Dealix Ralph Paglia Automotive Marketing Interview Part2

Effective Online Automotive Sales: Ralph Paglia of Courtesy Chevrolet Interview Part 2

January 2007 Effective Online Auotmotive Sales VOLUME 6 ISSUE 1

HOME Ralph Paglia of Courtesy Chevrolet Interview Part 2
CONTENTS On Ad Budgets, Common Internet Sales Mistakes & More

Interview with We’re bridging 2006 and 2007 by continuing
Automotive Sales our chat with Ralph Paglia, CRM/e-Business
Expert Paul Miller Director at Phoenix’s Courtesy Chevrolet.
Ralph Paglia of
Courtesy is consistently one of the top
Courtesy Chevrolet Chevrolet dealers in the country, and Ralph’s
Interview Part 2 immense success has made him a nationally
known expert in online automotive sales. In
The Future of Dealer this second installment, Ralph talks about
Websites advertising budgets, common Internet sales
Ask Gilbert: Should I mistakes, “slurping,” and the dealership of the
Invest in a Spanish future.
Language Web Site?
Start 2007 Sales in
Dealix Dealer Newsletter (DDN): Ralph, I
High Gear!
can imagine that smaller dealerships would do
just about anything to have the advertising budget you have at Courtesy. What
New Developments advice would offer to help them make the most of their more limited means?
for Third-party Sites
The Top Ten for Q4 Ralph Paglia (RP): The most effective marketing strategies will usually scale up
2006 or down as budgets grow or shrink, and that’s true of our approach at Courtesy
Chevrolet. The first thing we do is to buy every available new car Internet lead
Internet Training and
that we can get from reputable lead providers such as Dealix. There’s simply no
Industry Reminders
better value than being able to engage with a “hand-raiser” for around $20. The
Dealix Dealer next thing is to buy used car leads based on our inventory. The principle here is
Newsletter Best of exactly the same.
2006
View a Movie to See After taking care of new car and used car leads, I would use any remaining
How Dealix Can Help Internet money to advertise the dealership’s website. We place a lot of graphical
You Sell More Cars ads on major automotive websites and get a lot of exposure and a lot of traffic.
But search engine marketing gives dealers a lot of flexibility in exactly how they
SUBSCRIBE advertise and how much they spend. The critical thing is to link your advertising
directly into your inventory.

DDN: In a recent story about you in Ward’s, you mentioned a growing practice
you called “slurping.” It seems that ISMs sometimes follow up with Internet
customers to see why they didn’t show up for an appointment, and the customer
will say, “I did, and I bought a car.” It turns out that floor salespeople are
stealing these prospects and making the sale. What do you do to prevent this?

RP: This has always been a problem, and it’s more of a political and
organizational issue than a technical one. We address it in a number of ways. Our
Internet sales specialists are trained to insist that the customer call the ISS’s cell
phone when they’re a block or two away from the dealership. We also have two

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Subscribe to the Dealix full-time CRM administrators who work at the showroom reception desk. They’re
Dealer Newsletter. bonused based on how many customers they greet and introduce to the
Enter your email appropriate sales rep, so they have a strong incentive to prevent slurping.
address in the box
below and we'll add
you to the list:
What’s most effective is having our sales process tied closely to our CRM system,
which is set up to prevent salespeople from creating an entry that matches the
name, telephone number, address, or email address for an existing entry. Our
salespeople can’t work a deal without a customer number, and they can’t get a
customer number for an Internet lead without exposing themselves as a thief.
Add Remove
Submit Ultimately, this problem won’t go away until we develop the discipline to
terminate employees who stoop to this. A lot of dealerships wind up giving a half
deal to someone who gets caught skating, just to keep the peace. This is the
worst possible response, because it rewards and encourages the practice. I find it
interesting that, with 30 people handling Internet sales, we almost never have a
problem with the Internet salespeople skating each other. They are remarkably
good at splitting deals, getting the customer to the right person, and even
handling minor customer needs for their teammates without asking for half a
deal.

DDN: What’s the most common mistake Internet sales professionals make, in
your opinion?

RP: Withholding information that the customer explicitly asks for or has been
promised in exchange for submitting a lead. Sometimes it’s laziness, but
sometimes sales reps actually believe that the customer is more likely to speak
with them if they refuse to email specific answers.

It never fails to amaze and delight me when I mystery-shop our competitors and,
in response to a specific, direct question, am told, “I’ll go over that with you on
the phone.” Most customers will not let you get very far with them if you play
games and withhold information about pricing or anything else. If you provide all
the information the customer requests, and more, they’ll see that you are taking
their inquiry very seriously and that you genuinely want to give them great
service.

The customer’s yearning for attention and great service has not changed. If you
use email and phone calls to meet their needs and expectations, they will come
to the dealership to meet you in person. If you’re fundamentally committed to
this, even your missteps can turn out well. We resolve over 70% of our lead-
handling complaints with a sale. Every customer gets an email with my name,
direct phone number, and email address, asking if they are completely satisfied
with how Courtesy Chevrolet’s ISS handled their inquiry.

DDN: What about GMs? What should they avoid doing that could undermine the
success of their Internet sales efforts?

RP: Lack of involvement or genuine commitment on the part of a GM can really
hurt. GMs need to understand the Internet sales process as well as they
understand the dealership’s other processes. They also need to hold people
accountable for their performance. That means they have to know how to pull
reports from their CRM tools and measure the activities of their staff, so they can
kick butt when Internet sales reps do what all salespeople tend to do - let their
process execution deteriorate.



The only good alternative is to have someone like me operate at a director’s level
and do all this for them. Luckily, Courtesy Chevrolet doesn’t have a general
manager, so I get to keep my job!

DDN: Ten years from now, what are things going to be like for a typical
dealership?

RP: Sales originating from various types of digital inquiries will continue to grow
and represent a larger and larger portion of dealerships’ total sales. Newspapers
became worthless as a retail automotive marketing tool two or four years ago,
and more dealers will discover this fact every year.

Overall, I believe the level of professionalism within the world of automotive
sales will increase and managers will become savvier about everything that goes
into the buyer’s decision-making process. If you want to see what most dealers
will be doing in five years, come to Courtesy Chevrolet and visit our multiple
Internet sales departments and our brand new state-of-the-art business
development center. We don’t understand why it’s taking so long for other
dealers to catch up, but when we see some of our local competition asleep at the
wheel, we are thankful for it.

[PRINTER FRIENDLY VERSION]

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Effective Online Automotive Sales


NEWS

Interview with Automotive Sales Expert Paul Miller
On Ad Spends, Rural Markets, and Domestic Brands

Paul Miller began his career in
the automotive industry
cleaning cars at an Illinois
dealership at age 16. Today, as
a consultant, he leverages his
15 years of experience as a
salesperson, Internet manager,
BDC manager, finance manager,
and sales manager to help
dealerships around the country.
We spoke with him recently
about key topics, including:
selling domestic brands;
working in rural markets;
and building trust and cooperation between the floor and the
Internet department.
INSIDE [FULL STORY]

Interview with
Automotive Sales Expert
Paul Miller Ralph Paglia of Courtesy Chevrolet Interview Part 2
Ralph Paglia of Courtesy On Ad Budgets, Common Internet Sales Mistakes & More
Chevrolet Interview Part
2

The Future of Dealer
Websites
Ask Gilbert: Should I
Invest in a Spanish
Language Web Site?
Start 2007 Sales in High
Gear!

New Developments for
Third-party Sites

http://news.dealix.com/index000158788.cfm?x=b8LNmL3,b4bG84ht,w (1 of 4) [1/11/2007 9:31:48 AM]


The Top Ten for Q4 This month, we continued our chat with
2006 Ralph Paglia, CRM/e-business director at
Phoenix’s Courtesy Chevrolet. Courtesy
is consistently one of the top Chevrolet
Industry Reminders
dealers in the country, and Ralph’s
Dealix Dealer immense success has made him a
Newsletter Best of 2006 nationally known expert in online
View a Movie to See automotive sales. In this second
How Dealix Can Help installment, Ralph talks about
You Sell More Cars advertising budgets, common Internet
sales mistakes, “slurping,” and the
SUBSCRIBE dealership of the future.
Subscribe to the Dealix [FULL STORY]
Dealer Newsletter. Enter
your email address in the
box below and we'll add
you to the list: The Future of Dealer Websites
Key Topics from the J.D. Power and Associates Automotive
Roundtable
Add Remove
Submit
At the J.D. Power and Associates Automotive Internet
Roundtable held in Las Vegas last November, a panel including
ARCHIVE The Cobalt Group’s vice president of applications and services
Kevin Root; Barry Brodsky of Dealer Web Tools; and Jason
Effective Online
Automotive Sales Ezell of Dealerskins discussed the Future of Dealership
December 2006 Websites. This panel of online automotive veterans gave a
Effective Online glimpse into the trends that are likely to grow significantly in
Automotive Sales the next few years.
November 2006
Effective Online [FULL STORY]
Automotive Sales
October 2006
Effective Online
Ask Gilbert: Should I Invest in a Spanish Language
Automotive Sales Web Site?
September 2006
When to Meet the Demands of this Growing Market
[MORE] by Gilbert Chavez

Visit us at: Gilbert Chavez is Internet director for the Phil Long
dealerships of Colorado, the largest privately-owned dealer
www.dealix.com group in that state. Gilbert frequently shares his responses to
to see how dealers
rank the new car
questions he gets from other Internet dealers on how to run
lead providers better Internet departments and general best practices with
and to get more
success strategies
the Dealix Dealer Newsletter. Here's the latest.
from experts in
online auto sales. [FULL STORY]



Start 2007 Sales in High Gear!
View a Movie on How Dealix Can Help You Sell More

It's a new year and with that
comes new sales opportunities.
To start 2007 off right, make
sure you are connecting with as
many car buyers on the Internet
as possible. Dealix brings you
the highest quality leads from
premium sites like Yahoo Autos,
Edmunds, Kelly Blue Book, and
more – directly to your in-box.
Click here to see a short movie
on Dealix's award-winning New
Car Leads Program, and learn
more about the provider that
dealers rated Highest in Overall
Dealer Satisfaction in the 2006 J.D. Power and Associates
Dealer Satisfaction with Online Buying Services StudySM.
View the movie.

New Developments for Third-party Sites
Ward's Dealer Business Editor on the Latest Trends
by Cliff Banks

Someone mentioned to me that very little new information came out of a
panel discussion I recently moderated for J.D. Power and Associates held in
Las Vegas. After listening to the tape of the session, which focused on the
next big thing from third-party websites, I beg to differ. According to the
panel, higher Internet lead costs for dealers and a system allowing customers
to rate dealers are just a couple of new developments dealers may see by
2008.

This article was originally published in the Dec. 20, 2006 issue of Ward's
Dealer Business.

[FULL STORY]



The Top Ten for Q4 2006
Most Requested and Highest Close Rate Vehicles
by Carl Montgomery

To kick off 2007, we’re looking back
at the fourth quarter of 2006 to
see which cars generated the most
leads and which had the highest
close rates. BMW and Ford
demonstrate that it's not just
about Toyota and Honda!
[FULL STORY]

Internet Training and Industry Reminders
Upcoming Events

Cobalt's Breakfast of Champions and the 2007 NADA Expo:
Upcoming industry events you won't want to miss.

Click Full Story for details.
[FULL STORY]

Dealix Dealer Newsletter Best of 2006
Most Popular Articles of the Past Year

In 2006, thanks to many great contributors and feedback from
our dealers, we covered the hottest topics in online
automotive to help dealers sell more vehicles more efficiently.
Here is a list of our most popular articles of 2006 - worthy of a
review to help you start 2007 strong.
[FULL STORY]

Published by Dealix Corporation Click here to Tell a Friend about the Dealix
Copyright © 2007 Dealix Corporation. All rights Dealer Newsletter
reserved.
below.


Effective Online Automotive Sales: Interview with Automotive Sales Expert Paul Miller


HOME Interview with Automotive Sales Expert Paul Miller
CONTENTS On Ad Spends, Rural Markets, and Domestic Brands

Interview with Paul Miller began his career in the
Automotive Sales
automotive industry cleaning cars at
Expert Paul Miller
an Illinois dealership at age 16.
Ralph Paglia of
Courtesy Chevrolet
Today, practically everyone working
Interview Part 2 in online automotive knows his name
The Future of Dealer and track record of success. As a
Websites consultant, he leverages his 15 years
Ask Gilbert: Should I of experience as a salesperson,
Invest in a Spanish Internet manager, BDC manager,
Language Web Site?
finance manager, and sales manager
Start 2007 Sales in to help dealerships around the
High Gear!
country. We spoke with him recently
New Developments
about key topics, including: combating the struggles of domestic
brands today; how rural dealers can avoid common selling
The Top Ten for Q4
2006
mistakes; and the importance of building trust and cooperation
between the floor and the Internet department.
Industry Reminders
Dealix Dealer
Newsletter Best of Dealix Dealer Newsletter (DDN): Paul, thanks for taking the
2006 time to talk with us. Let's start with your background. How did
View a Movie to See you get started in automotive, and how did you wind up where
How Dealix Can Help you are?
You Sell More Cars

SUBSCRIBE Paul Miller (PM): I started cleaning cars in an Illinois dealership
at age 16. That was back in 1991. At 17, I moved to the body
shop, where I prepped vehicles for the painters. At 18, I started
selling cars. I tried college, but I quickly that realized that the
car business was my true passion. All in all, I spent 15 years in
retail as a salesperson, Internet manager, BDC manager, finance
manager, and sales manager. I have been involved in every
aspect of dealership operations, from ordering inventory to
advertising.

In 1997, I started one of the country's first dealer websites and

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Subscribe to the Dealix BDC departments. That was for Capital Ford in Raleigh, NC.
Dealer Newsletter.
Enter your email When I left Capital, they were the #1 online Ford dealerships in
address in the box the country. Today I have my own software and consulting
below and we'll add
you to the list: company, DMi (Dudley-Miller, Inc.). My business partner and I,
along with our staff, handle many levels of consulting and
software needs for dealers nationwide.
Add Remove
DDN: There's probably no such thing as a "typical" consulting
Submit project. But can you paint us a picture of what you do and how
you work?

PM: The foundation for DMi was laid while I was still at Capital. I
got started doing websites and online applications for businesses
owned by friends and family, and later on for non-competing
dealerships. By the time I went out on my own, the workload
was overwhelming, and it continued to grow. My business
partner and I managed it by expanding our staff, which is now
up to six, and teaming with an advertising agency in Greenville,
SC.

As we've grown, one thing we've worked hard to maintain is an
individualized approach that develops the right solution for every
client. I handle virtually all initial visits myself. The principal
value that I personally am able to offer is the ability to dissect
everything about the way a dealership does business and
propose a process that will work for that particular store - as
opposed to a cookie-cutter process that forces the store to make
changes that may not make sense for it.

For every request, I do a site assessment and investigate
inbound emails, phone calls, and outbound marketing efforts. I
interview all personnel and also evaluate all systems, lead
providers, and advertising efforts. Afterwards, I prepare a report
for the dealer. I present my findings in person and offer a
proposal that will make it possible for the dealership to meet
identified goals. We always develop steps to completion and
make sure that each step is complete before proceeding to the
next. This is a way to prevent the dealer from taking a shotgun
approach that produces immediate results but ultimately ends in
failure.

DDN: What advice do you have for dealerships trying to strike
the right balance between traditional advertising and online
marketing?



PM: Our main goal is to get the most buyers for the least
amount per vehicle. This will vary from market to market and
season to season. The key is to have a plan in place and do real
forecasting instead of panicking on the fifteenth of the month
when you see that your sales are down.

We work with our ad agency partner to create a balanced
campaign that takes the current market into account. For
example, the summer is the time when TV advertising delivers
the least value. We have our clients back off of TV advertising
and put their money into radio and e-marketing. We may run a
banner campaign in outdoor events venues and publish a series
of summer email newsletters.

All of this varies according to the dealership, the market, and the
season. But one thing we emphasize strongly in every case is the
need for synergy between traditional and interactive media. We
want the customer to see the same message and brand online
and offline, with no exceptions. Another special effort we make is
to keep dealers from spending to force a market that is simply
not there. It's very difficult and very expensive to create buyers.
But it's easy and economical to purchase all the available buyers
in the market through companies like Dealix.

DDN: What are some of the biggest mistakes that you
commonly see GMs making?

PM: One is mistaking an Internet geek for an Internet manager.
Internet managers and BDC managers are among the most
important people in your dealership. Their true purpose in the
organization has almost nothing to do with technical expertise
and almost everything to do with an understanding of the car
business - in particular, how to apply the technology at their
disposal to increase business and retain existing customers.

The same attitude that leads GMs to favor technical over sales
knowledge when staffing these positions also leads them to keep
the Internet department or BDC out of the loop when it comes to
the dealership's overall marketing efforts. This is a huge
mistake. Many dealers don't tell the BDC about a TV, radio, or
print campaign until the day it hits - or, even worse, until the
BDC asks. During my site assessments, it’s not uncommon for
me to hear a BDC rep ask a caller, "Are you sure that's our ad?"



This sort of thing should never happen. You wouldn't ask your
quarterback to go into a game without knowing the game plan,
and the same goes for your BDC.

DDN: When you go into a dealership, what's the hardest
problem to correct? What's the one thing you're always hoping
not to see, not to have to deal with?

PM: Finding that someone is simply the wrong person for the job
is probably the hardest thing I have to deal with. For one thing,
it's not fun to be the bad guy, the guy who says, "Hey, this isn't
working out." But there's also the question of how the wrong
person got into this position in the first place. A lot of dealerships
move under-performing employees to the BDC rather than
letting them go. The attitude behind this is really difficult to
correct. Why would a dealer spend tens of thousands of dollars a
month on advertising to generate calls or email only to route
those leads to a person who lacks the ability to handle them?
Most of my clients prove adaptable enough to change their
thinking and staffing practices, but, when they resist, it makes
my job a lot tougher.

DDN: What's tends to be the biggest mental block for
dealerships? Is there a problem that's actually fairly easy to
solve, logistically, but which dealerships just hate facing?

PM: The biggest, definitely, is a lack of communication and trust
between departments. It shouldn't be that hard to see that a
true BDC is a support center for the sales department and not an
enemy. Sales managers in some stores actually show animosity
towards the Internet department when it has a better month
than the floor team.

A true BDC does not sell cars; it sells appointments for the floor.
A true Internet department does its job by putting the best
people in the right place to handle the customers that come its
way. Logistically, it's fairly easy to give a BDC or Internet
department everything it needs to succeed, but dealers can
undermine their efforts by allowing the animosity to continue.

One of the first things we do after a dealer agrees to our
proposal is to have a town hall meeting with all managers, and
then another with all salespeople. We want them to know from
day one why we're here, what we're doing, and how they and



the business will benefit.

DDN: The conventional wisdom is that domestic dealers have a
tougher time with Internet marketing than import dealers. How
do you view this issue?

PM: My belief is that domestics should actually perform better
than the imports in this regard, given that they have so much
more freedom from their manufacturers. Many import dealers
are hobbled by their forced reliance on CRM systems, websites,
and other technologies that, in my opinion, are inferior to what
can be obtained on the free market.

Our philosophy is the same, whether a client is a domestic or
import dealer. Use the best tools that your situation allows, and
spend your advertising dollars in the most efficient way possible.
In many cases, this involves identifying and targeting the most
realistic customers for your particular store at a particular
moment in time. A Toyota dealer shouldn't waste time trying to
capture F150 buyers if he has four Tundras on the lot. Go after
what will produce the most sales for you rather than going head
to head with your competition. Be realistic, set goals, and
achieve them.

DDN: In the world of Internet sales and marketing, what are
some key issues for rural dealerships?

PM: A lot of rural dealers make the same mistake over and over.
They think every Internet inquiry is a nothing deal that they will
lose to the big city boys because they lack selection or their
manager won't let them sell the vehicle at a low-enough price.
Rural dealers need to be proactive in their community and
present their customers with compelling reasons for keeping
their business local. As a rural dealer, you have to own your
market and not worry about the other markets. Selling outside
your market is a nice achievement, but if you make it a goal, it
will turn into a distraction.

An interesting problem crops up for rural dealerships that are
located in somewhat more dense areas. They tend to get more
Internet leads, and their response to this volume is to rely too
heavily on automation. They have a great personal touch with
walk-ups and phone-ups, but with Internet leads they forget who
they are and what has made people want to buy from them in



the past.

They can also forget the sales skills that they use all the time
when working on the lot. Finding out what the customer really
wants, for example. Someone can email them about a Ford
Explorer, and they go into order-taking mode, not bothering to
discover that the Explorer is number 25 on a list of 25 cars that
the customer wants. Number 1 might be a Lincoln Navigator,
and maybe that's out of the customer's price range. But if you
take the time to learn this, you may be able to sell an
Expedition, while your chances of selling that Explorer - the car
the customer inquired about - are actually zero.

The lesson here, of course, is a good one for all dealerships, and
not just rural or semi-rural stores. Via email, it's easy for the
most experienced sales professional to occasionally lose sight of
buyer psychology and to take an inquiry too straightforwardly.
This is one reason that it's important to pick up the phone and
make a real connection when email doesn't seem to be going
anywhere.

below.




HOME Ralph Paglia of Courtesy Chevrolet Interview Part 2
CONTENTS On Ad Budgets, Common Internet Sales Mistakes & More

Interview with We’re bridging 2006 and 2007 by continuing
Automotive Sales our chat with Ralph Paglia, CRM/e-Business
Expert Paul Miller Director at Phoenix’s Courtesy Chevrolet.
Ralph Paglia of
Courtesy is consistently one of the top
Courtesy Chevrolet Chevrolet dealers in the country, and Ralph’s
Interview Part 2 immense success has made him a nationally
known expert in online automotive sales. In
The Future of Dealer this second installment, Ralph talks about
Websites advertising budgets, common Internet sales
Ask Gilbert: Should I mistakes, “slurping,” and the dealership of the
Invest in a Spanish future.
Language Web Site?
Start 2007 Sales in
Dealix Dealer Newsletter (DDN): Ralph, I
High Gear!
can imagine that smaller dealerships would do
just about anything to have the advertising budget you have at Courtesy. What
New Developments advice would offer to help them make the most of their more limited means?
The Top Ten for Q4 Ralph Paglia (RP): The most effective marketing strategies will usually scale up
2006 or down as budgets grow or shrink, and that’s true of our approach at Courtesy
Chevrolet. The first thing we do is to buy every available new car Internet lead
that we can get from reputable lead providers such as Dealix. There’s simply no
Industry Reminders
better value than being able to engage with a “hand-raiser” for around $20. The
Dealix Dealer next thing is to buy used car leads based on our inventory. The principle here is
Newsletter Best of exactly the same.
2006
View a Movie to See After taking care of new car and used car leads, I would use any remaining
How Dealix Can Help Internet money to advertise the dealership’s website. We place a lot of graphical
You Sell More Cars ads on major automotive websites and get a lot of exposure and a lot of traffic.
But search engine marketing gives dealers a lot of flexibility in exactly how they
SUBSCRIBE advertise and how much they spend. The critical thing is to link your advertising
directly into your inventory.

DDN: In a recent story about you in Ward’s, you mentioned a growing practice
you called “slurping.” It seems that ISMs sometimes follow up with Internet
customers to see why they didn’t show up for an appointment, and the customer
will say, “I did, and I bought a car.” It turns out that floor salespeople are
stealing these prospects and making the sale. What do you do to prevent this?

RP: This has always been a problem, and it’s more of a political and
organizational issue than a technical one. We address it in a number of ways. Our
Internet sales specialists are trained to insist that the customer call the ISS’s cell
phone when they’re a block or two away from the dealership. We also have two



Subscribe to the Dealix full-time CRM administrators who work at the showroom reception desk. They’re
Dealer Newsletter. bonused based on how many customers they greet and introduce to the
Enter your email appropriate sales rep, so they have a strong incentive to prevent slurping.
address in the box
below and we'll add
you to the list:
What’s most effective is having our sales process tied closely to our CRM system,
which is set up to prevent salespeople from creating an entry that matches the
name, telephone number, address, or email address for an existing entry. Our
salespeople can’t work a deal without a customer number, and they can’t get a
customer number for an Internet lead without exposing themselves as a thief.
Add Remove
Submit Ultimately, this problem won’t go away until we develop the discipline to
terminate employees who stoop to this. A lot of dealerships wind up giving a half
deal to someone who gets caught skating, just to keep the peace. This is the
worst possible response, because it rewards and encourages the practice. I find it
interesting that, with 30 people handling Internet sales, we almost never have a
problem with the Internet salespeople skating each other. They are remarkably
good at splitting deals, getting the customer to the right person, and even
handling minor customer needs for their teammates without asking for half a
deal.

DDN: What’s the most common mistake Internet sales professionals make, in
your opinion?

RP: Withholding information that the customer explicitly asks for or has been
promised in exchange for submitting a lead. Sometimes it’s laziness, but
sometimes sales reps actually believe that the customer is more likely to speak
with them if they refuse to email specific answers.

It never fails to amaze and delight me when I mystery-shop our competitors and,
in response to a specific, direct question, am told, “I’ll go over that with you on
the phone.” Most customers will not let you get very far with them if you play
games and withhold information about pricing or anything else. If you provide all
the information the customer requests, and more, they’ll see that you are taking
their inquiry very seriously and that you genuinely want to give them great
service.

The customer’s yearning for attention and great service has not changed. If you
use email and phone calls to meet their needs and expectations, they will come
to the dealership to meet you in person. If you’re fundamentally committed to
this, even your missteps can turn out well. We resolve over 70% of our lead-
handling complaints with a sale. Every customer gets an email with my name,
direct phone number, and email address, asking if they are completely satisfied
with how Courtesy Chevrolet’s ISS handled their inquiry.

DDN: What about GMs? What should they avoid doing that could undermine the
success of their Internet sales efforts?

RP: Lack of involvement or genuine commitment on the part of a GM can really
hurt. GMs need to understand the Internet sales process as well as they
understand the dealership’s other processes. They also need to hold people
accountable for their performance. That means they have to know how to pull
reports from their CRM tools and measure the activities of their staff, so they can
kick butt when Internet sales reps do what all salespeople tend to do - let their
process execution deteriorate.



The only good alternative is to have someone like me operate at a director’s level
and do all this for them. Luckily, Courtesy Chevrolet doesn’t have a general
manager, so I get to keep my job!

DDN: Ten years from now, what are things going to be like for a typical
dealership?

RP: Sales originating from various types of digital inquiries will continue to grow
and represent a larger and larger portion of dealerships’ total sales. Newspapers
became worthless as a retail automotive marketing tool two or four years ago,
and more dealers will discover this fact every year.

Overall, I believe the level of professionalism within the world of automotive
sales will increase and managers will become savvier about everything that goes
into the buyer’s decision-making process. If you want to see what most dealers
will be doing in five years, come to Courtesy Chevrolet and visit our multiple
Internet sales departments and our brand new state-of-the-art business
development center. We don’t understand why it’s taking so long for other
dealers to catch up, but when we see some of our local competition asleep at the
wheel, we are thankful for it.


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Effective Online Automotive Sales: The Future of Dealer Websites


HOME The Future of Dealer Websites
CONTENTS Key Topics from the J.D. Power and Associates Automotive
Roundtable
Interview with
Automotive Sales At the J.D. Power and Associates Automotive Internet Roundtable held last
Expert Paul Miller November, a panel including The Cobalt Group’s vice president of applications
Ralph Paglia of and services, Kevin Root; Barry Brodsky of Dealer Web Tools; and Jason Ezell of
Courtesy Chevrolet Dealerskins discussed the Future of Dealership Websites.” This panel of online
Interview Part 2 automotive veterans gave a glimpse into the trends that are likely to grow
significantly in the next few years. Here are the hot topics:
Websites

Ask Gilbert: Should I Reputation Management
Invest in a Spanish
Language Web Site? At its broadest, “reputation management” refers to everything a business can do
Start 2007 Sales in to control the reputation it has among consumers. This doesn’t sound like a very
High Gear! high-tech concept, but today the Internet has a lot to do with the making - and
breaking - of reputations. Websites such as judysbook.com and angieslist.com
New Developments
give consumers the collective power to recommend particular services or stores.
At the same time, individual bloggers are wielding more power as their
The Top Ten for Q4 readership grows. For dealerships, the website - which is already a key place
2006 where identities and reputations are developed - will increasingly be thought of
Internet Training and as a tool for reputation management. And this thinking will guide a lot of choices
Industry Reminders made by dealers as they evaluate new technologies and web practices.
Dealix Dealer
Newsletter Best of
“Relevance”
2006
View a Movie to See This term was used a lot, particularly by Kevin Root, who expects a surge in
How Dealix Can Help dealers’ ability to present customized, highly relevant content to website visitors,
You Sell More Cars based on detailed knowledge of the search history that brought them to the site.
One intriguing result: the phase out of the traditional homepage. In the near
SUBSCRIBE future, the landing page shown to a given visitor will be customized for that
particular person, with content and features based on how they searched for that
particular site.

Video

Still having a hard time keeping your inventory photographs up to date? It is
predicted that there will be an even stronger move towards video. This may take
a number of forms. Video can be an effective way to show a website visitor what
it feels like to drive a given vehicle. And, especially for used cars, it offers the
possibility of “virtual walk-arounds.” A lead can schedule a time with a sales rep
who will walk around the car with a video camera. Thoroughly documenting the



Subscribe to the Dealix car, including any nicks and scratches, will be an excellent way to build trust.
Dealer Newsletter.
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Today, the dominant model is to build a website and drive people to it.
Tomorrow, this model will be effectively complemented by “push” technology,
including RSS feeds, which will allow you to syndicate portions of your website
for consumption by subscribing users. A car buyer who visits your website but
Add Remove doesn’t see exactly what he wants in inventory might elect to have you push
Submit inventory updates to him. This buyer may be using a program that consolidates
all his auto-related feeds on a single, customizable web page - something he
constructs for himself as part of his car-shopping efforts.

Collective Intelligence

Ever look at a book on Amazon.com and notice the recommendations you’re
shown, based on the books other buyers of the original book have bought? If
you’ve ever found these recommendations helpful, then you - and Amazon - have
benefited from “collective intelligence”: knowledge constructed based on the
behavior of a large group. Collective intelligence will be one of the ways dealer
websites enhance the relevance of the content they present to users. Imagine a
car buyer searching your inventory and finding the car they want, along with
vehicles frequently purchased by others who searched for this car.

Shared OEM Assets

OEMs are pumping a tremendous amount of money into building Internet assets
that help them brand themselves, and their vehicles. The pressure to share these
assets with dealers - whose budgets are much more limited - is growing. Expect
to see movement on this front, in part thanks to efforts by service providers that
work with dealers and OEMs.

Partial Online Transactions

No one on the panel felt it would soon be possible to complete a deal entirely
online. But possibilities for carrying out specific portions of the transaction online
are blossoming. Expect to see software that helps dealers and buyers negotiate
over price, for example.

More Vehicle Info Online

If a buyer visits your site, and fails to find the vehicle information they need, so
then goes elsewhere in search of it, the chances you’ll see them again fall
precipitously. As a result, there will be a strong focus for dealers to begin
providing more vehicle information to capture (and keep) a larger share of these
visitors.

Owner Marketing



In the November ’06 issue of the Dealix Dealer Newsletter, we covered the topic
of “owner marketing.” The term refers to the practice of marketing to your
customer base - usually via email. In the near term, the ability to do this in a
more targeted and customized way will grow, and dealers will increasingly think
of owner management as a method for managing their overall reputation among
car buyers. Services like The Cobalt Group’s OnStation focus on helping dealers
maintain and expand upon relationships with their existing customer base via
email “owner” marketing.

Increased Focus on Dealer Branding/Identity

Dealers spent much of the first decade of online automotive retailing simply
getting online and refining their sites and processes. Now the task is to use
websites to address the question, “Why me?” Why should car buyers shop with
you rather than the guy down the street? You can answer that question with text
and photos, of course, and even with the design of the site. But, increasingly,
useful technologies will play a role. Consider video, discussed above, and the
opportunity it provides for dealers to show used car blemishes and thus build
trust. At the end of the day, it’s still about the relationship that the dealer can
build with their customers based on the dealer’s ability to know their interests
and show them relevant content.


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Effective Online Automotive Sales: Ask Gilbert: Should I Invest in a Spanish Language Web Site?


HOME Ask Gilbert: Should I Invest in a Spanish Language Web
CONTENTS Site?
When to Meet the Demands of this Growing Market
Interview with
Automotive Sales
Expert Paul Miller Gilbert Chavez is Internet director for the Phil Long dealerships
Ralph Paglia of
of Colorado, the largest privately-owned dealer group in that
Courtesy Chevrolet state. Gilbert frequently shares his responses to questions he
Interview Part 2 gets from other Internet dealers on how to run better Internet
The Future of Dealer departments and general best practices with the Dealix Dealer
Websites Newsletter. Here's the latest.
Ask Gilbert: Should I
Invest in a Spanish
Language Web Site?
Dear Gilbert,
Start 2007 Sales in
High Gear!
We’re thinking about getting a version of our dealership’s
New Developments
for Third-party Sites website in Spanish because our dealership is located in an area
The Top Ten for Q4
where there is a large Spanish-speaking community. Our
2006 management team has been discussing the idea of investing in a
Internet Training and Spanish website for a while because we have been reading and
Industry Reminders seeing reports on TV about this growing market. We do have
Dealix Dealer some sales people who speak Spanish, but the fact is that very
Newsletter Best of few of the customers we deal with are unable to speak English –
2006
they can do a deal in English, no problem. What do you think?
View a Movie to See Should we invest in having our website in Spanish as well as in
How Dealix Can Help
You Sell More Cars
English?

SUBSCRIBE Thanks,

Curious George

Dear Curious,

I get this question all the time. (Must be because of my Irish
sounding last name.) This is obviously a loaded issue, so, let’s
try to put politics aside, and focus on the fact that you’re just



Subscribe to the Dealix trying to “meet your market” on their terms and sell cars.
Dealer Newsletter.
Enter your email
address in the box While I don’t have exhaustive demographic statistics at my
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disposal, I can tell you what I’ve learned from my own
experience, and that is - the online Spanish speaking market is
an emerging market – it’s not totally there yet, but it promises
to be big. You need to assess your particular market today to
Add Remove decide just how much - and how soon - you want to invest in
Submit this. But first, you need to ask yourself – am I doing everything I
can with Internet leads and search engine marketing to fully tap
into my existing market?

Here’s an example of what I’ve experienced: Colorado, where
our dealerships are located, has a significant Spanish-speaking
population. Our dealer group has two Spanish language
conversion sites, and I have seen little to no traffic on these
sites. Additionally, our group has a Spanish language converter
on our online used vehicles displays that gets essentially no play
at all. Furthermore, I recently worked in an area of New Mexico
where 44.3% of the population speaks Spanish, and experienced
the same result.

However, I have heard from other dealers, particularly in areas
like Houston and San Antonio, Texas, and they’ve gotten good
traction by having web sites in Spanish.

Know Your Particular Market – Notable Stats

Here are some statistics I’ve found on the Web from e-
Marketer.com and Internet World Stats.com, that may help you
make the decision on when to invest in a Spanish-language site,
if at all.

• In most cases, second-generation Americans of
Spanish-speaking parents are online; however, many are
bilingual and surf English-language search engines and
web sites.
• The Spanish-speaking population is the largest and
fastest-growing ethnic segment in the United States, and
is expected to grow to 17% of the domestic population
by 2010.
• There were 15.7 million Spanish-speaking Internet
users in the US in 2005. And, this total will rise to 16.7



million in 2006, and is expected to reach nearly 21
million by 2010.
• The online Spanish-speaking population is young. In
2005, there were 9.1 million estimated Spanish-speaking
Internet users under the age of 35, and this estimate is
expected to rise to 12.1 million in 2010.

With a segment of the population that is growing this big and
this fast, dealers should definitely continue to keep their ears
close to the ground in order to make a sound assessment of how
to best meet these consumers’ online car buying needs. For
instance, in order to successfully target this demographic online -
once the market is really ready - we must appreciate its
intricacies. It is going to take more than traditional web sites
simply translated into Spanish. The next generation web sites in
Spanish will have to demonstrate the specific nuances of the
language and culture as well as the needs of this growing
marketing of car buyers.

The key here is to really know your market. But, above all, keep
this in mind – you really only want to branch out to “emerging
markets’ after you’ve full tapped your existing market. Is your
dealership already doing all it can on the Internet (leads, search,
etc.) to reach your current market? Master that first, then look to
expansion.

George, thanks for the great question.

- Gilbert

below.


Effective Online Automotive Sales: Start 2007 Sales in High Gear!


HOME Start 2007 Sales in High Gear!
CONTENTS View a Movie on How Dealix Can Help You Sell More

Interview with It's a new year and with that comes
Automotive Sales
new sales opportunities. To start
Expert Paul Miller
2007 off right, make sure you are
Ralph Paglia of
Courtesy Chevrolet
connecting with as many car buyers
Interview Part 2 on the Internet as possible.
The Future of Dealer Dealix brings you the highest quality
Websites leads from premium sites like Yahoo
Ask Gilbert: Should I Autos, Edmunds, Kelly Blue Book,
Invest in a Spanish and more – directly to your in-box.
Language Web Site?
Click here to see a short movie
Start 2007 Sales in
on Dealix's award-winning New Car
High Gear!
Leads Program, and learn more
New Developments
about the provider that dealers rated
Highest in Overall Dealer Satisfaction
The Top Ten for Q4
2006 in the 2006 J.D. Power and Associates Dealer Satisfaction with
Internet Training and Online Buying Services StudySM. View the movie.
Industry Reminders
Dealix Dealer
Newsletter Best of
2006
View a Movie to See
How Dealix Can Help
You Sell More Cars

SUBSCRIBE


Effective Online Automotive Sales: Start 2007 Sales in High Gear!

Subscribe to the Dealix
Dealer Newsletter.
Enter your email
address in the box
below and we'll add
you to the list:

Add Remove
Submit

below.


Effective Online Automotive Sales: New Developments for Third-party Sites


HOME New Developments for Third-party Sites
CONTENTS Ward's Dealer Business Editor on the Latest Trends

Interview with
Automotive Sales
Expert Paul Miller
I guess you can’t please everybody. Someone mentioned to me
that very little new information came out of a panel discussion I
Ralph Paglia of
Courtesy Chevrolet recently moderated for J.D. Power and Associates held in Las
Interview Part 2 Vegas.
Websites After listening to the tape of the session, which focused on the
Ask Gilbert: Should I next big thing from third-party websites, I beg to differ.
Invest in a Spanish According to the panel, higher Internet lead costs for dealers and
Language Web Site?
a system allowing customers to rate dealers are just a couple of
Start 2007 Sales in
new developments dealers may see by 2008. Sounds
High Gear!
newsworthy to me, especially if you’re a dealer buying leads
New Developments
from third-party firms.
The Top Ten for Q4
2006 Sitting on the panel were John Holt president and CEO of The
Internet Training and Cobalt Group; Stephen Henson, executive vice president of
Industry Reminders Kelley Blue Book; Chip Perry, president and CEO of
Dealix Dealer AutoTrader.com; Mitch Golub, president Cars.com; and Jim
Newsletter Best of Riesenbach president and CEO of Autobytel, Inc.
2006
View a Movie to See One thing is clear. All of the panelists agree the process with
How Dealix Can Help
You Sell More Cars
which their sites move online car shoppers to the dealers needs
to evolve to the next level. And that means improving the quality
SUBSCRIBE of leads dealers receive.

Indeed, there has been a lot of industry discussion about
improving lead quality. Riesenbach, though, says talking about
lead quality is a misnomer.

“The notion that a consumer not ready to buy to on that day
(when they visit a site) is a low-quality lead strikes me as odd,”
he says.



Subscribe to the Dealix Rather than poor quality, it is an issue of readiness, Riesenbach
Dealer Newsletter.
Enter your email
thinks. “We need to define readiness and recognize people are
address in the box coming into the funnel long before they are ready to buy,” he
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you to the list:
says. “It is incumbent upon us to build (business) models that
help move the consumers logically through that funnel.”

“We need to take every lead that comes in and do everything
Add Remove possible to pass it on to a dealer so it has as much opportunity
Submit to close as possible,” says Holt.

He suggests scientifically scoring leads as one way to measure
readiness. Holt also believes third-party companies can do a
better job of managing those leads. “We can do that with
service,” he says. “We can extend our hands to the customer on
behalf of the dealer.”

One way is to develop sites that allow shoppers to
simultaneously search for both used and new vehicles, Perry
argues. “There has been an artificial separation between new
and used shoppers,” he says. “But studies show 40% of car
buyers shop for both. There are fundamental gaps in the car
buying process on many sites.”

Golub agrees saying third-party sites need to take a page from
the used-car side of the business that allows shoppers to search
for specific vehicles. He envisions a process that allows buyers to
match their online vehicle configurations with actual inventory on
dealers’ lots.

Another development in the works that Golub expects will be in
the market late in 2008 is a ratings system of dealers. It likely
will be a touchy issue for dealers, and is one that has be done
positively rather than negatively, he says.

Another area third-party sites will improve is in the use of
content and consumer-generated tools, Henson says. “We’ll see
exponential growth in that area,” he says. KBB.com is piloting
video applications and will begin rolling them out sometime next
year.

Meanwhile, Cars.com is launching in February a series of vehicle
databases shoppers can access using their cell phones and
Blackberries.



But all this development will take money and likely will result in
higher prices for those leads. Cars.com is doubling its product
development for its site in 2007. The shopping experience has to
change, Golub argues. “It’s a 12-year old business model in
which the price per lead has not changed in eight years,” he
says. But that may be a tough sell for skeptical dealers.

The return for dealers, though, may be much higher closing
ratios for the leads they purchase from third-party sites. If that
happens, and that is a big “if,” that will be real news.

cbanks@wardsauto.com

This article was originally published in the Dec. 20, 2006 issue of
Ward's Dealer Business.

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Effective Online Automotive Sales: The Top Ten for Q4 2006


HOME The Top Ten for Q4 2006
CONTENTS Most Requested and Highest Close Rate Vehicles

Interview with To kick off 2007, we’re looking back at the
Automotive Sales fourth quarter of 2006 to see which vehicles
Expert Paul Miller generated the most leads and which vehicles
Ralph Paglia of
had the highest close rates.
Courtesy Chevrolet
Interview Part 2
Close Rates: Trucks and SUVs Come Out on
The Future of Dealer Top
Websites
Ask Gilbert: Should I Every vehicle in this list is an SUV or truck, with two exceptions - two very
Invest in a Spanish different exceptions. At number 4, there’s the Lexus GS, with a close rate score of
Language Web Site? 990. And at number 9 there’s the Honda Civic Si, with a close rate score of 949.
Start 2007 Sales in
Yet, overall, in the 4th Quarter of 2006, online vehicle buyers clearly showed that
High Gear!
they wanted a vehicle that could "do stuff" - whether it was for work or a busy
and active lifstyle - to haul lots of things - or people.
New Developments
Close Rate Score by Make and Model
The Top Ten for Q4
Rank Make Model Close Rate Score
2006
1 BMW X3 1000
Internet Training 2 Chevrolet Silverado Classic 1500 4WD 990
and Industry
3 Jeep Commander 990
Reminders
4 Lexus GS 990
Dealix Dealer 5 Nissan Frontier 990
Newsletter Best of
6 Acura MDX 970
2006
7 Dodge Dakota 949
View a Movie to See 8 Ford Freestyle 949
How Dealix Can Help
9 Honda Civic Si 949
You Sell More Cars
10 Toyota Tacoma 949
SUBSCRIBE

Most-Requested Vehicles

As usual, we’ve broken these rankings into four categories: cars, trucks, SUVs,
and minivans.

Among cars, the imports ruled the roost, with Ford the only domestic
manufacturer to make the cut - thanks to its eye-catching Mustang. For the most
part, the cars generating the most leads are a fairly unassuming lot. The Mustang
is an exception, of course, as is the MINI Cooper. MINI mania is still alive and well.


Effective Online Automotive Sales: The Top Ten for Q4 2006

Subscribe to the Most Requested Cars
Dealix Dealer Rank Make Model Strength Rating
Newsletter. Enter
your email address in 1 Toyota Camry 1000
the box below and 2 Honda Civic Sedan 679
we'll add you to the 3 Toyota Corolla 648
list:
4 Honda Accord Sedan 560
5 BMW 3 Series (default) 522
6 Honda Civic Coupe 389
7 MINI Cooper (default) 372
Add Remove
8 Honda Accord Coupe (default) 367
Submit 9 Ford Mustang 361
10 Mazda MAZDA3 360

In the trucks category, the Big Three fared much better, with all making the list -
Chevrolet twice. Only Toyota had more ranked models (3). Nissan had two, but in
the number 9 and number 10 spots.

Most Requested Trucks
Rank Make Model Strength Rating
1 Ford F Series Pickup* 1000
2 Chevrolet Silverado* 831
3 Dodge Ram* 606
4 Toyota Tacoma 476
5 GMC Sierra* 333
6 Chevrolet Avalanche (default) 267
7 Toyota Tundra 235
8 Toyota Tacoma PreRunner 163
9 Nissan Frontier 157
10 Nissan Titan 136

On to the top ten SUVs. Here, Toyota models occupied the top two spots, with a
third - the FJ Cruiser - showing up at number 7. Honda placed two of its vehicles,
as did Jeep. And high gas prices didn’t force Hummer off the list: its H3 held firm
at number 5.

Most Requested SUVs
Rank Make Model Strength Rating
1 Toyota RAV4 1000
2 Toyota 4Runner (default) 869
3 Chevrolet Tahoe 631
4 Honda CR-V 617
5 Hummer H3 615
6 Honda Pilot 521
7 Toyota FJ Cruiser 516
8 Jeep Wrangler 463
9 BMW X5 453
10 Jeep Grand Cherokee 416


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