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Binary Automotive to Present Expert Panel Debating Price vs. Value at Fall Digital Dealer Conference

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Bedford, TX — October 10, 2018 — Binary Automotive Solutions today announced James A. Binkley and a panel of industry and telecom experts will explore the hot topic of price vs. value when it comes to selling cars in the dealership during the Fall Digital Dealer Conference and Expo, October 16-18, in Las Vegas, Nevada. In a session titled, “Value or Price? Which Wins in Today’s Hyper-Competitive Market?” Binkley will join Jeff Kent, CEO of Kent Connects, J. David Adcock, President of Adcock Dealer Solutions, and Paul Fillmore, former Director of Operations at Metroplex Chrysler Dodge Jeep in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, to tackle questions like how to build value the entire way through the selling cycle and how price impacts buying decisions. Kent, former NW Automotive Director for Comcast Spotlight, will act as moderator during the interactive discussion. “Every dealership says they value the customer, but what are they doing to really showcase a culture of customer service and how will they create that experience at every touchpoint?” said Binkley. “We’ve amassed a panel of dealer and telecom experts willing to share exactly how they are cultivating a value-based selling environment and the positive results that come from their hard work.” In addition to the best practice information that will come from the expert panel, one value-minded panel attendee will walk away with a $1,000 gift certificate, and ten attendees will walk away with $100 gift certificates. “Value or Price? Which Wins in Today’s Hyper-Competitive Market?” will be held Thursday, October 18 from 10:05–10:55 during the Digital Dealer Conference and Expo at the Mirage Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, NV. Additional details on the panel discussion can be found here. Binary Automotive Solutions is committed to providing an integrated, customized package of programs to help dealerships sell more vehicles, hold more gross and retain more customers. It doesn’t matter the size of your dealership or the location, we’re confident that our warranty, certification and maintenance programs combined with our industry leading marketing and merchandising programs can boost sales, increase retention and help you maximize profits you didn’t even know were available. At our core, we strive every day to honor the beliefs of our founder, James Binkley, by never taking advantage of a client or offering a program to a dealership that takes advantage of a customer. As James is fond of saying, “Money is not more important than doing the right thing.” Quite simply, We Invest in Dealership Success. Media Contact Laurie Halter, Charisma Communications, Laurie@charismacommunications.com , 503-816-2474  
Jumpstart Automotive Media Unveils New Insights About Vehicle Pricing, Negotiations

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Jumpstart Automotive Media Unveils New Insights on Frustrations That Both Consumers and Dealers Face About Vehicle Pricing, Negotiations San Francisco — October 9, 2018 — A full 86 percent of consumers already have a price in mind for the car they want before visiting the dealer to test drive or purchase a car or truck. This insight is courtesy of the latest study from Jumpstart Automotive Media and Ipsos: “Today’s Auto Buyer and the Digital Retailing Experience." The study, available by clicking here , addressed the distrust consumers have in vehicle pricing, and the frustrations many dealers encounter when trying to educate consumers on the pricing process. Why a pricing disconnect remains between consumers and dealers Eighty-one percent of consumers don’t believe a dealer’s “lowest price” and still expect to be able to negotiate savings of a few hundred to a few thousand dollars. At the same time, customers may not understand how cars are priced, which can lead to distrust and frustration on the dealer’s part. For example, there are often questions around whether the dealer or the manufacturer sets the price, what costs are built into that price, and what (if any) aspects does the dealer have the ability to negotiate. Consumers believe that dealers are making a large profit, while dealers today are saying that they don’t make money until they hit volume goals, which are often a challenge to reach. Part of the challenge consumers feel comes from the fact that prices on many new vehicles today are at or near all-time highs . Americans remain attracted to large SUVs and trucks, and even when they’re interested in cars they want fully loaded with features or size and space for versatility. Approximately 49 percent of consumers say they determine a “fair” price based on what they find on third-party automotive websites, another 31 percent deem a vehicle to come with a fair price if there is a negotiated savings off the sticker. Is negotiation non-negotiable? Despite nine out of ten consumers having at least some interest in a “no-haggle” model for car buying, most still prefer to negotiate their own deal versus other ways of settling on a price. And, even though most agree that the sales process takes too long, they’re still willing to spend a half hour or longer bargaining to save even $100. What’s more, a consumer’s desire to negotiate their own deal vs. the no-haggling approach has more to do with a lack of trust with dealership pricing than a desire to bargain. Lastly, 68 percent of consumers say they would prefer to deal with a non-commissioned sales person at a dealership. “The cat-and-mouse game of pricing and negotiation at the dealership won’t be fully satisfied any time soon,” said Libby Murad-Patel, vice president marketing and strategic insights for Jumpstart. “However, finding a true understanding of what each side is looking for will ultimately help in reducing the friction and adversarial nature when it comes down to vehicle pricing. Consumers can’t demand a no-haggle deal but ultimately want to try and save a few bucks, and dealers need to help consumers better understand how they arrived at a certain price point to build more trust.” Click here to access the complete report. Methodology Jumpstart commissioned Ipsos to conduct a comprehensive study into the consumer and dealer points of view. The study design included qualitative research consisting of a five-day online discussion with 28 U.S. consumers, a four-day online discussion with 28 dealers, and nine 60-minute phone interviews with dealership GMs and owners. Following these results, quantitative research was conducted in the form of online surveys of 263 recent buyers, in-market or intending car shoppers, and 54 dealership employees. About Jumpstart Jumpstart Automotive Media, a division of Hearst Autos, offers high-impact and performance-driven marketing and advertising solutions that achieve optimum results. An industry thought-leader known for its in-depth shopping reports, Jumpstart connects automotive marketers with the largest, high-performing audience of car shoppers and enthusiasts through partnerships with: Car and Driver, U.S. News Best Cars, J.D. Power Cars, NADAguides, Autoweek.com, Autobytel, Autolist.com, Daily News Autos, LeftLaneNews.com, CarSoup, CarBuzz, CarStory, VehicleHistory.com and iSeeCars. JumpstartAuto.com, @JumpstartAuto Media Contact John Sternal, 954.592.1201, jsternal@meritmile.com
Dealer Workshop by Lotpop Invites Inventory Managers to Celebrate While Sharpening Their Buying, Pricing, and Merchandising Skills

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Olathe, KS — September 17, 2018 — To celebrate five successful years serving the online and on-the-lot inventory management needs of franchised and independent auto retailers, Lotpop has announced its first annual Dealer Workshop, October 16-17 at the Kansas City Auto Museum in Olathe, KS. Dealer Workshop by Lotpop will offer attendees ample time to take a deep dive into Inventory Processes, Internet Processes, and Marketing to get their dealership running at its peak performance. Strong Automotive Merchandising is co-sponsor. Lotpop is the leading source for inventory management consulting in North America. Lotpop was created to help auto dealers set up and monitor effective and proven processes for improving vehicle inventory management, both online and on the lot. The founder of Lotpop, LotScore, and producer and instructor for Lotparty video podcasts, Jasen Rice, will had a team of Dealer Workshop instructors at this October event. Rice is a former dealership Internet manager and a performance manager for vAuto. The first annual Dealer Workshop is offered - for a short time - at no cost to current or previous Lotpop or Strong Automotive clients. Featured are three learning sessions, and includes first night dinner, next-day breakfast, and day-two lunch. For non-clients, Dealer Workshop is $495 and includes the three sessions and meals. For more details and to RSVP, click here or visit www.dealerworkshop.com . Exclusive Dealer Workshop Swag will be available to purchase and wear. Media Contact Jasen Rice, Lotpop, jrice@lotpop.com ,  www.lotpop.com
ACV Auctions on Pace to Sell Over 100,000 Vehicles Annually in the U.S., Gaining Share of Wholesale Automotive Market

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Buffalo, NY — September 10, 2018 — ACV Auctions Inc. , the leading dealer-to-dealer, online wholesale auction platform, sold over 8,600 vehicles in August, and is on pace to sell over 100,000 vehicles annually in the United States. The rapidly growing wholesale automotive solution finished August over three times larger than sales in August 2017. As for market expansion, ACV is ahead of schedule, having expanded into 64 of the 75 markets planned for 2018. ACV Auctions enable dealers to buy and sell vehicles instantly without ever leaving their lots. Dealers can set up personalized filters to get notifications sent to their mobile devices and computers when 20-minute auctions begin for the vehicles they are looking to buy. When dealers open a notification, they get the industry’s leading condition report, including 30-60 high-resolution photos, paint meter readings, tire depth, onboard diagnostic (OBD-ll) scan results and Carfax auction alerts. “The trust, transparency and real-time capabilities that our platform provides is helping dealers succeed,” said ACV Auctions CEO George Chamoun. “As margins compress, dealers are turning to ACV Auctions to eliminate the gamble involved in selling and purchasing vehicles from traditional sources. The evolution of wholesale to digital is accelerating and our significant investment in technology and our people is producing proven benefits to dealers.” The company has seen rapid success as thousands of franchise and independent dealers turn to ACV to buy their wholesale inventory. The 8,600 vehicles sold in August were up from 7,600 sold in July representing significant month-over-month gains in market share. In August, the company passed another important milestone; over 1,000 unique franchise dealer rooftops sold a vehicle on ACV Auctions. According to the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA), there are 16,802 franchise dealers in the United States. ACV grew its franchise dealer base over 400 percent from the 64 markets entered. ACV continues to outperform its market expansion goals. This summer alone, the company starting doing business in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, New Orleans, Shreveport, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Wichita, Kansas City, Little Rock and St. Louis. ACV continues to move westward and plans to be in Colorado, Utah, Arizona and California by year-end, achieving coast-to-coast coverage. “I know the challenges that used-car dealers face sourcing inventory,” said Joe Neiman, a former dealer and founder of ACV Auctions. “Our extensive condition reports give buyers the completely transparent information they need to make informed decisions about vehicles they are interested in purchasing regardless of their distance from the seller. Our relentless focus on buyers has made ACV Auctions the best place to buy a wholesale vehicle.” For more information on ACV Auctions, visit acvauctions.com or @ACVAuctions on Twitter. About ACV Auctions ACV is an online, wholesale vehicle auctioning platform that provides franchise and used-car dealerships an efficient and more effective method of buying and selling wholesale vehicles through individual, 20-minute auctions. Its technology modernizes the entire arc of auction operations, including account management, title management, floor plan purchasing, arbitration and facilitating logistics. The company strives to be the most trusted source in the industry for dealers to buy and sell wholesale vehicles. To learn more, visit www.acvauctions.com .
The Four Types of Objections That Derail Salespeople (and How to Deal With Them)

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Hoboken, NJ — August 28, 2018 — No may be a tiny word, but for salespeople, it's the most dreaded word in the English language. Nothing causes your heart to sink quite like an objection from a prospective customer. This is true not just because it presages a negative impact on your income, but also because it's incredibly painful to hear. It's no coincidence that "objection" rhymes with "rejection" — and the latter is one of the deepest, darkest, most primal human fears. Jeb Blount says there's no way to avoid objections. They're going to happen. What you can do is learn how to rise above the emotional disruption they cause and, hopefully, salvage the sale. "There are four types of objections you encounter in the sales process, and they occur at various points in the journey," notes Blount, author of the new book Objections: The Ultimate Guide for Mastering the Art and Science of Getting Past No (Wiley, June 2018, ISBN: 978-1-119-47738-9, $27.00). "They can stop a sale before it ever gets started, derail your efforts in the middle of the conversation, or shut down the deal at the end after weeks, even months, of hard work. "The good news is that when you arm yourself with an arsenal of turnaround frameworks, you can face these roadblocks and get past them so you can move onto the next stage," he adds. Here are the four types of objections salespeople must field, along with a few tactics to help you get in the door, shorten the sales cycle, increase pipeline velocity, avoid stalled deals, and, of course, close the sale. TYPE 1: Prospecting Objections Of all objections, these are the most severe. They're often harsh and cold, and at times, flat-out rejection. People are crazy busy and see little value in spending time with salespeople. Through a combination of reflex responses, brush-offs, and objections (RBOs), they do their best to get rid of you. For this reason, millions of salespeople treat prospecting like the plague and avoid interrupting prospects at any cost. However, if you want success in your sales career, then you've got to interrupt prospects. Know that you are going to get prospecting objections, and they will trigger your disruptive emotions. But it is possible to rise above your emotions and become effective at turning around prospecting objections. For RBOs during prospecting, deploy a simple but powerful three-step framework: Ledge. A ledge is a memorized, automatic response to perceived or real rejection that does not require you to think. Using a ledge gives your logical brain the moment it needs to catch up, rise above disruptive emotions, and gain control. Disrupt. Your prospect has been conditioned from hundreds of prospecting calls and expects you to act like every other salesperson. When they tell you no, they have an expectation for what you will most likely do next. To turn around your prospect's RBO, deliver a statement or question that disrupts this pattern and pulls the prospect toward you. For example, when they say they're busy, instead of arguing with them that you will take only a little bit of their time, disrupt their pattern by agreeing with them: That's exactly why I called; I figured you would be, and I want to find a time that's more convenient for you . Or, when they say, "I'm not interested," respond with: That makes sense. Most people aren't the first time I call, and that's exactly why we should meet. Ask. Here's where most prospecting RBO turnarounds fall apart. Many salespeople are hesitant to ask again. But you must control your emotions and ask again for what you want, without hesitation. When you ask, about half of the time they'll throw out another RBO — one that tends to be closer to the truth. Be prepared to turn it around and ask again. (Just don't fight. It isn't worth it. Once you get two RBOs, graciously move on and come back to them another day.) TYPE 2: Red Herrings A red herring is an irrelevant topic or issue that gets introduced into the conversation by a stakeholder that distracts you from your focus or diverts your attention from the objective of your sales conversation. A stakeholder, typically early in the conversation, will throw out a red herring — sometimes to challenge you, sometimes because they don't know what else to say, sometimes because it's their habitual behavior pattern, and sometimes because they have a valid concern or question. A red herring might be something like: "We are already in discussions with your competitor," or, "Just so you know, we're not buying anything from you today." Do not take the bait! You must avoid getting drawn in by red herring objections at all costs. When you chase red herrings, you blow up sales calls, skip steps in the sales process, hand control over to stakeholders, and become their puppet. Red herrings, managed poorly, are emotional hijackers that turn sales calls into train wrecks. Moving past red herrings requires massive emotional control, so you need a simple and habitual system that keeps you in control — PAIS: Pause, Acknowledge, Ignore, Save. Push the pause button and collect your emotions. Acknowledge and let the stakeholder know that you heard them. You might say: That makes sense or I get that or This sounds important . Ignore the red herring unless it comes up again, or... Save it and address at a later, more appropriate time. "My default is to ignore the red herring unless it comes up again, because I've learned, over a lifetime in the sales profession, that they almost never do," says Blount. "I acknowledge the concern, and my favorite way to do this is to simply take notes. Writing down what they say lets them know that I think it is important without getting pulled in. Then I ask an unrelated open-ended question that gets my stakeholder talking." TYPE 3: Micro-Commitment Objections Throughout the sales process, you'll ask stakeholders for next steps and micro-commitments. Micro-commitments are a series of low-risk commitments that lead down the path to a final buying commitment. Asking for them and consistently getting to the next step keeps the momentum rolling. You must never, ever leave a conversation with a stakeholder without a firm next step. Here's the problem: The people you are dealing with don't always see the value in spending more time with you, so they hit you with brush-offs to make you go away. The good news is micro-commitment objections are rarely harsh and, unless you totally bombed, are rarely outright rejection. For this reason, the key to getting past these objections is showing poise and confidence and helping your prospect see the value of scheduling the next step. Once you explain the value in a way that they understand, the prospect will agree to the next step. Value, however, is in the eye of the beholder. They want to know What's in it for me? — and you must answer that question. Step into your prospect's shoes and write down why it should matter to them. What is the value trade for investing more time with you? Then craft compelling value statements that articulate this in your stakeholder's language and terms. "Keep it simple," says Blount. "Remember that these are micro-commitments — small steps and low-risk requests. It's easy to get stakeholders to say yes. These value statements don't need to be profound or complex. They should not be pitchy. Avoid jargon that makes you sound like a marketing brochure. You don't need to be perfect — just good enough to get to the next step." TYPE 4: Buying Commitment Objections When you ask people to make buying decisions — sign contracts, hand over credit cards, issue POs, switch vendors, and accept your proposal — you will get objections. Getting past buying commitment objections is often the moment of truth that determines whether or not you will close the deal. The outcome pivots on your ability to gain control over your emotions, guide the conversation, and influence your stakeholder's emotions. Unlike prospecting objections and micro-commitment objections, the number of possible buying commitment objections isn't finite and predictable. They are situational. You'll deal with price and budget objections, timing objections, status quo objections, need to talk it over with my boss or committee objections, spouse objections, buying authority objections, competitor objections, need to think it over objections, need and fit objections, and terms and conditions objections, among others. Dealing with buying commitment objections requires nuance, patience, influence, and situational awareness. The process of getting past no becomes more collaborative and will seamlessly shift from objection to negotiation. The following five-step framework will help you gain emotional control and influence your buyer to say yes: Relate. Acknowledge and relate to the objection. Don't treat them like a number, discount their concern, challenge their point of view, judge them, or start an argument. Isolate and clarify. Ask questions to isolate the "real" objection, issue, or concern. Clarify your understanding before addressing it. The key here is to ask open-ended questions that get your buyer talking and expressing their real concerns. Minimize. Remind the stakeholder of their problems, pain, threats, opportunities, and the yesses you've collected. Ask. Ask again and assume the yes. Fall back to an alternative. If you still get a no, offer an alternative commitment with a lower perceived risk. Have your fallback positions planned prior to your closing call. "Practice the worst-case scenarios," says Blount. "Put every potential objection and response on the table and work through the five-step process until you handle them all with ease. I've found practice helps build obstacle immunity, prepares you to manage disruptive emotions, and makes it far easier to think on your feet, in the moment. When you plan and practice in advance, you'll find the actual objections you get at closing are far tamer than what you initially expected." None of the tips Blount offers (and there are many more in the book) are rigid scripts. That's because dealing with objections is more an art than a science. "I prefer to teach turnaround frameworks, not generic scripts, because frameworks make you agile," says Blount. They give you a set of rails to run on that flex to changing context. They help you manage your disruptive emotions and pull your prospect toward you so that it becomes easier for them to say yes — which is, of course, the salesperson's favorite word." About the Author Jeb Blount is the author of nine books and is among the world's most respected thought leaders on sales, leadership, and customer experience. As a sales acceleration specialist, he helps sales organizations reach peak performance fast by optimizing talent, leveraging training to cultivate a high-performance culture, developing leadership and coaching skills, and applying more effective organizational design. Through his global training organization, Sales Gravy, Jeb advises many of the world's leading organizations and their executives on the impact of emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills on customer-facing activities and delivers training to thousands of participants in both public and private forums. His flagship website, SalesGravy.com , is the most visited sales-specific website on the planet. About the Book Objections: The Ultimate Guide for Mastering the Art and Science of Getting Past No (Wiley, June 2018, ISBN: 978-1-119-47738-9, $27.00) is available at bookstores nationwide, from major online booksellers, and direct from the publisher by calling 800-225-5945. In Canada, call 800-567-4797. For more information, please visit the book's page on www.wiley.com . Media Contact Dottie DeHart, DeHart & Company Public Relations, (828) 325-4966
Interview: Ben Brigham, Father of Automotive Retail AI

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Ben Brigham, founder of Conversica, brought the power of artificial intelligence (AI) into the world of automotive retail. He is a true industry trailblazer. Following his graduation from the University of Washington in 2007, Brigham founded AutoFerret.com (later Conversica). There, Brigham and his team harnessed the potential of AI for generating and following up on leads for dealers. After more than a decade, Conversica , with its flagship AI Sales Assistant, is used by more than 1,200 companies worldwide. After its initial success in automotive retail, Conversica, headquartered in Foster City, California, has expanded to industries such as technology, finance, education, and others. In this interview, Ben Brigham discusses how he came upon the idea of using AI for lead follow-up, why the revolutionary automated virtual assistant (AVA) was developed, the ways Conversica evolved and expanded, and the reasons the company has created its new Lead Provider Awards. When did you get interested in artificial intelligence and the possibilities of conversational AI for business use? I became interested in AI when I was studying informatics at the University of Washington in the early 2000s. At that time, we were still in what academics refer to as the AI winter, so not much was being done with it. Shortly after I started selling leads to auto dealers through AutoFerret.com, I realized that there was an opportunity to use AI to solve a real business problem — lead follow-up. What inspired you to get into automotive retail with AutoFerret.com, and what were the company’s initial product offerings? I wrote some software while I was working on my master’s degree that would crawl websites with user-generated content and find posts that indicated a person was in the market for a vehicle. I then formed AutoFerret.com and started selling those to auto dealers as $5 leads. Very soon after we started selling leads, I realized that there was a problem with lead follow-up: Dealers would complain about the quality of the leads, saying that they weren’t looking for vehicles. It didn’t make sense to me because I would harvest a post within minutes of someone writing, in their own words, that they were looking for a car. At that time, AutoFerret.com had a couple salespeople, so I had them start calling and emailing the leads: We learned not only that they were indeed in the market for a vehicle, but they had not been contacted by the dealerships’ sales staff. That was when I suspected that there might be a universal problem with lead follow-up, and I realized that it likely extended beyond automotive leads. I wanted to see if we could use AI to help solve the problem, and that was when the idea for AVA, the automated virtual assistant, was conceived. The fact that we were still in the dead of winter — the AI winter — [meant] there were no tools available, so we had to build it from scratch. How has Conversica evolved its products and technology to serve the needs of dealerships, and then branch out into vertical industries? It’s been a decade since we started down the AI path, long before Siri and Alexa. In the past decade, we have added a lot under the hood to make the AI better at understanding what people are writing, which is natural language understanding. We have extended the flexibility of the AI to carry on much more complex conversations. We are also doing a lot in the realm of natural language generation (NLG), allowing the AI to help write responses. For auto dealerships, we have done a lot of work on integrations with some of the largest CRM and DMS providers, which opened up a whole new realm of conversations for our auto dealer customers. Those integrations really opened the door for the automotive service assistant, ASA, which is doing things on the fixed operations side of the house that dealers just haven’t been able to do consistently. Over the last few years, we have expanded our offerings beyond automotive into technology, finance, education, and other industries. We have multilingual AI assistants being used around the world for things like collections, selling credit cards, loans, burial plots, security systems, cell phones, helping in university admissions, and much more. It really is a universal solution to a universal problem. How will artificial intelligence develop and improve in the future to further enhance lead generation and other business functions? We’re going to continue to see conversational AI carry prospects further down the sales funnel. We’re also going to see AI used to leverage existing data to automate most of the processes that currently trigger reminders for humans to do tasks. I think that in the very near future, the AI-powered AVA will become more like KITT from Knight Rider or JARVIS from Iron Man : an almost omniscient helper in the background handling all of the legwork associated with connecting the hottest prospects with the sales staff at just the right moment, even handling all of the scheduling, rescheduling, note-taking, and follow-up. Why did Conversica create its new Lead Provider Awards, and how does its technology work to identify the best-performing third-party lead providers ? I feel like it’s important to note that I started this journey as a lead provider, so I know the issues they struggle with and the misplaced criticism their sales teams sometimes take. The Lead Provider Awards will recognize what we see as the best performers. We realized some time ago that we have data on lead performance that no one else has, especially on this scale. Historically, we have shared this data with our customers in the Lead Source Performance Report, which shows them how their lead sources are performing against each other. We have made that report available to our dealers for years but have never really engaged with lead providers on the subject. One of the most exciting initiatives I am working on is bringing the lead providers a little more into the fold, allowing them to have some creative license with the messaging that the AI assistant uses to communicate with their leads. This is a quadruple win because it gives the prospect a more tailored experience, increasing engagement, making us and the lead provider look good, and improving the dealer’s odds of closing that deal. Customizing the AI assistant’s messaging for a particular type of lead is something we have done almost since the beginning. Now, we’re doing a lot more of it and on a much more granular level.