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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.

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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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Categories
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:

Categories
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
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.

 

>>> There’s more great content in the discussion, click here to see the rest.

Categories
Internet Marketing Wordpress

How To Add A YouTube Profile Widget On WordPress

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How To Add A YouTube Profile Widget On WordPress — this is a simple how-to video for anyone looking to add a profile widget for their youtube account on their wordpress blog. You’ll need a wordpress blog for this how-to, as well as a youtube account.

Take a look at my other videos on how you can set up your own wordpress blog! I have lots of information over there.

By the way, online video marketing with youtube, integrated with wordpress and blogging, can be a super awesome way to generate more traffic and leads for your business! I can show you how.

Categories
Dreamhost Internet Marketing Wordpress

How To Install WordPress Fast on Dreamhost web account

WordPress is THE tool of choice for anybody who’s anybody in the world of the internet! Over 12% of websites created online use wordpress (that’s a high statistic in case you were wondering) since HTML is fast and easy to program. WordPress is SO much more than a blog, too.

I rarely use WordPress as just a blog. Dreamhost amazingly makes it very simple to install. In fact, I’d probably go crazy without it. Dreamhost + WordPress is the ultimate setup if you’re looking to create a long lasting brand, web presence, business site, or whatever you want.

In this video I show you how to install wordpress on dreamhost. Dreamhost is the preferred hosting provider of many top level marketers and wordpress users, including the site Themeforest!

Want to save TOP DOLLAR on your hosting account? Save $50 instantly and get a two week trial. Go to http://www.dreamhost.com and enter promo code WILLSAVE50 to save $50 on your yearly hosting account.

WILLSAVE50

promo code for dreamhost and wordpress setup. It takes less than 5 minutes! Watch the video

Electrician Islington

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Categories
Dreamhost Internet Marketing William Stuff Wordpress

How To Sign Up for Dreamhost Hosting Account

Get Dreamhost hosting for your wordpress blog, picture gallery, ftp file sharing, video streaming, hosting media, etc etc. Dreamhost is cheap and SUPER reliable! I had another company before and they not only totally boned me while I was running a big campaign, they wouldn’t make it right! I was with them for almost seven years and spent TONS of money with them. The thanks I got? Their servers crashed (NOT a good sign of a hosting company!!!!!!) and they admitted the problem, but would not take care of me the loyal customer. BULL $%^&!

So now I am with a REAL hosting company, called Dreamhost. They are the real deal. They have been around a along time, have a real control panel full of options for every aspect of your account. CPanel is for lazy hosting companies. Dreamhost went the extra mile and designed one that is meant for serious people who want to maximize their potential online. And, Dreamhost can grow as you grow. Bluehost cant!

So go with dreamhost. Use my special link to save $50 off your yearly hosting account!

Peace and goodwill,

William Bryant
skype: wpbryant
blog: https://williambryant.info