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| As selected by Activengage |
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What's even more important than driving traffic to your site? Focusing on your dealership conversion and how to optimize it. That's the half of the equation that you need to turn your site into a lead generation machine. Click to learn more...
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A true salesperson will figure out how to win 'lost' business the next time around. If you treat them like a customer, they may in fact become a customer in the future.
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This is a great mashup of social media marketing videos and charts. So if you are new to the concept or just looking for some additional education this is a great place to start.
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| How-to’s by industry experts |
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 10 Things Social Media Can't Do For You No matter how great your website, video contest, blog, Twitter strategy, etc., social media can't do it all. Make sure of your success by following these tips: 1. Social media can't substitute for your marketing strategy. A Twitter campaign, or a Facebook page that announces your weekly specials is not a marketing strategy. 2. Social media can't succeed without top management buy-in. Social media requires a way of thinking that includes willingness to listen to customers, make changes based on feedback, and trust employees to talk to customers. 3. Social media can't be viewed as a short-term project. Social media is not a one-shot deal. It's a long-term commitment to openness, experimentation and change that requires time to bear fruit. 4. Social media can't produce meaningful, measurable results immediately. One of the complaints about social media is that it can't be measured. But there are many things that can be measured, including engagement, sentiment and whether increased traffic leads to sales. Click here to read the remaining tips by B.L. Ochman, an Internet marketing strategist to Fortune 500 corporations.
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INDUSTRY NEWS IN THE LAST 24
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 Regaining Compliance Compli compliance software supplies a real need for auto dealers, says DDD publisher Chuck Parker, a regulation-heavy industry. Now servicing 1,100 dealers in 43 states, CEO Lon Leneve says Compli will expand their services to take in other markets in what he calls the "year of transition". Portland Business Journal, July 19, 2010
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 VW China Surge Lifts Carmaker to Biggest Profits in Two Years Volkswagen AG, largest European carmaker, reporting a huge upswing in 2nd quarter profits due to heavy demand for Jetta, Lavida and Audi A6 in China (and the U.S), and hopes to surpass Toyota globally in sales and profits by 2018. Bloomberg.com, July 29, 2010
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Moderator: Frank Hackett, NAAA Executive Director; Speakers: Ira Silver, Ph.D., NAAA Economist and Paul Taylor, Ph.D., NADA Economist
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Daily clicks to increasing dealer revenue & profits
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 OPENLANE iDEAL Open Seller Program Boosts Dealer to Dealer Sales OPENLANE, Inc, leading North America online auction company, continues its record-breaking sales year, with best ever U.S. open auction and Canadians sales. Recent expansion of OPENLANE’s "iDEAL Open Seller program" throughout Canada, providing dealers with the freshest online inventory available in a more efficient and timely manner, creating a significant boost in dealer-to-dealer sales. For more information visit OPENLANE or call 866.969.0321 or email dealer_info@openlane.com.
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 Autobytel is Exclusive Partner with NAMADAutobytel joins with NAMAD to help minority dealerships sell more cars, more cost-efficiently as exclusive third-party lead provider, "to help member dealers thrive in the digital economy,” said Autobytel President and CEO Jeff Coats. Programs include iControl; Autobytel’s pay-for-performance Used Car Program; lead treatments such as Rapid Response, Email Manager, and Custom Messaging, as well as Autobytel’s in-dealership Internet Process training. Visit NAMAD or Autobytel for more information.
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 Keeping Customers Cool Pays Off! OneCommand will help you host a service clinic to fuel significant increases in satisfaction, traffic and revenue! Hosting an A/C Clinic in your Service Department is just one example and a perfect way to help your customers stay cool while your sales and service business heats up! Last year, a PA dealer hosted an AC Clinic and generated 349 ROs for $64,000 in service revenue and 6 vehicle sales! Get your AC Clinic started today! Request more info or call 800.211.7614.
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| How-to’s by industry experts |
 Make the Most of Your in-House Warranty Administrator
You may discover he or she is one of the lowest paid and lowest trained employees in your entire dealership. Their job function is generally viewed as clerical in nature, but in a warranty audit, all eyes are upon this person -- responsible for between hundreds of thousands and millions of your dollars every month. From the manufacturer’s view, functional training for this person stopped about 10-15 years ago. So they are pretty much self-taught. In the final installment of a 3-part series on Warranty Compliance, the writer discusses the scope of the in-house Warranty Administrator. Click here or click on the image for some fascinating insight into what this administrator should, or should not, be doing!
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| auto dealer sales & marketing |
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 Use Social Media to Change Customer Perception By Ray FensterThe leisurely approach to sales is dead. Society has moved on, and today's faster pace make the old approach impossible. Thank God for social media—a set of tools to help you be more engaged with your customers—to restore what has been lost. Immediate ROI is not as valuable as reasoning, reaching and reacting to what your customer's find important. Advice: Dealers, develop a social media strategy that values the journey rather than the destination. Reinforce your values and those of the community, beyond sales and specials. Push your brand, and give your fans a reason to check you out. Social media is not about selling cars, it's about being making the case that you deserve a customer's business. Remember “Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle?" Faced with rising costs, the waste disposal industry paired up with environmentalists to develop the Green Movement. This Movement succeeded on a neighbor to neighbor and community to community level. Another movement is now being realized by the automotive industry that will greatly impact how you do business from now on. Would it surprise you that the 3 R’s are back? This time, use social media to “retain, refer, and recommend.” Today, consumers have tremendous social power to affect change at your dealership, so social media monitoring and response is critical. Remember these rules: • Accept your customers viewpoints and be prepared to respond in a positive manner in a timely fashion. • Seize every opportunity to turn something negative into a positive. • Accentuate the positive. Pounce on favorable consumer experiences and share them across the social media landscape. Ray Fenster, president, RayFenster.com LLC, can be reached at RayFenster@RayFenster.com. Click here to read this article in its entirety.
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| bringing sales into service and service into sales |
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 Service Department -- Key Player on Your Team
There was a time when dealerships either felt the need, or were required by automakers, to revamp their showrooms and make them more presentable to potential customers. Well, now the same level of thinking has invaded the Service Department of dealerships as more and more of them begin to accept the fact that service department profits are no longer at the 'bottom' of the bottom line. Working on the design of your service department could be the most important thing you do this year! So click here or click on the image for a great article "Maximizing Technician Productivity and Service Department Profitability" (enter title in search line) by John Rylee to give your dealership a lift.
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| driving technology in and around the VEHICLE |
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 Local Ads and News -- Coming to a GPS Near You!It won't be long before OnStar and ConnectedDrive get wiredDrivers are already experiencing advertising plugs on their cell phone and smart phones, so perhaps they won't be offended when the GPS lights up with a plug for the local point of interest. ABI Research estimates there will be 232 million nav devices in use globally by the end of the year. It was a market just waiting to happen. "We can pinpoint where consumers are and deliver ads and calls to action within a few feet of advertised points of purchase," says Chris Rothey, VP of Navteq Media Solutions. Drivers can click-to-map and click-to-navigate to the location. AOL's MapQuest and Google are beginning to connect the dots and will soon add news and other local information to their portals. Geo-targeted ads and sponsorships already appear on the website and on MapQuest 4Mobile, with Best Western and Holiday Inn participating. The two companies also are working on mapping and navigation services for the upcoming Chevy Volt electric car. Click here to read this article in its entirety. And you'll want to click here for a fabulous video by MapQuest and how they target local advertising!
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| how to make & keep your DEALERSHIP environmentally responsible |
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 Carbon Fibre -- Electric Cars Will be Made Stronger and LighterCarbon fibre tends to be more costly than steel, or even aluminum, for now, but this material will prove to be a safer more durable material for electric cars of tomorrow. Carbon fibre is actually 30% lighter than aluminum and 50% lighter than steel, and it has proven to be extremely tear-resistant. So BMW will begin using it with its new plug-in electric car to be launched in 2013. The process is fascinating -- with the use of molds, heated and pressured to produce the contours. Even more fascinating, the whole process is completed in minutes -- all done by robots! Click here to learn more. Then click on the image for a first-hand look at the 2013 BMW carbon fibre EV.
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