Two years ago while looking for a new digital marketing home I penned this blog post based on my observations visiting prospective employers.  Though I am happily nestled in a progressive and healthy wonderland right now, I find the points that I raise still very relevant in today's automotive digital marketing world:

Any good salesperson knows that the last way you want to greet a customer is with the words,

Sales 101 teaches that you will guarantee yourself that famous reflex reaction that stymies your sales efforts:

"Just looking!"

This most basic of all reflex reactions thrusts the novice (or lazy/skill deprived) salesperson into sales purgatory.  If your sales manager is not watching, you will make sure you give them your name and let them know exactly where in relation to the coffee machine you will be standing explaining to your coworkers why these people are probably not buyers -- so they can find you when they have found what they are looking for.  (This also happens to be the salesperson version of dogs peeing on a bush to mark their territory.  These customers are now "upped", meaning that this salesperson has exclusive rights to any purchases these people make by virtue of the fact that he/she first said words to these people.)

I professionally "upped" them so if they buy within the next three years they are my customer!

If your sales manager is watching, you are condemned to perform the "stalker walk", following them from item to item until they either flee on the wings of some lame excuse to free themselves from this awkward situation or until they ask you a question, thus absolving you from your sin of ineffectiveness and letting you begin your version of the sales process. For a couple of weeks now I have been attempting to find a new home for my marketing experience and talents.  It has been frustrating to say the least.  Upon reflection, however, I realized that I was approaching it in much the same way as a novice or lazy/unskilled salesperson.  I was walking in, asking for a dealer principle, handing him/her my resume and explaining, "I was wondering if we can talk about what I can offer your Internet marketing efforts!" If you ask a dealer principle, general manager, sales manager, etc. to consider letting you help their digital marketing efforts they, too, have reflex responses.  Most fall into these three categories:

"We already have someone who does Internet for us."

"What we do now is working for us, we aren't looking to add anything right now."

"Yeah, we know we need to do something about it.  We just aren't sure what yet."

If you climb a mountain to its summit to find a robed and bearded guru from whom to solicit advice, he will no doubt begin by teaching you that the first step to any problem is to admit that there is a problem. There are so many facets to the modern automobile dealer franchise that excelling in every single one of them is nearly impossible.  When you remain open, however, to exploring how to improve when the opportunity presents itself you are inarguably more likely to find success in multiple areas than those for whom constructive scrutiny is just too vexing. 

So what do I do?

• Does your vehicle fill most of the frame of the picture?  Are they well focused?  Is lighting or glare a significant hindrance?
• Is your description correct?  Does it feature an accurate trim level and include the most important or unique options?  Did you update the mileage on demo units?
• Do you have engaging ad copy in the description?  Is it relevant to the vehicle?  Does it answer the most basic questions about the vehicle. (You would be surprised, by the way, on how much more people rely on the pictures than the descriptions for feature/trim information.) Do you point out significant damage or defects in your pictures or descriptions?  (It's not as though a customer is not going to notice when they arrive.)

You wouldn't buy clothes that were all crumpled up on the floor of a fancy clothier, would you?  Your inventory feed is your prospect's first exposure to your primary product.  Make your first impression a good (and accurate) one!   Find your story and tell it well. Believe it or not: not every dealer is the #1 biggest volume primary source of the most amazing ever expanding all encompassing inventory at the lowest below invoice pricing in the tri-state area that specializes in giving you an amazing difference that results in the greatest customer satisfaction of anyone anywhere who also happens to give you more for your trade than anyone else ever will because they sell more cars than all other local dealers combined! All dealers have those facets of the automotive sales business in which they absolutely excel.  Discern your greatest strengths and use good ad copy and images to portray it simply and succinctly on your company website.  Present your story, not just a template of what automobile dealer sites are supposed to say.  People tune out a preponderance of cliches.  Make your site reflect who you are and in what you excel. A high end luxury dealer's site should not look and read like a modest, low end economy dealer's site -- and vice versa! We caught one! Now what? All of the above becomes an exercise in futility in the absence of a good Internet lead process.  If you put ten salespersons or marketing professionals in a room, you will get eleven opinions on what the lead process should look like.  On one point they should all agree:  your process should never be etched in stone.  As market trends ebb and flow so, too, should your response tactics constantly be edited, tested, and tweaked.  Here are some points to consider:

• If you use an auto-responder, it should contain simple calls to action.  Remember, too, that brevity is the soul of wit!  Avoid sending a Charles Dickens manuscript as your auto-responder.
• Answer quickly.  Forget the OEM clock, you should be answering leads quickly because it makes good business sense.  I've never heard anyone say, "strike after the iron cools off". 
• Answer the question!  If your prospect has questions, answer them.  Don't try to sell the car via email or phone.  Your goal at this point is to sell the appointment.  Ideally you seek that balance between giving enough information to build trust and rapport and yet letting reasons remain to justify the prospect's need to come in to see you. You will never build rapport by ignoring the prospect's questions, though.
• Calls to action: use them!  Every email correspondence should invite the prospect to proceed to the next logical step in the sales process.  
• Build rapport and make every attempt to connect with your prospect.

The length and/or intensity of your follow up process or its contents all should be regularly discerned by the individual dealership.  If you have a high volume of leads, try two competing process models for a quarter and measure your results.  The point is that a good Internet strategy should include scrutiny, an openness to new trends/ideas, and an attention to the resulting data.

That's so crazy it just might work!

Finally, make sure you have a good Internet Marketing Manager at the helm.  Many opinions exist on what makes a good Internet manager.  I would propose, however, that whoever you choose and whatever his/her duties a good Internet professional should have difficulty sitting still.  The jetsam and flotsam churning about on the Web affects and influences our culture to a greater degree at every passing moment.  Good Internet marketing watches those trends, tries new approaches, and tests ideas carefully to determine what is most effective -- even if those results conflict with his/her personal biases. Closing a deal hasn't really changed.  Automobile purchases are still largely based on emotional impulses.  What increasingly differs are the ways that we are attracting prospects to our sales staff and closers.  Internet trends are fluid and so, too, should be our Internet marketing.  A good Internet Marketing Manager realizes this and, while staying true to the fundamentals, is always looking to adapt the strategy and the message so as to stay relevant and effective.