2013 is shaping up to be a pivotal year for automotive retail (again). Results are in for March and the first quarter showing that, with exception to some brands, you're making money. However are you making enough money to make bad mistakes for your business? Look at your social media, chances are you're doing just that.

There's just no excuse for not participating in one of the essential areas for grown, increase in traffic, creation of leads and retention of clients. And by participate, what's meant is not completely being hands-off. Outsourcing your content (SEO, SEM, social, etc.) is critical for the majority of dealers but you must stay involved: review, analyze, modify, challenge and hold accountable. Never, ever let your vendors run wild on your content. Thousands of dealerships are, regardless if they pay for services.

Dealers will write checks to vendors from $300 to $4,000+ a month for social media content services for six months, not realizing that their pages look identical to hundreds of other dealers. Remember the following tips related to all of your content:

    1. The majority of Facebook pages are not crawled by Google, Bing, or other search engines. The fact that your Lexus dealership has the same posts and a hundred other ones won't bother Google, just the people you're trying to engage. And if you have most social vendors and a large "Like" count, you've likely bought fans or acquired them through giveaways. On average, less than 2% engage on dealership Facebook pages because they're not authentic, don't represent their neighborhood/area or extend their brand. It's useless if it doesn't look, sound and feel like you. "Caption This" didn't work, doesn't work and won't work.

    2. Add to the above a little annoying Facebook detail that dealers (and many businesses) continue to ignore: if you have a profile ("friend") page, you are not only in violation of Facebook Terms of Use (TOU) rules and can lose your page, you can't get all of the analytics, advertising and other functionality that come with a business page.

    3. Google doesn't like duplicate content. You've heard it at least 10-20 times but you don't know what it means. Simply put, if you have the 78th blog to post a redundant article on the Chevy Volt from the auto show you're not an authoritative site and Google won't drive traffic to your blog from searches. That is unless you can get a lot (A LOT) of people to your post, to talk about and share your post as well as re-post. Good luck.

    4. Twitter is an amazing tool, that most dealers' vendors simply automate posts from Facebook, YouTube and their blog. It's a shame. With Twitter you can actually listen. Yes, listen. Google doesn't show you real-time results for posts and discussions about your brand or franchise. Twitter does. And you can reply to them, unlike on Facebook. It's amazing what will happen in Twitter, over time, if you simply use it, ask questions and engage.

    5. Google Plus is being underutilized by you right now. Google what? Yeah, Google Plus, which should now be integrated (merged) with your Google Local page (reviews). And oh boy, are there a lot of "experts" giving out the completely wrong information on using Google/Google Plus/YouTube and their other tools (as well as all things social) and your vendors are just responding with "thank you" or "we'll get back with you" on your positive and negative reviews. One thing that happens with G+ consistently? Content indexing quicker than any other platform. Well, Google owns it...and you're not posting on it.

Typically a quick (10-15 minute) review of all your social network assets will reveal nearly no advantage by paying your vendors for 80%+ of dealerships. Better yet, look at your Google Analytics and see if you have actual links to your website(s) from your social media networks. Even if you're not paying for your content services, why even do it if you're not doing it right? And if your social vendor happens to also provide you with "SEO" services, look twice as hard.

Puppets are cute, for puppet shows. Not for business. Stop being a social media puppet or just another case study for your vendor to get an OEM endorsement. It's not a silo. It's not "we have a social presence" or "we do social". Everything that carries your name must be known and understood by you. Quit turning over your business to others because you don't want to invest or because "it doesn't sell cars".

This post likely won't change much but so much improper marketing for data purposes or to perpetuate automation is being done in the digital realm today. Maybe we can change it. Don't be another puppet...

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

In a world at a breakneck pace and of mediocre marketing, it is more important than ever to know what you’re doing if you hope to attract, let alone keep, consumers’ attention.  Add to that the entire market essentially being mobile and you might not be prepared at all to address your opportunities appropriately.

As things become more convoluted and confusing (add consolidated at the vendor level) in digital, there are just as many opportunities as there were five years ago, if not more. Trust us. The greatest areas of change are (1) more businesses being online, (2) more solutions being provided by manufacturers and turnkey providers, (3) software and automation becoming more rampant and (4) the public having more access via mobile at breathtaking speeds (read: they typically do not consume traditional advertising when mobile).

What hasn’t changed much are the count of progressive businesses, those willing to try new methods and technologies, applying consumer feedback to businesses’ modeling and execution (especially customer service) and the way businesses buy. Research, contrary to much perception, really isn’t part of what executives and leaders facilitate or understand. When is the last time you had a non-vendor evaluate your business’ performance, if ever?

One thing that is creating massive side effects in digital marketing is the silo-type approach to vendorship. At the beginning of the year one of the Big Six manufacturers forced their franchises to choose between three vendors in regard to “management” of their online reputation. This created a real wrinkle for the retailers that (1) didn’t want to use the companies for any/other services, (2) understood that the vendors, outside of using existing automated software, struggle with actually properly setting up, maintaining and responding to the reviews and (3) understood quickly that, many times, just as many issues are created as are handled. Now consider this: What are the benchmarks? What processes have been installed? When does the reputation management process start?

Add to that you absolutely, positively will not succeed in the online reputation management space without complete buy-in at every franchise plus it must be supported throughout every organization, entirely top to bottom.

From websites to search engine optimization, from mobile websites to applications, from search engine marketing to text and live chat, from customer relation management to integrated marketing, you can’t make a decision without facts, capabilities, assessment, communication and absolutely, positively a third party opinion.  Why would a business make a decision today, with the potential to inflict damage on their multi-million dollar operation(s) and the future of hundreds of people, based on what another dealer is doing 800-1,800 miles away or what a vendor says when they’ll ask a second, third or even fourth opinion on a treatment or drug?

Are you aware of the side affect of taking the wrong or multiple drugs? Yeah, you’ve heard the advertisements for sinus medication that basically tells you that you can die from taking their product if you simple breathe or walk after ingesting it.

So here it goes: buying a potential vendor’s product (especially if you’re dead set on switching after being “disappointed” with your present one based on doing no more investigation then compared to now) may cause loss of customers, lower service penetration rates, bleeding inventory, loss of margin, decreased customer satisfaction, painful penalties from headquarters, general business seepage, night sweats for the rest of your life, or death.

Go ahead, make decisions without paying attention to the side effects. It will either require hospitalization (aka another vendor change and admonishment toward your 20 Group partners), resuscitation (aka realization that no, they can’t do that, or it’ll be no better) or dizziness (aka having to actually ask someone who knows better that’s NOT on the hook of vendors).

Disclaimer: No doctors were harmed in the making of this blog post

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

Have you ever tried skiing? Uphill? Are you one for SCUBA diving? In a wading pool? Do you get your kicks running marathons? On a treadmill? How does this grab you: are you a fan of water skiing? On a dry lake bed? It seems that the more you try to distinguish your dealership today, there's someone from the factory telling you that all of the franchises in your brand should be the same. Nice. There's nothing better than showing up to a gunfight with a knife, right?

Know that we understand completely the advantage for the OEM. The level of standards, compliance and requirements shows more (not necessarily better) knowledge and what's happening with endorsed vendors shows that there may be a desire for (less than acceptable) results. "But they're the factory and I don't want problems". Well, Dear John, that train already left the station and you're the one who gets to sell the customers...right? Don't look now but the factory guys, umm, they don't know how to sell cars and neither do their bosses. Shhh, it's a big industry secret!

So how do you win at the "I want to get ahead and they want me to be behind some imaginary digital line that they don't understand" scenario? With more effort, time, cost and resources you can get 'er done! Welp, that's the short, hard to swallow answer. Can it get done? Yes, the same way you eat an elephant.

Look, they're the 800-pound gorilla (or, if you've been to counseling, the "white elephant in the room") and it's usually ugly if you don't take the extra cars they're shoving down your throat. How can the conversation about why the website vendor is failing them or the fact that the social media/reputation management company actually doesn't do what they say they do with any competency go better? It can't...not until there are real conversations at the headquarters. And folks, they've not even started yet. And the people in the digital posts at your OEMs facilities? Yes, they were selling factory replacement parts to you, at best, six months ago. No, everyone with a smartphone, a Facebook account and knows that CMS is content management system doesn't understand digital. Newsflash: SEO is alphabet soup to them.

Our 800-pound gorillas (read: all of them, not just the "big 6") need a major intervention from you right now. If you're reading this, you're in the top 5-10% of progressive dealers in the country. And don't think for a second that by having them out for a heart-to-heart or flying coach back to the OEM HQ for a fireside chat is going to take the covers off your website, CRM and marketing secrets because we still don't have over 17,000 dealers on mobile-optimized websites yet. However it's a step in the right direction and then 90% of your brand brothers won't have to scream that they don't know what their digitalmarketingleadmanagementpaidsearchretargetingonlinereputationconsultinggurus actually do (yes, please hashtag that!).

Did you hear the feedback from NADA? Yuuuuuuuuup! We're sure you did. Are the OEMs the bad guys? Not in the least. However the combination comes from vendors constantly selling (and them buying, BTW), relationships winning over logic and thousands of dealers fighting the "digital machine" for way to long. When a franchise gets over 50% of their traffic from sources they've not looked at in over a year, someone has to get involved. So they're not public enemy #1, they're just one massive speed bump that wrote a blank check to the wrong address.

Tip the scales in your direction, one pound at a time. (No gorillas were harmed in the creation of this post, but some will be offended - and so will many endorsed vendors)

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

Customer service. The term is thrown out like freebies, party invites, pitches and proposals at NADA. Customer support? Customer satisfaction? Customer focused? What do your vendors call it? Does that come after reviewing how many days or weeks they’re allowed after you open a ticket for something that should be a 1-2 hour operation? Customer service should be about the…wait for it, CUSTOMER!

What we call customer service has morphed over the years, likely more based on scale, capacity, programming and software than the requirement to actually take care of the customer. Very few businesses, still today, put the customer first however their marketing screams service.

And not following any of the “blueprint” norms really comes through. Does your website, SEO, SEM, mobile, call tracking and chat companies really show an amazing zest for paying attention to you? And back you up? And surprise you from time to time?

Recently my experiences with a couple airlines showcased, in more detail, what happens to really separate customer service from promises of service and marketing. With the changes that Delta Airlines has applied to its SkyMiles program to qualify for 2014 status, the reduction of benefits for my level (Silver Elite) of status including the amount of complimentary bags you can check in (now one, so “bag” is more appropriate) and, seemingly, the ongoing increase in SkyMiles it takes to book an award ticket, coupled with the number of flights I’ve taken on Alaska (claiming Delta SkyMiles) over the past couple years with great on-board experience the decision to switch programs happened last month.

While I’m no social media superstar or influencer, Delta has followed me on Twitter for quite a while and has, for the most part, responded to my tweets and mentions whenever they happen. My tweets talking about my switch to Alaska Airlines resulted in no mentions from Delta’s online teams (including @Delta and @DeltaAssist) to keep me loyal, however Alaska Airlines (@AlaskaAir) followed immediately and has mentioned back as well as sent direct messages. And that is on top of the significantly better experience when flying them.

On my last flight, Alaska’s ticket counter staff was fantastic, accommodating my bag without question (my previous flight they accommodated two, one more than Delta and I didn’t have MVP status on Alaska!). My bag, which was checked in 32 minutes before the flight made it and the gate agent addressed every customer when boarding by their first name. Class acts for sure and to top it off, the counter agent matched my Delta status on Alaska effective immediately; One person, empowered to make that happen, however the impression and experience did so much more. With a smile on her face making me smile and thinking about how to make our customers’ experience even better.

So what does this make you think about? Your investment, or lack of, in customer service? Whether you have a satisfaction agent or not?

Many companies wrap themselves in customer service; however when was the last time they paid you a visit entirely based on anything but a report, pitch, upsell or because they were asked to?

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

(Warning, 1000 words below!)

OK, who's got their 2013 game face on? Nobody? Good, let's make things difficult!!! 2012 was one heck of a year: consumer demand is still up and growing for cars (although demand still outstrips what sold), mobile use is skyrocketing (albeit not remotely matched by dealers providing strong solutions), digital demand is still growing at a breakneck pace (while use of traditional media by dealerships is up), vehicle technology, especially in-car, is amazing and overwhelming (while we still can't truly get a MPG sticker correct without driving like we're dying) and quality is better than even with IQS improving (hand-in-hand with more "media" coverage of massive recalls). Yup, 2012 was quite the year...

So ask a car dealership what they're doing and about 16,500 answers will flutter around "more _________ and less ________ while focusing on our key strengths in _____________". And that, by the way, will be the answer around January 5-15th because, unlike other industries that revolve around retail, we seem to be focused on a date non later than January 5 to close the year. Newsflash: 2012 is done. Make more calls, send more emails, offer more dealer cash/rebates/incentives/consumer cash/financing discounts and leases and you're still not going to sell more. Hello?!?! The "Oh, we pulled 10 more from our competitor" crap doesn't fly. You'll sell what was essentially already in the hopper and be happy with it.

Over the last twelve months we saw highs and lows in the automotive industry, mostly driven by International factors like economy, emerging markets, regulation, partnership and bankruptcy. As a matter of fact, we are more tied than ever to what happens in Europe and Asia, even considering how insular as we tend to be. Whether or not we get to see a new Cadillac in the States depends more on what happens in Germany than ever while BMW's success likely depends on what happens in South Carolina. 2012 saw the continued demise of storied as well as soft brands everywhere.

In the passing of this last year, it's important to reflect on how we actually invited people into showrooms while not making it any more enjoyable (except for the new showrooms which mostly made the factory happy while getting better looking floor tiles and slightly better tasting coffee to customers and some of those neat kids' play rooms we desperately needed). We switched website CMSs, dealership CRMs, DMSs, SMSs and POPs but did satisfaction with dealerships actually go up as much as 2012 IQS? Jaguar is still tops (well, 2nd behind Lexus for 2012 models) on the list and they can't seem to sell the damn cats...

What did 2012 deliver to your business? If you've not asked your customers more than your factory reps, your salespeople and your accountant, you will miss the boat by a larger gap in 2013. Yes, you will continue to sell cars next year and maybe, fortunately more again, but where does that stop based on solely looking back or not at all?

Where your concentration needs to be, right now, is around March 2013 because your next 6-8 weeks are already figured out for the most part. No matter how many "cycles" we have, after 100 years of automobile sales most think that there is some magic to the last few weeks of the year. Bullhooey.

If you want to succeed starting next Tuesday, there is no other way to do it than be steadfast in every aspect of your staff, processes, facility and follow through. Your greatest efforts need to be put into place around the touch points (hint: it's not the cars!). Those are showroom (real and virtual) and people. Nothing else matters without those. We are asked regularly how to "jumpstart" sales to the effect that many talk about in the industry. If you've not been bombarded by spam marketing and videos, it usually sounds like "100 to 500 cars overnight with our processes" and "our sales events will have people driving in from everywhere" and don't forget "our websites will optimize so well (or drive leads so easily), no other dealer will be able to touch your numbers, you'll dominate and just have to deliver cars". Rat dung!

Get the best assets in your business today that understand how everyday people use technology and expect to be communicated with. If that means more green peas, then do it! Training?!?! Tearing down your salespeople to build them back up means you have the wrong people and wrong processes! It's not "that Internet thing" any more than your cars are "those things that have engines and tires". It's time to grow up and look forward. If you 15-pounder 15% of your customers, expect 50%+ of your reviews to scream you suck.

If you want to look at things in a nutshell, read another whitepaper about how great a solution is (6- to 12-months after it's relevant while you signed up to get marketed like mad by the same company) and look backward. Our industry is depending on people who look forward with only what's needed about past performance as indicators, nothing else. Improve incrementally prior to making the huge, sweeping changes like we hear about so much and maybe, just maybe, you'll see about 3-4 months that the big stuff is not so big after all because you were able to move the needle consistently. Overnight success is a short-term facade over impending disaster. Count on it.

2013 can be great for many, even amongst the raising concerns about economic and other pressures. The best always raise to the occasion, it's just that it needs to be done in newer ways more consistently. And remember to make changes with anything that you do by benchmarking and recording first because so many will pull the wool over your eyes and scream "we did it for you!". We see it every day. There are some great dealership partners out there. Remember that opportunity is missed by most because it comes dressed in overalls. It's work and most of the time it's slow.

So relish in the success you've had in 2012, you deserve it! At the same time try not to look back all that much. It will take longer to catch up than you realize. The automotive world moves at the speed of retail. That is the only truth. So stop slowing yourself down more than needed.

Much success in 2012 and thanks for continuing to read...

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

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As our industry moves (very slowly) toward digital dominance, more companies are chosen each year to assist with certain initiatives driven by the OEMs. As the market fills with mostly fledgling, so-called expert vendors in the major categories (website, SEO, SEM, mobile, reputation management, social media), RFPs and projects are drawn out and the partners are selected. Then, almost like clockwork, the inevitable takes place. The proverbial crap hits the fan and the vendor can't deliver.

If you've paid attention and done a little digging over the past few years, you've watched as the industry has filled with providers that, for the most part, weren't doing what they are now providing for more than a year or two (and sometimes simply weren't even in the space the day before they launched). Many companies have re-branded as digital agencies, marketers, training, search and the like with little more than a presentation deck. And then they walk into the manufacturers headquarters (sometimes on the coattails of a relative or someone they have "pictures" of) for their pitch. Viola, preferred vendor!

Even though relationships dominate despite near incompetence or irrelevance, sometimes it's just that the company/companies that can actually do the work are viewed as too small (staff, revenue, etc.), or they are brought in to pitch simply to hit the right amount of stand up presentations for purchasing. But the litmus test doesn't change: call the vendor, ask a non life-and-death question and see if the first person that's not a receptionist or secretary can answer. If you're talking with a tech support person and they have to ask a manager or someone else, call your OEM rep and give them an earful. Maybe, just maybe, if this happens a few hundred (read: thousand) times, maybe they'll get the message that their preferred provider(s) simply can't do the work.

In working with nearly every brand dealership and nearly all OEMs, their ad agencies and digital vendors over the past twelve plus years, it's scary to witness the process, implementation and support that exists. And the cycle continues due to the incestuous ways in which the programs are executed. The manufacturers want you to believe that real assessments are carried out and that they've done their due diligence. Fact is, that's a pipe dream. Endorsements aren't really want they sound like. And for those people that paid any attention to elections over the past months as well as years, vendor selection is more like how Super Pacs operate or how Wall Street controls their puppets: Follow the money, lunches, perks and relationships and you'll find a substandard product or service get the rubber stamp.

And the pisser is that they keep buying from them, warts and all. Because, among other things, the mentality is still non-digital in marketing. And the people who head the eCommerce and digital divisions are no better at their genre than your local newspaper rep.

So follow the vendor recommendations that are mandatory and voluntary but always keep an ear to the ground and give real feedback to your factory rep (even though the majority of them have no idea what an AdWord extension, heat map or pixel tracking is) and at ad meetings and 20 Groups. Because the majority of what they or you are buying is well under what you deserve, and usually what works.

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

It's that time of the year again.... Well, actually not. Let's be completely honest. It's that one day of the year again. The one day where everyone around the automotivesphere expresses their public thanks: letters from the manufacturers' chief/department executives to their staff, dealers/general managers to their staff, vendors to their staff and maybe, just maybe, expressions of thanks between companies and their staff.

What are you thankful for? The fact that 2012, for the most part, is better than 2011? That the last couple years beats the two before that (and who isn't)? Are we all in a state of fiscal thanks or personal thanks? Who went out to the lot to deeply thank the porter who always takes care of the customers, never takes even a penny from a floor board and smiles as he closes the door for a customer about to leave? A gift certificate for a complimentary 10 pound turkey is not the same as a hearty handshake or chest bump and looking them in the eye and saying "thank you".

Were all of your clients welcome at your store or office simply to talk, network and share a story? The website, CRM, mobile or search marketing vendor contact that always makes things right before the 11th hour...did you write a thank you letter or tell their boss in an email?

You all saw that manufacturer's ad that ran this morning thanking their customers for making the choice to buy their product, right?! Yeah, I just called hell and it hadn't frozen over yet...the ads I see still scream about Curesomethingian leather, diamond-encrusted door handles, and de-magnetized drive control. AS a matter of fact, when is the last time an OEM publicly thanked their customers?

Giving thanks should be a warm-inducing, blush-creating, pit-of-your-stomach humbling experience. At a minimum it should happen more than we all hear "sorry", which for most people has lost it's meaning. But "thank you" shouldn't. And rather than "thanks", make it "thank you" because it actually talks about the person in front of you, or on the phone or that receives the email. Make it about someone else.

So take a moment today (and the following days) to heartily thank the people who make a difference in your business, for your customers and in your life. Thanksgiving is a great day if the thank yous that are giving are complete.

OK, now go out and make Black Friday more important and spend all of the money that you're thankful for....

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

As more tools are available to businesses to grow thier digital marketing footprint, it is apparent that more are simply buying turnkey services that promise to deliver traffic, conversion, imrpove SEO and other attributes. However, most of the time, they do not include any such services and are simply are scalable, profit reasing solutions for the vendor.

Mobile is now one of those fast-growing areas of digital marketing that, ilke websites, is supposed to deliver on customer expectations and value for businesses. However most mobile website experiences deliver well short of those expectaions.

Chuck Parker and the Automotive Digest team talked with Gary May during the DrivingSales Executve Summit and J.D. Power & Associates Automotive Marketing Roundtable last month in Las Vegas about what dealers need to pay attention to in regards to mobile.

If it's all about being where the consumer is, we had better deliver am experience that matter to them, right?

Nobody looking from the left, not a soul peering in from the right; so it’s done. Manipulation. The to do, the call, the email, the touch…you know, the BS-logged activity. The stuff that’s done just to get the heat off, clean up the CRM and get back to going the same pace of “lead management” and selling (the same amount you always do).

So why do we do it? Why is it allowed? Are we that far removed, today still, from accountability in the Internet departments of the automotive world? Sure. Nobody really knows how to monitor, let alone want to, so the scheming goes on. And the units? They go somewhere else…

To quote Scott Straten: Stop It! Stop It! Stop It! Get real about managing your leads and quit killing your dealership. Not only are you not flattering your management and owner, you’re making the investment in the software to assist in the process and closing your sales heavily irrelevant. Want to make your ratios? Then do the work! Too many leads, stop begging for more!!

Manipulating your tasks or your leads has an impact on your dealership akin to giving your child an empty box for their birthday. Nothing good can come out of it and they’ll eventually look somewhere else…

Not to mention, manipulating your CRM simply makes you look bad. Period. Create processes and systems to ensure that the leads are touched, every day, with rare exception. It’s a lose-lose that is unacceptable.

Management, take the time to completely understand your CRM. In addition you must audit regularly, conduct one-one-ones and manage your store’s Internet hand-raisers no differently than your walk-ins, referrals and service customers.  Just because you can’t “see” your customers doesn’t mean you treat them any differently.

What does all this mean? Manipulation in sales tracking just costs too much. So get real, change/add processes, counsel with management, spend money on an assistant…do anything other than fudge it.

Best Practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results

Chuck Parker and the Automotive Digest team were at DrivingSales Executive Summit and J.D. Power & Associates Automotive Marketing Roundtable October 21-25 interviewing top executives and industry leaders. This is part of my interview, focusing on how mobile is affecting change in the automotive indsutry.

Luke Wroblewski spoke to the DSES crowd about the impact of mobile, however the industry is still lagging behind consumer trends and usage plus analytics and mobile-ready content. This is a huge opportunity for dealerships...