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Shame on Chevrolet & How the Homogenization of Dealerships By Auto Manufacturers Is Dangerous

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American_silerado__31182.1378945376.1280.1280It recently came to my attention that a Chevrolet dealership in Indiana had a visit from a Chevrolet “architect” who instructed them that they must remove pictures of athletes that they sponsor and recognize and, worst of all, the American flags they had proudly displayed around their dealerships. This is the worst kind of hypocrisy and is a slap in the face to Americans.

Maybe they don’t remember that the U.S. Government helped the automaker to the tune of almost $50 BILLION. In the end, the USA Today reports that the U.S. Government may actually LOSE $10 BILLION of taxpayer money by doing so. It has only been four months since the U.S. Treasury Department exited the automobile industry with the sale of their remaining stock in G.M. It also wasn’t too long ago that the United States actually OWNED ~61% of the company itself.

Apparently, the divorce is final.

Not only does this infuriate me but it’s also bad for dealerships. Most dealerships survive on regular and repeat business especially in their service departments. The ONLY thing that they have to differentiate themselves from their competing Chevrolet franchise is their personality and the customer experience they provide. The homogenization of dealerships around the country (and the world) only serves to strengthen the brand and does absolutely nothing for the franchise.

Think about it. You may be a loyal patron of many stores… Rite Aid, Walgreens, Nordstrom… you name it. If you haven’t noticed, those companies do their best to make their stores identical as well. They do it because it offers a familiar and consistent experience across all locations and serves to make the customer more comfortable shopping with them… NO MATTER WHICH LOCATION IS CONVENIENT. If you’re a loyal Walgreens customer, you don’t necessarily care which location you go to when you need something they sell. You just go. This is a normal practice amongst large retail chains.

Automakers who are forcing design and décor compliance on its dealers (which most of them do) accomplish this by dangling big carrots of money in the form of financial subsidies to build new showrooms. I would argue that this DETRACTS from a dealership’s personality. It makes you less different than your competitors. It gives consumers LESS of a reason to choose you over the next dealership. All of a sudden, dealerships are like Walgreens, McDonalds, or any other retail chain. Over time, dealerships will be less able to differentiate themselves to consumers. When everything looks and feels the same… well, it must be the same.

You already have to battle your own brand for visibility in your digital marketing. Go ahead and try to rank over your brand on Google. See how much you’d have to spend to get the first position in a PPC campaign over your brand in your market. Some manufacturers are requiring dealers to do business with only certain vendors. If you look at many of these “required” vendors, their strategy is to push the same content for those dealerships. Many manufacturers create websites for their dealers (whether they want them or not) which puts dealers in a position of battling… well, with themselves. Then they force dealers to buy leads from them and regulate how quickly you respond and even what you say in some cases.

This homogenization is not only happening in our physical world but it’s slowly creeping into our digital one as well.

The fact that Chevrolet, a company that was owned by the United States less than a year ago because they couldn’t pay the bills and is also currently running to a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge begging the court to “enforce a bar on lawsuits stemming from ignition defects sold before its 2009 bankruptcy…” to ask franchisees to remove the American flag from their showrooms is the epitome of hypocrisy and screams ingratitude. The bottom line is that Chevrolet has been asking a lot from the United States government and its taxpayers for the last few years while, at the same time, forcing its franchisees to remove the very symbol of the same.

Don’t mistake these concerns as only regarding Chevrolet (or General Motors), however. As a franchise owner, you should be very concerned that your manufacturer is forcing you to become less you and more them. You sell the same cars as all of the other franchise owners of your brand so the ONLY thing you have to differentiate yourself is WHO you are. Manufacturers don’t care if your customers are loyal to YOU. They only care that the customers are loyal to THEM.

The more your business – both physically and digitally – becomes THEM, the less consumers will care about YOU.

[P.S. I can confidently say that U.S. Veterans of the Armed Forces – including your employees, customers and members of your community – won’t be really happy with this policy. One can only guess if this will affect their perception of your dealership and/or brand.]

Identifying Loyal Employees Can Be Counter-Intuitive

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Businessmen at loggerheadsA few weeks ago, I presented at Fran Taylor’s “30 Sales a Month” workshop in Philadelphia, PA. The presentation was mainly focused on my retail sales “story”, if you will. Part of what made me successful, however, was that I questioned… well, just about everything. If I saw a better way to do something, I said so. If I disagreed, I spoke up. My sales managers got so fed up with me that, at one point, both the GSM and Sales Manager walked into my GM’s office and announced that they “washed their hands of me”. My GM’s response was that I could report directly to him then. The fact that I had a great leader and mentor that believed in me and was willing to give me leeway was what allowed me to go to the next level in my career.

I remember what he used to tell me every time I came to him with some crazy idea, “I’ll give you all of the rope that you want. You can either hang yourself with it or make a basket to carry all of your money.” I never hung myself. While my presentation was mainly geared towards salespeople, I wanted to leave the dealers and managers present with a takeaway encouraging them to change their perception of employee loyalty. Attendees really liked the message and shared it on social networks with their peers so I thought I’d share the origins of that and explain it for those who couldn’t attend.

Many experts have extolled the fact that the genesis of customer loyalty lies in first ensuring that you have employee loyalty. Your employees are the front-line people that can make or break the best designed and intentioned customer experiences. The porter washing that new car just purchased could send those otherwise happy customers leaving with a slightly less wonderful taste in their mouths. The receptionist who sends a customer off into on hold limbo can send a service customer elsewhere. Don’t think that just because you care that your employees do. I believe most successful businesses, however, intuitively understand this concept. The trick is identifying these employees and sometimes that can be tough.

In a recent article, Hubspot founder Dharmesh Shah listed what he believed to be the 7 qualities of a truly loyal employee. In that article, he illustrates that while it may seem easy to identify loyal employees based on things like how long they’ve worked for you, some of the traits of a loyal employee are the same traits that may actually lead you to firing them. It’s a fact that, in general, there is high employee turnover at dealerships. Some managers are also not the most sympathetic people to work for either. It was easy to see how some of these traits could be easily have their intentions misunderstood.

The first quality he lists is the display of loyalty through integrity. In his opinion, the employee who openly disobeys you to “do the right thing” actually has your long-term best interest at heart. Secondly, they generate discussions. Shah explains that a loyal employee knows what peers understand and assists them in learning how you think by asking the questions others are hesitant to. Third, they praise others. They recognize hard work or a job well done and care enough to verbalize their praise. Fourth, they disagree with you and share their opinions because they want to improve the company and doing so leads to better decision making. Fifth, they support your decisions regardless of whether they disagree. Six, they tell you “what you least want to hear… especially when it’s awkward or even painful to do so.” And last, they leave when it’s time to. That last one would seem to particularly illustrate disloyalty but, according to Shah, when your best employees leave, they help you fill their places while doing so.

His article was very thought-provoking and certainly presented a compelling argument listing qualities that many would deem insubordinate and reversing them into qualities of a loyal employees. At one point in all of our lives, we’ve all had that boss that exhibited the “my way or the highway” method of supervision. They weren’t much fun to work for.  I certainly displayed many of these qualities and, while I may not work for my mentor anymore, when I left, it was simply my time to do so.

In the turnover challenged industry that is automotive retail, managers must pause and take a moment to reflect on these qualities. List first the employees that you would say were your most loyal. Afterwards, reassess everyone using the qualities presented by Mr. Shah then compare the two lists. Are they the same? Chances are that some different names will suddenly appear. Loyal employees are key factors in business success. Identifying and understanding employee loyalty can assist you in not only increasing customer satisfaction – but also in identifying your future leaders.

How the Mormon Church Turned the “Book of Mormon” Into Roses: A Lesson In Marketing

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mormon_rose“…there is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.” – Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray

In 1890, Oscar Wilde wrote this quote in his classic book “The Picture of Dorian Gray”. The character, Lord Henry, says this to a painter when the painter expresses his desire not to show a painting. While this certainly wasn’t the beginning, one could say that this quote perfectly expresses the desire of most businesses and is just as true today as it was 124 years ago.

The goal of any business is simple: to be talked about. This includes all areas of public interaction including advertising, promotion, publicity, public relations, social media and reputation management. A story that illustrates a few of these involves the circus and an elephant.

“If the circus is coming to town and you paint a sign saying “Circus Coming to the Fairground this Saturday,” that’s advertising. If you put a sign on the back of an elephant and walk it into town, that’s promotion. If the elephant walks through the mayor’s flower bed, that’s publicity… and if you get the mayor to laugh about it, that’s public relations.”

To bring that story current, you could add:

As people start talking about the elephant trampling the rose garden, that’s social media. And, by apologizing and repairing the flowerbed of the mayor, that’s reputation management.

No matter which area illustrated above you are discussing, the goal is to get people talking about you. Sometimes, what they are saying is unflattering. In these cases, you have two choices, to address the issue or to embrace it. Most experts in publicity, public relations, social media and reputation management would advise that you address the problem in one way or another. Sometimes that involves telling your side of the story publicly. Sometimes it involves making the issue right for your customer. And sometimes it involves embracing it and finding opportunities.

When the creators of South Park released their uber-popular musical, “The Book of Mormon”, the Mormon Church had several options. They could raise a big fuss about it that probably would have assisted the musical itself in achieving more buzz and publicity. Instead, initially, they chose to essentially ignore it. In a great article by an Episcopal priest, she described how the Mormon Church, when confronted with the popularity the show had achieved, made the decision to use the show as a means of proselytizing. Missionaries began handing out books and pamphlets in front of the theaters. The Church itself began advertising in the actual playbills. And what they found was that theatre-goers were interested in learning more. Certainly the musical itself mocks their religion but they believe that it doesn’t matter which path a person takes to embrace their beliefs.

The Mormon Church realized that this musical attracted people that were more than likely not Mormon and didn’t understand their religion. Rather than sitting by idly and being the butt of this musical “joke”, they saw this as an opportunity to educate theater-goers and spread their message. And it worked. According to the article “street contacting” is one of the “traditional ways for missionaries to reach potential converts.” This practice is challenging and they might only give out a few copies of their Scriptures each day. When a couple of missionaries chose to hand out Scriptures in front of a theatre showing the musical, however, they gave out an entire box of books in under an hour.

Just as in Oscar Wilde’s famous quote, the Church discovered that having people talking about you is better than not having them talk about you.

In their story, after the elephant tramples the mayor’s rose garden, rather than trying to explain to everyone why the elephant was bad, they shared the beauty of rose gardens.

And more people stopped to smell the roses.

Don’t Schedule Social Media Posts for Business Pages!

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whatever-clockYes, scheduling tools like Hootsuite, Buffer etc. make it convenient for you to make sure your social media presence has regular content.

I know… you’re busy and sometimes forget or don’t have time to post.

I don’t care.

It’s way too easy for businesses – especially car dealers – who find little time to pay attention to their social media networks to pre-schedule a bunch of posts and forget about it until the next month approaches and they need to fill up that content bucket with another month’s worth of posts.

I manage quite a few social media accounts for both clients and myself and very rarely do I schedule posts. Typically the only time I will is if I know I’ll be travelling on a certain day or otherwise unable to post. This never exceeds more than a day, however.

Here are a few reasons why I don’t believe you should preschedule posts…

  1. Social media is a dynamic conversation between you and your consumers (who are hopefully not in India).  Scheduling content does something that harms your business and social media marketing worse than anything else possible…. It disconnects you. If you do not pay attention to your social media accounts on a daily basis, you WILL miss opportunities to connect. You don’t script out and preschedule text messages to your friends, do you? The most important idea here is that prescheduling posts allows you to feel as if you’ve done your “social media” for the month and actually provides you with justification that it’s OK not to check your accounts.
  2. Chances are that your content will be old by the time it’s posted. Duplicate content – no matter how good it is – is destined to become part of the “..and others” section of a Facebook news feed (as in “Arnold and 10 others shared a link”). Not scheduling posts allows you to find recent content which makes it more interesting to an audience. If your content is 2 weeks old by the time it is posted, the chances that other people will already have shared it makes it less likely to be engaged with. This follows the “first to market” mentality. Always strive to be the first page to share content when possible.
  3. Edgerank is no more. Now Facebook’s algorithm takes into account 100,000+ factors when deciding whether to show your content to your audience. It rewards high-quality content that is unique and engaging. If you feel the need to share content that has already been shared, share it as a picture with the link in the picture’s caption. This will avoid you getting clumped together with everyone else that shared that content. Better yet, find the same content but via a different source (ie. link to the same story hosted somewhere other than the source that everyone else is sharing).
  4. Make it your goal to interact with people even if that means you go fishing… Do a Twitter search for your brand and find a tweet from a recent buyer of your dealership’s franchise… welcome them as a new brand owner, congratulate them on their new vehicle, tell them to have fun car shopping, retweet their cool picture of a car, etc. You can limit your search to a radius of your dealership so you will be interacting with people that matter… potential customers. They’ll thank you, retweet you and favorite your tweet. Take the time to thank your new followers. This is only possible if you’re paying attention and you can’t pay attention if scheduling content lulls you into complacency.
  5. Not pre-scheduling content also allows you to make sure that the content is posted correctly and timely in a manner native to the platform on which it is being posted. What if Twitter is down when your scheduled post is supposed to be sent? If you aren’t paying attention, it may never get sent. It also forces you to read it again which assists in identifying spelling errors. You get to see it go live and have a chance to correct it before anyone sees it. Your online image is just as important as your off-line. Make sure your posts actually post, are tailored for the network they are being posted on and look professional.

Even though I’m hyperactive on social media, I’ve found that not scheduling posts allows me to stay more connected and responsive with my audience whether I’m posting to my profile or posting to a client’s accounts. I can be reactive when needed and interact when people make comments – even if it’s simply “liking” their comment. That shows the person commenting that you’re listening and present which makes them more likely to comment in the future.

Don’t fall into the trap of convenience. You will sacrifice quality, lessen engagement and reduce the chances you have of showing up in your audiences’ news feeds. There’s nothing “social” about simply pushing content.

If you can’t be engaged in your own social media presence, how can you expect other people to be engaged with you?

Note: I have a few less reservations about scheduling content for your personal profile. It does allow you to share more relevant content without spamming your friends. My advice in this article mainly applies to business social media accounts. I rarely schedule personal updates and shares for the same reasons contained in the article but that’s just my personal preference.

Humbled at NADA 2014

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Screen Shot 2014-01-28 at 11.06.23 AMI’m not a social media guru, expert or anything resembling that. I would hate to have those adjectives attached to my name. Social media is all about engaging your audience and the reason that I believe I am successful at it is that, regardless of whether I am “doing” social media for myself or a client, I always… always… recognize and respond with any interaction. Whether it’s something as small as favoriting a tweet, or as big as writing an article… social media boiled down to it’s very basic is about interaction. If people are interacting with you, or your company, interact back. It’s that simple.

In my career, I’ve had the privilege of working with many prestigious companies with high visibility in our industry. I’ve just returned from New Orleans and the National Automobile Dealer’s Association Convention in which I handled pre-show and live social media for 12 companies. NADA marks the 15th automotive industry event I’ve conducted social media marketing for whether it was for the conference itself or for exhibiting or sponsoring companies.

Other than the fact that I get money for doing it (which is a great thing), the most rewarding aspect of any position is to get recognized by peers and industry influencers for a job well done. I don’t normally write self-promoting type stuff but I’ve simply been overwhelmed by the feedback I received from my work at the NADA Convention.

The funny part is that I don’t really consider myself a “vendor” per-say. I mean, I get paid for my services but when dealers (or vendors) ask me the inevitable “Who are you with?”, I simply reply “I’m with Arnold.” I love my job and get to meet and interact with tons of intelligent, smart and successful people in our industry from the entire spectrum – dealership personnel, dealers, vendors, members of the media, etc. – and because I’m not soliciting anyone, it’s always genuine face-to-face interaction.

My good friend, Kevin Frye, included me in his NADA video.

In their NADA recap article, AutoMotion featured some of my tweets intended to break up the monotonous “come to our booth” messages and introduce some entertainment into the Twitter feed. If we want dealers (or vendors for that matter) to recognize the value of Twitter, it’s got to be interesting when they look at it, wouldn’t you agree? (Check out hashtag #NADATips if you want to see some.)

DealerTrack‘s social media person (whoever you are) did a fantastic job interacting with people – including myself – at NADA with the @DealertrackDMS account.

Many local New Orleans companies also showed their social media savvy including what became one of my favorite spots – The Cat’s Meow – which I visited four nights including assisting in organizing an event for VinSolutions in 4 hours that saw over 200 guests attend. The Cat’s Meow was super accommodating on all of those nights as well as super interactive and responsive with their @catskaraoke Twitter account. It’s not often that you  get to meet the person who is actually interacting with you from a local establishment like this but I was able to on my final night out in New Orleans. Kudos to her!

I also got the opportunity to hang out with the AutoTrader.com and Haystak Digital Marketing team there one night and, of course, had to throw some shout-outs to them to the tune of “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” by Queen on stage. [Here’s a LINK to the video if you really want to hear me sing.]

The fact that many of us got stranded in New Orleans due to inclement weather presented PCG Consulting and Brian Pasch with the opportunity to provide a bonus educational opportunity to stranded NADA attendees that was given the name the “PCG Freeze Out” which I was fortunate enough to participate in.

I know I’m forgetting some people as I was fortunate to interact with a ton of people. Over the course of NADA, I was astounded by the response and stats from only my personal Twitter account @arnoldtijerina –

Screen Shot 2014-01-31 at 11.02.00 AM

but the most humbling feedback, BY FAR, came from long-time industry expert and insider, Cliff Banks, owner of The Banks Report (which you should subscribe to), when he tweeted this:

Thanks to everyone for all of their support. I truly enjoyed all of the interactions I had at the show whether they were as myself or on behalf of a client and I look forward to seeing everyone again at the next event.

P.S. And many thanks to Helion Automotive Technologies for the rocking caricature and to the NADA Convention for the $150 gift card to Mr. B’s Restaurant. My wife and her friend LOVED the dinner. I was too busy.. well.. tweeting… but appreciate it just as much.

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?

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16-aroundtown-will-you-still-love-me-tomorrow-482x298Salespeople often get frustrated and discouraged by their inability to reach online customers that submit a lead. Many have processes in place that send auto-responders, templates, schedule tasks and impose time limits. Despite the time and effort spent creating quotes, emailing and attempting to reach customer, frequently there is no response. The customer does not answer the phone or return the call.

Why?

Let’s examine this from the customer’s perspective. They’re at some point in the buying process. Whether they’re just beginning their research or are ready to buy, they’ve either landed on your website, or any of the countless car shopping portals and microsites which have calls-to-action for price quotes and information. They submit their information with certain expectations. There is an expectation of reciprocity on the part of the customer. They’re giving you their information in return for you providing them a price quote or answering their questions. They don’t know that their information is being sent to 4 dealerships. Very quickly, auto-responders from these dealerships that contain generic messages explaining why they should buy a car from them bombard their e-mail inboxes. Sadly, most of the time these e-mails don’t contain the actual pricing or answers they were seeking.

Shortly thereafter, their phone starts ringing. These calls are continuous throughout the day, from dealerships calling all-hours of the day, regardless of appropriateness of the timing, such as right in the middle of dinner or at 8:00am.  The consumer receives a string of voicemails from salespeople asking for return calls. In the beginning, they may plan on returning some calls. However, as the voicemails continue along with an overwhelming flow of manual e-mails sent by the salespeople and automatic e-mails sent by the dealer’s CRM, they start to get annoyed. Occasionally, they get the answer or price quote they were seeking. However, it’s buried amongst a barrage of e-mails so is easy to miss. Frequently, the questions are not answered and pricing never sent. What they do get, however, is a ton of irrelevant e-mails, invitations to come to the dealership and voicemails from salespeople. Most templates (manual, automatic and automated) are written as if they were sent by the ISM so to the customer, it looks like this salesperson is continuously e-mailing them yet never providing the information they requested or answering their questions. They get frustrated in the process.

Imagine if you had submitted a lead to a company you wanted information from and suddenly started getting bombarded by e-mails and phone calls, but received no actual information or answers. Wouldn’t you get annoyed?

In no way am I implying that you shouldn’t attempt to call a customer. Of course you should. You just need to be aware of the time of day and what normal people may be doing at that time. Ensure your timing is appropriate. Yes, you should respond quickly to leads. I’ve found that responding to a customer in less than 2 hours can increase your closing ratio. However, turn off your auto-responder and make your first e-mail one that is personal and includes either the quote or information they requested. By doing this, you’ll immediately stand out from the pack. Customers will appreciate it and be more receptive to you. When you leave a message, tell them that you just sent them an e-mail with the pricing or answers they requested and would like to verify they received it. That you would like to know if they need additional information instead of a generic “Call me” type message.

When a customer is on your lot, is the first step in your sales process to tell them how wonderful your dealership is? No. It’s typically to meet and greet them. Why would it be any different online?

In today’s age of transparency and easily accessible instant information, car dealerships are the one retail business that doesn’t conform. Change the way you interact with your potential customers and be different then your competition.  You’ll see more responses, build rapport faster and see your closing ratios increase.

[Update 11/19]: This comment was made when someone shared my post. I thought it was relevant to hear an actual consumer chime in.

Screen Shot 2013-11-19 at 8.54.53 AM

Reputation Management Is Bullsh@t

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Screen Shot 2013-10-02 at 8.35.06 AM

 

You control nothing. I don’t know the origin of the phrase “reputation management” but it’s erroneous. Just as social media networks should be built organically, so should your online reputation. Treat people right; you’ll reap the benefits of some of them sharing that fact online. If you treat them wrong, however, you’re screwed.

As consumers get more active online, they are starting to realize the power they have over businesses with their social media voice and through online review forums. Businesses recognized the importance of online reviews years ago. Thus, the birth of review building processes and businesses.

Many businesses have typically employed a reactionary stance towards reviews. They weren’t really soliciting reviews. If they got some, great. When a bad one came around…mayyybbbeee… they’d get involved and try to solve the problem. Many wouldn’t even notice. As everyone started to recognize its importance – businesses, consumers, vendors, search engines… everyone…- one of a few things happened:

1. They realized that they needed to treat their customers right and aspired to do so. They started paying attention to the review sites and, when an issue arose, they did their best to solve the problem for the consumer.

2. They continued along the path of “ignorance is bliss”. They neither paid attention or did anything.

3. They made the decision to hire a “janitor” (or act like one) to clean up after their mess.

In February 2011, I wrote an article about one of these “janitors”, Review Boost. In January 2012, I wrote another article about companies “buying reviews”. These aren’t new practices nor are any of the companies involved the only companies that offer these services. However, as you could read in those articles if you choose, it didn’t end well for those companies.

Do you really think you can “manage” your reputation? Seriously?

Despite the fact that there is no way for you to control what is being said about you online, there are only a few ways in which a business who doesn’t treat their customers right can continue to operate the way they are now without getting killed via social media and/or online reviews.

1. They can hire these companies to “bury” the bad reviews by adding a ton of good (and, in some cases, fake) reviews.

Sept 23, 2013 – “Fake Online Reviews Cost 19 Companies $350,000” [LINK]

2. They can “do it themselves”.

Sept 17, 2013 – “Yelp Sues Firm Over Allegedly Posting Fake Reviews” [LINK]

3. They can try and bribe the consumer(s) to remove a review. 

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[Hat tip to Dave Erickson for the image.]

Yeah, how’s that “strategy” working for you?

Consumers are not only finding screaming and yelling via social media more effective, they have actually started to pay these networks to advertise those complaints!

Sept. 2, 2013 – “Man Buys Promoted Tweet to Complain About British Airways” [LINK]

Still think you’re controlling something?

I could show countless examples of these types of events. The fact is that these tactics don’t work. You aren’t controlling anything. You may be pouring cat litter over the oil you spilled in the driveway but unless you fix the leaky oil can, you’ll be doing it forever.

Consumers are waking up more and more everyday to the real power they wield… their voice. Consumers trust their friends and family, their social networks, then reviews left by other consumers. You notice I didn’t include “what you say about your business” in that list of who they trust, right? That’s because they don’t trust you. Of course you’re going to say that your business is the best thing since sliced bread, you have the best service in the industry, lowest prices… blah… blah… blah…

You are no more “managing” your reputation than you are managing the weather. It’s not yours to control. Consumers will dictate what your reputation is. They already are. You can’t stop them. Not only can you not stop them, they are going to start screaming louder, and louder, and louder. Theirs will be the ONLY voice that matters.

So, why don’t you stop trying to “manage” your reputation and start building one?

It may cost you money and you may not agree with the customer but do the right thing. Every time. No exceptions. No matter how badly you don’t want to. Just do it.

…or you can let the customer manage your reputation. That’s who’s doing it already.

A Lesson In Leadership from An Unlikely Source

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Stairs-on-ski-trip“While everyone ran in panic, Roselle remained totally focused on her job.”

Sometimes life gets hectic. We try to focus on and accomplish too many things at the same time. We have deadlines to meet, customers vying for our attention, fires to put out and countless voicemails and e-mails to respond to. In a world where employers consider multi-tasking a desirable trait, we’re taught from a very young age that this is a necessary skill. Sometimes, by focusing on too many things at once, we end up not focusing on anything at all.

A customer’s experience in your dealership is completely dependent on your focus. They can’t multi-task their way to a solution. Only you have that. I realize that on a busy weekend at a dealership there are times when you’re being pulled in multiple directions. To a customer, however, they are the sun that everything revolves around.

“While debris fell around us, and even hit us, Roselle stayed calm.”

The most successful business people know that you must treat each customer as if they are your only one. Customers intuitively know when chaos is present – whether by observation or intuition. No matter how busy you are, by stopping and giving a customer… any customer… your undivided attention, not only will you be more effective in resolving their problem but you will also instill in them a feeling of gratitude and, if you’re lucky, loyalty.

“We were forced to stop often and we took those opportunities to encourage each other with a quiet word, a joke, or a gentle pat on the back.” 

Don’t forget that you have a team. Teamwork is crucial in these moments of chaos. The ultimate goal is to provide a solution that is satisfactory to the customer. Maybe you aren’t the right person to efficiently guide the customer down the path to a resolution. In these times, what typically happens is that you’re forced to get someone else involved. A great team knows each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Each member knows the best player for every situation and gets them involved immediately.

“…we must choose to trust those leaders who must also work hard to earn our trust through wise and timely decision making.”

As a manager, sometimes you are the one being asked to resolve problems. You are the ones being asked to multi-task. You are the one who is focusing on so many things at once that you lose focus. Your team looks to you to guide them in these moments of chaos. You must be able to focus on the single most important task you have: the customer standing in front of you. If you’re trying to desk and close deals while answering the phone and helping customers, you’ll accomplish a little bit of everything but a lot of nothing. Be a leader who shows customers that they are the most important task at that moment and follow through with that promise. Not only will you end up with a happy customer, you will also become a role model for the future managers on your team.

“Don’t stop until the work is over; sometimes being a hero is just doing your job.”

Be a hero to your customers and your team. That’s what great leaders are. Every one of us has someone in our lives that we consider our mentor in life. Be that mentor to your team and guide them through the chaos by remaining calm despite it. Teach them that the customer in front of you is the only one that matters. Reinforce it by following your own advice. They will notice and they will buy in.

These lessons originated from an unlikely source. Roselle, you see, is a dog. Her owner is blind. He also happened to work in the World Trade Center and was on the 78th floor when planes flew into the building. There were an estimated 17,400 people in the Twin Towers when this horrible event occurred. Not only did Roselle guide her owner down 1,463 flights of stairs to safety but she was also “giving doggie kisses to each and every firefighter who climbed past us up the stairs.”

“While debris fell around us, and even hit us, Roselle stayed calm.” 

In the midst of all of this chaos, Roselle focused on a single task. She led her owner outside and, despite the chaos and falling debris, found the nearest subway station and led her owner underground.

Roselle was honored as the American Hero Dog of the Year. While she isn’t with us anymore physically, her memory and lessons stay with us to this day. Roselle wasn’t just any dog. Roselle was a highly trained guide dog that had a single job to do for a single customer – her owner. Had she not been trained, she couldn’t accomplish this task with the laser focus that she must have had to navigate down one of only three stairwells along with 17,000 other people for 78 floors to achieve her goal.

“Sometimes the way is hard, but if we work together, we will make it down the stairs.”

Never forget.

g-tdy-111003-herodog-11a.grid-6x2

 Roselle

[Credits: The Today Show, Fox News and Wikipedia]

All Roads Lead To Vegas: AutoCon 2013 Edition

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WelcometoFabulousLas_Vegas_Sign_1_editIn my career in the automotive industry, I got involved in conferences fairly early. I’ve attended many conferences in my life as an Internet Director, as a vendor employee working a booth to helping with marketing and organization for the conference itself. I’ve done everything from being wined and dined as a dealership employee to doing the wining and dining for dealership employees to helping to organize the wining and dining for a vendor.

I’ve also learned that car guys/gals must have an affinity for Las Vegas. I keep waiting for someone to create a conference in Jamaica or Hawaii but, sadly, that day hasn’t come yet. For now, we have Vegas. It probably doesn’t hold the same allure for me as it does for others for several reasons: I lived within driving distance of it most of my life and I have been there as a “tourist” many times. I don’t really gamble, either. I once spent 21 days straight in hotels in Las Vegas for conferences.. I think I’m still recovering from that trip.

However, over my professional career, I have come to realize one thing: getting the education is what matters. I come across way too many dealers today that don’t have a clue. Even worse is that they don’t know they don’t have it. I know that, with a little exposure to the right teachers, they will have a “bright light bulb” moment and start to realize that some of the things they don’t think are very important actually are.

I attended AutoCon in 2012 for its premiere. I wasn’t sure what to expect but I can tell you that I wasn’t let down. The organization, facilities, networking opportunities and educational sessions were great. Many of our industry’s brightest minds were there to share a piece of their knowledge with dealers.. and share they did. All I’ve heard was positive feedback since and, for those that know me, I’m pretty forthcoming in my opinions.

I finally solidified my plans to attend this year and I’m very excited. Conferences for the last few years of my life have been more about working and less about learning and networking on a personal level since I was there working for vendors. Now that I can actually take some time for myself to grow on a professional level, learn new things from some very smart people and re-establish connections that I haven’t been able to nurture, I’m super excited. It’s quite liberating to not be limited in possibilities for political reasons.

So, since my profession is one that involves social media and writing, and, since I’ve been quite busy with both, I wanted to share some of the enthusiasm I’m feeling.

AutoCon has assembled quite a large selection of speakers and topics so it’s hard to know where to begin and, since the sessions aren’t scheduled out yet, all I can do is create my “wish list” of speakers/sessions I think (and would recommend) people attend based on my personal knowledge of them and their expertise and/or ability to convey their message to an audience in an efficient (and entertaining) way.

First, and foremost, I hope that Ralph Paglia returns to AutoCon triumphantly and reinvigorated. I know that the dealer communities all respect Ralph and value his knowledge and contributions not only for creating vibrant communities for dealers to interact in over many years but also his commitment to educating them in any way he can.

I’m also looking forward to seeing DealerElite and AutoCon co-founder, Chris Saraceno, share his secrets of the top automotive sales consultants. In addition to his endeavors mentioned previously, being the Vice President of the Kelly Automotive Group certainly makes Chris uniquely qualified to have consolidated these insights from sources at all levels: blogs, forum discussions, conferences, industry experts and, most importantly, the retail world.

Brian Pasch is a mainstay in the dealer educational arena and his contributions to that arena have been admirable. He’s in demand and seems to be at almost every conference in existence! Whether its one that his company, First Class Educators, has organized or one of the many others, I have to say that Brian is consistent in his efforts and prolific in his dedication. Hey, it takes a lot of work to write quality blogs, hold webinars, create white papers and Brian certainly does them all!

I’m looking forward to hearing the VinSolutions guys speak as well. The Energizer Bunny looks at Sean Stapleton and says “Hey man, Slow down! You’re making me look bad!” Yes, Sean is a bundle of energy and a pleasure to be around and hear speak. He always has great topics and information. Make sure to bring a video camera so you can watch it in slow motion afterwards for those of us that operate at normal speed! In addition, the double whammy is on at AutoCon with Dan Moore also being awarded a speaking slot. This man actually once did a complete session in the voice of Eric Cartman from South Park. No joke. I have video. He can also see the future. Serious. He was evangelizing Pandora when people didn’t know what they were and now they’re a keynote speaker at this conference!

JD Rucker is Yoda. ‘Nuff said.

Larry Bruce? Are you kidding me? That’s like watching a fireworks show! There’s a challenge and debate involved here so this will be exciting! The Dynamite Monkey.. Wooooooo

Jason Barrie from Dealertrack is always a great speaker. They don’t let him out of his cage enough. You should take advantage of this opportunity.

I’m intrigued to hear Aaron Schinke from DealerFire’s session on content writing since, hey, that’s what I do! Kind of hard to argue the importance of content writing when you’re a content writer (amongst other things)!

I’ve met Jennifer Boland of Simply The Best BDC and she’s not only a super person but has her finger on the pulse of BDCs. My involvement with DealerKnows Consulting introduced me to her and I’m looking forward to hearing her speak!

I’m very interested in hearing Myril Shaw of CarWoo! speak about the trust relationship between an Internet Department and a consumer. I think it’ll be fascinating to hear what a consumer-facing website thinks is proper etiquette in transactions. I personally know dealers who are very successful on their program and, while I didn’t get a chance to use them while I was an Internet Director, I certainly would have. They seem to be in tune with both consumers and dealers and this session could provide valuable insight that would help an Internet Department sell more cars online.

Grant Cardone?  Grant’s a great guy and an incredibly entertaining motivational speaker. While we haven’t always seen eye to eye in the past, he’s always a pleasure to listen to and he’s definitely someone who will pump you up! His sales training material really helped my automotive sales career explode when I was a young pup in this business. I can attest that his material works from personal experience. Don’t miss his session. You’ll thank me later.

In the attempt at brevity, I certainly can’t mention everyone but I do feel as if I would be doing an injustice by not mentioning Craig Lockerd of AutoMax Training, Ali Amirrezvani and Amir Amirerezvani of DealerOn, Eric Mitlsch of DrivingSales, and AJ LeBlanc of CAR-MERICAL all of which are excellent speakers and very knowledgeable on their respective topics.

In no way am I suggesting that any of the other speakers are not good or not worth seeing. This is only my personal “wish-list” and recommendations for those who are interested. All of the speakers included in AutoCon 2013 are highly qualified experts in their respective fields and whom you go see really depends on what your dealership’s needs are.  Only you can decide which areas you need help with in your store and that, by itself, should guide you to the right sessions.

…to be continued

Did Google Just Hide Your Dealership’s Emails?

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[UPDATE: I discovered that how Google is determining what goes into the “Promotions & Offers” tab are emails that include CAN-SPAM regulated unsubscribe links. Well, that’s pretty much every dealership in the universe.]

As you may or may not know, Google introduced a new feature to their web-based Gmail interface. Tabs. It’s like a non-spam spam filter. This is what it looks like:

The idea is that it will help people manage their inboxes better by separating different “types” of e-mails. There are four tabs:

  1. Primary: According to Google, the e-mail that you “really, really want” goes there.
  2. Social: This is where Google is going to deliver e-mails from social sites including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc. You know, all of those notifications.
  3. Promotions & Offers: This is where all the e-mails from retailers advertising goes. You know those “sale” e-mails, coupons, etc. (I bet you can’t guess what else will go here.)
  4. Updates: According to Google, this is where “updates, bills and receipts” will go.

What does that mean for dealerships and e-mail marketing? [Read more…]

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