Welcome to episode 27 of the Mind Tilt podcast.
Marcus Sheridan, pool company owner, The Sales Lion and passionate inbound marketer, joined me to discuss feedback around the web about his recent article, “Hey Ford Motors, Your Blog Stinks, What Gives?” Jeff Cryder, Jr and I recently discussed this article during episode 4 of Social Drivers. Marcus reviewed the episode, commented on the pluses and minuses of the show and contacted me to discuss points further. Our offline conversation led to Marcus offering to appear on the show.
Marcus shared his views on his recent Ford article among other inbound marketing ideas. Listen in and share your comments below.
Mind Tilt Thoughts Discussed
- What is the curse of knowledge related to digital content marketing?
- How can businesses improve their digital content marketing efforts?
- How can businesses integrate education-based selling into their sales strategy?
Links in Discussion
ARTICLE: Hey Ford Motors, Your Blog Stinks, What Gives? | Social Drivers Episode 4 – How Does An Automotive Dealership(s) Scale Their Social Media Marketing
Where to Find Marcus
Marcus Sheridan on LinkedIn | The Sales Lion blog | The Sales Lion on Twitter
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Welcome to episode 26 of the Mind Tilt podcast. This is also episode 4 of the Social Drivers.
Jeff Cryder, Jr. is widely regarded as one of the leading automotive dealership marketers. He is a sought after speaker and writer for automotive conferences, publications and websites. Jeff is the marketing and communications director at Lebanon Ford, consultant and community editor for DrivingSales.com. Kindred spirits, Jeff and I decided to hold monthly conversations about the automotive digital marketing landscape. With the help of Erin Ryan, we decided to title the show, Social Drivers.
Social Drivers is a monthly discussion between Jeff Cryder and me. The focus of our conversations is to drive the automotive digital marketing conversation forward. Please weigh in and share your comments about our discussion.
This episode we discussed how the connection between manufacturers and dealerships content generation and how to scale social media from one dealership to multiple dealerships. Listen to the learn the connection of these two somewhat vastly different subjects.
Mind Tilt Thoughts Discussed
- Are dealership companies service companies with product offerings or strictly retail companies?
- How do you increase brand loyalty within a dealership (or dealer group) in relationship to manufacturer loyalty programs?
- How do you scale social media from one dealership to multiple dealerships?
Links in Discussion
ARTICLE: Hey Ford Motors, Your Company Blog Stinks, What Gives? | Ford Social
Where to Find Jeff Cryder, Jr.
Jeff Cryder, Jr. on Twitter | Lebanon Ford Blog | Lebanon Ford Dealership Website
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Welcome to episode 25 of the Mind Tilt podcast.
Chris Costner, Business Development Director for Southern Volkswagen and Community Editor for DrivingSales.com, spoke with me this week about all things automotive business development center related.
Chris has been a successful automotive professional for over 12 years. He has held positions as a sales person, manager and now director. Each position Chris has been promoted to, he has not only done well, but pushed the success of his departments to new heights. His current role as business development director is not any different. Chris not only built his dealerships’s business development center, but he also manages it with a team of three. This close-knit group accounts for over 50% Southern Volkswagen’s retail sales every month.
Fortunately, Chris was able to carve some time away and share some successful elements of his automotive business development center. Listen in and share your thoughts and answers to the questions below.
Questions Discussed
- What are the elements of a successful business development center?
- What are the metrics to manage for success in a business development center?
- How does a dealership integrate a business development center into their daily sales and service activities?
Where to Find Chris Costner
Chris Costner (His digital homebase) | Chris Costner on DrivingSales | Chris Costner on Google+ | Chris Costner on LinkedIn | Chris Costner on Twitter
Links in Discussion
Article: Address First | Article: A Daily Gameplan that Works
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Welcome to episode 24 of the Mind Tilt podcast.
D Rawls returned to the show to continue our recent conversation discussing automotive retail future as D prepared for his presentation at the 2012 National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) Convention and his upcoming book. He has been deeply involved in automotive digital retail since the early 2000s. Mr. Rawls has experienced the rise and fall of a multitude of automotive marketing and sales techniques and tools. He knows what works and what does not.
Mind Tilt Thoughts Discussed
- Where is the societal and technological diversity in automotive retail?
- What is the connection between societal differences and technological advances in improving and encouraging market share and revenue growth?
- What is the NADA’s role in increasing diversity among automotive dealership personnel?
- Who are the rising individuals or companies in the automotive retail industry for 2012?
- Is content development a passing fad or an emerging force for automotive dealerships?
- How does crowdsourcing have a role in automotive dealerships expense savings?
Where to Find D Rawls
Auto Buyer Consultants | Auto Talk Car Show Radio
Links in Discussion
BrightWhistle | Chad Mallory | IntellaCar | National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers | Nexteppe | Quora | Zipcar
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Welcome to episode 23 of the Mind Tilt podcast.
The “hardest working man in the automotive internet/consulting/training industry” Cory Mosley, principal of Mosley Automotive Training, joined me this week to discuss the necessary automotive sales training improvements needed in the automotive retail industry. There are a plethora of old-school sales techniques implemented in dealerships every day. These techniques have driven the credibility of the industry into terrible territory. Times are a changin’ and Cory is helping lead these changes with his thought-provoking and inspiring views of the automotive retail space.
Mind Tilt Thoughts Discussed
- You cannot have a one size fits all approach to automotive training. Automotive sales training must connect with the strategy and accountability for the dealership because what is acceptable for one dealership or one market might not be applicable for another dealership, market, brand, etc. Training and strategies must be customized.
- Sales managers are the key to dealership improvement in the upcoming years. Sales managers must change their mentality toward customer expectations and interactions. Decisions are only made by the people that are empowered to make the decisions.
- The dealership environment must be re-created. Old school techniques no longer work in the new school world. Successful selling is making a transition from adversarial, combative negotiations to relationship management. A sales person can no longer say, You cannot say, give me an endless supply of customers and I will sell them. It is about how we manage and monitor relationships.
- You cannot mandate productivity. Review the deficiencies–individual and collective–and make adjustments accordingly. Progress is a process. Take action and do not suffer from paralysis by analysis.
Where to Find Cory Mosley
Cory Mosley | Mosley Automotive Training | Cory Mosley column in F&I Magazine | Cory Mosley on Facebook | Cory Mosley on LinkedIn | Cory Mosley on Twitter | Cory Mosley on Youtube
Links in Discussion
Peter Drucker | Enterprise Rent-A-Car | Chet Holmes | Tony Robbins
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In a society where you can get credit within no time, the small business organizations are suffering badly due to the increasing commercial debt. Since the credit downgrade and the raising of the debt ceiling, the small business organizations have been the hardest hit and this is the reason why they’re desperately looking for ways in which they can get back a grip on their commercial finances and also increase the revenue. Though the legal debt consolidation companies are there to help you get out of the debt burden, you should ask legal questions in order to clear your doubts about the company so that you don’t take any uninformed decision. Here is some advice regarding eliminating business debt.
- Stay aware of the interest rates on loans: Before you take out loans for meeting the financial needs of your business, you have to make sure that you know the interest rates that are prevalent in the market. Unless you’re sure about what the people are being charged, you may be taken undue advantage of. The interest rates on the small business loans are increasing day by day and therefore you should shop around and get multiple quotes from multiple companies before taking the plunge.
- Supervise the cash flow of your business: If you want to eliminate your debt burden, you have to monitor the cash flow on your own. Though you may have many employees who are looking into this matter, but unless you, as an owner, intervene into the matter, you can never achieve ultimate success. Look at all the expenses within your organization so that you can take the necessary steps that can ensure financial freedom.
- Negotiate with the suppliers: When you buy things from your suppliers, you should make sure that you negotiate with them and work on getting the best deal that can save your hard-invested dollars. You may try getting things with multiple discounts on buying things in a bulk. Speak to your suppliers for grabbing such deals.
- Look for ways to save bucks: Another way in which you can maintain your business finances is by looking into all those departments where you can save your bucks. There ought to be some areas where there is too much cash flow and you can sort out the pros and cons of it. Redirect cash to other departments where it is needed and make sure you save bucks whenever needed.
Therefore, if you’re interested in making 2012 a prosperous year for your business organization, follow the advice mentioned above. If you still feel that you can’t deal with your debts on your own, you should get help from a legal company but only after you ask legal questions to the persons in charge.
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Welcome to episode 21 of the Mind Tilt podcast. This is also episode 3 of Social Drivers.
Jeff Cryder, Jr. is widely regarded as one of the leading automotive dealership marketers. He is a sought after speaker and writer for automotive conferences, publications and websites. Jeff is the marketing and communications director at Lebanon Ford, consultant and community editor for DrivingSales.com. A kindred spirit, Jeff and I decided to hold monthly conversations about the automotive digital marketing landscape. With the help of Erin Ryan, we decided to title the show, Social Drivers.
Social Drivers is a monthly discussion between Jeff Cryder and me. The focus of our conversations is to drive the automotive digital marketing conversation forward. Please weigh in and share your comments about our discussion.
This episode we discussed the work involved in measuring automotive social media measurement. Dealerships once believed the magic of social media was to obtain thousands of likes, friends, followers and tweets. The majority of dealerships still believe this fantasy. The dealerships that are making headway and having impacting results with their customers and increasing revenue using social media channels have worked hard. They have worked very hard testing, implementing, tweaking and challenging what social media can and cannot do for them. We discussed some of the elements involved in measuring automotive social media and the resulting actions that should take place as a result.
Mind Tilt Thoughts Discussed
- Automotive dealerships must create shareable, valuable and convertable content. Whether the medium is text, video or audio, social media must convert to a revenue-driving action.
- Social Media is maturing. It is no longer about the likes, it is no longer about the followers, it is about driving revenue.
- Work is involved in taking the change, measuring the right elements and meditating on the proper data and providing the right analysis and insight needed for strategic and operational results.
- How dealerships and manufacturers should connect the digital marketing messages across their brands mainstream and luxury brands. For example, Volkswagen and Audi.
Links in Discussion
Avanish Koshik article - Best Social Media Metrics | Christopher Penn – More Customers does not make you a better company | Skittles Facebook Page | Walker Toyota | Social Ups | Honda | Acura | Audi | Volkswagen | Ford | Lincoln | Jim Farley | Hyundai | Kia
Where to Find Jeff Cryder, Jr.
Jeff Cryder, Jr. on Twitter | Lebanon Ford Blog | Lebanon Ford Dealership Website
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Welcome to episode 20 of the Mind Tilt podcast.
D. Rawls, President of Auto Buyer Consultants, joined me for this week’s conversation. He has been deeply involved in automotive digital retail since the early 2000s. Mr. Rawls has experienced the rise and fall of a multitude of automotive marketing and sales techniques and tools. He knows what works and what does not.
D. and I discussed the aspects of “auto retail future”. If you do not know what that truly means, listen in and find out. Then share your thoughts of “auto retail future” in the comments below.
Mind Tilt Thoughts Discussed
- The big box versus the little box. The individualization and personalization of consumer shopping is shifting how businesses market and engage with their customers. This is not a surprise. Businesses are changing their strategies and processes and utilizing emerging technologies to their optimal point.
- Socialization of automotive technology. Multiply the value proposition before the vehicle is delivered. Networks of automotive consumers interacting about their automotive needs are disrupting automotive retail past. Manufacturers are taking a larger control of their brand’s local marketing. However, the value of the people in this industry is increasing exponentially. People still trump digital marketing despite the improvements in marketing personalization. The value of a product will always be in your people.
- Auto retail future will create sub-franchises inside a traditional franchise dealership. Customers want a different automotive buying experience. They are not willing to accept the terrible treatment they received in years past. Learn D. Rawl’s solution to this problem.
Links in Discussion
Consumer Electronics Show | IBM | Mercedes-Benz | Cory Mosley | Autonation | Sonic Automotive | Walmart | Jeff Bezos | Amazon | Facebook | GRP Partners | ZAG | TrueCar | Scott Painter
Where to Find D. Rawls
AutobuyerConsultants.net | Sensation Station Network
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Whether your company operates entirely online, or you have an online store in addition to your brick and mortar location, online marketing matters. You want people to find your website when they search for a relevant search term on Google and then proceed to purchase your goods. But it isn’t as easy as setting up a website and just waiting for the traffic to come. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can work great over time, but you’ll want to consider using paid search to drive some immediate traffic to your site.
Even if your SEO is getting you on the first page of organic results, I would continue using paid search as the two together create a strong Internet marketing presence. Here are the three big reasons I believe pay per click (PPC) marketing is such an effective way of finding customers and clients.
1. You only pay when the advertising works
When you put an ad in a newspaper, a magazine or on television you never know exactly what it did for your sales. With paid search, you know exactly when someone clicks on your ad and that’s the only time you’re charged for it. You’re also able to set it up so that you know how much money those clicks drove. PPC is the first form of advertising that allows advertisers to put an exact figure on how much money they’re earning, making scaling much easier.
2. Target Your Audience
By selecting the keywords you want to trigger your ads, you know exactly who will be finding your website. Nobody is going to find your auto parts store by searching for a pet groomer. You can even ensure that your ads are only seen within a certain geographical location if you only operate or ship product locally.
3. See Results Right Away
Like I mentioned earlier, SEO can take some time to pay off, it could take half a year before you’re ranking high on the organic results. With PPC, your ads can be on the first page of the search results within a few days of setting up your account.
Because PPC requires constant supervision, most advertisers small and large choose to use an AdWords management service to help them stay on top of their competitors and focus more on actually running their business.
Trace Ronning is the social media coordinator for WordWatch PPC Management. They’re dedicated to delivering small business advertisers better results for their money. He blogs about small business and paid search at http://www.WordWatch.com/blog and you can follow him on Twitter @WordWatchPPC.
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