It is often a question I ask myself when trolling through the myriad of publications every week. In my assessment, relevance often becomes “at a point in time” debate rather than a case whereby US best practices are dismissed because their market is vastly different, their online shoppers are more internet savvy, or their digital marketing product selection is so extensive and specialised.
At some point the average Aussie dealer has to jump on board the digital marketing bus. It often becomes a matter of when and how high does one jump, rather than defer an opportunity and leave it to other dealer peers to become the pathfinders.
There is always some gem for us to take on board and identify just how it may apply to an Aussie dealership situation.
In this regard, I wish to share with you a recent interview in the April 2013 issue of Digital Dealer magazine. The interviewee was Ricky Lopez, internet director, Greenway Chrysler Jeep Dodge based in Orlando, Florida. This dealership had sales of more than 4500 new and used vehicles in 2012, and 72% (3242) of their business were internet sales.
Ricky started out as internet director for the dealership five years ago. At that time sales were 30 new and 60 used a month – or just in excess of 1000 vehicle sales per annum. Internet sales were 12 per month or 144 on an annual basis for approximately 13.3% of total sales.
The following chart plots the dealership growth in internet sales for the five year period 2008-2012, and as one would expect. while the annual rate of growth has slowed, the percentage of internet sales to total vehicle sales is now close to three out of every four sales. 
So what were some of the key decisions made and actions taken by Greenaway Chrysler Jeep Dodge in order for internet vehicle sales activity to play such a dominate role?
To facilitate this review, the decisions and actions taken by the Orlando dealership are separated into three areas – people, processes, plus sales and marketing.
1.0 People
– The GM/partner, Conrad Letson was 100% behind Rick in all the internet decisions
– There are 21 internet sales persons v 12 floor sales persons
– They have lost only four salespersons in five years, all to promotions within the group
– Average salesperson productivity = 11.4 vehicles per month
– All salespeople are on a performance based pay scheme
– Every new salesperson undergoes one-month training split into: handling in-bound BDC (business development centre), one-on-one training with Ricky and assistant, manufacturer certification (Chrysler) and shadowing an experienced sales person to learn and understand how a deal is worked
2.0 Processes
– Dealership open 7 days a week, 7.00am to 8.00pm
– Staggered shifts in place for both inbound and outbound teams to handle work load
– There are 50 staff in a group BDC, covering 19 dealerships, handling all sales and service calls
– For follow-up calls that have gone cold, there is a separate ‘Nurture Team’ of seven, responsible for follow-up – with sales of 40-50 per month and growing
– BDC process subject to regular external audit by Kain Group Automotive
– Ricky is a member of the Kain Automotive ‘internet top 20’ group
– Dealership receives 16,000 internet leads per year with a 19.0% closing ratio
– Salesperson internet response timing limited to a maximum of nine minutes before system alert posted to Ricky
– Reynolds & Reynolds are the DMS providers
3.0 Sales and marketing (with all the various vendors or products highlighted in bold)
– Dealership has been with 90% of the sales and marketing internet supplier for the past five years
– Ricky is an active member of Kain Automotive and NCM Associates peer review, top 20 groups
– CRM and website design are with VinSolutions
– Vehicle inventory management system is with vAuto and AutoTrader
– All SEO carried out in-house with heavy emphasis on YouTube to assist SEO ranking
– On Monday, Wednesday and Friday a fresh YouTube video is uploaded
– In excess of 1000 YouTube videos have been uploaded by the dealership
– On Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday a fresh press release or PR log is uploaded
– SEM vendor is Haystack Digital Marketing, however Ricky is of the opinion he is unable to match the pay for national click spend of the manufacturer so concentrates on SEM within the area of up to two hours drive time to Orlando
– Third party listing: most successful results are derived from Cars.com and Dealix
– E newsletter and email blasts provided by One Command and dealership has over 100,000 customers on their database and regularly targets anywhere from 7-25,000 customers at a time
– Auto Alert is a vendor capable of separating out existing customers with sufficient equity in their vehicle to enable the dealership to put the customer in a new vehicle for the same payment
– Facebook is home to posted customer testimonials
– Rating of dealership services are with Yelp, plus Dealer Rater (600 reviews), and on Cars.com (600 reviews)
– Instagram (a free app) is experiencing exceptional growth for the dealership with automatic upload to Facebook and Twitter
– Eyejot (a new video app) used from smart phone or laptop for setting appointments, or for customer follow up and asking for dealership reviews
As you might expect the task of maintaining the dealership interface and communication with all the above vendors, or specialised products, requires management skills we have yet to see, let alone apply within an Australian digital marketing setting. That day will come, it is only a matter of time.
When Ricky was asked what he saw as the major influencer for the industry in the future he saw the future in mobile and videos due to the increasing use of tablets and smart phones over laptops or desktops.
Ricky cited the application product Eyejot as a perfect example of how a new mobile video app can and does enhance the customer experience.
In response to what he saw as the biggest dealership challenge Ricky identified the lack of sales people capable of selling between 15 and 21 cars a month to enable the dealership to sell 4000 vehicles on the internet this year.
Some impediments to dealership organic growth remain the same irrespective of whether your markets are in the US or ‘Downunder’!
The full interview with Ricky in Digital Dealer April 2013 can be found on www.Dealer-magazine.com. Happy reading.
Peter Aitken
www.clearedgenet.com
peter@clearedgenet.com
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