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Is Content Marketing Valuable?

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Last month at BlogWorld LA, I had the privilege to see Jay Baer and Joe Pulizzi’s session about content marketing. Their session focused on the different types of content marketing that companies participate in. It was titled: “How Much Do You Open Your Kimono?”

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Is content marketing worthwhile? How do you tie it to revenue?

They taught that there are six types of content marketing. The six types of “opening the kimono” are:

1. Closed Kimono – There is no online thought leadership. Your content is not for public distribution. This type has the goal of significant repeat and “word of mouth” business. Pro: There is zero time investment. Con: You have limited exposure and a reduced ability to build online influence.

2. What Happens In Vegas – Online thought leadership is distributed and built via micro-platforms. Your company is participating in platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. and leaving blog comments to build your reputation as a thought leader. Pro: Original content is not required. You’re sharing other’s content in an effort to become a community resource. Con: You have no ability to drive the lead source and limited search engine potential. A great quote included in this segment was:

“To be considered a leader in any field, one must build and gain trust within their communities.” – Lisa M. Loeffler, Genuine Media Co.

3. Quid Pro Quo – This type comprises of selling thought leadership via methods such as e-books, how-to articles, and e-newsletters. The essential flow is that you give away free content and include a form asking people to subscribe to receive more free reports, etc. This builds your subscriber base and you then you market to those people with your paid content. Keep in mind that your free content needs to be “best in class” or people won’t pay you for your paid content. Pro: Recurring revenue. Con: Passive income.

4. Give Me Your Number – This is essentially lead-gated thought leadership. In this type, you put your content behind a gate (such as a lead form) and people have to give you some personal information to access the content (such as an e-mail address, etc.). Here you can focus not just on lead generating but lead nurturing. You would promote your content through all of your media channels but not give it to away until someone completes a lead form. Pro: If your content is good, you can generate a river of leads. Con: You have no control over the lead quality.

5. Peekaboo – In this type of content marketing, you give away what you know but not the process. Your content itself becomes your resume of thought leadership. Pro: You will get heavy SEO and PR awareness within your audience Con: This type takes tons of effort. It can also devalue each piece of content. You also risk publishing too much which could lead to you being ignored.

6. The Full Monty – Just like it sounds. You give it all away – what you know and how to do it. You create content for content’s sake. You even create content that is outside your industry. You can still have a lead form but it should not act as a gate to the content. Pro: There is no barrier to the customer. You can go big or small. Con: This type requires serious effort. It also allows others to “steal” your content and diverts attention from your core attributes.

Which one is right for you really depends on your target audience. Through testing, you can determine which one converts the most for you with your audience.

They provided a worksheet with a testing plan that you can use to evaluate each type and see which is the best fit for your company. You can access that worksheet at http://bit.ly/openkimono

It was fun using this “type-guide” to identify which type of content marketing various members of the online automotive community are using.

You can follow both Jay Baer and Joe Pulizzi on Twitter for more valuable information and content.

 

Facebook ‘Questions” Could Bring You Business

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I’ve been watching this new feature Facebook has rolling out called “Questions”. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s not a new idea. Yahoo has ‘Answers’ and is the most used of the Q&A sites but there are plenty more. It’s still in beta and is rolling out slowly so you may not be able to see it yet but I believe there’s a potential for some Facebook Page exposure and, possibly, for dealerships generating some business.

First, here’s an example of what a question would look like:

Now initially, you would think there wouldn’t be any payoff for trolling through questions posted by a service with a user base of 500 million people. I mean, how is answering someone’s question that lives 2000 miles from your dealership going to generate business for you?

There’s also a lot more involved than posting a status update or tweeting 140 characters. To answer most questions properly and intelligently (especially in the automotive business), it will require more than a little explanation. I mean, how easy is it to answer the question “How much is my trade worth”? That’s a complicated answer. (Unless you go old-school on them and ask them to back the car up to the phone so you can hear it.)

The features that make it potentially worthwhile to a dealership or business are these:

  1. If you are the administrator of your business’ fan page, you can choose whether to answer the question as yourself (ie. John Doe) or as your business (John Doe Ford). By answering as your business, your Facebook page is the official “responder” and, just as any post, will be linked back to your Facebook Page. This could lead people there to explore further.
  2. Facebook Questions will allow the people posing the questions to geo-target those questions. For example, a person in Ohio could seek answers from other people in Ohio and/or just want to identify where they are in case that has relevance to their question. If you’re a business who has decided to peruse Questions, you can not only search topics (ie. automotive) but you can also search geographically. Obviously if your business is in Ohio, and it’s a car dealership, you could look at automotive-related questions from people in Ohio. I’m not sure yet exactly how fine-tuned the geographical function will be (ie. can you choose to see questions from people down to the city level) but you could certainly see how answering automotive questions from people in Ohio which could then lead them back to your Fan Page and, possibly, your website or dealership, could be beneficial.
  3. We know that public information on Facebook is indexed by Google. We know that Fan Pages are. Seeing as Questions is public, I’m assuming the question (and your answer) would be indexed by Google. Facebook ranks well with search engines so it could get your business’ fan Page (and name) a little more (or a lot more depending on how active you are answering questions) exposure and SEO.

When I was in Internet Departments, I would target message boards seeking to answer people’s questions about my particular car brand. I answered them directly and never tried to sell them anything. People appreciate that and you could help yourself stand apart from your competitors.

Just as in Yahoo Answers, I’m guessing that people can search Questions previously posted (and answered) for similar questions that they may have. In this case, best case scenario is that they find a previous question posed by a Facebook member and answered by your business. If they are also geographically limiting their searches, you could have a local customer seeing your business being helpful and pro-active in answering people’s questions. This is certainly a form of reputation management that could assist you in gaining some brownie points with a potential customer.

This is certainly a method of gaining some exposure for your business. It’s not the easiest or least time-consuming but the advantage is does have is that not only do you get your name out but you associate positive images with it at the same time. Once this feature is rolled out to everyone, it will be interesting to experiment and see what happens.

Sales Training And The $20,000 Over MSRP Internet Price

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In our crazy world that is the automotive industry, at one point or another, you have to begin.

In retail sales, the typical training for a new salesperson used to be “This is how you do a foursquare. Now go get a customer.” 

In today’s world of technology, we’ve added only one thing. “Here’s how to use our CRM.”

In the case of OEM and product training, most OEM’s have some sort of certification test and/or required product knowledge tests. These OEM certification tests are great – in theory. In reality, however, many salespeople don’t ‘really’ learn anything. They do them because they have to, not because they want to.

Many OEM’s today require a certain level of completion by a dealerships’ sales staff to qualify for CSI-based factory incentives. Some OEMs that have ‘spiff’ programs for salespeople will also require a salesperson to have completed product training before they are eligible for individual sales spiffs.

I cannot count how many times I’ve seen salespeople rush through these certifications just to make sure they (or their dealership) qualify for whatever. They share test answers. The sales managers give them the answers or even take the test for them.

The sad part is that you don’t really need any product knowledge to sell a car. Most industry veterans can do a walk-around on any car even if they know nothing about it. Most ‘green-peas’ follow the leads of the industry veterans (and we wonder why dealership turnover is so high).

If you can sell emotion, you can sell a car. Everyone knows that even the worst salesperson at a car dealership can sell a car if they are just at the dealership enough. Our basic sales process is designed to do just that – sell emotion. Get them in the car. Touch it. Smell it. Drive it. Chances are they wouldn’t be on your lot if they weren’t interested at all in what you were selling.

We concentrate so much on losing a sale that we don’t create a customer.  I would bet that the phrase “Don’t let them leave.” has come out of every sales manager’s mouth at least once.

Why are we so afraid of the customer leaving?

If the salesperson did all the things he/she was supposed to do: fact-find, build rapport, properly present the product, effectively demonstrate it and truly attempt to create a financing strategy that worked with the customer (versus for the dealership), the customer will do business with you.

Make training your sales staff a priority in your dealership. If your dealership will not provide any training, get it yourself. It’s important and you WILL make more money. Guaranteed.

Now onto other news:

Plastered all over yesterday’s news and blogs was the story of a dealership in California that responded to an internet lead for a Chevrolet Volt with the following e-mail:

Hello *****

Thank you for your online request, as you know the Volt is going to be a very limited production vehicle for the first 2-3 years. Demand is going to far exceed supply for this vehicle, initially our asking price for the Volt is going to be MSRP plus $20,000, we are expecting only receive 9 Volts all of next year.

I will keep you in my customer base for when the Volt comes out and I will contact you with any information as I receive it. We are taking orders right now for the Volt, if you would like more information, please let me know and I will be more than happy to help you. Thank you.

***** *****, Internet Specialist
******* Chevrolet
********, CA

I don’t know what dealership that was nor whether that employee was responding per the direction of his/her managers. I can tell you one thing, however. There is no chance that that particular customer is EVER going to entertain the thought of going to that particular dealership to do business whether it is to purchase that, or any other, vehicle.

I understand that dealerships have the right to sell their vehicles for whatever price they want to. I’m not at all saying that a dealership shouldn’t make money selling a vehicle. All I’m saying is that the strategy of this particular person, even if the dealership really will only sell these vehicles at $20,000 over MSRP, should have been very different.

If you’re confronted with a situation in which your dealership has made the decision to mark up any particular vehicle over MSRP, you’re better off not giving the customer any price whatsoever for the vehicle, in my opinion, especially online.

Why do some dealerships and/or sales managers still insist on handing out in-the-box-scraping-them-off-the-ceiling prices to their internet departments??

You have a better chance of selling a car with a customer in front of you than with no customer at all. Most customers don’t even buy the vehicle they came in to initially look at anyways. Why scare them off?

This resulted from either a lack of training, apathy from the internet ‘specialist’ or pure stupidity.

Only one can be fixed.

The sad part is that the $20,000 over MSRP price is probably in the dealerships’ DMS that way because the sales managers don’t want to have to manually add the addendum. Because of this, not only has the dealership potentially scared off THIS customer, but that $61,000 price tag may very likely be populating their website and all the third-party websites they subscribe to.

Now they’ve scared off everyone.

Will People Pay MSRP and Should You Feel Guilty For Selling It To Them?

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I get asked by non-automotive industry friends all the time about car salespeople. The questions typically pertain to the questionable practices that they perceive car salespeople as having. We all know the stereotypes and they exist very much today as they did in the past despite the fact that, in my opinion, many dealers have changed their business practices either because they’ve come to the realization that you just can’t rip people off or it’s been regulated out of them.

“Perception is reality” is the old saying. Holding gross on a deal is considered good business by the dealer while the consumer thinks they’ve been ripped off.
One of the more common questions I get involves MSRP. What is it? Do people really pay that? Why? Don’t you feel guilty selling it to them at MSRP?
When they ask me that, I tell them this story:
A few years ago, there was a knock at my door. This little Asian guy offered to clean all the flooring and furniture in my house free of charge. The carpet in my house was the original carpet that was in it when we bought it and having it cleaned had been on my “to-do” list for awhile. He said there was no trick involved nor any obligation. I agreed. 
I watched this little Asian guy proceed to vacuum my whole house. He then pre-treated the couches and shampoo’d and cleaned them. After that, he pre-treated and shampoo’d the carpet in my entire house – all 2500 square feet of it. I watched him scrub and put elbow grease into each part of this process. It took him 5 hours. He didn’t say a word the whole time.
Being a salesperson, I was waiting for a pitch. At the end, the house and furniture looked fabulous! I appreciated all the hard work and effort he put into it and told him that. I told him I was a salesperson and that I understood he was selling this machine and gave him permission to “pitch” it to me. 
He told me that he had been for the last 5 hours.
I thought about it for a minute. The vacuum we had actually had just broken. It was not the first time it had broken. The vacuum only cost about $200 but we’ve had to have it fixed at least 3 times over it’s lifespan at $50 each time. The vacuum he had used undoubtedly, in my mind, did a fabulous job cleaning the house. I asked him how much the vacuum cost and then proceeded to pay $1700 for it.
Now, since that day, I’ve had quite a few friends tell me that they owned a Kirby and had paid much less for it. They told me that this little Asian guy ripped me off.
I told them I didn’t feel ripped off at all. The salesperson that came to my door had met me for the first time. I was probably the hundredth door he had knocked on that day and probably the only one that took him up on his offer. I knew when I invited him in that he wanted to sell me the vacuum. After he was done, I thanked him and complimented him on his hard work.
Through his hard work and effort, he slowly and methodically, over the course of 5 hours, BUILT VALUE into his product. At the end, I FELT that the vacuum was WORTH $1700. To this day, I don’t regret paying that much for the vacuum (which still works great and runs beautifully). I’m sure that I paid MSRP. I didn’t haggle nor did it even cross my mind to do so.
You may be saying that you don’t have 5 hours to waste with a customer like that. Salespeople tend to pre-qualify and try to figure out whether the customer standing in front of them is going to “buy today” and then base the time and effort they spend with the customer on those perceptions. 
The customers that the salespeople think are buying today get all the attention from the salesperson and, at times, the salesperson will spend 5 hours with a single customer from contact to close. The difference is that most of that time is CLOSING and not BUILDING VALUE. 
If a salesperson spent more time building value with EACH customer without trying to figure out if and when the customer is going to actually buy something, I believe that the process would take the same amount of time (whether that is 2 hours or 8 hours) but, in the end, the gross would be higher, the close would be easier and the customer would be happier.

Salespeople wonder why the people that don’t “buy today” (but do come back and buy at a later date) don’t remember their name. It’s because not only did they do nothing to build value in their product, but they did nothing to build value in themselves.
The little Asian guy’s name was David. He is one of the best salespeople I’ve ever met and not once have I regretted paying MSRP.

Avoid Making Dealership Turnover A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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“Don’t judge a book by its cover.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Can You Sell Ice To An Eskimo?

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“He can sell ice to an Eskimo!”

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

What are you actually saying though?

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

I challenge both of those premises.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Who Are the Real ‘Suckers’? (Stereotypes and Car Sales)

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I remember my first car sales job. I don’t know what specifically drove me to take that job other than the fact that I was good at sales, needed a job and they hired me. I’m really not a gearhead and I didn’t know much about cars but I figured I’d give it a go. It was a multi-line straight-sell store. I didn’t get any training other than the basic – Say Hi. Land them on a car. Take them for a test drive. Do a four square. – type thing. This “training” still exists within our industry, believe it or not.

One of my first sales managers (and I swear this is true), told me to watch this movie called “Suckers” and that it was a good training video.

Here’s a short clip for those who have not seen it so you can get an idea of what I’m talking about. (Caution: Rated R)


So, now you get the idea. (If you haven’t seen this movie, the story sucks but the cars sales-bits, which account for about 1/2 the movie are hilarious).

There are very few dealerships that have transitioned away from this mentality. The wrappers have changed but the candy bar is still the same. I see sales managers (and salespeople) acting this way all the time. It truly is special when I meet someone who sincerely cares about their customers aside from how much money they will make off of them.

How many times have you offered a customer a screaming deal to move a unit, maybe even at a loss in profit, and they don’t believe you? Why?

Do you treat the person with excellent credit differently than the customer with challenged credit? Why?

This stereotype still exists because this type of behavior does.

I challenge you to truly reflect on your staff and identify the individuals that exhibit these types of behavior. I guarantee you have some. Chances are, you already know who they are. Is this acceptable behavior? If not, will you let it continue?

Before this perception can go away, a true change needs to happen. We can tell customers how great we are and how much we care about them all day long but until all of our processes (and employees) that further this stereotype truly change, the customer perception of us won’t. 

Perception is reality.

Where is Waldo? (Foursquare: Why You Should Pay Attention and 3 Great Tips for Dealers)

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foursquare.

For the foursquare clueless, foursquare is basically a cell phone based application that allows it’s users to “check-in” at places they visit using a GPS-enabled phone. The benefits to the user are that they can see where their friends are, can get “tips” about nearby places that people have left and earn points and cool badges for checking in. A user can even become the “Mayor” by being the person who has “checked-in” the most. It’s a game, but one that is growing in popularity and has some value for dealerships and all businesses.

First, let me explain why this application is something to watch. Then I’ll offer a couple neat ideas and things you can do to DRIVE TRAFFIC  to your dealership in a non-traditional way.

The app is adding 100,000 users per day (or so they claim). While a small percentage of the population use it, if the growth rate continues, eventually, it may be statistically relevant.

Now, Bing is incorporating foursquare user “tips” into Bing Maps. The result looks something like this:

So, even if you think it’s the stupidest thing on earth, there is one area in which you should pay attention to this application: Reputation Management.

I’m sure you would want to know what “reviews” show up when someone does a Google Search or a Yahoo Search, so why wouldn’t you want to know what people are saying about your dealership on foursquare? These “tips” are essentially mini-reviews and the best (or worst) part about these “tips” are that, for the most part, people won’t see the “tips” until they are already at your dealership! If I were a shopper in an auto mall, and a foursquare user, and “checked-in” at a dealership I was about to shop for a car at and saw “tips” that told me not to shop there because they suck and will rip me off, I might heed that advice.

Now for three tips on how you can leverage foursquare to assist you in your marketing.

Tip One: There could be “tips” that say a certain salesperson is GREAT and that you should ask for them (hint to salespeople), there could be reviews from disgruntled customers, and there could also be reviews from happy customers. If you’re ahead of the game, it would be easy to get this campaign started in your favor rather than wait until you have to do damage control.

Tip Two: You can easily incorporate foursquare into your Facebook marketing now with a new app that will allow you to add a tab to your Facebook fan page with YOUR business’s foursquare information.

Why would you want to do that? Well, it’s an easy way to see how many users are coming to your dealership, who the mayor is, and, especially to keep an eye on the “tips” that are being left. It’s also a convenient way to add map information in your Facebook page showing people exactly where your dealership (or business) is. It looks like this:

It seems as if foursquare is digging this app since they’re the ones who told everyone about it (see their status update at the top of the above image). Here’s a link to the app on Facebook. Place Widget

Tip 3: I’ve heard a lot of dealers wonder if foursquare is even worth their time. Well, so far, people have been looking at how a foursquare campaign, using traditional methods, can increase traffic, get me phone calls, etc.

One way is to offer foursquare users who check into your dealership coupons and special offers but what about some creative and “outside-the-box” ways?

One business thought outside the box and had great success. Rather than try and figure out how he can make people want to come into his business to buy things, he catered to their fun for the game. He dissected the available badges and found one that he thought he could leverage to bring in some traffic.

It’s called the “Swarm” badge. A foursquare user earns this badge when they “check-in” at a place where 50 or more users are checked in at the same place and at the same time. He says it took him about a week to coordinate and that foursquare was even on board and helped him. Most of this event coordination was using Twitter. Foursquare even “tweeted” it out for him to their 46,000 followers. There are only 300-400 users in the Milwaukee area but he managed to get 161 people into his restaurant to earn this badge! Are you kidding me? Almost 1/2 the foursquare users in his market showed up for this event! Link to Article

Would you like 160 people at your dealership at the same time? What if there are 3,000 users in your area and 1/2 of them showed up?

Dealerships have events all the time designed to drive traffic to their dealership, why not try a new way?

I bet an enterprising dealer could find some other interesting badges to organize events or functions around.

I also think that an enterprising dealer could contact foursquare and see how they can help.

What about a badge that ONLY PEOPLE WHO BUY A CAR FROM YOU GET? I bet it can be arranged.

While the percentage might be small now, I know I think foursquare is fun and if I had the same deal to buy a car at multiple dealerships but one of them gave me a badge if I bought from them, that would be sweet and a badge not many of my friends had. It just might influence me into buying at your dealership over the other…..

and my friends may just go buy a car at your dealership, also…..

Just to get the badge.

[EDIT: After writing this article, an interesting website was brought to my attention: 4squareoffers.com . I’d certainly want MY dealership listed as having an offer versus not having one at all or having my competitors have one. Just a thought.]

Take Me Out To The Ball Game (Customers Are Not Your Competition!)

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Most dealerships view their business as a competition.

I’m not talking about a competition against the car dealer down the street vying for the same customers. I’m talking about a competition with customers themselves.

Why do dealers feel that their customers are the competition?

We may not do it consciously but we do it.

How many times have you heard in the sales office or between salespeople that they “hit a homerun”?

In this analogy, you are in competition with your customers. I believe that every customer would agree that if you “hit a homerun” off of them, that would be a bad thing. So what this phrase is saying is that you are on one team and the customer is on the other team and that you just did something bad to their team.

If you sell a car with zero gross or lose some money just to move a unit, does that mean the customer “hit a homerun”?

Why is there a need to make a customer feel like he “won”? What does it take for you to feel like you “won”?

There are many analogies similar to this one that we use in regards to customers and deals and almost all of them pit dealers and customers in adversarial positions.

The mere use of the analogies reinforce their message.

Why not change your thought process and put the customers on your team instead?

If you and your customers are on the same team, there is a mutual benefit and interest in scoring. This way when a car is sold (and bought), everyone feels like they won.

In Major League Baseball, competition is intense. Players are hyper-competitive not just with their opponents but amongst themselves. (ie. “My stats need to be as good as possible.”, “I need more playing time than that guy.”, etc)

BUT, one day a year, the best players in the game get together and play on the same team. They throw aside their competitive nature against their normal opponents and work towards a common goal. Even the fans who would normally “boo” a player cheer him on.

Your dealership’s success and survival are dependent not only on your employees, but also on your customers.

Change your perception. Play the game with your customers as your
teammates instead of as your opponents.

Make every day an All-Star Game and everybody will cheer for your dealership.

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