AutoSuccess addresses the specific, researched needs of new car and light truck dealerships by providing entrepreneurial, cutting-edge, solution-based editorials to increase dealership profits and reduce expenses
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8. SusanGivens marketing solution having their cars only appear on the national
Website, but they can place their inventory on
dealer increases car regional and local Websites that are indexed by
the most popular search engines like Google
sales By 48 Percent and that provides maximum visibility for their
inventory,” said Brian Pasch, owner of the
with online inventory www.AutomotiveAdvertisingNetwork.com
(AAN), the online advertising network that
advertising strategies Rairdon Auto Group uses.
While strategic online inventory marketing is a have more cars, larger marketing budgets and “Dealers in the network appear on top of the
new arena for many dealers, some in-the-know more search authority. Dealers realize they need search engines organically when in-market
dealers are already seeing noticeable results. to partner with inventory advertising Websites consumers search for popular terms so their
Rairdon Auto Group in Washington is up 48 in order to reach more in-market shoppers. traffic and sales increase dramatically,” added
percent in new and used car sales since kicking-off Sean Wolfington, co-owner of the Automotive
a online inventory strategy in the spring of 2010. Rairdon Auto Group works with a national Advertising Network.
membership-based online inventory advertising
With more than 90 percent of consumers using platform that combines the power of a national At the recent NADA 2011 in San Francisco,
the Internet to research and purchase new or marketing Website with hundreds of local DrivingSales Dealer Satisfaction Award
used vehicles, it is essential for dealers to have and regional inventory advertising Websites. Winners were announced and AAN received the
a robust online inventory advertising strategy to Through this platform, Rairdon has access to third-highest number of votes.
connect with in-market shoppers. inventory syndication tools that allows them
“We would like to congratulate today’s
to integrate their car inventory on blogs, press
Dealers are faced with a tsunami of marketing award winners. They have achieved what we
releases, microsites and social media portals.
information that attempts to leverage digital consider to be the highest possible accolade:
They receive unlimited leads and can leverage
marketing, social media, geo-targeted the satisfaction of their dealer customers,” said
the network to publish and syndicate their
applications and online reviews to help increase DrivingSales CEO and Founder Jared Hamilton.
inventory, promotions, sales and community
their market share. One priority, however, “The DrivingSales Dealer Satisfaction Awards
activism to the most relevant automotive and
remains constant: Sell more cars and retain are simply a reflection of the excellent results
social media Websites in their market.
gross. This objective creates a need for placing these solution-providers have generated for
dealer inventory in front of as many consumers Rairdon also has their inventory integrated dealers across the nation, and we are proud to
as possible to leverage their online advertising. in a custom tab on Facebook, increasing the recognize their accomplishments.”
opportunity for followers to shop, and has also
Most single-car dealership Websites are not increased their connection with local car buyers. Susan Givens is the publisher of AutoSuccess.
powerful enough to compete with larger, She can be contacted at 877.818.6620, or by
national inventory marketing Websites, which “Dealers in our network are not restricted to e-mail at sgivens1@autosuccessonline.com.
$300 MILLION WORTH OF INVENTORY.
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08 autosuccessonline.com
10. ScottJoseph marketing solution Today, things should be more efficient,
effective and selective. Are they?
how to increase Today, you run the real risk of alienating or
accomplishing the polar opposite of what
the value of you really want. Over-communicating, or
saturating your customers with information
your customers that is irrelevant to them, will cause them to
become callous to everything you send them.
Everyone knows the statistic that a mere five
Social media, e-mail, direct mail, texting, telemarketing, mass media, Websites, micro-sites…. percent increase in customer retention can result
There are a lot of different ways to communicate with customers. There are more options today, in a 75 percent increase in customer value. The
in fact, than ever before. So, the real question that has to be asked is, “What is the overall goal of problem is most people haven’t figured out how
all this communication?” to improve their retention by five percent.
The relevance of your communication is a key
For me, it’s simple: I want to increase the overall value of a customer, which in the end produces
ingredient to any loyalty or retention marketing
a much higher return on investment.
program you have. Trying to be everything to
everybody will have a negative impact. Think
of it this way:
• Increased relevance creates increased
engagement from the customer.
• Increased engagement creates increased
satisfaction with you and your company.
• Increased satisfaction creates increased
behavior (and isn’t this what we need our
marketing to do?).
• Increased behavior creates increased value.
• Increased value creates increased ROI.
The exact opposite happens when your message
is irrelevant. Marketing should not be about
“getting your name out there.” It should improve
the relationship you have with each and every
customer. When this is done, your marketing
will start to lead the customer’s behavior.
So how do you do this? It all starts with the
data. Make no mistake about it; the most
important asset you have is your customer
database. The more information you retain and
collect, the stronger your marketing efforts
can become. Good data is only half the battle,
though. You have to have a reliable data
analytic team or partner with the skill set to
create profiles specific to each customer; that
way, you only send information that is timely
and relevant to their needs.
A reliable data analytic team should be able to
provide opportunities to:
• Increase customer activity and spend during
the customer’s lifecycle
• Retain more customers
• Prevent, or at least reduce, defection
• Win back customers
• Increase your profitability
Data analytics has never been more important.
In the April 2010 issue of AutoSuccess
Magazine, our lead analyst, Sowmya Iyer,
authored a great article entitled, “‘Target
Audience,’ ‘Narrow Down’ and ‘Right List’
are the Most Overused Phrases in E-mail and
Direct Mail Today: How You Can Really Move
the Needle with Your Direct Marketing.” I
recommend reading it or requesting a copy.
You can also read Sowmya’s article on the J&L
Blog at http://blog.jandlmarketing.com/.
Scott Joseph is the president of J&L
Marketing, Inc. He can be contacted at
888.835.1689, or by e-mail at
sjoseph@autosuccessonline.com.
10 autosuccessonline.com
12. audit, I was looking for a partner who had
great CSI tools to assist our efforts and help
me develop a customer resolution system that
would show results early on. We now survey
all of our sales and service clients to determine
how to do our jobs better.
as: Beyond your team, what are you
doing to bring so many more car
buyers to mel hambelton ford?
Pn: As I was developing my business plan,
I understood it was not only important to
build the Mel Hambelton brand; it was just as
important to actually be part of our community
and help show people that we are not simply
here to sell cars, but through sponsorships and
charity, we are willing to give back. I have
tried to stay active in community events and
we currently sponsor local sport teams, host
benefit concerts and even have a company
helicopter that is used in all sorts of ways.
Our most recent involvement helped us gain
national attention and a way to give back in a
big way through the ABC Extreme Makeover
el Hambelton Ford in Wichita, Kansas, developed a plan to increase sales, service Home Edition.
and customer retention in a short period of time. The vision was simple: “go big”
with people, processes, marketing and technology. This plan was put in place to Although I understood how important it is to
take them to the next level, and judging by the increase in sales, service and overall customer make a change in the front end of our store —
satisfaction, it worked. Mel Hambelton Ford has done more than execute a technology audit; they using technology to help indicate which of our
have also done an exceptional job at giving back to the community. We recently sat down with customers are ready to purchase either new or
General Manager Phil Nightingale and spoke with him about the dealership’s new business plan, additional vehicles and using a combination
customer satisfaction and future growth potential. of targeted marketing, Web presence and
reputation management on the social networks
autosuccess: tell us a little about yourself and the dealership,
— my background as a service manager helped
and mel hambelton ford’s initial “go big” plan.
me realize the importance of taking care of
Phil nightingale: Mel Hambelton Ford has been in business for 27 years, with our current
people when they show up in our Service
facility being home since June 2002. I was initially hired as a service director in June of 2008, Department. It is my belief that a poorly-run
quickly being promoted to general manager the following year. As the general manager, I Service Department can lose customers; but
noticed that there were a lot of easy fixes; however, initially I would have to make some tough handling customers properly from their first
decisions to reach my long-term goal of being a market leader. Luckily, I had a great foundation service forward will certainly earn you repeat
on which to achieve our dealership’s long-term goals, as the facility is large enough to allow us business. As I studied our local market, I
to sell and service a larger number of the vehicles in our market. I never had a doubt that Mel noticed that some dealerships are so focused
Hambelton Ford would be a market leader; my main concern was how we got it done. on sales they seem to forget how important
service is to a customer’s overall satisfaction
My first job was to get the right people in place who could actually affect change, so I started with a dealership. I have made it clear to the
recruiting immediately and, as a matter of fact, I now have the most tenure of any manager entire Mel Hambelton team that our mission
in the store. My goal was to get the right mix of managers who conducted business the Mel statement includes 100-percent satisfaction in
Hambelton Way. We really felt as if we could make a change in the entire buying experience the Service Department and, with the buy-in of
for our customers by focusing on their needs and simply putting the fun back into the entire my staff, this has definitely made a difference
vehicle-buying process. in our overall strategy to increase sales. At Mel
Hambelton Ford, we do not just sell a car; we
When I first joined the Mel Hambelton team, our CSI was definitely sub-par and I recognized build lifetime relationships.
that for us to reach our goals, we needed to address this immediately. The good news is that as: can you give us some numbers
raising CSI is easy as long as you do what you say you are going to do when you say you are to show where you were and where
going to do it. I saw this and understood how important CSI is to the growth of any dealership, you are now?
regardless of brand or location. My initial approach was to attract the right type of employees Pn: Great question — I am happy to say our
who would relate to customers the “Mel Hambelton Way” — which is simply with honesty and plan to “go big” is working, as we have seen
respect. I also knew that if I could not measure the results and have early indications that there our vehicle sales increase from an average of
was a potential CSI issue, I would be fighting an uphill battle. While conducting my technology 125 units per month to an average of 250 over
13. the last year, and we are just starting. February we wanted to take a deeper look at. We then scheduled demos with all of the “best of the best”
was a banner month for us — we sold 293 technology providers that could assist us with CRM, ILM, inventory, market pricing tools, survey
units. Our service is also continuing to grow; if tools and Websites to see who was the best fit.
you can’t tell by now, I am a “fixed ops” kind
of guy, and we have seen a 20 percent growth In the end, we chose the same vendor (VinSolutions) as the dealer I originally called from your
in repair orders year over year. magazine, as they had created an all-in-one solution that offered, by far, the best technology in most
of the categories that were important to us, at the best price. I am now the dealer who has upgraded
as: what do you attribute that success to? my dealership technologies while at the same time saving money as I replaced 10 vendors with one.
Pn: Honestly, hard work by the entire staff
and realizing that focusing all of our efforts as: so, after your plan was in place and your technology audit
in the same direction can make an immediate was complete, what did you do that had the biggest impact?
difference. We have become very proficient at Pn: I would say it was the ability to finally see all of my dealership and customer information in
executing our new business plan and so far it one place that helped me make advertising decisions the right way. We have always been told that
has all worked perfectly. most dealerships know that 50 percent of our advertising campaigns work but most dealerships
have no idea which 50 percent it is. When we combined our technology, using a more holistic
as: you have mentioned how important approach, we were able to see results and discovered that the “pray and spray” advertising model
it was to do a technology audit at your is really a thing of the past and the future is all about targeted marketing efforts combined with the
dealership; can you explain what that is ability to track results down to Website visits, sales and RO’s. We found out that we could launch
and share your end results? better campaigns at less cost and increase sales and service to our customers.
Pn: In today’s competitive environment, as: Paying less in advertising while making greater profits will
I quickly realized that having the right confuse most readers as it seems impossible — can you explain?
technology can make a difference and having Pn: Sure. When we finally got to see all of our legacy customer information – after we had the
the wrong technology can actually have a data cleaned and increased our customer e-mails by 35 percent – in a system that allowed us to
negative impact on your profits — if only run data queries which aligned customers in different advertising categories, we were able to
through cost savings alone. We started by target campaigns that included relevant information to their needs today. We all know that when
researching what most successful dealerships you receive a marketing piece that actually addresses your needs, you are far more likely to take
were doing today by reading articles in action. An example of this is that instead of sending something as simple as an oil change coupon
magazines such as yours and contacting to all of our customers, we were actually able to see which customers had come in for regular
dealers to ask them what they were doing service and sent them a coupon for tire rotation — if they had never done that within our Service
right. As a matter of fact, we read an article in Department. If we had a customer who had never had an oil change in our Service Department,
AutoSuccess about a dealer who saved $15,000 we sent them a discount offer. When you really look at the data that you have spent years
per month while improving his technology and collecting, you can easily see which campaign will give you the biggest bang for your buck. The
processes that led to an immediate difference surprise was that, in most cases, it is less expensive to target campaigns than any other method as
in his sales, service and overall profit. I you can replace mail with e-mail.
immediately called this dealer and asked what
process his dealership developed in order as: that sounds like a lot of work and decision making;
to make this decision. He told me how he explain how you handle this process.
developed and completed a technology audit Pn: That is a very good question, as I had the same question myself when I started my
while sharing his vendor surveys, comparison technology audit and launched my business plan. Luckily, our CRM system indicates which
worksheets and results. ad campaigns we should run and the associated budget, and then automatically — at both the
customer and campaign level — shows measurable results. There are some campaigns that
I did not want to make a decision based on always make sense, such as communicating with customers who have declined service, were
someone else’s recommendation alone, as unsold or have scheduled appointments; so, we set our system to automatically fulfill these with
I knew that different products could impact no user interaction at all. One campaign everyone should run is to customers we know are in a
dealerships in different ways, so we began positive equity position. The technology we have in place now indicates which customers are
our own technology audit with our long-term in positive equity by running their current vehicle against Black Book and NADA books, and
goals in mind. I would recommend that all automatically cues them up for us to market to the right way. To answer your question: This is
dealerships go through an exercise similar to an example of how the latest and greatest technology can help a dealership get more done with
this because it is definitely an eye opener and, fewer people.
in a lot of ways, you quickly discover you
don’t know what you don’t know. I learned as: are you saying that you can get more done with fewer employees?
that technology had come a long way and it Pn: Although that is a true statement, as a good technology partner allows you to accomplish
can really let a dealership accomplish a lot of more with fewer people by adding solid follow-up processes with no user interaction, at the end
daily tasks that in the past you would have had of the day, I am a realist and understand that our business will always come down to people and
to hire a team of people to accomplish. processes. Good technology lets your staff focus on taking care of the customers rather than
manually completing daily tasks, and the end result of people concentrating on what they do best
We decided to send our audit team to several are happy customers and larger profits. At the end of the day, nobody knows our local economy,
shows including Digital Dealer and NADA customers and community like we do, so we will always be hands on.
to see technology presentations and bring
back recommendations of technologies that As a matter of fact, we looked at our long-term goals and determined that additional resources
14. needed to be focused on positions filled by the right people to aid us with our in-house marketing Our desking system also has built-in banking
efforts. We now have created a team to oversee our marketing campaigns as they pertain to radio, information, credit scores, a trade evaluation
television, digital and newspapers. We have built our own studio where we can cut our own radio tool and indicates a customer’s total value to
spots and digital work for our store. the dealership — which increases the speed
of the customer’s decision, making process
In short, upgrading our technology helped us anchor our overall business plan and allowed us to leading to higher profits.
focus our attention on hiring employees we know will make a difference.
The nice thing is; since we are now saving all
as: while implementing your business plan and new technology at the same deals in our CRM, we will be able to view this
time, how do you find time to actually run the day-to-day operations? historical information when negotiating future
Pn: The business plan and the technology upgrade are actually tied together; so with transactions with them. Isn’t technology great?
VinSolutions as our partner, most of the things that would normally take the most time are now
fully automated. I already explained how the marketing was automated, but so are the Website, as: any advice for other dealers who
SEO, inventory marketing, management and sales processes. We even have additional options might be on the cusp of deciding to
like factory rebates, CSI and customer proposals running on auto pilot. I made sure that the make a big change themselves?
partner I picked had the “best in class” reporting functionality so that I could get all of the Pn: Sure. I would give the same advice I got:
information that was pertinent to my growth strategy sent to me via e-mail every day. The system Develop a rock-solid business plan, speak with
does things that we tried to do in the past but never had time to do. For example, if we reduce successful dealers and conduct a thorough
the price of a vehicle, our potential buyers automatically get sent notification indicating the price technology audit so that you, too, can learn
reduction via an e-mail that also contains a full vehicle brochure, as well as additional vehicles that sometimes you don’t know what you don’t
they might like. If the customer re-engages through e-mail, we set an appointment; if they do not, know. Also, never forget — nothing replaces
our system automatically schedules a call for the next day. When a customer arrives at the store, keeping focused on your goals and working
our sales reps can quickly gather information and enter it into the VinSolutions system with hard to achieve them. And last, but not least,
little effort. This information, coupled with the previous customer information already stored in go big.
the system, has helped us shorten the time it takes to process a vehicle transaction, making our
customer’s buying experience better and improving our overall CSI. The addition of “best in
class” technology has actually freed up my time to focus on customer and personnel management Phil Nightingale is the general manager of
— allowing me to accelerate our long-term growth plans even faster. Mel Hambelton Ford in Wichita, Kansas. For
more information about his dealership, visit
as: tell us what you do to re-engage customers who leave www.mhford.com.
the store in an “unsold” status? For more information about VinSolutions,
Pn: We have set up custom follow-up processes to better communicate with unsold customers contact the CSO, Sean Stapleton. He can be
in a way that gets them to come back and talk about what made them hesitant to begin with. contacted at 866.854.7024, or by e-mail at
I learned from my technology audit that 99 percent of the battle is to gather the customer sstapleton@autosuccessonline.com.
information in the first place, so we easily scan customers’ information into our CRM and
always make sure to get e-mail addresses. When a customer leaves the store in an unsold status,
we have automated a process to send a survey via e-mail asking about their experience at our
dealership and what kept them from purchasing. If they fill this survey out via e-mail, we re-
engage them using this information to get them to agree to a return visit. If the e-mail survey is
not filled out, our CRM tool prompts our team to make a call to the customer where we fill out
the very same survey within the system and reset the appointment on the phone. As we send out
the appointment verification e-mail, we add an electronic vehicle brochure with addition options
and make it easy for the customer to gather the information they seek. When the customer clicks
on the brochure, they are directed to our Website where we can track both their site visit and
behavior patterns, which are saved to their CRM record, allowing us to better tailor our return
visit sales presentation.
Our all-in-one system also easily notifies our staff of their follow-up routine for a particular day
and not only tells our staff who to call, but provides call scripts for each particular task. Since
our phone system is also integrated with our new technology, it makes it easy for management to
track all activities and assure that they are being completed in a timely manner.
as: you mentioned you now make higher profits; how is that being accomplished?
Pn: This is all a function of creating a system that our entire staff follows every time a customer
enters the showroom. We now use a desking and proposal system that is automated with our inventory
and DMS which allows us to instantly match up a customer with the right vehicle and present it in
such a way that leads to higher profits. Our system easily provides custom customer proposals that not
only show up to nine payment options, but compare them to leases and flex buys, as well.
14 autosuccessonline.com
16. ErikStuttz leadership solution
how a ‘true
leader’ adds uP
When you reflect back throughout your knows their people. A good manager knows their speech and nature. What is important to
career, I’m sure a few people come to mind their product. An excellent manager knows understand, however, is their critical mission to
who led you and made a genuine impact on their people, product and process so well move their team from a position of “what needs
your life. Many of the dealership management that they could – at any given moment, time to be done” to achieving their goals and tasks.
teams we work with throughout the country or circumstance – take the place of their Without this role, even athletic teams could not
have had incredible results when they set out employees humbly and perfectly because they compete well.
to clearly define their roles towards becoming never live above their position or role within
True Leaders. the company or organization. Coaches also recognize the importance of
developing a team dynamic in which its
Scott Adams once said, “I’m slowly becoming a
A simple definition of “leadership” is that it is players fulfill their roles and responsibilities
convert to the principle that you can’t motivate
the art of motivating a group of people to act with the right attitude and contribute to – not
towards achieving a common goal. Put even people to do things, you can only demotivate contaminate – other members on the team.
them. The primary job of the manager is not to
more simply, the leader is the inspiration and A coach shares clearly the definition of
empower but to remove obstacles.” This means
director of the action. He or she is the person accountability:
in the group who possesses the combination ofthat when any manager comes to work every 1. They explain what they want accomplished.
day, they come wearing their “Solutions” t-shirt
personality and skills that makes others want to 2. They are clear on why they expect results,
follow his or her direction. instead of their “Problems” t-shirt. They spend thus showing respect to those they lead.
their time working to make clear the path of 3. A coach leads and shows or shares how they
Here is how many of the dealerships we work their people and ensure that both the front end wish everything to be executed.
with have defined a True Leader: A natural, and the back end of the business run like a well- 4. A coach has each team member demonstrate
well-known progression of leadership can oiled machine. The best managers on the planet his or her responsibilities once trained.
be commonly referred to as a “manager.” work diligently to ensure that they are hands on 5. A coach inspects and expects each team
However, it is less about the title and more and are never “above” their people. They also member to execute 100 percent what is
about the strategy. A mediocre manager spend their time building up their team members required of them.
so that, if for any
reason, the manager An important note, it’s not what the coach
should be absent knows on game day…it’s what the player
or called to another knows on game day!
CarsDirect is the #1 New Vehicle area in the business, Lastly, it is critical to take time and “mentor”
Lead Provider in the industry * their people are those they lead by building a relationship and
more than capable bonding with their people! Not just asking
of overseeing each day, “What are you doing?” but asking
and managing, also, “How are you doing?” “How can I help
even temporarily, you?” “How is your family?” A mentor leads
the roles and by having a genuine concern for the people
responsibilities they are responsible for.
of their manager.
When a business can Here is the equation by which our dealerships
operate as well or define the term “True Leader”:
better in the absence MANAGER + COACH + MENTOR =
of its management, TRUE LEADER
those managers
The best, most innovative dealerships in the
have done their job
country find it takes a balanced focus on
and led their people
managing, coaching and mentoring to become
in such a way that
a True Leader.
instructs, forms and
inspires them to For every strong leader, we recommend their
produce and fulfill focus be first on being effective managers,
their roles on an second on coaching their people to ensure
excellent level. results and third that they spend some quality
time as a mentor to gain relationships with
Secondly, we see a those they serve.
need for coaching
within the structure The effects of a True Leader without a doubt
Find out how many customers we have in your area.
of a business or are measurable. But more importantly, the
Visit connect.carsdirect.com or call (800) 331-3380
organization. A reward of being a True Leader is memorable.
good coach can Erik Stuttz is the founder of Automotive
sometimes seem Legends Group USA. He can be contacted at
overly demanding
Experience, expertise, exceptional results.
866.386.0661, or by e-mail at
or overly direct in
*Auto Dealer Monthly Magazine, April 2010
estuttz@autosuccessonline.com.
16 autosuccessonline.com