Recapture Visitors Who Exit Your Dealership Website

by Adam Ross, Managing Director, Infinite Prospects, Inc.

How many unique visitors does your dealership's website receive each month? 3,000? 10,000? 25,000?

The volume of shoppers who leave your website without completing a form, calling, or any other interaction - and then never return - is staggering; sometimes as high as 75%.

A percentage of those people mistakenly closed the window that they were using to browse the inventory, not really meaning to leave the site, however it's difficult for some to open a new window and quickly find the webpage or website they were just viewing. Others may have clicked on a link to a 3rd party site (like YouTube or DealerRater) that didn't open in a new window, thereby causing a site exit.

What if there were a way to re-engage 20-40% of those folks and bring them back to the website? Actually, there is!

The Importance of Positive Online Reviews To Car Dealers

by Adam Ross, Managing Director, Infinite Prospects, Inc.

How many positive reviews from customers does your dealership have on Google Plus Local, DealerRater, Cars.com and other consumer review websites? If the answer is "not many," "not enough,"or "none," then you're significantly increasing your chances of being ruled out by many potential customers and losing them to your competition.

Want to increase your dealership's sales and service opportunities by 80%? Get more positive reviews and push those negative reviews down! Statistics show that 4 in 5 consumers choose NOT to do business with a company because they read negative consumer reviews online, or because the dealer they wound up doing business with had substantially more positive reviews.

Adam Ross To Speak On Automated Quoting and Craigslist at The 8th Annual Online Sales Success Workshop

Exciting News! Managing Director Adam Ross Will Be Speaking at the Mosley Automotive Training 8th Annual Online Sales Success Workshop on June 19 at the Water Club at Borgata Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, NJ.

The Masters Champions of Automotive Internet Sales

Who Would You Nominate for a "Green Jacket?"

As the best golfers in the world compete for the Green Jacket at Augusta, I can't help but think of the largest similarity that Major tournament golf champions have with the champions of the Automotive Internet Sales world - Consistent Excellence.

Great golfers lead The Masters for a day or two and often fade. Only the best of the best are still in contention late on Sunday. These are the professionals that have paid their dues - made mistakes and learned from them, pushed themselves, sacrificed, maintained focus in the face of adversity and persevered.

Does your Dealership have Unclaimed Facebook Places Pages?

If the answer is yes, claim them and merge them with your current Fan page!

Many dealerships have multiple Facebook pages representing them out there. Which page are your customers checking into? You can merge these other pages with your fan page, but you must claim each of these non-fan-page  pages before you do so.

Here's how to claim and administer the pages that are not your fan page, but represent your business:

Digital Marketing Department for Car Dealers... Can it Pay Off?

I originally wrote this blog post (CLICK THIS LINK) almost 2 years ago, titled, "We need to Re-Position and Re-Name The Internet Department," on AutomotiveDigitalMarketing.com, but the subject matter is more relevant than ever. An "Internet Sales department" will, sadly, no longer be sufficient for car dealerships going forward. That day is coming sooner rather than later.

As online consumer use has grown, the size of the staff working to capitalize on that



increased usage has remained relatively stagnant. There will continue to be the need for appointment setters responding to leads via email and phone, business development coordinators to make lease retention, unsold showroom and service follow-up calls. However, there is also enough work in marketing a dealership online to occupy one person (or an entire staff) on a full-time basis, in a DIGITAL MARKETING DEPARTMENT without that person having the burden or responsibility of setting appointments or selling cars. Most dealerships assign this role to the Internet Sales department, who are then forced to split their time performing both their original role (calling leads and selling cars) and this new added role of online marketing and keeping up with the latest trends. As a result, most of the time you will both see a drop-off in sales productivity and see a valiant but usually inconsistent attempt at marketing the dealership - limiting yourself in both areas.

Just to name a few of the responsibilities this department could cover better, simply because they can dedicate a full-time effort, rather than a part-time one:

• Monitoring and reacting faster to ongoing changes to Google algorithms effecting search presence,
• Overseeing the online Review Site (Reputation) Management for the dealership
• New Social Networks popping up just in the last year that can't be ignored (Google+ and Pinterest), added to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Tumblr, FourSquare,  and many others
• Publishing more often to your Company Blog
• Reaching out and sharing best practices across the online Digital Automotive community on sites like dealerElite.net, DrivingSales.com, DealerRefresh.com, AutomotiveDigitalMarketing.com, AutomotiveReputation.com to name a few.

My favorite analogy to describe this is: think of your hand. You have 5 fingers - each of them represents a profit center of the dealership (New, Used, F&I, Service, Parts). All 5 are connected to a palm, which ties everything together and makes each finger that much more powerful. The palm is the DIGITAL MARKETING DEPARTMENT. Fingers + Palm = Hand, which can accomplish much more than any one finger or two fingers can.

Compensation would be largely salary-based, with specific goal bonuses for # of check-ins in a certain time period, minimum number of outbound posts, volume of inbound engagements, and other measuring tools currently available that would show increase in reach, popularity and brand awareness. What are your thoughts about this idea?

Please comment below or visit my website to connect with me, Adam Ross, Managing Director at Infinite Prospects, and schedule a no-obligation FREE one-hour consult on your dealership's online marketing strategy.

Improve Your Monthly Internet Sales on InfiniteProspects.com

CAR DEALERSHIPS - IMPROVE YOUR MONTHLY INTERNET SALES!

Visit our All-New, Content-Rich Website at http://www.infiniteprospects.com NOW!

Are you overwhelmed by the multitude of Internet marketing choices?

Infinite Prospects provides expert insight into Automotive Internet Marketing solutions for dealers and sales professionals.

Infinite Prospects Releases its v3 website - (screenshot of homepage)

 Through personal, one-on-one coaching, you will discover:
» Secret marketing techniques for online auto sales success
» How to take advantage of the newest online trends and opportunities
» Insider knowledge to proven processes that increase monthly sales
» How to gain customers' attention through the latest marketing products and services

Learn about how Infinite Prospects can help your dealership sell more cars online. Whether you need on-site sales training and consulting for your car dealership, technology training and consulting, or to guide your team through the follow up and sales process with both automated and manual contacts, Infinite Prospects is there for you. We are authorized resellers for InstaQuote, PureCars, Cargigi, eXteresAuto, AutoE Dealers and HomeNet, to name a few, plus we are Certified in Teaching and Training AVV WebControl. Contact Adam Ross, Managing Director at Infinite Prospects today - call (201) 448-7253 or visit our content-rich website at http://www.infiniteprospects.com. We look forward to your feedback and comments!

Testimonial of Infinite Prospects Consulting by All Star Mitsubishi

Automate Your Inventory Posting to Craigslist with Infinite Prospects

Sample Craigslist Ad

Is your dealership posting vehicles on Craigslist? If so, do those listings direct shoppers from Craigslist to a unique landing page? Where is that landing page hosted?

Cargigi offers dealerships a month-to-month, FULLY AUTOMATED Classified Posting solution starting at $399/mo. for the first Craigslist market, and $299/mo. for each additional Craigslist market.

This service handles everything “from-soup-to-nuts” for the dealership with full transparency, so all you have to do is sit back and answer the phone and emails that come in as a result.

Each ad is image-based with multiple photos, a toll-free number and alternate choices the shopper may also like. Clicking anywhere on that image directs the shopper to an independent landing page of the same vehicle that includes a lead form for the shopper to submit their contact info. Any lead submitted through the form is routed to the dealership’s CRM tool.

The $399/mo. single-market subscription fee from Cargigi includes a Live Market Activity Monitor program so you can track what’s happening real-time with your active listings on Craigslist.

Also included is a unique toll-free number (which redirects to wherever the dealership desires) that tracks and records all calls, enabling you to monitor and listen to those calls online.

For a limited time Cargigi will also include, free of charge, access to the ADAM (Auto Data Automated Management) inventory management system and reporting tool.

Call us today at (201) 481-1424 or Click Here for more information about Cargigi Classified Postings or to schedule your demo test drive. 

Infinite Prospects is an authorized Cargigi Autos reseller.

3rd Party Landing Page Directed from Craigslist - Click to View in a New Tab or Window and Click Again to Magnify

Tie Your Craigslist Ads to Your Facebook Fan Page and YouTube with Cargigi Autos and Infinite Prospects

What if every person who shopped your vehicles on Craigslist were directed to view the same vehicle listing on your Facebook fan page with video?

Cargigi recently released a new Social Media package add-on to their Automated Classified Posting service for $299/mo. that enables dealerships to do just that! Get more eyeballs to your Fan Page and increase the possibility for “Likes!”

By adding an Inventory section to the dealership’s Facebook Fan Page, Cargigi’s Craigslist ads can now direct every click from the Craigslist ad posting to view the same vehicle on the dealership’s Facebook Fan Page. The Cargigi-sponsored toll-free number appears on the listing as well as a lead form for the shopper to submit their contact info. Any lead submitted through the form is routed to the dealership’s CRM tool.

Cargigi’s Social Media package also includes YouTube video creation and integration. A video is created for each used car by stitching the photos together, adding a text-based intro-and-outro and a Text-to-Speech voiceover description of the vehicle. Cargigi uploads each video to the dealership’s YouTube channel and ties it to the Facebook Fan Page inventory listing.

From now through October 31, 2011, any dealership currently not subscribed to any of Cargigi’s services are eligible to receive a very special offer. When you sign your dealership up for a single-market Craigslist package at $399/mo., we’ll include the Social Media Package add-on FOR NO ADDITIONAL CHARGE - not for a limited time but FOREVER! Save over $3500/year!

Call us today at (201) 481-1424 for more information about Cargigi Social Media integration or to schedule your demo test drive.
Infinite Prospects is an authorized Cargigi Autos reseller.

Close 15% Of Your Leads Every Month

I was inspired by a discussion on DrivingSales, an automotive social networking site, where an Internet Marketing Manager at a VW dealership was soliciting help on improving his closing percentage above its current consistent 10%.

This manager has a basic set of steps he follows, which are widely accepted as the best practice to achieve the best results in the automotive industry:

• AutoResponse
• Send Qualifying Questions (Fact Finding) email
• Send Price Quote email
• Call Customer
• Follow Up

I had a few suggestions for him, which you can apply to your dealership's process to improve your closing percentage:

1. How many days out are you currently following up with each prospect? And how often do you email/call them? Converting more 30-90 day old prospects through diligent follow-up is a key factor in increasing closing ratio.
2. Do you send TARGETED broadcast (bulk) emails? Targeting by model would make the offers more relevant to your existing prospect base.
3. Do you have a sold follow-up EMAIL process that incorporates asking recently sold customers for referrals from their family and friends?
4. Have you heard of InstaQuote? It's an automated email quoting system that works with your CRM tool to stop-the-clock and send a custom multi-choice email quote to each prospect. This would eliminate having to spend as much as 10 minutes per lead building a multi-price menu to email the client. The quote can also include useful links to pages on the dealership's website, plus to the dealer's social media outlets and 3rd party rating sites. Infinite Prospects is a distributor and can show you how it works. Pricing starts at just $399 per month, month-to-month contract with a 30-day money-back guarantee...

Each of these tips could help you save time or engage more prospects, which will add an extra few deals each month. With those additional sales, you're talking about significant positive impact to your dealership's closing percentage.

Infinite Prospects can help your dealership implement these ideas and much more. Please call Adam Ross at (201) 481-1424 or visit our website for more information.

Infinite Prospects helps car dealers sell more cars online through Internet sales contact process evaluation, coaching and training. Distributor for #PureCars, #InstaQuote, #CarGigi, #AutoETechnologies, #Carfeine, and #SalesDialers. Visit our website at

http://www.infiniteprospects.com.

How should dealerships price new cars online?

As an Automotive Internet Sales Expert, I am often asked:

How should I price my cars online for my dealership? 

Dealerships need to have a strategy for setting markup on new vehicle pricing online. Of course, consumers want to see the lowest price for the car they want. So... give them what they want!

Remember that front-end gross is only one of the many ways to profit from a sale: you also have the Accessories/Warranty avenue, plus the potential of profiting from a trade-in. That doesn't even count the future service revenue or ancillary profit received from any referrals the consumer may send you.

The best practice I've seen, after years of experience, research and thought, is:

Mirror-image the markup and pricing offered in your traditional offline advertising, most often your newspaper ad.

Mirror-imaging your traditional advertising pricing gives the consumer a consistent, trustworthy experience. It's also legally and ethically the right way to treat a customer.

Many consumers shop using a combination of tools: reading offline ads, communicating directly via email, visiting the showroom, calling the sales department, visiting your dealership's website, etc. Shouldn't consumers receive the same price on a vehicle regardless of which channel they use to communicate with your dealership? (That's a rhetorical question).

A good friend and I were discussing the matter and he brilliantly observed, "When a dealership purchases a newspaper ad, they place an offer out there having little to no idea exactly who is going to read the ad, and whether it's resonating. But with a price email you know exactly who is receiving it, and depending on which CRM tool you use, whether they saw that price. Why wouldn't you hit them with the ad pricing?"

What are your thoughts about pricing strategies for car dealerships?

Focus on Long Term Follow Up

Is your dealership's Internet sales process focused largely on converting consumers within the first 72 hours of receiving their lead? If so, you're leaving a large chunk of sales on the table...

How much time do you spend working your 15, 30, 45, 60, 75, and 90-day old prospects?Probably not enough...

While this published data may be a few years old, the statistics have not changed much since that time. Put together a strategy with a combination of phone calls, personal emails, email newsletters and direct mail (where possible) to stay in touch with the consumer for 90+ days and keep your dealership in their thoughts.

Excerpt from: 2008 AUTOMOTIVE ESHOPPER EXPERIENCE STUDY, conducted by The Cobalt Group and J.D. Power & Associates. 

"The 2008 J.D. Power and Associates New Autoshopper.com Study found that on average AUIs (Automotive Internet Users) report that they first decide to buy a new vehicle 15.4 weeks before they actually purchase one. Three weeks later they begin using the Internet to find information, which is approximately 12. 4 weeks prior to purchase. By the time they have narrowed their vehicle selection down to one vehicle they are typically 5 weeks away from purchase. This information is key to both understanding the best time to target and market to Internet shoppers and to understanding that shoppers may be in-market for different periods of time...

The longer a lead remains unsold, the more likely it is to convert to a used vehicle.Dealers should respond promptly to leads and have systems in place to market to car shoppers in a way that addresses what the consumer is likely to purchase based on the age of the lead. Suggesting a used vehicle alternative to a new vehicle lead as the lead ages could help convert the lead to a sale. Additionally, with a third of leads converting after 90 days, dealers who continue to market to consumers will benefit by selling to those with purchase timeframes beyond a three month period."

What strategies does your dealership employ to stay in touch with consumers?

CarGigi Adds A Social Media Package to Its Craigslist Classified Posting Service

What can the Cargigi Social Media Package add to my dealership's presence online?

• Creates an inventory tab on your Facebook Fan Page – now your Facebook fans can view your pre-owned inventory right on your page! We add it as a tab to your existing page! Give your fans more!
• Facebook as Your Craigslist Landing Page -We update your landing page (the click-here-for-more-info link) for all of your Craigslist posts (if you are subscribed to CarGigi’s Craigslist posting services), directing consumers to the same vehicle listing on your Facebook Fan Page Inventory tab. Get more page views and Fans on Facebook!
• YouTube Videos - We generate a video for each pre-owned vehicle from your photos, adding intro & outro descriptive text and voiceover. We upload these videos to YouTube and tie your Craigslist and Facebook listings to the videos.
• Low price! Costs your dealership just $299 per month! 
• LIMITED TIME OFFER - Add a Social Media package to your existing $399 monthly Classified posting service and we’ll give you a second Craigslist market to post into for FREE!

Infinite Prospects is a Reseller for CarGigi.

Call Adam Ross at Infinite Prospects

(201) 481-1424 TODAY!

Or email adamr@infiniteprospects.com.

BDC Metrics, Standards and How to Measure BDC Reps

I recently was browsing the Automotive Social Media site DrivingSales.com and came across post by a GM asking a set of great questions, soliciting advice on BDC metrics, standards and measurements.

"I'm wondering what are industry standard/best practice metrics for BDC performance. Specifically, What are standard appointment scheduled and appointment show percentages for both phone leads and internet leads? Additionally, what are the standard sale rates for each? How should BDC representatives be measured effectively and with what metrics?"

I felt compelled to give my thoughts on the matter, and wanted to share them with you...

"What are standard appointment scheduled and appointment show percentages for both phone leads and internet leads?"

In my experience, both running and then working with hundreds of dealerships' BDC and Internet Departments over the past decade, it really depends on the following factors:

• How many prospects is each appointment-setter handling monthly?
• Optimally, depending on skill level, each BDC rep should be able to reasonably handle 150 new leads/mo., while simultaneously following up with as many as 300+ unreached and unsold prospects from just the 2 or 3 prior months. 
• A remarkable person can effectively handle 250 new prospects per month; meaning there are also as many as 500+ additional older prospects (just from the prior 60 days) to continue to follow up as well. Only a precious few top-level BDC reps have the skill to reach out personally via phone and email to 750 prospects on a rolling monthly basis...
• The more they handle, the lower your contact ratio, appointment sets and shows, and closing percentage will be. 

• Optimally, with 450 prospects (150 new, 300+ older) to contact monthly, in my opinion, top BDC reps should achieve:
• A 50%+ actual contact made percentage, or 225 contacts (including older prospects now ready to buy). 
• From those 225 prospects reached, 120-160 appointments set should be expected monthly (30-40 weekly, 6-8 daily).
• From the 140 average appointments set, 60-70 appointments should show. Are they greeted by the person they set the appointment with and properly TO'd to a Sales or BDC Manager? How your dealership handles the hand-off can affect your closing percentage drastically.
• From your 60-70 shows, you should expect to close 15-35 deals per month (10% vs. new leads received on the low side, 25% vs. new leads received on the high side). I understand that this is a pretty broad range, but so many unknown variables play in here, that once the customer arrives, it's really up to the sales team to take over and make the sale happen.
• That's going to depend, among other things, heavily upon:
• the inventory available (colors, options, etc), 
• the availability of test-drive vehicles, 
• whether the price and experience they received when they arrived at the dealership was consistent with the one offered online - if they received a price and came in based upon that price, then price was not likely an objection, and may have been the selling point. If they receive a different price on the same vehicle when arriving - that can kill a sale very quickly.
• the rapport that the salesperson developed with the potential buyer
• the market competitiveness of the price offered
• Some dealerships are more "on-the-ball" than others, and that results in a higher closing percentage. 

• How does your dealership address pricing requests? 
• Calling the prospect prior to emailing a PRICE MENU (with choices) to address the request, or worse, never emailing any pricing to address the request, will result in lower contact ratios, lower appointments set, fewer shows, and ultimately, fewer sales. 
• Addressing pricing up-front will allow the first phone conversation's tone to change from adversarial and skeptical (on the prospect's side), to understanding that you're willing to address any and all questions on price in a timely, professional manner. It conveys a message that you're not afraid to discuss price, which is what the majority of consumers think since it's still very often difficult to get real pricing from dealerships.

• How long do the people in your BDC actively work a prospect before declaring it "dead"? 
• Some un-trained, un-managed BDC reps give up too early in the process, after not hearing from a prospect after 5 or 6 calls and several emails (usually about 2 weeks, max). Sometimes, the buyer was collecting information to make a decision 2-3 months down the road, but since the BDC rep didn't continue to stay in touch, the dealership potentially lost out on that sale. 
• The less time, on average, each prospect is worked, the fewer deals outside the current month's leads will be sold, reducing your closing percentage and wasting the opportunity to more cars every month. A good way to measure your department's effectiveness at long-term follow up would be to count the number of days the prospect was worked from the last lead received or last walk-in date.

"How should BDC representatives be measured effectively and with what metrics?"

• Measure them based upon:
• average response time, 
• average # of days it took per prospect from lead to close, 
• # of new prospects received this month, 
• # of prospects still active from prior months, 
• # of prospects with actual contact made, 
• # of appointments set, 
• # of shows, 
• # of closed, 
• % of closed deal revenue vs. new lead expenses for the month.

What metrics do you use in your dealership? Do you agree with my opinions and ideas? Thanks for reading this - I realize it was kind of lengthy...