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Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?

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

Why?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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All Roads Lead To Vegas: AutoCon 2013 Edition

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

JD Rucker is Yoda. ‘Nuff said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

…to be continued

Google+ Ditches Zagat Ratings, Returns to Consumer Friendly 5-Star Ratings

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Google can’t seem to make up their minds. That being said, they sneakily introduced a change that I believe most businesses (and consumers) will welcome.

In May of 2012, Google implemented their Zagat rating system which was confusing for both businesses and consumers. The 30-point system just didn’t make sense to most people including, most importantly, consumers.

As you can see by visiting any Google+ local page, they have reverted back to the 5-star rating system. Ultimately, this makes more sense as not only is it easier for the business to understand why their rating is what it is but a consumer intuitively understands what the number “means” in relation to reviews left by other customers.

The biggest thing is that it seems to have been rolled out completely in that the rating now exists inside and outside Google maps and whether you are logged into Google or not and you don’t need to have an upgraded listing as a business owner.

For the score to show, your business must have at least 5 reviews, however.

It isn’t quite updated everywhere yet. It’s still showing the Zagat score in the old version of Google Maps and in Google+ Local search results but I anticipate that this will all be conformed in due time.

I, personally, welcome this about face and think it’s good for both businesses and consumers.

What are your thoughts?

[Note: Thanks to 3GEngagement for the tip!]

Facebook Hashtags and Dealership Page Marketing

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As you probably heard, Facebook has integrated hashtags into their system. This provides another way in which your dealership has to get exposure for their Page. The old rules still apply, though. If you have crappy content, it’s not going to help. However, if you’re posting good content, not only is it another way to get exposure but you might even pick up some new “likes”. Yeah, they’re not necessarily going to be people in your geographic area.. they could be from anywhere in the world. However, my guess is that Facebook users are more likely to click on an easily-clickable hashtag “just because” than to do a full on Facebook search for a brand name.

Obviously, it’s a brand new feature so who knows if people will use it or not. My guess is they will in the same way they do on Twitter, Instagram, etc.

My advice: start adding hashtags to your Facebook posts. Use hashtags that people would search for. Don’t worry about hash tagging your dealership’s name.. people will search for that if they want to see YOUR posts specifically. Hashtag your brands and model names (that are in the content posted, of course). Think about what people would be interested in and, if applicable, use those hashtags. Think minimal and relevant in your use of hashtags. Save the “reactionary” and “opinion” oriented hashtags for Twitter (ie. #justsaying or #noms or #FML) unless you’re going to try and hijack a hashtag a la Jello.

Hashtags (for me, at least) went live today. I decided to search #Ford and these are a few examples of what I saw. None of these are Pages that I “like” with my account. Keep these examples (of which there are MANY) in mind the next time you’re posting content to Facebook. Do you want your Page’s content in the mix?

P.S. The last one’s my favorite. 😛

Why Not Paying Attention Is Costing You Money

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It’s the last few days of the month and the store is either below the number of sales they should have or they’re close to hitting a unit goal for some stair-step money. The sales manager is pushing everyone. He’s pushing the salespeople to not let any customers walk without not only a turn but also talking to a manager. He’s holding meetings to review all the deals that weren’t made during the month frantically trying to see if any can be revived. He’s listening to phone calls on their call recording service to hear if there were any phone calls that were mishandled and could be deals. He’s combing through the Internet leads to see if there were any deals that they were close on but didn’t make. Every minute of those last days matter. As stress and frustration (mixed with just a little sweat) mount, he’s fielding calls from his GM, possibly his owner and definitely his OEM rep who are continuously inquiring where the numbers are and pushing him to reach his goal, increase sales, and reduce the heat sheet. While the sales manager continues to down Red Bulls and triple-shot lattes, he’s making salespeople call everyone they’ve met this month. He’s throwing out spiffs that are higher than normal. He’s spot-delivering anything that “might” stick and throwing deals against a wall that for the first three weeks of the month he would turn away. The last day of the month comes and goes and it’s time for “the reckoning”. Maybe he made his number, maybe he didn’t. What he does know is that on the last few days of the new month, he’ll be doing it all over again.

Why did I tell this story? Because we all know that this is exactly what happens in a high percentage of dealerships across the country. Depending on ownership/management, some of the same pressures will always exist. This is the car business and no matter what you do, on those last few days of the month, more is expected.  I don’t have a magic solution to all of these problems but I believe that there are things that you can do – whether you’re a Sales Manager or an Internet Director – to avoid a few of these each and every month.

Almost every dealership does two things: use a call tracking service and buy third party leads. Both of these cost money and, in most cases, dealers might as well be lighting that money on fire. Many Sales Managers and Internet Directors don’t bother listening to their staff’s phone calls or looking at what the Internet Managers are doing with the Internet leads that they’re spending a bunch of money on. At least they don’t until those last few days of the month when, most of the time, it’s too late.

Managers should be listening to phone calls and paying attention to their Internet leads daily. I’m pretty sure that this is not an original idea. I’m also pretty sure that many managers agree and have the best of intentions to do so. However, from my experience, I also know that both the story above and the fact that these two things aren’t getting done are, in many cases, fact.

Let’s assume, for a minute, that Mr. Sales Manager truly doesn’t have the time to do some of these things. There is so much floor traffic and deals lined up to be desked that he literally doesn’t have the time to monitor everything. In these cases, the enlightened dealers will outsource some of this monitoring. The unenlightened ones will turn a blind eye… until those last few days of the month when the days magically turn longer and Tylenols transform into Tic Tacs.

For the enlightened ones that are truly under-staffed, help is available for two of the most time-consuming activities I’ve described: call monitoring and Internet lead monitoring.

The first service I would recommend is Phone Ninjas. Their service is phenomenal in not only listening to your phone calls but providing your staff training on how to handle calls through both in-store training and during each lead they review during the month. I have no idea how much the service costs but my guess is that the extra car deal or two you get every month would probably cover that expense.  You can see and hear and example of a call here. [Coaching Review]

The second service is Task Teacher by DealerKnows. This service will go into your CRM and analyze Internet leads based on a process and send you individual reports on how the Internet Managers handled the leads. The reports include valuable coaching feedback for the salespeople on how they could do better in the future and inform you of not only how well they are doing but could also help you identify deal(s) that could be saved whether they weren’t because they weren’t handled properly or because the customer had issues that were never addressed.

Dealers spend a lot of money to drive phone traffic and receive Internet leads: tens of thousands of dollars a month and, in some cases, more. If you can’t pay attention, at the very least get someone to pay attention for you….

… or you can keep buying triple-shot lattes and Red Bulls at the end  of every month while you start listening to these calls and reading these Internet leads and realize just how many deals you “could” have made had you paid attention.

[Disclaimer: I am not affiliated in any way with Phone Ninjas. In fact, the owner, Jerry Thibeau, won’t even invite me to dinner with the rest of the “cool kids” when those occasions arise. That doesn’t mean his service is bad (hence the recommendation), it just shows that, eventually, I’ll get voted off the island at tribal council. I am, however, affiliated with DealerKnows and while my recommendation could be interpreted as a pitch, it really isn’t intended to be. I recommend this service because I know it intimately and, as far as I know, it’s the only one of its kind.]

 

Why No Social Media Vendors Exist In Automotive

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Before you get all huffy (especially the social media vendors that may read this), I want to narrow my definition of “social media” for the purposes of this article down. Social media encompasses a lot of things but I’m specifically talking about Facebook and Twitter management.

There are not many people who would argue that, given the choice and means, any company has the ability to do their own social media better than any vendor. You know your company better than anyone. You have the access and availability to create instant, company-specific content on-site and all the content you need to do it.

That being said, if you find yourself either in a position where you don’t have anyone to do it in house, or you don’t have the time to do it yourself and you are considering outsourcing your social media, consider a few things.

Being familiar with many of the social media services directed specifically at the automotive industry, whether those services are from a company that only does social media or as a service offered by a vendor that has multiple services, in my opinion, there aren’t any social media companies and/or any true social media services offered by companies.

What, exactly, do I mean by that?

In my opinion, every company that exists and works within the automotive space that offers social media services are, in reality, offering content marketing services. The basic idea is that they will set-up and/or manage your social media properties and provide content for those properties on a daily (or less) basis. Yes, chances are that they will respond to comments left (hopefully) and engage with fans when fans engage with you. They may offer to help you grow your fan base and followers – some via methods with which I agree and some using methods which I think are idiotic. Keeping in mind that I’m only talking about Facebook and Twitter management (not reputation, location-based services, etc.) that typically encompass the scope of work.

Content marketing is NOT social media.

I’m certainly not trying to imply that there is no value in content marketing. There are lots of benefits to it especially with well run blogs with great, relevant content… but it’s not social media (at least as defined for the purposes of this article).

So, what is social media?

In my opinion, if someone says they will manage your social media properties, these are the types of things they should be doing:

  1. They should be optimizing your pages/profiles to achieve maximum exposure via search engines.
  2. They should be teaching you how and helping you grow your fan base organically through in store signage, marketing integration and other means in which to capture your existing customers.
  3. They should be providing fresh, relevant and timely content and posting this content to your properties on a daily basis.
  4. They should be creating, finding and seeking this content daily. Yes, every day. Not creating some monthly calendar of content 30 days in advance, re-using content amongst clients (whether they are geographically close or are competitors doesn’t matter)… and they certainly should not be using a “content library” of canned posts.
  5. They should be analyzing the performance of different content types on a daily basis and tailoring the content they are posting to what the page audience wants to hear, not what they want to tell them… on a daily basis.
  6. They should be available and ready to react almost instantaneously to any issue, event, request, problem, comment.. anything and everything… on a moment’s notice. If a customer tweets or posts a complaint, there better be someone to respond.. and fast. Not just between the hours of 9am and 5pm.
  7. Most social media companies are reactive in their engagement. Their engagement is in response to an action taken by a fan or follower. Social media companies should be proactive in their engagement. They should be seeking out relevant conversations happening in your market area (whether that’s by region, state or national) and trying to insert themselves into relevant conversations in a non-threatening and engaging way.
  8. Anyone that tells you that social media is all about branding and that “selling” shouldn’t and/or can’t happen is an idiot and you should run away from them. Bottom line is that everything you do – whether its traditional or digital advertising – is about selling your product or service. Sales can be, and are, made on social media all the time. Revenue is there. There is an ROI (albeit it’s hard to track). Anyone trying to convince you otherwise is setting you up for that future conversation where you say you’re not selling anything from it and they say social media isn’t about selling. I’m pretty certain you’re not in business to not make money.
  9. When people follow you on Twitter, they should be thanking those people and, if appropriate, following them back. In addition, they should be finding new and relevant people to follow on your behalf. On top of those two things, they should be identifying your influencers as best as they can (and that doesn’t necessarily mean the ones with the highest Klout scores) and seeking to engage with them.
  10. They should be using methods and techniques designed to maximize your reach on both Facebook and Twitter. There are many things you can do that are free. Some that cost money. There are some things that I believe are worth the money they cost and some that I believe you might as well be lighting your money on fire if you use them. Whatever the case may be, they should be including these in their offerings to you. They should be doing this in real-time as the situation warrants.
  11. They should be providing you with detailed analytics monthly including detailed Facebook reports, Twitter reports, overall performance reports, response times, interactions, and even be able to show you how your social media may have influenced website traffic (which it can, and is possible, if you provide your Google Analytics code to them). These reports should NOT be simply how many new fans/followers you got, how many pieces of content they posted and the engagement metrics associated with that content (likes, comments, shares, etc.)

How do I know that there are NO social media companies that do this? Well, I’ve talked to many of them. Heck, it was my JOB to research competitors. I also attend trade shows and pay attention.

The reason they don’t do it is that it is not a scalable business model. Bottom line. I get that and agree that it probably isn’t but that doesn’t mean they’re providing social media services.. they’re providing content marketing. That’s all well and good but let’s keep it real.

Just because doing it right isn’t “scalable”, that doesn’t justify calling your service something that it isn’t. Many dealers don’t “get” social media. Some “kind of” get it. The ones that actually “get it” will agree with everything I’ve just written (or at least I hope they will).

So, remember two things about your social media: First, that you can do it better than any vendor whether you believe that’s true or not and second, that, IF you’re going to outsource this to a company, at the very least know the difference between a company offering you social media and one offering you content marketing.

[Note: If you know of a vendor that does all of the things I described above and/or even more, I’d love to hear who they are.]

The ‘Car Dealership Expose’ Book You’ve All Been Waiting For!

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In the car business, just about every dealership has “that” employee. You know, the one that complains about everything. The one that’s never happy. The one most sales trainers, consultants and managers would call “cancer”. The advice that 99% would give in regards to “that guy” who, no matter what you tried, just isn’t positive and seems to hate everything would be to fire him. The last thing you need is some jaded veteran salesman spreading dissension and negativity around your dealership.

The guy who says things like these:

“Any sales managers know if the car dealer or general manager are screwing the salespeople by using hidden packs or inflating reconditioning costs of used vehicles, but they do not have the balls to say anything. Their balls have been cut off by the dealer or his puppet general manager before they get their titles.”

“25% commission after the $500 pack means, your dealer is taking away $125 of your hard earned money on every vehicle that you sell. If you are selling 12 units, you get screwed $1500 a month which translates to $18,000 a year, just like that!”

“Car dealers do not allow salesmen in the business office not because they are afraid that the salesmen may screw the girls that are working there, they are not allowed because dealers are afraid the salesmen may look at the files and figure out how they are getting screwed on their commissions.”

Do you know this guy? Do you have one at your dealership? Have you heard of this Great White Shark who lives in car dealerships?

Well, Jaws wrote a book. No kidding.

The book, titled “Kar Guys” and written by Mehdi Roufougar is scheduled for release (according to his Facebook page and Twitter account) .. “soon”.

[Note: There are more choice quotes that I didn’t mention as well as a glowing recommendation of the book from somebody.. probably his neighbor.. on his website if you feel the need to spit your coffee at your computer monitor.]

It’s target audience isn’t consumers. It’s not meant to “educate” people how to buy cars or anything like that. This book’s sole purpose is to “enlighten” commissioned employees of car dealerships in the many ways they are, have been, and will continue to get screwed by their employer.

I was going to contact the author to talk to him regarding his book but his website advised that:

“Any dishonest car dealer,corrupted general manager,crooked sales manager or kinky closer who got offended from the kar guys book or this website feel free to call 1-800-kiss my ass.If the phone is busy,hang up and try again may be away from my desk or on the other line talking to another asshole.”

…so I changed my mind.

Someone this jaded, bitter and hostile would never believe that I really just wanted to talk to him about his book, motivations to write it, and what he hopes to accomplish.

My guess is that it was cheaper to write a book than to continue therapy.

:: face palm ::

The FTC May Have Just Killed Twitter Marketing For Dealers

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Yeah, in the most absurd move ever, the FTC has determined that Twitter is not excluded from regulatory laws requiring full disclosure on products or services. The Wall Street Journal reports that any disclosures that would apply to any other advertising also apply to Twitter.

Hmm. Let’s think about that a moment. On a platform that allows only 140 character submissions, how, exactly, do you tell your followers about a great lease special, factory incentive or other promotion AND include the tiny, almost unreadable, 2 paragraph disclosure in 6 point font at the bottom of the ad? Well, you don’t.

So, what does that prohibit by default? Pretty much anything you want to promote that requires a disclosure and, for most car dealers, that’s just about everything. Heck, most factory incentives have disclosures. Contests, giveaways, or any other promotion (social media or otherwise) as well as coupons, service specials, and other customer offerings would also be excluded.

The easiest way to determine whether you can or can’t tweet something about any special, ad car, incentive, lease special, promotion, coupon, service special, parts special etc. is by following one basic rule:

If it needs a disclosure, you can’t tweet about it.

See, that was simple wasn’t it?

Now, all of the above being said, Facebook’s Terms of Service in regards to contests, promotions and such are violated, trampled over and ignored all of the time by both vendors (who know better) and by dealers (who may or may not).

That being said, Facebook can’t investigate your dealership and fine you for non-compliance with advertising regulations either.

So, has the FTC effectively killed Twitter marketing for businesses?

It depends on what you’re tweeting about.

If your tweets are informative, quality content or customer service and engagement focused then no. If your strategy is to blast your inventory and specials to Twitter on some sort of robotic RSS feed that forces everyone to not listen to you anyways, then yes.

You make the call. It’s your business but the U.S. Government has spoken.

Update 3.14.13

I spoke with Compliance expert Jim Radogna about this issue. He researched the actual FTC ruling & found the relevant passages and, in his opinion, you can still tweet specials, etc. as long as there is a clear link to the disclaimers included in the tweet. While the Wall Street Journal article seemed pretty straightforward, it’s in his opinion that they’re incorrect in their translation of the ruling and how it applies to tweets.

Business Insider reports that the FTC released more information outlining a way that businesses can continue to use Twitter to market without actually needing the disclaimer physically present within the tweet. Just use “Ad:” within the tweet

How Your Social Media Use Could Begin To Affect You (and Your Business) Financially

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Recently, there have been several cases in which employers were requiring job applicants to give them access to their social media profiles to be considered for employment. This practice has been shut down by a few states already but not all of them and, in some states, the FTC has even backed the employers. While this is certainly one way social media could affect you financially, it is not in this way that this article is about.

What if banks started looking at your social media profiles to assess your credit-worthiness?

What if lenders started using your social media accounts to assist in deciding whether to approve your car loan?

What if credit card companies started changing your interest rates based on your social media use?

Well, these aren’t “what-ifs” anymore. According to a recent article by The Economist, these practices are already happening. “There is a start-up that assesses the credit worthiness of car-loan applicants” through social media presences including LinkedIn contacts under the theory that the character of the people you are connected with are an indicator of your character and can help predict how quickly you can get another job should you become unemployed.

Lenders are recording your Facebook data which is being used to secure loans overseas. They’re analyzing usage patterns of personal mobile phones. A Hong Kong start-up is even requiring “loan-seekers to ask their Facebook friends to vouch for them.”

An online bank in the U.S. “will use Facebook data to adjust account holders credit card interest rates” and, while most banks tend to avoid social media in analyzing a loan applicant, there are many “employees of small banks [who] often search social media or the web for the names of loan applicants.”

Lenders are using the social media data to find correlations between that data and an individual’s credit worthiness. For example, ZestFinance, an American lender, says that “Applicants who type only in lower-case letters, or entirely in upper case, are less likely to repay loans, other factors being equal.” and they are continuously using increasingly advanced algorithms to find more correlations. They claim that their default percentage is 40% lower than similar lenders.

An overseas lender of small loans has found that “An applicant whose friends appear to have well-paid jobs and live in nice neighborhoods is more likely to secure a loan. An applicant with a friend who has defaulted on a Kreditech loan is more likely to be rejected.”

I expect that banks in the U.S. are paying close attention to these activities. All of the actions above (save for the web and social media searches) are done with the permission of the applicant. It’s hard to believe that a US court would prohibit an opt-in component used to extend loans to individuals but that’s up in the air since my guess is that if you opt-out, you’d have no chance at getting approved. I would think that courts would find that it’s certainly up to the bank who they decide to loan money to (excluding certain exceptions for people in protected statuses).

This is another example of how social media is increasingly affecting not only our personal lives but those of businesses that rely on banks extending loans to consumers to make sales.. like car dealerships.

 

Santa Doesn’t Visit Car Dealerships

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Coming from a retail background, I can attest that working in sales at a dealership is hyper-competitive. The whole ‘hero to zero’ mentality is meant to motivate salespeople and not let them mentally back off or take the next month easy because they were top salesperson and/or got a fat paycheck. Now, I know that there are some dealerships where this environment doesn’t exist now as it’s been a little while since I actually sold cars but I do know that this environment exists in many stores to this date.

What made me think of this was when a friend was thinking of planning a ‘Secret Santa’ and ‘cookie exchange’ for the holidays. I had no idea what she was talking about which boggled her mind. You see, these things just didn’t exist in retail. I never wanted to give presents to other salespeople nor did I ever receive any. Now, I’m a pretty giving person. I like giving people gifts and making their days a little brighter, it just never happened. Yes, there were times when I was given Christmas bonuses by employers and, while I appreciate money, it doesn’t ‘feel’ quite the same as being given a gift that took some thought regardless of how much the gift cost.

I remember, in my early days in retail when I was a green pea, literally ducking staplers that a sales manager was throwing at me. Public verbal lashings, which included many curse words, weren’t uncommon. Finding innovative ways to take other salespeople ‘off-the-market’ was encouraged and bragged about. Skating another salesperson was commonplace and arguments over customers and deals were daily occurrences.

Learning that these holiday activities not only existed but were fairly common in workplaces was foreign and it made me reflect on just how much I missed out on in my life. We all talk about the high turn-over of salespeople in dealerships and try to find ways to increase employee retention but I don’t think I’ve ever read, or heard, about a dealership cultivating and encouraging an environment like this. Sure, I’ve heard the whole ‘work as a team’ speech many times but, ultimately, that sentiment lasts only until the next deal dispute happens.

The spirit of the holidays, and a conversation with a friend, saddened me. I sincerely hope that my sharing sparks thought in those still out there in the retail sales environment missing this just as I did.

For many salespeople in retail environments, it’s not beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

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