blumenthal, GM of Fletcher Motorcars, #1 Mercedes Dealership

In addition to talks by the top selling dealers, thought leaders from some of the most influential companies in the world share insights about the biggest growth opportunities that can translate to the auto industry. In a previous ALR, Doug Frisbie, the Global Head of Automotive for Facebook, gave an eye-opening presentation about how dealers are leveraging the platform to sell and service more cars while reducing their costs to attract customers. “It’s one of the best things I’ve ever been part of, having attended many industry events,” said Frisbie. “I was impressed by the caliber and diversity of attendees and speakers.”

Jack Randall, Univision

Tony Bennett with #1 Dealers and VIPs including Doug Frisbie, Facebook; Carolyn & Phil Delzatto, #1 Nissan Dealer; NADA Chairman Bill Underriner & wife Mary; David & Joan Power, founder, J.D. Power; Kate Balingit, Google; Bob Murray, Asbury Automotive; Grant Cardone; Mark Hersh, #1 Infiniti Dealer; Ken & Debbie Smith, #1 Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram Dealer; Brian Benstock, #1 Honda Acura combined Dealer; Brett David, #1 Audi Dealer.

Jack Randall, Univision, with Peter Marlow & Syvetril Perryman, J.D. Power and Associates

Samantha Wynns , Director of Business Development, Cox Automotive, and Michael Wynns, Director of the Automotive Leadership Roundtable & Awards

ALR attendees enjoy Aretha Franklin & Tony Bennett performing a duet.

Sean Wolfington, Auto Tech Entrepreneur and Dealer (LA Honda) with Mark Burnett, #1 Producer in History, and Ben Simon, Director of Marketing at Walmart

Bruce Hornsby, 9-time Grammy nominee; Lisa Copeland, General Manager, Fiat of Austin, #1 Fiat Dealership; James Copeland; Jack Harbaugh, history making football coach

Other speakers have included Kim Stonehouse from Google’s Automotive Team; Scott Painter, CEO of TrueCar; Cesar Conde, former President of Univision Networks and current Chariman of NBCUniversal Global and Telemundo; and Rudy Ruettiger, the Notre Dame football player who provided the inspiration for the movie Rudy.

“I DON’T THINK THERE HAS BEEN AN EVENT THAT HAS KEPT ME AS ENGAGED AS THE ALR DID. I WAS GLUED TO MY SEAT AND TOOK CLOSE TO 25 PAGES OF NOTES.” - BILL UNDERRINER PREVIOUS NADA CHAIRMAN AND OWNER OF UNDERRINER MOTORS Jack Harbaugh, history making football coach; David Westcott, NADA Chairman; Budd Blackburn, Team Velocity Marketing

The Roundtable has also heard from leading dealers including Bill Underriner, 2012 Chairman of NADA and Owner of Underriner Motors; J.J. Jackintalle, President and COO of the Rick Case Automotive Group; Richard Bustillo, General Manager of Rick Case Honda in Davie, FL, the group’s most profitable dealership since 2007; and Bob Murray, head of marketing for the Asbury Automotive Group. Peter Leto, Google

Brian Lam, Platform VP at DCH Auto Group and guest

NADA Chairman Bill Underriner (2nd from left) with wife Mary, Scott Painter, CEO TrueCar, Dave Power, Founder, J.D. Power and Associates

“I’ve been to a lot of different events like this, and I don’t think there has been an event that has kept me as engaged as ALR did. I was glued to my seat and took close to 25 pages of notes,” said Underriner, previous NADA Chairman and long-time Owner of Underriner Motors, a four-franchise dealership in Billings, MT. “The Automotive Leadership Roundtable is one of the best industry events I’ve ever attended.” Cesar Conde, Chairman of NBCUniversal Global and Telemundo, and Jack Randall with Univision, gave valuable insights about the growing Hispanic/Latino automotive market. One example provided was how the nation’s top Kia dealer, Fuccillo Kia in Cape Coral, FL, leveraged the Hispanic market to vault to #1 in less than a year.

Evelyn Camilo, Germain Toyota; Jennell Ross, Bob Ross Auto Group; Allison Spitzer, Spitzer Automotive; Raquel Case, Rick Case Automotive Group; Susan Scarola, Vice Chairman, DCH Auto Group

Mark Hersh, Pepe Infiniti, #1 Infiniti Dealership

Susan Scarola, Vice Chairman, DCH Auto Group

Willie Wright, General Manager of Cory Fairbanks Mazda, #1 Mazda Dealer, with Mark Burnett, #1 Producer and member of Time Magazine’s “Most Influential People In The World”, at the ALR Awards Dinner

Richard Bustillo, General Manager of Rick Case Honda, Davie (#1 Net Profit Honda Dealership), presents at ALR.

Debbie & Ken Smith, #1 Ram Dealer, #1 Chrysler Dodge Jeep combined Dealer, at the Versace Mansion

John Foreman, the lead singer, guitarist, main songwriter and co-founder of the alternative rock band Switchfoot

Cesar Conde, Chairman of NBCUniversal Global and Telemundo

Rudy Reuttiger, of Notre Dame’s Rudy fame

Brett David, Prestige Imports, #1 Audi Dealer, and guest at the ALR Awards Dinner

Mike Roscoe, Boyd Warner, Ken Hicks, Sam Slaughter, J.E. Wolfington, Jim Dunn , Dale Pollak, Chip Perry, Sean Wolfington, Jay Rosenthal Kneeling; Hagen Durant, Brian Benstock , Cliff Banks & Brett David

John Malishenko, COO of Germain Auto Group, delivering a powerful presentation at the Automotive Leadership Roundtable

Craig Waikem, owner of Waikem Honda, with his wife at ALR.

Kim Stonehouse, Google, presenting at the Automotive Leadership Roundtable

Jim Dunn, a 40-year veteran of the industry from JM Lexus, the

“AFTER IMPLEMENTING SOME OF THE STRATEGIES I LEARNED AT ALR... WE WENT FROM BEING THE #9 HONDA DEALER IN THE NATION TO #3.” - RICHARD BUSTILLO RICK CASE HONDA, DAVIE

“I was blown away last year by what I heard from the other dealers, vendors and speakers to the point that I changed my entire business model and plans I had for the dealership last year,” said Bustillo. “After implementing some of the strategies I learned, we went from the #9 Honda dealer in the nation to #3 and our service department increased our average monthly repair orders from 3,000 to 4,100.”

#1 Lexus Dealer in the world, has attended multiple ALR events; “I was just blown away hearing all of the inspirational stories today,” he said. “And you get all of this information to take back to the dealership from successful people in our business. From the people you meet, to the events – everything is over the top.” “It’s the Oscars of the Auto Industry,” said Grant Cardone, a New York Times best-selling author. Cardone has spoken at multiple ALR events including the latest one in Miami. In Typical Cardone fashion, he urged attendees to stay positive and to focus on training and motivating their people. “The energy is phenomenal,” said Michael Wynns, ALR’s Director, “This is a truly special event because everyone in the room knows that they are sitting next to someone who is at the top of their game.”

MARCH 13TH - 15TH, 2016 | MIAMI BEACH, FL WWW.AUTOMOTIVELEADERSHIPROUNDTABLE.ORG

Previous ALR sponsors include Ally, Autotrader, TrueCar, Univision, Team Velocity Marketing, Tier10, AutoAmigo, CarSaver, Driving Loyalty, DealerAppVantage, CallRevu, Social Dealer, Pandora and Google. Sean Wolfington, Founder of ALR, Auto Tech Entrepreneur and Dealer (LA Honda)

ALR AWARDS DINNER Following the Automotive Leadership Roundtable, guests are invited to partake in a lavish celebration to recognize #1 dealers for each brand. Previous Award Dinners have been hosted at the historic Versace Mansion and on Fontainebleau’s famous Oceanfront Terrace. The awards dinner is the perfect Toyota North America Chairman & CEO, Yoshimi Inaba with Tony Bennett at the ALR Awards Dinner.

closing to high-impact day of best practices. Attendees have been treated to private concerts by Grammy Award-winning artists and a celebratory toast by the Brand Ambassador for the rare Remy Martin’s Louis XIII cognac. “It’s a great opportunity in a casual setting to get to sit down with folks to hear what’s really going on,” said Scott Painter of TrueCar, one of the event’s sponsors. “I was impressed at

Ken Hicks, General Manager of Acura Westchester, #1 Acura Dealer, with Jay Rosenthal, Rallye Automotive and New York best-selling author Grant Cardone.

how dedicated everyone was to giving it the time to have the serious conversations. No one was rushed or spending time on their phones.” For Underriner, seeing that interaction was critical. “I think the most important part was hearing and seeing ways we can treat our guests and employees with the utmost respect,” he said.

Elton John, multiple Grammy-winning legend, performing at ALR

ALR events are by invitation only due to the limited space available at the venue. You may also visit www.ALRconference.com to be added to a waiting list, in case any new spots open up. Registration for the event is $10,000 and includes VIP access to all events, speakers cocktail receptions and fine dining.

Phil & Carolyn Delzatto, Garden City Nissan, #1 Nissan Dealer

HOW DEALERS CAN CATER TO MILLENNIAL PURCHASING HABITS

Millennials Do Not Tolerate Misinformation

During an age where information is always available and verifiable, Millennials lack patience for incorrect details. Young shoppers will disengage almost immediately when marketing lacks credibility, which means that dealers have to be accurate in their outreach efforts. For dealers, providing the right information starts with reaching out to just those shoppers who are interested and qualified to purchase. When dealers reach out to Millennials who are not yet in market, they not only waste resources in pursuit of weaker sale opportunities, but they also potentially annoy and alienate future business. To find highprobability buyers, dealers have to reimagine their customer pools. Most often, businesses rely on Google’s use of geographic radius to determine where their business shows up in consumer searches. While popular ad publishers and platforms are useful, dealers must be cautious of this adherence to geography, and their automated, vertically agnostic

& DealerElite and AutoSuccess Present:

Our Dealer Panel gives voice to dealers, GMs and sales professionals to share their experiences — sales techniques, new technologies and ways to motivate staff — giving our readers the benefit of their experiences. See page 44 for more...

approach. For example, ads from a high-end car company should not target low-income buyers, even if they live nearby. Even if a Millennial falls inside of a luxury dealer’s geographic circle, their lifestyle does not permit such a lavish purchase. Dealers also have to ensure that digital copy is relevant to shoppers. Even if a dealer reaches out to an in-market Millennial consumer, this shopper will turn away from a site that does not facilitate seamless research. From accurate links to easy-to-read display information, dealers should

“During an age where information is always available and verifiable, Millennials lack patience for incorrect details. Young shoppers will disengage almost immediately when marketing lacks credibility, which means that dealers have to be accurate in their outreach efforts.” focus on providing content that lists car features in an accessible, real-time manner. Millennials are more likely to convert when ad copy is relevant and accurate, and dealers have to foster continuity between what is represented online and what is truly available at the lot. Discrepancies between the two will deter brand loyalty, possibly for life. An integrated inventory benefits dealers, as well, as it helps them push slow-selling cars by seeing what models are selling best.

Most Millennials browse online before ever stepping foot at a dealership, and Google searches allow buyers to determine purchases well before they get to a lot. Knowing this, dealers can use digital channels to positively shape research and online browsing with targeted advertisements. Although the Millennial buyer’s journey is atypical from what dealers are accustomed to, today’s car companies have trusted and tailored automotive marketing strategies at their disposal. Combined with an understanding of what motivates Millennials most, dealers can use these tools to better engage online shoppers and push a new generation of drivers toward purchase.

part

Next month, we’ll take a look at some other factors that Millennials both want and require in order to do business with you and your dealership.

DEALER PANEL

In just a generation’s time, Millennial shoppers have lost the sense of car-inspired freedom that once bolstered auto sales. From 2007 to 2011, car purchases made by 18- to 34-year-olds dropped almost 30 percent. However, while cars are now a less sought-after commodity, Millennial disinterest in buying them can actually help dealers improve their digital marketing tactics. In this and next month’s issue, we’ll take a look at what it takes to bring this growing demographic into your dealership.

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CEO & founder of PureCars \ 877.381.2632 \ janspach@autosuccessonline.com

THE

ms marketing solution

JeremyAnspach

dp the dealer panel

three

part

MENTORING: Advice From and For Mentors

Chris Saraceno AndrewDiFeo Kamran Johnson Mentoring, in the best of circumstances, is a cycle. As someone comes into the business fresh, they may have ideas, enthusiasm and raw talent, but they lack the experience to make the best use of their tools and gifts. When someone who has seen what the business has to offer — and what demands it makes to be successful — takes that new person into their confidence and shows them the reality of the situation, they give the new professional the benefit of their knowledge. Likewise, the seasoned professional might know what it takes to be a success, but may not have the enthusiasm they once did to put that knowledge into full effect. By taking someone just starting in the business under their wing, the mentor may share in some of the excitement of seeing things for the first time, and become more energized and motivated. They also might take advantage of the opportunity to examine their own beliefs and things they take for granted before teaching them to someone else. In our final installment on mentoring, we’ve asked our Dealer Panel for ideas they’ve received from others when being mentored, and advice they have for those who are about to enter a mentoring relationship. AutoSuccess: What’s the best piece of advice you’ve received in your automotive career? Chris Saraceno, VP and Partner of Kelly Automotive Group:

Years ago, when I got my first manager position, which I look at as a leadership position, someone told me that “the speed of the leader will be the speed of the pack. What you do is more important than what you say, Chris. If you’re working hard, if you are getting involved, if you treat people respectfully, they will do that for you. But if you’re a disrespectful person, if you’re showing up late, if you’re not involved, that will be reflected back at you.” Another piece of advice was to “stay humble and hungry.” And then someone else told me that, “fives cannot hire 10s,” meaning, if you want to hire the best people, you have to make sure that you are constantly learning and improving yourself. As things go on, if you want to surround yourself with good people, there’s no way to accomplish that if you’re not continually improving yourself. Andrew DiFeo, GM of Hyundai of St. Augustine: There’s

always that general piece of advice, the golden rule — you want to treat customers the way you want to be treated. That may be cliché, but it really holds true, from the 1950s in the car business, or any business, to 2016 and beyond. One thing I learned very quickly in the retail automotive world is that the cash flow of any business is one of the most important operational functions of the business. You could sell all the cars in the world and you could service all the cars in the world, but if you don’t monitor your cash flow, that will harm your business. I learned at a young age to keep your eye on the cash flow of the business in all the different departments, whether it be in new and used cars, the service and parts departments, and so on. Kamran Johnson, Sales Manager at Circle Audio Long Beach: The best piece of advice I have received is to have vision. It’s

easy to get caught up in the ups and downs of the day-to-day activities in a dealership. If you want to improve and grow, you must maintain vision of what you believe in and where you want to be in order to continue to advance yourself.

THE

DEALER PANEL

AS: If you were advising someone who is about to become a mentor, what would you tell him/her? CS: First, I would give them the three pieces of advice I explained in

the previous question. Then, I would ask about the situation. If someone asked me to be a mentor, I would want to ask about their expectations and what they’re looking to achieve. You always want to know what their expectations are before you accept the responsibilities of mentoring, to make sure you can really look at yourself in a mirror and truly excel in that area. Don’t put just a half-hearted effort into being a mentor, because you’re going to get as much out of it as you teach. You’re going to learn just as much, and you’re going to find yourself more accountable to growth by being a mentor to somebody.

“If someone asked me to be a mentor, I would want to ask about their expectations and what they’re looking to achieve. You always want to know what their expectations are before you accept the responsibilities of mentoring, to make sure you can really look at yourself in a mirror and truly excel in that area. Don’t put just a halfhearted effort into being a mentor, because you’re going to get as much out of it as you teach. You’re going to learn just as much, and you’re going to find yourself more accountable to growth by being a mentor to somebody.”

AD: I would say go into it with an open mind and a lot of enthusiasm.

You have a chance to really change the life of a person for the better. It’s a responsibility. They’re going to lean on their mentor for both professional and personal advice, so it’s not something to take lightly, and if you don’t think you can give 100 percent of your time and effort to it, I’d say don’t be a mentor. Don’t do it, because you’re going to do a disservice to the student.

KJ: The best advice I would give someone entering into a mentoring

situation is to be patient. Many people have different learning curves and different ways that they learn than you may have, and may take more time to learn and apply the knowledge you are sharing with them. Be patient, just as you’d want someone to be patient with you. For our next cycle of our Dealer Panel, we’ll be asking our dealers and leaders about what they’ve found effective when it comes to communicating with customers — how that effort has changed over the years, what works for them now and what they see coming down the path. If you have questions or are a dealer who would like to be considered for the panel, please contact us at thepanel@autosuccessonline.com.

Tim Scherschligt, Pre-Owned Manager

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CLOSING TODAY’S INTERNET LEAD

Make a New Year’s resolution to hear what your customers are saying and act on it. Internet leads have continued to change since we began getting them, and so have the processes that best convert them into sales. In the beginning, an Internet lead was similar to a phone up; it just came through the computer instead of the phone line. Consumers were looking for more information about a vehicle or type of vehicle, and they needed to get that information from you in order to determine whether they wanted to come visit the dealership to continue the shopping process. This is no longer the case. In the new year, listen to what your customers want and give it to them. Give it to them consistently, and this year will be your best. Today, when a customer submits a lead, they are not shopping. In fact, they are finished shopping. Today’s Internet leads are not leads at all — they are buyers. They already know which incentives they are eligible to receive. They know a fair transaction price for the vehicle they desire to purchase and a fair ACV for their trade. These customers know their credit and the loan rates and payment options for which they qualify. When they submit a lead, they are, in fact, ready to purchase a vehicle.

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When this customer arrives at the dealership, the process needs to change. They may or may not want to test drive the vehicle. It is better if they do, but don’t force this on them, as you may lose sales. In the walk around, you may find they know more about your car than you do. The service walk is always advisable, but may only be one more hurdle the customer feels they must jump over in order to take their new car home with them. Be friendly and let the customer decide. “I can tell you have really done a lot of research and you really know a lot about this vehicle,” you may say. “We normally take a test drive and demonstrate the vehicle. I would be happy to this with you now, unless you would prefer not to.” The days of “every customer every time” are over. Every dealership has the same cars, and today’s consumer will buy from the store that will customize the road to the sale to fit their unique needs. Expect your Internet lead customer to come armed with the information you have made available on your site. They will know fair market value of both your vehicle and their own. They will know the APR they will qualify for and payments associated with their desired terms. The smoke and the mirrors are gone. Many of today’s customers just want to come and complete a transaction. They already know all the factors necessary to make the deal and accept them. Otherwise, they would not have come into the store. They want to buy a car from you. All you need to do is get out of their way and deliver a vehicle. The traditional road to the sale is gone. Today, there are many roads that lead to the sale. Every customer is different, and we need to embrace this and provide them with their own unique road to the sale. Otherwise, they will find a dealer who will. Remember, as in the Roman Empire, all roads lead to Rome. Today, all roads lead to the sale. Help your customer find the road best suited to them.

s&ts sales& training solution

AaronHowerton

director of client services for Interactive 360 \ 866.383.7481 \ ahowerton@autosuccessonline.com

THE MOBILE DEALERSHIP

We live in a mobile world. Everywhere you go, people are buried in their mobile devices. Turn the clock back 10 years and that’s not the case. Ten years ago, it was almost painful to try and do anything Web related on your mobile phone, because the concept of mobile access was an afterthought to software design. Flip back to today and the need for mobile accessibility of any Web-based platform is an inherent part of product development — or should be. Technologically, the automotive industry is several years behind the curve, and many companies are still designing software around the desktop experience. That was great 10 years ago, but what about your business operations now? How many of your salespeople have been provided a company computer or phone? How much time is spent on their mobile device (when they aren’t with a customer, of course)? The shift to mobile, especially with regard to customer relationship management (CRM), represents a huge opportunity for dealerships that are already using mobile-first technologies and an important and needed change for those that aren’t. Think back to my questions and let’s review just a few of the positive ways a mobile CRM impacts your dealership. No Computer Necessary

With mobile CRM, your sales team can walk the floor all day and still maintain communication and follow up with their leads. The only time they have to sit down now is when they need to work a deal, which is completely appropriate.

Introducing CreditConvert™

Your Customers Stay Your Customers

Mobile CRM allows your sales team to make calls through the system, so all those valuable customer phone numbers and contact details don’t walk out the door when you experience turnover. They can be deactivated as soon as they walk out the door. No More Excuses

A good CRM will create reminders and tasks for your team. Combined with mobile, your sales team will always have a list of tasks that lead to sales in the palm of their hand. Set expectations with automated tasks and then act on incompetence with confidence. Improved Data Quality

Mobile allows your sales team to update information on the fly as they work with your customers. Need to update the desired vehicle? Done. Need to scan in an appraisal? No problem. Need to log in a brand new customer? As easy as scanning a license.

Multiply your service drive selling opportunities.

Anywhere, Anytime

By using soft pull pre-screen technology, you have access to previously unknown financial information like term, payment, payoff and equity which are automatically calculated from CreditConvert data and inserted into your AutoAlert opportunities – information that will help you sell a lot more cars. To learn how CreditConvert can dramatically increase your opportunities to sell in the service drive, visit www.AutoAlert.com/CreditConvert.

Your sales team can access the CRM anytime to input new leads, make calls, send emails, respond to texts and update status. Managers can log in anytime to make new assignments. Everyone gets notified about changes and updates as they happen. Now, the last question I leave you with is this: What does it really mean for a CRM to be mobile-first? Contact me at the address above for a free guide on what it means to be mobilefirst so that you can know what to look for before you sign the dotted line.

Every day 30% of those who come in for service bought their car from someplace else, but they prefer your service. So why not help them out of their current vehicle and trade them up when the time is right?

888-998-8575

Upgrade

Flex

Service

Mileage

Warranty

Contract

Certain aspects of the products and services described on this website are covered by U.S. patents. Please see www.AutoAlert.com/patents for more information. AutoAlert® is a U.S. registered trademark of AutoAlert, Inc. Copyright ©2002-2015 AutoAlert, Inc. All rights reserved.

the no.1 sales-improvement magazine for the automotive professional

ms marketing solution

ToddKatcher

managing partner for Digital Dealership System \ 866.513.6690 \ tkatcher@autosuccessonline.com

DO YOU NEED A KIOSK IN YOUR STORE?

The simple answer to this is “no” — unless you want a unique customer experience that differentiates you from the other dealers. Touch-screen kiosks provide an interactive buying experience that increases sales, customer retention and advances dealer services. Interactive kiosks are an extremely useful and empowering tool for car shoppers. Today’s car buyer is more educated than at any other time in history. They have spent countless hours online comparing makes, models, dealerships and financing options. They think they know what they want and it seems every dealership treats them the same. Interactive kiosks allow your dealership to stand out. The traditional sales process is confrontational from the minute a potential customer steps out of their car. Salespeople are referred to as vultures, waiting on prey. How does this sell more cars? The customer wants to know the best price for the new car and receive the highest trade value as quickly as possible. The salesperson wants to slow them down and work through a road to the sale that requires the customer to jump through many hoops before they are given prices. This process, or at least the perception of this process, hasn’t changed in 50 years. Touch-screen kiosks can change the process. Imagine if a customer walked into the showroom and, after being greeted by a concierge, is shown a kiosk that has a different way of providing information — market research, transparent trade value, interactive inventory, dealership program information and much more — at their fingertips. While interacting and providing self-service, the salesperson approaches the kiosk offering assistance and advice. Would this process help dealers to stand out in the market? Would this be a memorable experience? Focus on the Appraisal Process

The appraisal process is confusing and cumbersome to most customers. In most dealerships, a customer waits while a dealer representative evaluates their car and provides a “magic” number. If there is a print out, it’s an offer sheet with limited information. It starts with a expectation and no value proposition.

Kiosk solutions offer the customer a transparent process, showing them the market demand and details of other sold cars that are comparable to them. With the assistance of a salesperson or on their own, the customer is empowered and informed, changing the process, increasing good will and, eventually, closing more deals. A Customized Interactive Solution

Kiosk placement, sizing and applications all play a role in selecting the best solution for the store. If the kiosk is part of the process, then it needs to be available and accessible — placing multiple systems on the showroom floor. If the kiosk is not part of the process, it can be off to the side — such as a lounge or parts wall. The functionality of the kiosks can be universal and not location dependent. For instance, you can use a kiosk on the showroom floor to schedule a first service appointment, and you can use a service kiosk to request a brochure or research trade value. Other touch-screen kiosk applications can include vehicle comparisons, interactive inventory, registrations (works great in conjunction with mailers), finance videos, vehicle walk-arounds and much more. Manufacturer Solutions Don’t Cut It

If your manufacturer supplies a kiosk to every store, how is it unique to your store and your process? Most manufacturer-provided kiosks are rarely used by customers or staff, and are there to aid the manufacturer’s message, with limited customization options for the store. If your goal is to stand out, consider how you integrate your processes and your location selection of the manufacturer solutions. Keys to Kiosk Success

The key to successful use of kiosk requires customization of the applications specific to your dealership based on your process — not just a logo and your inventory. That should be obvious. From one store to another, the application mix could be completely different

48 read, listen, watch, share, succeed.

depending on how the dealership is going to use the system. Incorporating touch-screen kiosks into your sales and service process sells more cars, increases customer retention and helps your staff communicate with prospective customers. Incorporation of the interactive solutions and kiosk systems into weekly training helps keep staff up to date on the functionality and processes around the kiosk while allowing them to feel comfortable using “new” technology in front of their customers. As the dealership changes, so should the kiosk. With programs and applications that allow for pivots in strategy to determine what works best for your store and your processes, that may be different than other dealers across the country. The Difference is Fast and Clear

So you are convinced and ready to start looking for kiosks. What makes one better than another? First and foremost you want a kiosk that will work well in your dealership and in your processes. One size does not fit all; customization is a must. Look for a partner that offers a variety of applications that are customized at every level of the software. Next, consider the interactive nature and usability of the system for your target market. If kiosks are hard to understand, customers won’t use them. If kiosks are slow, customers won’t use them. If kiosks don’t have relevant information for your customers, your staff won’t use them. If kiosks distract from your processes, your staff won’t use them. Use kiosks that offer a mix of data that runs locally and use Web-based data, where every time data is added to the kiosk, leads are sent directly to the CRM. Locally housed data, needs to be updated regularly — and can run up to 10 times faster than even the fastest Internet connections. Talk to your provider to determine the best solution for you. From pricing to compatibility to lead generation to dealership processes, all factors need to be considered when making the investment in interactive kiosk solutions.

Welcoming Our Newest DealerVault Premier Network Partners:

DealerVault® is the first cloud-based system designed to empower dealerships with control over the syndication and distribution of their DMS data. Its easy to use, web-based platform gives dealerships: • The ability to quickly setup, view, and modify DMS data feeds with the click of a button • Complete transparency on what data is being collected and distributed • A solution to all pressing issues including security and compliance • The indemnification of a $20 million cyber liability policy • All of this at NO CHARGE to dealers!

DealerVault is a simple, secure, compliant, and easy-to-use tool that allows the control of DMS data to remain where it belongs – in the hands of dealers! Justin Brun, Acton Toyota of Littleton

Contact DealerVault to start protecting your data today!

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ls leadership solution

RobDunn

lead instructor for Masters School of Autobody Management \ 866.386.0042 \ rdunn@autosuccessonline.com

AVOID THESE TWO BODYSHOP “CULTURE KILLERS” IN 2016

The collision repair business is a rapidly changing one. As you are no doubt aware, automobile technology is evolving at a high rate of speed, as are the methods required to maintain and repair vehicles. This requires the bodyshop managers of today, to stay aware of these changes and ensure that the technicians who work for them have access to modern equipment and current training. This is no small task. Unfortunately, many managers lose focus on their department’s work culture. Without proper attention, a bodyshop’s culture deteriorates. And a deteriorating culture makes it impossible for a shop to reach its potential in any area. I have identified what I believe to be the two most common culture mistakes bodyshop managers make, and some proven ways to rectify those mistakes.

require a cohesive, cooperative team to keep up with changing demands of the industry. Ensure that bad influences who stifle the necessary spirit of cooperation are not allowed to remain.

Problem No. 1: Tolerating a Toxic Influence Because of Technical Skill This is a scenario that plays out all too often in collision repair facilities throughout the country. Employees are allowed to behave poorly because they have a high level of technical skill. Once, during a consultation, I was interviewing a technician who everyone in the organization warned me to stay away from. He unleashed a litany of f-bombs at me that would make a sailor blush. When I informed my customer of this, he said, “Yeah that’s just ‘Bob being Bob’.” I asked my customer why he tolerates behavior like this from an employee, and his response was, “because he’s so good.” In fact, when he moved to a new location, my customer dedicated a separate area for “Bob” just to keep him quarantined from the rest of the staff. Needless to say, this approach was not successful and the cultural growth of the shop was stunted dramatically. I doubt that you have had such an extreme example in your shop, but I bet you have held on to the cancerous performer at some point in time in your organization.

Problem No. 2: Failing to Deal with the “Riders” in Your Department Renowned educator Ron Clark wrote a tremendous book called Move Your Bus in which he identifies multiple types of

Solution: Always hold the line on expectations of behavior and ethics in your organization. This is certainly easier said than done. However, you are sending the wrong message to the team players in your organization if you tolerate, or even worse, cater to poor character because of technical prowess. Courageously remediate or remove poor cultural influences in your body shop, even if it causes temporary financial pain. The body shop of the future will

50 autosuccessonline.com

go. Upon investigation, the “rider” mentality exhibited by this employee and tolerated by the shop cost them an estimated $50,000 in uncollected parts credits in 2014 alone. While the financial losses were certainly noteworthy, the experience is a powerful testament to the necessity of dealing with underperformers in an organization. Had this employee been held to a high standard of performance, he would have either improved, or been removed much earlier, creating an opening for a higher achiever in that position. Solution: Set real performance expectations for every employee in your bodyshop, and provide consistent honest coaching and feedback. If a person consistently displays “rider” tendencies, it is time to look elsewhere to fill the position. Removing underperformers is never pleasant, and rarely convenient. However, it is vital for

“Once, during a consultation, I

was interviewing a technician who everyone in the organization warned me to stay away from. He unleashed a litany of f-bombs at me that would make a sailor blush. When I informed my customer of this, he said, “Yeah that’s just ‘Bob being Bob’.””

performers in a workplace. These run the spectrum from “Runners,” who consistently go above and beyond expectations, to “Riders,” who are essentially collecting a paycheck and weighing your department down. I found Mr. Clark’s examples to be an enlightening way of evaluating which members of a work place are adding the most value to an organization or department.

A collision repair facility that I am very familiar with tolerated a rider in the key position of parts manager for many years. In fact, this employee had been with this shop for nearly 30 years. Only when the employee was found to be engaging in blatant wrongdoing was he let

the long term sustainability of any department. Regular formal communication is key. I’d recommend a quarterly review process. Conclusion

It is more important than ever to have a cohesive culture in the bodyshop. Our industry is dealing with changes in technology and repair methods. Insurance expectations are ever changing and becoming more difficult. No doubt, the bodyshop business is a challenging one. That’s why it is vital for your bodyshop to evaluate its commitment to culture. If your collision repair department can avoid the above “culture killers,” it is giving itself a great chance to be successful in a highly competitive and changing business.

CAPTURE SALES CarsQuickBuy is a platform built to aid dealers in turning e-leads into completed sales with paperwork. Reducing the in-dealership to 30 minutes or less.

This all-new platform is facilitating real-time, secure online buying in the automotive space. Car buyers can initiate and complete the car buying process, all online from their home or office, with a computer, tablet or smartphone.

2 Cars Quick Buy offers: Calculate and factor in a trade-in to the deal. Utilizing the most current Black Book pricing. Show all of the stackable rebates for the vehicle line in the zip code of the location in which the vehicle is to be titled. Calculate the sales taxes for the state or county municipality in which the vehicle is to be titled. Cars Quick Buy will then furnish back to the consumer, penny accurate monthly payments based on selling price of the vehicle (including dealer defined fees) less rebates and trade allowances plus appropriate taxes.

INTEGRATES INTO EXISITING WEBSITE 3

The Cars Quick Buy platform is an independent, secure, e-commerce platform that was developed from the ground up to easily integrate into any dealershipâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s website and will allow buyers to seamlessly go from shopping for a vehicle to completing the purchase, all online.

Contact David Martin 800-996-1952

888.431.6928 | eleadsales@eleadcrm.com | www.elead-crm.com ÂŠ Data Software Services, L.L.C. 2016

SUCCESS STORY JANUARY 2016 · NO 16

BEST MONTH EVER! HOW GANLEY VW TURNED

THE OEM EMISSIONS CRISIS INTO THE DEALERSHIP’S BEST MONTH EVER JEREMY EISENBERG GENERAL MANAGER

MAJOR HARRISON III

GENERAL SALES MANAGER

Å CONTINUED INSIDE

Success Story Ä CONTINUED FROM THE COVER

Q: What did you like most about the method in which the appointments and leads were delivered to your team?

MAJOR HARRISON III:

Well, let’s begin with the timeliness. Custom email notifications arrive immediately with complete customer information. The emails contain full customer contact information, a full vehicle description, a detailed summary of the phone conversation and customer expectations for next steps. Our sales team was able to seamlessly respond to these buyers immediately with the information they needed to set an appointment to take delivery. The system has full integration of firming scripts in the email notifications to ensure my managers successfully converted opportunities into customers on the showroom floor. Even more, there is a complete integration with the CRM and every lead is entered in the correct customer record, providing easy and accurate campaign ROI reporting. Q: What was your first reaction to the alerts you received as the team of live transcription agents began to summarize your team’s inbound calls?

MH III:

We started receiving real-time sales opportunities on the very first day. We were able to react to and respond to customers’ needs ASAP. The exceptional skill of the CallRevu team was immediately apparent. Their processes fit seamlessly with ours and we started saving deals on day one. I was unaware how badly we needed help until CallRevu opened my eyes to the problem. Now we don’t miss deals. We saved 28 deals in the first month and we are never looking back. Q: What are some of the changes you made in your store as you began to see what was happening on the phones?

MH III:

It was immediately apparent that we needed to really focus on training our employees with the skills they need to be successful on the phone. This is not just a salesperson issue. CallRevu also helped our receptionists improve their skills. They stressed importance of a live answer on every call and minimum voicemail. We knew we had room to improve, but working with the customers on the phone and on the lot always took precedent over process improvement and training. We needed a partner like that to help see

“Major and his team were able to save 28 deals the first month.” our deficiencies and provide guidance and training to overcome them. Q: What can you tell us about the training and support offered?

MH III:

Well, I can tell you we needed more than a Xeroxed book of tired scripts to set on our peoples’ desks. CallRevu gathers great info, but the best part is that they analyze it and provide me feedback about what they are observing, what they think is driving it, and then their recommended corrective measures. They use Webinars and LMS, in addition to emails and phone calls. Most importantly is the speed of their feedback. Every alert is an instant “point of error” training opportunity, and, believe me, they use them. The feedback from the account manager is thorough and thoughtful. They are like the doctor, pharmacist, and physical therapist all in one. They diagnose, treat, and continue to work on improvement with our entire team. Often, any time a dealership employs a new system or technology, the support becomes an issue. Not this time. They respond immediately to any questions we might have. Their system is so simple and intuitive that our team took to it quickly. They really handle everything. We

just have to sell cars and we are selling more thanks to our new partner. Jeremy Eisenberg, General Manager at Ganley Bedford Imports was so pleased with the phone management services his team was receiving from CallRevu, he elected to launch a custom campaign using CallRevu’s call center for outbound phone calls. CallRevu’s outbound service utilizes certified call center reps to make phone calls that dealerships can’t or don’t have the time to do. Employing custom scripts, to ultimately improve connectivity and drive more traffic to showrooms, CallRevu’s campaigns are flexible and specific to each dealership. It literally took 20 minutes of his time to provide a list of contacts and CallRevu did the rest. Volkswagen came out with a new program on a Saturday and phone calls started going out the same day. The first call campaign resulted in an ROI of 670 percent over the course of 30 days and the Ganley team was eager to start another one immediately. Q: Tell us a little bit about what prompted you to add outbound equity calls.

JEREMY EISENBERG:

We were already experiencing incredible success with the help on our phone calls and saving deals. When they asked me to

“265 appointments set, 49% of them showed and 63 vehicles delivered.”

RESULTS

TOTAL APPTS SET

265

13.8%

TOTAL MANAGER CONFIRMATIONS

202

76.2%

TOTAL APPT SHOWS

131

49.4%

TOTAL DEALS CLOSED

48%

TOTAL CALLS MADE

7125

TOTAL CONTACTS DIALED

4053

DAILY APPT SET TOTALS

18 AVG

CAMPAIGN COST

$8,000

TOTAL GROSS GENERATED

$92,421

ROI

1155%

GANLEY BEDFORD IMPORTS give outbound equity calls a try, I thought “Why not?” That was a great decision. Compared to traditional marketing of any source, the outbound calls have by far the greatest ROI. We did an owner loyalty campaign and delivered 63 vehicles with an ROI of 1,155 percent. Q: How much time and dealership resources did it take to set up and complete the outbound equity campaign with the call center?

JE:

We completed a quick electronic enrollment form and they handled the entire campaign from start to finish. It literally took 20 minutes of my time to provide a list. We were able to have phone calls go out the same day a new Volkswagen program was announced. This really provided a great advantage for us in our market over other dealers that cannot react as quickly. The straightforward low price made it easy to estimate and control our investment in the campaign. They set 265 appointments and 49 percent of them showed. We delivered 63 vehicles. We had an ROI of 1,155 percent on our second campaign and I knew right away that this was a game changer for our dealership and planned to continue and do more ongoing campaigns. There really is no need for an expensive equity mining solution. CallRevu was able to apply intelligent data filters refined during more than 300,000 calls to our existing DMS data to accurately target the customers most likely to be both reached by phone and appointed. They really make it easy to sell more cars now. Q: How would you rate the quality of the appointments/leads that were received?

JE:

In one word: strong. These are strong sales opportunities and we converted them into deliveries at a pace that was incredible. Every appointment and lead is listened to by the quality assurance team before they are entered in our CRM and delivered to my team for action. Once our team experienced the quality of the sales opportunities, they got fired up. Who doesn’t want to work with qualified motivated buyers? It really injected a dose of excitement into our dealership. These customers were appreciative of the dealership calling to make them

aware of the opportunity to upgrade their vehicle with extremely favorable terms. The firming process is simple and leads to appointment shows and deliveries. The proof is in the ROI — 670 percent. Need I say any more? I am sold on these campaigns and plan to continue using them for years to come.

PHONE MANAGEMENT METHODOLOGY

GAME CHANGERS

A WHOLE NEW LEVEL OF CONNECTION WITH CUSTOMERS

The phone calls were more impactful than we expected. They used one-toone customer information to improve connectivity and drove tons of traffic to our showroom. Not to mention that all of our telephone lines are now text-enabled. This allows for a whole new level of connection with our customers.

ROI THAT’S OFF THE MAP

Our ROI on our first two campaigns was off the map. If they had said that the ROI would be 670 percent on the first and 1,155 percent on the second, we wouldn’t have believed it. The stats are in and we are amazed. This truly is a game changer for our dealership.

UNIQUE SCRIPTS THAT DELIVER MORE UNITS

With scripts that customers are not accustomed to hearing, our ROI is through the roof. For example: “Jeremy’s VIP upgrade offer, combined with up to $5000 in savings, makes you and your family members excellent vehicle exchange candidates! We currently have free vehicle evaluation time slots for your vehicle available today and tomorrow. Would a morning or afternoon work better for you?” We have had a consistent stream of buyers arriving for their appointments ever since we started the program. This program is absolutely our ROI MVP.

SILVER BULLET

In our industry many try to sell dealers on a silver bullet that will sell more cars than they have ever imagined. All of us have chased this dream only to be let down at least a few times. Although silver bullets rarely produce, we feel that we may have truly captured magic in a bottle this time. Before I saw the results, I would have tossed someone out of the dealership who claimed they could produce an ROI of 1,155 percent. But now I can say I am a believer. This system produces.

To learn more about Ganley Bedford Imports and the strategies outlined in this article, email: successstories@autosuccessonline.com

Success Story

GANLEY

“The ability to be first in market helped us turn a crisis into our best month ever!” – Jeremy Eisenberg | General Manager | Ganley Bedford Imports

IN A NUTSHELL

In the midst of the 2015 VW EPA scandal, Ganley Bedford Imports focused on the phones to turn a crisis into the dealership’s best month ever. How they did it: Improved Phone Skills

By having every phone call reviewed, deficiencies are identified and remedied. Every alert is an instant “point of error” training opportunity. The doctor, pharmacist, and physical therapist are all wrapped up into one. Diagnosis, treatment, and continuous improvement is empowered by their telephone partner.

More Deals Saved Every Month

Every phone call is reviewed and a notification of an opportunity to save deals is sent in real-time. Alerts are sent to first responders as an interactive text alert, with the summary of the call, a click -to-call the customer, and a results section for instant updates.

Actionable Programs Lead to More Sales Opportunities

Ganley Bedford Imports was able to have a micro-campaign started the same Saturday Volkswagen announced a new program. This provided them a huge advantage over other area dealers that didn’t have the ability to be proactive and move so quickly. Before the other dealers had lifted a finger to reach customers with this new information, Ganley had reached out to all the most relevant customers.

Increased ROI

The ROI on their first micro-campaign was 670 percent. The first equity owner loyalty campaign brought 131 buyers through the doors with no work on the sales team’s part. The sales team delivered 63 of them for an ROI of 1,155 percent. This is the most cost effective marketing program Ganley is utilizing today. Ganley will continue to utilize micro-campaigns for years to come.

Simple and Intuitive

The Ganley team got on board quickly. Launching the micro-campaign required less than 20 minutes of Jeremy’s time. The complete integration with their CRM means every customer record is correct with all the necessary information needed to make the deal.

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