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I recently had the pleasure to sit in on a workshop Joe Webb presented at the Chicago PCG Pit Stop conference.  Joe gave attendees a number of solid processes to help increase the effectiveness of responding to email prospects.

One of the tips Joe gave attendees was how to reverse engineer lead data and how to research a customer online BEFORE responding.  I like Joe’s comment that taking ONE extra minute to do some simple research would NOT impact the opportunity measurably.

I could not agree more since research will create a more intelligent and more engaging response.

In the past month, I’ve been exploring new ways to reach out and connect with “prospects” which in my case is car dealers.  As I travel around the country speaking at conferences and 20 Group I normally meet dealers who need assistance with their online reputation, SEO, SEM, or social media strategy.

But what has been a challenge recently is contacting dealers in a specific local market and inviting them to attend one of the regional PCG Pit Stop events.  This is where I have been testing new contact methodologies since email, cold calls, and direct mail really are weak.

Leverage LinkedIn For Your Dealership

One marketing tool that I have found effective is LinkedIn.  There are a number of effective ways to leverage your existing customers, friends, and business associates to create a targeted marketing list to sell more cars. If your sales team is not leveraging LinkedIn, they should be.

With email delivery rates dropping, LinkedIn has very impressive email delivery rates that are many times higher than normal email.  Also, keep in mind that your customers change email addresses on a regular basis but will update their LinkedIn profile with their current contact information.  This means you can stay connected with your customers much longer than your current DMS will allow.

I know that there is high turnover in car sales but seasoned sales professionals that use LinkedIn properly will be way ahead of their peers.  In just 60 days, I have added over 500 targeted dealership employees to my network.

Imagine what your sales professionals could do with developing lists that include local teachers, doctors, lawyers, business owners which all can be created off their EXISTING customers.  LinkedIn has rules that “govern” how fast you can build your network, but adding 20 people a day is very reasonable.

Once sales professionals build their lists, LinkedIn can allow them to “tag” the contacts with keywords that can be used to create targeted email messages or tips each month.  So people who purchase a Honda Civic can be tagged with keywords like “Honda”, “2011 New Car Buyer”, “Family With Kids”, etc.

Sales professionals can search these tags to create targeted email lists or invitations to special events.

Developing a Digital Networking Strategy

I will be adding a workshop on leveraging digital networking tools for automotive sales professionals at the upcoming PCG Pit Stop Conferences .  I

Paul Potratz and I have been brainstorming on this type of workshop which I think car sales professionals will love.

LinkedIn email is not the only method that is working.  LinkedIn Groups also shows great promise along with Facebook which many conversations have already covered.

I have also been very pleased on the ROI of creating better quality promotional videos for PCG events and services.  Video marketing for sales professionals is an green field opportunity for progressive dealerships.

So any sales professionals that would like a workshop of digital branding and network strategies should check out the upcoming schedule of conferences at http://www.pcgpitstop.com and Paul Potratz and I will show you the ropes!

P.S.  Please join me on LinkedIn!  I would love to connect with you.

I’ve never worked at a car dealership.  But as I assist car dealers across the country, I have seen many different styles of management, structure, and process.  Recently I had the opportunity to conduct a joint 20 Group presentation with Joe Webb and Jared Hamilton and Joe presented the mystery shopping results he did for each dealer in the group.  Wow, this was an eye opener from some dealers that had broken processes.

Part of Joe’s analysis was to review the auto-responder emails that were generated by the dealer’s CRM systems.  Some of the emails were poorly formed, had missing images, and others had no call to action.  There are people that are more qualified to discuss the best email template designs but I would like to add an observation.

The after hours email templates, from my perspective, assumed that the consumer who submitted the lead was done shopping.  I know from my own research that consumers are just moving on to another dealer to submit a lead to get the best local price.

None of the after hours response templates created a call to action to get the consumer to invest a few more minutes to get to know the salesperson who sent the email or to know more about the dealership.    My thoughts were reinforced by a dealer principal who recently said to me “Brian, with all the focus on the Internet, I am afraid that we are forgetting that we still have to sell the consumer on our dealership.”

Leverage Video Resumes and Testimonials

My recommendation is not a new idea, but a reminder since many dealers have not taken action. All dealership sales professionals should have a positive, energetic, and well made video resume that they can link, not include, in their auto-responder email.  Dealers should also create a YouTube channel of customer review videos that they can reference in the email.  Here are some lines that could be added to typical after hours email templates that tell the consumer that they will be contacted the following day:

Dear (customer name),

I know you have many choices where you can purchase a car so I would like to ask you to take one more minute to learn more about me and how I will handle your questions and respond to your online request.  I invite you to view my video resume: (link).  I would also encourage you to hear what other local residents have said about buying a car from our dealership.  Take a minute to view the (dealership name) Customer Video Channel: (link).

This gives the consumer the option to re-visit your website and let your passion and the passionate testimonials of your clients win their attention.   I would also suggest that your email provide a link to your current specials.  You have to be careful on how many links you include in an email for spam filtering, but TEST adding links to important pages on your website.

These links are more important than fancy photos, logos, or other elements that could trigger a spam flag.  Also, take time to test all your emails against free spam checkers.  You will be surprised how much you can increase delivery and open rates by eliminating words like “amazing”, “awesome”,”unbelievable” and innocent words like “save”, “discounts”, and “huge”.  To test your email template, try this free site:  Email Spam Checker

So, use video assets to engage potential customers when they are shopping after hours or during the day where video can tell a more passionate story than any email can hope to convey.

Prestige Volvo YouTube Channel

Keep in mind that video testimonials do not have to be polished.  The more raw they are the more believable they will be.  Let your customers sell for you.  Linking your testimonial channel in your email templates will build brand value after hours!

I’ve written recently about the importance of synchronizing your business name, address, and phone number across the primary and secondary business directories. Business owners need to ensure that they have consistent business data on the Internet to increase their relevance and to confirm that their business listing is legitimate.

Google Places Scams

Since Google Places is becoming a large driver of organic traffic to a car dealer’s website, Google Places scams are popping up all the time. These scams include fake business listings that are design to show websites and phone numbers in markets outside of the cities where businesses are located.

For example, a used car dealer in Westfield New Jersey who wants to show in Newark, might be tempted to create a second Google Maps listings using a random, valid street address but uses a phone number and website that redirects consumers to their business. To crack down on false listings, Google is using third party websites and primary data centers to verify the authenticity of Google Places listings.

Google Places Monetization

Google has not missed the significance of Google Places and has rolled out two ways to monetize the placement and popularity of Google Places data.  Google Tags ($25 a month) and Google Boost (Pay-Per-Click) are two ways business owners can attract more clicks to the Places listing and to their main website.

It looks like the “tags” idea is catching on and YextTags.com is banking that “tagging” will be a standard marketing feature on other business review portals.

Yext Tags Leverages Tags On Multiple Directories

Capitalizing on business owners inability to synchronize their data across dozens of business directories, a new company is offering synchronization services and a bonus.  Yexttags.com will update or add your business data across a few dozen online directories but they are also offering “tags” on a growing number of these 3rd party sites.

It looks like they have created a licensing deal to provide the equivalent of tags on Google Maps to websites like Yelp.com, SuperPages.com, CItySearch, and a number of other sites are pending.  The cost for this monthly advertising service varies based on the number of sites that you want to run “tags”.  This is a screen showing pricing on their website:

I have been studying the extra click traffic generated by Google Places tags and it looks very promising.  This is a new twist in digital advertising which is based on their premise that a “tagged” business listing will generate significantly more traffic.  So, it’s up to you to see if you want to test this new service offered by www.YextTags.com.

Free Bonus When You Visit Their Website

At least, you should use their free directory synchronization testing tool.  You can enter your business name, address, etc. and it will tell you how many websites have this exact business data and which websites you are not listed.  If you don’t subscribe to the service, you can at least generate a list of websites that you can manually update for free.  This will increase the search relevance of your business address.