The next big thing for 2013 may not be what you think. Before I tell you exactly what it is that will grow your business exponentially this year, I want to recap a few of the "big things" that the 'experts' told us we had to focus on over the past few years.

REMOVE THE CLUTTER

A few years back, all of the 'experts' in automotive internet marketing said that we absolutely, positively, needed to eliminate pop ups on our websites because they interfere with the shopping process and ultimately lead to a poor consumer experience.

Fact: in 2010, 2011 & 2012 those EXACT SAME 'EXPERTS' sold us all on pop-up windows inviting consumers to chat. Pop up windows with virtual assistants, and most recently, pop up windows offering gift cards for.... test drives.

Apparently consumers are no longer offended by pop up windows because they're associated with products that allow third parties to profit from dealers right?

Not exactly. Fact of the matter is, some consumers will tolerate a certain level of annoyance, if they feel there is enough benefit for them. Heck, if I'm coming to your dealership anyway, why not get a $20 Best Buy gift card too :)

LEADS DON'T MATTER - VISIBILITY DOES

About 5 years ago, all of the online classified sites saw email leads start to decline so they needed a new strategy. Why did the number of email leads start going down? There are a million theories from all of the experts but I'm not even going to get into them here - I'm just going to focus on the end result. The online classified sites begain telling dealers that it's not about 'leads' it's about getting more visibility for your vehicles - "Look at all the people who saw your cars Mr. Dealer, obviously many of them are walking on the lot, they're just not telling you that they saw the car on our site but can you prove to us that they didn't?"

Fact: Leads DO matter...A LOT!

Anyone who says leads don't matter is full of crap. Of course visibility leads to traffic in may formats: walk-in, phone, chat, email, text, etc., and no matter how the consumer connects with us - they are a 'lead' of some sort.

Many sites don't want us to focus on leads because we wouldn't be happy paying $7,500 a month to end up with 100 emails and 30 phone calls. But for some reason, we feel alright about it when they say "You had 30,000 views on your vehicles so you only paid 25 cents for each time a vehicle was viewed - obviously you'd pay 25 cents to have someone drive on your lot and this is your virtual lot so that $7,500 cost is cheap compared to other ad sources...what does it cost per customer with your print ads?"

Listen up, I'm not saying that online classified sites are ripping you off, heck, they're getting you better exposure than most ad sources out there. What I am saying is that you advertise for two reasons: To attract new customers and to stay Top of Mind for current customers in case they are shopping online instead of coming to you direct.

If you're advertising, it should result in measurable results in the form of leads that convert into sales - period.

YOU HAVE TO FOCUS ON SOCIAL MEDIA

This one really gets me. I have talked to so many dealers over the past 5 years about their marketing strategy and the role that Social Media has played and I still haven't met one person who has proven that their social media outlets have increased sales to a point that they justify the cost & effort.

I'm not saying it's all hype, I'm just saying that most of the dealers I've spoken with always go back to the response: "we can't be the guys who aren't on Facebook".

Fact: Social media has a ton of value for dealers but most of us aren't approaching it with an honest expectation so it doesn't drive the results that we hope for.

People didn't join Facebook with the hope of befriending their friendly neighborhood car dealer. Facebook has even put safeguards in place to protect consumers from being bombarded by marketers. Facebook even allows people to 'hide' posts from pages they like so they aren't visible in their stream. (Facebook is also kind enough to let you pay them more money if you want to force your posts upon people).

How to you use social media intelligently? Post honest things. Happy customers and most of allpost things relevant to your business and tell people that whenever they are ready to buy, they should buy from your...then give them a good reason why and an easy way to convert into a customer.

SO WHAT IS THE NEXT BIG THING FOR 2013?

Common sense.

As far as keeping your current customers. Give them a reason to keep buying from you. Reach out to them with regular email promotions and more important - make (yes MAKE) your salespeople call those customers every 90 days just to check in and make see if there is anything they can do to serve that customer. 

As far as getting new customers. Common sense again. It doesn't cost your dealership ANYTHING to prospect for referrals so make it a STANDARD at your dealership that your sales team prospects their customers for referrals. Joe Verde recommends every six months, a simple phone call to 'update your records' - How many, how many who's next?

Fact: Using that simple prospecting technique, with no increase in advertising, my dealership increased unit sales by 42% and gross profit by over 60%.

You see gang, the next big thing in 2013 isn't something new at all. To steal from the Samsung Galaxy S3 commercials, "the next big thing is already here".

The next big thing in 2013 is common sense marketing strategy by measuring what you're doing and managing your marketing better by eliminating the partners that don't produce results.

The next big thing is getting back to basics in some areas that we KNOW to be effective: Customer service, prospecting, improving our overall sales skills.

You can take your current advertising and make it better.

MY NOT SO SHAMELESS PLUG:

As you can see from many, more like any, of my posts I am not shy about promoting my company and what we do.

My company, KonigCo, is focused on using tried and tested SMS technology in a way that will actually generate LEADS for dealers. We take all of your current ads and supercharge them:

• Cars.com
• Autotrader.com
• Edmunds.com
• Craigslist Ads
• Newspaper Ads
• Radio Ads
• Display Ads
• Billboards

We take all of those ads that your currently doing and we add a simple too that will help you track the true results of every one of them PLUS increase the amount of leads you get from every single advertising vendor that you're using right now.

The best part is that our program only runs $13/day ($399/mo) with UNLIMITED LEADS and every leads includes a 100% guaranteed VALID mobile phone number so you can call the prospect within 60 seconds of them viewing your advertisement.

Want to know more?

Contact me today at www.konig.co or email nextbigthing@konig.co with your contact information and I'll contact you personally.

Want to see how quickly SMS technology responds, and how quickly you can connect with your potential buyers? 

Take out your mobile phone and text the word: SALES to the phone number 71441 (yes, it's just a 5 digit phone number).

If you're ready to make 2013 even better than 2012, it's time that you and I connect. What are you waiting for? Reach out today so you can start selling more vehicles within 7 days!

Helping the best get better,

Mat Koenig
CEO
KonigCo

www.konig.co

P 615-392-0289

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Go directly to our Google Plus Community at http://community.konig.co