Susan Eway, Business Development Manager at Danbury Auto Group (which includes Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep, Ram, Hyundai, and Kia brands) had to face some big obstacles when she first joined the dealership. The Internet department was only seven months old and it…

When you’ve been in the auto business for almost 30 years, you learn to appreciate quality. Fort Wayne, Indiana’s Curt Richards has seen it all. From the sales floor to the finance department, as an Internet Manager, and most recently as a BDC Administrator, Curt oversees the operations of a business development center that supports sales, parts and service operations for 4…

How to Provide the Most Positive Digital Showroom Experience

Car buyers are spending more time online shopping for a car than ever before! According to a

 Polk Study, internet usage has increased significantly, with ¾ of…

It happens every year during August, no I’m not talking about back to school shopping. I’m talking about Shark Week! First conceived in 1987, this has been cable’s longest-running promotion and spurred comedic parodies of the like. While other networks have tried to replicate the success of Shark Week, none have been able to build the same…

I’ve written many blogs on the topic of mobile friendly websites, emails, and all around marketing, yet I’ve noticed that most dealerships are not mobile ready. Smartphone usage has surged past 50% while Tablet ownership hit 25% just in the past year. This trend is not slowing down anytime soon either, it’s quickly accelerating.

Customers can access your website from anywhere—they might visit at home, at work, at a store, or anywhere in between. Knowing your audience…

What’s the one thing that big box retailers don’t have? Heritage and a story. Sure, they can hire celebrity spokespeople, spend millions in advertising and photography, but they can’t tell me a story. This is one thing that Bentley has excelled at in their recent campaign dubbed, “Le Mans 24 Hours: Les…

Your digital showroom is the best source for quality leads and lead generation. Your consumers are not going to third party sites to search for your dealership, they are going to search engine sites like Google. And in those search engine sites, your potential customer is usually typing in the model of the vehicle they are looking for or they use search terms like…

From day one, owners Ted Rubin and Todd Smith built ActivEngage to be employee-focused. In addition to providing free medical, dental, and vision benefits, ActivEngage proves that it truly values its employees with free gym memberships to promote workplace wellness, an on-staff licensed massage therapist to relieve work-related stress, bi-monthly food trucks, and a lounge…

It’s really tough to tell the difference between a trend and a fad, most pundits get it wrong a majority of the time. And it might sometimes seem in the world of online marketing and social media is the ultimate environment for chasing the latest fad. No one can truly predict the future, but  Mary Meeker's annual Internet Trend report gives us some insight in the world of online…

Employees will treat your customers EXACTLY the way you treat them. If your employees are well cared for, they will focus on being good to your customers.

This is why, according to Shep Hyken,  the secret to building a customer service culture is not to start focusing on customers, but rather employees. He says that great companies "hire the right people to fit into the culture. They train them both technically and on how to…

Lady Gaga has her Little Monsters, Justin Bieber has his Beliebers, Kiss has their Kiss Army, and your dealership has ______? Where are your fans? Musicians focus their marketingon connecting with fans, that’s nothing new, but that approach is grounded in solid business sense. A 2010 Satmetrix study found that evangelists or fans, spend 13% more than the average customer, and they refer business equal to 45% of the money they…

Headquarter Toyota Closes 12% of Chat Sales Leads

Cindy Rosado, Internet Director for Headquarter Toyota has been in the industry for 18 years. To keep up with the demand of today’s online shoppers as well as the ability to communicate with the mix of nationalities in Miami, Rosado knew she needed to start looking for a chat solution. What drew Rosado to ActivEngage is their ability to chat in 16 different languages along with the fact that 34% of the ActivEngage VSA…

Earlier this year I wrote a blog on how to make your dealership’s website mobile friendly, however a recent …

In his new book, To Sell is Human, bestselling author Daniel Pink argues that selling has changed more in the last ten years than it did over the previous 100. Think about it, whether we’re trying to push a product to someone or just trying to convince someone of our point of view,…

For the past 40-something years, a German Wolf Researcher named Werner Freund has operated a wolf sanctuary in Saarland, Germany, where he has personally raised more than 70 animals.

In 1972, Freund acquired the land to build his Wolfspark as a loan from the city of Merzig. The reserve currently houses 29 Mongolian and Arctic wolves. Most of the  wolves were acquired from zoos…

In regards to customer service, some phrases have become redundant and out right stupid to say to customers. From working retail to chatting for your dealership, I’ve gathered some phrases that need to be revamped so that your customer service can remain top notch!

Some customer service phrases that needs work:

“How can I help you today?”

What’s wrong with that one you say? It’s not personal enough, everyone and their mother’s say this.…

We’ve all come across it, a negative review. It’s almost like a scarlet letter. You know it’s around but you really don’t want to address it. That’s probably the worse thing you could do, so the question remains--how do you respond to a negative review?

1. Find out their story
   1. Take…

We’re hearing lots of talk about resolutions to keep in the new year. Promises to eat better, quit smoking, save more money, and tour the world are being made all around the nation right now. Have you resolved to make 2013 the year to dominate digital at your dealership? ActivEngage can help you with that. In our latest eBook, …

At the 2013 New Media Expo in Las Vegas, Scott Monty shared Ford’s storytelling lessons. From Ford’s ups and downs Monty has solid advice, so I will get straight into them:

• Let fans tell your story. Ford initially created a website called “The Ford Story” to help communicate with the public during the auto bailout crisis and…

My mother often tells me that you can trust no one, “You can’t even trust your right hand, because that one can chop your left hand off.” Thanks for the gruesome metaphoric advice, Mom. However, when it comes to advertising, it rings pretty true. Market research firm Lab42 just released a study that…