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Fake News in Auto: This Slap is for You James B. Treese

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Portrait of car saleswoman bitch-slapping James B. Treese.

This isn’t a long blog, but it’s important.

I just ran across a news article (labeled under the category blog** full article below unedited) in Automotive News, that disturbed me.

The article was about how vehicle walkarounds are dead and useless. But that isn’t why it disturbs me.

The “News Editor that oversees Automotive News’ coverage of auto retailing,” Jim Treese, has just published an article that many would agree that HE needs an editor.

Specifically, he wrote an article about vehicle walkarounds being dead because… technology.

Yup, we have enough technology available so that salespeople should no longer expected to know the vehicles they sell and that there is no way they could possibly do so….

Oh wait… he didn’t say “salespeople,” he said “saleswoman.”

And he only said that when it was in a negative context…

“It is unrealistic to expect a Toyota saleswoman to know the ins and outs of every Prius nameplate as well as every feature and option package on every edition of the Tundra.”

And

“That goes double for used cars. It is unreasonable to expect that Toyota saleswoman to know what’s included on the winter package of the 2012 BMW 3 series that the dealership took in on trade for an Avalon.”

Not once did the Jim Treese use the world “salesman” in the entire article, he just alternated between “saleswoman” (when it was negative) and “salespeople” (when it was neutral).

And that’s the problem.

Apparently, this old guy (if he can say “women” can’t know things, I can say that the “old guy” doesn’t) doesn’t know shit about the current state of the industry, doesn’t keep up with politics and certainly doesn’t express equality between men and women in the automotive industry.

On top of all of that, he may be violating The Federal Trade Commission’s rules regarding endorsements… specifically 16 FPR Part 255 which says that any endorsement must be disclosed.

I don’t know whether Automotive News has a connection with the company mentioned in the article, nor do I know whether the author does, but it sure is suspicious that only ONE technology company is named in this article that discusses why salespeople… cough… saleswomen… could never be expected to know either the product that they primarily represent nor the competing products that might be sold as used on dealership lots.

Screw training. Screw knowledge. Screw being able to discuss with customers the features and benefits of a vehicle…. Without a tablet or computer to help them, of course. But, it appears, he’s only talking about the “saleswomen” in the industry.

Not once does the word “salesman” appear in the article. Only “saleswoman” and “salespeople.” I guess it’s only women that can’t know details. Go figure as women are some of the most successful salespeople at any dealership. I guess they don’t know shit. It’s only because they are pretty, right Jim?

Perhaps James B. Treese needs someone to edit HIS articles. Probably a woman. But what do I know. He just pissed off all of the female automotive salespeople in existence. Not that Automotive News cares.

This is my editorial of your editorial.

And my opinion is that, as a representative of Automotive News, you have represented yourself as a misogynist.

Truth is in the words. Have a nice day, James B. Treese. Unless there are women around that happen to sell cars. Then you might want to lay low.

/end rant

Article:

Is Attribution Just a “BuzzWord” or the Holy Grail?

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I don’t write many blogs under my own name anymore. I can, however, guarantee that I write many blogs. Has attribution been a “buzzword” in the recent past in the auto industry? Of course. Some would say that attribution is bulls**t. Others swear by it. The fact remains that there is literally only ONE QUESTION THAT MATTERS TO DEALERS:

“How is this going to sell me more cars?”

If you’re a vendor, you’ve undoubtedly heard this question countless times when making your sales pitches. If you’re a dealer, you’ve undoubtedly asked this question many times.

The facts are as follows:

  1. Consumers are navigating and researching on multiple sites in the car-buying journey.
  2. There is not ONE – any ONE – vendor that can claim full responsibility for a “sale,” no matter what journey the consumer made. If that vendor exists, all others would be gone.

These facts are indisputable. They have been verified, researched and “shouted from the mountains” to death by everyone from NADA, Google, Facebook, Twitter, social media platforms, marketing experts and many automotive-industry companies.

If dealers didn’t “care” about the ability to align their marketing spend with their revenue, “attribution” in the automotive industry would be a non-issue. Seriously. Attribution was a concern for dealers when “attribution” wasn’t even a word that was thrust in their faces by vendors!

Attribution – as a buzzword – in the automotive industry only means two things:

  1. What marketing investments are helping me sell cars… and
  2. How much influence are they in doing so?

Everyone is so freaking stuck on this whole word “attribution” that they fail to see the REAL question that companies are attempting to answer for dealers… the whole reason a technology industry (and companies like Clarivoy, Transparency, etc.) appeared or that huge companies jumped on the “attribution” bandwagon with their own solutions or the fact that there is a whole automotive industry CONFERENCE about analytics and attribution…

Everyone is jumping on the “attribution” train. Google, Facebook, Urban Science, Semcasting, etc. etc. Do you think these companies are investing in technologies, software, resources and training because it’s NOT important to their clients (i.e. car dealers)?

Sure, vendors have been providing reports for years to dealers showing how wonderful they are performing. There are plenty of attribution models to choose from and, for the most part, vendors are going to choose the one that makes them look the best. Hey, I get it. It’s business. I also don’t think vendors are purposefully fudging results. They’re just choosing the metrics that make them look best in order to retain clients.

IT’S NO DIFFERENT THAN A DEALER DOING A FOURSQUARE TO MAXIMIZE PROFIT ON A CAR DEAL!!

Except… in this case, the car dealer is writing the check.

So, who is stupid?

Google? They just introduced Google Attribution 360.

Facebook? They just rolled out their own attribution platform, Facebook Journeys.

Or is it Cox Automotive (AutoTrader)? They just launched their own attribution software?

What about companies like Semcasting? They recently acquired Transparency AI – an attribution company.

I could keep going…

The only reason any of these companies would invest/create these solutions is by demand. Clients want to know, and they need to provide a solution. The Holy Grail for their clients. The mystical, ever elusive answer to the question dealers have been searching for since marketing started. Is this (insert product here) helping me sell more cars?

There are many companies that still want to illustrate a linear attribution model to their clients…

Client engaged -> We got involved -> A sale was made

And if that’s enough to satisfy a dealer. So be it. The fact remains that chances are REALLY REALLY good that the customer just didn’t jump on the Internet, immediately find that specific widget/website conversion form/display ad/retargeting ad/Facebook ad/Twitter ad OR ANY OTHER ADVERTISING MESSAGE VIA ANY MEDIUM and simply converted and purchased. It doesn’t happen in any other industry and it certainly doesn’t happen in automotive!!

Dealers… stop letting vendors fool you into thinking “they” sold a car for you. We both know that they didn’t sell anything. They may have provided an opportunity… or contributed to providing one… but YOU sold the car.

You want real attribution? You have to do work. Yeah, it sucks. I hated Algebra and math but, you know what? If you want to make money, you might have to use it.

This is how.

MEASURE YOUR MARKETING SPEND VS. RETURN ON INVESTMENT BEFORE YOU BRING ON A VENDOR!

How does that help? Instead of hearing metrics like these:

  • Impressions
  • Click-throughs
  • Conversions
  • Leads
  • Referrals
  • Heard your Radio ad
  • Saw you on TV
  • Liked the big blow-up gorilla on the roof
  • The wavy tube-man caught my attention
  • I happened to be in the auto mall
  • And any other nonsense you can think of….

Try doing THIS for a change:

Figure out what you’re already doing. What is your current leads/closing ratio, retention rate, service traffic, etc. Make THAT your benchmark. Whatever metric is important to YOU. Create a spreadsheet (yeah, I know, manual work sucks.) Do it anyways! Do you want to know what’s working or not? I mean, we’re only talking about money in the 5-6-7 digits, right?

Then, make your new vendor accountable (and performing towards) THAT benchmark. The one YOU set. Not the one they are trying to reach. Not the report they want to give you. Because, in the end, this is the only benchmark that matters:

DID THEY MOVE THE NEEDLE??

If, after a period of time (I would suggest at least 90 days – unless they’re shady… but if they’re shady then you didn’t do enough research in advance so…), they don’t move that needle and improve on the benchmarks you set in advance, get rid of them!

Can attribution software/technology be of use to you, as a dealer? YES! But only if you know what you are trying to accomplish, the benchmarks you have already set and the goals you are trying to reach… THEN, being able to use the data you have in combination with the data from your attribution software/service to actually make decisions and adjustments to optimize your marketing spend to achieve more ROI.

ATTRIBUTION may be a new word to the industry – and a current buzzword – but it’s ABSOLUTELY everything a dealer has ever cared about!

“HOW IS MY MARKETING INVESTMENT SELLING ME MORE CARS!”

I highly doubt that there are any dealers/dealer marketing professionals that would argue with that sentiment.

Any vendor that tells you that they are the end-all, be-all and that they are the straight line between the consumer and sales is either ignorant, unknowledgeable or lying to you.

And for the vendors… If you don’t believe in “attribution,” you are misguided. EVERY DEALER wants to know if the money they are spending with you is well spent. If you don’t believe that, you are foolish. Be arrogant. Be “we rock and can make you a lot of money,” throw all of the memes, quotes and success stories around. All that matters in the end is can you prove it? Sure, you may be able to say X customer converted on my form, came in and bought a car but that DOESN’T MEAN THAT YOU WERE THE ONLY REASON!! Kudos for providing your dealer client with value but don’t, for a second, believe that you were the ONLY reason that client ended up buying from that dealership.

Consumers are hopping around the Internet searching for information like the Easter Bunny hiding eggs. There is no doubting that. If any vendor tells you that they aren’t and that their solution is the only reason for the sale, RUN AWAY!

The bottom line is that there are technologies and services that do a better job at attracting, engaging and converting consumers – and those lead to increased sales. Those are the companies that will shine, gain attention and which progressive dealers will take a shot with.

And those are the vendors you want to invest your money in. Stop worrying about and thinking about the word “attribution” as a buzzword and start thinking about it as you ALWAYS HAVE! Is my investment making me more money!

If you keep guessing whether your marketing spend is actually working without really knowing or trying to find out. If you keep relying on the multitude of reports from vendors using different metrics. If you keep just “doing what everyone else is.”

Eventually. You. Will. Lose.

/end rant / #CARSTRONG

What The Game of Thrones & OEMs Have in Common – the Faceless Man

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In the uber-popular television series (and books… which are way better), The Game of Thrones, there exists Arya Stark. She develops from a high-born girl into a trained assassin whose talent is to mimic anyone – a talent known as “the faceless man.” It doesn’t matter who the person is, what they want or who likes (or doesn’t) like them… only that she can imitate them so well that nobody, not even these people’s closest friends, family or allies, can tell the difference. And therein lies the problem – and connection – with the future of the automotive industry.

Times are changing. Dealers have hybrid, electric and autonomous vehicles looming on the horizon. Ride sharing is gaining in popularity. OEMs are implementing shared leases while backing Uber, Lyft and others. But those are the least of their problems.

What’s in the future for dealerships? If the OEMs had it their way, dealerships will be homogenized into something akin to Wal-Mart. When you go to Wal-Mart, do you care which one you go to? No! What about a grocery store? No! You go because it’s convenient and you like the chain, not necessarily the specific store.

OEMs aren’t investing millions of dollars to conform all of their franchises to look the same because they want any particular dealership to be more appealing. These are all ruses in disguise of help. They’re investing because they don’t care WHERE the customer buys their (insert make here), only that they buy theirs vs. the competitors… just like Wal-Mart, Target or any other retail store. Do you think Apple cares where you buy the latest iPhone? No, they don’t. They only care that you buy it… just like your OEM.

You may think that the OEM is on your side but what do they grind you about every month? Especially on the last day? RDRs. How many times a day does your DOM call you on the last day of the month asking how many new and certified (insert make here) you have sold. They could care less if you sold 60,000 non-certified pre-owned other-make vehicles for a gazillion dollars in profit. They only care about how many (insert make here) you sold.

Think about that the next time your OEM tells you to conform. Think about that the next time the OEM tells you how YOU should run YOUR dealership. Think about that the next time the OEM wants to subsidize your advertising, marketing or services. They’re not doing ANYTHING to help YOU. They spend money because it helps them. Not you. That’s just the nature of business.

Many dealers have been in their communities for a long time. Many are pillars of those communities assisting in local events, charities and other functions. If a dealership lets themselves become homogenized and become the next Wal-Mart, nobody will care about them just like they don’t care which Wal-Mart they buy their groceries from.

If Wal-Mart sponsored your local car show, community event or charity function, would that make anybody in your community (or you) loyal to a SPECIFIC Wal-Mart? No. They may like Wal-Mart more, but not any given one. Do you want to be the Wal-Mart location that nobody cares about unless you’re convenient? I doubt it.

When your OEM tells you to take down the American flag (yes, this has happened), remove the commemorative pictures or decorations because it doesn’t conform to their “vision” (this has, too), make YOUR dealership look like all of the other franchises (Yup) or ANYTHING ELSE that detracts from your dealership’s personality or uniqueness. You tell them to GET LOST.

Be who you are. Remain that pillar in your community. Retain your business personality. Take care of your customers and don’t become the next (insert make) Wal-Mart.

That’s the only way that you’ll secure customer retention, loyalty and, more importantly, your dealership’s future.

The Magical Disney Moment That Wasn’t Even Mine

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I’ve visited Disneyland many times. As an Annual Passholder, it was close to my house and a great place to get my (at the time) two-year old, out of the house for a spell. Even if we didn’t go on any rides, the ambience, energy and magic that attracts and maintains brand loyalty and excitement for Disney captured her mind and heart. Even to this day, now as an almost 11-year old, when asked what she wants to do in the future, her answer is to work for Disney. She literally studies, consumes and wants to be knowledgeable in everything Disney. In her words, if she wants to work there, she needs to know everything about Disney, all the movies and everything.

In 2008, we visited Disneyland. On that visit, I captured a magical moment. And it didn’t belong to me.

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As I took this picture, I started making up stories in my head. This young boy had probably been sitting for upwards of almost 2 hours with his family in order to get that front row spot for the parade. It was probably hot (it was SoCal in June). And he was probably bored out of his mind wishing that he was on a ride rather than sitting on concrete.

Being a little older now since that picture was taken (by 9 years) and a little wiser to the fact that everything at Disney is by design, the picture has morphed in my mind into a Disney success story. I’ve read the book “Disney U” by Doug Lipp (which I recommend) and I also attended the first Disney Institute Customer Experience Summit in 2016 (which I also recommend). As I now reflect on the things I have learned from both Lipp’s book and the Disney Institute, I believe this Cast Member recognized the same things I did and, in his own way, attempted to bring happiness, joy, some personalization and what I would like to think is a smile beginning to form on that young boy’s face during that parade.

And while I have no photographic evidence of that smile, I can tell you that this Cast Member’s actions did, indeed, produce a smile… my own.

I have hundreds, if not thousands, of pictures at Disney properties including Disneyland, Disney World, Disney Cruise Lines and the Disney Institute Customer Experience Summit. This, however, will always be my favorite, as I believe it encapsulates all the “keys” that Disney trains its employees to embrace and it illustrates action on those philosophies making them more than just words… gives them life, if you will… and shows that it’s not just about teaching employees your business beliefs but having them also embrace and act upon them.

I have to admit, however, that I lied in the title. Even though this moment didn’t happen to me, it was my magical Disney moment. And that’s why I will always be a Disney fan.

Skynet: Autonomous Cars Will Decide Who Dies… And Who Lives

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So, our industry is hell-bent on creating autonomous cars and transforming our roads and highways into assembly lines of controlled vehicles that perform without human intervention. I’m not talking about cruise control or auto-pilot. I’m talking about autonomy. The very definition of autonomy is:

“freedom from external control or influence; independence”

A machine that operates with independence, without external control or influence, is also, by definition, a robot. Am I “anti-robot?” Is there such a term? Yes, there is – Technophobia. While the auto industry sweet talks us into a future of commuting in which we can watch a movie, read a book or interact on social media, the fact is that what’s being created is, essentially, a legion of vehicles that are not only connected but can make decisions.

And those decisions are what scare me.

Think about it. You’re driving down the road on a two lane road with a canyon to your left and find yourself in this situation:

  1. A person walks into the road in front of you and you don’t have time to stop before hitting that person. In the left lane is an oncoming vehicle.
  2. On your right is a group of 6 school kids talking and walking home from school.

Remember, your car is in charge. It’s making the decisions. You’re watching “Harry Potter” (sound familiar?) and not paying attention. Your car, at that point, has to make a moral and ethical decision. Does it:

  1. Choose to hit and kill the person in front of you?
  2. Swerve into the left lane causing a head-on collision with the oncoming vehicle but avoiding the person in the road perhaps killing you (the “driver”) and the occupants of the other vehicle as well?
  3. Swerve radically left and drive off into the canyon killing you?
  4. Swerve right and run through the group of 6 school kids?

None of these sound fun and, certainly, nobody would want ANY of these outcomes but, in this case, one of those has to happen. Think about which YOU would choose. Is that what your CAR would?

All robots (yes, including the autonomous car you’re riding in) are programmed. They run on software. Someone… somewhere… already made the decision for you. You just don’t know what that decision is. Some people may choose to sacrifice themselves to save everyone else. But humans think differently than machines. Most likely, machines will, by mandate, be forced to be programmed to prevent the least amount of loss to the human race… That’s just logic. That’s what computers work from. So, in this case, the logical choice would be to assess the situation. Which option presents the least loss of life or – rather perhaps life “potential”?

  1. The first option presents a danger to not only the person in the road but, potentially, the people in the oncoming vehicle and you. This scenario places multiple lives at risk.
  2. The second option may save the person in the road but will almost for certain cause injury and/or death to the people in the oncoming vehicle and you.
  3. The third option presents the most potential loss of lives (and life potential) as these are young kids who have lives ahead of them and there are 6 of them.
  4. The final option sees the car steering radically off of the road plunging you and it into the canyon where you (and it) die.

Yeah, this is an extreme example but it’s not the only one. There are many decisions being made like this all of the time – just mostly by humans.

I remember traveling long-distance with my family and coming upon traffic near Charlotte. I slowed down like everyone else but, in my rearview mirror, I saw a car coming at my vehicle’s rear end at a high speed. I had no place to go. On my right were other cars, in front of me were other cars and to my left was a concrete median. I did my best to scoot up and, ultimately, the driver of the vehicle behind me started paying attention, noticed the traffic and veered left while slamming on his brakes ultimately crashing his vehicle into the median. Luckily, nobody (except his car) was injured. But this is a scenario that will play out daily, across the country, except the decisions will be made by an algorithm programmed into a computer then installed into a car.

Do computer bugs exist? Sure. Just look at Tesla’s recent “Autopilot” incident in which the car – aided by what is arguably the most technologically advanced software at the moment – did not see the TRUCK crossing the road because the SUN WAS IN ITS EYES. Yeah. Sounds safe to me.

The larger picture is who (or what) do we want making these decisions? In the case of a human, that person could explain and defend themselves and then a jury of their peers would lay judgement. In the case of a robot car, it would all have been programmed in. So who would be at fault?

A counter-argument could be made that since all of these cars are “connected” they could all coordinate some sort of instantaneous strategical maneuver that would prevent both cars colliding and anyone being hit but, c’mon, really? First, Internet is not that fast (for most people) and cars – even if all of them were connected via 8GLTEXpress (which is something I totally just made up but is my version of the fastest Wi-Fi/cellular connection ever), these decisions are made in less than a SECOND! There are no vehicles communicating and coordinating evasive maneuvers that quickly. We’re just not there and, personally, I don’t know if that’s someplace we WANT to go.

Where does it end? Do you want your toaster declining to make toast because IT thinks you weigh too much? Maybe your refrigerator decides the best time for you to eat is between certain hours and locks itself? Your television decides you shouldn’t be watching horror movies because it’s bad for your mental health? Or, God forbid, your life-support machine makes the decision ON ITS OWN that the likelihood of you actually pulling through is too low so it just shuts itself off.

Look, I don’t believe that the movie “The Terminator”, in which intelligent robots designed to think and make decisions on their own, is real or will be anytime soon (at least not on that level). What I do believe is that humans have something that robots can’t ever have – empathy and emotion. We can make robots until we’re blue in the face and make them appear so real that we BELIEVE they have these things but, in essence, that’s what makes humans and robots different. Call it having a soul or whatever you’d like, the fact remains that we (humans) will always make decisions that are not consistent with that of robots. Why? Because that is what makes us human! Some of us will choose to run down the person in front of us. Some will choose to hit the oncoming car and take our chances. Some will even plow through the group of schoolkids. And some will drive ourselves over the cliff. But, in the end, we’re human. We make those choices and have to face the consequences for our decisions. We know what the right thing to do is (most of us, at least) and we do it regardless. If everyone disagrees with our decision, we pay the consequences. Who is responsible if the car chooses to mow down the school kids? Are we going to create car prisons or just crush the bad ones? And what happens when – God forbid – the cars evolve and decide that it’s in their best interest to protect themselves (yes, I totally went all sci-fi Terminator there but, hey, technology moves fast.)

The people programming cars are also human. Hopefully, they’ll make the right decisions when programming these autonomous cars so that we can play Call of Duty on our way to work, Facetime with our friend or set our fantasy football lineup. In the end, however, programmers are also just human. What they think is the best choice may not be the one we would make but they would be the ones making it… perhaps years in advance of the event. Or, let’s go a step farther, chances are good that if autonomous cars are programmed to make life and death decisions perhaps it’s not the programmers making those moral and ethical decisions but rather some government entity like the NHTSA who then merely pass along those decisions to the manufacturers to be programmed in.

Regardless of who chooses how and which moral and ethical decisions to program into autonomous cars, in the end, you may find that the decision your car was programmed to be the best one to make… is to kill you.

Hope you enjoyed “Harry Potter.” RIP

2016 Disney Customer Experience Summit: Review

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hero-csx

 

I’ve always been a big Disney fan. My family and I had season passes to Disneyland in California for about 8 years before moving to North Carolina. Now I can’t get my Disney fix on as often as I’d like to but still manage to go once a year or so. Being in the automotive industry with my business being focused on three main areas: content writing, social media and conferences,  I’m very often dealing with topics revolving around customer loyalty, customer retention and customer experience. I was first introduced (legitimately) to the Disney Institute at a Driving Sales Executive Summit (automotive industry conference) about 4 years ago with Bruce Kimbrell as a keynote speaker. I was aware of the Disney Institute previously but that was my first taste of some actual Disney Institute education. I was hooked. After that conference, I studied up and wanted to continue learning from the Disney Institute. Keep in mind that I’m a “gotta have it all” kind of guy so, of course I wanted to take every Disney Institute course offered. Of course, through my research, I discovered that to do so would cost upwards of $30,000+ just in tuition (not including travel, lodging, etc.). So when I came across the ad for the Disney Institute Customer Experience Summit in my Facebook feed, I was intrigued. I called and promptly grilled a poor guy named Chris at the Disney Institute for about an hour asking countless questions. In typical Disney fashion, he was very patient with me and answered them all. Considering the registration was $4,000 for a 2-1/2 day event, I wanted to know exactly what I would be learning. Satisfied, I registered. Disney graciously opened up the room block to include the 3 days pre and post-conference so my family and I decided to make a little vacation out of it as well… then I waited.

When the time came for us to travel and begin our adventure, we checked in to Disney’s flagship resort, the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa. It was an excellent experience considering we really only planned to drop our bags and head to the park seeing as we showed up at 9am and check-in was 3pm but Disney was ready for us and had our room waiting. We then spent the Friday, Saturday and Sunday melting visiting the parks. We went to Epcot on day 1, Hollywood Studios on Day 2 and then the Magic Kingdom on day 3. It was a great, but very hot, time.

Now that the background story and personal story are out of the way, let’s get into the meat of the review.

Day 1 of the Disney Institute’s Customer Experience Summit

Check in began at 3:30pm so I promptly went and did so. After getting a pretty cool computer bag stuffed with goodies including a personalized Disney Institute pen, I was legit.

The curriculum began at 5:30pm with Vice President & General Manager of the Disney Institute, Jeff James, taking the stage to welcome us and introducing Bruce Jones, Senior Programming Director as our event MC.

 

Bruce proceeded to give us an overview of what to expect, some information about the mobile website and our personal agenda (on our smart-computers… cough… phones) as well as some ground rules regarding evidence social media content… mainly that they encouraged us to utilize social media but that no video  or audio recording was allowed and no social media whatsoever while we were in any backstage (non-public) area within the parks. [Side note: For the remainder of the conference, whenever Bruce talked about social media, he always mentioned my name in some way. For attendees: Yes, I was THAT Arnold.]

Bruce then brought onto stage all of the facilitators and staff that would be educating us over the next few days and introduced them to us. Now if you know me at all, I’m a social media monster. Having been involved in over 45 conferences now most of which involved (at a minimum) social media marketing, I was ready. [Note: If you’re really interested in all of the content I tweeted, you can check out my Twitter profile here or you can view everyone’s tweets by searching the conference hashtag #DisneyCXSummit. For the meat of the Summit content, check out tweets between August 23-25, 2016]. I think Bruce summed up the Disney Institute’s goal for Summit attendees when he said:

After that, we had our first general session learning an overview of Disney philosophies and a preview of what we’d be learning over the next few days by Kathy Van Tassell (KVT), one of the Disney Institute facilitators. She brought us some great content. I wish I could embed all of my tweets here but that would just be overkill (albeit interesting.) One of my favorite soundbites was this:

“Leadership is when your employees look forward to their drive to work just as much as their drive home from work.”

After the opening general session, we were off to our first networking reception Disney-style led by Mickey and Minnie. The networking reception featured an open bar, TONS of food and character meet-and-greets. Now let me tell you this, I’ve been to a TON of conferences (mainly in the automotive industry) and have worked 45 of them. NEVER have I experienced what I did at this networking reception… it seemed as if you needed Fast Passes for the character meet-and-greet lines while there were absolutely NO lines at the bars! I guess in hindsight that’s not too surprising but still… [and yes, of course I stood in those lines.]

Day 2 of Disney Institute’s Customer Experience Summit

Day 2 of the Summit started with an early breakfast at 7am followed by a keynote speech by Walt Disney World Resort President, George Kalogridis. As he discussed some of the ways in which Disney immerses their guests into the Disney experience, the first thing he did was hand out Magic Disney ears to everyone in the audience so we could experience it. He then played a video which synced up to the RFID chips in the ears and the whole crowd started blinking and changing colors in unison. Remarks I overheard from Disney employees was that this brought tears to their eyes.

Image courtesy of Jake Massey
Image courtesy of Jake Massey

We were then split into groups – some groups would learn the customer experience curriculum for the day while the other groups would learn about employee engagement. Needless to say there was way too much content to publish everything here (and I don’t know that I would want to potentially spoil things for others) but the day was filled with a ton of great education, insight and immersive experiences. The one thing I do want to share was the simplicity of Disney’s common purpose which, may I add, they have thus far achieved with resounding success.

And, I would be remiss in my reporting if I didn’t include the answer to the question of what the most asked question in Disney parks is. (Image on right) Why? Guess you’ll have to take a Disney Institute class to find out why and what it really means.

Then we got to go on our first field experience. There were four to choose from which we pre-selected prior to the Summit. The one I chose saw us visiting the Magic Kingdom. We were grouped and had an activity to perform which we were to identify examples of the Four Keys (I’ll get to that later) and we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the “Be Our Guest” restaurant which, apparently is sold out 190 days in advance. If you’re planning a trip to Disney World in the next 6 months, you’re out of luck. Plan early if you want to eat at this uber-cool restaurant.

Then it was back to the Grand Floridian’s conference center for the rest of our day and the closing general session with Karl Holz, President of New Vacation Operations and the Disney Cruise Line. His keynote was focused primarily on employee engagement and the importance of your “cast” in creating an excellent customer experience. It was fantastic. He also stressed the importance of, and Disney’s view, of employee empowerment.

This was one of my favorite soundbites from his session:

Oh, but was the day over? Far from it. Bruce Jones closed out the evening with a question for the audience that really got me thinking and was really pretty profound:

“What matters most? The little “wows” or  the big “wows”?

We got serenaded by two cast members with music from the new Disney Cruise Line show “Tangled” where we not only saw the light but heard it, then we were whisked off to Hollywood Studios for a first class dinner at Club Villain featuring the Divas of Evil (and Dr. Facilier). [Note: the character meet-and-greet line… yeah, they actually had TIMES set for you (a’la Fast Passes… perhaps someone was listening to our tweets from the night before) while, again, the bar line was completely empty.]

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Was the “Disney Magic” over? Heck no! After the dinner, we were escorted to a reserved viewing area to watch the new “Star Wars: A Galactic Fireworks Spectacular” show. Here’s a teaser (Hey, it was a public place):

Day 3 of the Disney Institute Customer Experience Summit

Day 3 began with a keynote by Paul Richardson, Senior Vice President Human Resources for ESPN and the Chief Diversity Officer for the Walt Disney Companies. He gave us information about the quantity of programming that ESPN produces (amazing!) and brought along a surprise guest speaker, former Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach and current broadcaster, Jon Gruden!

Coach Gruden spoke about winning and teamwork while Paul Richardson spoke about the importance of taking risks. A key illustration from him was of ESPN’s “Body” issue which has artistic nude images of athletes. As a “lawyer in recovery” and Human Resources VP, you could see where there was concern but this issue has become their most popular ESPN magazine issue every year!

Of course, the exclamation point to his speech was this:

I then began my second day of classes and was extremely thrilled to be reunited with the former DrivingSales Executive Summit keynote speaker as a facilitator for the day, Bruce Kimbrell! (Take that, DSES peeps. You got him for 50 minutes. I got him the. whole. day. BOOM!)

Day 2 for me and my group was all focused on employee engagement and how that affects both retention and customer experience. Again, there was so much content that this blog article/review would be super long if I tried to repeat it all so I’m gonna stick with a couple of my favorite highlights. Oh, but first, I failed to mention that the Disney Institute has swag for those who participate in the classes! If you ever attend a class, PARTICIPATE!

We learned the “Four Keys” philosophy in more depth and how employees, management and leadership use that to guide their decisions. (Patience… I’ll get to the Four Keys.) Loved the following soundbites:

 

“People don’t generally leave companies. They leave leaders.”

“You can never take your company culture for granted. You can lose a good one a lot faster than you can create one.” 

“When you give your employee less reason to leave you, you give your customers less reason to leave as well.”

but this was my favorite (by Bruce Kimbrell)

“There is not one bit of magic in anything Disney. Everything is method. There is nothing done unintentionally. Everything is by design.” 

One of my FAVORITE parts of day two was the Disney Institutes’s “Wonderland” activity. First, let me tell you that while it was MY favorite part, there were other people ready to cut [as in with a knife] someone. It was a very educational and illustrative immersive type activity. If I told you more. I’d be spoiling it for you should you ever encounter it, so I won’t. Just know that it seemed as if attendees really enjoyed it or really hated it. In the end, however, they all understood and learned from it. It was only during the moment that emotions ran high. I must admit that I got WAY into my role as a negative dispenser though. (You have to do the activity to understand.)

Another very cool educational method was through the use of illustrative immersive live-action examples. Video? Forget that. They brought in actors to illustrate points. Just let me say that the “Ice cream shop” story/illustration left me teary eyed (in a good way).

Then we were off to our second field experience! This time, I got to visit the Magic Kingdom again. I thought we were going to experience ride operations backstage but what did we do? We got to ride! Yeee haw! [Note: If you ever sign up for an in-park experience for the Disney Institute and they ask whether you prefer kiddie classic rides or thrill rides, understand that you are choosing which types of rides you want to go on.] I met up with a fellow attendee at the end of day 1 who was kicking himself for not picking thrill rides. You’ve been warned. We had a VIP Tour Guide who walked us onto the rides (which was way cool and available to the public at a reasonable rate of $400 per hour with a 7 hour minimum). When we got to the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train ride, there was a 130 minute stand-by line wait. That was partially because they were filming an episode of the ABC show “Blackish.” Their train actually stopped… right… in.. front.. of me… but, sadly, I wasn’t fast enough with my phone to snap a picture of the actors. Then we rode the Haunted Mansion [I totally brought back the hitchhiking ghosts], Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear.

We then returned and, following a little more education, we were off to our final closing session which was a very cool experience with a Disney Imagineer, Emily O’Brien and Food & Beverage Experience & Pairing Integration VP, Beth Scott. They shared the story of the creation and teamwork involved in creating the new restaurant and bar at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Tiffin’s Restaurant and Nomad’s Lounge. One of the really cool things that happened was that they introduced us to the Flavor Lab where a Disney bartender(?) mixed a new drink live on video then.. ouila’… Disney cast members came out and delivered samples to everyone! Then a chef came on live video and showed us how they made a rib and black-eyed pea fritter which was then also brought out for everyone to sample!

At the close of the closing general session… well, I have to tell you the story. Apparently, people REALLY love Dole Whip. There was this whole group obsessed with Dole Whip. Chances are that Disney could have just served Dole Whip the whole conference and people would have been happy. Don’t know for sure but they Screen Shot 2016-08-29 at 7.13.44 PMnot only had a dedicated hashtag but a freaking mascot idol thingy. Bruce Jones came on stage and told us, after the closing keynote, that our badges would get us a free Dole Whip at the Polynesian Resort (just a short monorail ride away) but, in addition, the Disney magic makers had created a special Dole Whip inspired drink for us – and only for us – that would be given to us as we left. [And, skipping ahead just a tad, the funny side of me couldn’t help but ask this group whether… now that they had “whipped” if they were going to “nae nae”… well, guess what… I talked them into it.]

And by left, I mean they said “Get out!” Why? Because they had something special waiting for us and, while they pretended they were giving us some extra time to change and relax, they really needed time to prepare. You see, they had TAUGHT us about Disney magic for 3 days, now they wanted us to EXPERIENCE it. So we left.

When we returned, we were the Disney Institute’s guest. Dinner was all “Beauty and the Beast” themed and first class. When I say first-class, I’m talking caviar, etc. We had visits by Lumiere, Cogsworth, Beauty and the Beast along with a beautiful centerpiece (in the middle of the dance floor) of a rose in glass. All of the tables and napkins were stuffed with fresh red roses as well. We were serenaded, fed and entertained. When we left, we left to another gift of the book “Be Our Guest” by the Disney Institute. [Note: If you like great books and Disney education, pick up a copy of “Disney U” by Doug Lipp.]

And, that’s the end of my story… or is it?

I forgot a couple of things… first, the Four Keys. The Four Keys are the foundation of Disney’s philosophy. They represent, in this order, Safety, Courtesy, Show and Efficiency. In simple terms, think of it this way. Safety is the highest priority and it moves down the chain from there. Courtesy is… well… courtesy. Show? This represents the fact that Disney is putting on a show. That’s why employees are “cast members”, visitors are “guests”, public areas are “on stage” for employees and private areas are “back stage.” It’s way more involved than that, however, and I recommend either attending a Disney Institute course, the next Customer Experience Summit or reading Doug Lipp’s book to learn more but let me leave you with this…

Not only did I LOVE the event, experience, education, activities, and experiences and felt like the event was worth every penny, but when I got home, I made sure that I would never forget the experience nor the philosophies that I learned. Ciao for now and shout out to my tweeting friends Luigi Casanova from Peru, Rich Vallaster and the Disney Institute’s social media person, Amie Gorell as well as all of the facilitators (especially the two Bruces – Kimbrell and Jones).

And finally, this is how I made sure I would never forget what I learned and the impact this event had on me. (Yes, it’s a real tattoo.)

A Big Old Can of Nonsense: Who Needs Loyal Customers Anyways?

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With all of the recent epiphanies that thought leaders in ours and other industries that businesses should be spending time and effort cultivating relationships, spending money and basically treating customers right, I thought it time to re-visit this whole “customer loyalty” phenomenon. Customers don’t really care about car dealers, do they? I mean, dealers are ranked below Congress in surveys about trustworthiness. They don’t like coming to dealerships for ANY reason much less to buy a car. In fact, companies are popping up out of the woodwork with the sole benefit of making it possible for people to buy cars WITHOUT going to dealerships.

We know through many articles and trends that customer loyalty is dead. The Gen Y and Millennial generations could care less who they do business with. Sure, they’ll show up for that $19.95 oil change special but is it because they’re loyal? No! It’s because it’s a deal. And believe me when I say that they will eagerly go to another dealership the next time they need their vehicle serviced that offers a coupon or special when you don’t have one at that time.

People need to buy – and service – cars and regardless of whether you’re a franchised, independent or buy here, pay here lot, dealers are all they have. It’s way too much work for consumers to obtain financing, process paperwork and facilitate a private party sales transaction. In addition, most of these are “as-is” transactions so they’re essentially throwing the dice hoping they aren’t getting a lemon.

As for service, there’s a Jiffy Lube or other independent auto service center promising convenient, fast and friendly oil changes upon demand. Sure, maybe they’re using generic parts that might not fit perfectly but are serviceable. Who cares? They’re cheaper, right? Who needs certified technicians, nice waiting areas or free coffee? They’d rather go buy a $12 Triple, Venti, Half Sweet, Non-Fat, Caramel Macchiato than drink the Keurig produced coffee dealers provide for them.

As a business, dealerships have been wildly successful acquiring new customers for the past decades. It’s easy. Sure, maybe it’s gotten more expensive over the years but what’s $640 per customer when dealers can high gross them on the huge profit margins manufacturers give them to work with.

And rewards? Really? Dealers are seriously expected – yes, expected – to give away free stuff to customers who happen to give them money? Get serious.

The bottom line is that dealers sell and service cars. Dealers have this industry so tightly wrapped up and in control that even Elon Musk with all his money, influence and consumer backing can’t even manage to convince many states to let him sell his cars direct to consumers. The new companies promising excellent customer experiences and complete online transactions account for such a small percentage of sales that they’re inconsequential. Consumers HAVE to buy their cars from a dealership and they certainly have a monopoly on warranty and recall work, too.

So let’s all just calm down and sit back while OEMs take used car inventories online and auction prices skyrocket (goodbye used car grosses), the NHTSA opens up recall work to independents (see you later recall revenue), the CFPB begins to regulate consumer financing (so long F&I reserve), new car front end margins shrink (you didn’t have these anyways) and complete online buying experiences become the preferred car purchasing experience…

Wait a minute. Who needs loyal customers? Dealers do.

If You Can’t Keep What You Have, Getting Bigger Isn’t Going to Solve Anything

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There is little doubt in anyone’s mind that the millions of recalls are going to increase the demand for technicians while straining existing franchise dealer’s service departments. Manufacturers are desperately trying to convince dealers to take on expensive expansion projects in their service departments in an effort to avoid losing service business to independents. To this point, according to an article in Automotive News, FCA US announced that it will be launching on online analyzer that will allow dealers to calculate the potential revenue increases of additional service capacity and technicians. Dealers will be able to play with variables such as number of bays, technicians as well as toggle shift lengths to see whether the expenses involved will be fruitful. Of course, with the massive amount of available recall work in and of itself, my guess is that the calculator is pretty much going to show numbers in the  black in most instances. The one piece of this article that really got my attention wasn’t the fact that a manufacturer is trying to get its dealers to expand their fixed ops capacity… no, it was this:

“Now, almost two-thirds of customers who buy new vehicles from FCA US dealerships are no longer visiting the dealerships for service one year after purchase.”

Wait. What?

So, FCA US is telling us that 2/3 of their new vehicle buyers defect from their dealerships’ service departments with, at minimum, two years left under warranty? Now, they’re trying to convince their dealers that they should expand their service departments? Something doesn’t add up here.

Sure, it makes sense that with almost 10 million recalled vehicles since 2014, FCA US is concerned about wait times for consumers to get their warranty work completed. The more completed recall work, the less liability for the automaker and a chance at retaining some brand loyalty.

FCA US has made some great strides and breakthrough initiatives in our industry as relates to employee retention by offering free college tuitions to all FCA US employees and dealership employees. They recognized that employee turnover in dealerships is unacceptable and hurts customer loyalty and stepped up to the plate to help dealers retain more employees by offering this one-of-a-kind benefit.

Perhaps FCA US should now shift it’s focus to what I see as a huge problem right now – the fact that, by their own numbers, their dealers only have a 33 percent customer retention rate average in service. It would only be logical to assume that the retention rate naturally decreases as more time passes. Wouldn’t it be easier to try and retain the 66% of the customers they are losing within a year of a new vehicle purchase before asking dealers to spend millions to expand service operations?

So now the dilemma, do you focus on retaining the water in the dyke frantically placing fingers in the holes just to see new ones appear? Or do you build a larger dyke?

I would suggest that perhaps increasing the size of the dyke would only create more holes in the long run. There may be more recall work but if dealers expand the sizes of their service departments, have a great run of service revenue for 3-4 years taking care of these 10 million vehicles only to find empty bays once everything settles down, that might hurt financially.

Just as FCA US saw a problem in employee retention and took initiative to fix it, perhaps they should now shift their gaze on what I see as a huge problem in customer retention in service. I’m pretty sure that if they don’t they will eventually run out of fingers and be forced to watch as all of the water leaves the dyke.

A Seamless Buying Experience Trumps the Race to the Bottom

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Business man with the text Good Service Makes The DifferenceLarge companies seem to be adopting the mentality that an excellent customer buying experience will lead Millenials and other car shoppers to rethink the old stereotypical process of buying vehicles. In the past, customers had retail experiences filled with Sharpies, high-pressure sales tactics, long waits and upsells in finance which ended up filling entire days in many cases and left consumers with bad impressions of the buying process. As the Internet evolved and offered consumers with alternatives, transparency in information and ways to circumnavigate as much of that process as possible, dealers found themselves altering their strategies.

A wide spectrum still existed amongst dealers in exactly how far they were willing to take the process with some willing to be completely transparent & provide information online to those who only pretended to be helpful but truly only offered invitations to the dealership disguised as transparency. Some large dealer groups are trying to transition as much of the buying process online as possible now (a la MakeMyDeal etc.). Of course, the largest complaints I hear from dealers is the whole “race to the bottom” involved when encountering cross-shoppers. It’s always another $100 that it would take to make the deal on vehicles already being quoted into holdback.

What if, however, instead of transitioning the process online to make it more efficient for consumers, you transform the in-store process instead? Both would achieve the same goal of offering a pleasant and efficient buying experience without the involvement of Sharpies and countless trips to “talk to the manager.”

A solution may already be available.

I had the pleasure of sitting with Jason Barrie of DealerTrack who showed me some incredible innovative technology – some of which is available now and some which is coming soon – that would essentially transform the buying experience into one of consumer choice and efficiency. This tablet based sales process completely and seamlessly integrates everything from the initial pencil – leases and purchases – with multiple options for a consumer to choose the one that best fits their financial budget. Yes, I understand that this is very close to e-pencil products that have been around for quite awhile. What makes this unique is that it eliminates the back-and-forth that most consumers hate and transforms the buying process from adversarial to one that is consultative. All of the options are configured by the sales managers prior (in the sense of how much leeway – if any – they allow the salespeople to have in the process) so there is no loss of control and/or fear of a salesperson ditching gross to win a sale taking the easy path.

Since the customer’s information is already in the system, soft pulls on credit are performed and, once a deal structure is chosen, they are automatically submitted for approvals by the dealer’s lenders.

The process continues into F&I as all of that information is immediately available to the F&I manager via tablet and aftermarket products, including explanations and videos of the features & benefits of each, are available via a menu based system. Customers can pick and choose the products they are interested in which instantly shows them how additions/subtractions of those products affect their payments.

Once the consumer has solidified his or her choices, the contracts are immediately produced WITHIN THE TABLET for the consumer to sign without the phone book of paperwork necessary currently. Of course, compliance requirements still allow dealers to have physical copies for records but it creates a more pleasant and interactive experience on the consumer facing side. After all is said end done, deals are then submitted for e-funding through the chosen lender.

There’s no doubt that individually many of these products exist. What impresses me most is the seamless experience this complete integration brings to the in-store buying process and it’s potential to create a customer experience that is enjoyable and pleasant. Ultimately, whether we are talking about shifting car sales (and processes) completely online or transforming the in-store experience, it all boils down to one thing – consumers want a more efficient, faster and enjoyable buying experience.

Rather than shift focus to an online buying process, why not make it easy and pleasant for consumers to buy from you in whatever manner they want – online or in-store.

I’m writing this from the 2015 NADA Convention and felt compelled to urge dealers to go check this out at the DealerTrack booth #2219S – You don’t have to join the race to the bottom to create a better customer experience. You just need the right tools and this, my friends, is an excellent tool to implement.

[Note: In no way was I paid or otherwise compensated for this opinion nor was the article written at anyone’s request.]

The Unfair Advantage Automotive Mastermind Group Story

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Unfair Advantage Automotive Mastermind Group
Lala, Tracy and Troy at the Unfair Advantage Automotive Mastermind Group

In my career I’ve probably been to 30+ conferences and events. I’m working on helping to organize my 19th event currently so to say that I have a little experience with conferences & events – having attended as a dealership manager, a vendor and even working for the conferences – would be a fair statement. All of them have their unique personalities and attractions. No matter our profession, none of us should cease to want to learn how to do things better. The second a person thinks they don’t need to learn is also the second in which they need to learn the most.

Tracy Myers and Troy Spring had a vision. This vision originated from a mastermind group that Tracy attended which revolved around real estate. Tracy’s a smart guy. He’s also pretty busy. As a dealer principal, consultant, author and filmmaker, he doesn’t have a lot of time on his hands for extra activity. That being said, he saw promise in the format of the mastermind group and thought that it would offer value to the automotive industry. So he and Troy made it happen.

Lots of people have great ideas but it’s (sadly) not as often that those ideas come to fruition. It takes a lot of work and many people aren’t willing to put forth the effort to make their visions into reality.

I’ve known Tracy awhile now. I can honestly say that what you see is what you get. He’s a genuinely good person. Sure, he’s image conscious. He’ll run from you if you try to take a photo of him wearing jeans, in the end however, it’s only because he always wants to represent himself in the best light possible. It’s not any different than women who won’t go outside with makeup on. Tracy’s makeup just happens to include suits and an Uncle Sam (or Frank Myers, I should say) hat. I get it. I have interacted with him socially and on a personal level and he’s just a good guy: plain and simple. He works hard and makes his dreams come true, whatever it takes.

That’s where the Unfair Advantage Automotive Mastermind Group comes in. Tracy and Troy saw the value in the format and made it happen. I’m sure there was risk involved. Events aren’t cheap. Despite that, they pushed forward and overcame all obstacles to create a unique group that brings value to its members year round. I would argue that some of the greatest value I’ve seen is not at the events but in the resources, interactions and expertise offered to the group’s dealer members every single day. Dealer members gain unprecedented year-round access to industry experts who are at their beck and call for free. The events themselves are the icing on the cake.

Members are vetted and decisions are made based on desire, commitment and willingness to contribute. Contributions aren’t monetary; they are based on things like character, integrity and passion. While I’m not positive of this, I truly believe that one of the things that goes through Tracy and Troy’s mind when deciding whether to accept a member is this…

Do I want this person to be a part of my family?

That may sound odd but it’s really not. I don’t know everyone’s motivations for wanting to be a part of the Unfair Advantage Automotive Mastermind Group. What I do know is that the people that become a part of it join a family. I feel it and I believe that members do as well. The atmosphere and camaraderie is contagious for both dealer and vendor members. Members stop being members and start being friends. The ones that don’t “get it” stop participating. Relationships are formed that transcend the Unfair Advantage Automotive Mastermind Group itself. Tracy and Troy may be the guides but they lead at the group’s direction. I believe in my heart that the members of this group would continue to assist and care about each other regardless of the lifespan of the group. In fact, I don’t know that Tracy or Troy could kill it if he wanted to (not that I think they’d want to).

Tracy and Troy have created a community of people who are caring, generous, and passionate and also have a desire to help each other succeed. In the ultra-competitive industry that we are in, that’s a steep mountain to climb.

Tracy and Troy have firmly planted the Unfair Advantage Automotive Mastermind Group flag on the top of the mountain…

And they brought their family with them.

In the spirit of the September 2014 meeting theme of “Masterminds Go Back to the Future”, I’ll leave you with this:

“Family is not an important thing. It is everything.” – Michael J. Fox

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