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I have already written about the most important consumer review websites that car dealers should be monitoring. The focus of this post is how to implement a consistent Internet Reputation Management (IRM) process.  

If you wait until negative reviews show up for your auto dealership it will be more difficult to control the impact of a critical post. By creating a standard operating procedure for IRM you will ensure that positive reviews are being added on your dealer profiles each month.

Your dealership should focus on sites like www.DealerRater.com, www.Yelp.com, www.InsiderPages.com, Google Maps and www.Judysbook.com.  When a negative post then hits, it will be in the minority of negative reviews and the single post’s power will be diminished.

The biggest stumbling block for most car dealers that can’t seem to implement a consistent Internet Reputation Management (IRM) system is time.  The time required to call, email and follow-up some customers is much longer than others.  That’s why setting up a system that can keep the process moving is so vital. Hard to reach customers have to be skipped over since you only need a small percentage of your customers to participate to effect change.

Creating a Sustainable IRM Process

I have been helping auto dealers setup a manageable IRM process that can be kept in house or outsourced.  The key is to prepare, in advance, a list of all the review sites you want to target and to create a script that someone can use to answer customer questions while on the phone. 

You must have a good FAQ sheet prepared so that when you call a customer and ask them to post a review, the caller is not taken off guard with their questions.  The FAQ sheet should include responses to:

• What should I write?
• How long should the review be?
• Should I give my full name?
• What if I had a mixed experience and can’t give you a five star review?
• Will I get compensated for my time?

The process requires that a list of satisfied customers is provided to the person who will be implementing your IRM process.  This can be done on a weekly or monthly basis.  The sooner the request comes from the date of purchase is likely to yield the best results.

Once a customer agrees on the phone to post a positive review, we recommend that you follow-up the call with an email explaining which sites you would like them to post. The email should include a direct link(s) to your business profile page.  Your email should also walk them through the review process on each site, calling out any special requirements that may be needed.

A well written email will make it easy for your customers and increase the number of posts that are actually made.   Don’t overwhelm them by asking them to post on too many sites. Listing one, two or three sites is all you need from any one customer.  By giving them a choice of sites to post, we have found it makes them feel more comfortable with the process.

When speaking with customers ask them to commit to a date that they will post their review.  Make sure you have a system to follow-up on these dates.  By asking them when they will be posting, it makes sending a reminder email very appropriate if they don’t post.

Pace Your Customer Reviews

When implemented, a car dealership can change the dynamics of web reviews in just a matter of weeks or months.  This of course depends on how many negative reviews exist for your business.  The key to remember is that Rome was not built overnight.   Take your time and let your IRM deliver steady reviews over the next year.

Don’t rush too many reviews in any one month since dates are shown on review websites.  Never lie.  Never post reviews under anyone’s name other than yourself.  Never encourage your customers to lie.  Don’t have your customers post reviews from your Internet lounge which may appear that you are posting false reviews.

If you create a process based IRM system, potential customers will see the great things you do on these popular reviews sites as well as Google Maps.  Positive reviews will generate more clicks to your website.   

The customers that we have implemented a process based IRM system have seen their pace of monthly positive reviews increase over 200%.  You can also consider a bonus reward plan for your IRM staff as they hit certain milestones for positive review counts.

Since Google Maps and other directory websites like SuperPages.com and MerchantCircle.com are integrating consumer reviews as part of their basic business listing, I highly recommend that car dealers check ALL consumer review websites.

My top seven websites that dealers must check include:

• http://www.dealerrater.com
• http://www.insiderpages.com
• http://www.yelp.com
• http://www.merchantcircle.com
• http://local.yahoo.com
• http://www.citysearch.com
• http://www.superpages.com

There are dozens of consumer review websites but the websites that appear on Google Page One for dealer name searches is where you need to focus your attention and budget.  You also need to see which websites appear in the “Reviews” section of Google Maps. If a website shows on Google Page 1 or 2 for your dealership name, it is important to manage.  Dealerrater.com is one of the most visible websites that car dealers must address as part of their Internet Reputation Management policy.

Heads in the Sand

I am discouraged at times by the higher number of general managers who do not visit these websites and search their own dealership name to inspect when people are saying about their staff and service. In the past week I have spoken with three large car dealers that did not know just how bad the reviews were about their company. 

Some General Managers were just flat out shocked. All three of these dealers did not have a proactive system in place to coordinate getting their customers to post their positive experiences.

That being said, I have to take my hat off to www.dealerrater.com since their website almost always is on page one when you search a car dealer name. The fact that have such a highly optimized website for automotive dealers makes it difficult to ignore.  They are a great example of how powerful Automotive SEO strategies and website content that include dealer names can be.

I also like the fact that dealers can buy advertising space on their page to direct consumers to their current specials. I like the fact that they can respond to any negative criticism. I like the fact that they offer dealers the ability to buy advertising on a competitors listing page. Aggressive but I like it.

Overall, Dealerrater’s package for Internet Reputation Management and Inventory Distribution Marketing is worth a serious look. The feedback I get from my customers who use the full package is very positive.

Testing The Importance of Internet Reputation Management

Type ”Circle BMW” into Google and you will see Dealerrater and InsiderPages on the first page of search results and MerchantCircle on the second page. If you search Google Maps for “Circle BMW” you will see that Google has summarized 7 reviews from these various websites. Dealerrater is the first review in the list and you will see reviews from CitySearch, InsiderPages and SuperPages. All are summarized so all should not be ignored.

How are the reviews that are showing up on your Google Maps listing?

If you have bad reviews on the top 7 websites I listed, you need to start an effort to balance the reviews with positive ones. Do not post them from your dealership. DealerRater has a system in place to monitor IP address spam and could have your website banned for 6 months or more. Take the time to write a phone script and email script to solicit the time of your customers to post positive reviews.

Need Help with Internet Reputation Management?

If you need help setting up an Internet Reputation Management system, give us a call.  You can outsource the communications with your customers and have us make sure that you have a balanced set of positive reviews on all popular consumer reporting websites.  If you ignore this, there will most likely only be negative posts about your company on the Internet.

Owners of ANY business need to be checking Google and Yahoo on a regular basis for posts on their company that are positive or negative.  This can be automated by using a free service called “Google Alerts” or by manually searching for your company name.  Postive posts can be leveraged in company newsletter and also added to your company website.  Negative posts have to be delt with immediately.

There are a number of popular websites where consumers go to post complaints. The most popular being: www.ripoffreport.com , www.dealerrater.com, and www.complaintsboard.com.  In addition to dedicated complaints websites, you should be checking consumer review sites like www.yelp.com , www.merchantcircle.com and www.insider-pages.com  on a regular basis.

We recommend that you periodically check these three websites for posts about your company. Keep in mind that most dedicated “complaints” websites allow you to post a balanced commentary.  Depending on the post and the motivation of the person who created the post, different responses are suggested by PCG. The staff at www.RipOffReport.com is responsive to the concerns of businesses that are being accused on their website. They will however avoid getting in the middle of disputes and encourage people to post responses for all to see.

Internet reputation management is one of the specialty services offered by the PCG Digital Marketing.  When a client contracts us to review negative posts, we will do a thorough job of researching the complaint and try to reach out to the person who is upset. The best course of action is to resolve the matter directly but that is not always reasonable or possible.  If the matter gets resolved, the person who posted the negative commentary has the best chance of having it removed or edited.

In cases where the posts are misleading or just plain lies, we will contact the websites where these posts are made and seek a retraction.  We have had success with removing or editing posts where there are valid misrepresentations. There is no guarantee that posts can be deleted so you have to have alternative plans, which we can provide.  Keep in mind that these consumer complaint websites want to represent the facts and they do not want to hurt any specific company from slanderous or false accusations.

If your company needs help with negative posts on the Internet, please give us a call at 732-450-8200.  We will review your situation and discuss our plan to help remediate and mitigate these negative posts.