Arnold Tijerina, Author at Storytailer

Google Encrypts Searches By Default – Cripples Google Analytics

October 21, 2011 By Arnold Tijerina

On October 18, 2011, Google announced via its blog that it is setting the default search settings for all people signed into their Google accounts to an encrypted search.

What does this mean for you? It means that your Google Analytics will no longer tell you keyword data on any person which clicked through to your site while logged into their Google account. This is very crippling from an SEO standpoint as keyword data is vital in your SEO and conversion efforts. Knowing what people were searching for that lead them to the link that they clicked on which brought them to your sight is valuable information to any company’s marketing efforts.

Keep in mind that Google has offered the encrypted search setting for a while now. The key difference is that consumers would have had to go into their setting and manually change this to an encrypted search and, really, who would really do this? Now, it’s encrypted by default, and, using the same logic, which consumers are going to go into their setting and change it to unencrypted? I believe most people would choose to give out less information than more given the option (which they’ve always had). However, I also believe, just like with Facebook privacy settings, that most people will not go into the settings and change them or learn them for that matter. The average consumer lives by default and if the default is now encrypted, it just means that your Google Analytics reports will contain less key information in them.

There is only one exception to this withholding of keyword conversion data. Encrypted keyword data will still be provided to Google Adword advertisers. That’s certainly a value add to entice more businesses to use Google Adwords and a way to leverage and monetize information for Google.

What are your thoughts?

(Originally published October 20, 2011 on Dealer magazine)

Industry Summit: A Peek into the World of F&I

October 17, 2011 By Arnold Tijerina

This week, I had the privilege of attending the Industry Summit – which includes 3 conferences — the F&I Conference, the Special Finance conference and the VSCAC conference. These conferences focus mainly on F&I and special finance topics. In this age of internet shopping, however, credit-challenged shoppers are also researching on the internet – whether it’s typical online car research or they’re searching for financing assistance online – so I wanted to see what advice and tips I could learn to share with our audience.

I was quite surprised to find that finance companies are interested in penetrating the franchise dealer market with hybrid “Buy Here, Pay Here” programs. Dealers lose many car deals each month due to the inability to secure financing for their customers. The idea is that the dealer would carry the note for 90 days, then these companies would purchase the notes for $.60 on the dollar. If structured correctly, and with the right program guarantees and commitments to buy these loans from these companies, a dealer could potentially pick up a decent amount of deals they otherwise wouldn’t be able to keep on the road (or put there in the first place).

An example given to me was of a franchise dealer who amassed a $22 million portfolio which he could cash out at any time while making a $5 million net profit. I could see this as an alternative method of financing – a last case scenario – for franchise dealers who are selective in whom they carry notes for or a new way for dealers with a high demographic of these customers to gain more deals and market share. Whether they choose to carry the note past the 90 day period is entirely up to them and, if structured properly, could mean extra profit and deals each month. Many stereotypical “Buy Here, Pay Here” lots went under during the hard times we’re just emerging from and this is a great way to capture market share quickly. I could see many customers who would feel more comfortable and willing to participate in a program like this offered by a franchise dealer versus the small used car lot that these programs typically exist at.

One of the most popular and well attended sessions was a Marketing and Advertising Dealer Panel regarding special finance with Scott Falcone, dealer, World Hyundai Matteson and Tom White Jr., general manager, Suzuki of Wichita. Many of the dealers in the audience wanted advice on how best to operate a special finance department including how to handle & identify those customers early in the process. Scott Falcone said that instead of treating special finance customers differently, they handle all customers as if they were special finance from an investigative standpoint. Tom White agreed saying that the most important question they ask on the meet & greet is regarding source and that usually helps identify those customers who may need special financing assistance.

Scott addressed another question regarding what to do to keep that special finance customer distracted while you are waiting for a call back or bank approval. He strongly suggested that dealers test drive those customers who can’t buy cars. By doing that, they get excited and are more likely to work with you with a co-signer, etc. and they get excited.

Both dealers do spot-deliveries and an audience member asked: “What’s an acceptable take back percentage?” Tom White said that his goal is an 8% take back on spot deliveries. If it’s more than 8%, then they are being too aggressive. If it’s less than 8%, they are not being aggressive enough. Tom White went on to share that their BDC only makes outbound calls on credit leads. Once they started that program, special finance sales went from 12 per month to 39. The retail sales department works all other leads. He went on to say that “the days of being able to take a credit app or look at a credit report are over. Computers are doing the underwriting. Send the deals in. Don’t think or guess.”

The exhibit hall was mostly filled with F&I product companies although I did see a few familiar faces.

Now a couple of fun things…

The coolest “interaction activity” in the hall was, by far, the large game of Jenga constantly being played in the ETE REMANbooth. I “almost” won that darn game. We ended up standing on chairs just to place the next piece on top but, in the end, the employees won. I still smile when I think how brilliant that game was for them. Everytime a game was lost, a ton of 2×4 planks came crashing down causing a lot of noise which could be heard in the whole hall and attracted a lot of attention.

And the coolest swag:

… a sweet car from our friends at DealerTrack! Thanks again for the car! My 5-year old has been playing with it NON-STOP since I got home.

Thank you to all of the people involved in inviting me to the conference – Ed Bobit, Dave Gesualdo and Greg Goebel – it was a privilege to attend and get an insight into the world of F&I and special finance.

(Originally published September 30, 2011 by Dealer magazine)

Facebook Firings Cost Employer $200,000+

September 19, 2011 By Arnold Tijerina

I’ve been following closely, and reporting on, the recent uptick in activity being taken by the National Labor Relations Board in pursuing complaints related to employee terminations due to social media use. All of the previous articles, including thebreaking news story I wrote regarding a BMW dealership who fired an employee due to Facebook posts, were only complaints that the NLRB were pursuing, but no decisions had been made by a judge. All of the similar previous cases had been settled so no precedents existed.

That’s all changed now.

In a press release from the NLRB dated Sept, 7, 2011, it reported that an Administrative Law Judge has ruled in favor of the five plaintiffs who were discharged by their employer over Facebook posts in which they complained about their employer and co-worker stating that the posts were “protected concerted activity.” In the ruling, the judge ordered the company to immediately reinstate all five employees and back pay all five workers – in full – with interest compounded daily, including compensation for all lost benefits.

These employees were “domestic violence advocates.” The average salary for this position is $41,000 according to SimplyHired.com. Using that figure, the employer had to pay just short of $188,000 not including interest and lost benefits, which easily equates to over $200,000.

As I reported, there are many similar cases still pending, including the one involving the BMW dealership.

This ruling is precedent setting and will with no doubt effect the other pending cases as well as any future complaints.

It is now more important than ever that your dealership immediately institute an appropriate social media policy that is specific and that excludes protected activities or review the one you already have to insure compliance with the suggestions made by the NLRB in their earlier issued report.

(Originally published September 14, 2011 on Dealer magazine)

What Does The Government Think About Your Social Media Policy?

September 9, 2011 By Arnold Tijerina

Back in June, I broke news on a case that involved a BMW dealership firing a salesperson for posting critical comments about the dealership and pictures of an accident that occurred on a nearby dealership’s lot (that happened to be owned by the same people).

Due to the huge increase in social media use by the general population as a form of communication, The National Labor Relation Board is aggressively going after companies that terminate employees for issues in regards to social media use. Until now, there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to which cases they were supporting and which they weren’t. The information was there, but unless you were actively seeking these cases, chances are you wouldn’t find them.

In an effort to coordinate the prosecution of cases involving social media, Anne Purcell, Associate General Counsel for the National Labor Relations Board, wrote and released a 24 page report on August 18, 2011 summarizing cases involving social media and explaining why they have chosen to prosecute (or not) these cases. In doing so, they’ve given insight into what you can and can’t do as an employer including what they believe your social media policy should (or shouldn’t) say.

Keep in mind that this is a summary of the cases and issues that they’ve determined merit prosecution. While some of the cases have been settled, many of these cases have trials pending. In no way are these laws or precedents…yet. However, in knowing what they do and don’t consider valid complaints, it can help any employer construct a more solid social media policy that would, at the very least, withstand the scrutiny of the National Labor Relations Board. It also gives insight into what, if any, disciplinary action you can take against an employee in regards to social media use.

In summary, based on the collective summaries of the cases, here are some guidelines I’ve extrapolated from the report for your social media policies and disciplinary considerations:

They’re huge on protected concerted activity. Employees can discuss and criticize their employer, supervisors and co-workers as long as they don’t stand alone in their criticisms. Your employees can call you a “scumbag”, an “a-hole”, a “super mega puta” or whatever else as long as they have co-workers that share their opinion. They have the right to discuss working conditions and their employer anywhere, including via social media. The keyword here is that it must be a discussion. Personal gripes don’t count.

You can’t have overly-broad social media policies. Things you can’t include in your social media policies:

Prohibit employees from making negative comments about the company, their supervisors or their co-workers.
Posting pictures of themselves which depict the company in any way (ie. in uniform, on the job, etc.)
Prohibit them from using inappropriate, offensive or rude language in regards to a coworker, the company, or a customer.
Prohibit inappropriate discussions via blogs.
Prohibit employees from discussing company business on their own time on their personal accounts.
Prohibit employees from disclosing inappropriate or sensitive information about the company.
Prohibit employees from posting pictures or comments involving the company or its employees that would be considered inappropriate.
Prohibit employees from using the company name, address, or other company information on their personal profiles.
Prohibit employees from using the company’s logo or photographs of the company’s store.

How many of these does your company have in its social media policy?

I bet quite a few. You’re probably thinking “Holy Cow” about now. Seems as if employees can do anything they want! That’s not true. What IS true is this: these company’s social media policies (when they had them) contained restrictions that were overly broad and encompassing. Employees have a right to bitch about their workplace, bosses and company, whether it’s aloud or via any type of social media, including Facebook, Twitter or blogging. It doesn’t matter whether you have an “At-Will Employment Agreement”.

So how do you restrict your employee’s social media use through policy without it being considered overly-broad? I mean, come on, you can’t account for EVERY possible situation in a written policy.

The answer is actually quite simple. Your policy is overly broad and/or unlawful if it does not contain verbiage that excludes protected concerted activity as defined by Sections 7 and 8 of the National Labor Relations Act. Simply putting a phrase similar to that into your social media policy should protect you in most instances (unless, of course, the activity IS protected).

In addition, when considering whether you can or can’t terminate an employee because of something they posted on social media, you need to ask yourself these questions:

Is this comment posted relating to any form of work conditions?
Is it a shared opinion and/or being discussed with fellow co-workers?

If the answer is yes, I would think twice before disciplining the employee. If the answer is no, you’re probably safe.

This has nothing to do with free speech. It has everything to do with creating policies that would INCLUDE protected concerted activities. To make it short (and provide an example of their reasoning), you can’t tell an employee they can’t post photos or use the company logo on social media without permission because that would include prohibiting the employees from posting photos of them on a picket line in front of your dealership. You can’t simply tell them they cannot talk about the company via social media because that would prohibit them from lawfully discussing working conditions with their co-workers.

Moral of the story: If you’re an employer, make sure your policy excludes protected activity. If you’re an employee, make sure your co-workers agree with you (and chime in).

Disclaimer: The author of this post is not an attorney and in no way should this be considered legal advice.

(Originally published on Dealer magazine)

Deliver Smiles

August 29, 2011 By Arnold Tijerina

This past Sunday, August 14th, was my birthday. Facebook brought me 150 “Happy Birthdays” yesterday from the whole spectrum of my social network – family, people I know well, industry people, and even people I only know through Facebook. I made a point to say “Thank you” to every single one of them in as personalized a way as possible. Why?

Other than the fact that it’s polite and I wanted each person to know that I recognized them and appreciated them taking their time to recognize my birthday, social networking is about involvement. It allows you to be involved in people’s lives and days. I view this as a privilege. People use social networks for all sorts of different reasons – whether it’s all about work, all about family, all personal or some mash up of these.

Regardless of HOW you choose to use social networks, the fact remains that behind each and every one of these “accounts” is a person. It’s easy to forget that the Facebook profile for a car dealership actually has someone on the other end posting things and interacting with people, even if it is on behalf of the dealership.

I think everyone would agree that it’s a best practice to send birthday cards to your friends, family, and customers and to recognize important occasions or be empathetic when they have a bad day or had some hard luck. Doing the same things on your social networks is no less of a best practice.

My personal philosophy in regards to social media use is this. I try to be myself. I let people into my life and get to know me for real not only what news stories I’m interested in, what inventory I have, what I’m “selling”, what quote I like, or what games I play. I believe that many of my social network friends that know me in real life would agree that I accomplish this pretty well. What you see if what you get. Don’t get me wrong, there are subjects I stay away from. A general rule of thumb I follow is that if I wouldn’t say it in a room full of people at a party; I don’t say it but I ALWAYS stay true to myself.

I believe that people want to network with people, not with the AP Newswire.

Just as every one of those 150 wall posts yesterday brought me a smile and made me appreciate and enjoy my birthday just that little bit more, I also reciprocate and make sure I say “Happy Birthday” to people daily. I also, as many know, post a “Comic of the Day”. I try to be encouraging, funny, and personal.. but, most of all, real.

One universal truth is that people like to smile. They like to be heard. They like feeling that people are listening and that they are making a difference and/or are part of someone else’s life even if it’s in as small of a way as saying “Happy Birthday” to someone or having someone say “Happy Birthday” to you, whether you really know them or not. There’s a reason that some of your highest interaction on social networks will be with humorous and personal posts.

Disneyland is a master at this. It gives people buttons to wear around the park showing everyone that it’s that person’s birthday. Their company’s policy is that every employee who sees a guest with this button says “Happy Birthday” to them. I even see other park guests take the time to say “Happy Birthday” to complete strangers. This smallest of policies can make a huge difference in someone’s day. Disneyland is “the happiest place on Earth” for a reason, and that’s why people love it and will spend hundreds of dollars to go there on any given day. Over 2 million people registered for Disneyland’s birthday promotion in 2009.

True social media influencers are influencers because they are genuine. People want to listen to them because they are real people, and that comes through in their posts, what they choose to share and how they interact with others.

So, if you only follow two rules in your social media networking, follow the same ones that you should follow in real life: be yourself and deliver smiles.

(Originally published August 15, 2011 on Dealer magazine)

“The Badge King” Contest

August 17, 2011 By Arnold Tijerina

(Follow the contest via this blog post (which will be updated in real-time as badge pictures are received) and the conversation by watching hashtag #badgeking on Twitter)

StandingsBadges Submitted

1. Todd Smith 21

2. Tim Jackson 19

The gauntlet has been thrown. The challenge has been accepted. The prize is set. The game is on.

The “Badge King” is a contest where the contenders will race to collect as many meeting & conference badges as possible. Why? Just because. You see, both contenders are prolific speakers and avid travelers. They have special hot-lines to the airlines, at hotels they are VIPs, restaurants have tables saved just for them… heck, they would bump movie stars out of first class.

Have you seen that movie “Up In The Air“, you know, the one with George Clooney. There’s a scene in it where Ryan (George Clooney) and Alex (Vera Farmiga), who are both frequent travelers, empty their pockets, wallets and purses in a race to compare who had the highest standing on airlines, rental car companies, and hotels via loyalty cards. This is kind of like that…except it’s two guys and it’s about conferences and meetings. Their “frequent flyer” cards are badges.. and they’re throwing them on the table trying to see who has the biggest… uh.. never mind.

The Rules:

Only “official” printed meeting and conference badges count. Name tags that say “Hello, My name is” etc. do not. (If they counted then they’d all just sit in their offices and write their names on bulk boxes of name tags..or more likely make their staff do it).
Pictures must be taken of the badges and e-mailed to me, Arnold Tijerina. They both know my e-mail address so there’s no excuses!
Dates of the contest: January 1, 2011 through December 31, 2011. (Yeah, they wanted to backdate it.. wusses)

The Contenders:

Tim W. Jackson – President of the Colorado Auto Dealers Association

Todd Smith – CEO of ActivEngage

The Prize:

*Donated to a charity chosen by the winner

Who do you think will win?

[UPDATE 1/17/12: Tim Jackson and Todd Smith have agreed to make the contest a TIE and both donate money.]

Dealers In California May Be Forced To Change The Way Salespeople Are Paid

July 29, 2011 By Arnold Tijerina

In a class action lawsuit filed on June 21, 2011 against AutoNation (Santa Clara Superior Court, entitled Lilly v. AutoNation, Case No. 1-11-CV-203569), attorneys are claiming that AutoNation is in violation of the California Labor Code by misclassifying commissioned sales reps as exempt from overtime and, in addition, issuing deduct vouchers post-sale for losses in commissionable gross due to repair or service costs incurred.

It’s standard practice in California to consider minimum wage as a “draw” against commissions. This hourly wage is only paid if the salesperson’s commissions for any pay period are less than commissions earned (ie. they would get the higher of the two amounts – commissions or hourly wages). Many dealers “settle up” at month end with the salespeople meaning the view the commissions/hourly wages on a monthly basis (versus a pay period). California labor law mandates that overtime be paid for any hours over 8 in a DAY, not by 40 hours in a week. (ie. If I worked 12 hours the whole week but all in one day, I would be due 4 hours overtime even though I only worked one day that week.)

We all know that salespeople work A LOT especially hungry ones. Many salespeople who aren’t making a ton of commissions will make sure they work a lot of hours to insure that they get a decent check in the first place. Of course a salesperson that is getting paid hourly too many times has a short lifespan within a dealership.

Now onto the deduct vouchers. Dealers in California pay commissions in one of two ways: upon approval, or upon funding. Most dealers pay upon approval. This is designed so that salespeople don’t have to wait forever to earn their paychecks and dealers don’t have to cough up minimum wage while the salesperson has unpaid commission vouchers pending funding. It’s also pretty common that grosses decrease post-sale for many reasons: a dealer has trouble with funding and/or has multiple approvals, spot-deliveries based solely upon credit, repairs and due bills completed post-sale, unforeseen bank fees, option contracts cashed in, back-end product cancellations, etc.

Typically, since vouchers are issued upon approval, those vouchers are issued based upon the gross at the time of delivery and/or approval and included in the salesperson’s check for the next pay period. If dealers cannot issue deduct vouchers for loss in gross, this will force dealers to restructure pay plans as something that was spot-delivered with a high front-end gross that gets cut back due to financing issues or any of the other reasons mentioned above, could go from a nice voucher for the salesperson to a mini. If the dealer continued to pay in the way that they are now, and could not issue deduct vouchers, they would risk losing money by issuing commission vouchers prematurely.

Then you have to consider that a sales manager would be forced to structure the deal differently taking into consideration potential cut-backs to take into account the future inability to issue a voucher. The only way to structure a new pay plan without risk to the dealer would be to issue the voucher upon funding which would open the dealer up to the possibility of having to pay the salesperson hourly wages (including overtime), while the salesperson had unissued commission vouchers pending funding. A salesperson who knew how to game the system and/or a passive F&I manager could further complicate things while awaiting stipulations from the customer.

In any case, dealers in California need to watch this pending litigation carefully as it could have a great impact on how they compensate their sales staff and, if the lawsuit is successful, would open up ALL dealers in California to future lawsuits for the same reason.

Right now, AutoNation is the only target, but your dealership could be next.

(Originally published July 22, 2011 on Dealer magazine)

Why The First Car Dealership Groupon Failed

July 21, 2011 By Arnold Tijerina

In a first, a dealership in Michigan partnered up with Groupon to offer Groupon’s first car buying groupon. The deal offered was $500 off the purchase of a vehicle for $199. Keep in mind that Groupon typically takes 50% of the price of the offer (in this case about $100) if the Groupon is successful (ie. meets the minimum purchase requirements). So in the event that the minimum of 10 deals were sold, this promotion would have cost the dealer $1,000. Not bad.. IF 10 cars were sold.

The deal failed. Why?

In my opinion, there are several reasons.

First, any kind of “deal” needs to have value to a consumer. This deal didn’t have that because consumers “expect” to negotiate with the dealer and $500 off the purchase of something that could cost $10,000-$40,000+ is just not “enough.” The deal itself cost $199 so, in reality, the consumer is only receiving a $301 discount.

Second, the offer needed a minimum of 10 people buying it for any of the 4 people that DID buy it to be able to use it. Since only 4 people bought it, those 4 people were never charged the $199 and the offer was never “live” for them to use. Obviously, if someone is willing to commit to spend $199 to get $301 off the price of a car, they are not only planning on buying one, but they are planning on buying it from THAT dealership. Seeing as the deal quantity wasn’t satisfied, you now have at least 4 people who think that either A) the deal isn’t a good one; B) something is wrong with the dealership; or C) all of the above. I highly doubt Groupon would provide the dealer with the names & contact information of those 4 people as that would circumvent Groupon getting any of the money.

Third, this Groupon, being the first of its kind, got some great press yet, when contacted, the General Sales Manager didn’t respond to inquiries. Those would have been golden opportunities for some exposure they wouldn’t have been able to buy. Rather than “seize the moment,” if you will, and take advantage of those opportunities, the General Sales Manager chose to engage potential buyers of this deal straight on Groupon in ways that, I feel, would have DETRACTED from the perceived value and may have actually discouraged customers from participating. Here are some of the comments he left:

VALUE GUARANTEE OFFER!!!!
In the unlikely event that we are unable to come to an agreement on a vehicle purchase/lease, for whatever reason, I will honor your voucher toward $199.00 in our service, parts or body shop departments. Purchase accessories, have routine maintenance done or have those annoying dings, dents and scratches repaired.

So, now the General Sales Manager is saying pay $199 for the coupon and, even if you don’t buy a car, I’ll honor the coupon in our parts, service or body shop… in the amount of $199. Where’s the value there for a customer? That’s just pre-paying for things. Give me $199 and you can have $199 worth of “stuff.”.

William P visited our store yesterday. He selected and test drove the vehicle he was interested in. He worked out all of the pricing details with our sales staff until he was satisfied with the pricing. He THEN AND ONLY THEN explained he had purchased the Groupon voucher but needed a vehicle immediately. We reduced his amount due by $500.00 and honored the voucher in order to accommodate a customer. He took delivery today. We’re still confident that the sales requirement will be met.

This comment was left BEFORE the Groupon was satisfied (ie. 10 deals were sold) which further reinforced the fact that customers really didn’t need to purchase the Groupon to get the $500 discount since the above referenced customer, who may have “committed” to purchasing the Groupon, ultimately was never charged anything for the Groupon since the minimum quantity sold wasn’t met, making the Groupons invalid.

So, while customers are bantering within the comments of the deal over the true value of the Groupon, the General Sales Manager chose to try and convince everyone it was a really good deal and that they should buy it by making statements that detracted from the value of the offer and, at the same time, failed to take advantage of the free exposure. There were almost 50 articles written about this offer. All of which could have been turned into golden PR and marketing opportunities for the dealer – if the dealer had responded.

This is a perfect example of why you should carefully analyze any deals/social media offered on such a large scale. Many dealers have website pop-up coupons that have the same offer “$500 off a car.” In fact, this particular dealer has a STILL LIVE “special offer” pop-up which features the Groupon offer (even though it’s now expired), even further detracting from the value of the Groupon.

I’m not surprised that this offer failed. Groupon is ultimately in the business of making money. Since the deal r
equirements weren’t met (meaning nothing was sold), Groupon didn’t make any money further reducing the chance that they will participate in any future similar Groupon offers by dealers.

If you’re considering trying to run a deal via social media or bulk offer sites (ie. Groupon, Living Social, etc.), you need to make sure that the deal is truly a good value for the consumer and only offered via that promotion. The dealer could have leveraged this deal in many ways even if they didn’t sell any cars from it. As you can see, while this deal is not available to buy anymore, it still exists in internet-land both on their website and via search engines and it’s even on the first page of a Google search for “Lafontaine Auto”. This is almost as bad as having a negative review because it plants the seed to a prospective buyer that $500 off a car at your dealership isn’t worth $199, which, by extension implies that a $301 discount isn’t valuable.

Don’t jump into social media unless you know what you’re doing. If you do, your promotion can backfire, just as this one did.

How To: List Inventory On Your Facebook Wall & Succeed

July 8, 2011 By Arnold Tijerina

Facebook is designed and centered on engagement. Social media professionals all have various ideas on how you should do it and what works. My quick take on this is: whatever works for you – do that.

What do I mean by that? Facebook provides analytics on a per post basis. Use those to determine what types of content are causing your fans to interact with you. If people like jokes, post jokes. If people like to answer fun questions, ask fun questions. It’s that simple. I think pretty much EVERY social media professional will advise you, however, NOT to post your inventory to your Facebook page’s wall.

I absolutely agree BUT, I have found one very creative and unique dealership that can get away with it. In fact, not only can they get away with it, I LOOK FORWARD to seeing new inventory being posted to their Facebook wall. I’m not a buyer. They’re not my client. I’m not even in the same state that they are in.

How do they do it? By following one best practice and using massive creativity.

I doubt anyone would disagree that one fundamental best practice of internet marketing is to merchandise your inventory well through multiple photos and detailed descriptions. They do this, and they do it very well. EVERY car has photos and descriptions – new and used.

Do you still doubt that this dealer can post their inventory on their Facebook wall and get away with it? Certainly ONLY doing the above wouldn’t warrant that… BUT

…enter the creative part. Here are a few of examples of vehicle descriptions, cut and pasted straight from their website:

“You know, I feel so pure just sitting in this vehicle. It’s like I should put on a button up sweater and some sneakers and sing a melody like Mister Rogers. The vehicle has some type of Good Energy that removes the darkside. I’m going to put in a request to the Prison Board to have all inmates sit in one of these so they’ll become good honest citizens. A 2010 Chrysler 300 Touring with stellar fuel economy, 1 owner and factory warranty. $299 payment on 72 months with $0 down (with approved credit) is nothing short of a Disney movie (in this case, Disney, would be called our Finance Department). After you buy this, can we hold hands and go pick flowers?”

“Driving this makes me feel like I’m doing the waltz on Dancing with the Stars. Carrie-Anne Len and Bruno would be watching me from the audience and I have no doubt that their scores would all be 10. And if it wasn’t whoever gave me less would be run over. Yeah cause that’s how I roll. All 10’s all perfection because that’s what this lovely Journey is. 3rd Row Seating and killer fuel economy is INCREDIBLE. The only thing pathetic is that I’m selling it to you for this kind of price. The way it rides and handles is a dream come true. Call me the Genie in a Bottle because that’s what I do!!!”

“You’ve heard of Michael Myers from Halloween, yeah, well that’s like me at the dealership. I am a nightmare walker, price slashing talker. My machete is my pen and in the end you can NOT escape me. I don’t do a dance, I don’t run, I frigging just throw the ax that says my vehicle still has a moonroof, all power amenities on the inside,1 Owner, and killer fuel economy for an SUV. So think of it as a horror flick but in a good exciting kind of way. You can’t stop me. Just let me do the deed…SAVING YOU MONEY!!!”

I’ve been watching them for a while. I look forward to seeing new inventory shared on their wall. In this highly competitive market, you need something that sets you a part from all of the other 1,000 similar vehicles for sale. These descriptions undoubtedly also get sent to all the websites they participate in. At times, I browse their website JUST to read vehicle descriptions.

If I were a consumer, in their market, do you think this dealer would be memorable to me? Absolutely. Would you look forward to reading these descriptions? I bet you’re already on their website checking them out.

The person that writes these descriptions is a genius and needs a raise and THIS is how you can market your inventory via social media and not only get away with it but have your fans looking forward to more.

(For more information, and to see what I consider to be one of the best inventory marketing dealers I’ve ever seen, check out their website at http://www.bigredsports.com and check out their Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/bigred.sportsimports)