Fellow modern-music-era fanatics Kathi Kruse and Mike Correra also share my outlook on healthy and successful car business best practices. They recently invited me to join them for their 35th episode.
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Running Scared
So you think manufacturer surveys tell the tale
So call the social media police. In automotive, bravado runs thick. Unfortunately, practices like these which undermine manufacturer oversight only persist because the factory allows for it. Enablers do what enablers do.
Ad-Infinitum
“…my eyes stray from my textbooks towards a dog-eared copy of The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera. Written in 1984, it is at once a philosophical discussion of the nature of the 20th century ‘being’, and a novel of love, infidelity and politics in communist-run Czechoslovakia between 1968 and the early 1980s. While I had always admired its astute observations about relationships, the central philosophical themes of ‘lightness’ and ‘weight’ caught my imagination this time… . Kundera’s themes of ‘lightness’ and ‘weight’ derive from Nietzsche’s theory of eternal return which posits that the changing nature of the universe means that every state of the world could recur ad-infinitum, trapping us within a type of fate, something Nietzsche proclaimed a terrifying, ‘weighty’ burden.”
— The Unbearable Lightness of Being a Doctor, Georgina Fozard, British Journal of General Practice, 2010 May 1; 60(574): 37
The photograph captures my father and mother in their mid-30s, several years prior to my sister or I being born, but half a world past the ‘weight’ of their younger lives.
For the wiki on my mom, click here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greta_Zimmer_Friedman
For one of my dad’s published works, click here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC279201/pdf/jbacter00473-0090.pdf
In search of a cheap gimmick, you might find yourself
‘Listen up, young hustlers. No, you. Yes, you, sales hustlers. Make that #YoungSalesHustlers. That’s more like it. You’re nobody without a hash tag. Don’t think for a moment you can sell cars on social without a gimmick. You’ve got to get noticed. Let ’em know you’re “the Man.” (Or #TheDude, Gal, Girl, Guy, etc.) Now, get out there and do f**@ing awesome.’
— Every sales guru, condensed for short attention spans, 2019
Realizing that every journey, no matter how long or how far, begins with a single step, we’ve begun today with an observation, one could dismiss as mere snark, cynicism, or jealousy, but it’s time to back up this premise with evidence.
Shawn Hays, creator of high-powered Facebook videos, author of Build Your Brand, and sales manager at 800-cars-per-month Dan Cummins Chevrolet, takes great pains to emphasize the difference:
“Don’t be something you’re not. People will fall in love with you. Not the fake you. I want people to know the real you, the authentic you. The genuine you. … I take the Gary Vaynerchuk approach, not the Kardashian approach. … Years ago, I believe, they faked it. Fake butt, fake money… everything was ‘fake it until you make it.’ I believe that’s the wrong approach to build a solid brand, one they respect. One that people want to buy from, one that they want to support and follow. I want you to be you. Okay? Be. Real. Be the true you. Let your flaws out. Overcome things. Tell people about your journey. Let them see you. That’s when you get loyalty. That’s when you get people who want to follow you. … when people want to buy from you, is when you’re yourself, when you’re genuine, and you’re authentic. When you try to be someone you’re not, that is when you cannot sustain it.”
Car business veteran and social media advocate Kathi Kruse widely quotes Sun Tzu’s “tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat” wisdom. In a recent blog post for her consulting agency Kruse Control Inc, “10 Qualities of an Extraordinary Social Media Manager,” she speaks to the same point from a somewhat different starting position, regarding one of the 10 essential qualities, emotional maturity:
“Here are the signs of emotional maturity:
— You notice and verbalize (with composure) when you’re wrong.
— You’ve created a space between feeling and reacting.
— You’re compassionate to yourself and others.
— You know when to quit and when to persevere.
— You know when, who, and how to ask for help.
— You’ve realized the more you know, the less you know, and you’re OK with it.
— You seek self-mastery.
— You maintain a positive attitude.
— You’re independent.
— You’re truthful.
— You’re responsible.
— You’re accessible.
— You’re gracious and giving.”
In Hamlet, Shakespeare wrote this famous line for the character of Polonius, advising his son Laertes upon his son’s departure to Paris, “This above all: to thine own self be true.” Turns out it was voiced in irony, but we need not split hairs. Be true to yourself.
Renee Stuart is a professional coach and a long-time manager in the car business. Her emphasis on personal/professional brand building begins with five fundamental building blocks:
— strengths: knowing and living your strengths
— values: giving voice and staying true to your values
— purpose: your “why” is what moves others to buy what you’re selling because we respond to your “why” on an emotional level, according to Simon Sinek
— vision: where are you going with all of this? Can I get on board, too?
— passions: last but not least, what are you passionate about?
The dinosaurs once roamed and ruled the earth. The old car dogs now got digital. They’re blowing up on social media.
Accidents will happen
Without telling tales out of school, let’s say I have a friend who knows someone who works in the same line of business I do who had a coworker who tried to mislead a client in order to make a bigger profit, according to this friend, and getting their stories straight, the planning and plotting went something like, “so when our customer asks, we’ll just tell him…”
My reply — I mean — this person’s reply went something like this:
I’m not here to get one over on our customers. Each day that I don’t have to get one over, just shoot straight with a customer, is a good day. My plan is to have nothing but good days, which means we don’t take part in getting anything over on anyone. That’s not who we are, and that’s not what we are here to do. So, let’s take it one day at a time, like a drinker who’s tempted but strong enough to resist the temptation of just one drink. Let’s see, just for today, if we can’t keep that streak going. I’d like it to last as long as I work here.
Accidents will happen, and it’s not a perfect world. Who knows what tomorrow brings, or if someone among us will figure the best solution to a problem is to fast talk his or her way around it (and I cannot convince them they are only fooling themselves)? As this day comes to an end, if I can walk up to that sign board in my mind and add a plus-one to its tally, then today was a good day.
Photo credit: Bralla.com
Hey, am I still sort of relevant?
The post-digital dealership
“All prices are internet prices only.”
What?
“Internet price may include all generally available rebates.”
Or, maybe not. We haven’t decided.
“The dealer advertised price may not reflect specific dealer offers.”
That last one, I get. The others, I don’t understand, and I work in this line of business.
One can shop for cars and research pricing online, but, in all but rare instances, one needs to see how specific offers and incentives apply to one’s situation on a certain date, and you probably need to come into my place of business to process this transaction. Yes, in some cases, you can click a “buy it now” button and arrange payment and shipment. But let’s talk about what happens most of the time.
What we can do for you may depend upon the specific date we do it and more terms and conditions too numerous to mention.
That last bit would probably look less snappy as a retail disclaimer on a web site, but it would be an improvement. In the post-digital world, you’re not innovative if you’re online. You’re just like everybody else online. We’re all online. Here are a few actual screen shots I’ve collected (none from dealerships I’ve worked for, so I may not know what I am writing about firsthand); I cannot recollect which dealerships they are, or which disclaimers may or may not be currently in use, depending on which winds of regulation and enforcement are blowing and which competitors may be applying competitive pressures in a given regional market:
The dealership world is chock full of sales trainers, marketing consultants, digital ad agencies and other advice-givers loosely termed “vendors.” The automakers, or “OEMs,” an abbreviation for Original Equipment Manufacturers, likewise, devote organization and resources to advise dealerships on using the tools of data mining and digital marketing. Vendors and OEMs tell us dealers much the same: shoppers today want a fast, friendly, clear and transparent shopping experience that works seamlessly from the web site to the showroom. From millennial hotshots to old car dogs, to a person, their advice is proven to work: customers want discount pricing online. So, do it.
And, then, let the games begin.
I just added that last part. No one, professionally, advises us to “let the games begin.” That said, the worksheet above, or variations of it in use at many dealerships, may be why the prices you see on the internet are internet prices only.
A Day at the Newseum
(sorry, everyone, this was once a hyperlinked image to extensive notes [https://storify.com/Josh23Friedman/a-day-at-the-newseum] but Storify is no more… here’s the next best thing: https://twitter.com/hashtag/tmspark?f=tweets&vertical=default&src=hash or for more information, travel backwards in time, and follow these instructions: https://www.poynter.org/news/storify-shutting-down-what-should-you-do-your-old-stories)
Metrics 2.0
Automotive Engagement Conference, Tysons Corner, Fairfax, VA, April 20, 2017
As automotive conferences go, this was nicely packed into only one day and much easier to travel to. And, with the understanding that most sessions are 50% business pitches, this one was also a business pitch, for a product that does appear to fill a legitimate need.
VistaDash — an analytics platform designed for the single-point dealership or the multipoint dealer group, understanding that data is coming from multiple OEMs and varying website/digital marketing vendor platforms.
In other words, my dealership has two web sites run by two competing vendors, more than one digital marketing service company and multiple third-party and classified inventory lead sources. We also have multiple phone call tracking vendors. Our parent company manages multiple dealerships that attempt to similarly measure and compare results via multiple digital marketing services.
Whether it’s to manage one store, or to manage multiple stores served by our vendors, VistaDash provides one portal to see compiled digital marketing performance, and VistaDash advocates for dealerships to make use of uniform quality, not quantity, metrics that we need to know, to hold ourselves accountable as well as our vendors.
The promise is that this becomes the tool to identify and eliminate (the best of your ability) waste when it comes to digital marketing spending.
These are the engagement metrics:
1.) Cost per Engagement — specific actions, from photos viewed to buttons clicked to forms submitted, etc., are considered “engagements,” but are weighted in order of importance
2.) Engagements per Session — identifying low-funnel in-market shoppers
3.) Photo Engagement Rate — did the shopper just land on the VDP, or did the shopper dig into the photo set?
4.) Zero Engagements per Page Rate – what percentage of vists were low engagement?
5.) Button Click Rate — measure it, a/b test it, improve it
6.) Form Completion Rate — too many forms suffer from high bail-out rates — but measures beat anecdotes, we can all agree — and if you can measure it, you can also improve it
All of which means that the following metrics are not useful for comparisons, performance gauges or any other kind of keeping score:
Bounce rate
Time on site
Pages per session
# of visitors, sessions or any other traffic “counts”
Random notes:
“Website” is not a lead source. It is your dealership. How a shopper got to the website, that’s your source.
Hiring the right people and hiring enough people so that equity mining is done right is the most critical hiring activity in the sales department.
On average, shoppers leave your website with 14 seconds of submitting a lead form. Fast Ring, Call Drip and other lead-to-phone tools are must-haves.
Does a web site need a tune-up? Look at Google page speed tools for recommended fixes — any page scoring less than 90 can get a ranking penalty.
On the subject of mobile, web site traffic can be upwards of 65% mobile — customers landing on the top of a search results page can quickly bail if the page is an endless scroll without a relevant vehicle of interest — simple, optimized for mobile, landing pages work better.
Simple pages with one call to action are the norm everywhere but automotive — automotive needs to follow the example of other consumer goods sold online — keeping it simple is the key to success when it comes to digital.
Call-to-action buttons need active language. “Unlock” vs. “get,” “best price” vs. “e-price,” “instant” vs. “request a …”
But only one button, not nine. SRPs often don’t have call-to-action buttons at all — one is also better than none.
Lotlinx and similar direct-to-VDP marketing works because they successfully find the in-market buyer, not because they land anyone they can find on a VDP. VDPs and sales have a correlation, not a causation.
To put that into other words, Lotlinx helps you find the shopper while helping the shopper find your merchandise. Both may be needle-in-the-haystack. Conversely, your inventory may be not rare at all, easily found everywhere — in that case, the value of Lotlinx is bringing the shopper to your site before that shopper lands on your competitors’ pages.
Definition of terms: “third party “ leads are not VIN-specific, and may be inaccurate when it comes to model year, color, trim, etc. Make and model are all you know. They are landing on a price site. “Classified” leads are third-party sites that host your VIN-specific inventory.
You respond to ‘third party” leads differently than classified leads or leads from your dealership site. You ask specific questions to learn more about a shoppers vehicle(s) of interest. Ask specific questions when leaving voice mail, too.
CRM processes — good to build inspections into the managers tasks, inspecting duties are more important than mechanically clicking fully written templates — is the sales rep writing clear notes? Are we answering the questions asked? Are we asking relevant questions, too? Does the status and process match appropriately to the contact history?
Measuring the wrong things is pervasive when it comes to Adwords — phone calls are 90% service calls when only sales campaigns are running. Sales campaigns are phone books for customers who already know they want to call us. 40% of ad-to-site clicks and 90% of click-to-calls.
Compared to Adwords campaigns, Cars.com and Autotrader bring in much higher percentages of in-market vehicle shoppers vs. parts and service shoppers. Don’t write them off yet.
Every vendor has a differing definition of a “conversion.” Few are validated, relative to sales/purchase activity.
being less typical
Much thanks to Patrick and Courtney Hennessey, for inviting me to share my contrarian views in episode 39. Great podcast. My new favorite contrarian was on episode 38, Aaron Wirtz.