Next Day Traffic

Finding ways to increase service traffic can be very difficult in a slow-moving economy. What Strong prefers to do is focus on the core products of service advertising the same way we focus on the core products of new car advertising.

Take the 4 most popular services that your shop executes on a monthly basis. These will be your traffic pieces – they are what you offer to the customers in your database and your immediate area, since they are what more of your owners are buying.  Focus on the core items and don’t try to be all things to all people. Some service managers will want to send out every offer under the sun without focusing the real attention on the big offers.

Focus on the 4 most popular offers and use them to drive the traffic. You will hear your service manager say, “We’ll we can’t make any money on that oil change or that brake special.” That is when you have to explain to them that sales doesn’t make any money on the ad price vehicle or the one with the biggest discount.

We have to train the service department to step sell just like we did with the sales department.

Focus on the most popular items and you will draw in the most traffic.

I am re-reading one of the books by Joe Girard – the self proclaimed and Guinness Book of World Records “Greatest Car Salesman Ever.” It got me thinking about a couple of interesting principles that I wonder if dealers / managers are taking the time to teach to new sales staff. I have never met a manager, dealer or anyone who doesn’t believe, “if you get me the traffic / we will sell the vehicles.”

But are your salespeople capable to handle the following scenarios???

1.  What if you never let them catch a floor up? Could they survive off outbound calling and promoting of themselves?

2.  How many salespeople keep written or personal files of every customer they sell? I know there are CRM systems capable, but a true salesperson knows they may not always stay in the same place… Do they keep their own records?

3.  How many sales people actively work existing customers for referrals?

4.  Do your top sales people instruct service managers and lane writers to bring their customers back to them if they are in service and complaining about something not being right with their vehicle? When is the last time you had 3 or more sales people actively working the service lane for prospects?

5.  Do any of your sales people write their own thank you cards or letters to all their new owners?

Here’s an interesting fact I read the other day:

John F. Kennedy insisted on typing all of his own letters that he was sending out pertaining to political matters. Now I don’t know who answered his fan mail – or if he got any – but if the President of the United States had time to type his own letters, surely a salesperson could find the time to write to their customers. After all, they are the ones who stand to make more money if they are repeat customers in the future.

These are interesting concepts, and as the market has shrunk since the “clunker days,” now is the time to get back to your best habits.

I read an interesting article that confirms mainstream thinking about what SEO does for your website:

If a website doesn’t appear on the first page of a persons search –

will they continue to look for it?

According to a JD Power Study – Survey Says – NO –

or 85% will not continue the search on page 2, while only 15% will.

When monitoring web traffic and click through rates, having your website optimized with great quality and attention put into each page will increase the organic placement and funnel more web intenders to your site because you are MORE VISIBLE.

Search Engine Visibility may be the better word to refer to this – if you are not VISIBLE the chance is only 15% of the buyers will continue to look for you.

Back to the Mat

Consumer Reports puts floor mats to a real-world test

Yep, Consumer Reports has taken the recent Toyota floor-mat recall news and done what it does best: test the situation under some real-world scrutiny.

Granted, the parameters were pretty unscientific, as the magazine itself notes. Still, the premise — take their current fleet of 25 test cars and drive them, as equipped, under conditions that could lead to the type of unintended acceleration that allegedly caused the accidents — yielded some interesting results. For one thing, none of the factory-installed mats caused any problem thanks to a hook-and-eye system that secured the mats to the floor. The problem mats (which numbered three of the 25) were rubber, all-weather mats that did not have hooks and therefore could shift forward under pressure, eventually tangling with the accelerator. So the solution is simply to not buy aftermarket all-weather floor mats, right? Not necessarily. As the article notes, many (mostly luxury) dealers include all-weather floor mats as an add-on to the purchase; however, rather than popping them in the trunk, they place them over the standard mats — which leads to the same sort of sliding effect, since they’re not attached to the secured ones below.

So the real solution is simple: Check your driver’s-side mat. If it doesn’t have a system for securing itself to the floor, check to see if your car is equipped with the type of smart-pedal technology that renders the problem moot. If the answer to both is “nope,” you should consider ditching the mat altogether. Sure, it’s a long shot that it would cause a problem – but eliminating potential problems, no matter how unlikely, is what accident prevention is all about.

Article courtesy of MSN, posted by Joshua Condon

Attention Nissan Dealers!

It’s time to hold a birthday/anniversary party

for all of your Z Owners!

“Forty Years After the Debut of the Original Datsun 240Z,

the Iconic Z® Continues to Capture the Imagination and Passion

of Sports Car Enthusiasts Worldwide”

The 25th anniversary is silver, the 50th is gold. And the 40th?

Another precious metal, or more correctly metal, rubber and glass – the Nissan Z®.

Forty years ago, on October 22, 1969, the Datsun 240Z arrived in North America,

heralding a new era in sports car design.

Where previous sports cars were primarily a.) imported from England or Germany b.) expensive c.) fragile or unreliable or d.) all of the above, the new import from Japan offered the performance of a Porsche, the looks of a Jaguar and the price and reliability of, well, a Nissan. The 240Z was a revelation to the automotive world – an affordable sports car that could be driven every day and was accessible to anyone with the $3,626 base price.

And though the price of a new Z® might have changed a little in the past 40 years, its unmatched value, style, performance and segment leadership remains stronger than ever. To celebrate, Nissan has created a special, limited production version of the current 2010 Nissan 370Z Coupe, the 370Z 40th Anniversary Edition. It will be available at select Nissan dealers nationwide beginning in spring 2010.

The anniversary Z is a 370Z Touring coupe with the six-speed manual transmission and the Sport package–which adds automatic rev-matching to the shift system, a limited-slip differential, bigger brakes and 19-inch Rays forged wheels. Added to that are red leather covered seats and door inserts, red stitching throughout the cabin and a handful of commemorative badges inside and out. Each anniversary Z is painted in “40th Quartz” and comes with a red satin car cover.

The engine is the Z car’s standard issue 332-hp, 3.7-liter V6.

The price? Nissan says we’ll find out next spring.

Z car milestones

• Oct. 22, 1969: The Datsun 240Z (Nissan Fairlady Z in Japan) goes on sale in the United States.
• 1974: The inline six-cylinder engine grows to 2.6 liters and the name changes to 260Z. A 2+2 model is added.
• 1975: The engine grows to 2.8 liters and the name changes to 280Z.
• 1979: Second-generation 280ZX is introduced.
• 1981: 280ZX Turbo joins the lineup.
• 1984: Nissan launches third-generation 300ZX with 3.0-liter V6.
• 1990: Fourth-generation 300ZX arrives, with 222 hp. 300ZX Turbo follows with 300 hp.
• 1996: Nissan drops Z car from U.S. market.
• 1999: Nissan shows a 240Z concept at the Detroit auto show. But it is rejected for production.
• 2001: Nissan shows a reworked Z Concept at the Detroit auto show. Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn says the car will go into production.
• 2003: Fifth-generation 350Z goes on sale with 3.5-liter V6.
• 2008: Sixth-generation 370Z unveiled at Los Angeles auto show.
• 2009: A convertible version of the 370Z goes on sale.

It is interesting to stand in a showroom between 8:45 and 9:00 in the morning and watch the sales people and managers walking into work. From the number of dealerships that I visit, it is very easy to tell which ones have people who are showing up to work to sell cars and the ones who are showing up to work just to show up. I was in one of those dealerships this morning – a typical Wednesday morning, until I started noticing the soldiers all come marching in.

They were neatly dressed. They were talking with each other, their steps were quick and they all stopped by the sales desk on their way in. Most of them had small coolers with their lunches inside as they have no plan on leaving during the work day – but would be there from bell to bell.

The internet manager had already been sitting at his computer for an hour creating a report of customers to hand out to the sales people for follow-up.

You know a well run dealership when you see it.

You know a dealership that is going to sell cars when you see it.

Does your dealership possess this attitude?

If not – it may be time to make some changes.

According to a MSNBC poll based on August data – these are 79 areas that appear to be coming out of the recession the fastest.

• Alabama (3 out of 12 metro areas in recovery): Columbus (Georgia-Alabama), Huntsville, Mobile.
• Alaska (1 out of 2): Anchorage.
• Arizona (0 out of 6).
• Arkansas (3 out of 8): Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers (Arkansas-Missouri), Hot Springs, Little Rock-North Little Rock.
• California (0 out of 28).
• Colorado (1 out of 7): Colorado Springs.
• Connecticut (0 out of 4).
• Delaware (0 out of 2).
• D.C. (0 out of 1): The metro area is in recession, though the narrower District itself is listed in recovery.
• Florida (0 out of 22).
• Georgia (4 out of 15): Augusta-Richmond County (Georgia-South Carolina), Columbus (Georgia-Alabama), Savannah, Warner Robins.
• Hawaii (0 out of 1).
• Idaho (4 out of 6): Idaho Falls, Lewiston (Idaho-Washington), Logan (Utah-Idaho), Pocatello.
• Illinois (5 out of 13): Bloomington-Normal, Danville, Davenport-Moline-Rock Island (Iowa-Illinois), Kankakee-Bradley, St. Louis (Missouri-Illinois).
• Indiana (9 out of 16): Anderson, Bloomington, Elkhart-Goshen, Evansville (Indiana-Kentucky), Fort Wayne, Gary, Indianapolis, Kokomo, Lafayette.
• Iowa (6 out of 9): Ames, Cedar Rapids, Davenport-Moline-Rock island (Iowa-Illinois), Des Moines, Iowa City, Omaha-Council Bluffs (Nebraska-Iowa).
• Kansas (2 out of 6): Kansas City (Missouri-Kansas), St. Joseph (Missouri-Kansas).
• Kentucky (2 out of 9): Elizabethtown, Evansville (Indiana-Kentucky).
• Louisiana (2 out of 8): Baton Rouge, New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner.
• Maine (0 out of 3).
• Maryland (0 out of 7).
• Massachusetts (2 out of 8): Cambridge-Newton-Framingham, Worcester.
• Michigan (1 out of 16): Kalamazoo-Portage.
• Minnesota (2 out of 8): Fargo (North Dakota-Minnesota), Grand Forks (North Dakota-Minnesota).
• Mississippi (2 out of 5): Jackson, Pascagoula.
• Missouri: (6 out of 9) Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers (Arkansas-Missouri), Joplin, Kansas City (Missouri-Kansas), Springfield, St. Joseph (Missouri-Kansas), St. Louis (Missouri-Illinois).
• Montana (1 out of 3): Missoula.
• Nebraska (2 out of 3): Lincoln, Omaha-Council Bluffs (Nebraska-Iowa).
• Nevada (0 out of 3).
• New Hampshire (1 out of 2): Manchester-Nashua.
• New Jersey (2 out of 10): Edison, Newark-Union (New Jersey-Pennsylvania).
• New Mexico (0 out of 4).
• New York (0 out of 13).
• North Carolina (4 out of 15): Goldsboro, Greenville, Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News (Virginia-North Carolina), Winston-Salem.
• North Dakota (3 out of 3): Bismarck, Fargo (North Dakota-Minnesota), Grand Forks (North Dakota-Minnesota).
• Ohio (2 out of 16): Columbus, Parkersburg-Marietta (West Virginia-Ohio).
• Oklahoma (0 out of 4).
• Oregon (0 out of 6).
• Pennsylvania (2 out of 16): Newark-Union (New Jersey-Pennsylvania), State College.
• Rhode Island (0 out of 1).
• South Carolina (3 out of 10): Augusta-Richmond County (Georgia-South Carolina), Columbia, Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach.
• South Dakota (1 out of 3): Sioux Falls.
• Tennessee (1 out of 10): Cleveland.
• Texas (7 out of 26): Austin-Round Rock, Brownsville-Harlingen, Dallas-Plano-Irving, El Paso, Lubbock, McAllen-Edinburg-Pharr, San Antonio.
• Utah (2 out of 5): Logan (Utah-Idaho), Provo-Orem.
• Vermont (0 out of 1).
• Virginia (3 out of 11): Charlottesville, Harrisonburg, Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News (Virginia-North Carolina).
• Washington (2 out of 13): Kennewick-Richland-Pasco, Lewiston (Idaho-Washington).
• West Virginia (1 out of 9): Parkersburg-Marietta (West Virginia-Ohio).
• Wisconsin (3 out of 15): Appleton, Madison, Oshkosh-Neenah.
• Wyoming (0 out of 2).

The new Cadillac model mix is looking very interesting. A 2 Door CTS coming in 2010, a newly redesigned SRX is on the way and there are even Escalade Hybrids for the ‘rappers who want to look eco-friendly’. Cadillac appears to be taking seriously the loss of luxury market share and the loss of GM highline partner SAAB, as an opportunity to get back in the game. Everyone knows Bob Lutz is a fan of Cadillac, but can this product rebound and compete against BMW / Lexus / Infiniti / Mercedes?

Who Knows? But it is sure going to be a tough fight.

One thing from previous experience that Cadillac needs to do is get very aggressive with its marketing. Not just the TV creative; I mean everyone liked watching Kate Walsh press her foot to the accelerator and talk about “you turning on the car and it returning the favor.” But, what they really need to do is correct their image of an old boat-like product and not running ads until the public totally turns them off. Cadillac probably needs to be pushing more grassroots events and public showings of its vehicles than any other brand. A company like Cadillac can run as many ads, have as many mailers, buy mass buys on Google – Yahoo – MSN (where they have total web page dominance), but until people sit in their cars and experience them behind the wheel, I don’t think much is going to change.

When you cram a ton of traffic into dealerships that are lean on salespeople, managers and delivery people guess what happens… CSI Scores suffer.

When you send domestic owners to an import dealership or import owners to a domestic dealership guess what happens… CSI Scores suffer.

Why does this happen? Dealerships were over run during cash for clunkers, sales people were scrambling to get all their deals covered and delivered and people were pushed in and out of the dealership faster then they probably wanted to be. You also brought in different customers to different franchise stores than they were use to going to. All this spells lower CSI Scores which can affect co-op credit and standing with the manufacturer.

A couple ways to overcome:

GM/Owner – make personal calls, emails to some of the customers who bought and invite back in for a personal tour of the facility and to meet the staff.  Come on – it’s not that many people and few will take you up on it, but all will appreciate the gesture.

Thank You Note – print thankyou notes, cards and mail/address to all customers who bought during this time. This is the extra mile but it is seldom crowded.

New Owner Clinics – these need to be handled to perfection. For the dealers who already do them, make sure this months are the best that you have ever done.  For the dealers who don’t do them, time to think about starting them.

Just a couple of items to help preserve CSI… Remember Carl Sewell wrote about “Customers For Life”  this applies to clunker customers too.

A dealer asked me the other day to check into college football games for his team on a specific network station. This led me to unload my rant on the difference in active programming vs. passive programming. It is a waste of precious ad dollars to buy one or two spots in a major college or pro football game. In the Atlanta Market alone, to purchase one spot in a Falcons game or Georgia Bulldogs game can range from $5,000 to $13,000. Think about the frequency that you loose when buying one spot for this versus 30 to 50 GRPs as part of a condensed merchandising schedule. Better yet – think about the return that $5,000 to $13,000 worth of direct mail can give your dealership.

Definition of Active Programming – programs that are watched intensely, football games / basketball / auto racing / contest of any kinds that draw fans who are keenly interested in nothing else than the outcome of said match. Events where supporters travel, spend money, time and effort to watch a particular event. Purchasing programs in these air breaks can be viewed a waste of money.

Definition of Passive Programming –programming that is consistent or in a series, weekday or weekend but married to a consistent time where talent, content and outcome seldom changes. These programs can consist of Local News, Cable Programs, or any other type that does not have a dramatic outcome or revelation coming at the conclusion of the show or series. This programming is aimed at people who are drifting in thought and attention during these programs and are easier and more cost effective to make a lasting and direct impression on for less money.