jeffkershner

jeffkershner

20p

16 comments posted · 1 followers · following 0

13 years ago @ DealerRefresh - 7 Myths of How People ... · 0 replies · +1 points

" I know I need to change...I just don't know who is going to do it for me" - that's sad. Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

13 years ago @ DealerRefresh - Reputation Management ... · 0 replies · +1 points

Thanks for chiming in Andy. It's a real honor! Looking forward to your session. Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

13 years ago @ DealerRefresh - Yes, you're being left... · 0 replies · +1 points

After working with one of the largest dealer groups along with several other smaller dealer groups I can say - without education and the drive to learn new marketing and operations, most dealers are WAY behind. They are! Will they catch up? Many will not. Dealers stumble across some smart savvy employees from time to time and either are too clueless to realize their potential or are not sure how to compensate them, so they eventually move on.

"60% said they had no budget set aside for education" - I would say this is a very generous percentage. And if they have a budget, they opt-out from using it. Most training is ineffective due to the lack of support and commitment from upper management. After a few several failed attempts, the sales and/or service force no longer take it serious, knowing this too will pass like every other training or change of process.

Joe said "The dealer that takes the risk to hire and invest this "digital player" enjoys an enormous lead over their competitors."

I've been this "risk" at several dealers and groups over the last several years. I still outsource much of the traditional and online marketing but I'm able to hold these vendors to the fire while pushing their limits in technology and service. I'm also able be sure that our traditional and online marketing are in sync. There are NOT a lot of agencies out there that excel in traditional AND online marketing. And the ones that do - come at an hefty price.

There are services you can outsource and there are next level tactics/services that dealers can benefit from by bringing it in-house.

I fall into the 39.8% that has considered starting an internship program at your dealership for social media and digital marketing in partnership with a local college or university. Not only have I considered it but have taken the first steps in getting it done. I can train an intern to do things that no agency would be able to do for the price. Plus I enjoy having the opportunity to train someone that's hungry for more knowledge.

13 years ago @ DealerRefresh - You got a STD? (Social... · 2 replies · +1 points

Dealer Ratings and reviews is/should be a dealers first step into social. When I was with MileOne - I helped bring dealer reviews to the forefront knowing that it would allow us to transition into social media down the road with a better understanding on how to be "social".

Funny - 3 years ago I was speaking at JD Power and I said to the room that Dealer ratings and reviews were going to hit us like tsunami - all I heard were crickets. Not one person in the audience said a word. For a second I thought maybe I said tsunami wrong or something. They weren't getting it.

When I moved to Younger Motor Cars - dealer ratings was the FIRST thing I got our dealers focused on. I completely automated the process from sales to service. Each and EVERY customer is asked to review their experience. I've done my best to get all the managers onboard along with the GM. Explaining to him that it's his reputation online - not mine.

With all the review sites and more being added - it's not going to be easy for dealers to keep up.

13 years ago @ DealerRefresh - Are you a Finger Pointer? · 0 replies · +1 points

I'm already there. Our inventory gets updated every 5-15 mins. Love it!!Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

13 years ago @ DealerRefresh - You got a STD? (Social... · 0 replies · +1 points

Now that is funny!! Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

13 years ago @ DealerRefresh - Achieving Excellence a... · 0 replies · +1 points

How do some dealers over achieve while others just plod along and settle for mediocrity?

There are lots of answers to this questions if you want to break it down, but I think there’s one word that sums most of it up.

Laziness - averse or disinclined to work, activity, or exertion; indolent, lacking of motivation

Too lazy to learn
Too lazy to think
Too lazy to do something different
Too lazy to commit
Too lazy to truly place effort into becoming better
…. I could go on.

Don’t get me wrong – we can all be lazy at times. Heck, I should be working our more but I get too lazy.

There’s nothing more irritating than a dealer spending thousands on advertising and $0 for ongoing training. I would say that’s 99% of dealers. But then again when they do pay for training their too lazy to incorporate it in a process and hold their people accountable to getting better.

Failure to execute should result in the execution of ones employment … after so many fair opportunities – heck yes!

“Salespeople are coin operated, so manage your pay plans accordingly” – I typically agree with this, however I like to watch this speech from time to time to convince myself it’s not true.

Dan Pink on the surprising science of motivation http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation.h...

I hold a marketing meeting every Monday with my GM’s and Sales managers; a time to review where we are with our marketing, budgets and so forth. Of course many times the meetings have a way of turning into how their marketing is NOT working and traffic is low. Then I pull up the reports to show that they’ve had more opportunities to sell more cars this month than the last and the same month last year and the year before. Then we drill deeper into the reports a little deeper and find that it’s not about getting more opportunities to sell more cars BUT maximizing on the opportunities that are already there.

Opportunities to appointment
Appointment to show
Show to Close
Then I drill into the follow-up percentage (that is tracked by an outsourced company so it’s decently accurate) to show we are not following up with all the opportunities that our marketing drives to the showroom, phone and lead box.

Then comes the silence and stare down. That’s always fun.

Jerry, you end this great article with “What process would you like to develop for your dealership in 2011?”

This is a great question; as I have been tasked to help build out a BDC and process that incorporates the BDC into the sales and follow-up process. With that comes change and resistance…

Have your own process for getting the right reports in front of you. Take ownership of your reports, commit to reviewing these reports daily. Learn how to read your reports so they tell you a story and pin point areas of improvement. If you’re a GM – train the phone receptionist to print the reports and place them on your desk every morning.

Here’s a simple one to start with…find a report in your CRM that tracks phone –ups entered into the CRM. I bet the numbers are LOW!! Phone-ups rarely make their way into the CRM(first red flag), WHY? Because your team needs phone training. If your sales team isn’t effective enough on the phone to get the customers information (enough information) they’ll never enter it into the CRM. How can they? There’s nothing to enter. However, when your sales people have the skills to get all the information, I can guarantee the chances of that customer getting entered into the CRM greatly increases. They WANT their name on that customer!

Start with a Step1 Step2 Step3 process and then build upon. Get ball rolling!

13 years ago @ DealerRefresh - Are you a Finger Pointer? · 4 replies · +1 points

We should be demanding API for our inventory feeds.

I nicely asked my dealer website provider (dealeron) to work with HomeNets API. They got it done and now our inventory is updated every 5 minutes.

I'm sure we will eventually get to this across the board, but what's taking so damn long?

13 years ago @ DealerRefresh - Cars.com Dealer Review... · 0 replies · +1 points

Thanks for commenting Dave. Great to see you on here. We are doing an exclusive interview with the powers at Car.com to help answer these questions that we all have. We hope to have this completed and posted soon! JeffSent via BlackBerry by AT&T

13 years ago @ DealerRefresh - Animoto’s Call to Ac... · 1 reply · +1 points

Bruce, that's cool that you have integrated Animoto into your services. Though you might have missed the purpose of the article. More importantly, how has the reaction been from your users? Are they using it for other promo videos or just inventory? How about some best practices. What kind of stats can you share with the community... Unique visits to video views, average time videos watched, etc. We are looking for some substance. Sine you have his integrated into our services, you should be able to offer some real advice (other than pimping out your post and product). Thx! Looking forward to it. Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T