2011 dealer magazine

February 2012

Internet Security:How to Protect your Dealership’s Vulnerable Networkpage 8

CRM:Cloning: The Science of Creating More Loyal Customerspage 14

Sales Strategies:Why Does your Team Still Stink at Maximizing Inbound Phone Calls? page 22

CASEYCOFFEY

General Manager/OwnerGwinnet Place Ford

page 16

ABLE OF CONTENTST

FEBRUARY 2012

PRESIDENT AND CEOMICHAEL ROSCOE

PUBLISHERGREG NOONAN

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EDITORMAUREEN CONDON

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CONTENT EDITORMARIA BURKEL

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ART DIRECTORJOE BIRCH

PRODUCTION MANAGERELIZABETH BIRCH

PRINT PRODUCTIONNICK THOMAS

COVER DESIGNJOE BIRCH

COVER PHOTOSPAUL AMODIO

CIRCULATION SUBSCRIPTION

RICH JARRETT314-432-7511

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607-264-3359Dealer magazine makes every attempt to ensure the accuracy of all published works. However it cannot be held responsible for opinions expressed or facts supplied herein. Nothing may be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved. The publisher encourages you to submit sug-gestions. Submitted materials become the property of Horizon Communications, Inc. and will not be returned. Send material for publication to 8870 Darrow Road, Suite F-106 / PMB 305, Twinsburg, OH 44087. The editor reserves the right to edit material; submission of mate-rial constitutes permission to edit and publish that ma-terial. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is presented with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. From a Declaration of Principles jointly adopted by a Commit-tee of the American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers.

A PUBLICATION OF

FEATURES Digital Dealer Cover Story 16 Casey Coffey General Manager/Owner Gwinnett Place Ford COLUMNS Business Development 6 How to Save a Deal a Day….Every Day! Glynn Rodean

Internet Security 8 How to Protect your Dealership’s Vulnerable Network Terry Dortch

Digital Dealer Conference 10 12th Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition Features 90 Sessions with Automotive Dealer Leaders and Industry Experts, Special Interest Tracks, Peer Networking Round tables, and 90 Digital Technology Exhibits

CRM 14 Cloning: The Science of Creating More Loyal Customers James Maguire

Digital Dealer Excellence Awards 20 Dealers! It’s Not Too Early to Sign up to Compete for the Fall 2012 Digital Dealer Website Excellence Awards Pre-owned Vehicles 21 Solving Used Vehicle Supply Problems George Nenni Sales Strategies 22 Why Does your Team Still Stink at Maximizing Inbound Phone Calls? Steve Stauning

24 Five Reasons Why Dealers Will See Continued Growth in 2012 Phil DuPree

Fixed Operations 26 Time to Focus on Fixed Operations Phil Sura

DEPARTMENTS 4 Digital Dealer Tech News

DD 2 February 2012 DigitalDealer-magazine.com

CONFERENCE & EXPOSITION

12TH12TH

April 3-5, 2012 • Orlando, FL

®

www.DigitalDealerConference.com

The Digital DealerConference & Exposition

April 3-5The Rosen Shingle Creek

Orlando, FL

The 12th Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition features more than 90+ sessions covering a diverse range of topics and experience levels.

AdvertisingBDC StrategiesBest PracticesBusiness IntelligenceChatContent MarketingConversion MarketingDataDealers & General ManagersDigital CRMDigital Marketingebay StrategiesEquity-Based Marketing

Fixed OperationsGrowing ProfitsGrowing Sales and ServiceGrowing ShareIn-House StrategiesInventory ManagementLead ManagementMarketingMobileOnline Trade-InsPhone StrategiesPre-OwnedPricing & Gross

ProfitabilityReputation ManagementSalesSearchSmall Store StrategiesSocial StrategiesSpecial FinanceTechnologyThird-Party LeadsVideo StrategiesWeb Best PracticesWebsite Analysis

“It would have taken months or years to get the information I was able to get in a couple days.”

Rich FinleyGeneral Sales Manager

Charles Gabus Ford

“We were able to learn about best practices and new opportunities from people who were actually utilizing them, not from a salesperson promoting hypothetical applications.”

David MoserGeneral Manager

Cross Motors Corp. (Chrysler Jeep)

Scan this QR code for

more quotes.

IGITAL Dealer TECH NEWSD

Contact At Once! announces SMS text feature to improve

response rates for auto advertising

Contact At Once!, the leading dealer chat provider to the automotive industry, announced the beta release of a new SMS text-to-chat feature for automotive adver-tising. Delivered as an extension to the Contact At Once! chat solution already in use at over 9,000 dealerships, the new feature enables car shoppers to easily initi-ate live SMS text-based conversations with an auto dealer using their mobile phone. Shoppers can connect with dealers via wid-gets placed on websites or banner ads as they navigate the Internet. They may also scan a QR code or send a specified text message to a number found in a dealership’s print ad or signage.

Other text-based solutions for dealers already exist, and include the ability to: distribute mass-marketing messages to large lists of mobile numbers; communicate with service department customers regarding a vehicle’s repair status; enable consumers to request listing information about a specific vehicle.

These features complement the Contact At Once! dealer chat solution which is the first to be centered on one-to-one personal communication between a car shopper and a dealership sales person.

www.autodealerchat.com/

Dominion Dealer Solutions announces realignment of

businesses, products and people

Dominion Dealer Solutions, an indus-try leader in automotive technology and services and a division of Dominion Enterprises, announced the reorganiza-tion and unification of its businesses and products. These changes, as reported by Robert Berndt, president of Dominion Dealer Solutions, reflect the company’s objective to deliver a single and complete set of solutions for customer, inventory and marketing technology to their automotive dealer customers.

Promoted throughout 2011 as Dominion

CRM, Inventory and Websites, the indi-vidual businesses of Dominion Dealer Solutions have aligned their products and services to more quickly meet dealer needs. Dealerskins and XIGroup merged early in 2011 to provide higher quality custom websites for auto dealers. @utoRevenue, AVV Web Control and Autobase combined under the Autobase brand in early summer 2011 as a unified CRM and marketing services provider. Dealer Specialties has pro-vided inventory data, analytics and reports to dealers for over 20 years and is collabo-rating more closely with Cross-Sell market research in the new Dominion Inventory division. In addition to these business tran-sitions, the leadership of Dominion Dealer Solutions has been realigned in order to provide higher quality products and services to both dealer and OEM customers.

www.dominionenterprises.com/

Experian Automotive launches AutoCheck Mobile

for Consumer Experian Automotive launched

AutoCheck Mobile for Consumer, a new application providing used car buyers with access to AutoCheck vehicle his-tory reports through Android and iPhone devices. Experian Automotive is the first major vehicle history provider to deliver direct report access to consumers through a mobile application across both leading smartphone operating systems.

According to a recent Nielsen study, 83 percent of U.S. app downloaders used either Android or iPhone smartphones. The Android operating system (OS) leads the market with 42.8 percent of share, and the Apple OS is second, with 28.3 percent.

“AutoCheck Mobile for Consumer is another way to provide used car buyers with convenient access to the same vehi-cle history reports relied upon by dealers and auction houses nationwide,” said Scott Waldron, president of Experian Automotive. “When consumers go used car shopping, they typically consider a number of different vehicles before making their final purchase. By making AutoCheck reports available on both leading mobile operating systems, we are ensuring

consumers can easily obtain the informa-tion they need when they need it most.”

www.autocheck.com/www.experian.com/automotive

DealerRater enhances DealerRater Push to further help certified dealers boost

positive review counts on Google

DealerRater, the nation’s premier car dealer review website, announced an impor-tant update to its DealerRater Push product, a key feature of the DealerRater Certification Program. With this new enhancement, certi-fied dealer members will be able to further build positive online reviews and associated star ratings from customers on Google. For every consumer that now posts a positive review of a Certified Dealer on DealerRater, DealerRater Push will prompt the reviewer to copy and paste the review and star rating to Google Places. DealerRater Push was formerly limited to reviewers maintaining Google/gMail accounts.

“Our certified dealer partners are suc-cessful in soliciting happy sales and ser-vice customers to write online reviews on DealerRater,” said Chip Grueter, president at DealerRater. “With our DealerRater Push solution, certified dealers can expect to also increase positive review counts on Google as they work to build reviews from satisfied customers on DealerRater.”

Through DealerRater Push, DealerRater reviews populate to Google Places immedi-ately, rather than having to wait the four to six weeks it has traditionally taken for Google to index the DealerRater review content into dealer Google Places pages.

www.dealerrater.com

Liquidus debuts Socialink 2.0 with new features

Multimedia and video marketing technol-ogy pioneer Liquidus unveiled Socialink 2.0, the latest version of its innovative Facebook marketing application for car dealers, now with enhanced customization features that allow dealerships to deliver a more engaging

continued to P-DD28


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How to Save a Deal a Day….Every Day!

IGITAL Dealer BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DGlynn Rodean

Imagine, just for a moment, you and each of your representatives were able to save one deal a day. How much easier would

each month, quarter and year be? How much less scrambling at the end of the month might there be? Scrambling means shortcutting, less follow up and cherry picking.

So to “BDC or not to BDC” seems to be the question these days. My recommendation to most is to utilize my hybrid BDC method-ology. This can be done with a small group working only on incoming and outgoing calls and messages, scheduling appointments and confirming. It instills significant accountabil-ity for every prospect. There are three different hybrid BDCs, all of which are effective only with a proper business development system throughout your organization.

Prospecting and networking have changed. We have agreed, “Some will, some won’t, so what.” That goes for representatives, manag-ers and customers alike. We must change regardless of our current or past production. By change I refer to the means in which we communicate (mms, sms, video, etc.). We need to take advantage of the stereotype we live with and using it to our benefit rather than being lumped into or associated with our competition. Differentiation is a lot more than a word and it is precisely how we save a deal a day, every day.

I would like to give you a precise example. Ms. Customer lived two hours from a Toyota store and the sales representative and the BDRs were convinced that she would not be back. The reason I challenge everybody to remove the word “if” from their vocabulary and replace it with “when” is because it translates into a more influential, persuasive means of com-munication. It breaks from the old fashioned, Rain-ex, front lobe, would you, could you, should you, old school car jargon that people associate with our industry. Starting this very day, begin a habit of identifying and noting per-sonality types, developing commonality-based rapport and using quality conversation starters.

Remember most of your competition only asks if the customer has any more questions or, in follow-up, if they have bought a car yet. Think of the advantage you will have when, not if, the conversation starts by clearly showing them how much you care. It’s true, as the old saying goes, that they don’t care how much we know until they know how much we care. By simply remembering something such as one child’s name, a special event or maybe even challenges that a customer has faced makes a huge difference when we are sincere. When we have a “save a deal” meet-ing every day, every open prospect is treated the same with quality review, TOs, rehash, etc. You want to get them back in. Is it not frustrating to know you could have a deal, but they won’t answer the phone or call back?

Now, back to Ms. Customer. I asked for her number and called, walked her through the “Four I’s” that ensure an appointment shows. The impact wording, in this case, was not “if for any reason we were running late that we would give her a courtesy call,” but “if for any reason we were running late that we would be sure to give her the courtesy of a call.” I saved Ms. Customer’s voicemail on my phone as a reminder that whenever we have a customer giving us the courtesy of a call, we should intuitively know that we have a deal.

Her message sounded something like: “Hello Glynn, this is (customer’s name). I am running a little late, but I’m coming. I should be there in the next 20 minutes.” About 90 minutes later the manager text messaged me about how happy she was that she had bought the right thing, not paid too much money, and best of all, purchased from the people that cared the most.

How will you pick up on this? Will you evaluate your personal approach and make appropriate changes in what you say and how you say it? Will you initiate your appoint-ments with a confirmation number, “activate” their confirmation number with their driver’s license? For crying out loud if you spend 29

bucks with Enterprise they send you what? Right, a confirmation number. How about when texting or sending an mms, includ-ing your headshot to give them a face with the name or a photo of the vehicle with an appointment tag on it?

Are you notating exactly how things are left, the last comments made or the body language that you picked up on? If you don’t, you will never remember all of it. When we properly start all the processes, on the road to the sale, it is a game changer. We’re all human, folks, nobody bats a thousand, but when (not if) you are willing to implement the changes necessary to make next generation professional sales and service appointments, you will not save just a deal a day. Imagine your entire team saving an extra deal a day, every day

Good selling my friends. I look forward to next month and to seeing you in Orlando at Digital Dealer 12.

Glynn Rodean is president and CEO of New Vision Sales Inc. Glynn teaches a methodology of sales, management and business development from years of experi-ence that produced record setting volume and profit. As a Sales Professional, Glynn exceeded 50 cars a month, installed his first BDC in 1998 and achieved over a million dollars in monthly variable gross. Glynn speaks at seminars, workshops and consults with Dealers across North America. The NVS Call Center is an extension of Glynn’s experience. He has trained thousands of people, written numerous articles, custom-izes Sales Playbooks and is the author of “Own the Phone!” You can reach Glynn at: [email protected].

For more articles, blogs and daily news visit us at www.Dealer-

magazine.com.DD 6 February 2012 DigitalDealer-magazine.com

IGITAL Dealer INTERNET SECURITYDTerry Dortch

How to Protect your Dealership’s Vulnerable Network

When I was a dealer in Illinois, my last duty before shutting out the lights every evening was to be sure

all vehicles on the lot were locked, all access points to the showroom or shop closed and secured and that alarms for fire and break-in were set. I never imagined that customer and dealership data files would be the prize future thieves most often wanted.

Data thieves don’t sneak into your dealership through the access points I used to be sure were secured. Now they come in secretly, quietly and quite damagingly through the Internet. They hack into our various system networks to steal customer information as well as dealership banking information.

Just imagine how damaging network hacking can be. Consider the recent hacking of Sony’s PlayStation Network. Hackers stole customer information and destroyed the network. Two months later, Sony still hadn’t entirely been able to restore its network.

Given the magnitude of the breach, Congress held hearings and questioned whether Sony was using “best business practices” to protect its network and customer information. The issue for Congress was not that a breach had occurred, but that the breach was extensive and unknown to Sony for some time.

So what does Sony’s problem have to do with your dealership? The answer is everything, but on a smaller scale.

The information stored on your dealership’s network is invaluable to your daily operations and profit. Unfortunately, it also is valuable to thieves and hackers. Computer hacking has become a lucrative business, and in many cases is now done by highly trained professionals who have little trouble working around a firewall. In today’s business environment, it is not a question of if your network will be breached, but when.

A study conducted by Jevelin Strategy &

Research found that small businesses lost $8 billion in 2010 to identity theft. Phil Blank, research analyst at Jevelin Strategy & Research notes that smaller businesses “are low hanging fruit” to hackers.

These small businesses – like an auto dealership – are attractive targets for hackers because they tend not to have formal network security controls in place. Having your network breached is one thing. Having your network breached and not knowing about it can lead to catastrophic consequences.

Hackers’ entry pointsEvery dealership can be vulnerable to

network attacks three ways:• Identity theft: Thieves look for account

numbers and customer information in the data and documents that flow among your system – such as between the DMS and F&I office. Identity compliance also means deal jackets, worksheets and other documents that likely contain information like customer social security numbers, addresses, etc. must also be kept safe, away from prying and spying eyes. Your compliance to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) ensures this physical compliance.

• Direct attacks: Increasingly, hackers are accessing business systems and stealing credit card, banking and other financial data. They then use this data for their personal gain. For instance, hackers recently invaded a Carolinas dealership, stealing dealership bank accounting data. The hacker then began to make payroll withdrawals using this stolen data.

• Network exploitation: Every digital connection to the outside world entering your building brings network exploitation risk with it. This includes your phone, DSL, cable or TI lines that eventually connect external networks to your internal desktops and laptops and their connected systems.

Hackers who are able to enter into your four physical building walls through these external access points then “tap” your internal network, looking for data of value to them. This exploitation happens slowly, quietly, like a highway bandit waiting patiently for the unawares traveler to come down the road. Your network is compromised when hackers are able to install on it viruses, worms and other malicious code that gobbles bandwidth, slows your system and frustrates users. On a more costly level, a compromised network can result in the theft of customer and dealership data that results in real economic, time and reputation loss.

Network monitoring and securityUndetected, network exploitation can

continue unnoticed and uncorrected for a very long time. Anti-virus, anti-malware and other anti-malicious code add-on software programs are a step in the right direction, but alone insufficient to truly prevent data theft via your network. Network monitoring and security goes well beyond what these off-the-shelf software tools can do. True network monitoring and security means an approach that monitors the data flows into your building and around your network in real time, 24/7.

Network monitoring, to be clear, pertains to any network traffic coming on or out of your dealership, but not your dealer management system. Most dealerships will have Virtual Private Network or VPN between the dealership and the DMS, which is an encrypted secure connection less vulnerable to outside network exploitation or intrusion. However, a network monitoring and security provider should be able to monitor this flow of data from the DMS and VPN and outside vendors’ systems used internally that rely on DMS data.

Not only does routine and ongoing information monitoring like this help


identify and stop existing hacking efforts, it uses intelligence to identify when the network might have problems so you and your network security provider can act before there is a system crash or exploited data is collected and distributed.

Numerous regulations – the FTC Safeguards Rule under the GLBA -- outline your responsibilities for protecting your network. Many dealers offload this responsibility to an outside network security and compliance provider better able to help the dealer understand his or her particular responsibilities and then put in place and monitor security compliance going forward.

We all know the frustration of having our network down for even an hour during the day. Imagine being down for a week or more. Not only will you incur the expense of notifying customers that their personal information was breached at your dealership, but your own financial information will be compromised, stolen and possibly destroyed. Thus, there are sound business reasons for taking steps to protect your network and the information on it as required by the GLBA.

Preventing cyber attacksIncreasing cyber-attack frequencies and

more sophisticated cyber criminals leave your firewall-protected network vulnerable. A firewall lets your IT staff know about attacks that were blocked, but will not give any indication of successful intrusions until it is too late. Best business practices require a Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) to monitor your network, and alert your IT staff when an intrusion does occur so immediate action can be taken.

The MSSP provides real-time monitoring of your network by network security professionals using complex analytics and sound judgment to identify breaches otherwise missed by device-only monitoring. Absent real-time monitoring, your business will not be able to detect a network compromise until substantial damage has been done.

Dealerships, like other small businesses today, face increasingly more aggressive

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continued to P-DD28

DigitalDealer-magazine.com February 2012 DD 9

The 12th Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition will feature innovative dealer leaders

and industry experts on digital technol-ogy who will share their expertise and best practices on the latest digital tools for automotive dealerships – for sales and marketing, fixed operations, F&I, and pre-owned departments.

The conference will be held April 3-5, at The Rosen Shingle Creek Hotel, in Orlando, FL. More than 90 workshops and 90 exhibits, plus peer network-ing roundtables will be featured. www.DigitalDealerConference.com

More than 1,100 dealers and managers from franchised automotive dealerships, in the U.S. and around the globe, attended the 11th Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition in October at the Mirage in

Las Vegas, NV. Even more automotive professionals from dealerships nationwide are expected to attend the 12th Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition.

Dealer principals, GMs, Internet sales managers, e-commerce directors, BDC directors, CRM managers, pre-owned managers, F&I managers, fixed operations managers and other automotive retail pro-fessionals will be able to choose from more than 90 sessions so they can customize their own conference schedules to match their own interests precisely.

The 12th Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition will feature specialized

sessions for fundamental, intermediate and advanced levels and an entire track for dealer fixed operations. And, for the first time, a track for dealer pre-owned will be offered.

Fixed operations managers and dealers who want to focus on this profit center – will be able to take advantage of the spe-cial dealer fixed operations track, which will include 10 sessions, sequentially scheduled over the three-day period – all focused on issues of concern to fixed operations managers.

Managers of pre-owned departments – and dealers who want to focus on this profit center – will be able to attend 10 sessions on pre-owned topics sequentially scheduled over the three-day period.

Response by attendees to this segmen-tation by levels of sophistication and the creation of a specialized track for dealer

fixed operations at the 11th Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition was extremely positive.

Peer networking roundtables will also be offered at the 12th Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition so dealers and managers can communicate with others from similar-sized dealerships and opera-tions to discuss best practices and help solve each others’ greatest challenges.

More than 90 exhibitors will be demon-strating the latest digital technology solu-tions for all aspects of dealership opera-tions, sales and marketing.

Early bird registration for the 12th Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition is now open at www.dig-italdealerconference.com.

The Rosen Shingle Creek Hotel in Orlando, where the conference will be held, is situated on 230 acres of lush landscape and is Central Florida’s most luxurious meeting destination. For more information on the Rosen Shingle Creek Hotel, visit: www.rosenshinglecreek.com.

IGITAL Dealer CONFERENCE & EXPOSITION D12th Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition Features 90 Sessions with

Automotive Dealer Leaders and Industry Experts, Special Interest Tracks, Peer Networking Roundtables, and 90 Digital Technology Exhibits

April 3-5, Rosen Shingle Creek Hotel, Orlando, FL


12TH12TH


®



12TH12TH


®

www.DigitalDealerConference.com

Networking Opportunities

April 3-5The Rosen Shingle Creek

Orlando, FL

Network and learn from other dealers, dealership managers and vendors.Experience unparalleled networking opportunities with your peers from all over the country • informally during sessions and in the exhibit hall • at breakfast, lunch and evening networking receptions • at the peer networking roundtables session

Scan this QR code for

more quotes.

“We are investing heavily in an Internet strategy, and the Digital Dealer Conference appears to be integral to our strategy development. I’m bringing my entire senior management team – all six of them.”

Mike Reichenbach, Owner

Mike Reichenbach Ford Lincoln Mercury

Florence, SC

“It was a good way to keep with the fast paced changes of our digital needs.”

Steve Roe, GM

Roe Motors, Grants Pass, OR

“We have six stores and I have made big changes. Great event! Will not miss another!”

Steve Smith, President

CBS Mitsubishi, Durham, NC

Content supplied by 360 Marketing Partners

Cloning: The Science of Creating More Loyal Customers

Like snowflakes, no two customers are exactly alike. However, if you look closely, customers do have enough

in common to be segmented into groups. First, there’s the loyal segment, which comprises all the customers with whom a dealer has a great relationship. Then there’s the disloyal segment, which represents the customers who have not been as devoted to the dealership for service, sales or through word-of-mouth promotion.

Customers in the loyal group more than likely live or work nearby, regularly return to a dealership for service, tell their friends about the great experience they’ve had, and — when it comes time to purchase another vehicle — are likely to have their favorite dealer at the top of their list. These are precisely the type of customers dealers want more of and would clone if they could.

Improvements in marketing tools and technology are making it increasingly cost-effective for dealers to implement a more sophisticated targeting strategy. While not scientifically possible, cloning a customer is actually technically possible from a mar-keting perspective. The key to making this happen is at a dealer’s fingertips: the existing customer database.

A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) database now can be systematically analyzed to determine common character-istics — including demographics, attitudes, interests and purchase patterns among loyal customers — that can be used as a model to find more customers with similar characteristics.

Simply put, retailers can clone their best customers and direct their marketing cam-paigns toward those who are most likely to be loyal to the dealership, making limited marketing budgets much more effective.

So which customers should auto retailers

try to clone?• Customers with a high value based

on total purchase amount or lifetime pur-chase patterns.

• Customers who have the highest loyalty or greatest longevity with your store or others in your dealer group.

• Recent buyers who are likely to respond to seasonal or new product offers.

• Customers who demonstrate a buying pattern, such as customers who regularly bring their car in for service.

• Customers who have positively com-mented on the retailer using social media.

Of course, manually figuring out who else out there emulates a retailer’s best customer would be a daunting proposition. Fortunately, today there are tools available that rely on sophisticated data and analytics to automate this process and pinpoint the best prospects.

This type of analysis should factor in characteristics such as home value, occupa-tion, number of children and even driving behaviors. This information then can be cross-referenced against a database representative of the retailer’s market area to find prospects with similar characteristics to the best customers in general proximity to the dealership.

In addition, local market information can tell automotive retailers where customers from various segments reside, what the most preva-lent vehicle segments are, what their media habits are and, most importantly, whether they are likely to be in the market for a new or used vehicle.

This cloning information and the local market analysis create a powerful combina-tion that zeroes-in on the right customer at the right time with the right media. All of this removes the guesswork from marketing and advertising efforts and helps to improve campaign effectiveness and efficiency.

Potential results from a program like this

can be staggering. A highly targeted list based on cloning a retailer’s database and matching it to its local market can yield results as high as 15 times more effective than a saturation direct-marketing campaign. In terms of metal moved and revenue gained, this can have a huge impact. For example, if a dealer achieves results at half this rate, it is closing 75 sales where it used to close 10.

Of course, marketing efficiency is greatly enhanced whether it uses direct mail, e-mail or other promotional efforts. More targeted promotions equal less waste. Additionally, the focus and frequency of marketing offers — even the tone of the creative — can be calibrated based on what has been learned from a dealer’s customer profiles.

With those types of advanced capabili-ties, and the positive long-term results they generate, dealers and their marketing agencies will definitely feel the impact of building a portfolio of loyal customers.

James Maguire is senior director of marketing and digital products for Experian Automotive. Prior to Experian, Maguire served as director of marketing for DealerTrack, Inc. Previously, he served as vice president of marketing for NAT Solutions. Maguire also led the marketing department for Cars.com and was director of e-commerce product marketing for ADP Dealer Services, where he helped launch what is now known as AutoTrader.com. You can reach James at: [email protected].


magazine.com.

IGITAL Dealer CRM DJames Maguire


COVER STORY

Casey Coffey General Manager/Owner

Gwinnett Place Ford

Casey Coffey

Craig Hooten


As an early adopter of Internet technology, Casey Coffey, general manager and owner of Gwinnett Place Ford, in Duluth, GA, has led his Internet sales team in

achieving some very impressive results:

• 65% of Gwinnett Place Ford’s sales are Internet sales. • Gwinnett Place Ford ranks within the top 57 dealerships nationwide for

Internet sales, with 1,499 new and used car Internet sales in 2010.• The dealership’s growth rate for 2011 is 65% higher than 2010.• 75% of its Internet sales leads come from its own website and the sales team’s

closing ratio is 18%.• In 2010, Gwinnett Place Ford won a Ford Motor Company President’s Award.

Casey Coffey recently shared with Dealer magazine how he and his Internet Sales Manager, Craig Hooten, and the Internet sales team at Gwinnett Place Ford

achieved these impressive results.

First, Casey, please tell us how you got into the business of selling cars.

I went to the University of Missouri and had a fraternity brother who had a brother-in-law in the car business in Kansas City. I went to work there for a summer with the intention of saving up money to go to law school. I wound up being successful in my first couple of months and decided the car business was the right one for me.

How and when did you decide to buy Gwinnett Place Ford?

I started in the business at a Cadillac Store in Kansas City and worked for that group until 1999, when I was presented an opportunity to buy into a couple of stores in Atlanta. I had always wanted to move to the south and thought the two franchises, Ford and Nissan, were great opportunities. We are going on our 13th year here in Atlanta and both stores are doing well.

What is unique about the way you run your business?

We were early adopters of the Internet and we’ve got a good head start on other dealerships that are just catching up now and discovering this thing isn’t a fad. The Internet is going to be out there to stay. We realized that many years ago. My staff is geared for the Internet. They understand it. They are

technology driven. We’ve really worked on perfecting our craft.

Internet marketing has been and will continue to be a huge focus for us. I believe virtually the entire marketing of the dealership in years to come will be Internet focused. Certainly, the advent of the Internet over the last 10 years has changed the landscape of the business and it will continue to do that.

Right now, 65% of our business is the Internet – for both our Ford and Nissan dealerships. But, let’s focus on Gwinnett Place Ford, the dealership I run.

When we started out, we were much like everybody else. We used a lot of third-party lead providers. As time went on, we found out we could do most of that lead generating ourselves. We still use AutoTrader.com and Cars.com, but we get over 75% of our leads directly from our own website.

That’s impressive. How do you drive traffic to your e-commerce site?

We handle all our SEO internally. Craig Hooten, our Internet sales manager, is paramount in that arena and we’ve got a group of people here who enable the key words and stay on it for us. We’re constantly monitoring all that through Google Analytics.

How about SEM?We also manage all SEM internally. We

have the budget set up for SEM and it’s a vital part of what we do, but it is something that is being significantly eclipsed by our organic marketing as we have gotten stronger over time on our keywords. And that’s the way we want it to be.

What percentage of your advertising dollars are spent on the Internet vs. traditional advertising channels?

We are 40% Internet spend, and 60% traditional spend. Internet advertising is not as expensive as traditional advertising, so overall we have reduced our total advertising budget considerably over the years.

That 40% Internet spend goes toward SEO and SEM. Plus, we have a couple of lead providers I mentioned -- Cars.com and AutoTrader.com – that we spend some money on.

On the traditional side, we don’t do newspapers anymore. We predominantly advertise on talk radio – WSB – the top radio station in Atlanta.

We also do network TV spots certain times of the year, such as Christmas and right after Christmas. The only other TV we do is cable


to reach out and have presence in our market area which is Gwinnett County – the largest county in Georgia. We are about 25 miles North of Atlanta.

One thing you have to keep in mind is that even though we call it ‘traditional’ advertising, every single ad we do, whether it’s on network, cable or talk radio, there is one goal in mind and that’s to drive the customer to our website. So, our messaging is all about driving people to our virtual site. Our website URL is prominent in all these traditional ads.

How do you manage your website?Dealer.com is our website host. They do a

great job. They are very responsive to all of our needs and move very quickly when we need to make changes to our website.

We update our content constantly. And, everybody knows that having as many great quality pictures as you can possible have on your website that provide all the information that a buyer would want is paramount to success on the Internet.

So, we’ve hired professionals to help us with that. CDM, a local company, takes all our photos. On our site, we have a feature where you can click on the main photo of the automobile for a 360-degree walkaround. It’s not video, but it appears like a video, and along with audio, it gives our customers great in-depth information on each vehicle.

CDM also handles all our stickers and uploads all our content to our Dealer.com hosted website. We provide all the information to spice up the ads and make them more appealing to consumers. That’s really a huge part of what we do – making sure the right information gets to the consumer.

As a result of all this, how many Internet leads do you get each month?

Incoming form submissions from the Internet run about 600 per month, and then we also get about 600 telephone calls per month that go into our BDC from Internet sources. So, we have a total of 1,200 leads per month.

What is your close ratio?When we started out, we were like everybody

else. We were at a 6 or 7% closing ratio for a long time, until we decided we needed to limit the amount of leads each salesperson got and treat them very much like you would business

managers, where they are not overwhelmed by the number of leads and they have enough time to work on those leads and serve the customers’ needs. This month we are closing at 18%.

How do you process your Internet leads?All of our leads come into our

DealerSocket CRM. It’s a very robust system that we’ve been on for a long time now. And, DealerSocket continues to make improvements to their system.

Craig Hooten, our Internet sales manager, looks at those leads and makes a response immediately. Response time is critical to us. Overall, on every lead that comes in -- including the ones that come in at night that are responded to by an auto-response system --- we run about 6 ½ minutes for response time.

We feel it’s paramount to be that responsive. The inquiring prospects are typically sitting at their computers and they’ve just sent you the lead. People today are in a hurry. Everyone is busy. They want a response right now. That’s the time they have to shop and you want to get right back to them. If you get much over 10 minutes -- and I don’t have a scientific study on this -- but I think your opportunity to reach them decreases tremendously. They’ve moved onto the next website or they are gone.

A lot of our leads are during the day, so people are shopping while they are at work. They pop on the computer, they find the vehicle they are looking for and they send a lead to us and it’s just paramount that we get back to them right then.

During business hours, as soon as a lead comes into our CRM, Craig gets on the phone and calls that customer to set an appointment. Whether he does or he doesn’t secure an appointment at that time, he puts that lead into the appropriate salesperson’s queue, based on how many leads each salesperson has currently vs. everybody else in the department.

So the person with the least amount of leads gets the next lead. It’s not exactly on a round-robin basis, but on who is ready for the next lead.

Each year our Internet department is growing. At our Ford dealership, we currently have eight dedicated salespeople getting Internet leads.

The quality of our team; their dedication; the fact that they are progressive; and that they understand that our Internet marketing and our ability to be able to respond to customers in a timely manner is critical – all this is just paramount to what we achieve.

I’ve got a really strong philosophy that the customers out there shopping have a goal. Their goal is to eliminate choices. We need to make sure that we are not being eliminated by not being able to handle the lead quickly enough or professionally enough.

We have to make sure that the customer feels over the phone or through the Internet that we’re experienced, that we have expertise in the marketplace and that we can provide them with the services they’re looking for. So our goal is to not be eliminated.

It’s so different from a brick and mortar business. The bottom line for being successful in Internet sales is this: You have to stay on top of your technology, you have to have the right inventory and the right people, and you have to make sure those salespeople are getting to the customers as much information as they can, as quickly as possible, to keep your dealership in the game.

How many days out do you follow a customer?

I’ll give you an example. Two days ago, one of my Internet salespeople sold a car to a customer he had followed for 396 days. I don’t want to make it sound like we are incessantly on these customers each and every day as hard as we would be in the first three days, but our CRM system is set up to follow that customer until they buy an automobile from us or someone else.

In line with your progressive attitude toward technology, what are you doing with mobile technology?

We’ve started our own mobile apps for iPhone, Android and Blackberry. It’s a work in progress, but it’s a very robust system, which allows us to get content to our customers -- who have downloaded the apps – on a moment’s notice. We have certain mobile specials that we offer only through our mobile applications. You can see any inventory, new and used, with one click and contact anyone here in any department with one click. We also let customers know through our mobile apps when their vehicle is ready to be picked up after service.


Whenever we have a customer in the service department, we ask them to download our free apps. We also have a lot of point of sales material in the store that explains the benefits of the apps. We’re continuing to expand on those apps.

As part of our mobile apps, we are currently developing stickers for each one of the cars so customers can scan QR codes. We haven’t implemented this system just yet. The QR coded stickers are not on the cars yet, but are currently being made.

Did you develop the mobile apps yourself?Solution One Mobile Marketing developed

the apps for us. I looked at a lot of app providers before I decided to go with Solution One. They had the most robust interactive apps out there at the time.

How do you handle your online reputation management?

We are on DealerRater.com where we have 28 reviews right now. We are getting good reviews, since we’ve got good customer service at the dealership.

When customers are here and they’ve had a good experience, we encourage them to go online and tell others about it. Certainly, Google has changed that landscape and we’re working through that.

How do you use social media?We use both Facebook and Twitter. Craig

takes a lot of pictures of events we host and we try to get that out in front of all our customers and fans. Solution One Mobile Marketing is helping us with posting photos and content on Facebook.

I don’t know at this point in time how much social media is helping in terms of sales, but I don’t want to not be there.

What is your biggest challenge in the Internet realm?

Our biggest challenge is getting people to make appointments and show up. We want our ratio of shown up to appointments to be about 75%. Currently we’re only running 58% in that area.

What is your typical day like?I come in at 7 a.m. and first thing I do is

review all of the previous day’s operations, what the Internet leads were, how many phone calls we got, and the number of service ROs.

We do a ‘virtual save a deal’ meeting where the staff reviews the previous three days of Internet leads and incoming telephone calls to determine if there’s anything to follow up on and as a group we determine how we are going to market effectively to sell those customers a car.

After that we have a “sold save a deal meeting,” about automobiles that are sold, so we can stay on top of those and then an assets meeting, covering inventory, marketing, a contract in transit, and anything else of that nature.

With all this hard work and success, do you have any plans for expansion?

We just finished building a new store for Gwinnett Place Ford, and we moved in July 1. We tore down the old store and started from scratch and built a very open area that’s very technologically savvy. It’s more like an Apple store. We don’t have any offices. There are computers on each station. There are no towers, or glass walls. It’s all open.

All of our salespeople do their sales transactions at the sales bar. Our customers can speak to any one of the managers. It’s a very open atmosphere.

We’re a very progressive store. The personnel here, myself, my GSM, we understand it‘s all about customer service. It’s not the old school anymore. We don’t employ any of the tactics that have been used in the industry for years.

We think the Internet is where it’s all going and that relationship starts when that customer clicks on your website. Your website is your front line, not the store. And we think we have world class there on the website and on the telephone to get that relationship started and get the customers to believe in us and trust us that we are going to serve their needs. My salespeople have done a great job at doing that.

Can you tell us why your new car sales business increased so dramatically in 2011?

Our sales were up 65% in 2011 over the 2010 numbers, on the new car side. Of course you have to remember these numbers are a little bit skewed because we were under construction in 2010. If we hadn’t been under construction then, with the climate out there today and with Ford’s inventory today, I think

continued to P-DD28


During the month of February, the websites of some 250 automo-tive dealership websites will be

undergoing statistical analysis to objectively determine the winners of the Spring 2012 Digital Dealer Website Excellence Awards.

The deadline for entry into this com-petition closed January 20. Winners will be announced at the 12th Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition, April 3-5, in Orlando, FL.

However, it’s not too early to enter the Fall 2012 competition for the Digital Dealer Website Excellence Awards. Interested dealers can register their websites at: www.visicogn.com/dd.

Vendors who supply website solutions to their client dealerships may also enter those dealerships in the competition.

There is no entry fee and registration is quick and easy.

Dealer Communications, the leading multi-media information source for fran-chised dealers and managers, is co-sponsor-ing The Digital Dealer Website Excellence Awards to recognize automotive dealers, managers and their website providers for exceptional performance of the websites they design, host, and support.

Recognition is based upon independent, unbiased analytics of dealers’ websites per-formed by Dataium, LLC, co-sponsor of the awards. Dataium is the largest aggregator of auto shopper behavior and provides OEMs and thousands of dealers advanced website analytics and is the only company providing multi-make/model data collection, analysis, and benchmarking.

The Digital Dealer Website Excellence Awards competition is the first of its kind and is completely objective based on statistics, not judging or voting.

The 10 categories for which there are awards include: • Unique Visitor to Auto Shopper Conversion• Leads per Auto Shopper• Leads per Inventory Search• % of Auto Shoppers Returning (% of Be

Backs)• Lowest User Bounce Rate• Greatest Share of Leads among website

visitors• Leads per Page View• Lead Volume• Inventory Search Volume• Overall Winner

Each dealership that enters the competition will receive Dataium’s VisiCogn® INSITE application (Basic version) at NO COST for one year -- a $1,200 value. Dataium will automatically analyze data from this applica-tion in order to evaluate each dealer’s website performance.

The benefits to automotive dealers are clear. With Dataium’s VisiCogn INSITE, dealers will know who is on their websites, what they are shopping for, what they are comparing, and when they return. This product lets users:• Compare website performance against local,

regional, or brand benchmarks• Know which consumers are shopping for

which products online• Know where online auto buyers are in their

buying cycle• Target sales/marketing messages based upon

consumer shopping activity• Know which vehicles you are competing

with down to the individual consumer• Know if a consumer leaves and/or re-enters

the market for a vehicle • Know what the lead form abandonment

rate on your website is• Know which keywords deliver the most

leads

Further, dealers can access “in market” analysis services which allow local dealers to target past leads, customers, and current service customers based upon current online in-market shopping activity.

For more information about INSITE visit www.visicogn.com. Dataium is the automotive industry’s largest aggregator of online shopper behavior. By tracking bil-lions of automotive shopping events across thousands of websites, Dataium is the only company providing multi-make/model data collection, analysis, and benchmarking. The company supports cutting edge data collec-tion and reporting technology; VisiCogn® Collection Utility, VisiCogn® Knowledge Center, VisiCogn® INSITE, and is also known for its ASI index. For more informa-tion, visit www.dataium.com, e-mail: [email protected], or call 877-896-DATA (3282).

Winners of the first Digital Dealer Website Excellence Awards were honored at the 11th Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition in October, in Las Vegas, where Dealer Communications President and CEO Michael Roscoe and Dataium LLC Co-Founder and CEO Eric Brown presented the winners with their awards.

The competition is held twice annually, with the winners being announced at the spring and fall Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition.

IGITAL Dealer EXCELLENCE AWARDS D

Dealers! It’s Not Too Early to Sign up to Compete for the Fall 2012 Digital Dealer Website Excellence Awards


Solving Used Vehicle Supply Problems

IGITAL Dealer PRE-OWNED VEHICLESDGeorge Nenni

It seems that nearly every dealer I talk to, when discussing the health of their business, brings up the subject of tight vehicle

supply. Depending on the manufacturer, new vehicle supply has been a challenge with recent earthquakes in Japan and floods in Thailand. One might argue that new vehicle supply is less directly under a dealers’ control. That being said, tight used vehicle supply generally affects the entire industry forcing savvy dealers to develop creative ways to overcome supply constraints. For the purpose of this discussion, let’s focus on ways to overcome tight used vehicle supply issues.

The old saying remains true and viable: “They don’t manufacture used cars.” In essence, the only way to make a used car is to sell a new car. With the challenges in 2008 and 2009 that occurred in new vehicle sales and leasing, the industry was not converting many used cars. Compound this new car decline with the government’s Cash For Clunkers program, which scrapped over 700,000 vehicles, resulted in 2009 being the first year in decades where scrappage outpaced new vehicle registrations by 9%.

I would argue that when faced with tight used vehicle supply, there are two choices: 1) Find new, untapped sources of used vehicle supply, and 2) Open up the selected set of used vehicles you are willing to stock.

So, how do you find new sources of inventory? Many dealers have taken this problem to the streets by soliciting customers to bring in their used vehicles for sale to the dealership. Of course, we’re always willing to make a trade, but how willing are we to outright purchase this vehicle?

Many dealers have been successful with this approach, especially if they can find good, clean used vehicles that they have a history of moving quickly at reasonable grosses. On the other hand, some dealers mine “for sale by owner” ads, calling individuals who are selling their cars, in the hopes of purchasing

at the right price. Proactive dealers are also much more willing to travel to distant auctions instead of simply purchasing locally. Dealers need to be creative and utilize a combination of methods to secure the right used inventory for their customers.

Without a doubt, the most creative and advantageous method I’ve heard of for finding good, low-mileage vehicles is mining the CRM and service department. Dealers have hundreds of customers coming in for service each month, many of whom may have positive equity in their vehicles or are facing large repair bills and might prefer to purchase a new car instead. Both of these scenarios are opportunities for proactive dealers to secure used vehicles, and perhaps turn a new or used unit. In addition to keeping your eye on service customers, how many customers in your CRM system are in a positive (or near positive) equity position on their vehicles? What if you could generate a timely and up-to-date report from your CRM identifying which customers are ideal candidates for your sales team to contact? Robust and deep systems are available to automatically mine your CRM for customers in positive equity positions, which virtually translates to “used vehicle manufacturing software!” Best of all, you’re not competing for these deals, since the consumer is not actively shopping. You’re able to approach them with a deal that sounds like “…can get you a brand-new car at the same payment (or less), and we’ll take your old car in trade…,” and the customer never shops the deal.

Now, if you’re a Certified Pre-owned (CPO) dealer, then supply issues may be worse yet. Since people are hanging on to used vehicles longer and longer, the ability to find clean, low-mileage vehicles that can be certified may be very challenging. Again, mining your CRM to find these low-mileage vehicles that can qualify for OEM-certification is a great approach.

I said there were two approaches, the second approach is to open up your selection set, or what cars you might consider stocking at your store. Internet shopping has transformed the marketplace for dealers and essentially opened the boundaries. No longer are you limited to shoppers that might only drive 15-20 miles to look at vehicles. Today, customers shop online within a 100-mile radius or more. If buyers can find the vehicle they like, they are more than willing to travel. This means that dealers need to embrace the technology, and modify their old beliefs on which vehicles they should stock. Dealers should think more broadly about “the market.” There are many great software solutions out there that allow you to determine the best vehicles in the market, the vehicles with quickest turn, and the vehicles representing the highest potential gross. Embrace the technology and leverage the market-based recommendations, along with past experiences at your store, to consider off-brand vehicles you may not have stocked in the past.

I hope some of these ideas will help you, if you have more good ideas on solving vehicle supply issues, please e-mail me at [email protected].

George Nenni is the vice president and general manager of the website and inventory divisions of Dominion Dealer Solutions. He continues to integrate and deliver powerful technologies and services for the automotive industry. You can reach George at: [email protected].


magazine.com.


IGITAL Dealer SALES STRATEGIESDSteve Stauning

Why Does your Team Still Stink at Maximizing Inbound Phone Calls?

Ask every dealer you know if they’d prefer a phone up or an e-mail lead and 99% will say “phone up hands

down.” This makes sense, since a phone up is usually lower in the purchase funnel and (when handled properly) delivers a much higher closing percentage than an e-mail lead. If you count yourself among the dealers preferring inbound calls, all I can say is why do you want these when your team still stinks at answering the phone?

Forgive me, but they do… at least there is more than a good chance that they do.

Out of all the sales training provided to dealerships over the years, I would bet that phone skills ranks as the most frequently delivered class. Nearly every OEM has provided this training, many vendors like AutoTrader and Cars.com routinely provide this training, and tons of consultants provide this training every day. In fact, many of you have dusty VHS tapes sitting in a drawer somewhere that contain excellent phone skills training.

If you’re like a lot of dealers, those VHS tapes featured a guy named Tom Stuker: an automotive industry consultant and trainer who’s worked with thousands of dealerships over the years. In 2011, Stuker became the first United Airlines frequent flyer to reach 10 million air miles. It’s precisely because so many dealership managers failed to reinforce the training from their “Stuker Tapes” that he received United’s first ever Titanium Mileage Plus membership card. (If your team was better on the phones, his services wouldn’t have been in such great demand, right?)

So, you’re saying we need more training?

Your team doesn’t stink at this because they need more training; they stink at maximizing inbound phone calls because they already have all the answers. They are “experts” at selling cars, so managing the inbound call about a

particular vehicle is a cinch for know-it-alls like your used car manager. Don’t believe me? Start listening to your calls yourself and you’ll pull out your hair when you hear your seasoned and trained managers dealing with someone enquiring about a car.

Interestingly, if you run a call center or otherwise have specialized people manning the inbound calls (like a BDC), you might actually be pretty good at handling phone ups. Your traditional sales and management team – with all their years of training – are no good at phones because they are often too eager to shortcut all of the lessons they’ve been taught in the name of efficiency.

Watch them when they answer the phone: they won’t stand up; they won’t look into a mirror to ensure they are smiling; they won’t use a call guide to keep themselves on track; and they might even take these calls from their cell phone (away from a computer, pen and paper – all the tools they need to record the pertinent customer information). They won’t do the right things because they’re already the experts: phone training is for Green Peas.

Give these same calls to your BDC or a call center filled with those new to the business, and they will set nearly twice the appointments. It’s because they don’t have all the answers that is what makes these teams successful. They not only listened

during your last phone skills class, they actually incorporated the lessons into their daily routine. Give them a headset, a call guide and a small mirror; and these true phone pros will stand, smile and successfully set appointments.

So, you’re saying we need to start a BDC?

Call centers and BDCs, unfortunately aren’t the answer for every dealership. Additionally, with the pressures on dealer profit margins coming from all sides, single-point dealerships and small groups would struggle to financially justify even a well-run BDC. The key is not to take phones away from your team, but to make sure they start managing them correctly.

Phone calls, when handled properly, are gold. In fact, when you think about e-mail leads, you have only one goal: get the prospect on the phone. Well, with a phone up, you’re already there. Now it’s time to shine… if you can.

While the average closing ratio for valid, non-duplicated leads entered into a dealer’s CRM was a paltry 7.7% in 2010 (based on data from the 2011 Automotive Internet Study that David Kain and I authored), the current data on inbound phone ups isn’t any better. In fact I will argue that, on average, dealers perform worse with their inbound calls than they do with their e-mail leads.

Even I was surprised at the lack of phone skills that still exists today when I was reviewing some 2011 data provided by CallSource. Through the first 10 months of last year, CallSource physically listened to and analyzed more than 400,000 inbound dealership phone calls; revealing that dealership personnel successfully set appointments less than 8% of the time when speaking with a valid sales prospect. Given that not all of these appointments likely showed – and that not all of those who did

Out of all the sales

training provided to

dealerships over the

years, I would bet that

phone skills ranks as

the most frequently

delivered class.


show actually bought a car – the average closing percentage from phone ups was much worse than with e-mail leads! Probably in the 2-3% range… Yikes!

So, you’re saying we should take our phone number off our website?

Certainly, if you’re not going to get good, you should start working to maximize e-mail leads – at least then you’ll have a fighting chance to get the business – but doing anything to reduce a prospect’s ability to connect with you is, of course, ludicrous.

Instead of giving up on phones, why not agree to get good? Most of the tools you need are probably already in place; you just need to start managing this part of your process. Virtually all dealers have some form of call tracking in use; but just like a CRM tool, call tracking software requires management in order to be successful.

While there are much deeper analyses and training you can do with your team to maximize your phone ups, I’m just going to provide some basics here. Once you get good, feel free to bring in a professional or to dust off your Stuker Tapes.

First, you’ll need to start listening to all sales calls beginning right now. Yes, right now. Just assign all of the recorded inbound sales calls from yesterday to the managers working today. If you have three managers in the store right now, then each one should listen to one-third of the calls. The easiest way to do this is to just give Manager A calls 1, 4, 7, 10, etc.; Manager B calls 2, 5, 8, 11, etc.; and Manager C calls 3, 6, 9, 12, etc.

The managers should be listening to and grading each call based on the criteria you’ve established. Oh, you’re a typical dealership and you have no grading criteria in use? That’s okay; just have them listen for the following must haves: appropriate greeting; needs analysis; gaining contact info; gaining the appointment; handling objections; and properly closing the call. By the way, you’ll want your team to use a call guide (that’s a piece of paper that looks like an abbreviated job application with lots of blanks for them to complete during the call).

Now, take this data and begin training your sales team (one-on-one and in your

weekly sales meetings) by reinforcing the good behaviors and recognizing the bad behaviors as opportunities. It’s amazing the progress you’ll make in just the first week. It’s no mystery, by the way, on why your team gets good fast: just knowing someone is listening to calls makes salespeople instantly better.

But Steve, our managers are already swamped

In the past, if your sales management team truly did not have the time (or the stick-to-itiveness) to listen to every prospect phone up, then you probably just stunk at maximizing inbound calls. Today, technology and some really efficient vendors can take the burden off their backs.

From simple call tracking to actually listening to and grading every call in near real-time, many of the companies in the automotive telephony space have created products and services that are designed to allow your management team to focus on more pressing matters.

For example, most of the inbound calls your dealership receives aren’t even prospect sales calls – regardless of what number the caller used to reach your store. For many dealerships, it doesn’t make sense to take a top floor manager and tie him down to a desk listening to mostly service and personal calls. Having an outside company monitoring these just makes sense for these dealerships. Additionally, some of the providers have added mechanisms to alert your managers when a hot prospect has just called your dealership, but your team may have dropped the ball. Like a traditional management T.O., this gives you and your managers a chance to reengage a prospect with the opportunity to turn them into a buyer.

If you need more of a reason to start maximizing inbound sales calls, perhaps the data from another 2011 CallSource study (this one conducted with Polk) might sway you. In the study, they found that 26% of prospect phone ups from January through March 2011 bought a car by the end of May – the only problem was that 90% of these prospects bought at a dealership other than the one that received the original phone up. Are you losing

90% of your phone opportunities because of bad processes?

That’s it; I’m dusting off the Stuker tapes!

If you do decide to start managing and improving your handling of inbound phone calls yourself, you’ll soon want to add real-time monitoring of these. Eventually, you’ll get good enough to begin monitoring and improving your outbound phone follow-ups (with unsold appointments and traditional be-backs). Then you’ll really be cooking.

Of course, if you’re like most dealerships, you’ll take this issue of Digital Dealer magazine and lay it in the same drawer with your Stuker Tapes; and just go back to stinking on the phones. It’s because of dealer inattention to these matters that consultants and trainers are kept so busy flying back and forth across the country.

By the way, on January 17 on Spike TV, a new show premiered called Car Lot Cowboy starring none other than Tom Stuker himself. It seems that because your team still stinks at answering the phones, Tom Stuker now has a reality show to go along with his United Airlines Titanium Mileage Plus membership card…

Good selling!

Steve Stauning is the founder of pladoogle, LLC, a leading e-commerce solutions firm. Prior to pladoogle, he has served in various automotive e-commerce leadership roles, including as the Asbury Automotive Group’s (NYSE: ABG) director of e-commerce, the director of the Web Solutions, division of the Reynolds & Reynolds Company, and as general manager for Dealer Web Services at Dealer Specialties. You can follow Steve on Twitter @SteveStauning and reach him at [email protected]


magazine.com.


IGITAL Dealer SALES STRATEGIES DPhil DuPree

Five Reasons Why Dealers Will See Continued Growth in 2012

Considering the state of world events and market conditions, 2011 turned out to be a pretty good year for

auto dealers, at least compared with 2010. According to information published by Autodata Corp., total light vehicle sales for 2011 was expected to surpass 12.5 million units (as of press time) – an approximate 10% increase over sales in 2010. To some experts, these numbers are an indicator of an improving economy and consumer demand. To others, this trend was inevitable.

According to a recent article from The Detroit News, economists for both General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Company expect U.S. auto sales to increase in 2012 above the expected 12.5 million units that were forecast for 2011. A general figure that seems to be circulating in the industry is that we may see vehicles sales in the 13.5 to 14.0 million range, which would represent another 10% increase.

Why is everyone so bullish on auto sales, in spite of a sluggish economy? Five simple reasons:

1) Average age of vehicles: The past 15 years have seen a steady increase

in the average age of vehicles, according to a Polk research firm. In 2011 the average age of vehicles on the road was 11 years. This trend is due to two reasons: vehicles are more durable and customers are holding on to their cars longer. At some point, however, as older cars break down and the cost of repairs start to rise, the benefits of holding onto a car versus purchasing a new one will be tipped in favor of the latter. As that tipping point is reached for millions of older cars, consumers will start trading them in.

2) Scrappage rates: Starting with ‘Cash for Clunkers’ in 2009,

scrappage rates remained higher than usual for two years, with total numbers of cars scrapped

exceeding the total numbers of new vehicles registered. According to Polk research, the trend of scrappage rates exceeding sales was expected to continue through 2010 and 2011.

And in another article from The Detroit News, a sales analyst from Ford Motor Co. predicted that scrappage rates of 6% on 250 million vehicles on the road in the U.S. (in 2011) would generate the need for 12.5 million to 13 million new vehicles.

Scrapping statistics are generally viewed as a bellwether for future gains in vehicle sales. The higher the scrappage rate, the more demand for new and used vehicles.

3) Inventory levels back to normal: Last year was a bad year for Japanese

automakers. The tsunami in March severely impacted inventory levels for much of the year. Supply chain interruptions caused by the tsunami also affected U.S. manufacturers’ production.

Then, just as things were getting back to normal, flooding in Thailand threatened to impact production again. As of press time some auto plants in Thailand had been shut down, and the expected impact to production was unknown. However, we predict any slowdown will be short-lived and the impact on inventory levels will be nowhere near as severe as was caused by the tsunami.

In Q4 of 2011, AutoNation was expected to receive shipments of 30,000 units from Japan, well above their average rate of 27,000, indicating that Japanese automakers are up to 110% of their pre-tsunami production levels. Presumably other auto dealers are also back to normal inventory levels as we head into 2012.

4) Easing lending requirements: Since the 2008 crisis, banks and finance

companies have taken losses in real estate and business loans. One bright spot, however, has been in automotive retail. Apparently people are more likely to walk

away from their homes than let their cars be repossessed. Banks took minimal losses, if any, for car loans, so naturally their interest in this area has grown and they have begun to ease lending requirements.

According to an Experian Automotive Credit Trends Report released in 2011, banks starting easing up lending in the second half of 2011. New car loans for buyers with credit scores below prime jumped 22.4% in 2011 compared to 2010, while car buyers with the worst credit, deep subprime scores, saw the largest increase of 44.1% over the same period.

Since almost half of all consumers have credit scores below prime, that's good news for both car shoppers and auto dealers.

5) New, innovative products:In 2012 automakers are releasing new

products that are in compliance with increased government regulations, as well as appeal to increased consumer demand for fuel-efficient, safer, and “green” vehicles.

Some innovations include:• Many 2012 vehicles will have higher

miles-per-gallon (MPG) compared to models from previous years. 40 MPG is the new standard in compact vehicles.

• Start-Stop Technology: Hybrid owners are familiar with start-stop technology, but now manufacturers are expanding its use because it’s an inexpensive way to improve a vehicle’s fuel economy by up to 10%.

• Electronic Stability Control (ESC): the government has mandated that all 2012 models under 10,000 lbs. have ESC, which has been proven to reduce fatalities in accidents.

• Inflatable seat belts: Ford Motor Company is introducing this innovation, which combines the features of traditional seat belts with those of airbags. The feature enhances safety, especially for rear seat passengers such as young children who are


more vulnerable in crashes. • Luxury: The 2012 Ford Focus will have

new perks: rain-sensing wipers, a parallel parking system, a blind spot warning system, a backup camera, ambient lighting, push-button ignition, a stitched dashboard and a navigation system. In the past, consumers would have to pay for a pricey model to have all these luxuries included, now they are becoming de facto in less expensive models.

• “Green” Cars: Some consumers want more than fuel efficiency. Car manufacturers have responded by producing new cars using recycled and environmentally friendly filler in the seats, headliners and carpets. The Ford Fusion Hybrid, for example, has seats made from reclaimed plastic.

The combination of older cars and high scrappage rates indicates a pent-up demand for new vehicles, and thanks to lending requirements easing up, along with normal inventory levels, consumers will find it easier to purchase a new car in 2012 than in recent years. Additionally, auto manufacturers are offering plenty of choices with increased fuel efficiency, safety features and other attractive options for consumers.

For these reasons, I believe that 2012 will be better than 2011, and another 10% increase in sales would put us that much further down the road back to 15-16 million units.

Phil DuPree heads AutoUSA Internet Sales Solutions, which during his tenure has grown from $10 million in revenue to more than $75 million. Recently Phil has overseen a strategic shift in the way AutoUSA does busi-ness with auto dealers, by re-positioning the company from a "lead provider" to a partner that provides tools and resources to improve ROI from all Internet leads. Before becoming president of AutoUSA in 2004, Phil was VP and general manager, and successfully ran the e-commerce unit at AutoNation for several years. Prior to joining AutoNation, Phil was the controller and later chief financial officer for the Florida Franchised Area Developer of Boston Market. You can reach Phil at: [email protected].


magazine.com.

®

Digital Dealer Webinars deliver high-quality training and education

directly to the dealership.

Watch for promotions of upcoming webinars in February

and throughout 2012!http://ddce.me/webinar

The webinars provide a sampling of the depth, breadth and quality of the content covered at the Digital Dealer Conferences. With the flexibility offered by online webinars, dealers can expose more team members to valuable content and to subject matter experts in just one hour. The webinars will include a 45-50 minute presentation with time for questions at the end and are scheduled at 11:30am Eastern on Thursdays.


Time to Focus on Fixed Operations

IGITAL Dealer FIXED OPERATIONSDPhil Sura

I just attended a meeting with the Minnesota Auto Dealers Association. The dealers were upbeat and enthusiastic after

a tremendous month. Profits are up and the biggest concern is whether the good days will last. Similar reports have been reported by NADA. Recognizing that 2011 was stronger than 2010, look at these key measurements comparing 2010 with 2007.

Sales are down, but profits and ROI are up. Dealers are much more focused on expense control and service retention. The article referenced above also quoted Paul Taylor, NADA’s chief economist: “There has been more emphasis on such things as dedicated oil change lanes, aftermarket parts sales and display areas and other efforts to obtain more service and parts sales. New normal means different things in markets that lost the largest percentage of dealerships.”

Some manufacturers have recognized that stronger retail service departments will lead to stronger sales. Toyota offers a two-year maintenance plan. Nissan, Cadillac and Volkswagen offer a variety of warranty and maintenance options. BMW and Mercedes Benz offer pre-paid service packages. Kia has also gained market share with their 10-year powertrain warranty. Have these efforts really helped? Kia reported their strongest sales month ever in November of 37,007 units, a 39.1% increase over the same period last year and the company’s 15th straight monthly sales record. http://www.marketwatch.com/story/kia-motors-america-announces-record-november-sales-2011-12-01

Even from my retail days, I was taught that the first car is sold by the sales team, but the second and third car are sold through the service experience. Are these efforts enough or should retailers focus on gaining back service business that has eroded over the years? I believe that the answer is absolutely yes.

Before you can determine a plan for your service department, it is critical to recognize some of the factors that are problems for a percentage of the dealers:

• Most general managers and dealers came from the variable side of the dealership. They focus most of their energy on their area of expertise. General managers will sit in for the finance manager or the desk manager but many would not be as comfortable working as a service advisor of a day.

• Many dealerships are divided. The fixed team does not mix with the variable team.

• Dealers once controlled 100% of the service and parts retail business. Customers chose to leave the dealer and have their cars serviced by independents. This shift occurred because of high rates, ease of service with smaller independents and poor CSI with the retailers.

• Service departments produce the strongest ROI, but they have limited ad budgets.

• Many retail service teams have not embraced technology to promote their operations. They rely on direct mail and e-mail campaigns to drive business.

• Many dealers do not think loss leader with the fixed operations. They charge $35 for an oil change when the Jiffy Lube charges $30. Some customers would pay a premium to have the convenience with service at the Jiffy Lube operation. The average repair order for a quick lube operation is several hundred dollars, based on data gathered by the manufacturer and provided to retailers…(please note that this is third hand information and may not be correct, but I have heard this number for years.) Customers are paying for the upgrades. Customers are paying the independents for tire rotations, wipers, transmission fluid changes and batteries. The point is that you have the same opportunity to upsell a customer driving into your dealership for an oil change. You may upsell

a 50,000-mile service package or a set of tires or a new car by simply getting more aggressive on the price that every customer understands, the price of an oil change. This upselling will however never happen if he/she avoids your dealership because your oil change is $5 higher. The customer is clearly more likely to buy their next car at the dealership that they return to over and over for maintenance items. Toyota and others are betting on this with their programs.

What are progressive retailers doing to combat this problem?

• Conduct a series of Google searches to determine how your dealership is performing organically. Sample searches if you are a Ford dealership based in Omaha: Omaha tires, Omaha Ford tires, tires. Take the same step with oil, AC, transmission, battery, etc. You will most likely conclude that you are losing out to the independents. I know a number of gifted Internet directors that focus only on sales because of their pay plan. Consider a bonus if you have a trained specialist at the dealership. Pay a bonus based on a point system for getting more visibility in the first five positions of the Google searches. For example, if the store moves from having one position in the first five spots to 15, you will benefit.

• Make certain that you have service and parts tied to Google Places and develop a strategy to get reviews posted. The reviews should be specific to the experience in the service lane.

• Develop a short-term and long-term marketing plan for service and parts that includes a digital strategy. Apply the same effort that you have done with the variable side.

Tie service into the same opportunities that you have sales involved with (SEM, SEO, and chat).

• Create a series of videos tied to the service department. Examples include oil changes,


tire rotation and changes, AC, transmission and basic service. Tag these videos with the cities associated with your market in YouTube. For example, if you are a Honda dealer in Hartford, the tire video would be tagged: “Hartford, tire, change, Honda.” This will help with organic search results with Google.

• Identify a video company that can assist with AVSEO (accelerated video search engine optimization). This allows you to publish video with multiple video sites such as Meta Café (sites beyond YouTube).

• Consider using a dedicated website for the service department. Some OEMs are considering having rules against this. I know of several dealer groups that have started this process to gain organic search results and create a single focus for the customer.

• Make it very easy to schedule an appointment online. Regardless if you are using a dedicated website for service or a blended site, this is critical.

• Determine and post your retail rates on the site and online (oil change, tire rotation, brakes). Confirm that you are competitive. Some dealers don’t want to post anything online that is tied to the service department. Didn’t we just go through this over the past five years with used cars? The Internet will win.

• Have printable coupons on multiple sites. This gives you the opportunity to track results.

• GMs and dealers: spend time in the service department every week.

• Consider picking up the customer’s car at his/her place of work and providing a loaner. If the focus is driving customers into the service department, efforts like this are important.

• Make certain that your quick lube service is quick. You get one chance to prove that you are better than the quick lube independents.

• Give every car, regardless of the type of service, a car wash and promote this online.

• Tie your service team to your social media.

One final thought: the trend to cut expense has become so dominant with retailers that some teams have become paralyzed into not taking any action. They may believe that a new concept that they have never used will work, but they simply can’t pull the trigger with fear that they will be criticized. Others will start a new plan and abandon it if the

return is not apparent within the second month. Be bold and put forth the effort on the safe bets. Investing in your service department is a safe investment.

Phil Sura is a VP of the Automotive Division of UnityWorks Media. You can reach Phil at: [email protected].


magazine.com.


exploitation threats to their IT network by hackers, spammers, and others seeking private data. Given the volume of financial transactions that occur on a dealership network, it makes little sense not to have an MSSP monitoring and protecting the network.

Ensuring network complianceA challenge facing many dealerships today

is having the expertise available internally to find, evaluate and deploy an adequate network security defense. Outsourcing this need to a trusted industry expert having the knowledge and resources to service your business is often a more cost-effective route to achieving compliant network security. It is recommended that your business go through a discovery evaluation to gauge the status of your network.

Terry Dortch is CEO of Automotive Compliance Consultants, Crystal Lake, IL, and a former dealer operator. The company provides affordable managed security services to automobile dealerships. Automotive Compliance Consultants’ physical compliance solutions, together with its internet and data compliance solutions, provide the only complete compliance program for the retail automotive industry. You can reach Terry at: [email protected].


magazine.com.

online video vehicle inventory to potential buyers over Facebook.

With Socialink 2.0, dealers can now pri-oritize their entire real-time video vehicle inventory and “call out” up to four vehicles as special features. Dealers can control the order in which listings display, sorting by lowest or highest price, lowest or highest mileage, or oldest or newest year, for example, in an effort to move specific inventory faster to suit their individual needs.

“We recognize that each dealer may want to highlight specific products based on what they have in stock and what they know their audience is interested in,” said Todd Holmes, president and CEO/founder of Liquidus. “With these new features, they can not only customize the listings, but also tailor market-ing messages for visitors on each vehicle page.”

http://www.liquidus.net/

Carfax expands mobile access to boost buyer

confidenceCarfax is giving used car buyers on-demand

access to Carfax Vehicle History Reports with their mobile devices. The company unveiled its new mobile app for iPhone and the first-ever mobile website for vehicle history infor-mation, http://m.carfax.com. Carfax Reports can be purchased or viewed in a matter of seconds with just a few screen taps. In addi-tion, smartphone shoppers needing Carfax information now have three ways to access it – entering the vehicle identification number (VIN), license plate or barcode scan.

“Carfax is tailor-made to meet the demands of car buyers today,” said Larry Gamache, communications director at Carfax. “Especially when buying from a private seller, getting a Carfax Report is a critical step that now can be taken on-the-fly. We’ve designed our mobile site and app to give smartphone users the simplest and most direct access to Carfax information about their potential pur-chase. Confidence and peace of mind is only a screen tap away.”

The mobile site and app feature user-friendly interfaces to access Carfax. The streamlined process quickly delivers Carfax information that car buyers need to find the right used car. In addition, Carfax Reports, run from any computer or device, automati-cally populate to and are viewable on the mobile site and app.

http://m.carfax.com

we would have been up in the 25 to 30% in new car sales for 2011.

On the used car side, our sales have been about flat due to the lack of inventory out there and the transaction prices on used cars inching up closer to new car pricing. New car sales have become the stronger part of our business, but we are certainly committed to growing our used car business.

What do you foresee five years down the road?

I wish I had that kind of insight. Obviously as I said before, it’s only going to become more technology driven and we’re working on staying on that cutting edge.

As you know, technology changes at a very rapid pace, so you know we’re just going to have to stay close to it, and be agile and nimble.

How do you keep current in the digital technology world?

I read Dealer magazine. And, we try to glean as much as we can out of our neighboring auto dealers. We are located in an auto mall and we spend a lot of time talking with other dealerships. Plus, there are a lot of vendors that are trying to bring something to the table and we have an open mind.

We also have gone to the Digital Dealer Conferences and NADA every other year to see new technology.

Besides staying current with technology, how else will you maintain your leadership position?

We’re bullish on Ford. We think Ford is positioned in a tremendous spot in the marketplace and I think we’re going to keep growing with Ford for many years to come.

Ford has excellent quality leadership and I think that 2012 is going to be a fantastic year for the company. Ford has got some fabulous products.

Beyond that, I reiterate: everything will be weighted toward the Internet and we plan to keep up with it from a technology standpoint and from a personal service standpoint to make sure we stay a leader in Internet sales.

[email protected]

Advertiser ............................. pg #Dataium .......................................7 Dealer.com ..................................5 Dominion Dealer Solutions .......9 Naked Lime Marketing ............15Unity Works! Media .................19XTIME ........................................27

Digital Dealer cover story, Coffey, continued from P-DD19

Digital Dealer Tech News, continued from P-DD4

Internet Security, Dortch, continued from P-DD9


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