When product supercedes reputation
Today I spent over 3 hours on the phone with Verizon trying to clear up a 4-month disaster-of-an-experience with said company. While on the phone, I grew amazed at my continued desire to be a Verizon customer despite the fact that in all my experiences with Verizon there should be no desire left in me to be their customer.
This is a case of a company with a product so desirable that not even a crappy customer experience can thwart off the customer. It’s called FiOS - Fiber Optic Service.
FiOS is to broadband (cable, DSL) what broadband was to dial-up. It is the most powerful residential Internet service available and it is available exclusively at this point through Verizon.
I will spare you the 3 completely ridiculous separate scenarios I have experienced with Verizon as a customer since 2001, but let there be no doubt that with this most recent one, there are few products, if any, that I would continue pursuing after such horrendous experiences with a company. FiOS seems to cut through the grime and be the exception to the rule that businesses must provide value beyond its commodities.
When it comes to selling cars, dealerships do not have this luxury. Car buyers can get a desirable product from most anywhere and so the stakes are higher for car dealers to polish their message and customer experience. I have pulled away from buying cars from my own dealership customers because of piss-poor customer service and I have gone far out of my way to purchase a vehicle from a dealership that could meet my own levels of expectation.
So if you aren’t selling FiOS, don’t count on your product compensating for a poorly executed customer experience.
Back to basics
For the past several months, 5 I believe, we have dedicated this blog to be a working demonstration of our RSS Marketing product. The purpose of RSS Marketing is for SEO promotion and it is highly effective for that, but RSS Marketing does not engage your audience. So, the time has come to re-connect with our audience. Here we are, on a Sunday evening, June 01, 2008, sitting down to initiate a new era for the AC Blog.
I miss the networking aspect of blogging, and the empirical mentality that good blogging perpetuates. We call this Relational Marketing in our product and it is a next step in the evolution of AutoConversion products. That’s right. Now that we have proven the effectiveness of RSS Marketing and have built it in as a core component to our SEO promotion, we are evolving into the next realm of Blog Marketing for Car Dealers - Relational Marketing.
Two years ago when I first got in to blogging, it wasn’t even a buzz word in automotive. There were a few people doing it, such as Jake Jacobson from Higher Turnover, Jeff Kershner from DealerRefresh, Umer Farooq from AutoJini, and Brian Hoecht from Ai-Dealer. We got to know one another a bit from our blogging and still do today. In fact, as many have witnessed, Kersh’s blog has elevated his own career and even inspired many another to take a crack at it.
But there are numerous applications of blogging which pose a choice for Car Dealers today. You have guys like Alex Snyder effectively blogging for Dealership awareness and promotion. You also have guys like Paul Rushing of ISM in Training who blog for what we call Personal Branding, which is essentially using the blogosphere to literally sell cars. I see this as the future of a Car Dealer Salesman quite frankly.
So, as I reflect on the magnificence of where blogging today leaves us, I truly look forward to getting back in to the swing of things at the “relational” level here. For those that still frequent the AC Blog, I commend you for your diligence considering the impersonal nature of our content these past months with the RSS Marketing. But if you are out there and reading this, then may the force continue to be with you.
Here’s to blogging and relationships!
Cheers, -RG
Can Social Media Make You Car Salesperson of the Year?
“So what do you do for a living?”
How often have we all heard that question come out of someone’s mouth? Usually uttered at cocktail parties where few people know each other, this question establishes a framework for the relationships we have with everyone around us.
When we find out what people do for a living, we can determine what they can do for us and what we can do for them, creating networks that can last a lifetime. And who doesn’t want a friend who sells cars?
Except there are only so many people you can invite to a cocktail party, and only so many cocktail parties you can attend. So how do you turn this handy piece of information into more car sales without spending the next 30 Saturdays at cocktail parties?
- Utilize social media to make local contacts -
Social media has changed the way the internet — and the world — works. People are connecting with other people in ways they never could before. They would never have the time or ability to meet before this new technology became available. Now they’re not only meeting, but becoming friends.
To use social media to forward your business goals, the first thing you have to understand is who it is that buys your product. In the auto salesperson’s case, those people are local. Focus your energies on meeting new online contacts that you know are within driving range of where you are. There are local communities on all of the major social networks, most prominently Facebook. These are where you’ll meet the people who can come out and buy your cars.
- Make them aware of what you do -
Don’t hide your occupation. Make it easy for them to find out that you sell vehicles, either by putting something simple in your forum signature line or making sure to fill in the occupation and employer categories on Facebook and LinkedIn.
- Don’t sell anything -
Social media is just what it sounds like — social. This is not a way for you to sell cars. It’s a way for you to meet people to whom you may eventually sell cars. Do not try to sell through your social media profile, ever. Just be social.
- Go about your business -
Probably the most important thing to remember about building a personal social networking profile is that you have to be yourself. You can be yourself on your best behaviour, but you have to be honest about who you are and what you’re doing. Don’t pretend to be a churchgoer or a Democrat or a kite-lover, just to sell cars. Do what you would do anyway and meet like-minded people. That will be the secret to your success.
Car buyers demand competitive pricing and dealer transparency
If you ask customers what they want from the companies from whom they buy, you probably won’t be surprised by their responses. Studies show that Customers primarily want two things:
- Competitive pricing, and
- Auto Dealers to be transparent with information in a timely and professional manner
According to a recent study by Cobalt, Yahoo!, and Polk, the advent and advancement of the internet have made it possible for customers to demand this from all of the companies with whom they do business. No businesses are more affected by this than Car Dealerships. For most people, their vehicles are more expensive than anything they’ll ever buy but not live in, and saving money and hearing the truth are especially important in the car buying process.
The study reveals that the impact of a customer’s online brand marketing experience in the car buying process cannot be overstated. In every area of their lives, customers are going online to research, to learn, and even to shop, and the purchase of an automobile is no different.
The study found that one of the most crucial aspects of the online brand marketing process is responding to customer inquiries. People are spending an incredible sum of money on their car, and they’re bound to have questions. Customers are taking the dealer responses to their questions very seriously, and for good reason.
A recent article in Dealer magazine on the study says “simply initiating a response is not enough to build customer loyalty. Rather, dealers must respond as consumers request, factoring in content, speed and method of response, in order to increase the chance of selling a vehicle.” It should be obvious, but when a customer wants an email instead of a phone call, or they would prefer to be phoned before 5 o’clock, it makes sense to take heed and communicate with them in the manner they choose.
The concept of sharing experiences with personal networks is not a new one — we’re all familiar with one person telling two friends and those friends telling two more. Existing and potential customers now have access to methods of group communication previously inconceivable to marketing departments. With the rise of internet usage, those two friends are still being told, but they’re being told publicly and there are a whole lot more than two of them.
With forums, blogs, rating sites and social media becoming the fastest growing methods of information transfer, giving customers a professional and helpful experience is more vital than ever before. Automobile dealers have the opportunity to capitalize on good customer relationships and experience growth at exponential rates.
Auto dealers embracing innovation with Web Marketing 2.0
For decades, our car-buying decisions have been based primarily on what our friends tell us, what we read in consumer reports, and the advertising in radio and in television. But the buying world is changing across the board, virtualizing and socializing, and progressive dealerships are getting in to the action. A new survey by The Kelsey Group suggests a warm welcome by car dealers when it comes to today’s Web 2.0 marketing.
According to the survey, 62 percent of those dealers who responded planned to increase their online media spending this year, and 33 percent said they would be using social media, up from 15 percent. At the same time, only 8 percent of respondents said they would be cutting their online spending, as compared to 46 percent who will be cutting their spending in more traditional media outlets.
“These findings point to a significant disruption in the auto dealer advertising space,” says Neal Polachek, chief executive officer of The Kelsey Group. This isn’t your grandfather’s marketing campaign.
Whenever technology changes — whether it’s the newest gadget or the newest form of marketing –there is always a group of individuals and businesses who are quick to get involved. These early adopters who are more willing to try new things before the rest of the industry does have a chance at new and exciting success. The last few years have been groundbreaking in online technology and social media marketing, and other dealers are catching on after seeing the unprecedented success of their peers who have been quick to adopt the new technology.
There is a growing awareness among automobile dealers that online brand marketing is a vital piece of the marketing puzzle. This includes forms of Organic Search Marketing, Blog Marketing, and online Social Network Marketing. Buyers have not only turned to the Internet with shocking speed and in amazing numbers, but also they are demanding more from their suppliers, and automobile retailers are no exception. The smart dealers are getting on board, capitalizing on this new breed of web savvy customers.
There’s no doubt about it — the world has changed beyond recognition, and it continues to change every day. Dealers across the country and the globe have come to realize that online brand marketing and social media are powerful and cost-effective means for making customers more aware of what they have to offer. It’s an exciting time to be a car dealership, and the future is looking brighter and brighter every day.
Car dealers and manufacturers compete for online ad space
The days of seeing your local car dealer ads on TV are not going away, but dealer prominence in online advertising is now reaching unprecedented heights, giving car manufactures a new (but good) challenge. A recent report indicates that car manufacturers are finding competition for their ad slots, and that the competition is coming from none other than the car dealerships themselves.
Ad spending by dealers has increased dramatically over the last two years, and the increase has resulted in bidding wars on third party sites like Edmunds.com and Cars.com. Online ad spending by car dealerships was up to $32 million in 2007, and that number has more than doubled each year since 2005.
It’s a new plan of attack for car dealers to be involved in online advertising, but it’s on the upswing. “Buying space on the Web was never part of the strategy until recently, but now it’s 50% of the conversation,” said Pat Primm, a Cleveland area auto dealer.
Online ad pricing is measured in cost per thousand impressions — or CPM — and an ad spot that came with a $4 CPM price tag two years ago now costs $34. Advertising profits for Edmunds.com went up 64 percent in 2006 and another 93 percent in 2007. CEO Jeremy Anwyl says that “dealers and dealer associations are coming in after years of spending 90% of their ad budgets on TV. They are just now realizing that’s too much.”
While the third party websites are clearly the winners in this equation, the loser is the brand identity. With so many voices trying to tell the same story and sell the same product, the message being portrayed by the original equipment manufacturers can easily become diluted and confused. David Harris, the manager of ebusiness and CRM for Suzuki, Brea, California says,
“Our goal is to make sure we are communicating a consistent message. All of a sudden . . . you have a wide variety of messages.”
This is all the more reason for dealers to make sure they have effective online brand marketing strategies in place. Manufacturers have huge budgets to spend on researching the most effective ways to get the car’s message across. It’s vital to the dealership’s success that dealer marketing not only doesn’t conflict with that, but leverages it to their advantage.
Online advertising has become the new normal for car dealerships across the country. Twenty years ago, local TV advertising was the most effective and prominent method of marketing for automotive dealers, and the game has changed. This report is just the newest data that shows that a focused online brand marketing strategy will be the ticket to surviving and thriving in this new world of car sales.
Automotive Providers not addressing Consumer Needs
Cobalt and Yahoo have been rolling out some good data on automotive consumer behavior trends and I had the fortune of sitting in on their training session Sunday at NADA in the San Francisco this year.
I was really taken at how they had actual data to show what buyers want today:
- Competitive prices
- A good buying experience
If you think about it though, what customers want today hasn’t really changed. What has changed is consumers’ access to the right information and the ability to attain real leverage in the buying process. Dealerships that are genuinely responsive to this are the winners.
The challenge though is “how”?
When I look at the Automotive Search Marketing products and techniques out there, I don’t see this “consumer interest” truly being met the way it should be. A lot of the reason why has to do with the fact that most providers are not responding to the consumers’ true needs and interests. They provide technology for dealers to manage a process, or, they provide marketing that caters to old-school dealer sales techniques. What confuses dealers is that they have outdated marketing strategies wrapped around complicated technology.
Blogging of course is changing this. Blogging not only addresses the SEO need. It also addresses the 32% factor, that is, the 32% of buyers that do not buy within 90 days of submitting their first web inquiry. A good blog that is incorporated effectively should accomplish what a newsletter does except that it works for you ALL MONTH LONG, not just one week a month.
If you break it down to the bare bones benefits (SEO and CRM), it shouldn’t be confusing to dealers.
My message today with dealers is that when leads and prospects come into their realm,
“The goal should be to attain a relationship, not a sale.”
Dealers need to demonstrate to customers that they can and will assist them with their immediate automobile needs and interests as well as their long-term interests.
Extending Brand Loyalty
“When it comes to pushing a brand, dealers can make all the difference on the front lines. Good dealers can increase brand loyalty, while those who struggle generally don’t drive return customers.”
Dealer-customer rapport, according to research from Carlson Marketing and the Peppers & Rogers Group, plays a vital role.
OEM’s do an extraordinary job with creating brand loyalty on the commodity, the automobile. They do this by creating an image that appeals to their targeted markets. They can even extend the brand commodity to a variety of market segments. But still the automobile must be acquired at the dealer level which means some sort of exchange must occur between dealer and customer.
What roles and responsibilities do dealers have in this process to live up to the name and reputation of the brand they represent? How can dealers extend the brand commodity they represent to create a unique brand experience for auto shoppers?
For dealers, emphasis is placed on two primary things:
- Price
- Service
If every dealer is offering the same 2 things to every customer, how then can the dealer treat “different customers differently” as the article suggests.
One way to reach out to customers in a personal undivided fashion is with your blog, or in a discussion forum or on a social site. In these places you can introduce topics, programs, incentives, and personnel. You can be part of conversations at the group level, micro group levels, and one-on-one.
The problem with automation is that you can’t treat different customers differently and so someone at the dealer level, if the dealer is going to differentiate itself from the competition, must come out and meet the customer one-on-one at some point. This can be accomplished physically, electronically, or through some sort of telecommunication. Direct mail campaigns do not accomplish this. Nor do electronic emails and automated email responses. Social media does.
But to accomplish this you need a presence in those social mediums. If you want to engage with Vox, Facebook, or Digg users then you need to have a presence on each of those sites. If you want to engage in a blog format you need a good blog with readership. These things takes vision, time, attention, technical skill, and more. So when you venture into this form of online brand marketing, do your research and consult those you trust. Most importantly, get to know the communities a bit and plan on applying this methodology for the indefinite future. The medium of exchange might be new, but the need to engage has and always will exist.
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