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Archives for April 2010

Using foursquare to Bring Customers to Your Dealership for FREE!

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I know some people think foursquare is stupid and that’s OK.

Some people also think playing video games is stupid but that hasn’t stopped consumers from spending almost $8 billion dollars per year.

As a brief summary, foursquare is a location-based game in which people use their GPS-enabled cellphones to “check-in” at locations. Checking in earns them points, badges and mayorships. It’s all fun and, for the most part, you don’t get anything but bragging rights out of it with your friends. I explained why I thought dealers should pay attention to foursquare in a previous blog post.  I also briefly touched on the idea I go into in this blog post.

It has been exploding with new user registration now boasting about 1 million users and adding about 50,000 per day. This, of course, is attracting major brands such as Starbucks, Pepsi, Macys and more to see what they can do to use it for their benefit.

According to a New York Times article today , Pepsi just worked out a deal with foursquare to offer “live notification(s) when customers are near stores” that carry Pepsi products. Pepsi relies on stores to sell Pepsi products so their interest is in directing customers into those stores. They’ve also combined their foursquare campaign with their Pepsi loyalty campaign so when people check-in at those stores, they actually earn Pepsi points for their loyalty account in addition to the points they receive on foursquare.

I’m waiting for an automotive manufacturer to start a similar campaign since they are pretty much in Pepsi’s shoes and rely on dealerships to move vehicles. Why not have an OEM campaign designed to drive customers to dealerships? (I wouldn’t be surprised if Ford is the first OEM to try this. They’ve certainly embraced social media marketing.)

Foursquare has also started catering to businesses and offering businesses the opportunity to offer their customers specials, coupons and freebies. It includes with it analytics of your business (as related to foursquare check-ins). You can see more about their program here (Foursquare + Your Business ). Here’s a sample image (from that page) showing you kind of what you “could” do when people check-in:

Without  going into too much detail, the one thing that foursquare users love is badges. People go to places and do things just to get badges. The badges don’t really “do” anything. They’re just cool and, well, it is a game after all.

Whether you like foursquare or even know what it is, there’s at least one immediate thing you can do to drive traffic to your dealership, cater to the game.

There exists a badge on foursquare called the Swarm badge. This badge can only be unlocked when 50+ users check-in at the same place and at the same time (within an undisclosed time frame). This is particularly hard to get, for obvious reasons.


Dealerships use promotions all the time designed to bring people to their lot. Radio station promotions, Gas card and movie ticket giveaways, free food, live entertainment, etc.

Why not hold a “Swarm” event?

It’s not hard and it’s free. Worst that could happen: nobody shows up. Best case scenario: you have people on your lot. Accompanied with an appropriate Twitter campaign, you will generate interest and you may even get foursquare to help market your event. They’ve been known to do that. If foursquare tweeted just one tweet about your event, 60,000+ people would get exposed to your store. I guarantee that consumers in your market will also re-tweet this event as they will have a vested interest in ensuring that as many people show up as possible.

Consumers get barraged with all the “typical” dealership events and they tend to tune them out, in my opinion. We have so many “sales” that a customer probably feels like there’s a sale every week so the “sense of urgency” a sale is designed to instill is negated by the fact that we have them so often and, in some cases, all the time.

Do you know why Nordstom’s sales are so popular? They only have them twice a year. Really. Only twice. They never deviate from that and customers know it. That’s creating a true sense of urgency.

A Swarm event would create a true sense of urgency, even if only for foursquare users. They would have to come on a specific time on a specific date and they will come, I promise.

You never know, you may even have such a great turnout that the people on your lot at your swarm event earn the even more coveted Super Swarm badge where 250+ people have to check-in.

All I know is anything that’s free and will bring 50+ people to my dealership on a specific date and time would definitely be something I would try out. 

Just having 50+ people on your lot at the same time would bring non-foursquare users onto your lot. Why? Humans are curious beings. If they’re shopping for a car (or even just driving by), they may stop to see what’s going on. Heck, people also like attention. I could very easily see someone buying a car right then just to show off!

Having people on your lot is never a bad thing. This could help them get there.

After that, what you do with them is up to you.

Avoid Making Dealership Turnover A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

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We’ve all heard the importance of a dealership providing the proper tools for a new sales employee to be successful. Some are very basic like a desk to work at with a computer (hopefully) and some are more involved like training.

Almost every dealership experiences high employee turnover in the sales department. Some dealerships don’t, however, and my hat is off to them because, while every dealership will tell you they value their employees, not many actually show you they do.

I read a book titled “The Three Signs of a Miserable Job” by Patrick Lencioni . In brief, it discusses the importance of management truly getting to know their employees on a personal level and showing interest in them as people. Done properly, this increases a person’s job satisfaction because they feel like they matter and that what they do makes a difference. (I absolutely recommend this book!)

If your new employees don’t really feel part of your organization, they will not have the internal commitment to your business. Just as employers impose 90-day probation periods to scrutinize employees and see if they will conform, fit-in, and produce, employees have a probation period for employers also, whether conscious or unconscious, where they are evaluating you as an employer and making a decision on whether they want to continue working for you and, in cases of green-pea car salespeople, whether they want to remain working in this industry.

Personally, I never understood the whole “probation period” thing anyways. Most dealerships have migrated to an “at-will employment” model anyways so what does it matter if you terminate an employee pre-90 or post-90 days? With such an agreement in place, you can terminate an employee at any time and for any reason.*

The point  is, in my opinion, by having a “probation period”, you are telling your new employee that you like them enough to hire them but you don’t like them enough to commit to them – yet.

One thing that bothers me and I still see in practice today – the procrastination on purchasing your new sales employees business cards. This is probably one of the smallest expenses you could (and probably will) make in a new employee. Business cards nowadays cost less than the pre-employment drug screen and the training you’ll (hopefully) provide for them.

This small expense does something that nothing else you can do at the start of their employment will accomplish – tell them that they are part of your team and that you have made a commitment to them. You don’t know how many times I’ve heard (and experienced personally) from salespeople that, once they got their business cards, they felt like they really had a job and were accepted.

I understand that it is because of the high turnover in sales that makes an employer wait to order them. The justification is, of course, monetary and justified with some phrase similar to – “If we ordered business cards for every new salesperson, we’d have a bunch of business cards for people that don’t work here anymore.”

My point is that the simple act of providing business cards to a new employee shows them that you want them there, not that you are still trying to make up your mind. By not “walking the walk” and making a commitment to a new hire, you allow them to do the same.

I know of dealerships who do not provide business cards to any salespeople…. ever.

In addition to this, it looks really unprofessional to a customer when a salesperson either cannot provide a business card and/or they have to write their name on a blank one or on top of an ex-employee’s crossed-out name.  Customers don’t expect your salespeople to be around long anyways. This just reinforces that feeling and detracts from your dealerships’ message of stability and trust.

This is just one way with which you can show an employee that they matter …. not just that they may matter later.

By making this small expense and showing your commitment to them, you may just get them to commit more to you.

* (Disclaimer: If your state does not allow “At-Will” employmentagreements and/or there are some other employment laws that mandate sucha policy, then, of course, protect your business. I am not anemployment attorney.)

Why Social Media Marketing is Important For Any Business

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Recently, I attended the Digital Dealer 8 conference in Orlando, FL. I was working most of the time but did get an opportunity to have an interesting conversation with Ron Morrison – the “ron” in ronsmap.

If you have not heard of ronsmap , start looking into it quickly. In my opinion, it could absolutely be the next Craigslist but for cars. This video explains what it is better than I ever could.

If you don’t have your inventory there yet, call whatever company is handling your inventory feeds and/or ronsmap and get it there.

Ron and I started talking about the future of internet departments. I told him it was my opinion that, in the future, there wouldn’t be any. I expressed why in a previous blog post . I expressed my belief in the importance of building your internet sales and that, in my opinion, a good internet department would account for 40-60% of any dealerships inventory with that percentage increasing in the future.

He countered with the following question:

“If my dealerships’ internet department accounts for 40% of my dealerships’ business, why would it be important to me, as a dealer, to focus on increasing that departments’ sales versus focusing on increasing my retail departments’ sales?“

I answered with what I thought were the obvious answers:

  • increase units sold
  • increase website traffic
  • increase exposure
  • lower cost per sale in internet vs. retail
  • be where the customers are
  • etc.

Other people threw some answers in there also. While none of these answers are wrong, none of them really “hit the nail on the head” of the importance of social media marketing.

After all of our attempts at answering his question, he countered with a question that, in my opinion, summed up, in its entirety, why it’s important for any business (not just car dealerships) to embrace and engage their customers utilizing social media.

“How much would it be worth to you, Mr. Dealer, if every customer that bought a car from you went home and told 130 of their friends?“

He also asked me what the first call to action on any businesses’ website was and, again, the obvious guesses (contact us form, quick quote, and other forms of engagement) were not what he was looking for.

“The first call to action on any businesses’ website is a “Share” button.”

The reasoning he gave was that, if a customer that visits your website sees, and clicks, the share button, he just offered you free advertising. He’ll get the name, number and the opportunity to speak with the customer if they’re willing to share your website with their friends, family and colleagues unsolicited.

I’ve been hearing, both in our industry forums and in feedback on conference sessions, that social media is overrated and that too many vendors and companies are focused on it when their efforts would be better focused elsewhere.

While it may be a little over-kill to have EVERY session and vendor focusing on that while neglecting all the other aspects, tools and best practices for you to learn about, that doesn’t make it unimportant.

Statistics don’t lie. Facebook may become the search engine of the future. Right now, SEO is focused on Google Page One management. It’s very possible that the future will bring a different focus – Facebook search results. SEO and SMM may become synonymous. With all the integration happening, they will, at the very least, become symbiotic.

The real power (and value) in social media marketing lies not in being there for your business’ sake, but in being there for your customer’s sake.

Why would you not want to make it easy for your customers to “spread the word” about your business to their friends?

What I don’t understand is why people differentiate between SEO, SMM, Reputation Management, etc.

They are all the same thing.

It’s like having a Happy Meal in front of you and saying that you think the fries are the most important part and that you’re only going to eat those. The rest doesn’t matter.

I know that if you ordered a Happy Meal, and they only gave you fries, you wouldn’t be happy.

Eat the whole Happy Meal, not just the fries.

I promise your belly will be fuller and you’ll be.. well.. happier.

Knowledge is Power!

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As Digital Dealer approaches, I’m reminded of how important it is to stay knowledgeable and current on industry trends and best practices.

The speakers at  the conference offer a wealth of information that are invaluable to dealers and present an opportunity to pick the brains of the best and brightest. I know that whenever I attended, I left with ideas and strategies that I could implement immediately upon my return to enhance or improve my online marketing strategies.

We should all strive to learn continuously and better ourselves. If you get so set in your ways that you think you know it all, that’s when you become stagnant. Stay sharp and on top of your game. There’s not a lot of job security in our industry but the more indispensable you make yourself, the more security you will have. Rather than being the hunter in an economy with a 10% unemployment rate, you will be hunted.

Whether you are able to attend conferences or not, use the tools available to you to enhance yourself. If they’re not provided for you, don’t use that as an excuse. Get them yourself.

I had the opportunity to attend a Grant Cardone conference early in my career and made an investment in his training material. Prior to that, I had not been provided with any tools. It was the best decision I ever made and I can tell you that I went from making an average salary to six figures within 2 months.

Recently, I’ve been reading Seth Godin. He offers a lot of great self-motivation and practical advice on how to think about things in a different way.

Be powerful. You are your own best resource.

My Apple iPad Review

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I’ve had my iPad for almost 2 weeks now. It’s time for my review.

I was skeptical of it to begin with. I have had an iPhone and I loved  it but dumped it because I got tired of paying 2 cell phone bills. No big deal. As fabulous as it was, it certainly wasn’t the best at what I wanted a cell phone for – making phone calls. I do love iPods as a music device though and I am, in general, a Mac fan. So along comes April 3rd and my “need-to-have-the-latest-gadget” DNA strand kicks in and takes me to a Best Buy to get one. I got there 2 hours before they opened and was 4th in line. Thank God Best Buy (or Apple) didn’t advertise that they were going to be carrying iPads on launch day!

The first impression I got from my iPad was awe. It is fast. It has a beautiful screen. The UI is easy and sleek.

Of course, having a brand new iPad is like having a brand new iPhone or iPod Touch.. it’s not much good without apps.

As I mentioned earlier, I had an iPhone at one point so I had some apps in hibernation in my iTunes. I promptly synced my iPad to get those apps. I did not sync my music, however. I have no plans of carrying my iPad around like an 80-eras jam box on my shoulder nor clipping it to my waist for a jog. If I want music, I have an iPod.

The iPhone apps look horrible on the iPad. They are the size that they would be on the iPhone and either centered on the screen or stretched to fill the screen which makes them pixelated. I’ve only come across one iPhone app that must have provided a free iPad upgrade because it fills the screen natively and looks fabulous (1Password).

So I downloaded a few apps after doing a little research on them. I didn’t want to drop money on useless apps. There are some good free ones though. I’ll get into my favorite apps in a second.

I don’t want to get into all the technical specs just know that the iPad is awesome. I got the 16GB Wi-Fi model as I couldn’t see myself needing more space then that. If you have an iPhone, you know what the “experience” is like. It’s easy to use and fabulous to look at.

Battery life is, so far, what was advertised… about 10 hours. Of course this will vary depending on what you’re doing on the iPad.

I haven’t had any issues connecting to Wi-Fi networks (as some have reported) and it works with my Verizon Wireless MiFi fabulously.

I did have the opportunity to travel with it and it did everything I needed it to. It is also a big plus that the TSA has determined that you don’t have to take it out of your carry-on bag to go through security.

Since an iPad is only as good as its apps, I’ll go into those (or at least the ones I’ve tried out) and give a quick review of my favorites.

Pages – fabulous word processor by Apple made specifically for the iPad. A must have as the iPad does not come with any software to type things into other than Notes. It can read Word documents and save to a Word document. ($9.99)

Numbers – a great spreadheet program by Apple for the iPad. It can read Excel files but it cannot (for the moment) save to Excel format (which makes it kind of useless). My guess is that, due to the backlash about this missing feature, Apple will fix this. ($9.99)

Videos – iPad included video player to watch your videos with. I was concerned that the picture quality would be crap seeing as the video was formatted originally for an iPhone screen. Good thing I was wrong. Videos look fabulous. I’m glad they didn’t try to “up-sell” us to HD movies like they did when they went from the DRM protected songs to the “iTunes Plus” (ie. non-protected MP3s) versions. (Included)

Mail – The iPad mail client is awesome. Reading e-mail is intuitive, easy and fun. (Included)

Calendar – I’ve magically figured out how to sync my Blackberry, Mac, iPad and Outlook to one calendar on my iPad. It’s not perfect but it works. GoToMeeting invitations through Outlook appear as gibberish, though, which is annoying. (Included)

Bento for iPad – a great database program for the iPad. Easy to use and powerful. ($4.99)

Things for iPad – a great organizational tool for task management. The calendar feature included on the iPad doesn’t seem to have a task management feature so if you like “to-do” lists, this is a great one. ($19.99)

iBooks – it’s an e-book reader. It is really cool looking and the UI and animation is fabulous. (included)

Kindle for iPad – another e-book reader. I’ve had a Kindle for a long time now and love it. This will allow you to read any of the books you’ve purchased through your Kindle on your iPad. UI is not as sleek as iBooks. (Free)

Netflix – I was not a Netflix subscriber prior to owning an iPad. I signed up for the free trial just to see how it worked. The program is fast and the videos stream quickly as Netflix adjusts the video quality based on your connection speed. I’m keeping the subscription just for the iPad. I haven’t even had them send me any physical DVDs. I don’t want them. (Subscription-based/ $8.99 per month)

ABC Player – Freaking awesome. All the ABC shows on demand. Looks and works beautifully. (Free)

Twitterific – my favorite Twitter client for the iPad. Works and looks great and its easy to use. Probably not for the power-user though. I upgraded to their non-ad version (Free or $4.99 for upgrade)

USA Today – Reading a newspaper on the iPad is an awesome experience with this app. It’s free for now but will be subscription based come June. (Free currently – subscription based in the near future)

1Password – I don’t know whether this is an iPhone app that was upgraded to an iPad app or what. I just know that I bought it as an iPhone app. In looking on the iTunes store, it looks like they basically upgraded me for free. This is just a secure program to keep track of the thousands of log-ins, passwords, email accounts, etc that you have. ($14.99)

PDF Reader Pro Edition for iPad – A must have for the iPad as you cannot read PDFs on the iPad natively. This one handles large files well and has easy transfer to the iPad via Wi-Fi. ($2.99)

GoToMeeting – Yes, Citrix made an iPad app that will let you attend a GoToMeeting on your iPad. Looks and works great. (Free)

Yahoo Entertainment – Who knew Yahoo could create a fabulous app for the iPad? TV listings and more. Hunt around and you’ll be surprised how full-featured this app is. (Free)

eBay for iPad – I’m an eBay junkie. This app has a beautiful interface and you can manage your eBay activities from it. It could be better but it will do for now. (Free)

Plants vs. Zombies HD – Very fun and addictive game. I never played it on the iPhone but it got well-deserved rave reviews for the iPad so I bought  it. Worth every penny. ($9.99)

Labyrinth 2 HD – OMG! I’ve never played this game before but I’m a fan now. It’s basically just a “move-the-ball-around-a-maze” type game but it looks incredible. It uses the accelerometer feature and it “looks” like it’s in 3-D. Take the free version for a test drive. I did and then bought the full version. ($7.99)

Flight Control HD – Fun game that looks great on the iPad. ($4.99)

RealRacing HD – Spectacular racing game that looks fabulous on the iPad. It uses the accelerometer to drive the car. Just like on the iPhone but bigger and better looking. ($9.99)

Magic Piano – Fun little music generator. It’s really something you have to play to experience. You can even have duets with someone halfway across the world. ($2.99 when I bought it although I saw it for $.99 the other day)

Scrabble for iPad – Just like the board game. Looks and plays great. You can play single player vs the computer or with friends. Way cool if you have an iPhone cause you can use the iPhone as your tile rack. Board games rule on the iPad! ($9.99)

So those are the apps I like so far. I have more but the other ones either haven’t impressed me much or I haven’t used them enough to form an opinion.

My criticisms of the iPad are as follows:

  • The iPad back isn’t flat. It’s kind of curved a little so it doesn’t lay flat on a table.
  • Stare at it too long and your eyes hurt. This is probably just a brightness setting that I can tweak but it’s like staring at a computer monitor for too long – except, in the case of reading, it’s a foot from your face. This part will determine if I keep reading e-books on my Kindle or if I switch to reading on the iPad. I’ll know after my upcoming trip which will happen as I plan to give it a thorough test.
  • It gets kind of heavy if you’re using it laying down.
  • lack of Flash support
  • lack of multi-tasking (although that may be coming with the iPhone 4.0 OS)

I could see a wealth of practical uses for vendors and the automotive industry and I plan to write another article eventually with some ideas. The iPad may be the resurgence of the tablet computer. I’ve always been a fan of tablet computers so this is welcome in my opinion.

Anybody else have any thoughts or know of some great apps that I haven’t mentioned, feel free to comment! I’m definitely interested.

And The Winner Is… (Summary of Auto-Related 2010 Webby Nominees)

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The Webby Award nominees for 2010 have been announced.

Why should you care?

The nominees provide a great resource for your marketing efforts. You can look at the sites and marketing campaigns and get great ideas that you can implement into your own online marketing efforts. I’ve summarized the ones that are directly connected to the automotive industry below but don’t neglect to look at the others.

If you want to see the complete list, you can see it here: complete list

Websites – These sites illustrate great visual design, functionality and usability.

Category: Automotive

Every 5 seconds (Toyota)- http://www.toyota-screensaver.ru
Porsche Panamera Website (Porsche)- http://panamera.com/#/home
Prius GOOD Website (Toyota) – http://awesome.good.is/ecosystem/index.html#/get-started
The GTI Project (Volkswagen)- http://awards2.digivault.co.uk/?p=493
Toyota Prius Website (Toyota) – http://www.toyota.com/vehicles/minisite/newprius/

Category: Best Visual Design/Aesthetic

Prius GOOD Website (Toyota)- http://awesome.good.is/ecosystem/index.html#/get-started

Interactive Advertising – These campaigns illustrate great examples of how to set yourself apart from your competition.

Category: Banner Campaigns

Prius iMedia Banner Campaign (Toyota) – http://www.tmspreview.com/prius/iMedia/banner_campaign/

Category: Best Use of Social Media

Everybody Knows Somebody Who Loves A Honda (Honda) – http://www.rpa.com/hondasocialexperiment/

Category: Branded Content

The Fun Theory (Volkswagen) – http://www.adqualifier.com/webby2010/thefuntheory/index.html

Category: Game or Application

BMW Z4 Augmented Reality (BMW) – http://www.ddawards.com/2010/awards/bmw/
The GTI Project (Volkswagen) – http://awards2.digivault.co.uk/?p=493

Category: Mobile & Experience Marketing

Prius iPhone Times Square Application (Toyota) – http://www.tmspreview.com/media/prius/reuters_video/

Category: Online Campaigns

The Fun Theory (Volkswagen) – http://www.adqualifier.com/webby2010/thefuntheory/index.html

Category: Online Guerilla & Innovation

The Fun Theory (Volkswagen) – http://www.adqualifier.com/webby2010/thefuntheory/index.html

Category: Viral Marketing

The Fun Theory – Piano Stairs (Volkswagen) – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lXh2n0aPyw

Mobile – These sites excel at the ever-growing Mobile Web experience

Category: Integrated Mobile Experience

REAL NAVIGATION GAME (Honda) – http://interactive-salaryman.com/pieces/realnavigame_e/
Real Racing GTI (Volkswagen) – http://work.akqa.com/entry/webby/1/gti/

Category: Social Networking

NISSAN Ski Challenge PROVE IT (Nissan) – http://demo.bisystem.com/Skichallenge/

As a wise man once said “Imitation is the sincerest of flattery” (Charles Caleb Colton)

Google’s Inclusion of Site Speed in Algorithm Could Be Self Serving

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On Friday, Google made an interesting blog post that stated that Google is now taking into account your website’s speed in its search ranking algorithms.

While, for the moment, only a small number of websites have had their search results affected, it’s hard to believe that this isn’t the beginning of a much larger integration of site speed into Google’s ranking algorithms.

Their justification for this new criteria is that “faster sites create happy users”. They say that people who click on a search result and then have to wait too long for a site to load tend to leave and go to another site. Since Google is all about getting searchers the websites that are relevant, a website that a user leaves prior to it loading is less relevant than a website that a user stays on as Google will interpret this website as being more relevant (ie. the user found what they were looking for).

On the surface, this seems like a plausible reason.

However, I’d like to submit an alternative reason:

Google wants you to think that their search engine is faster than the competitions.

How does this new criteria reinforce this perspective?

We know how important it is to appear on Page One of Google search results. So, let’s say someone searches for something on Google. According to this blog, 90% of search result clicks originate on the first page.

So, if 90% of people click on a result from the first page… and page ranking is affected by site speed, then it would be safe to assume that, as Google increases the value of site speed in page ranking, the faster the site is, the more likely it will be to appear on Page One. (This, of course, is treating all of these site’s SEO efforts equally.)

Now, since faster sites appear on Page One and 90% of users click on Page One links, the lay-user (which is the majority of our customers) will get the impression that Google’s search is faster.

Of course, this isn’t actually true as all Google is doing is directing that 90% to the fastest websites but that doesn’t mean that Google is any faster than any other search engine.

The non-techie isn’t going to analyze this, however, or probably even be aware that this is happening. It will just seem (whether consciously or subconsciously) that Google is faster and that certainly benefits Google.

Digital Dealer Conference . Orlando, FL. April 20-22, 2010

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As I talk to dealers, I am amazed at how little they know about the resources and training opportunities available to them. Today, I just want to talk about one such opportunity.

In 2003, I went to my first Digital Dealer Conference. I can tell you that attending that conference was one of the best things I ever did. Since then, I’ve been to just about every one. This conference is invaluable for dealership personnel and has excellent training opportunities. If you are a General Manager, Sales Manager, e-Commerce Director, or Internet Manager, this conference is a must attend. Not only will you learn cutting edge techniques and best practices from industry leaders but you will have the opportunity to network and learn from your peers.

One area that is sometimes neglected by attendees is the vendor hall. I understand that you get hit up by vendors all day every day. Visiting the vendors (and not just the ones giving stuff away) is valuable in the sense that you know what solutions and technologies exist rather than trying to discover and identify them when the need arises. Be prepared for a problem with a solution. Visit the vendors. Ask them questions. See what they have to offer. You never know when you may need them.

This conference gives you the opportunity to learn practical techniques and things that you can take back to your dealership and immediately implement to sell more cars.

Registration is still open. Don’t miss out on this great opportunity.

(This may sound like a shameless plug but I can promise you that this is
sound advice and was not solicited.)

Don’t Judge A Book By Its Cover! (Prejudging Customers)

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“Don’t judge a book by its cover.”

If you’re in the car business, you’ve heard this before. Most dealerships will tell their salespeople not to do this but I still see it all of the time. Salespeople are notorious for prejudging a customer when they drive up on the lot whether it’s based on what the customer is driving or how they look.

In my first job at a high-line dealership, I had an experience that ingrained this into my head and I learned never to do this.

At this dealership, we worked on an “up” list. For those not familiar with this, it’s basically a turn-based system for salespeople designed to distribute opportunities equally and avoid the mass of salespeople accosting the customer upon their arrival. This dealership was brand-new and, frankly, we didn’t get a lot of customers at that point. You could easily work all day and get one or no opportunities.

I was “on-deck” (meaning there was one salesperson in front of me) when a customer pulled up. The salesperson took one look at this customer, turned to me and asked me if I wanted to help them (essentially switching positions on the list with me). Given that this might be the only opportunity of the day for me (or for him for that matter), I was certainly willing to assist the customer.

I go out and do all the right stuff, bring the guy in to my desk and we promptly customize a vehicle and place an order for a car for him – at MSRP.

My desk was right near the receptionist. She kept looking over at me the whole time while I was with this customer. After the customer left, she asked me what the guy’s name was. I told her and she proceeded to freak out.

This customer’s name was Kerry King. He’s the guitarist for a little band named Slayer. I was never much into heavy metal but they’re a pretty well-known band. Here’s a picture of him (and this is pretty much how he was dressed when he came in):

The point is that not only did I make a sale, but I made a friend. The guy is nothing like you would “expect” him to be from his appearance. Everything you see is for an image. Hollywood incarnate.

I’m sure that any other sales managers or industry veterans have similar stories and we all share them with our salespeople and/or co-workers. We all like to hear interesting stories and experiences from fellow industry professionals.

Some people just don’t get it though. Whether its seeing that person and immediately thinking “bad credit” or not assisting a customer because they’re cherry-picking, this practice continues to this day.

The sad part is that typically someone has to have an experience similar to this before it really sinks in.

Managers that see this behavior should immediately take action. This behavior not only hurts the salesperson by affecting his wallet but it can also hurt the dealership by upsetting a customer and losing business.

Do not make light of this behavior. It is contagious and will cost you deals.

Can You Sell Ice To An Eskimo?

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“He can sell ice to an Eskimo!”

This saying has been around as long as I can remember. It’s meant to praise and/or to recognize someone’s sales skills.

What are you actually saying though?

On the surface, you are implying that 1) Eskimos don’t need ice and 2) that selling ice to them is difficult.

I challenge both of those premises.

Eskimos don’t live in igloos, first. Yes, there might be a whole lot of ice in Alaska but that doesn’t mean an Eskimo wants to go outside, scoop ice off the ground (or wherever) and throw it in their glass of Coke. It doesn’t mean they want to pack their frozen foods or freezers with it either.

In fact, there’s a whole industry in Alaska that was started when one man decided to .. well.. sell ice to Eskimos. (link)

Eskimos seem to need or, at the very least, want ice and, apparently, it’s not terribly difficult to actually sell it to them.

A different article actually suggests that you should feel bad for selling ice to Eskimos saying:

“The Eskimo clearly doesn’t have a need for ice. He will certainly experience buyer’s remorse when reality sets in. And in addition to losing his future business, you’ll probably annoy the Eskimo.”

The author fails to recognize that, while Eskimos may not need ice, apparently they want it and it’s not wrong to sell someone something they want. (Bottled water anyone?) In fact, I’d be willing to wager that you would encounter less buyer’s remorse when selling someone something that they want versus something that they need.

He then goes on to suggest that you should endeavor to want to sell “life jackets to drowning men”.

“Don’t feel bad; you are not the cause of their situation. You are the solution. They need life jackets. Wouldn’t you agree that the worst life jacket sales person in the country could close this deal? Price will likely not be an issue. And the drowning man will almost certainly feel good about the purchase for years to come…”

In my opinion, that’s not only wrong, it’s exploitation. Yes, there’s a HUGE need on the part of the drowning person but do I want to force him into buying a life jacket just to save his life? This is a purchase that he would NOT feel good about and the fact that price isn’t an issue just supports that. You want to talk about buyer’s remorse and being concerned about annoying someone? Go sell life jackets to drowning men.

We (salespeople) aren’t around to determine whether a consumer wants or needs a product. They’ve already decided that they do.

Our job is to educate and facilitate the transaction, not determine whether the customer wants it. When you go to a store to buy shoes, you ask the clerk if they fit and how they look, not whether you need them. He merely gives you information (ie. they’re good walking shoes, good quality, etc) and, perhaps, his opinion. Then you make the decision and he completes the transaction.

Sales isn’t about making choices for the customer. It’s about being informed, knowledgeable and helpful and then allowing the customer to make their own choice.

A good salesperson isn’t defined by what they sell as much as how they sell it.

The next time you feel the urge to tell someone they can “sell ice to Eskimos”, just remember, it’s not a compliment.

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