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2011
MARCH
AutoSuccess mar11
AutoSuccess mar11
AutoSuccess mar11
AutoSuccess mar11
THE #1 SALES-IMPROVEMENT MAGAZINE FOR THE AUTOMOTIVE PROFESSIONAL
                                                                                                                           AutoSuccess Magazine is published monthly at 3834 Taylorsville Rd., Building A, Ste. 1B Louisville, KY 40220; 502.588.3155, fax 502.588.3170. Direct all subscription and customer service inquiries to 877.818.6620 or info@autosuccessonline.com. Subscription rate is $69
                                                                                                                           per year. AutoSuccess welcomes unsolicited editorials and graphics (not responsible for their return). All submitted editorials and graphics are subject to editing for grammar, content and page length. AutoSuccess provides its contributing writers latitude in expressing advice
                                                                                                                           and solutions; views expressed are not necessarily those of AutoSuccess and by no means reflect any guarantees. AutoSuccess accepts no liability in respect of the content of any third party material appearing in this magazine or in respect of the content of any other
                                                                                                                           magazine to which this magazine may be linked from time to time. Always confer with legal counsel before implementing changes in procedures.© All contents copyrighted by AutoSuccess Magazine, a Division of Systems Marketing, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in
                                                                                                                           whole or part is prohibited without express written consent from AutoSuccess. AutoSuccess may occasionally make readers’ names available to other companies whose products and/or services may be of interest; readers may request that names be removed by calling
                                                                                                                           877.818.6620. Printed in the USA. Postmaster: Send address changes to AutoSuccess Magazine, 3834 Taylorsville Rd., Building A, Ste. 1B Louisville, KY 40220.
  2300 Hurstbourne Village Dr, Suite 1200 Louisville Kentucky 40299 | 877.818.6620 / 502.588.3170 | AutoSuccessOnline.com / AutoSuccessPodcast.com | info@autosuccessonline.com
  Susan Givens, Publisher                                                      Thomas Williams, VP & Creative Director                                            Dave Davis, Editor & Creative Strategist                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Brian Ankney, Account Manager                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Ryan Ruth,John Warner, Sales-Improvement Strategist
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Account Manager
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Susie Horne, Account Manager
  sgivens1@autosuccessonline.com                                               design@autosuccessonline.com                                                       ddavis@autosuccessonline.com                                                                                                                                                                                                                             super6@autosuccessonline.com                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       rruth@autosuccessonline.com
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             shorne@autosuccessonline.com
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        jwarner@autosuccessonline.com
feature solution




                                                                                                                                                                         leadership solution




                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             marketing solution
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    sales & training solution




                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       yelp can be a headache for dealers – tips to get a successful review Presence there
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                dang it, the Buck has to stoP somewhere, sometime




                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  is your social media marketing strategy social?
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             search engine saturation Begins with the right




                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    increase your ProfitaBility with a modern call
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  how to increase the value of your customers
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  dealer increases car sales By 48 Percent with
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      how Personal Pain and gain can sell you on achieving your objectives




                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  online inventory advertising strategies




                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              four keys to winning video strategy




                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           the Phone – your Biggest Profit leak
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              how to win the game of google
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             contrarian selling aPProaches
                                                                                                                                                                                                                             ...and we make too much money
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             working with family memBers:
                                                                                                                                                                                               how a ‘true leader’ adds uP




                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                making dreams come true




                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    do size and shaPe matter?
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                to yelP – or not to yelP
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        it’s not Personal, it’s Just Business
                   an interview with PhilNightingale




                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     invest in education

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           or greatest asset
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             weBsite Platform




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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  JohnBrentlinger



                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 mattBaker




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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              markSpringer


                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               seanv.Bradley



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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           susanGivens


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AutoSuccess mar11
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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   the largest dealer direct trading group in the u.s.
                                                                                                      deal smart.
                                                                                                      deal dir
                                                                                                           direct.™
                                                                                                             rect
                                                                                               dealerslink.com
                                                                                                 866.520.0983
                                                                                                 “In today’s market, it is crucial to have as many
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                                                                                               have over 500 used vehicles in stock, Dealerslink®
                                                                                             allows me to work directly with other dealers trading
                                                                                             FRONTLINE inventory without any transaction fees!
                                                                                                        I highly recommend this service!”
                                                                                             Hunter Hollibaugh - Dave Smith Motors, Kellogg, ID
                                                                                                         “Worlds Largest Dodge Dealer”



08          autosuccessonline.com
AutoSuccess mar11
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
AutoSuccess mar11
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
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
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
AutoSuccess mar11
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
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AutoSuccess mar11

  • 6. THE #1 SALES-IMPROVEMENT MAGAZINE FOR THE AUTOMOTIVE PROFESSIONAL AutoSuccess Magazine is published monthly at 3834 Taylorsville Rd., Building A, Ste. 1B Louisville, KY 40220; 502.588.3155, fax 502.588.3170. Direct all subscription and customer service inquiries to 877.818.6620 or info@autosuccessonline.com. Subscription rate is $69 per year. AutoSuccess welcomes unsolicited editorials and graphics (not responsible for their return). All submitted editorials and graphics are subject to editing for grammar, content and page length. AutoSuccess provides its contributing writers latitude in expressing advice and solutions; views expressed are not necessarily those of AutoSuccess and by no means reflect any guarantees. AutoSuccess accepts no liability in respect of the content of any third party material appearing in this magazine or in respect of the content of any other magazine to which this magazine may be linked from time to time. Always confer with legal counsel before implementing changes in procedures.© All contents copyrighted by AutoSuccess Magazine, a Division of Systems Marketing, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part is prohibited without express written consent from AutoSuccess. AutoSuccess may occasionally make readers’ names available to other companies whose products and/or services may be of interest; readers may request that names be removed by calling 877.818.6620. Printed in the USA. Postmaster: Send address changes to AutoSuccess Magazine, 3834 Taylorsville Rd., Building A, Ste. 1B Louisville, KY 40220. 2300 Hurstbourne Village Dr, Suite 1200 Louisville Kentucky 40299 | 877.818.6620 / 502.588.3170 | AutoSuccessOnline.com / AutoSuccessPodcast.com | info@autosuccessonline.com Susan Givens, Publisher Thomas Williams, VP & Creative Director Dave Davis, Editor & Creative Strategist Brian Ankney, Account Manager Ryan Ruth,John Warner, Sales-Improvement Strategist Account Manager Susie Horne, Account Manager sgivens1@autosuccessonline.com design@autosuccessonline.com ddavis@autosuccessonline.com super6@autosuccessonline.com rruth@autosuccessonline.com shorne@autosuccessonline.com jwarner@autosuccessonline.com feature solution leadership solution marketing solution sales & training solution yelp can be a headache for dealers – tips to get a successful review Presence there dang it, the Buck has to stoP somewhere, sometime is your social media marketing strategy social? search engine saturation Begins with the right increase your ProfitaBility with a modern call how to increase the value of your customers dealer increases car sales By 48 Percent with how Personal Pain and gain can sell you on achieving your objectives online inventory advertising strategies four keys to winning video strategy the Phone – your Biggest Profit leak how to win the game of google contrarian selling aPProaches ...and we make too much money working with family memBers: how a ‘true leader’ adds uP making dreams come true do size and shaPe matter? to yelP – or not to yelP it’s not Personal, it’s Just Business an interview with PhilNightingale invest in education or greatest asset weBsite Platform tracking system 26 28 16 24 18 20 22 30 32 40 42 08 43 36 38 34 10 erikStuttz marshBuice rhondaSavage JohnBrentlinger mattBaker merlaTurner markSpringer seanv.Bradley PogoParr BrianPasch susanGivens davidWojcik markTewart BryanAnderson dalePollak susanGivens scottJoseph 12 36 42 22
  • 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. NO TRANSACTION FEES EVER. the largest dealer direct trading group in the u.s. deal smart. deal dir direct.™ rect dealerslink.com 866.520.0983 “In today’s market, it is crucial to have as many avenues as possible to buy and sell inventory. Since we have over 500 used vehicles in stock, Dealerslink® allows me to work directly with other dealers trading FRONTLINE inventory without any transaction fees! I highly recommend this service!” Hunter Hollibaugh - Dave Smith Motors, Kellogg, ID “Worlds Largest Dodge Dealer” 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