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Archives for June 2011

The Ethics of Online Reviews

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This article started as an investigation into a company providing services to the automotive industry,Review Boost. I didn’t know much about the company, only that it had received some negative press and accusations of gaming online reviews. In fact, it even had a local San Antonio television station, KSAT, run a news segment regarding a dealership who used their services. There have been blog articles written questioning the authenticity of the reviews as well as articles written in both Automotive News and F&I Magazine.

The importance of reputation management has been increasingly on dealers’ minds, being, from the dealers I spoke with and interviewed for DrivingSalesTV, the hot topic of this year’s NADA convention. The FTC is cracking down on companies engaging in posting misleading reviews, legislators are pushing for stricter laws regarding this practice, legal advisors are reporting that a company exposes themselves tolegal risks by engaging in this act, and a California law went into effect Jan 1, 2011 making it a criminal activity. Add to these variables the fact that search engines are starting to increase the importance of online reviews in their algorithms and incorporating them into search results, naturally, when they popped up on my radar again after partnering up with an industry vendor, I was curious as to why the partnership happened and I started asking questions and doing some homework.

[Edit: After sharing my article with representatives from Review Boost, they informed me that they decided not to move forward with the partnership I referred to above.]

I spoke with William, the owner of Review Boost, at length. We spoke for upwards of an hour and he walked me through what his company does. First, to be clear, they deny all accusations of gaming reviews and/or writing the reviews themselves. William was very pleasant, if understandably nervous during our conversation but, in my opinion, sincerely wanted to clear the air regarding what his company does. Without revealing too many of his proprietary practices, which he shared with me, I didn’t get the impression that he is doing anything wrong at all. Now, given that there were already a ton of articles investigating and breaking down why other people feel that they are, I didn’t feel the need to rehash what others have already done and I wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt.

See, William isn’t in the car business. Review Boost began assisting local businesses like dentists, doctors, and such. It ended up that dealers account for about 30% of their current client base but this wasn’t by design. The crux of their strategy, which is what surprised me the most, is that they administer a website called myreviewboost.com in which they post reviews collected from clients of their dealers. These reviews are then syndicated across about 40 online review directories through partnerships with them. I was surprised that such a syndication was allowed but I did some investigating and, not only is it allowed, but it is encouraged. Judysbook.com, in example, promotes review sharing partnerships openly.

I reached out to Google themselves. The fact that they syndicate reviews is telling about their policies but they did point out within their Review Posting Guidelines that conflicts of interest, including misrepresentation and/or posting reviews on behalf of others is not allowed.

In essence, William’s company is soliciting reviews only from the customers which the dealer provides contact information to them. They do not edit the reviews – whether positive or negative. They will moderate a negative review, if received, allowing the dealer a chance to resolve the problem and then, when the dealer reports that the problem has been resolved, resurveying the customer to get an updated review. In my mind, this absolutely explains why almost every review is positive.

If I were a dealer who needed to increase my online reputation, I certainly wouldn’t hand over an unhappy customer’s e-mail address to be reviewed. In fact, I know many dealers that will occassionally RDR cars to the factory with incorrect information to avoid a potential negative CSI survey and/or “buy” surveys from their customers through offers of free oil changes or something to encourage their consumers to return the surveys to THEM and not mail them in to their OEM unscreened.

William’s strategy made perfect sense to me and the syndication accounted for the reason for the same review appearing on multiple sites. So while this practice may be viewed by some to be unethical, it’s not illegal or in violation of these directories terms of service. They’re simply taking advantage of existing online directories willingness to crawl their review site to maximize the SEO value of each review they collected from their client’s customers.

So, is this article about Review Boost? No. The real story is what is ethical in the online reputation management arena.

I’m sure that we would all agree that posting fake reviews is unethical and, in some cases, illegal.

What about these practices?

Posting REAL reviews, verbatim, by your customers on their behalf with their permission.

Screening WHO gets reviewed to avoid negative reviews.

Choosing which reviews get displayed (ie. avoiding sites in which negative reviews exist)

The fact is that online reputation management, and the process in which dealers are utilizing, are becoming more and more important for the many reasons I described above.

How do you feel about this? What’s ethical or unethical regarding online reputation management?

(Originally published on DrivingSales)

Why Having A Lot Of Facebook Fans Is A Waste Of Time

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It amazes me how many dealerships judge their Facebook marketing efforts success by the number of fans they have. People are in awe of that dealership that managed to get 15,000 fans to their Facebook page. Some vendors sell the fact that they will exponentially increase the quantity of fans you have. Dealers give away cars and iPads just to entice people to “like” them on Facebook.


I’m here to tell you that the number of Facebook fans you have is not only irrelevant, but it could be wasting your time and making your Facebook marketing essentially useless.


What do I mean by that? A Facebook fan that is not in your market and will never do any business with you is NOT doing you any good.


If you’re a dealership in California, would you take out a print ad in a Florida newspaper? No.


Why? Because those people aren’t in your market and that would be a waste of money.


Now, some people would argue it’s a numbers game. Get more fans and the chances that your message is heard increases. I’d argue that the only way this is true is if these fans are in your market. If nobody you’re marketing to would ever spend a penny at your dealership, you’re wasting your time.


So what do I think you should do?


In my opinion, building a healthy Facebook presence takes time. It starts at the dealership level where your fans are acquired from actual customers doing business with you and/or coming into your store.


·         You make tent cards and spread them out at your dealership.


·         You tell service customers about your Facebook page.


·         You integrate your Facebook presence into your existing marketing – traditional, in-store and online.


·         You hold your contests in your store where actual customers of yours win.


·         You get them to share your message with their social networks.


Focus all of your Facebook marketing on acquiring fans that actually CARE about what you have to say and will do business with you.


I’d rather have 100 fans that would do business with me than 15,000 fans that wouldn’t.

Review: The Turnaround King with Grant Cardone

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Sales trainer and industry personality (as well as Dealer magazine blogger) Grant Cardone, has co-produced a reality show which premiered last night on the National Geographic Channel titled “The Turnaround King”.


The premise of the show is that Grant goes into businesses in trouble and assists them in “turning around.” The show is done in a couple of stages. First, Grant goes into the business and mystery shops it in an attempt to determine what problems exist. Then he meets with the owners and employees and creates an action (business) plan for them to change their circumstances and save the business. There were two episodes which aired last night: one involving a Gold’s Gym and one involving a car dealership.

The first episode involved a Gold’s Gym. In this episode, the gym is suffering from a lack of sales ability and clueless owners. They’re sinking fast due to gross mismanagement and hopelessness. The employees seemed to care more about the business than the owners. They were cheap selling their memberships due to the “competition” mentality. The owner’s sons (especially the older one) while “playing along” didn’t seem to buy-in despite him saying he did at the end. I got the impression that he was participating solely because he had to. It’s not a far stretch to guess that his buy-in lasted just about as long as the 5th objection he couldn’t overcome. In the end, the show touted that membership sales had increased 25% in the two months since Grant’s intervention.

I expected more out of the second episode since it involved assisting a struggling car dealership. Grant did seem more within his element and a lot more of his familiar quirks, closes and personality came out. I could go on and on about this dealership, but I’ll summarize it by saying that the salespeople were awful, lazy, had no product knowledge, lacked ambition and were not aggressive. The Sales Manager was a caricature of a non-leader with little sales ability. Bottom line, in my opinion, was that the dealership lacked leadership. Grant’s solution offered was basic: sell more. There was nothing new or innovative offered in his “business pan” to the dealership. In fact, the dealer actually makes a comment to that effect in the show stating that Grant didn’t bring anything new and innovative, but reminded them of all the things they already knew they should be doing all along. As in the previous episode, we were told that, in 2 months, sales had increased 25%.

The show is well made and in an entertaining format. Grant exudes his normal confident self without overdoing it as can be the case sometimes (anyone that knows Grant will know what I mean). I question the lifespan of the show if variety isn’t introduced into the problems and solutions offered to the featured businesses. Both shows had businesses whose ultimate issue was that they were experiencing revenue problems and, to no surprise, both of the solutions offered involved selling more (or differently) to overcome cash-flow issues. I would have liked to see Grant get more involved in actually training and implementing his action items, rather than just delivering them to the businesses and leaving them to handle it themselves. The 2-month follow up sentence offered at the end was underwhelming to say the least with both businesses essentially seeing 25% sales increases. 25% more of non-existent is not particularly impressing to me. If all it takes to “turn around” a business is to go in and tell them they need to sell more, he did a great job. In the end, Grant excelled at what he does best – entertain and motivate.

Both shows last night were classified as “specials” and not promoted by the National Geographic Channel as being a new “series.” That being said, Grant has indicated that the show is contracted for 6 episodes and is confident that the National Geographic Channel plans on picking it up. The show is certainly entertaining and worth watching.

Grade: B+

Is Underachieving A Disease?

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(Originally published on Dealer magazine)




A friend of mine shared via Facebook an organization that has completely blown my mind.


Underearners Anonymous


I absolutely had to read more about this organization. What exactly are they about?


Well, this is what they define as an “underearner”:


“UA is a Twelve Step Fellowship of men and women who have come together to help themselves and one another recover from underearning.
Underearning is many things, not all of which are about money. While the most visible consequence is the inability to provide for one’s needs, including future needs, underearning is also about the inability to fully acknowledge and express our capabilities and competencies. It is about underachieving, or under-being, no matter how much money we make.”


The “symptoms” of underearning are (copied from their website):


1.    Time Indifference – We put off what must be done and do not use our time to support our own vision and further our own goals.


2.    Idea Deflection –We compulsively reject ideas that could expand our lives or careers, and increase our profitability.


3.    Compulsive Need to Prove – Although we have demonstrated competence in our jobs or business, we are driven by a need to re-prove our worth and value.


4.    Clinging to Useless Possessions – We hold onto possessions that no longer serve our needs, such as threadbare clothing or broken appliances.


5.    Exertion/Exhaustion – We habitually overwork, become exhausted, then under-work or cease work completely.


6.    Giving Away Our Time – We compulsively volunteer for various causes, or give away our services without charge, when there is no clear benefit.


7.    Undervaluing and Under-pricing – We undervalue our abilities and services and fear asking for increases in compensation or for what the market will bear.


8.    Isolation – We choose to work alone when it might serve us much better to have co-workers, associates, or employees.


9.    Physical Ailments – Sometimes, out of fear of being larger or exposed, we experience physical ailments.


10.  Misplaced Guilt or Shame – We feel uneasy when asking for or being given what we need or what we are owed.


11.  Not Following Up – We do not follow up on opportunities, leads, or jobs that could be profitable. We begin many projects and tasks but often do not complete them.


12.  Stability Boredom – We create unnecessary conflict with co-workers, supervisors and clients, generating problems that result in financial distress.


I was completely blown away by the fact that this organization existed at all. Don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to improve yourself and/or turn your professional life around as the multi-million dollar self-help and motivational industry can attest to.


However, are we really in need of a 12-step program that likens underachieving to a disease?


I would argue that professional success originates from how you run your life. If you strive to live a good life, be a good person and do the things needed to succeed – you will. In the past, these ideals were instilled in us through our social interactions – whether through school, church, or work. My guess is that there aren’t many 18 year olds in this group and that the demographic consists of working age adults well within their careers. Sitting in a group consisting of other underachievers is not, in my opinion, a best practice.


In fact, many would argue that the best way to turn yourself around in business success would be to distance yourself from these people.


How many sales managers advise new salespeople not to hang out with the negative slackers on the Salesforce (not that they should be there in the first place)?


There’s absolutely nothing wrong with wanting to better yourself whether that’s professionally or personally, but don’t fall into the trap believing that your failure to succeed has anything whatsoever to do with anything other than being anybody’s fault but your own. Don’t blame society. Don’t blame your teachers. Don’t blame your parents. Blame yourself. Most importantly, if you have this “problem,”,please don’t go hang out and collectively whine to a roomful of other people who share it.


Being unsuccessful is not a disease. It’s a culmination of poor decisions. If you want to change and don’t know how, there’s an unlimited amount of material and programs you can use to do so. If you need some personal help, find someone who is successful and ask them to help you. Don’t ask other unsuccessful people for their help.


If you’re in the middle of your career and you’re still a procrastinator, afraid of change with the need to prove yourself, are unwilling to let go, overwork yourself to the point of burnout, who volunteers their time rather than gets paid for it (and I’m not talking about charitable volunteering), who undervalues yourself, isn’t a team player, is not assertive, doesn’t follow up and creates conflict then you are probably, and rightfully so, unemployed. 


Stop blaming the world, take ownership of your situation and change your life.

How To Be (And Make Others) Successful Selling Cars

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The other day, I started thinking about all the friends I’ve made that I met because they bought a car from me. I’m not talking about acquaintance-type friends, I’m talking about people that are involved in my life, and have been for a long time.

I’ve been out of retail for about 2 years now. When I was in retail, I made a lot of money. As a commissioned salesperson, to make a lot of money you have to make profit on cars. Many people think that “making a profit” and “giving a good deal” can’t co-exist. There were times that I even felt guilty getting a hefty commission voucher. I was averaging 30 cars per month while maintaining a CSI score of 98% (and I had a high return rate on surveys).

So what was I doing right?

I always treated everyone like they had 800 credit scores. I made sure that all of my customers were happy and, if they weren’t, did everything within my power to make them so. I helped solve problems for any customer at my dealership, whether they were mine or not. I made sure that I respected all the parties involved and thanked them for their business sincerely. I followed up with them religiously to insure that they were satisfied and to recognize important occasions in their lives. I made sure my customers got not only the car they needed, but one they wanted, not necessarily the one I wanted to sell them. I truly cared about my customers and treated them all like they were my personal friends… and, guess what, many of them became just that.

While I enjoy money as much as the next person, I was never really “money-motivated.” A “good job” and recognition went farther for me. It wasn’t until I went to work for a particular manager that many of these ideals were instilled in me. He truly cares about his employees and took me under his wing. His leadership and personal attention truly made me want to work harder, sell more, and make the dealership successful. By doing that, not only did I care more about my job, the dealership and its customers, but I made more money. He inspired me to want to do a good job for him, not just for the money. Don’t get me wrong, he held you accountable. He just didn’t do it through fear as I see many retail managers do. He empowered his employees and trusted them to do their jobs. His favorite saying is “I’ll give you all the rope you need and you can either hang yourself with it or make a basket to carry all of your money.” I attribute my success in this industry to him. Without the culture and leadership he provided, I wouldn’t have achieved what I have.

Leaders can motivate in many ways. Sadly, many think the only way to motivate is through either fear, money or a combination of the two. By choosing the leadership style that he did and helping mentor me into the sales style and ideals that I adopted as a salesperson, I became successful, not only professionally, but personally. Too many salespeople (and managers) are looking for the next big voucher and not paying attention to their customers’ needs. Take care of your customers and do business right and the money will come.

So, thinking back on my retail career, as I recognized how many people I have in my life that are my friends simply because fate brought them into my dealership and I happened to assist them with their vehicle purchase, I realized that this provided me far more of an indication that I did things right than any “good job” could have and it was all possible because I had a great leader.

Award-Winning Houston Area Auto Dealer Passes Away

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(Originally published on Dealer magazine)



Jack Elfman, Dealer Principal of River Oaks Chrysler Jeep Dodge, Helfman Dodge Chrysler Jeep, Helfman Ford and the soon-to-open Helfman Fiat passed away Saturday, May 28 due to heart problems. Mr. Elfman was a well-respected member of the automotive community having won many awards including the 2004 Time Magazine Quality Award. He was an active member of his community involving himself and his dealerships in many community service projects and was well liked by his employees. Jack was 78. You can read about him here.

Automotive Customer Centricity Summit

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The Automotive Customer Centricity Summit, hosted by Thought Leadership Summits (ACCS) was on June 14th, 2011. I had the privilege of reporting on this event on behalf of DealerElite. This event is a one-day event that runs from 7am-7pm. The event was held at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Marina Del Rey, CA. While I don’t have exact attendance numbers, it seemed to see about 125 attendees. There were a lot of OEM representatives from both the automotive and motorcycle world, vendors and some dealers.

Speakers included:

  • Thilo Koslowski, Vice President & Lead Automotive Analyst for Gartner
  • George Liang, President of the DCH Auto Group
  • Allan Jenik, Director of Dealer Services for Harley-Davidson
  • Jon Budd, National Manager – CRM & Integreated Marketing for Hyundai
  • Kal Gyimesi, Automotive Industry Lead for IBM Institute for Business Value
  • Brian Benstock, Vice President & General manager for Paragon Honda
  • Lonnie Miller, Vice President – Marketing & Industry Analysis for Polk
  • Sara Hasson, Vice President – Automotive Brand Solutions for Univision
  • Michael Sachs, General Manager – CRM & Loyalty for Volkswagen

Some of the interesting things I took away from the sessions included:

Thilo Koslowski spoke about “Understanding Automotive Trends & Creating Successful Strategies”. He stated that consumers are paying more attention to automotive & transportation related spending. It’s his theory that the next 10-20 years will be the most disruptive to our industry and that in the future, individual transportation may not mean vehicle ownership with younger consumers increasingly relying on alternate modes of transportation. He predicts that by 2012, the majority of OEMs will have integrated wireless connectivity into vehicles. Younger consumers are less likely (22%) to be concerned about the distracted drivers that in-vehicle data integration would undoubtedly create. He stated that as companies feel that a social media presence is more important, the social networks themselves become more important (kind of a vicious cycle) and that dealers need help from their OEMs with social media marketing because many of them are doing it, but the majority are doing it wrong. One interesting takeaway was that as data integration increases, and younger consumers continually consider alternate modes of transportation, 78% of consumers would still prefer a gasoline engine for their next vehicle than any other type including electric and hybrid.

Kal Gyimesi spoke about “Advancing Mobility – the Next Growth Engine for Attracting Consumers”. He stated that within the next 5 years, 30% of revenue will come from new sources and that to achieve success, we need to transform into a service-oriented business model. He believes that the ability to interact with consumers will be centered around connected vehicles. He said that 59% of auto executives agree that auto electronics and software will be open & customized by smartphone apps and that a game-changing byproduct of the connected car may be the interchange-ability of vehicles. However, to appeal to consumers, mobility solutions must be simple, yet comprehensive.

George Liang had a controversial session about a test store within the DCH group that went to a hassle-free pricing model. He stated that within the next 2 years, Gen Y will represent 40% of dealers’ business. His view is that the traditional sales process is management centric, a long process, inequitable to the guest and complex. Gen Y consumers won’t put up with that. The “limited negotiation” process is faster for the guest, simple, friendly, fair and transparent. In this model, Client Advisors will be trained to desk their own deals eliminating the need for desk managers. In addition, as Client Advisors gain experience, you create a career path for them by advancing them to a “Elite Client Advisor” position and that for every 5 “Elite Client Advisors”, you can replace one F&I manager. By eliminating these positions (desk manager and F&I manager), you save money on personnel costs. In their test store, he said that they immediately lost about 95% of their salesforce due to salespeople and managers being unwilling to adapt. He advises that you should expect a temporary drop in both front-end gross and market share. In fact, DCH lost 50% of their front end gross when this model was implemented in their test store. He said to stay the course, however, as everything went back up with time. He said that DCH focuses on market share because if you increase market share, everything else will come with it. Of course every sales manager and retail car guy in the room was immediately on the defensive especially after Mr. Liang shared that this test store’s closest brand competitor was 45 miles away.

Allan Jenik spoke about Harley’s “one-to-one” marketing approach. During his Q&A, he said that he believed that your social networks don’t want to see coupons and offers. I don’t agree with him there. In fact, I would argue that the exact opposite is true in that most of the people who follow you only do so for the coupons and special offers. Harley-Davidson is a different beast, in my opinion. The lifestyle and community they’ve been able to create is completely different from any other brand so for them, this might be a valid statement.

Jon Budd shared the importance of listening to your customers and keeping your brand on track. He highlighted Hyundai’s ever adapting “Assurance” program and showed how its changes over time reflected on consumer concerns – from the initial 2009 campaign in which they offered to buy-back the vehicle (of the 435k vehicles bought under this program, only 100 were returned) to today’s campaign offering Hyundai customers piece of mind by offering security in the tangible value of the Hyundai by guaranteeing future trade-in values at the time of purchase.

Brian Benstock repeated his popular session showing how Paragon Honda went from #17 to #1 in 6 months. (When I say repeated, I mean that I’ve seen it before.) His session was very popular. I even heard comments from dealer-attendees that wished that the summit organizers had allowed him to continue rather than hurrying him up and cutting his presentation short. I thought his comment that vehicle brochures were dead was spot-on. He says that OEMs should just stop making them. In fact, Paragon made their own to give to customers. He says most consumers who want information about a vehicle don’t look at brochures anymore, they go online to find the information. He advocates OEMs to create more short-term lease options available to dealers as that would decrease the buying cycle and increase loyalty. He said that Paragon Honda has a 68% retention rate because of their efforts to get customers into short-term leases.

Michael Sachs spoke about customer loyalty. The gist being that its very important and hard work. I especially liked the story he shared about the “$100,000 salt & pepper shaker” as an illustration (anyone who knows me would understand why). This story told of young children who visited Disney World and bought, as a gift, a salt & pepper shaker for their father. They broke it before they could give it to him and went back to the in-park store to get it replaced. Due to kindness and generosity, the Disney employees replaced it for them although their policies didn’t require it. Due to this, those children became “raving fans” and over the course of their lives spent over $100,000 with Disney. He stated that even the smallest of actions which make customers happy can have a huge effect on future earnings and loyalty.

Sara Hasson spoke about the importance of marketing to the Hispanic market. One interesting statistic she shared was that from 2010-2020, Hispanics are projected to account for all (100%) the growth among adults 18-49. She said that Hispanics spend at similar levels and return to the new vehicle market sooner. She said that not only is it important to market to Hispanics but its important to market to them in their language.

Originally published on DealerElite.net

In The Trenches During The AutoTrader Acquisition Of VinSolutions

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(Originally published in Dealer magazine)




As I’m sure you’re probably aware by now, AutoTrader announced Wednesday that they had reached an agreement to acquire VinSolutions.


I was in the unique position to actually be with most of the executive leadership and employees of VinSolutions when the news broke. I was also with HomeNet Automotive when the rumors started that AutoTrader was working to acquire HomeNet Automotive. I also came really close to working directly for AutoTrader as they attempted to recruit me and, ironically, I was actually at an event in Colorado that Chip Perry was in attendance when I was informed by the Autotrader recruiter that I was “not worthy” (their loss). I like to think that AutoTrader is following me around acquiring companies I work for simply because they actually want to “acquire” me. (That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.)


After my initial shock passed, as an employee of a media company, the investigative part of me started paying attention. What I expected to see was executive management in a celebratory mode making plans to roll around in the pile of money they must have just made. I expected phone calls being made and Internet leads being submitted for new Ferraris. I expected VinSolutions employees to be anxious about their future employment and having a feeling that this company, that they all were very proud to be a part of, was at an end. I saw none of that.


What I saw was quite the opposite. Executive management and VinSolutions employees were still talking to dealers. VinSolutions employees were excited. The entire team was customer focused, not acquisition focused. In fact, it really seemed as if VinSolutions had acquired AutoTrader rather than the opposite. They weren’t feeling as if this was the end, quite the contrary. They felt like this was the beginning. They were excited about the incredible resources and value now available to VinSolutions to make their product(s) bigger, better and faster than they ever were able to before.


What makes this acquisition a historic moment is that this is the first time in our industry’s history that a non-DMS company has acquired a company that does what VinSolutions does. VinSolutions wasn’t interested in being acquired by a DMS, because several trends inevitably happen: the acquired company immediately loses half their market share, but they also fall into this virtual black hole eventually disappearing never to be heard from again.  AutoTrader “could” make VinSolutions the hub of their operation powering and integrating with ALL of the AutoTrader/Cox owned properties acquired in recent history.


With all of the properties that AutoTrader owns, they are in the unique position to dominate the automotive market. All of these properties, prior to their AutoTrader acquisition, had stellar reputations within the industry and with their customers. AutoTrader “could” leverage these properties to offer an unprecedented value to their customers. Whether (and how) they do this is still up in the air.


Not discounting the incredible value and loyalty that current VinSolutions customers have, ultimately VinSolutions is more than just another company. In fact, the people DEFINEVinSolutions. Yes, they have innovative solutions and offer the power and convenience of a completely integrated solution to dealers. VinSolutions could easily be named “Mike-Sean-Matt-Kendall-Solutions,” but that would certainly be hard to create a marketing campaign for. Why? The reason is simple. Mike Dullea, Sean Stapleton, Kendall Billman and Matt Watson ARE VinSolutions. Without them, AutoTrader would now own air. I sincerely hope that AutoTrader recognizes this (if they don’t already) and just like a NFL team, these people were signed to 20-year contracts. If you buy the Colts, you make sure Peyton Manning is included in the deal. Yes, VinSolutions’ integrated dealer solution offers great value to their customers. They are continuously looking to improve the value VinSolutions offers to their customers. The dedication and passion that these people, along with the entire VinSolutions team define VinSolutions.


As I talked to VinSolutions’ dealers that are attending this event, their concern had nothing to do with money/price increases, etc. It was completely focused on how AutoTrader would change WHO VinSolutions IS, and who they are is the key to their success. Yes, there are other people who can be a CEO. Yes, there are other people that can run a sales team. Yes, there are other programmers. Yes, there are other people who can be the “website” guy. The fact is that there is NOBODY that can replace these people, perform with the passion, dedication and experience that they have and perform at the level that they do. Disregarding the standard “business as usual” statement, VinSolutions truly has a culture of family. That family makes them who they are.


In my eyes, AutoTrader didn’t acquire a company; they acquired the equivalent of the Justice League of America. Take away any member of that team; the Justice League ceases to exist. JLA without Superman isn’t the Justice League of America. What made the JLA the powerhouse that they were was the collective power that they all brought to the table.


Does the competition need to be worried, absolutely, but not because all of a sudden VinSolutions is now owned by AutoTrader, but because AutoTrader acquired Superman, Batman, the Flash and the Green Lantern and, most importantly, a family.

What Did Google Do?

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(Originally published on Dealer magazine)




UPDATE: 5/12/2011: The $500 million set aside was for a Department of Justice investigation surrounding whether Google allowed online pharmacies to use Google’s advertising platforms to illegally sell prescription drugs. LINK


It’s all over the news today. Google reported in its SEC filing that they have set aside $500 million for an anticipated settlement into a Department of Justice investigation of the use of Google Adwords by “certain advertisers.” The comment is intentionally vague and details of the investigation itself have not been released. The statement in question is this:



“In May 2011, in connection with a potential resolution of an investigation by the United States Department of Justice into the use of Google advertising by certain advertisers, we accrued $500 million for the three month period ended March 31, 2011. Although we cannot predict the ultimate outcome of this matter, we believe it will not have a material adverse effect on our business, consolidated financial position, results of operations, or cash flows.” (Note 16 in filing)


Many car dealerships use Google Adwords as part of their online marketing strategy. The phrasing of the comment is interesting. “Certain advertisers” can mean many things ranging from a few to a large amount. “Certain” doesn’t mean small, it only means “not all” in this context. Then we have the interesting part that states this investigation stems from the use of the advertising by its users (implying that it’s not by Google itself). If that’s the case, it’s curious that Google is under investigation. If its advertisers were misusing the Google Adwords program, you’d think it would be an internal violation of their Terms of Service issue, not something that Google itself would be under investigation for much less anticipating a $500 million settlement.


It would seem logical that Google played some part in allowing (or assisting) in this misuse. What other scenario would explain why the Department of Justice is investigating, and holding liable, Google itself? Speculation includes favoring some advertisers over others, fixing its bidding system to maximize bidding amounts, skewing search results to favor its own products and penalizing advertisers that also advertise with other search engines. It is also unclear whether Google would be paying this potential settlement to the DOJ or to its advertisers. The Department of Justice has yet to comment.


This investigation has a potential impact on just about every aspect of the automotive business: from manufacturers to dealerships to 3rd party lead providers. It will be interesting to see how this plays out and exactly what Google is under investigation for.


$500 million is a pretty hefty figure for it to be on the line for so the assumption would be that this is not a small violation (or potential) of something. Considering Google’s income comes primarily from its advertising, it’s hard to believe the investigation is somehow unrelated.


The conspiracy theorist in me is very interested in hearing more about this.

Are Check-Ins Useful For Business?

By

(Originally published on Dealer magazine)




Yesterday, I got to attend the NBA Playoff game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks with 2 friends and I credit it all to a Facebook check-in. I was planning on attending the game anyways, however, while browsing my Facebook news feed, I noticed a friend who doesn’t live in my area had checked into Los Angeles airport. I didn’t know he was coming into the area. I reached out to them and within an hour we had made plans to attend the game together. Without that check-in, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to attend the game with some industry friends.


As I thought of this, I thought of one of the first things we teach all new salespeople. Tell everyone you know or meet that you sell cars. When I was in retail, there was nothing more frustrating than finding out after the fact that someone I knew had bought a vehicle somewhere else…especially if they bought the same brand I was selling. I also didn’t want to be “in your face” with everyone by yelling “Hey, I sell cars” everywhere I went. What better way to tell people you know that you sell cars in a passive, non-aggressive manner than to “check-in” at your dealership on a daily basis.


By doing this, you can leverage the check-in to inform your social network and keep it fresh in their minds that you sell cars. By doing this one simple thing, I guarantee that when it comes time to buy a car, they’ll know that you sell them.





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