Tomorrow’s e-Commerce Dealership Today How to create more value, generate more sales and realize more income
New research will show you what is costing your dealership car deals. We’ll show you what the new breed of well-rounded, tech savvy dealerships are doing to increase overall dealership profitability. This session is mission critical for every dealership employee from the dealer principal to the Internet manager and beyond. Learn how your dealership could be generating more car deals by looking in places you may not have explored before. The successful e-commerce dealerships of the future are employing simple, proven strategies to sell more vehicles, increase gross profits, and retain more customers more effectively and easily than ever before.
Mike DeCecco is an industry veteran who has worked in the automotive business for over 10 years with companies such as Manheim Auto Auctions and AutoTrader.com. Before venturing into the Internet arena, Mike worked the floor as a sales consultant. While working up through the ranks at the dealership, he drove floor sales by taking advantage of the latest in Internet capabilities.
Since 2003, DeCecco has been instrumental in the development of Dealer.com – a leading provider of eMarketing solutions for the automotive industry. In his tenure, he has worked with dealers to offer innovative and proprietary e-commerce systems, such as fully integrated websites, search engine marketing and lead management. In his current capacity as the spokesperson and director of Industry Relations for Dealer.com he is speaking as an authority on automotive internet practices at conferences and conventions nationwide.
Prior to working for Dealer.com DeCecco managed the Internet business for one of the largest dealer groups in the country, the Lia Auto Group. At Lia, he managed the online presence and marketing of approximately 30 rooftops with 11 franchises in New York alone.
Kevin Root is the vice president of Product Strategy for DriverSIde.com. He has worked in the automotive industry for over 20 years and has been recognized by J.D. Power and Associates as one of the original automotive ecommerce pioneers. Root is an automotive e-commerce subject matter expert and has led the product strategy for major portals including DriverSide.com, MSN Autos and UsedCars.com and is accredited for bringing over a dozen successful products to market. He has developed ecommerce performance improvement solutions for many of the major automotive OEMs and several leading dealer groups.
Previously, Root was the VP of Product Strategy and Marketing at Dealix, a division of Cobalt, and the VP of Products and Services in Cobalt’s Applications Group. He was responsible for product management, strategy, dealer consulting and their industry-leading research initiatives.
TRACK SPEAKERS
First Impressions Now Happen Online! The online reputation management playbook that’s generated 1,000-plus positive online reviews – driving hundreds of high-closing leads every month
Dealers are abuzz talking about online reputation management, but this dealer-to-dealer workshop will really get them doing. Workshop attendees will be the very first to benefit from an insider, 100%-proven, A-Z, step-by-step online customer review process. Created by the first and only dealership in the nation with a full-year of objective analytics revealing its true ROI - and the eye-popping impact it will have on your calls, leads, and closing ratios.
This is the online reputation game plan you must undertake for your dealership in 2010 to ensure you shine online as the #1 consumer choice in your market. The system that can take you to 1,000-plus positive reviews all across the web – driving 150-plus leads into your dealership a month—with unprecedented closing rates.
Join Joe Orr, Dick Hannah GM, to learn a process that will also unleash a radical, positive culture change at your store(s): everyone focused on great customer service – to drive powerful online “word of mouth” –driving big, new-found business.
Attendees will leave with a physical playbook outlining all step-by-step processes (i.e., accountability, reports, templates, scripts, etc.
Joe Orr has 30 years experience in the car business, and serves as GM for multiple dealerships at Hannah Motor Co., the largest dealer group in the state of Washington.
Recognized as a dealer well ahead of the Internet curve, Orr has presented at major conferences, including J.D. Power’s ‘Internet Round Table’ and the Driving Sales Executive Summit. The Hannah Dealerships have been named top ‘Internet Dealer’ for both used used cars and special finance in the U.S.
The future for Internet sales is here – is your dealership poised to dramatically grow market share? Do you operate a true “Internet dealership” or are you still relying on an “Internet department?” Are all of your managers actively involved in driving sales via the web or is your future success dependent on an Internet manager and his/her team of “people who are good with computers?” Unless everyone in your store is fully dedicated to the Internet process, you have no chance to succeed in the new economy. You already know that virtually all of your customers are “Internet customers,” so why aren’t you operating an “Internet dealership?”
This session will provide you with the blueprint you need to transition from an outdated Internet department into a genuine Internet dealer. You will leave with the knowledge necessary to create and execute action plans to truly become the Dealership of Tomorrow… Today.
Steve Stauning is the co-founder of Kain-Stauning, a leading automotive dealership training and consulting services firm focusing on digital marketing and Internet sales. Prior to his work with Kain-Stauning, he has served in various leadership roles, including as the Asbury Automotive Group’s (NYSE: ABG) director of ecommerce, the director of the Web Solutions division of the Reynolds & Reynolds Company, and as general manager for Dealer Web Services at Dealer Specialties.
In this presentation, panel discussion, and interactive workshop featuring Dealix executives, leading industry sales trainer David Kain of Kain Automotive, and a successful dealer group Internet dealer, plus audience participation, dealers will get tactical ideas for improving their phone call and phone lead handling process that they can apply in their dealerships immediately. Topics will include findings from Dealix’s latest study of phone leads - car buyer phone calls into dealerships and dealer responses; featuring actual recordings of dealers handling incoming phone inquiries into their stores – including terribly-handled phone calls, mixed calls with good and bad lead handling practices, and winning calls that got the consumer into the store and ended in a sale. The panel of experts will discuss what worked and what didn’t in the phone calls, how dealerships can do better, and how dealers can set up a winning phone lead handling process in their stores, from hold music to voice mails to call scripts. Prize giveaways will be included!
David Kain has a unique blend of dealership and manufacturer experience. As dealer principal of his family owned dealership, he learned how to make every dime count and produce sales each day. With FordDirect.com, as a founder and COO, he worked with a talented team to create an industry leading automotive Internet company. As a partner in Jack Kain Ford and Kain Family Ford, he recognizes how important it is to make every facet of a dealership profitable. Kain has a real passion for the automotive Internet, which resulted in his creating Kain Automotive Internet Sales Training and Business Development Center Installation. A summary of his speaking experience and publications he writes for include: NADA, JD Power Internet Roundtable, Dealer Track Innovation Conference, SATURN Corporation Dealer Meetings, Auto Re-marketing UCM Spring Training; Re-marketing Conference, ENG Search and CRM Conference, AAISP Conference and Auto Success Summit. NJCAR, DADA, GADA, NCADA, OADA, NNCTDA, UADA, KADA, GRNCDA, OCADA Internet and BDC columnist for Wards Dealer Business, AutoSuccess, Used Car Dealer Magazine and Dealix, AskPatty, Black Book Newsletters.
Anna Zornosa is general manager of Dealix, a Division of Cobalt. Before joining Dealix in 2007, she managed consumer-facing websites for Yahoo! and Knight Ridder Digital, among others.
Dimitar Alexandrov is a director of products for Dealix Usedcars.com and was a key contributor to its new design and re-launch in January of this year. He has been designing products for dealers and shoppers of pre-owned vehicles for several years, and was formerly on the product management team at Cars.com.
Fact: The Internet has become more and more competitive, with more and more dealers investing significant time, effort and money into their entire Internet marketing strategy.
Strategy: You are all competing for the same consumer, so what is your strategy to win? Sure, you all use SEO, social media, video, effective merchandising, etc., but how do you make certain that a consumer finds your ads, engages your ad, and responds to your ads instead of your competitors?
Session: This session will teach fundamental Internet marketing strategies utilized by some of the industry’s top e-dealers, along with some forward thinking next generation. More importantly, this session will teach you how you can easily utilize one to facilitate the other, decreasing the amount of time, effort and money you invest while increasing the number of consumers who find your ads, engage your ads and respond to your ads.
Timmy D. James is a leading automotive digital marketing expert and a well-respected speaker at industry events. As director of sales with HomeNet, Inc., James leads the rapidly-growing automotive Internet marketing provider’s direct-to-dealer marketing, sales, and product initiatives. James and his team have helped thousands of dealers to increase sales by implementing proven ‘best practices’ that are consistently employed by top e-dealers. HomeNet has emerged as the market leader for Internet marketing and data acquisition/aggregation, currently helping more than 15,000 dealers to get more leads from their website and online classifieds with the powerful Inventory Online (IOL) Vehicle Marketing Suite.
With Twitter adding year by year 1000%-plus followers and fans to their community, it is crucial as a dealership and dealership group to understand what Twitter actually can do for you. It is not about sending just streams and streams of inventory listings to your followers or sales pitches of the re-occurring $99 lease on all remaining 2010 models. Twitter has a purpose and an immense impact on all profit centers at your dealership. Learn how you and your team can unleash the power of Twitter and micro-blogging with the T.R.I.A.N.G.L.E approach
Transparency
Reputation
Information
Attraction
News
Geography
Links, Links, Links
Engagement
Volker Jaeckel (a.k.a. VJ) is a hands-on practitioner in the automotive retail industry. During his career as an e-commerce director for a dealer group with 11 franchises in Atlanta, he was able to convert “typical” traditional marketing dealerships into 21st century digital marketing operations and made them successful. He is now the digital marketing ambassador for the Cobalt Group. VJ is known by his peers in the automotive industry to be “walking the walk.” His reputation earned notice from Digital Dealer magazine, which featured him as a cover story in 2009. He’s has spoken on social marketing at past Digital Dealer conferences.
Today’s consumer is shopping for cars, trying to schedule service appointments and looking for current incentives on yesterday’s websites. Your website needs to focus more on what the consumer wants to do and less on what you want them to do. If you give the consumer what they are looking for, they will buy from you, regardless of whether or not they submit a lead to you. In this session we will review
the value of real-time, robust inventory management,
the availability of pricing analytics and decision-making tools,
the flexibility to create customized coupons and specials for specific shoppers, and
the ability to understand how your customers are navigating your site.
These tools will help dealers understand what consumers actually want from a website and how good website design, valuable analysis of reports, and strong product integration between all of your online vendors can attract car buyers and convert them into customers.
Joe High has been with XIGroup for over 10 years. Prior to his role as general manager, High worked his way up from XIGroup's customer service department out of college in 2000 to project/operations manager. In November 2007, he became XIGroup’s general manager. High graduated from Salisbury State University in 2000 where he double majored in Business Management and Management Information Systems and earned an MBA in 2007 from the University of Baltimore. He currently lives in Perry Hall, MD and works out of the XIGroup offices in White Marsh, MD.
In this session we will define the purpose of the pre-owned department and what any dealership’s pre-owned manager should look at and define as their primary objective. Secondly, we will structure that department from management responsibilities, salespersons’ responsibilities and all the way down to a porter and the responsibilities they share in the pre- owned department. Thirdly, we will define accountability based on the dollars and inventory allotted to that department, which the manager should be accountable to the dealer in revenue and turn rates.
Tim Deese is the CEO and founder of Progressive Basics, Inc. He is a former franchise car dealer who has designed and implemented used car training and marketing for 15 manufacturers in 28 countries. Progressive Basics has trained over 50,000 dealers and managers. He has been a speaker at numerous NADA conventions, and was one of the top rated speakers in 2001 and 2008 at the Australian Automobile Dealers Associations Convention. He spoke at FADA conventions in Quebec and Hong Kong, along with Ford and BMW of the Middle East. Tim Deese is also one of the key speakers at Fenabrave in Brazil 2009.
In the past two years, Tim Jennings has done over 525 video walk-arounds and 90 customer testimonials that he has hosted on YouTube and his website. Nothing he has done in the 18 years of selling cars has had a faster return on time and effort than this. Two days after posting his first five videos, a customer walked into the showroom and said: “Hey, you are the guy in the video!”
You will receive all the info you need to have video up and running in one hour. Also, let Jennings show you some short cuts he has learned in the last year that will save you time and effort. By the way, did we mention this is free technology? Wow, he wishes someone would have given him all this information. He had to figure it out on his own. Now, you don't have to!
Tim Jennings has 18 years of automotive selling experience. The last 15 years have been at Tom Sparks Auto of DeKalb. Jennings welcomed the task of running the Internet department in 1999. At that time, the rest of the staff wanted nothing to do with it. Often fellow employees would tease about the “Internet mooches.” Like picking a solid stock early, he has enjoyed a good return on his investment of time. Jennings started the Internet department and has built it into the best returns on the dollar at his store. He spoke at the 2007, 2008 and 2009 Digital Dealer Conferences and is back delivering actionable information for 2010. “I’m not here to sell you anything. I sell cars every day just like you. I’m here to help you, so you will help me! Let me teach you what I have learned online since 1999.”
The Internet has empowered consumers with new tools to express their satisfaction and dissatisfaction with car dealers online. Dozens of consumer review websites now appear on Google page one for searches on a car dealer's business name. What are they saying about your dealership? Have you looked?
Add to this mix new mobile phone technology that can reward consumers for on-site reviews and you can see why dealers in 2010 need a reputation management policy and strategy.
Brian Pasch will review effective IRM strategies that car dealers can implement at a low cost that deliver a high ROI. Learn what other car dealers are doing to increase their positive customer reviews on Google Maps, DealerRater, Presto Reviews, InsiderPages and other important review websites. Internet reputation management will be one of the key metrics for success in 2010 and beyond. Attend this seminar to have the tools and strategy for success.
Brian Pasch is the founder and CEO of PCG Digital Marketing, formerly the Pasch Consulting Group. He is a respected member of the automotive digital marketing community and an active writer and lecturer. His expertise in automotive SEO, social media and Internet reputation management have made him a popular name among dealers looking for strategic digital marketing advice.
As the automotive market evolves, dealers need to be abreast of the valuation information available to them in order to market inventory effectively. Taking into consideration macroeconomic factors, industry trends and actual transaction data, refined valuations can be produced, giving dealers the upper hand in pricing.
With accurate valuations, dealers have the opportunity to not only provide market-specific pricing to ensure accuracy, but also to build trust among consumers. In addition, when timely and market-reflective values are in place, dealerships can allay risk, minimize losses and increase profits.
Join us as we uncover the importance of using granular values in managing inventory online and provide greater insight into Kelley Blue Book’s valuation methodologies.
Juan Flores is the director of vehicle valuation for Kelley Blue Book. His primary responsibilities include managing the valuation team responsible for the production of Kelley Blue Book’s vehicle valuation publications and updating values on kbb.com each week. Flores ensures Kelley Blue Book’s values are accurate by performing statistical analysis on wholesale data from several external and internal sources. With this information, Flores generates tracking reports, reviews trends and determines the correlation analysis against economic indices. In addition, Flores maintains communication with a network of dealers and OEMs for further validation.
How quickly can you list all the customers who bought a certain year, make, and model who haven’t been in for service during the past two years? Once you get the list, how do you contact these customers? Data extraction expert, Sandi Jerome, will show you where the data is on your ADP, R+R, Arkona, or PC-based DMS system and various ways to e-mail, call, send a letter or postcard to these customers. She’ll give you tips on how to protect your database and how to survive a conversion from one computer system to another. Finally, she’ll discuss the steps to creating a marketing campaign from the initial step of having a reason to contact your customer all the way to measuring your results. For anyone looking to sell those extra vehicles a month without a huge cost, this is the workshop you need.
Sandi Jerome has been a top 10 rated speaker at NADA for over 15 years. With over 25 years experience in the automobile business, she is a CPA with a degree in accounting and was the controller and CFO for the largest Chevrolet/Dodge dealer in a five-state area. She is a former F&I manager and went on to be a fixed operations manager, system administrator and assistant GM. She is the author of many training guides, and was the first editor of Digital Dealer magazine. She has designed a new DMS system – DealerStar – to be released this year.
Ever wonder why some dealerships are always on top and gaining market share, even when the number of prospects decrease and money tightens?
· This session will provide you with a road map of some practical solutions to increase ROI with minimal resources for your sales department (new and used) and your fixed operations department (service, parts and collision center).
· The system facilitates the entire dealership to become a valuable resource in your e-commerce program with proper planning, personnel, and process steps to capture current and future customers.
· Learn the what, when, why and how to implement the latest technologies and get a preview of some of the new technologies and processes for tomorrow.
Whether you are a dealer principal, GM, GSM, ISM, fixed operations director, service manager, parts manager or collision center director, you will walk away with a clearer understanding of what it takes to be a top performing e-commerce dealership and most importantly, you’ll learn about additional tools and systems to get you to the top.
Ray Fenster has been involved in all areas of the automotive business with a concentration on using the Internet. He formerly was the e-commerce director of the Lindsay Automotive Group and has been with other groups around the Washington D.C. beltway for over 12 years. His expertise is in maximizing the use of web-based marketing and lowering dealerships’ overall marketing costs. The Lindsay Automotive Group was one of the very few groups chosen by eBay to pilot the e-dealership program. Fenster moved the eBay local and national program ahead to include new car as well as used car sales, service and parts. Fenster is a regular contributor to several automotive publications and is currently offering research and consulting services by analyzing current e-business status, working with management developing improved strategies, recommending needed technologies, coaching/training to utilize systems effectively and providing easy to understand tools and metrics to continually improve in a cost effective manner for the dealerships and vendors.
This class will teach you the processes and strategies used by the top dealers on eBay Motors. This isn’t going to be a one-hour “hype” session. The goal of the class is to help you develop a plan to deliver consistent monthly sales on eBay Motors.
We are going to focus on five keys areas of success when selling on eBay Motors.
Creating listings that maximize bids and phone calls
Building a “virtual test drive” with your descriptions
Developing a pricing strategy
Getting your vehicles found on eBay and outside search engines
Interacting with eBay buyers
Clayton Stanfield is the manager of Dealer Training for eBay Motors. He oversees all training and industry outreach programs for eBay Motors. This includes speaking at industry events, running eBay Motors University and management of the Internet sales manager training program.
Prior to his experience at eBay Motors, Stanfield worked for five years as a consultant in the auto industry building and training Internet departments and business development centers.
It was during his college years that he first entered the industry selling cars for a dealership in Sacramento, California. He later graduated with a bachelors degree in Business from Pepperdine University.
As the industry comes to terms with the reality of a 10-12 million annual seasonally adjusted new car market (SAAR), it has recognized the used car department as the cornerstone of variable profitability. However, there are significant unresolved challenges in redeploying human/investment capital and real estate to optimize success in the more efficient internet-driven used car market. Dale Pollak, a leading used car expert and best selling author, will present breakthrough paradigms for the variable department including structure, processes and strategies to overcome the most common and complex problems preventing dealers from realizing their full variable sales and profit potential.
Drawing from 13 years of experience as a dealer principal and more than a decade as a successful high-technology executive, serving the automotive retail industry, Dale Pollak is a highly sought-after authority on maximizing dealership profits from used vehicle operations. Dale Pollak is currently the chairman and founder of vAuto, Inc and a published author. The book is entitled Velocity 2.0: Paint, Pixels & Profitability and is a playbook of best practices and processes to help dealers become more successful.
Dealer 2.0 The new selling system of customer collaboration
Yesterday’s dealership required a command and control selling system, with a gross profit agenda focused on transactions. Today’s technology enabled vehicle shopper requires dealerships to install a new selling system that features transparency and customer collaboration.
Dealer 2.0 will examine the real world communication strategies used by top performing dealerships to win the online vehicle shopper, maintain gross, and increase profits. Session participants will understand how to construct a lead response plan and timing strategy, see examples of dealer branding elements that increase consumer engagement rates, know the difference between lead follow-up and lead nurturing, and receive the actionable information required to upgrade their own dealerships selling system to Dealer 2.0.
David Greene brings a sterling reputation as one of the automotive industry's most progressive and effective performance and training professionals. Greene has been in the automotive industry since 1980 and has worked in all aspects of retail sales management. Prior to founding e-Pro Automotive Group, Greene was EVP of Sales & Service for Reply!, an online marketing services firm. He also served as vice president of Sales and Dealer Network Operations for Autoweb.com, one of the first publicly traded online auto buying services. He had overall responsibility for dealer network development, dealer training and consulting services, customer care and account management.
Real-time communication is now allowing us to instantly talk with a shopper without waiting on e-mails to go back and forth. Leverage this type of technology to stop generating basic leads and start generating ready-to-buy shoppers. Your web site offers you the best place to increase your sales in 2010 using technology and old-fashioned sales process. Put these simple processes in place and turn your Internet sales department into a powerhouse of sales.
Todd Smith is co-founder and president of ActivEngage, Inc., the automotive industry's leading live chat service provider. He has over 18 years of successful industry experience and has worked in every facet of dealership operations, including spending 2007 as the general manager of a Chevrolet dealership. Smith has developed some of the most cutting edge eBusiness, BDC and showroom sales strategies and solutions for a variety of clients including Ford, Ford of Canada, AutoNation, Budget Car Sales, Maritz Inc., Mazda North America, Toyota Motors Sales, ADP, AutoTrader.com and over 1,500 dealerships across the U.S.
This highly practical session focuses on tips and techniques used to streamline social and digital marketing processes and those daily processes that must get done to keep your dealership competitive. Attendees will leave this session better equipped to maximize sales results from the time you have available. Actual social media sites will be evaluated based on objective criteria and the results they deliver, versus the time required to manage them. You have access to virtually unlimited social media marketing opportunities, which are available without direct media buying expenses. But are they free? Only if your time has no value! When the true value of your time is factored in, there are still many ROI positive opportunities, but there are also social media sites that become “black holes of time” and should be cut from your roster!
Ralph Paglia is responsible for business development at ADP’s Digital Marketing Group. Paglia helped establish strategic alliances for ADP with digital marketing enterprises such as Google, Yahoo!, KBB, Specific Media, Jumpstart, DealerRater and DoubleClick.
He has over 20 years of automotive experience including Reynolds Consulting Practice Leader and several dealership management positions. At Courtesy Chevrolet in Phoenix, his Internet and BDC teams generated over 4,000 vehicle sales in 2006. Paglia has developed digital dealer programs for Ford, Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Toyota and others. He recently collaborated with Ford marketing executives to create and launch the Ford Digital Advertising Program for Dealers. He is also the founder of the very popular social network known as the Automotive Digital Marketing Professional Community.
If your digital marketing plan is just a year behind – you have some serious catching up to do. Hear from Duncan Scarry, one of the Digital Dealer Conference’s top five speakers two years in a row, about exactly where your digital marketing plan should be right now and where it needs to head in the future. This presentation is a total package focusing on an overall plan – not one or two specific subjects. Topics covered will include: advanced analytics, web site development, search engine optimization, search engine marketing, e-mail marketing, online display, online / offline integration and social networking.
Duncan Scarry is the owner of Moore & Scarry Advertising, one of the country’s most respected automotive advertising agencies and a leader in the digital marketing space. Scarry has been rated by Digital Dealer attendees as a top-five speaker in back-to-back years. He brings a wealth of experience from a wide variety of digital marketing subjects – not just one or two. Lastly, he has a manner of presenting that allows complex subjects to be easily understood and digested by the mass audience.
All of the leads in the world won’t do your Internet departments any good if you’ve not yet mastered the art of the Internet road to the sale. The absolute key to success of every Internet department and BDC is the necessity of converting online prospects into completed showroom appointments. In this engaging and entertaining session, dealers will be shown the best practices of lead management process in a format inspired by today’s gameshows. From lead retrieval to showed appointment, no dealer can look toward the future unless they excel at this today. So either learn while seated in the audience or jump up and be a contestant as your host, Joe Webb, delivers the goods with The Lead to Appointment Show!
Joe Webb, president of DealerKnows Consulting, is an automotive e-Commerce expert in digital marketing, Internet sales, lead management, and online advertising. Webb has been bringing best practices in online sales and inventory/solution management to dealers nationwide through his hands-on training efforts and progressive, virtual consulting.
Known as “the funniest guy in the car business,” Webb is a writer for Digital Dealer magazine and a regular, top-rated Digital Dealer conference speaker. In the past, Webb found success in the trenches where he created and managed an award-winning Internet department and BDC. His primary goal, as he always states, is “to better the culture of car sales.”
As dealers begin the migration from traditional marketing to digital marketing, there needs to be a focused and well-planned strategy in place to maximize the allocation of marketing spend. This seminar will present a series of best practices for dealers to decide which channel will provide the greatest opportunity to attract more prospects, convert more buyers, transact more deals, and retain more customers. Part of this presentation will also include an overview of a process for how dealers can better manage the migration from traditional to more digital marketing solutions including digital advertising, online transactions, and electronic customer communications tools.
Larry Cochran is vice president, Digital Marketing, for ADP Dealer Services. Cochran brings over 25 years of automotive industry experience, with a concentration in customer care, digital marketing and overall dealership technology. Prior to his current role within Digital Marketing, he led the sales efforts for an ADP unit called Hayes Ligon, which supplies service information to auto dealerships. In addition to these roles he has held numerous positions in sales and training for ADP.
Cochran has presented at numerous automotive industry functions and has written several industry articles with a focus on digital marketing.
The Price is Right Strategies, tools to align your pricing with the market
While price isn’t the only factor car buyers consider, it does play an important role in the decision-making process. Shoppers tend to eliminate options at the high and low end of the spectrum, focusing on listings that are competitively price and deliver the most bang for the buck. This workshop examines how your pricing strategy drives the visibility of your inventory and can help you win more than your fair share of the deals in your community.
In this session, attendees will learn how to:
Use market-based tools to set competitive prices for their listings.
Identify the in-demand cars that command a higher price and turn quickly.
Merchandise vehicles to demonstrate their value and hold gross.
Discuss price with customers and manage objections.
Panel Discussion: Panelists include Dale Pollak, of vAuto; Pat Ryan Jr. of FirstLook; TBD dealer.
Ralph D. Ebersole brings more than 30 years of automotive industry experience and training expertise to his role as automotive consultant at Cars.com, where he is responsible for leading the organization’s national dealer training program. In his current role at Cars.com, Ebersole has trained more 20,000 dealership professionals from general managers to internet sales personnel in a variety of dealership settings, both franchise and independent, from the largest dealer groups to single-owner lots.
A recent panel of automotive marketing experts unanimously agreed the number one challenge facing dealerships in 2010 is selling more cars while spending less marketing dollars. Technology is endlessly changing the marketing landscape and dealers are continually challenged with connecting to customers through a maze of vehicle information web sites and social channels, while trying to understand their new buying behaviors and shopping trends.
It’s important to be visible on the most used consumer automotive information sites. Now, it’s also important to maintain a presence on social networking sites. But, what if there was a way to sell more cars right now doing what you’re already doing? And, what if this helped you continue to sell cars into the future? There is.
Recent monitoring of inbound and outbound dealership-to-customer interactions prove that sales are lost every day after the customer has initiated a relationship, due to ineffective personal communication.
Join us to hear what online visitors say move them forward in one particular vehicle or dealer’s direction and how to effectively engage the customer via e-mail and phone to increase sales and income.
Rob Lange is the national sales training director for Kelley Blue Book. His responsibilities include providing educational materials to dealers to enhance their sales processes using Kelley Blue Book values and services, and conducting regional dealer meetings to educate dealerships on the power of the Kelley Blue Book brand. Lange develops “best practices” documents for dealerships, contributes monthly articles to industry publications and regularly speaks at related conferences. Lange authored “Selling the Online Mortgage Customer,” a comprehensive sales guide for maximizing results with online borrowers, and has conducted more than 350 webinars for more than 5,000 attendees.
Rapid response is key throughout the sales process. From the initial, multi-vehicle price quote (which should be executed in 10 minutes), through the first phone call (which should also be in 10 minutes), through the follow-up calls to the appointment and finally to the sale, rapid response is the differentiating factor in top-performing dealerships. The key to successful conversion of Internet leads to sales is immediate initial response and effective ongoing follow-up.
Tom Mohr, CEO of ResponseLogix, and has worked closely with auto dealers for 25 years. ResponseLogix helps dealers solve the top three challenges facing their Internet sales departments: the speed and quality of the initial response to Internet leads, the impact and consistency of ongoing follow-up, and the effectiveness of the Internet team’s live communication with the customer.
Prior to ResponseLogix, Mohr was president of Knight Ridder Digital, where he was on the board of Cars.com. Prior to that, he was Knight Ridder corporate director for classifieds, where he oversaw $800M in revenue responsibility including $200M in automotive advertising revenue.
Has the Internet turned pre-owned vehicles into a commodity and permanently lowered profit per vehicle? Many dealers have responded to the Internet by continually lowering price and permanently reducing their gross profit potential. Given the challenges of today's new car market successful dealerships need strong pre-owned profitability to justify their investments in the dealership and its facilities. Learn how replacing price-based selling with value-based selling can enable your dealership to drive strong volumes with strong profits.
Pat Ryan Jr. is the CEO of First Look, the pioneer in inventory management, marketing and sales solutions for the automotive market. Ryan’s pioneering work in consumer optimization has made him widely recognized as an industry thought-leader and speaker, as well as a regular columnist for major automotive publications. Ryan is instrumental in helping top dealer groups like Penske and Hendrick develop and continuously improve winning pre-owned and Internet operations. He holds a Masters in Business Administration from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, a Juris Doctor cum laude from Northwestern Law School and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Georgetown University.
In this workshop you will discover five common sense ways to drive customer pay business while lowering your total cost of marketing. Bruce O'Brien has spoken at NADA and 20 groups, as well as numerous regional associations. His wealth of knowledge will give you the starting blocks to building customers that want to come back, time and time again.
Bruce O'Brien started his automotive career in 1978 after graduating with a degree in marketing. As the years progressed, he has served in almost every capacity within the dealership from sales manger to general manager. In 2005 O’Brien became the national sales manager for @utoRevenue. With a core focus on fixed operations with @utoRevenue, he has become an industry leader in fixed operations marketing.
The Internet as an Influencing Medium Learn about the Internet as an advertising medium that offers fundamental value in a new economy where “savvy” is the new consumer status symbol.
Consumer shopping behavior has shifted in response to recent economic changes. In fact, many consumers believe that the current economic issues are long-term and will have permanent effects on how they spend money. Since consumers have become more discerning about their purchases, they are also spending more time researching and comparing in the online space, actively choosing to engage with the medium to scrutinize potential purchases.
The Internet as an Influencing Medium will provide you with an enlightened understanding of today’s new automotive consumer, as well as demonstrate how to use the Internet to impact their decision-making process. This workshop will also include examples of how to build trust with today’s conscientious consumer in online advertising.
Tori Morandi is the manager of Industry Education for AutoTrader.com, the ultimate automotive marketplace. As an industry expert, she educates the automotive community about consumer car shopping behavior and how to leverage the Internet to drive sales.
Previously, Morandi has worked with BMW of North America and Toyota and Lexus of North America as a training and instructional design consultant. Her dealership experience also includes BDC implementation and development for the Porsche, Audi, Subaru, and Lincoln/Mercury brands. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Public Relations from Pepperdine University.
Did you know that the Hyundai dealer with the highest sales volume in the world is in Bangalore, India? While it’s true that the United States is the world’s largest automotive market, representing approximately 20% of worldwide car sales, growth in non-U.S. car markets has resulted in the strong emergence of large dealerships and dealer groups in other countries. These dealers face issues and challenge both familiar to us and unique to their own markets. In this session izmo dealership customers from around the world will share in their own words their process innovations, marketing tactics, lessons learned, and best practices. Digital marketing has leveled the global playing field, and dealers worldwide are innovating in new and sometimes unexpected ways. This is a tremendously valuable session for anyone interested in casting their net as wide as possible for new ideas and success strategies.
As izmo’s chief marketing officer, Mike Martinez is responsible for global marketing operations, business development, and product management for izmoIndY, the company's new operating platform. Before izmocars, Martinez was executive vice president of products and strategy at OneCommand, responsible for strategy and product development. Prior to OneCommand, Martinez was co-founder and CEO of Four Creeks, which was acquired by OneCommand in 2006.
Martinez has also served as the vice president of sales, marketing, and products for The Cobalt Group, and spent five years at Lucent Technologies as general manager of Marketing, and seven years in a variety of roles at Microsoft.
Get real-world examples from top dealers. Don’t miss one of the top rated speakers in his third presentation at a Digital Dealer conference. Last fall was a standing room only crowd!
This session will show you how to:
See how other dealers have turned relationships into cash!
Get back to basics and understand how technology can support, not hinder your sales
Ensure your top customers stay your top customers by building relationships
Make sure you have technology that matches your business goals
How to evaluate CRM/ILM to make sure it fits your dealership personality
How to motivate salespeople to actually use the technology you invest in!
Attendees will come away with a clear understanding of how to quickly and easily accomplish these same results, regardless of the size of their dealership or dealer group.
As CEO and co-founder, Jonathan Ord sets vision and drives overall strategy for DealerSocket. Under his leadership, DealerSocket has received many accolades including being named to the Red Herring North American 100, International Business Awards Best Overall Company and #1 on the Deloitte & Touche Fast 50 list. Ord has been honored several times as one of the most successful young entrepreneurs and executives in Southern California.
A recognized leader in the automotive industry, Ord is a regular contributor to numerous business and auto industry publications and an in-demand speaker at elite 20 group meetings for top dealers groups including Larry H. Miller, Van Tuyl, Penske and Galpin.
