Who’s pulling your strings? Legalized extortion for the auto business.

In the automotive business, we expect there to be critics. We understand that there are detractors to our business. No one understands the value of “the voice of the customer” better than an automotive dealer. In fact, there’s been a whole business built around “relationship management” specifically for the automotive industry.

Social media has taken this concept ten-fold and has given a larger voice to those that have been wronged, misguided and mistreated. It’s given strength to consumers in ways they never had before. But what happens when the tables aren’t balanced? What if you went to a place of business in spite of an advisor’s description…and had a great experience? Would your voice be louder and more effective than the person who had a poor experience? What if you didn’t have a choice to judge for yourself? What if the social media source “filtered” out only good reviews in an effort to have you advertise with them? Would that make the “voice” of that site more credible or less? If people believe what they read online is true… is it?

While most business owners and their management spend time and resources on improving communications, there is always the potential for failure. Most people who work in our business are genuinely invested in their customers and understand the value of long-term customer loyalty. We train, teach, talk about, review, hire and inspire the people who work with us all in the effort of customer loyalty.

If one review is more effective to drive a customer than another review, would you pay for it? Would you pay to have all the “voice” of customer scores posted? What if the social media site filtered out any posted positive responses and replaced them with negative ones? Would you think that’s fair? What if your potential customers aren’t getting the whole picture?

We’ve all received the phone call from Yelp to advertise with them. They make no promises to post positive reviews, nor do they guarantee your response rate will improve if you advertise with them. The proposal is centered on the number of readers that see the site and the power of social media. I suppose it’s coincidental that the negative “non-filtered” reviews find their way to the top of every page. Is it smart advertising or legalized extortion?

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Comment by Doug Wilson on March 10, 2013 at 1:03pm: Thanks for writing this. Groups like this are how we can arm ourselves against this type of legalized extortion. I have had similar experiences in running my dealerships.

Comment by Joe Clementi on March 10, 2013 at 10:28am: Michael. Congratulations for your DealerRater scores it shows your commitment to your customers! It's no coincidence your scores are so low on Yelp as its become common theme throughout the dealers in CA with the exception of those that advertise. Thanks for your contribution.

Comment by Michael Jessick on March 9, 2013 at 7:27pm: This is an excellent piece Joe.

A little note. Our Buick GMC dealership just received CA Dealer of the year Award on DealerRater 4.8 stars on 115 reviews, but on yelp we barely get 3 stars. We as a company take CSI very seriously and nobody wants a gun to your head but the system is trying to put one there. Extortion! Extortion!

Comment by Joe Clementi on March 9, 2013 at 3:10pm: @Stan, thank you for reading and contributing.

@Tom, You are spot on! There are actually separate websites associated with how the practice is negatively affecting our business. I appreciate you taking the time to read and respond.

Comment by Joe Clementi on March 9, 2013 at 3:08pm: John, thanks for taking the time to respond and thanks for pointing out what's happened to your dealership as well! Thanks for your contribution.

Comment by Todd Vowell on March 9, 2013 at 2:02pm: Duane Sanders, B-I-N-G-O! Lets do it, LOL!

Comment by Tom Gorham on March 9, 2013 at 1:42pm: Great post. John Douglass, we're in almost the exact same situation. We are 5-Star on DealerRater and 28 on Google, but 3-Star on Yelp. Which is more accurate? I know the answer to that.

I don't know why anyone would encourage customers to post a review on Yelp unless that customer is already an established Yelper. A bad review will make it immediately on the site and the rest will be filtered because the customer has not posted reviews before.

We've all received the sales call, but we haven't received a reason to accept it.

Comment by Stan Sher on March 9, 2013 at 12:46pm: Great post.

Comment by John Douglass on March 9, 2013 at 12:26pm: Your piece describes exactly what happened and is happening to us. You could not be any more accurate. Shame on Yelp for even calling me. They are the absolute worst when it comes to customer service or accurately depicting what goes on in our store. We are a three star Yelp dealer, while we carry a 27 of 30 on Google and show well over 340 DealerRater reviews at 4.9+ out of 5. They are all hiding behind their "dynamic" algorithm. Legalized extortion is exactly what it is.

Comment by Duane Sanders on March 9, 2013 at 12:24pm: Maybe we should start a review site for review sites......