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Patrick Tessier
MANAGING DIRECTOR
SALEFEST ADVERTISING
AND MARKETING
Welcome to the
latest edition
of E-Talk.
Last week I attended the NADA Convention in Orlando and hosted the AADA Study Tour group. As always the NADA delivered to its delegates a range of workshops that presented real, take home ideas that auto dealers can implement quickly.
I attended a number of workshops that covered the area of internet marketing and was pleased to see that dealers have a genuine strong interest in this area. One of the stand out sessions covered integrating online advertising with traditional media.
What was crystal clear is that dealers in the USA have found that traditional media is still a very important part of the marketing mix and has a big part to play in an effective online strategy. The Convention exhibit also reflected this, with most companies that offered an internet solution or product canvassing a media strategy to support their offerings.
This is a significant change from previous years when it seemed that the internet was the only viable media into the future.
I thought at the time that the best strategy would be one that incorporated a traditional media element. This makes complete sense as growing your rankings in search engines can be expensive if you are reliant on products such as Google Adwords. An organic solution yields better results but requires a solid strategy and that is where an effective traditional media plan pays big dividends.
Over the next few weeks we will begin to roll out some very cost-effective solutions in this area.
An important function of the internet is email, and for dealers email marketing offers a very cost-effective vehicle to reach existing and potential customers.
Collecting email addresses is still a worldwide problem and the exhibit offered a range of solutions. But what was clear to me is that all these solutions require an investment of discipline, and if paying for discipline is the answer maybe you should try getting your staff to just ask the customer for their email address first. You will be surprised; they will all happily give it to you.
Think about it this way: the average local paper is delivered to around 32,000 homes. The average dealer does 40 R.O’s a day, that’s 200 a week, 10,400 for the year.
In three years you could have a database that has the same reach as a local paper and you won’t even have to buy an ad. Do your dealership a big favour and get serious about collecting email addresses.
One sad fact that was apparent is that the US economy is suffering badly. Property values have plummeted and the job queues are significant.
A taxi driver is always a good measure of how things are going. One taxi driver told me he was a plumber who just can’t get work. I couldn’t help but think if he was a plumber in Australia he would be doing very nicely!
Retail outlets too, indicate they have experienced a big downturn in sales. This was obvious as I walked through a large shopping centre at 2pm on a Tuesday afternoon and it was almost empty, except for the Apple Mac shop where you couldn’t move.
It appears that the ordinary U.S. citizen doesn’t have a lot of confidence in their country having a quick recovery, in fact I would think that most believe they are in for a long journey back to prosperity.
We live in a great country!
In April I will be hosting the AADA’s first Study Tour to China and I am looking forward to seeing first-hand how the world’s fastest growing car market is tackling the retailing of automobiles. The Study Tour will visit Auto China, a truly dynamic trade show that is full of great ideas. We will also be visiting a couple of large dealerships and seeing how they go about the retail business.
To find out more about our Study Tour visit www.autochina.com.au I hope you can join me at Auto China.
I hope you enjoy this edition of E-talk and please feel free to contribute at anytime.
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Feedback
patrick@salefest.com
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WILL ONLINE CAR SALES BE THE
END OF THE CAR SALESPERSON?
Is buying a car online really as easy as logging-on, selecting your car and driving off into the sunset without a hitch? Yes it is, according to respected UK consumer car reviewer Which? Car.
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The trend for shopping online is no longer exclusive to e-Bay addicts and hardened shoe-a-holics: consumers are now opting to purchase their second biggest commodity from the comfort of their laptops and iPhones.
With the likelihood of securing bigger discounts and added legal protection, buyers are flocking to fill their virtual shopping basket with their new wheels for a steal.
Which? Car searched the car market for 14 of the most popular new cars and found that 12 of them were cheaper online: six models were more than £1,000 (AU$1750) cheaper and five models displayed a price tag that was £5,000 (AU$8750) lower than their showroom counterparts.
Customers can enjoy a seven-day cooling off period, offered by Distance Selling Regulations, which allows them a full refund if they simply change their mind.
Which? Car found that while just five percent of consumers reviewed had bought their last car online, a massive 18 percent said they most likely would in future.
There’s no mistaking that the internet has revolutionised the way we do many things - from booking a holiday to sending photographs instantly across thousands of miles to buying the latest pop tart’s album – but there’s something simultaneously dangerous and exciting about delving into the unknown and buying a car online. It’s a big investment, so there’s room for big mistakes.
But how much longer can we resist this oh-so-convenient transaction process?
It may seem like an unlikely scenario now, buying online could soon overtake the traditional face-to-face dealer-customer transaction. After all, it wasn’t so long ago that the world was amazed by the idea of sending an SMS – now it’s one of the most common ways that we choose to communicate.
There’s no fighting progress, and dealers will have to embrace the idea that customers may no longer wish to give up their Saturdays to spend trawling around dealerships, haggling with sales people.
Those consumers who still prefer the human touch are more clued up than ever; with 69 percent researching cars online before doing the rounds of dealerships and scoring a bargain.
Buying online: it’s quicker, cheaper and easier. But is it inevitable?
Source: Glassguide.co.uk
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PARTS DEALERS! CHECK THIS OUT
Parts dealers listen up! Some of our clients have let us in on a nifty little secret that has been instrumental to their parts departments being some of the most efficiently run in Australia – Motex Check-IT.
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The new Motex Check-IT system allows you to prepare accurate parts quotations, track the quantity and value of quotes and see which quotes are then converted into sales.
The Motex Check-IT system also allows you to upload documents, such as PDF files or images, and attach them to specific part numbers, providing you with tailored information and key points when quoting.
Plus, the system’s flexibility is also a great benefit, with the ability to control who has access to your account, change settings and upload price updates.
But the most important function of the Motex Check-IT system is the reporting element. A quick search of parts sales in your franchise for the month of February will show you what products sell the most and how often, which is invaluable for managing stock effectively.
And on top of all that, there’s no head-scratching required as it is straight to-the-point and simple to use.
Penfold Motors in Melbourne, one of Victoria’s premier automotive dealership groups has been using the Motex Check-IT system for some time and is impressed by its ‘fast and efficient method of preparing accurate parts quotations’ which has ‘helped push the parts side of our business onto the next level’.
Go to the Motex website and follow the Check-IT links to find out more.
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WE’VE FACED UP TO IT. HAVE YOU?
Facebook: there’s no escaping it. It’s referenced in newspapers, radio, television, magazines, schools, workplaces, pubs, libraries, supermarkets and everywhere in between, each and every day. So being the social networking savvy bunch that we are, we hopped on, signed up and are now socialising with friends and fans at the touch of a button.
In just a few weeks the power of the people (and the internet) has enabled our links and photos to be shared across the world, and secured us fans from the unlikeliest places as well as linking us up with some old friends of Salefest. Great isn’t it?
If you’re on Facebook, why not become a fan of Salefest and share links and ideas with us. If you’re not on Facebook, it’s time you joined up. We’d love to hear from you.
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Once again NADA didn’t disappoint! More so this year because the Track 2 workshop programs I attended covered one of the hottest – and probably the most discussed topics on the planet right now: Social Media.
While the speakers generally agreed that to be successful in today’s recovering economy, dealers must utilise social media tools such as LinkedIn, YouTube, Squidoo, Twitter and Facebook. But the big question most dealers face is how much of their marketing efforts should be devoted to social media.
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Tom White, General Manager of Suzuki of Wichita half jokingly said he doesn’t employ any “smokers and jokers”. In other words if you’ve sold cars elsewhere, you won’t get a job at his dealership. Why? Because he only hires people who are social media savvy and his goal is to capitalise on their expertise to dominate the first “Suzuki” page on Google. Unfortunately the old media doesn’t get a look in. Has this worked? Apparently so, when White took over the dealership they were selling three new Suzuki vehicles a month, now they’re averaging over 180 – and that’s in a small market.
Jared Hamilton (a third generation Ford dealer) suggested dealers incorporate an online approach that drives traffic to their dealerships using a “long tail” strategy incorporating social media tools such as Facebook, Technocrati, YouTube etc., which are free and in abundance, rather than a “head” strategy or traditional media, which is limited and expensive.
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To track and measure the effectiveness of their marketing efforts, Hamilton urged dealers to gauge what people are saying by visiting dealer rating sites such as DealerRater and Yelp and take advantage of listening tools like Peoplebrowser, Radian6 and ExteresAuto.
“Getting the Right Message in Front of Your Car Shoppers” was the title of a workshop presented by Steve Wilhite and Eve Maidenberg. They covered the diverse range of sites where in-market car buyers get their information, and how easy it is for a dealer to follow them once they leave his/her website using display ads on non-automotive sites such as lifestyle, news, business, sports and various portals.
Of the four workshops I attended the one that clicked with me was “Integrating Online and Traditional Advertising Tactics” by Howard Polirer, who based his presentation on the Northwood University, AutoTrader.com 2008 Dealer Walk-in Traffic Study and the JD Power Auto Buyer Clickstream Study, October 2009.
His challenge to attendees was to define the role of their dealerships in today’s internet-driven world, understand what drives walk-in traffic, how to integrate the new media with the old media to maximise cost efficiencies, and to implement on-going tracking and measuring tools to gauge the effectiveness of their advertising.
Polirer ended his workshop by reminding everyone that consumers still watch TV, listen to the radio and see billboards.
Ultimately, the most difficult part for any dealer is getting the media mix right. And that’s getting more and more difficult because the online landscape is ever changing.
So now you’re wondering who I’m socialising with in the photo to the left, which was taken at the Hard Rock Hotel in Orlando, her professional name is Tara and she’s the current Women’s Knockout Champion with TNA.
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EDITOR: Joanna Sim – joanna@salefest.com
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