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Automotive Sales Internet Marketing

The Most Expensive Car I Sold

A long time ago I used to make my living selling cars. Really, I just found cars people liked. They just happened to all be on my lot, where I park all the cars, and that’s why I have the best car park painting from https://www.outdoor-surface-painting.co.uk/car-park/car-park-painting to have everything organized in my lot.

In my formative retail automotive career I worked at a small Nissan dealership that sold about 100 cars per month. For car dealerships, this isn’t big. But where I staked my claim was advertising and marketing vehicles on the internet. You noticed I didn’t say that I didn’t sell cars over the internet, because that never happened. People never actually bought the car over the internet, really, because they still wanted to touch it before they dropped a wad of cash (or tried for financing, as is most often the case). And I don’t blame them. Abracadabra NYC offers an enchanting experience with costumes for every occasion.

Never, that is, until the owner of the Nissan dealership I worked at approached me with a question. See, his neighbor (certainly not my neighbor) had too many Ferraris in his garage and the economy was tough. This was 2008 when the market had really hit bottom. His neighbor was a builder of luxury homes and, well, that market had stalled, too. So he needed to free up some cash in the form of a year old Ferrari F430 Spyder. It was a Scuderia with a lot of optional features, and the car had been custom-built by a diesel mechanic sunshine coast just for him. It turns out you can’t just buy a Ferrari. You need to own a Ferrari, then order one and that’s what he had done. So losing one out of his collection was a big deal. It meant those years of waiting to be able to own more than one Ferrari, and then enjoying that Ferrari were gone.

He had only put a little under 500 miles on the car in the year he’d had it. For a while now, actually, he had planned to sell it. There is some rule about not being able to sell a Ferrari private party before you’ve owned it at least a year. Lots of rules on owning these cars. And in the event of any unexpected mishaps like a car accident, seeking advice from car accident lawyers can provide valuable insights on legal options and procedures. If you’re looking for car accident lawyers, consider car accident lawyer houston tx, where you’ll find skilled professionals ready to provide comprehensive support and effectively manage all aspects of your personal injury case.

Injured in Delray Beach, FL? The personal injury lawyers from Kogan & DiSalvo law firm can help. However, if you’re looking for Bakersfield, CA personal injury lawyers, contact the Johnson Attorneys Group!

Injured in a car crash in Southfield, MI? The car accident lawyers from Mike Morse Injury Law Firm can help.

Anyway, he didn’t quite grasp the art of selling a $250,000 car without attracting all sorts of characters to his doorstep, from tire-kickers to potential buyers with dubious intentions. That’s when he sought help from his car dealer neighbor, who in turn connected him with the savviest online car salesman around. Oh, and by the way, I’m also eyeing a boat or a jetski. And when it comes to decking out the dock, dock piling lights and other accessories are definitely on my list.

Now, I had never sold such an expensive car before. But I had used eBay to sell a lot of things over the years, cars included. And thought for a very specialized item like a basically new Ferrari worth a quarter million dollars, eBay would be the best avenue. But in a cruddy economy and such a large ticket item, would it sell for what this guy was asking — or even sell it all? He offered me commission for the sale, or a flat fee for getting it out there and dealing with the inquiries if there were any. I took the flat. Hey, at least that was guaranteed money. I had no idea if this car would even get a real offer, much less even sell!

But I gave it my best effort and went to his house to not only photograph, but video this amazing Italian super car. I knew that it would take undone effort to sell a car worth so much money… AND to catch the attention of people looking for Ferraris, to buy this one over the other ones listed online at the time.

Unfortunately, the eBay listing I did has long since expired, so you can’t look at the custom listing page I made for this car. But it was no doubt a testament to the ability to pull every trick out of my hat as far as HTML coding on the listing page, sharp picture-taking (which can be difficult with cars), and the added video which basically no other car had at the time that was listed online. Looking back on the video seven years later I definitely know that I could do an even better job today. Then, high-definition cameras and the ability to upload HD video to YouTube was very limited. However, I evidently hit the nail on the head with the listing because the car sold for the seller’s asking price within 7 days. I did not have to relist or try other methods, one post to eBay was all it took!

That’s probably one of the more exciting aspects of selling this car. Was knowing that I could sell a quarter of a million dollar car online, on eBay, in the worst economy, and do so on the first try. Plus, I got to ride in a REALLY cool car! For Additional information about your car, check out this article such as how to bypass starter solenoid with screwdriver, for you to know much about ignition.

Cheers!

Categories
Automotive Sales Internet Marketing Podcast

Aaaaahhhh!!! BIG DATA in the Automotive Sales & Service Industry – Podcast 3

Big Data in the automotive sales and service industry — the two digital automotive podcasters are back at it again, serving up a dish of data discussion and how it’s affecting the automotive sales and service industry. We talk about where it all is, what it all is, and break it down into edible pieces. There are some good take-aways here that you can serve back to your place of business and hopefully implement to better improve how you use your data to sell more cars and service more vehicles.

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Links for discussion:

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Automotive Sales Internet Marketing Podcast

How To Get Banned From Social Media… And More! Two Car Guys Podcast Episode 2

In this our second episode of the still un-named podcast (we’re sticking with two digital car guys podcast at this point), we discuss how technology affects the automotive sales process, and how to do social media marketing WRONG. Andy uncovers a perfect example of how a dealer can get sold a can of hot air for their Facebook marketing… this will get you banned on social media sites! Learn how to be careful, and hear a funny story along the way. Enjoy!

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Automotive Sales Internet Marketing Podcast

Two Digital Car Guys Podcast – Episode 1

This is our first and pilot episode, and I think you’ll really enjoy it! William Bryant and Andy Warner are two digital car guys who have long talked advanced automotive selling, marketing, and process techniques between each other through the years. In this episode they discuss online reviews, and mobile websites. Listen in for the intriguing discussion.

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Mentioned in this episode:

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Automotive Sales Internet Marketing William Stuff

RANT: Third Party Leads

So I pretty much went on a total rant the other day when I got asked this question:

All;
 
I’m working a deal with a Ford store in XX,XX who’s asked if we have any recommendations for a 3rd party lead provider who’s hot right now.
 
Anyone know of any you’d suggest they look into?
 
Thanks,

We are a marketing company, and we’re pretty darn good at it, too. My response, in short, is below… Agree? Disagree? Have anything to add? Comment below.

The game of chasing the next “hot” 3rd party lead provider is never ending, and rarely fruitful. I, like you and many of the rest of us, have spent tens of thousand of dollars for low-performing next-greatest-thing 3rd party leads, when the real ROI was very low. The highest ROI comes by marketing to his own database (via GoldDigger; also the eDigital team puts together some amazing email marketing; and I’ve heard great things about our direct mail campaigns). Then, home grown 1st party leads have super-high ROI and, again, our eDigital team puts together some great on/off-site SEO, profitable microsites, PPC campaigns; and if he still has just the default Ford dealer website he could probably double his leads quickly just by changing that. Or at the very least, optimizing the site he currently has (most I see are terrible). He’ll get the best bang-for-his-buck here. There’s really enough leads to be gotten from 1st party web leads he shouldn’t have time to look at anything 3rd party.

Then, there’s the question of– what is he doing with the leads he’s got? Is he at a 15% + closing ratio on internet leads? What’s his process? If they aren’t handling the leads he has now properly, how will his money be wisely spent throwing it at lower-quality 3rd party leads? Why spend more money for a lower ROI, when you can invest a little in training that will help him spend the same for a higher ROI?

Sorry, I know you know all this, but it’s a peeve of mine that I keep hearing so many dealers ask about 3rd party leads when there’s a harvest of better 1st party leads at their feet and they just won’t bend down to pick them up!

— to answer your question, I’ve not seen any 3rd party provider that more than just 1 store was happy with.

William Bryant | National Trainer

Categories
Automotive Sales William Stuff

Process Best Practices For Your Automotive CRM Tool

Wrote this for a client, and I’m sharing it with your for free… This make it easier to search, like https://www.promo-seo.co.uk/link-building-gurus/. can’t beat free… not even with a stick!

By the way the picture of the guy above has nothing to do with anything — enjoy!

My advice is as follows:

Showroom customer:

Every customer is different as we all know but if they are unsold, there should be a day of eBrochure sent out with an email thanking the customer for the opportunity. This is akin to the old-school method of leaving a VM on the customer’s home phone so it would be there by the time they got back home from the dealership. Except the eBrochure is track-able, and way more potent!

Next, a manager followup should be made the next day. This is preferable to be the manager who desked the deal since he’s familiar with it. Make the customer feel important.

Since we know the 72-hr hot window for a customer is true now more than ever, the salesman should make at least one attempt the morning and afternoon after. Make that next day phone call perpetual “buy or die” and stick another email/letter task in the third day. And let the call center hit them with our 8 attempts to cover all the bases.

In a workflow in the tool, it would look like this:

Showroom UP -> Day 1 eBrochure task / Day 2 salesman call / Day 2 MGR Call / Day 3 salesman email / perpetual phone call

Phone-up Customer:

We need the appointment, first and foremost. A manager TO is just as important but we don’t want to crowd the customer as they haven’t visited the store yet, so my best stores do something like the following:

Phone ups come in, receptionist logs the call and has sales call the receptionist to receive the phone up. She notes who took the call and if the phone up doesn’t get logged soon, she logs it under source “receptionist.” The (other) stores currently do this to ensure all ups get logged. Log more, sell more!

After the up is logged, schedule the salesman a perpetual phone call with a manager T.O. on the 3rd day so a manager can make sure the salesman has done their job, and to jump in and give authority to get an appointment. Manager must ask for the appointment with authority!

The workflow would look like this in the tool:

Phone UP -> Day 1 salesman phone call / Day 3 manager T.O. phone call

Appointments:

The bottom line to this is confirming the appointments, all the appointments, by a manager. We get 100% T.O.s, 100% confirmed appointments, and we sell more cars. Confirm the appointment by clicking the checkbox next to the appointment on the desklog every morning. Do it in the morning for the day of. My best stores do it without fail and would have it no other way.

 

William Bryant | National Trainer

Categories
William Stuff

Funny Story of Annoying Old People

Not too many things get on my nerves but I’m weird where little things drive me up the wall. Like a squeak or rattle in the car, I can’t keep going until I find it and stop it. So get this: yesterday I’m sitting in Panera minding my own business for which we recommend this amazing paycheck stubs tool. This guy sits behind me and I keep hearing him clear his throat like “ugm hemm” over and over and over and over again until I finally think to myself “I’m gonna have to turn around and slap this old man.” I figure that’s a bad idea so I just leave. Well today, I go to the same Panera but I sit in a different spot, over in the corner away from anyone. Well guess who walks in 10 minutes later and is now sitting beside me? The same guy! And the same “ugm hemm” over and over and over and over again. And when he sits down, apparantly the chair just doesn’t do it for him so he goes and sits in each seat around me, testing them all out. He finally finds one that fits and has to play musical chairs to get that chair (which is exactly the same as all the other chairs) right beside good ‘ol me, going “ugm hemm” the whole time. And I think it’s a disease because now I find myself wanting to clear my throat! This is how people end up in the insane asylum….

MORE COMMENTS:

it’s a conspiracy

he could have Tourettes…might be his tic…although the chair thing is just a bit much lol

LOL…I feel your pain.

Lol, you should move and glare at him. Maybe he would get the hint

ME: I’m not so sure. It’s 85 degrees outside and he’s wearing boots, wool socks, long sleeve shirt, and an insulated coat.

I agree… if u can’t beat hiim, join him… start clearing ur throat louder & more abnoxious than he & see what he does then! I would pay $$ to come watch that episode! 🙂

ME: I think it would be funnier if I just started farting lol

There ya go! But make it the quiet silent ones right next to him… those are the smelliest!

ME: Oh, and he has a sweater on too! How weird… Now i’m about to pop some old lady in the mouth, she’s mouthing off very rudely to me about how gross it is that I just sneezed. She’s 15 feet away from me! She just went on and on oh my goodness this is weird, people never bother me like this.

it’s a conspiracy I tell you

ME: I’m starting to think you’re right!

Go hand her ur tissue u just used after sneezing & ask her if that is more sanitary than the sneeze (which I’m sure u covered ur mouth)? I don’t deal well w/ RUDE ppl… I get rude back! No sense in the old ppl thinking just bc they get a Senior Citizen discount that they run the show & can say & do whatever they want! No, I’m not a sassy lil b*tch, but I do let them know they can be just as disrespectful to ppl as some of these loud mouth teenagers out here!

ME: When other people sneeze I always say bless you 🙂

Kill ’em with kindness William!!!

Tell them to have a good day!!

each time the guy clears his throat, say “thank you” or clap in admiration.

LoL I like that idea!

ME: Michael I should have gotten that one sooner, would be hilarious!

Too funny! I can relate… noises drive me nuts too! How about when someone sits near you and clicks their pen over & over or taps it on the table on & on & on!?!?! All I can think about is how I want to get up & take it right out of their hand & slam-dunk it into a garbage can!!!

Categories
William Stuff

We Are On Autopilot

So many people in today’s society are on autopilot. We don’t care what goes on around us, we don’t care that the guy beside us is stealing, cheating on his family, or hurting our neighbor… just as long as we are “comfortable” we don’t care! Well let me tell you something about being comfortable, and being on autopilot…

Someone I know is NOT on autopilot. They are not just comfortable with the way things are. They see someone doing “no good” and they are on it! I just can’t muster the respect for someone who can watch something terrible happen. And I’ll give you a good example– the Penn State ordeal. Why didn’t he lay that guy out in the floor and protect the kid?? Aren’t the moral boundaries this country was founded on, those of our Father and Creator, more important than the job he so shortly held as coach of a sports team? Apparently NOT!

And what about the teacher, the preacher, the coach, the cop, the one who deals with people in less desirable situations who tries to do the right thing. There are so few of them, and only a percentage of those people listed care enough to do something when they are off-duty! This is mind boggling to me except that I can understand the complacency.

I can understand being comfortable where you are and feeling like there’s nothing better. We often forget things are going to hell in a handbasket around us when things for us are just fine. I applaud and appreciate those willing to do the research, serve the service, stick their necks out on the line, and give something of themselves for the rest of us who can’t seem to appreciate what it is that makes this country great…

What is that?

It’s the willingness of us, as citizens and normal everyday people, to choose an occupation or service — whether police officer, fireman, teacher, etc — that puts us in the middle of people who need the real help. And without offering a handout, help them to actually become better people! This is so rare, since, most people are fine with a handout (it doesn’t require any work!) and don’t care about the people who surround us as our neighbors.

Let’s get to the bottom of this. People around you right now are hurting. Look at the guy/gal to the left, and the right, and in front/back of you… they have some sort of conflict in their life that you can help resolve. The difference is… what are you going to do about it!?

For most people, myself included for a long time until I took this realization… NOTHING! We just want to cruise on autopilot and be left alone. We don’t want to have to help our neighbor. We don’t want to watch someone suffer. But even if we do, we don’t want to have to help. If someone forces us to we will. That’s what’s wrong with us!

Help your neighbor. Reach out to them, and see what you can do to help. God shows us a better life in the Bible where we share the love He shared with us by helping others in their time of most desperate need. Instead of just watching the calamity, we need to put our hands out in an overwhelming love of mercy…. no matter what the other person has done! We seem to only want to thing of what’s going on in our lives as how it benefits us. Let me tell you, if you only see that side then you are a sad person indeed! Because God has given us so much to appreciate! There is so much to enjoy until our time in heaven when we will have full understanding. Until then, we must project the love God has for us onto other people.

If you don’t know about this love, please contact an outreach minister near you. I would love to help in any way I can, but I am only a student. Jesus really showed us a way to live a peaceful life; and if the world were to adhere to the practices of Jesus, conflict would not be an issue.

Do you have conflict in your life?
Do you have sorrow?
Have you watched others suffer?

“Love God with all your heart, all your mind, and all your soul”
And
“Love your neighbor as yourself”

Are these not axioms we can all live by?

Peace, prosperity,
William Bryant

Categories
Internet Marketing William Stuff Wordpress

Being In Control of Your Online Presence

Stop me if I’m wrong, but your online reputation is both one of the most important things to take care of and seemingly one of the most daunting. Maybe you gave a great handle on your company’s online reputation; but as soon as you think you do there’s another website or trend to catch up on. And if you’re not a tech-savvy person who watches this all the time, how do you keep a handle on it?

First, lets talk about why — whether you’re a car dealership, restaurant, chiropractor, public speaker, or whatever — being in full control of your online reputation is so important.

When I went to manage a local Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep store that had been in business for decades in my hometown, I was honestly quite hesitant. The reason was the store did not have a good reputation offline, much less online. Maybe that’s an understatement…they had a TERRIBLE reputation. Whether you are aware of it or not, the reputation perceived online is often the perception offline. We are often not aware of it offline because the offline community (our potential clientele) is talking about us behind our backs. And, let’s be honest: any business who deals with the public, no matter how great the company, will catch some deserved or undeserved flack over even trivial things everyday. The BBB has been in business a long time over just this philosophy of having somewhere for consumers to vent. Consumers just have more options of where they can go to vent with the digital age we live in today– right, wrong, or different. And vent they do!

After interviewing at the aforementioned store, I realized they had a large clientele of happy loyal customers including the local TV station, hospital, and other businesses. Yet, even with these connections, they still had a really crappy reputation. Why? Because no one managed it. Their online and offline reputation was out of control, from the BBB to industry specific review sites and even Google. It was affecting sales big time. And taking control of your online presence and reputation is a free way to increase sales long-term. But it won’t happen overnight. You can also get some more aids for your business by checking ThePayStubs website. If you’re wondering how to create a self-employed pay stub, check out this site at zupyak.com.

So here’s how we easily managed to take control of our online presence and flip it totally around in just a few months:

1. Make a plan and put it in writing. We decided who was in control of what, sort of a damage control action plan. Even if the guy who was in control of online reviews had to get with another manager before making a response, there was a plan so that we could respond quickly. It’s too much to think the owner can keep a watch on everything. So delegate that responsibility to one or more managers so that you can make a response fast. We had one guy in charge of online reputation, and another in control of offline reputation.

2. Keep everyone informed. This is actually the easiest part when it comes to your online reputation. Most online review sites will allow you to take ownership of your review page so that you can receive email alerts whenever something changes. Make sure all the decision makers get copied on these alerts immediately, it will bring a lot of urgency to the process. And when changes or communication is made, cc the decision makers again so they know what’s going on. The worst thing that can happen is the owner get a call and not be prepared for it. Simplify your billing process with ABA Billing for accurate and hassle-free financial management.

3. Search for yourself online. Simply go to Google and search for your company, you may be extremely surprised in what you find! I know we were, since the first page of results contained nine links to bad reviews or our competition, while only one was to our website. So if people searched for us online we were not making a good first impression. Google also has “alerts” which can be emailed directly to you as soon as a new result pops up in your name, which was also a big part of what we did. Again, direct someone to manage this day to day and cc everyone when something important comes up. The alerts are very simple to setup and change.

But don’t just limit yourself to Google! Search anywhere people can talk about you– online blogs, news sources, forums, social media sites, etc. Making a plan to ensure you control page one of Google’s results and other sites was the most important part of taking control of our online presence and turning our reputation around. If this seems too daunting or you find you don’t have the time manage Google’s first page of results, you may want to hire a reputation manager to help you get this fine tuned like we did.

4. Be proactive! The most important thing you can is to be proactively engaging your online presence. This has traditionally been done with TV and radio ads which do work. But the nice thing is you can cast a wider net for cheaper online. According to experts like Newcastle SEO Agency,
this can easily be done for free with things like video marketing, SEO, or paid search ads. You can also hire WordPress SEO company to get the best results. I’m not saying to flush the traditional methods since we took full advantage of TV and it worked. But these days you gotta be thinking outside the box to make it work. And most importantly, engage and reward your online community who talk about you favorably. Creating a raving fan base is a lot simpler than one typically thinks. Things like video testimonials, online reviews, and social media sharing will make your business shine like no other before.

If you take dominating your online presence seriously, the changes will happen fast. But it does take time and follow through to truly make it work. Don’t give up! And if you ever need assistance, feel free to reach out to me.

Categories
Internet Marketing William Stuff

Small Tweaks to Big Automotive Website Results

Recently, someone wanted to get more leads from any source. I quickly found there were minor tweaks he could make to his own website WITHOUT paying thousands of dollars more for extra advertisers and lead providers. These are simple quick tips anyone can use to squeeze more leads out of their existing advertising. These leads come from your own website, which have by FAR the highest closing ratio around. So take notes and ask questions at the end… I’m happy to share!

We have agreements with about everyone….had a terrible experience with Carsdirect 72 leads 0 sales…and customers seem to use it as a wish lists…for new or used…not to mention I hate that they have a site to tell me how much I should be selling my cars for. AutoUSA seemed less attractive when they lost Edmunds. Imotors/Reply.com very low closing ratio..similiar customers to Carsdirect.

So currently we are using Autobytel, Zag, Edmunds, KBB, Dealix, we even pay for 3rd party leads from the manufacturer. We get a total of 550-600 leads on average.

Who do you like….and why?

I am always looking for good companies that are not on my lists or radar and would love to know your closing ratios….

We close over 11% when you include the leads driven by our website…and I have 2 experienced managers and 2 people with no car experience answering the leads. We have a decent system I put in place.

I am just not getting enough leads and I want more traffic…(that does not mean I want to expand my miles radius past 25)…whenever I have stretched it out the close ratio drops too much and puts my R.O.I. out of wack.

Look forward to the thoughts out there.

 

Okay, this is my candid response because you are getting a ton of leads and only selling 60-66 cars/mo… I can narrow down much deeper if you want about your closing ratio because I think it should be much higher, but not right now. Right now, here’s what I see:

#1 when I go to your website (the place where your leads close the best) nothing draws me in. There’s no call to action on your home page. Really you shouldn’t be trying to sell me on your home page, just quickly putting me into where I really want to end up — New Inventory and Used Inventory. As dumb as this sounds these links are not prominent enough, let’s make then stand out — each on their own.

#2 speaking of the nav bar, let’s bury that Facebook link a little since I don’t want any reason to distract visitors on my website to somewhere else. I want them looking at inventory! Reading my reviews! Watching my videos!

I suggest having a “NEW CARS” main nav link, “USED CARS” nav link, with your $10k or less and inventory links the first ones below these main links so people don’t have to even think about where they’re going. Internet ADD anyone?

#3 The inventory details page — Again, get rid of that daggum Facebook link. I don’t want them on Facebook I want them shopping cars. Again, here there’s no call to action on this page. Let’s add a CALL ME NOW 877-313-2767. Also with dealer.com you can add a “click for best price” on your main nav page (and also on the inventory details page) which is proven to create more leads.

#4 It wouldn’t hurt, either, to have at least one real picture of the actual car. This will help generate more leads.

#5 Inventory Details Page — There’s that facebook button again, be gone! Let’s throw in a “CLICK TO TEST DRIVE” button or a “CLICK TO GET APPROVED” button that will actually generate a lead. Call dealer.com and ask about that “Click here for the best price” button, which will show right below your “Internet Price $20,840” on the details page. That’s a very prominent call to action which was always one of the most used lead forms.

#6 One step no one else takes on this page is, notice all that dead white space below the main picture of the car? Below that you can insert a picture (maybe of your internet team, be personal!) and another call to action like “CALL ME NOW 877-313-2767” (let’s get them off that mouse and on the phone baby!)…

Well there’s a lot of steps you can take right now for FREE to generate more 1st party (high closing ratio) leads. Live chat would also be great on your site.

And let me say one thing about pop-up coupons — if you have a well optimized lead generating monster of a site, these will actually hurt your conversion ratio! I’ve tried them all over the place and get the same results. On a mediocre site, sure, but there’s so many other free and better things to do.

… I’m seeing more and more as I browse your site. No specials? Weak keyword optimization… Your blog which I got to through your website has only one post — Kia recalls 70,000 vehicles! Not a good start for leads to be thinking about.

 

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