ADVERTISING SOLUTIONS

Something to Blog About: Ideas for Dealers

Jason Lancaster

Internet marketing experts tell auto dealers to “start a blog” because blogs can be tremendously beneficial to your online marketing efforts. An active blog can generate free visitors from search engines, engage potential clients in an interesting and personal way, and they can even develop a devoted, regular following. Obviously, this will all lead to more revenue. Most of the dealers I speak with know they should be blogging—they're just not sure what they should say in their blog posts. Here are five simple thought starters that will fill up any dealership's blog calendar...
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FIXED OPS SOLUTIONS

Parts for Profit: Part Two

Larry Williams

A profitable parts department must be time efficient. Wasted time is wasted money. Reduce as much as possible the time required to go from the sales position to the part itself. Counter personnel must be able to go directly to the bin, find the proper location, and pull the correct part with a minimum amount of time and effort. The most basic of all, your efficient department must start with its physical design. Preplan your bin layout. Draw out a floor plan first. Know what your plan is and locate parts only one time. You must divide your inventory into fast and slow moving sections, not just large and small. Remember only about 1500 numbers make up the bulk of your sales. These parts must be in your first section of...
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SALES TRAINING SOLUTIONS

Give Your Customers “Change” They Can Believe In

Mark Ragsdale

During the 2008 Presidential race, voters were looking for two things—change and transparency. The auto retail business, at least from the consumers’ perspective, has never changed. Its lack of transparency is as frustrating as ever. Payments increase and finance terms lengthen with each successive trade-in—even for those consumers electing an essentially equivalent model. The average consumer is $4,700 upside-down according to Edmunds.com. Salespeople cannot credibly explain to their customers the principles behind market depreciation and interest penalties. In the absence of information they deem reliable, consumers simply arrive at their own conclusions: blaming dealer greed for all their woes. Sadly, most publications and blogs, taking the cheap way out, edify these beliefs by further vilifying car dealers...
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BIZ DEV SOLUTIONS

Winning The Race For Sales

Chris Reed

For the last six months, the competing dealership across town has outsold you every month, and the gap is growing. You cant figure out what they have done to lure your shoppers away. You both advertise on TV and in the paper, which hasnt changed in years, but they must have developed some secret strategy to steal your customers. What that other dealer has done is to recognize and act on new shopper behaviors that have turned automotive marketing on its head. Only 10 years ago, if a consumer became interested in a car, the only way he could research it was to walk your lot or visit your showroom. There was a direct connection between your OEMs brand spending and traffic to your dealership. This world no longer exists. For 80 to 90 percent of shoppers today, a chasm has emerged between you and your OEMs brand and promotional marketing investment on your behalf. This chasm has been filled by an almost infinite variety of information sources on the Web, ranging from unfiltered user reviews to Edmunds.com and from blogs to social networks. Todays shopper has infinite opportunities to be confused and distracted away from the path to your dealership...
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ADVERTISING SOLUTIONS

Add Revenue By Recovering Lost Leads

Stuart DePina

In a column I wrote last year, I urged every automobile dealer to develop a lead management strategy. Today, it is still good advice. Best of all, its much easier to assemble a practical lead management strategy today than it was a year ago. You can create a workable strategy by following four simple steps:

Step 1: Capture all leads
Youll need the right technology to capture leads and store the information electronically. Youll also need to hold everyone on the sales team accountable for capturing every lead-whether the lead walks in, phones in, or clicks in via the Internet.
Step 2: Act on all leads
Youll need to train and coach your sales team to treat every lead as a potential customer. For example, you need to assume the majority of calls coming into your dealership consist of customers who are signaling their intent to buy or request service. At this point, your primary job is to remove any obstacles or barriers to closing the deal.
Step 3: Recover lost leads
Think of lost leads as lost revenue... READ MORE...

COMING UP IN DEALER MARKETING MAGAZINE'S NEXT ISSUE:

MARCH 2010: POST NADA
Wrap up, more interviews and info.
APRIL 2010: FINANCING RESOURCES
How to Find Financing Resources for Your Customers in the New Credit Environment.
MAY 2010: USED AND SUBPRIME
How to Market to the Growing Used and Subprime Auto Market