NADA Releases New Video on Dealer Franchise Laws

By: Automotive News
McLEAN, Va. — New-car dealer franchise laws protect consumers during safety recall and warranty claims, create price competition and benefit automakers, says the National Automobile Dealers Association in a new animated video released Wednesday as part of its “Get The Facts” initiative.

“Buying a car is a ... complicated purchase with financing, titling, registration, insurance and trade-ins. Because cars are expensive and car buying is complex, governments set up dealer franchise laws to protect consumers, and dealers make this complex process simple,” the video explains. “But recently, some have suggested weakening these laws or eliminating them to bypass dealers completely — a bad idea and nowhere simple as it sounds.”

The new video explains the central reason why states adopt dealer franchise laws: to protect consumers and provide a competitive business environment.

The dealer franchise network is also supported by automakers as the best and most efficient way to buy, sell and service cars in the marketplace, and “dealer franchise laws just make good business sense,” according to the NADA.

“Factories get to focus on design and building great cars, while dealers invest billions in showrooms and websites to compete for local business and sell cars at a great price,” the NADA said in a statement. “And locally owned dealers have a huge positive impact on local communities—local businesses that create more than 1 million jobs nationwide, and provide more than 15 percent of local tax revenue.”

NADA’s “Get The Facts” initiative is designed to inform the media, opinion leaders and policymakers about the numerous benefits of America’s franchised new-car dealers through a new webpage and variety of multimedia resources available here.

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NADA Releases New Video on Dealer Franchise Laws
NADA Releases New Video on Dealer Franchise Laws

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Attention Car Dealers...How Is Your Internal Online Reputation?

by Stan Sher.

It has been about seven years since the importance of dealer online reputation has become a serious concern in the industry. A number of businesses in general have taken a proactive approach to manage their online reputation. In fact, there is always a new small business popping up offering SEO, social media, and reputation management services . These services have played a healthy role in improving how a business handles their marketing practices as well as customer relations.

While this topic has been discussed more then enough times over the years there are other aspects of reputation management that businesses have failed to look at. Let's explore digital human resources and recruiting practices. We all know that just about anything can be done on the internet. This means that there are websites popping up offering new tools, services and solutions. In fact, sites like Indeed.com, simplyhired.com and Glassdoor.com have made a mark in recruiting. These sites have as big of an impact on recruiting as Careerbuilder and Monster.

What is interesting about these newer platforms is that they allow past and present employees to leave reviews and comments about their experience working for their employer. This in turn allows job applicants to explore and consider if a company is worth applying for. When exploring some classified ads on these sites it has become evident that business has not been paying to attention to how their employees view them. Sure, it is easy to go on facebook and see if an employee badmouths their boss or employer. However, business is not managing their internal online reputation.

This is a very important topic for millennials, because they are socially savvy. Millennials read and write reviews of everything online. They also have a different attitude to jobs then "baby boomers" do. While, millennials have a difficult time landing on their feet or being taken seriously they still possess that attitude that makes them move on if something just does not smell right. This means that it is time for employers to step up their game by adding another process for managing their business. This is a Human Resource function.

Let's face it employers (especially car dealers) deal with many issues that involve having past employees or current employees that might be disgruntled. A business that is always recruiting for fresh talent will limit the ability to have a quality recruiting process because negative reviews will force job seekers to move on and explore more opportunities.

It is time to get proactive. Employers that part ways with employees must have a process that is well documented and reviewed. This goes beyond an exit interview. If money is owed to the employee then it is important to get them paid right away. Anything that is owed by the employee needs to be produced as they exit their job as well. Employers need to be so professional that the exit process is a positive one. This will limit negative feelings and drama that would otherwise occur afterwards.

Employers must take the time to review working conditions and update internal practices to not only remain profitable but also be a place where employees want to go work. Employers should encourage current happy employees to review them online on job sites so that the credibility of the company is increased. Any bad review that gets written needs to be addressed just like a bad review that gets addressed with unhappy customers. This will also increase credibility with customers. As customers search for a dealership online they may come across recruiting ads and look at them out of curiosity. In the end dealerships can not only maintain a positive reputation but also decrease employee turnover.

Stan Sher is the founder and president of Dealer eTraining, an automotive sales training and consulting company focused on internet, BDC and showroom sales operations. Stan is a millennial himself with over 11 years experience in the automotive industry. He can be contacted at ssher@dealermark.com.

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Attention Car Dealers...How Is Your Internal Online Reputation?
Attention Car Dealers...How Is Your Internal Online Reputation?

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How Dealerships Can Use PPC To Build Brand Awareness And Exposure

By:  Andrew Cabrelli.
These days, more and more car buyers are heading online before making up their mind on where to buy their next car. As a dealership, building your brand and associating it with positive traits is key to both gaining new clients and retaining existing ones. No matter what advantages your dealership offers, if you can’t break out of the wallflower category, no one is going to know about how great you are .

AdWords can be an excellent tool for building brand awareness. Though it is often overlooked in favor of social and email marketing endeavors, it has its own unique advantages to bring to the table. You can render your audience down to the simplest metrics like age, gender and interest. If you’re a Hyundai dealer and want to focus primarily on people completing searches about Hyundai and specific models, you can do that!

The audience base is also absolutely massive. It’s a great way to get your message out there to every possible person interested at the lowest price imaginable. You don’t pay by the click, you pay by per thousand views - averaging less than fifty cents for 1,000 views!

You can use the following the four simple steps to create a dealership branding campaign on the Google Display Network.

1. What Do You Want?
Identifying your objectives is key.

• Brand/dealership loyalty?
• Increase your audience?
• Improve image of your product/brand?

It is important to define your goals as definitively as possible, because every aspect of the campaign will be fixed towards achieving those goals; every dollar spent and every word used.

2. What Will You Focus On?
Everyone likes to talk buzzword metrics, but for Display, the metrics you’ll want to focus on are:

• Reach: The number of people who were just exposed to the ad. 
• Impressions: The number of people who were exposed to and consumed the ad.
• Conversions: The result of that exposure and consumption. Often times synonymous with “interactions”

3. Define Your Target Audience
Use tools like the Google Ad Planner and AdWords Placement AdWords Placement or the Google Ad Planner to pare down the multitudes. You’ll be able to hone in on your target audience with an incredible degree of precision. If you’re in automotive, you’ll be able to focus on specifics like gender, age and income along with targeting specifically to channels that focus on topics like automotive news and technology.

4. Create a Powerful Narrative
Display, as an ad platform, has far more flexibility than pure Paid Search. You can utilize image-based ads, both animated and static or fool around with pure text ads. There is also the opportunity to utilize video production in your ads. You’ll want to fool around with every option available to make sure you are grabbing your audience as best you can. There is always room for improvement. As a dealership, you probably utilize televised ads. You can convert one of your television ads into the correct format and upload it in no time!

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How Dealerships Can Use PPC To Build Brand Awareness And Exposure

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NADA Releases New Video on Dealer Franchise Laws

By: Auto Dealer Monthly

McLEAN, Va. — New-car dealer franchise laws protect consumers during safety recall and warranty claims, create price competition and benefit automakers, says the National Automobile Dealers Association in a new animated video released Wednesday as part of its “Get The Facts” initiative.

“Buying a car is a ... complicated purchase with financing, titling, registration, insurance and trade-ins. Because cars are expensive and car buying is complex, governments set up dealer franchise laws to protect consumers, and dealers make this complex process simple,” the video explains. “But recently, some have suggested weakening these laws or eliminating them to bypass dealers completely — a bad idea and nowhere simple as it sounds.”

The new video explains the central reason why states adopt dealer franchise laws: to protect consumers and provide a competitive business environment.

The dealer franchise network is also supported by automakers as the best and most efficient way to buy, sell and service cars in the marketplace, and “dealer franchise laws just make good business sense,” according to the NADA.

“Factories get to focus on design and building great cars, while dealers invest billions in showrooms and websites to compete for local business and sell cars at a great price,” the NADA said in a statement. “And locally owned dealers

have a huge positive impact on local communities—local businesses that create more than 1 million jobs nationwide, and provide more than 15 percent of local tax revenue.”

NADA’s “Get The Facts” initiative is designed to inform the media, opinion leaders and policymakers about the numerous benefits of America’s franchised new-car dealers through a new webpage and variety of multimedia resources available here.

Resource: 
NADA Releases New Video on Dealer Franchise Laws
NADA Releases New Video on Dealer Franchise Laws

Read More

Survey Uncovers Most Common Car-Buying Objections

ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. — An informal online survey conducted by Joe Verde Sales & Management Training Inc. found that the most common car-buying objection (37%) before the salesperson has a commitment was: “I’ll think it over and get back to you.” The survey, conducted in 2013, garnered responses from 153 salespeople.

After the salesperson has a commitment and is negotiating, the three most common objections are: “I’ll think it over and get back to you” and “payments are two high” (both at 20%), and “not enough for my trade” at 19%.
 
The survey asked: “What is your most common car buying objection today before you have a commitment?” Here’s a list of responses by percentage:

• “I’ll think it over and get back to you”: 37%
• “I want to shop the competition”: 25%
• “Not enough for my trade”: 9%
• “I need to check with someone else”: 7%
• “It’s too much money”: 7%
• “I can buy it for less down the street”: 7%
• “I’m not sure this is the right vehicle for us”: 4%
• “The payments are too high”: 3%
• “I don’t have any more to put down”: 1%

 
For comparison purposes, the survey also asked: “What is your most common objection from car buyers today after you have a commitment and are negotiating?” Here’s are the top responses by percentage:

• “I’ll think it over and get back to you”: 20%
• “Payments are too high”: 20%
• “Not enough for my trade”: 19%
• “The price is too high”: 14%
• “I need to check with someone else”: 12%
• “I can buy it down the street for less”: 8%
• “Too much down payment”: 5%
• “Term too big”: 1%
• “I’m not sure if this is the right vehicle for us”: 1%

The same survey questions were posted on the site in 2012 and 156 people responded to each. The most common objection received by salesperson before they have a commitment was, again, “I’ll think it over and get back to you.” However, the response was almost double at 38%.

The question “What is your most common objection from car buyers today after you have a commitment and are negotiating?” had slightly different responses in 2012 versus 2013. The top response was “not enough for my trade” at 23%, followed by “payments are too high” at 19%, and “the price is too high” at 17%. “I’ll think it over and get back to you” was in fourth place at 15%.

“People tell you ‘No’ a lot when you’re closing. They’re nervous about spending 20 or 30 grand, and they didn’t know you, like you or trust you an hour ago,” said Joe Verde, president of Joe Verde Sales & Management Training, Inc. “So saying ‘Yes’ in just an hour means really going out on a limb for most customers.

“That’s why you have to make it as easy as possible for them to agree to purchase. If you close correctly, you’ll never ask the standard ‘Will you buy today’ question. Not only that, your negotiation will be about helping themfit this new vehicle they love into their budget, instead of whether you can ‘make them a deal today.’"

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Resource: 
Survey Uncovers Most Common Car-Buying Objections
Survey Uncovers Most Common Car-Buying Objections

Read More