In the Trenches

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Make life easier for your customers

Tuesday, November 18th, 2008

Yesterday was my fathers birthday, the big 60, and I had the perfect gift idea for him.  A copy of Seth Godin’s new book Tribes, which my son and I are featured in. (Get a copy see for yourself)  The problem was I left the nicely wrapped copy I had for him at my home and did not realize it until after we traveled thirty miles to his.

I was not going to let that stop me from putting a copy in his hand on this day.  The boys and I visited the local big chain book retailer to pick up a copy and it reminded me why I prefer to shop online for certain things.  It also proved how much more efficient it is as a consumer to do so.

We trotted to the business book section and started scouring the books to find our coveted copy.  It appearded that there was no rhyme or reason to how the books were shelved and after 10 minutes we visited the kiosk to see if there was even a copy in the store.  Theirs was not self serve so we had to wait 3 or 4 more minutes for someone to come help us.

After giving the name of the book to the clerk and then having to spell both the authours name an the title to here  and being informed that there was 12 copies in the store in the business section I wanted to scream.  After explaining to her that we did not see it there and her insistence that it was the manager came to our rescue.  She informed her and us that it was on display by their coffee shop and went and grabbed us a copy. 

The price was around five dollars more than I could of bought it for online and the process took around 25 minutes longer even if I had to type my credit card number in at checkout, which I don’t.  This process explains why online book retailers are more successful than their brick and mortar counter parts.

To state the obvious that is why consumers visit dealers online before stepping into the showroom.  They want to make sure you have what they want before they waste their time visiting you.  They want what they are after even if that is now what they buy in the end.

It could be a specific used car or new car color trim selection.  It could be competent secondary financing to make up for their credit short falls.  It could be to just window shop to see what is available.  For what ever reason they want what they came for before they decide to engage you.

The longer you can hold them on your site giving them the information they want the more likely they are to reach out to you buy either submitting a lead or visiting your showroom.  Anything you can do to sell them on doing business with you while they are there will let them win and you win.

Make it easy for the consumer to get what they want should be your first goal.  Keeping them on your site longer, with an effective call to action is your second.  Here are some things that you may want to try to increase conversions.

  • Turn the pop ups and pop unders off.  One website site I recently visited causes a pop under on every navigation from a single inventory item even back to the search feature.  A customer experiening this may leave and never come back.
  • Make sure your cars are priced even if it is list price.  Think if you visited a store that did not display prices until you were ready to check out would you go there often?
  • Keep all sections of your site updated.  If you have a specials page make sure something is there or turn it off.
  • Give them more than one way to contact you.  Is your phone number on every page and each inventory item?
  • Tell your story.  Let them know what makes you different from “Down the Road Motors”.
  • Get rid of the auto played audio.  Let the customers decide if they want to hear about you virtual showroom.  If they are looking at work and that comes on they may bounce to never return.

These are just a few starting points to help your average time on site and conversion ratio.  I am sure some will disagree or even have more tips.  Please tell us about it in the comments.

By the way, my dad liked his gift and now I have two copies of Tribes in my vehicle for back up.  It is doubtful I will ever buy another book in a brick and mortar store.  I told them there was no reason to renew the discount card that was given to me for Christmas last year even though they had a “Special” the cost of books online is cheaper without discounts and I can find exactly what I want when I want and even get a few recommendations in the process.

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Traditional Marketing is not Antiquated

Tuesday, November 11th, 2008

Every Internet consultant in the automobile business is wrong when they tell dealers that they need to divert advertising away from traditional marketing to Internet marketing.  The problem is they are using the wrong terminology!!

Today’s traditional media is online.  Radio, cable tv, direct mail and print are antiquated forms forms of marketing.  To call those forms of advertising “traditional marketing” is like telling your kid to go to the record store to get a needle to play the new 45 you just bought.

Dictionary defines traditional as:

tra⋅di⋅tion⋅al   [truh-dish-uh-nl]  – adjective

1.     of or pertaining to tradition.

tra⋅di⋅tion  [truh-dish-uhn]  –noun

1.     the handing down of statements, beliefs, legends, customs, information, etc., from generation to generation, esp. by word of mouth or by practice: a story that has come down to us by popular tradition.
2.     something that is handed down: the traditions of the Eskimos.
3.     a long-established or inherited way of thinking or acting: The rebellious students wanted to break with tradition.
4.     a continuing pattern of culture beliefs or practices.
5.     a customary or characteristic method or manner: The winner took a victory lap in the usual track tradition.

Sure if you are in a conversation with a third generation dealer those forms of advertising may be considered “traditional” according to the definition.  Traditional could also mean generations of bad habits like smoking and overeating.  Not real good examples to follow.

However the second part of the phrase “marketing” is defined as:

mar⋅ket⋅ing /ˈ[mahr-ki-ting] –noun

1.     the act of buying or selling in a market.
2.     the total of activities involved in the transfer of goods from the producer or seller to the consumer or buyer, including advertising, shipping, storing, and selling.

What resonates the loudest in the definition of marketing is “the transfer of goods from .. seller to consumer.”  Antiquated marketing does not accomplish that, traditional marketing does. 

So to use the definitions to define “traditional marketing” I would say “A continuing pattern of practices to transfer goods from seller or buyer.”  I don’t think antiquated mediums suffice to fill those shoes.

It is the buyers tradition of research to acquire goods and services you must market in their form of tradition.  With over 70% of buyers researching vehicles online before making a purchase decision it should tell dealers and consultants that the “tradition” for the buyer is to start online.  Even if they do not make their final purchase there.

If customers by habit use a medium to collect information before signing on the dotted line, they have created the tradition that you must embrace.  They don’t care about your traditions or habits they only care about theirs. 

You market to people by reaching them, you need to go to where they are.  No amount of money is going to get them to listen to your radio ad when they are using their iPod and Sirrus, they won’t watch your commercial if they TiVo or DVR and when was the last time you really read a paper front to back or sorted through sales slicks in your mail box.

Just as we have become immune from advertising so have our customers.  I guess the weekly print ad is still an effective closing tool for sales people and weak managers and provides them with a tool to discourage other forms of marketing because they do not want to be responsible for encouraging something different than the status quo.

Today’s consumers traditionally go online, most car dealers traditionally spend money marketing in the wrong places.  Be an innovator if you are not to late and own a market area before your competition wakes up by using traditional marketing, let them keep wasting their money.

Customers are changing their traditions we must change our vocabulary.

Paul Rushing
Community Development
912-266-1629
www.drivingsales.com
paulr@drivingsales.com

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Founded in 1909 is a Liability

Friday, October 31st, 2008

I received my copy of Tribes by Seth Godin it is a must read for anyone serious about marketing their business, trying to bring about change or build a loyal customer base. It is not about advertising hooks, gimmicks or gorilla marketing it is about adapting to today’s market environments and gives many real life examples of people and companies that get it.

Customers do not care how long you have been in business. How many times have you heard a new broom sweeps good? There is a certain amount of stodginess that comes with being the old faithful, a certain amount being the man and a lot of complacency by having the status of the landmark.

Think of businesses we have seen rise and fall because of their unwillingness to adapt.

Remember when AOL was the internet?
Remember when you waited in anticipation for the Holiday Sears catalog?
How many vacant Blockbusters Stores in your area?

And now the big three are holding on by a thread.

Think about companies that are almost nothing more than a memory today because or their unwillingness to change or take a risk into uncharted waters before you deny a new idea or fail to try to embrace new things. If you are the one lobbying for it remember many times it is easier to beg for forgiveness than to ask for permission.

Get a copy of Tribes.  If nothing else you will go from paralysis to comatose.

Paul Rushing
Community Development
912-266-1629
www.drivingsales.com
paulr@drivingsales.com


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The Real Online World - How does your dealership’s website stand up?

Friday, October 17th, 2008

I am not a web designer by any means.  I have created a few websites an blogs in the past.  Each one has a different purpose.  Some are to make money by creating high bounce rates others just to get my points and views out there.  None have ever been as important or profitable as a dealership website.

One thing that I am starting to pay a lot more attention to is what is considered best practices in the web design world.  There is plenty of opinion in this regard out there.  Today I stubmled across a blog post titiled 43 Web Design Mistakes You Should Avoid.  There are some things I noticed that just leaped out at me manily is some of the things they talk about are shared by many others.

Most noticably these points:

Make the content scannable: this is the Internet, not a book, so forget large blocks of text. Probably I will be visiting your site while I work on other stuff so make sure that I can scan through the entire content. Bullet points, headers, subheaders, lists. Anything that will help the reader filter what he is looking for.

Do not use fancy fonts that are unreadable: sure there are some fonts that will give a sophisticated look to your website. But are they readable? If your main objective is to deliver a message and get the visitors reading your stuff, then you should make the process comfortable for them.

Do not open new browser windows: I used to do that on my first websites. The logic was simple, if I open new browser windows for external links the user will never leave my site. WRONG! Let the user control where he wants the links to open. There is a reason why browsers have a huge “Back” button. Do not worry about sending the visitor to another website, he will get back if he wants to (even porn sites are starting to get conscious regarding this point lately…).

Do not overuse Flash: apart from increasing the load time of your website, excessive usage of Flash might also annoy the visitors. Use it only if you must offer features that are not supported by static pages.

If you MUST play an audio file let the user start it: some situations might require an audio file. You might need to deliver a speech to the user or your guided tour might have an audio component. That is fine. Just make sure that the user is in control, let him push the “Play” button as opposed to jamming the music on his face right after he enters the website.

Do not break the “Back” button: this is a very basic principle of usability. Do not break the “Back” button under any circumstance. Opening new browser windows will break it, for instance, and some Javascript links might also break them.

Make sure users can search the whole website: there is a reason why search engines revolutionized the Internet. You probably guessed it, because they make it very easy to find the information we are looking for. Do not neglect this on your site.

Avoid “drop down” menus: the user should be able to see all the navigation options straight way. Using “drop down” menus might confuse things and hide the information the reader was actually looking for.

Use text navigation: text navigation is not only faster but it is also more reliable. Some users, for instance, browse the Internet with images turned off.

Make sure to use the ALT and TITLE attributes for images: apart from having SEO benefits the ALT and TITLE attributes for images will play an important role for blind users.

Do not use pop ups: this point refers to pop ups of any kind. Even user requested pop ups are a bad idea given the increasing amount of pop blockers out there.

Include functional links on your footer: people are used to scrolling down to the footer of a website if they are not finding a specific information. At the very least you want to include a link to the Homepage and possibly a link to the “Contact Us” page.

Avoid “intros”: do not force the user to watch or read something before he can access to the real content. This is plain annoying, and he will stay only if what you have to offer is really unique.

Use CSS over HTML tables: HTML tables were used to create page layouts. With the advent of CSS, however, there is no reason to stick to them. CSS is faster, more reliable and it offers many more features.

I have brought up these issues with friends that work for website companies and I get the same answer from them all.  They say they design sites according to the customers specifications.  The auto started audio, pop ups and blinking headlights on flash images is what helps them sell their products and dealers think it is so cool.

Maybe if dealers and website vendors would concentrate on what give the website visitor the best experience onsite conversions would rise.  Car dealers train their employees to help misguided consumers in making the right decision or to show them why the customers is wrong without blowing the sale. Are industry website vendors doing the same thing? 

Dealers and dealership employees do you think you website vendor is helping you get the most bang for your buck?  If so give them a thumbs up at our automotive website review section, if not you know what to do.

Paul Rushing
Community Development
912-266-1629
www.drivingsales.com
paulr@drivingsales.com

Contact Me: LinkedinTwitter

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Getting out of the car business

Thursday, October 16th, 2008

Do you ever just feel like enough is enough?  Too much negative press, too many one sided conversations rehashed again and again until it feels like gospel or you dread to hear the next update.  Let’s face it, it gets old after a while. 

Now we are constantly being hit with old stuff rewrapped to look different.  Buzz words come and go an they are usually defined by something we already know or have heard about.  It is just renamed to make it look fresh.  Yawn…  It makes me tired to even write about it.

Blurred are the lines and finding an easy way to manage and decipher all of the things we are hit with is not an easy task.  Personally I subscribe to around 100 blogs via RSS, two dozen daily email newsletters and don’t forget the "special updates" that entails.  What is amazing though in all of that content that comes to me daily I can pick and choose what matters.

One thing I have surely noticed is the updates from auto industry related content providers is usually depressing, unless you are picking and choosing depressed auto stocks right now, and the content that comes from the other side of the online world tries to deliver solutions and information that people can use to increase their online marketing presence, improve a process,build customer bases and create products that people want.

It is the latter type of content this industry needs right now.  Ways for dealers to enhance their business today without sacrificing integrity, increasing budgets or being sold snake oil.  It is tactical, measurable results that dealers and their people on the ground need.

That is the culture here at DrivingSales and if you are reading this and not a member you need to get involved and sign up today.  The car business is entering a new age and if you are going to be a part of the industry pay attention to what matters, not the things that don’t.

For now on when I find those gems that can apply to our industry you will find them here and hopefully my readers can benefit.  All I ask from you is when we meet you shake my hand, buy me a drink and, sit down and chat for a spell.

Paul Rushing
Community Development
912-266-1629
www.drivingsales.com
paulr@drivingsales.com
Contact Me: LinkedinTwitter

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Own Your Competition Online

Sunday, October 12th, 2008

The automotive industry is one of the most competitive retail industries in the United States and dealers have been competing with each other for years in their marketing efforts.  Running print, radio and television in competitive markets is nothing new.  Achieving the same results online is easier than what most will lead you to believe.

You can accomplish this using a variety of mediums and your own websites.  The real question is how do you go about this.  An aggressive SEO campaign can help if you and the vendor providing the services understand what are the right keywords to go after.  This can only be accomplished with research of the search markets.

There is little value in optimizing a site for keywords that are never searched for.  I am going to use my local markets as an example.

Having your site to optimize well for a term such as “Used Car Kingsland” (a medium to small sized town) has very little benefit compared to ranking for a terms such as “Used car and truck sales Jacksonville Florida” (a major metro).  The search volume is nil for the first term and the second one only averages eight searches a day.  However if you can rank number one for the Jacksonville term it should generate you around 200 clicks a month.

Then if your copy is compelling you should be able to generate click throughs to your used car inventory even if you are located in Kingsland, about 30 miles from Jacksonville.  People searching for used car dealers in Jacksonville can be from surrounding markets and even your own.  It would give you the opportunity to cut your competition off at the pass and score a lead for business today.

Paul Rushing
Community Development
912-266-1629
www.drivingsales.com
paulr@drivingsales.com
www.ismintraining.com

 

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Social Media - Our Custmers Prefer It

Thursday, October 9th, 2008

The buzz words of the day are social media and social networking.  For those that are doubting the viability here are some very interesting numbers.

56% of American consumers feel both a stronger connection with, and better served by, companies when they can interact with them in a social media environment.

When Americans were asked about specific types of interactions:

  • 43% say that companies should use social networks to solve my problems
  • 41% want companies to solicit feedback on their products and services
  • 37% feel that companies should develop new ways for consumers to interact with their brand
  • 33% of men and 17% of women interact frequently (one or more times per week) with companies via social media

What is more impressive is that 85% of consumers that fall into Generation Y (born after 1979) participate in social networking and 57% reported involvement with blogs.

The biggest thing to take away from this information is that 85% of American want companies to interact with them via these channels and 93% believe they should have a presence.  (source 2008 Cone Business in Social Media Study)

Interaction is more than a one way pitch.  It is about receiving feedback and helping consumers before they have a desire for your product.  This gives you the opportunity as a company and as an individual professional to reach more people faster than any other traditional medium.

Developing a social media / social networking strategy for attracting new business and retaining customers is not a simple by the numbers proposition.  It requires you to get in and get your hands dirty to develop these presences or you can outsource it. 

The real key is to get started now if you have not already.

Stay up to date with marketing strategies and auto industry best practices at DrivingSales

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Pushing the edge? Never!!

Monday, October 6th, 2008

An established competitive edge in today’s market climate may separate the ones who make it from the ones that will not be around when cycles do as they always have, rise after falling.  It is what we do that differentiates us from Johnny down the road.  This is just not in retail but in business to business as well.

While my goal is not to tell you how to run your business, chance are you have been doing that well already.  My main purpose is to remind you to seek ways to push your competitive edge further and wider than you have without looking back.

We are constantly reminded in any sales and marketing training material that it is easier to market to current customers than it is to attract new ones.  In service businesses, dealer vendors, it may as simple as taking time to find out what your customers really want.  If you have an established clientele look to create products for the people who are already doing business with you versus finding the expensive to attract new one. 

In retail pushing the edge may be as simple as picking up the phone to call your customers to see how the world is treating them without leading with a pitch.  The conversations you have will surprise you and should lead to referrals and sales.

Don’t believe me?  Try it and let me know how bad these ideas are..

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Benefit of the Longtail

Monday, September 29th, 2008

Long tail SEO is one of the easiest ways to draw traffic to your site. Long tail search terms are very specific search terms. In automotive I would describe them as “Used Red f-150 in Seattle” or “Hyundai Sonata w/nav near Jacksonville”. Real easy to rank for but hard to define.

A real life example where long tail searches influenced my buying activity is where I need to replace a laptop keyboards for two l laptops. I did a search for “replacement keyboard laptop model#” and found exactly what I was looking for right away ordered them and they will be here tomorrow. The site that had one also had the other. A win win for me. I spent less for two replacement keyboards than I was getting prices for one.

Longtail will get buyers in that are looking for something specifically that you may have in stock. Take advantage of it.

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How to reach wide and far with your message

Wednesday, September 24th, 2008

Reaching critical mass in online marketing involves many different techniques and disciplines.  Building upon your foundation can provide incremental traffic to your site and help spread your marketing message beyond your core online marketing property. 

The recent winning strategy is using some very inexpensive and free tools to help build more layers of content for customers to find their main website and to interact with their company in a permission based format.  This accomplishes a few things in their online marketing efforts, in addition to the direct interactions through these alternative mediums.

  • SEO for their main site - Having other properties that you are in control of brings in links to your main site which helps elevate it in the search engine results pages.
  • Tapping markets they are not in directly - Having multiple layers of content beyond your regular site will help you broaden the number of keywords that deliver traffic to properties your control.
  • Traffic from other sources - When you create value added content that is not a direct marketing pitch others will link to you thus pushing traffic and link juice.

The main thing is being in control of the content. So that way you have will always have it at your disposal. Whether you are doing for personal branding or dealership branding. He who pays for it owns it. There are some opinions about this being shared on our discussion board as well.

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