I use this analogy because this is exactly what I observe happening in auto retailing regarding the “health” of many dealerships.  We have issues in auto retailing dealing with how we treat our employees, our customers and the perception the public has about the vehicle buying process.  A number of dealers use aggressive, intrusive and sometime dishonest tactics that often serve to perpetuate the reputation we have earned over the years. These actions are driving consumers to post negative reviews at various websites.

Treat the Symptoms

Dealers have two options when addressing their reputation.  Change behavior, treat employees with respect, and offer customers a great buying experience; or spend thousands of dollars a month paying companies to manipulate the game.  These services and companies target the negative reviews that unhappy customers are posting online, and use black hat or other suspect tactics to minimize the impact of those reviews and “game the system.”

I’ve been watching closely “the experts on SEO and Reputation Management” in our trade publications, at digital conferences and active on industry networks. When you really look at what they’re selling, it’s clear they are pitching the makeup and not trying to cure your cancer.  And from what I hear they are finding lots of dealers who are buying the makeup.

They lure you in with techno-terms like, SEO keyword tracking, social media management, content creation, video SEO, and micro-sites.  Then they pull out the bogeyman technique and try to scare you with, “If you aren’t on the first page of Google, YOU are losing business!”   If you fall for that one, I want to talk to you about this bridge in Brooklyn.  It sounds like these are the same folks that a few years ago were selling overpriced water filters and telling us we would die if we drank water right out of the tap.

Work on the Cure

Just a few weeks ago, I had a conversation with the owner of a Chevrolet dealership in Northeast Ohio. They have a great operation and terrific reputation in the market.  I asked him how he weathered the storm in 2009, hoping it wasn’t too devastating.  While his dealer group has only been in business five years, he shared with me that 2009 was their best year from a sales perspective.  They have no aggressive social media presence, do not come up consistently on the first page of Google, and only have a modest presence on YouTube.

So why was 2009 his best year?  Their social media efforts are targeted at the community level. They have a culture in the store of treating their customers like they are in a department store or a fine restaurant.  They greet prospects as they enter, hold the door open and are very accommodating. Additionally they are aggressive in being a good neighbor. They hold a monthly blood drive at the dealership, sponsor area little league teams, and encourage employees to get involved in each of their programs too.  They even sponsor a bocce ball tournament that has grown to become one of the largest in the Midwest.  A good portion of their marketing budget goes into these community activities.

They also have a unique pricing policy that says, give the customer the best price on a new or used vehicle and post it on the vehicle and online.  Yes every new car has the best price on their website.  No standard MSRP or one model only “sale car price” but their best price.   And guess what, their store is not only a great place to work but a great place to buy or service your car.

They don’t lose sleep over comments on Facebook or Twitter, don’t need Reputation Management Analysis, or automated alerts on various brand names.  Visitors to their website will not find a link to Facebook or Twitter on their dealership home page but can quickly find links to inventory, financing and service information.  They simply do what’s right every day; keep their brand visible in the market, and work hard to make every customer very happy when they leave.

Is this easy?  Absolutely not, but it works much better than paying thousands and thousands of dollars a month for services that just hide your problems.   Every market is different and you need to discover what works best for you, but understand the more transparency you offer the more your reputation will improve.

Dealerships and sales people need to leverage the many free resources available to help build and protect your reputation online and gain visibility.  Don’t spend money you can’t afford, on projects with no clear ROI, to reach an audience that has no interest in your products or services.

Focus on your people, treat them right and they will show you amazing results and take care of your customers.

Mark Dubis is an auto retailing marketing strategist and an executive with Carfolks.com, a dealer advocate website.

This article originally appeared in the weekly newsletter of Dealer Marketing Magazine.

In a car-buying transaction the salesman and the customer have mutual goals. The customer wants to buy a vehicle and the salesman wants to sell a vehicle. It’s important for both of you to work together towards your mutual goals. Do not mistake a low price for the best value. There are other aspects of the sale to consider in addition to price. Do your homework on vehicle pricing but look at the total transaction. Prices for vehicles vary based on many factors and of course the law of supply and demand will impact pricing too.

When you shop for a vehicle there are certain things you expect. You should be treated with respect, obtain honest and candid answers to your questions, and have things explained to you which you might not understand. Additionally you should be given various options throughout the buying process. Consumers buy cars once every three to five years and salespeople sell cars every day; so do not hesitate to ask “a dumb question.”

If at any time you feel you are not being treated properly I suggest you leave and visit another dealership. You also have the right to ask for another salesperson to help you, if you feel your original sales person is not meeting your needs. Sometimes people just don’t click, so speak with a manager and politely ask to work with another team member. If the salesperson did something specific to offend you, inform the manager of that too, so they can address the issue.

1. Let the salesman know if you love the car
Why pretend you could care less about a vehicle if you really want the vehicle. The fact that you like the vehicle is a good thing. If there are functionality issues the salesperson can provide information that can validate your love of the vehicle or point out potential issues and steer you to a better solution. You might love a little two door coupe, but you shared you are getting married in three months and that may mean a family is coming soon. The salesman can point you to some sporty sedans that are fun to drive but have more room for car seats. To think they will boost the price of a vehicle just because you like it is silly. Most dealerships mark the price on the vehicles. Don’t be afraid to ask the price and how it compares to the market values.

Whether you like, dislike or love a vehicle will not change its price. If you want to buy an unloved car there are often odd colors and cars that have been sitting on the dealers lot for awhile; and dealers will be happy to show you them and provide more aggressive pricing.

2. Tell them if you need a car by tomorrow
Often you’ll hear, “never thell them you need a car immediately.” Let’s bust this myth right now. Just because you need to buy a car right away doesn’t mean a consumer will pay ridiculous money for the vehicle. If you need a car quickly let the salesperson know so they can make sure title work and all the purchase documents can be prepared in your time frame. If financing has to be arranged the dealership can expedite that too. Consumers still need to be aware of vehicle values, budgets and their credit standing. If a consumer feels they are being rushed or pressured into a purchase, they can always leave the dealership, rent or borrow a vehicle for a few days, and look for other alternatives.

Believe it or not dealers can be sensitive to your timeframe and some dealers even have return policies which let you select another vehicle if you feel the first one you chose is not the right vehicle for you. Ask about their policies upfront.

3. Share your monthly budget
Uninformed consumers fear if they share the monthly payment that is acceptable they will be oversold a vehicle for an extended loan term and the dealer will make a fat profit. For as long as I can remember customers have been asking for a payment of $250 a month. Today $250 a month will finance a $10,000 car for 48 months at a 9% interest rate. Not a realistic payment if you are looking for a new car selling for $18,000 and you have no money down.

Before going to the dealership, consumers should use online loan calculators and figure out the most they can finance, and remember to include the down payment (and/or trade in equity) and taxes in your calculations. You can also call any bank branch or credit union and they will quickly calculate loan payments for you. Your sales person at the Dealership can also provide generic payment information from their managers to keep focused on vehicles within your budget.

4. Talk about your trade-in up front
So called experts often mis-advise people and say, never tell the salesman you have a trade. This is a big mistake and also makes you a liar. You don’t want to start any relationship by lying. If you have a trade-in and still have a balance due to the bank or credit union, you need to call them and get a payoff quote. You need to know whether you have equity in your trade-in or negative equity. Negative equity means you owe the bank more than the vehicle is worth in the market. Obviously this is not good unless you have lots of cash around to make up for the negative equity.

The challenge comes when trying to figure out what your vehicle is worth. Well it’s worth exactly what someone will pay you for it. Also, please don’t tell the dealer that the book says your car is worth $$$$. Books do not buy cars. That’s why they are called guides. Do not expect a dealer to pay you the retail book value for your trade-in. If they pay you retail how can they mark it up and sell it on their lot for more than retail?

There are certain realities in the marketplace and that means some vehicle depreciate more than others. Do not be insulted by the value a dealer puts on your trade-in. You can certainly negotiate, but if you have a vehicle with a V8 engine or large SUV be prepared to deal with a valuation below market value as these units are not desirable at this time. Remember if you don’t like the deal you can always shop elsewhere or take your trade-in out of the transaction and sell it privately. By being realistic about your trade-in value and the monthly payment you can afford, dealers can try to help you reach your goal of buying a new or quality pre-owned vehicle.

5. Ask whether you should consider leasing
Leasing is a great option for some consumers. First off understand a lease is nothing more than a long term rental. You agree to lease (rent) the car for a specific term, not exceed the allowable mileage and return it in good condition. Ask yourself these three questions to see if you are a good lease prospect.

Do you like to trade in your vehicles every four years or less?
Do you take very good care of your vehicles?
Do you drive less than 18,000 miles a year?
If you answered yes to these three questions and have very good credit, you are a good lease prospect and should inquire about lease programs on the vehicles you are considering buying.

6. Discuss your credit situation up front
While some people underestimate their own credit rating, dealers work with a number of lenders to help shoppers with varying degrees of past credit problems. Here is another case of doing some preliminary work to understand your credit score and to calculate a debt ratio. Lenders look at your past credit, your ability to pay based on your current obligations and the amount of equity you have in the vehicle.

If you put no money down the lender is taking a greater risk on the loan and this may impact the loan term or interest rate tier. Most finance and lease ads from dealers or vehicle manufacturers always indicate the loan payment shown in the ad is reserved for those that qualify, meaning they have good credit.

You may want to call your local bank or credit union and ask what their current loan rates are for new and used vehicles and take that info with you. Dealerships work with a variety of lenders and can usually match or provide a lower loan rate than what you may have been quoted.

Mark R. Dubis is a writer and auto retail expert with over 25 years working in the automotive and financial arenas. He was a vice president for the automotive finance divisions of KeyBank USA and National City Bank in Cleveland, Ohio.

6 Things to Always Tell a Car Salesman by Mark R. Dubis is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Auto Retailers are free to post this article on their websites as written above. It may not be edited.

We have also seen a boom in social media and product review sites. If you do any traveling at all you are probably familiar with www.TripAdvisor.com. Pick a destination or airline and you can view lots of brutally candid remarks about local hotels, restaurants and other travel related items.  I recently attended the NIADA Convention in Orlando and went looking for inexpensive (cheap) lodging on TripAdvisor.  I found lots of hotel rooms under $60 rooms but after reading reviews like, “better than sleeping at the bus station, but not by much . . .” I decided to move up a bit and avoid the bargain basement hotels.

The point is we can find information on any or everything including how a car dealer takes care of, or doesn’t take care of their customers.  After ten plus years on the Internet most auto shopping consumers know that any dealer can meet or beat any legitimate price. So now we are seeing online auto shoppers look for ways to identify which dealers will give them a great buying experience, before, during and after the sale.  The new term you will be hearing about more and more is SERM.  This stands for Search Engine Reputation Management.  Dealers need to have a strategy to not only give customers a place to voice their grievances but to post their praise for the dealership too.

The question is not whether you like or dislike reviews of your dealership, the question is now, what you are going to do to build, enhance and protect your reputation online. If you think this isn’t an issue go to google.com and enter the term “Vincent Volkswagen” in the search box.  In the top five organic results you will see one or two negative sites about this dealership.  In talking to a few marketing experts in the field, they conservatively estimate those listings are costing the dealership 5 lost sales a month. At an average gross of $2000 per sale, the dealership is losing $120,000 a year in sales, not to mention lost service business too.  This is a good dealership, but they had an unhappy customer who felt their situation wasn’t handled properly and they voiced their frustration and complaint in a very visible fashion.

You need to have a strategy that makes it easy for customers to say nice things about your sales and service team members. Help them build their personal reputations, and identify customers that have issues you need to address and correct.  Explore participating in ratings and review sites  and monitor what is being said about you online. Quickly address issues, fix the problems and highlight all the good things you do at your store.

We have observed firsthand the impact of losing the trust of your customers.  GM and Chrysler and their unions for many decades had the full faith and support of the American vehicle-buying public. They built solid cars and trucks we loved to buy. Then they started cutting corners, raising prices and not paying attention or listening to their dealers and customers. They thought we wouldn’t notice. Clearly they were wrong. Consumers watched closely as Honda, Toyota, Nissan and Mazda built solid, fuel efficient and reliable vehicles. We showed our lack of trust in the Big Three by opening our wallets for the imports. The imports showed their appreciation for our loyalty by building manufacturing facilities here in the U.S. and employing hundreds of thousands of Americans, not to mention the jobs created by their suppliers. Except for a few niche manufacturers, just about every major global vehicle maker has a manufacturing presence in the U.S. By providing a quality product at a fair price they have earned our trust.

GM and Chrysler have paid dearly for their actions and missteps. The recent Cash for Clunkers program showed the American public rewarding Ford (and their dealers) for building high quality vehicles and not going the bankruptcy route.  The proverbial day of reckoning has arrived for the auto industry.

Now begins the long and arduous task of regaining the trust of the American public. This needs to be a joint effort of retailers and manufacturers working together for the mutual goal of providing not only the best vehicles and incredible value for the vehicle, but by providing the best customer experience every time a consumer comes into a dealership. Social media combined with both new and old technology will greatly assist everyone in reaching this goal. We have to stop using technology as a crutch and start using it to build on solid networking principles that have been around for thousands of years. When we focus on helping our neighbors get what they want, we will get what we want.  Each satisfied customer leaving the dealership is a new or continued relationship. Take care of your customers, listen to them and they will trust you.

Mark Dubis is a manager at  CarFolks.com, a dealer advocate, social media website for the automotive industry.  Mark can be reached at 216-712-6712 or www.carfolks.com.

This commentary originally appeared in Dealer Digest Daily – Sept 2009

Every sales professional knows the secrets to success. Work the process, keep in touch with customers, treat them right and work the referrals.   It’s the great abundance of amateurs in our industry who are looking for the “easy” solution, the short term fix, and we all know who they are too. Joe Webb has cleverly highlighted them in his videos. While we get a kick from the videos, we know that many dealerships still operate “old school style” and employ “put ‘em in a car today” people.

There are many “silver bullets” available to improve sales, profits, and retain solid sales performers.  Unfortunately many General Managers and Sales Managers don’t have the courage to put the bullet in the gun and pull the trigger. It’s just too big a leap of faith. They would rather keep on doing what they are comfortable doing.  Essentially they are scared to death of change, and while we have lots of change advocates at lower levels in the dealerships they have no authority to make the change decisions. So instead we choose to do what makes us comfortable.

This was made evident by a recent medical finding. The study followed 200 men who had life threatening heart attacks. Yep, they came within seconds or minutes of leaving this earth. They were counseled on making lifestyle and dietary changes and told if they failed to do this . . . they would die from a future heart attack. So how many changed their ways when faced with death?  90% made no changes whatsoever! They knew they needed to make a change, but it was so far from what they were doing for years, that they could not break their ingrained habits.  Change isn’t easy.

This in a nutshell is a major stumbling block for our industry and the reason we haven’t made real progress in 50 years. We have lost a few thousand dealerships over the last year, and many were good hard working people, who did not deserve their fate. More are on the death watch now; Saturn, Hummer, Pontiac and Saab dealers will no longer exist. You would think this would serve as a strong wakeup call to the remaining dealers that they need to change or die.

You and others are on the money when you say it is a people business. We somehow have forgotten that, and now with the Internet and social media exploding a dealer or sales professional’s sins are all over the web. Many of us saw that reputation management and review and ratings sites would be the game changer for our industry. Now we are seeing and hearing about it every day.

I just spoke with an Internet Manager in Birmingham, AL who told me one of his customers drove 3 hours to his store, because this customer saw a number of bad reviews about their local dealer and chose not to do business with them. Dealerships that think bad reviews online aren’t impacting their business are totally in denial.

Recognizing online reputation is important, it is time for dealers to be proactive and start building and protecting their online reputations, and start re-connecting with their customers. One way to do this is to start pulling the trigger on some of those silver bullets.  Here are some places to start:

• Use your CRM tool every day to keep in touch with customers and prospects
• Monitor reviews of your dealership and your competitors
• Sign up for reputation building sites like www.carfolks.com (individual sales professional pages are free)
• Give every customer a great buying experience
• Try to clean up all the junk on your website’s home page.
• Don’t waste time on facebook, myspace or twitter unless every salesperson in your store is selling 15+ vehicles a month
• Don’t waste time putting up dealership community sites, unless every salesperson in your store is already selling 20+ cars every month.

If you implement these few initiatives you will see results!

Mark R. Dubis

Many of these managers would also share their frustrations with me. “Mark, when you call me next week, I will be at a new dealership and here is my new phone number and email address.”  My reply, “What’s going on, you’ve been there two years, I thought you were happy there?” And then they would open up with all the things that were gnawing at them and keeping them up at night.

I sincerely started to feel their pain, so I started to keep notes from these conversations and saw a pattern develop. At the base level it always came down to new school versus old school. The people in control at the dealership were used to doing things a certain way and they were stubbornly holding on to those practices. The folks in the Internet department were the new school devotees and didn’t have the authority or the respect from upper level management to buck the system.

If you are an Owner or General Manager and you aren’t seeing top tier results from your Internet department. Take a look at this list and see how many of these points are in play at your dealership.

Internet Departments fail because:

1. the dealership set up a hierarchy so the Internet Sales Manager (ISM) has to answer to a multiplicity of persons (e.g., GM, GSM, On-Duty Desk Manager, F&I)
2. the Internet manager has lots of responsibility, but no authority. Other managers make decisions regarding websites and lead providers without consulting the ISM.
3. the dealership expects unrealistic results and does not provide the tools to do the job.  A CRM software solution is a must to track leads and manage the dept progress and follow-up schedule.
4. the dealership implements ridiculous packs over $1k
5. the dealership exhibits a lack of respect at some levels of management and a general indifference to the department or staff in the Internet department. A clear attitude at different levels that “you’re just another salesman”.
6. the dealership forces Internet transactions to reduce front-end grosses on purpose to make the dealership and F&I more money on the back end. (I have also heard of GSM’s putting low gross deals into the Internet sales bucket, and that throws off the numbers of the department)
7. general or sales managers make the Internet Department feel fortunate to get 100 leads per month, and those can be taken away, if upper management feels like it.
8. there is an unwillingness to spend in order to make money.  Most often the Internet sales manager is not in the loop for setting marketing budgets, thus the minimal amounts allocated to the department does not provide the resources to obtain the targeted results.
9. the high level dealership management doesn’t listen to recommendations from the Internet manager and just bellow back, “That’s just how it is.”
10. the dealership doesn’t provide a positive workplace culture where everyone works as a team. Cutthroat environments where departments and sales people have to watch their backs and cover their asses all the time do not make for a good work environment.

Do you see any familiar items above? If you do, it means your good employees will probably be leaving you soon for your competitors. If you want to get serious about the Internet it’s time to put some quality work practices into effect at your dealership, and maybe fire the old school managers who refuse to change with the times.

Recommended Reading: The Speed of Trust by Stephen M.R. Covey

Both MySpace and Facebook are sites that allow users to build a profile about their life and interests and then helps them connect with people with similar interests and allows them to “get connected.” It’s pretty simple overall, users on the sites can chat, message, and build or join peer groups based on their hobbies, interests and the people they know.
As these communities build a following and increase participants, they start to share their experiences and recommendations on everything from the latest music and television programs, to current events to businesses they patronize. The consumers share the good and the bad about the products they buy and their experience in the purchase transaction. It’s real “word of mouth” networking amplified by the World Wide Web.

So what does all of this mean to you?

Your customers are talking about you. The reality today is that everyone of your customers after they leave the dealership whether they bought a vehicle or had their vehicle serviced with you is talking about you to their friends, family, and associates at the office, in the factory, or in the shops where they work. They talk about prices they pay, the amount of time they spend and often talk about your staff individually.

They are taking the comments they used to put in your surveys and delivering them in person to your future customers by telling them their true thoughts and feelings about your company. Some customers are even creating short videos about their experience and posting them for all to view on the Internet. What this means is that user-generated content (UGC) by consumers around the world is an indication that consumers are quickly changing their values and where they get their news and information.
No longer are we living in a world where we look to “experts” to analyze a situation, product, service or event and give us a final determination of their expertise. Today we tend to look to our peers, to people that have similar interests, jobs, families and lifestyles and ask what has been their experience with a product or company. After reviewing many people’s comments, it is time to make a determination of our own and act.
Because of this, many businesses, manufacturers and dealerships included have begun to create their own profile on sites like Facebook and MySpace to get involved with these online communities to build referrals and measure the level of acceptance of their brand among those consumers.
The influence is so strong, that one large vehicle manufacturers in the United States has hired a team of 26 full-time employees to monitor the content of these UGC enabled sites and to interject “professional” guidance when it will serve that specific community in a positive way. This is a true acknowledgement about the power of social networks on the buying habits of the public.

Most dealerships do not have the staff, the expertise or the need to go to the extreme of hiring a staff to monitor online media. You can handle the online communities and the UGC in a much more traditional method. Here are a few simple things to keep in mind about user generated content and online social networks:

1. They exist today and are growing in popularity every day. Linkedin.com, a professional community focused on recruiting, reports that it adds 26 new members on its site every 60 seconds or one new member on its site every 2.4 seconds!

2. The members of the online communities place a lot of value on the advice and support from their members, so look for ways to add value. In Canada, www.mommyclub.ca has a number of groups where it would be appropriate to bring up the vehicle ownership or purchase process and share advice or tips with these “Mom” members.
3. They are talking about the value your dealership offers, so make sure you offer enhanced levels of those services such as free oil changes for one year, tire replacement, road service or other value enhancing service.
4. They are talking about how your staff treats their customers. Many times they share information on which staff to ask for and which ones to avoid.

5. Always be sincere, personable and do not disrupt the community. They are extremely offended by companies “posing” as real people trying to manipulate the opinions of the community; however they are not opposed to companies taking a supportive role in the community, just not a controlling role. Some automotive dealerships have learned this the hard way when its pages were shut down on myspace.com as being too commercial.

Having a presence on generic community sites is great but also you should look for more auto focused blogs and networks too. One of these is called CarFolks. Its website and system (www.carfolks.com) enables dealerships and their front line staff (salespeople and service advisors) to directly connect with customers through the network (as the professionals) to engage in ongoing one-to-one and group conversations with customers they have built a relationship with.
Social networks and dealer rating sites provide a different twist on ‘word of mouth’ referrals. Many dealers feel that the responsibility for the relationship belongs with the staff people working with customers. That means sales and service personnel.  Sites that rate the individual salesperson insure these frontline staff members have some real ‘skin in the game.’

If every member of your team understands that the majority of the customers that they come in contact with (a Polk study from this year states that 71 percent are likely to participate in this arena) are going to post comments about the interaction online, then they will be more focused on making sure they are delivering an experience that will make them (and the dealership) look great to the social network. So, you and every member of your team control the content that is posted on every social network about your dealership. What type of training are you doing this month with your employees to help them understand how to use this to their advantage?

Blogs, social networks, online media and the user-generated content they create are not going away any time soon and will continue to influence consumers. Please work with your staff to insure they are trained and motivated to drive positive feedback through the interactions they have with customers in the dealership and online. In this way you will help minimize any negative comments about your service and how you treat your customers.

The growing online communities that want me to participate are almost becoming a full time job. You can easily tell who isn’t selling cars (or anything else) these days, because you will see them online replying to every post and update. They seem to be twittering away the day.

Over the last few years all sorts of social networks, blogs and feeds have been popping up online. We are all aware of facebook, myspace and others, but are they really adding any value to what we do in the auto business? While some trainers out there will say to join every one of these and start promoting yourself you need to set the right expectation for your participation. Having a facebook or myspace page will not automatically help you sell five more vehicles this month, and could end up being more trouble than it’s worth.

These sites are great for reconnecting with old friends, sharing photos with your network across the country or the world but they were not built to be a commercial venue to pitch products. If you want to participate and “network” for personal reasons they are great. I entered the term “car dealer” in the search bar at Facebook and over 500 results were returned. There were a few groups, and many individuals that just had the words in their profile somewhere.

One auto company promoting their comparison functionality got slammed because their site did not work as promised and facebook users voiced their displeasure. Searching for “automotive” under the groups section isn’t much better. You’ll see a fragmented array of groups include ArabWheels Automotive Magazine. That’s great if your dealership is in Dubai. Another group is named for a Kia sales person, but the first post on The Wall indicates the salesman no longer works at that dealership, and questions why the group even exists anymore.

Also remember that other facebook members can’t see your personal page unless they add you as a “friend.” How many auto buying prospects on facebook will really ask to become your friend? You also want to give some thought to what it means to be a “friend” online. How do you traditionally choose your friends?  Shouldn’t the online process have the same criteria? To help you navigate the online waters here is my take on social network sites and other online opportunities.

facebook: This site was originally designed for college kids to share, photos, gossip and chat about last weekends party. They do have some good groups to participate in but overall not a site where you can prospect and get leads. I use it primarily for personal networking, and accept very few “friend requests” from business associates. I don’t want business associates or prospects for that matter seeing my family reunion photos or snapshots of my vacation to Boise, Idaho.

myspace: This site is morphing from a networking site to a video sharing site and as it grows, and since it is owned by News Corp. (Fox News, Wall Street Journal) you can expect to see more commercialism creeping in. I entered the word “Nissan” in the site search box and was surprised to see job postings for Nissan sales people. Seems MySpace Jobs is growing bigger. Again this site is strongly geared to the younger hip hop set and if you hit their “Browse People” link you will see mostly young women and teenagers. I did see a number of dealers posting vehicle videos on the myspace.com video channel. And, as I used to say when I sold cars, “If it’s free, it’s for me!” So if you have some videos to post go ahead and give it a shot. Like YouTube you can embed the code and feature these videos on your website too.

Linkedin: Good site for business networking, sharing ideas and looking for resources. Most folks that become part of your network will be happy to contribute feedback when you have business questions relating to marketing, advertising, or technology strategies. Entry level membership is free, so join in.

ecademy: This is an international site and new to the United States. Base membership is free, but you will be constantly invited to upgrade your status for a low monthly fee. I see little value in it today unless you are looking to do more business oversees.

Naymz: Similar to linked in but a bit cheesier. They are pushing a RepScore which gauges your reputation. This is not a site to reach out to consumers and I rarely vouch for someone’s reputation unless I have personally worked closely with them. When I accept an invitation to connect with someone the site asks me if they demonstrate honesty and integrity. Heck I don’t feel that any of our elected officials demonstrate honesty and integrity. How can I vouch for virtual strangers that want to interact with me on this site? My suggestion, take a pass on this site and just use Linkedin instead.

plaxo: Their motto, “stay in touch with people you care about.” Originally a service to keep your contact information updated it has grown into a Linkedin wannabe. Like many sites they prompt you to update your status, because your associates really want to know what you are doing right now! After I logon I can see all the mindless activities of folks in my connection network such as . . . A consultant is in meetings and traveling to Bay area on Wednesday, he also just book marked a site on Delicious, another one is touting his digital marketing products for a local network. Well you get the idea. These are folks with way too much time on their hands. The site is free, so if you are bored and have no prospects or customers to call this might be worth taking a peek.

twitter: This is one site whose name says it all. You will certainly twitter away the hours each week by sharing minutia. Started by a guy who wanted to know what his friends were up to, he thought a simple way to send a sentence or two would suffice. Me, I just pick up the phone and call them or send a short email to say hi, here’s what’s going on in my life. When you go to their About Us page, you will see they admit to having no clue how to make money on this project. They do however allow you to download their logo so you can put it on your website to let everyone know you are a twitter.

The internet is a great place to promote a dealership’s products and services and every sales person should be visible on the web. The best place start is for each dealership to build a page on their site for each sales person and service advisor. This will help to personalize the relationship between the dealership and the customer and benefit your organic search engine rankings. If your dealership has issues with this, visit any search engine and enter, “automotive social network” and look for sites that encourage dealer participation to build your personal brand.

Being available and accessible on the web is required. Wasting time and gossiping is optional.

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Mark Dubis is director for the Dubis Group, an automotive marketing services company. Previously he held positions as editor of Digital Dealer magazine, vice president in the indirect lending areas at National City Bank and KeyBankUSA, non-prime sales trainer for World Omni, and a professional car salesman in South Florida working for some of the top dealerships in the market.

September  2010 Events

Sept 8 :  Automotive Fleet and Leasing Association (AFLA Conference)

October 2010 Events

October 12 – 14: Digital Dealer Conference in Las Vegas, NV

October 18-20, Driving Sales Executive Summit in Las Vegas, NV

October 20 – 22,  J.D. Power Automotive Internet Roundtable in Las Vegas, NV

November 2010 Events

November 2:  SEMA Show

February 2011 Events

February 2:  NADA 2011 in San Francisco, CA

So, how do you convey a message of trust on a web site? While the Internet is a cold and often impersonal place there are steps you can take that convey a more open and user-friendly environment and thus a more trusting place to shop for a vehicle.

I visit 20 or 30 web sites a day to explore new products, get information on various vendors, review dealer sites and to shop for office or home products. After buying on the Internet for a few years now, I’ve established some personal rules that help me determine whether I will do business with an online store.

In no particular order here is a list of items I look for on the site:
•    A physical address of their office or place of business

•    A telephone number of their offices, and preferably a toll-free phone number for customer service

•    Clear information about shipping policies and costs
•    Purchase process that offers secure, encrypted pages for ordering products

•    A Frequently Asked Questions page with clear, complete answers to the questions a prospective buyer might ask

•    A simple way to track orders online
•    Solid consumer ratings. (If I found a site through a shopping aggregator like pricegrabber.com or shopping.com, I look for customer reviews. If I see more than a few negative ratings, I go elsewhere. )

Once they have all this functionality they have cleared my first set of hurdles. Now, I look to see what value they provide. Do they offer quality products at competitive prices? If I feel their products are a “good deal” I go ahead and make the purchase.
I also suggest calling their phone number for customer service. On a recent purchase, which I subsequently cancelled, I called the customer service line and was told the wait time was 56 minutes. If you can’t get through within 10 minutes, I would suggest you shop elsewhere.

Building trust on your store’s web site
Now let’s look at dealership web sites and the personal rules I shared with you. Are you making it easy for users to communicate with you and get the information they want? Do you have the address of the dealership and phone number on every page? Do you have a Frequently Asked Questions page about your dealership’s policies?

I told you why that’s important to me. Now, think about the process of buying a vehicle. It’s not exactly like walking into Walgreens and buying some hair gel. It can be an intimidating and complicated process that befuddles many folks.

Why not take a page from other online retailers and develop a customer or auto shopper Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page to make things easier for customers? Remember we work in this business every day, so we know the car buying process inside out. Problem is, most customers don’t always know the in’s and out’s of our business, so this presents an opportunity for your dealership to befriend your prospects and start building their trust by sharing with them how the process works.

Here are some basic questions you should answer on a “Car Buying FAQ” page that customers can link to right from your home page:
1.    Are the vehicles shown on this web site described accurately?

2.    What’s the difference between a certified used vehicle and one that is not certified?

3.    Do you have other vehicles not shown on the site?

4.    How are trade-in values determined?

5.    If I put money down do I get a better purchase price or interest rate?

6.    What type of financing is available?

7.    What are the benefits of financing at the dealership?

8.    Can you finance someone with past credit problems?

9.    Should I buy or lease?

10.    How long does it take to complete the transaction?

11.    What if I buy the vehicle and change my mind the next morning?

12.    Do you match competitors’ prices?

13.    Can you locate the vehicle I want?

14.    Do you have a first-time buyers program?

I’m sure you can think of a few others but these are the basic ones to start with on the site. Answering these questions in a straightforward and easy to understand fashion will help show a prospect that you care about providing an open atmosphere where you stand ready to answer any questions they pose to you.

The answers you provide to the questions should be honest, clear and straightforward. You should strive to keep your answers to three or four informative sentences.

Here is a sample answer to question 1:
“We make every attempt to accurately describe each vehicle posted on our web site, but unfortunately we sometimes make mistakes and an incorrect option or feature of the vehicle is listed in the description. When you locate a vehicle that interests you, our site offers you the ability to e-mail us to check on the equipment, confirm availability, and to arrange a test drive. An in-person inspection by you is the best way to assure that the desired options and features are on the vehicle.”

A well-thought FAQ page can differentiate you from your competitiors. Does your site offer a more compelling roadmap to a sale than your competitors? If so, your sales associates have another selling tool to help customers understand why it’s better to buy from you. The absence of a FAQ page leads to another key customer perception: If a dealer’s web site doesn’t anticipate and answer questions, customers are likely to think you’re trying to hide something.

Your sales people might even point to this page as something that distinguishes you from your competitors. You provide an FAQ page and they don’t. What are they hiding? If you help your customers to buy; they will.

This article originally appeared in Digital Dealer magazine -