INDIANAPOLIS, IN. – Driven Data, an Indianapolis-based technology company, announces the launch of its next generation marketing platform for the automotive industry. Driven Data is the first automotive solution to connect dealerships’ first party data from their CRM and DMS into both paid search and paid social automatically. This enables dealerships to drive loyalty by reaching their prior customers while suppressing recent for new customer acquisition.

“According to the 2019 NADA Midyear Report, the automotive industry spends an average of $628 to sell each new car, an all- time high,” said Jon Berna, Founder and CEO of Driven Data. “With costs rising across the board, dealers need a more robust solution to this problem. Driven Data was purpose-built to provide just that. Dealerships generally see that 17% of their sales in a given month come from prior customers. This new capability can grow that number substantially while saving time and money.”

Driven Data is the first in the automotive industry to leverage the power of ‘Prescriptive Marketing’, which allows dealers to unlock the power of their existing operational data to inform marketing decisions. This powers advanced features such as Driven Data’s budget optimization engine, which optimizes daily spending based on a predictive algorithm that determines how fast cars will sell at various budget levels, allowing dealers to optimize inventory turn at the lowest ad spend.

“Driven-Data's Analytics Platform is, quite simply, the best on the market,” said Alex Motevosian of Kirin Automotive. Their diagnostic engine allows you to see operational efficiency and inefficiency at the speed of retail, thus empowering dealers to make decisions in real-time, and with an impact in days—not months.” Motevosian also praised the platform’s ability to automatically generate dynamic, custom audiences in Facebook and Google Ads based on dealer data. “Their universal architecture and data standardization methods allow them to do something that no one else is doing: drop first-party, dynamic custom audiences into Facebook and Ads - automatically. Yes, that last sentence is correct. As a marketingprofessional, if that doesn't get you excited...you are in the wrong business”

“If you had 200k total customers in your CRM and DMS it would cost around $250,000 to reach each customer once with direct mail,” said Berna. With Driven Data it would cost less than $1,750 in modern mediums like Google Ads and Facebook. The majority of companies providing digital marketing services for dealerships today still do it manually. Driven Data connects inventory, operational metrics, incentive data and customer data into one marketing and analytics platform. Providing marketing that is connected, optimized and personalized.”

Driven Data takes dealership data and implements advanced machine learning to generate custom 1st party audiences based on customers who are predicted to be in the market for a new car, shopping for a used car, or may need service soon. Using a proprietary ad platform, Driven Data collects a dealership’s data and their marketing collateral to enable a dealership to automatically develop and publish specific, customized ads on Facebook, Instagram, Google, and additional platforms in the future.

According to Ryan Moore, Chief Technology Officer at Driven Data, this results in more engaging ads that will reach customers where they already are. “Driven Data’s foundation is the most comprehensive reporting platform in the industry. We integrate with all core dealership systems and leverage these insights directly into the marketing, which has never been done to this extent. This allows for true ad personalization in the customer’s journey to a purchase or service visit.”

"Driven Data allows dealers to take an in-depth dive into their data that their CRM and DMS do not have the ability to provide,” said Kenon Johnson of Stanley Automotive Group. “They are knowledgeable and have tapped into data to provide insights that have not been readily available. The team at Driven Data are truly professionals that understand the importance of what dealers need to evaluate all aspects of their business."

Includes advanced features that no other marketing solution offers, such as:

Data & Insights

Access advanced reporting on all the most important metrics for each department for a truly connected strategy.

Prescriptive Social & Search Marketing

Optimize each campaign to increase engagement and conversion at every stage by leveraging operational and customer data from your CRM, DMS, and Inventory.

Digital Asset Management

Host your images and videos with us to dynamically connect them to your marketing.

Universal Benchmarks

See how your performance stacks up against the best dealerships on each metric.

Dynamic Reconditioning Information

Showcase internal maintenance items like tires, brakes, and alignments with their values directly inside ads.

Maintenance-free Landing Pages

Provide the best customer experience with flexible rules to ensure accurate payments and vehicle information.

Forecasting

Accurately predict sales six months in the future using a blend of variables including seasonality, weighted trends, digital behaviors, and others.

Budget Optimization Engine

Optimize your ad spend based on all dealership data in our system and we predict how long each vehicle will take to sell.

Diagnostics Engine

Resolve concerns and get your process back on track by monitoring everything from Web, CRM, Inventory, DMS, and paid search.

Incentives & Rebates

Leverage lease and loan payments on every vehicle in ads automatically.

About Driven Data

Driven Data is the first insight-driven solution built specifically for the automotive industry. Driven Data delivers comprehensive operational, inventory, and customer insights to optimize dealership marketing with highly personalized ads and unparalleled analytics. By identifying the right audiences based on a dealership’s inventory goals and customer data, Driven Data helps dealerships sell and service more cars at a lower cost.

To learn more about Driven Data, please visit https://www.driven-data.com/ or call 888-659-5488

Not the best way to awaken my inactive forum account. But I thought I'd be the first one to report it here. Seems some digital vendors are not prepared for it, which could disrupt your advertisements and the successfulness of them.

Or much worse, put you in non-compliance, resulting in moderation of advertisements or ultimately a permanently banned ad account.

Short TLDR; (Too Long Didn't Read) Summary:

"HUD charged facebook, claiming that Facebook violated the 1968 Fair Housing Act by allowing advertisers that use the platform to target and exclude individuals based on protected categories such as religion, color, gender, age, etc."

This change will prohibit dealers from promoting auto loan opportunities to people that are a specific gender and age. Certain targeting options, which may include demographics, behaviors or interests group, will be unavailable as well. Look-a-like audiences will be removed completely - this is what advanced Facebook Marketers use to achieve low-cost & sustainable results through the Facebook Platform, which creates a new challenge for dealerships trying to market themselves.

So first off, who am I?

Names John, I'm from Chicago. I own & operate a digital agency which manages a fairly large ad budget across a multitude of dealers nationwide, ranging from Used/New & Used/BHPH.. you name it.

Shameless plugs...

If you're looking to learn how to run Facebook Ads for your dealership check out my tutorial here:

Why Run Facebook Ads for Your Dealership? More Importantly: HOW

Or maybe you're more interested in seeing how we generate leads, which you may view here:

Collect Car Buyer Leads CHEAPLY & EFFECTIVELY!

Moving On..

A few weeks ago a few clients of mine received a message in their Facebook Ads Manager, notifying each of them about a silent update Facebook made regarding advertisements related to Credit, Housing, and Employment. Stating that if you were running advertisements in these categories, you MUST navigate to campaign level and adjust each campaign individually, submitting to its respective category.



So why is this bad news?

Although this isn't the end of the world, it truly levels out the playing field. Nearly negating the thousands of dollars in ad-spend dealers have paid to attain data, and some level of sustainability & optimization in their advertisement campaigns for selling cars.

1: You will no longer be able to target people by Age.

2: You won't be able to target certain Genders.

3: Extreme limitations on behavior groups you can target.

4: Some limitations on interest groups as well.

5: Can no longer create look-a-like audiences, to target people similar to leads/buyers.

6: Can no longer target people in less than a 15 mile radius.

7: Cannot target or exclude individuals based on zip code.

Biggest kick in the groin being no more look-a-like audiences.

This is something advanced media buyers in the automotive space use to target car buyers more predictably. Without it, settling into optimization requires more ad budget and more time.

What can I do to stay ahead?

Again, not the end of the world. Facebook quickly announced a remedy to their removal of look-a-like audiences for those promoting ads in one of the now three moderated categories. (Credit, Housing, Employment)

It's called a "Special Ad Audience". (whoever came up with the name is a snowflake)

Although the details aren't clear as to how different Special Ad Audiences are from Look-A-Like audiences, results are showing significantly less performance across the board.

Time will tell!

This thread will be updated with results and performance, as more of our advertisements are forced to move into this new "special" ad category.

"OMG - do you know what is hotter than us? Las Vegas in August!"

Is there anything better than going to Las Vegas in mid-August? Perhaps some roofing work in southern Texas? Or maybe an asphalt job through Death Valley? Ok, we get it, it's HOT in Las Vegas in August - and Digital Dealer 27 was hot as well!


Early arrival in Las Vegas - no line for a taxi

The direct flight from Cincinnati to Las Vegas was moved to an earlier slot, meaning we arrived in Vegas at 7 am. PERFECT time to make an early check-in to Mandalay Bay because, let's face it, "people-watching" is one of the most underrated benefits of Las Vegas. We are walking in with our baggage and smiling faces, while we see others: A) Crestfallen after losing all of their money. B) The WolfPack is returning with their tails between their legs. C) The "Walk of Shame", no further comments needed. Great news - Mandalay gave us an early check-in, and we spent Sunday relaxing, hitting the spa, and catching up with great friends that were also arriving during the day.


Do I look debonnaire with my new drink, the "Modern Old Fashioned"?

I picked up my registration on Sunday afternoon and wow - quite a walk to the convention center (about 15"-20"), reminded me of Digital Dealer at MGM Grand. Glad I picked up my badge on Sunday as I gave myself some extra time on Monday morning to walk over. There was a line for badge pickup, but lots of people were working the desk and badge pickup was moving along quickly.


Long time no see - Kendall Billman looking sharp in exhibit hall

And the First Shall be Last... Well, that Bible verse doesn't bode well for me as I get to speak in the first session time-slot at Digital Dealer to give me time for this beloved recap. I was sincerely excited to share my presentation "Can You Handle the Truth: Unlock the Secrets Inside Your Modern Shopper's Mind", where I featured the results of a consumer experience study that we completed with a mix of consumers, whom we interviewed in our Wyler in-house studio.


There was a pet convention next to Digital Dealer 27 this year - loved seeing all the dogs

These questions asked the modern consumer where they consumed their media, how they preferred to communicate, whether they wanted a digital retailing experience, and more. The results? Not only insightful, but POWERFUL in allowing me to show dealers how to cut their CRM workloads in half while selling the same, if not more cars, saving marketing spend, and doubling if not quadrupling their website conversion. Would you like to know how?


Brent Wees, Arnold Tijerina, and Adam Ross, trio of talent!

Hands-down - consumers prefer to text. Yet we setup our websites for forms and phone calls, and our CRM task lists are stacked with phone calls. By taking our form submissions and adding a disclaimer to opt-in for text, we were able to get the opt-ins for text that we needed. Further, I shared that most third party sites and many OEM sites that send you leads have ALREADY disclaimed an initial opt-in for you as a dealer. That means you can TEXT these people. Our contact rate has jumped significantly as a result, and our sales reps are thrilled. Why?


Gayle Rogers and Tim Mueller (how does Tim get so tan working with Google? Google it...)

I can look at any dealership CRM tool and I will find a ton of overdue tasks, most of which are phone calls. One of the consumer questions we asked was "when do you answer a phone call?" Answer: if you are not in their contact list, or they are not expecting your call, they DON'T answer. In fact, they don't even listen to your voicemail, they read the transcription. Which is essentially a glorified text. Dealers are asking their teams or BDCs to make hundreds of phone calls per day, with 90% going into voicemail. We are creating non-consumer facing "busy work" that aggravates our customers while frustrating our sales reps.


Always great to see my GREAT and brilliant friend Alex Jefferson

Consumer-facing solution: cut those phone tasks in half! Focus on text. Become more consumer-facing. Contact more prospects. Reduce dealership workload. Sell more cars. Happier customers and happier sales reps. And perhaps time to reconsider the exorbitant cost of a BDC that makes hundreds of outbound calls each day, only to go into voicemail. Rant over.


Nick Cybela, Alex Jefferson, and I at the Cox booth in exhibit hall

What about digital retailing? We found that people want a digital retailing tool almost unanimously if it helps them to complete some or most of the car buying process online. HOWEVER, our follow up question found that almost none of them wanted to buy a car 100% online. They still want to come in and test drive and visit the dealership.


Learning about a new solution from Digital Air Strike - yes, we are pursuing

I have GREAT NEWS. Dealers have an incredibly important role in the future with digital retailing. We still get to build value with the test drive. We still get to present the full F&I menu. And now, in addition, we get to build value with CONVENIENCE which is sold at a premium, meaning we can build profitability in a declining margins market. Bottom line - if you are not offering digital retailing, you are not consumer-facing.


Brent Wees and Bill Playford host a great interactive session with ACTIONABLE items

Whew! I hope I inspired many of you as I worked to do during my session. Now it was time to rush over and practice for Tech Tank later that day, and then go to Exhibit Hall.


Sean Squared! (Sean Stapleton and Sean Bradley)

First item on the agenda was to work with current partners with pressing issues. I met with Cloud One, KBB, Cox Automotive, Activengage, and many more. It is super convenient to walk to Activengage, find out my integration with DealerTrack Accelerate is being held up at Cox, then walk over to Cox and work to resolve that, etc. It was also a great opportunity to get together in person with some of the key decision makers at Activengage as I shared my vision of having our websites "serve" the consumers needs immediately rather than "chasing" them later.


Meeting with the ActivEngage team, Carol Marshall, Ted Rubin, and Eric Schlesinger

Alright alright alright... The first keynote, "How Human-Centric Brands Win in a Tech-Dominated World" with Stefan Olander, Former VP at Nike, was well received. Was that because he looked like Matthew McConaughey? I liked Stefan's analogy about having an open mind and not being afraid to test. Remember that eye chart when you went to the optometrist? They kept asking "better or worse?" Ask that same question across all of your processes and sharpen your vision (see that pun???).


Lucky me! Jenny Harris, Elaina Raggio and Julie Frye. Just call me "Charlie"

Michelle Denogean with Roadster and Mike McFall with 360Converge lead a great session "Digital Retailing and the Impact on Your Dealership's CRM". I think we have all seen that graph where, after 90 minutes in the showroom, customer satisfaction begins to decline. Digital Retailing, if executed successfully in the showroom, can fix that problem. Michelle also shared that we must treat digital retailing leads differently. Our consumers use digital retailing as they want to feel empowered - is your process working those leads setup to empower them? Or just push tasks on them?


Joining Tamela Bauer and Greg Noonan at the Skyfall Lounge

Rock and Roll Ain't Noise Pollution. Ok, problem here. If you were in keynote hall, it was distracting to hear the presentation next door at the Food and Beverage Hall. And while I was in the F&B hall for the previous presentation, I struggled to focus as I could hear the presentation in Keynote Hall. Um, they were only separated by a curtain. And further, they were cleaning up after lunch with some kind of locomotive pulling multiple carts of clanging dishes and silverware. Or maybe I am just getting old and cranky and am losing my hearing


Great to see David Boice, Dean Evans, and Andrew Diffenderfer

Next up was "Think with Google: #NoMoreCoreModels", with David Boice from Team Velocity and Andrew Diffenderfer with Google. I meant "The Google" - that always builds immediate credibility with your friends and business associates when you call it "The Google", at least that is what my good Google friend Julio Gonzalez told me. We learned the latest news from Google about our consumers, and another reminder to ensure you have your store visits setup in Google Analytics.


Julio Gonzalez with "The Google"

It's just another manic Monday... Heads up, there was some chaos on Monday at Digital Dealer. Unfortunately, some speakers had to cancel sessions due to unforeseen reasons (accident, family emergency, etc) and this happened after the session books were printed. God bless Alissa Calvaruso with Digital Dealer who was literally updating the schedule boards with handwriting while moving things around as best she could. The Digital Dealer app showed updated info regarding sessions BUT I had multiple people tell me that they could not find the app.


THANK YOU Alissa Calvaruso for all of your hard work, you are GREAT!

Hopefully a simple fix, have the app searchable from your app as "Digital Dealer" rather than "Emerald Expositions". I know that DD sent out a direct link, but it comes down to "consumer-facing" and most folks were searching directly for "Digital Dealer" and not finding the app.


"Shark" Kris Nielson keeping folks on their toes at the Tech Tank

This shark can swim fast! Not much of a break for me as I then rushed over to sit on the Tech Tank panel. I think having one Tech Tank session is plenty, and as always, it was a highly organized tech tank ran by our brilliant and beautiful moderator Eliana Raggio. My favorite part was when one of the presenters moved Eliana away from her podium and decided to present from there. BRAVE man, lol. My personal favorite was RevGen, a new geo-fencing solution that uses some cutting edge technology - check it out.


And the winner was... Driven Media Group!

A well I bless my soul, what's wrong with me?, I'm itching like a man on a fuzzy tree... Wow, the day is not nearly over and it is time for a cocktail. How about an "Elvis Presley?" Also known as a Red Bull and Vodka, one taking you up and other taking you down. Maybe that drink should be called "Confusion". Time to start working the hall and greeting the awesome folks of automotive.


Vodka martini - dirty. Cheers friends!

Quick shower, throw on some cologne (Brut by Faberge, if you are curious) and time for our Wyler team dinner at Rivea, on the top floor of Delano. Fantastic view of Vegas, both from the restaurant and their adjoining bar. This was not only a great time to network within our team, but also to reward everyone for their hard work - thank you Jeff Wyler.


Great time with the Jeff Wyler Automotive Family team dinner at Rivea

You might remember from my Orlando recap that we went to a virtual reality experience. This time we took most of our Wyler team as well as my main man, soul brotha Alex Jefferson, to enjoy the Virtual Reality experience at the MGM Grand. Absolutely hysterical and an incredibly great time. Between my wife Julie and our team member Jenny howling over the headsets as they shot zombies, I think I was nearly deaf afterwards. Thank you Nick Cybela with FlowFound for setting this up (our industry's resident virtual reality expert). Day one - over. (and heads-up, if you are going to NADA in Vegas next year, this is a great event to setup!)


If you want a GREAT team-building event, Virtual Reality is a hit

Wake up, you sleepy head, and get your hiney out of bed... An early start for Tuesday. Headed over for a great breakfast (thank you Digital Dealer, the food has really improved across the last shows, well done). Always fun to sit down at an empty table, and within about 15 minutes I am surrounded by friends and strangers who are soon to be friends. Katie Richter with Cuneo Advertising sat down with me and started sharing some invaluable insight about OTT and traditional marketing with one of my team members, and even offering to host him on a future visit to learn more about their cutting edge, successful tactics. This is what I love about Digital Dealer, the networking. We remain ahead of the curve by helping others, and receiving help in return. And btw - Katie is one of the smartest minds in automotive, thank you for your help


Typical table loaded with talent at Digital Dealer

One of the things I encouraged dealers to learn more about was OTT (over the top) television. With so many young people who never subscribe to cable or satellite (remember when that was the first thing you called about when you got an apartment or house?), and with older people "cutting the cord" in droves, how do you reach those people? I attended "CTV, OTT... WTF?" and simply put, OTT is a complex area to pursue. Dealers need to partner with a great provider who will help them navigate through selecting an effective OTT solution which will give them the best benefit. Where to start? Use this simple form provided by Premion (thank you) to ask your providers on how they can best help you. (and yes, we are testing ourselves).


Digital Dealer party with Katie Richter, Alex Jefferson, and Kenny Calhoun

Walk this way, walk this way... Back to exhibit hall and time to walk around some more. I cannot say that I saw a lot of new, innovative solutions. There were a couple that caught my attention though.


Great to spend time with Andrew Gordon of Dealer Science

FUNNELAI was something unique that I learned about. They have a platform that allows you to sort through digital platforms to find purchase-ready customers. If you are selling new Mercedes-Benz, and someone is online at eg. Reddit forums and post they are looking for one, the platform allows you to start a conversation with them on that respective platform. An organized way to reach across multiple platforms to reach prospective shoppers. I would imagine you would need someone dedicated to engaging with it each day.


FUNNELAI brings a new platform for dealers to consider

The next one I spent a lot of time with was DealerX. Yes, they have been a presence for a long time in our industry, but suffice it to say, what they are offering only continues to grow. I don't know if I have the words to describe how powerful the platform they have developed has become. I will share this, I am looking to test and I believe my friend Alex is doing the same. Let's just say that DealerX's platform gives us unparalleled transparency into how our marketing efforts are really performing, while also (bonus!) helping me target shoppers accurately in this privacy driven market.


Jeff Tognetti continues to innovate with DealerX - I am highly impressed

With all my focus on texting, I thought it made great sense to go see Steve Roessler's session "Text Message: Best Practices & Effective Ways to Drive Customer Engagement". Sometimes it's the simple things that stand out, and I liked how Steve encouraged us to ask showroom ups and phone-ups "Are you a texter?", and if they reply "yes", tell them why we would like to text them, eg. "We would love to send you pictures/video of the car you are interested in". If our consumers preferred way to communicate today is via text, any effort to accommodate that is consumer-facing.


Recon Velocity helps dealers reduce the time from acquisition to lot-ready

Shish boom bah... Another quick session and back to exhibit hall to meet with folks, and off to eat. Many thanks to Katie Richter with Cuneo Advertising for hosting a wonderful dinner. I was fortunate to sit with Matt Weinberg with Drive Motors and learn more about him. Let me say he has a fascinating background and I learned a lot more about what makes him tick and why he is such a brilliant mind in our industry. I encourage you to find out for yourself, especially if you are trying to learn about digital retailing as Matt excels in that area.


Joining Katie Richter and Matt Weinberg for a wonderful dinner

Do a little dance, make a little love, get down tonight! Off to the Digital Dealer party to enjoy some drinks, music, dancing, and good times with friends. This might be the first nightclub I have gone to that closes at 11 pm, but is it a reflection of my age that I was glad? After 3 days of going 110 mph, I was happy to return to my hotel room.


Plenty of space at the Mandalay Bay Convention facilities

Let the sunshine in... Final day, I was up bright and early to have breakfast, and Alex Jefferson and I had scheduled a full demo of DealerX at 8:30 am. Tip - the best time to focus and learn more about the solutions in exhibit hall is usually early in the morning before the chaos begins. After that I met with Podium to review some detailed reports, and then my final session.


Alex Jefferson and Julie Frye relax at the DealerX booth

James Grace is another incredible mind in our industry and he shared how to use Google's advanced eCommerce capability to identify and eliminate thousands of dollars in wasted paid search. As dealers face compressing margins, and the cost of Google SEM continues to rise, this is an area that all dealers should be looking at closely. James is the founder and CEO of Wizely, Inc. and if you go to his website from a desktop PC, you can get a copy of this deck which is invaluable.


Booths were especially busy on Monday afternoon

Leaving, on a jet plane... You can call me John Denver. You can call me Johnny Knoxville. But you can stop calling me Johnny Red-eye as that overnight direct flight back to Cincinnati throws me out of whack for a couple of days, so I took the afternoon flight back. Did I have any final thoughts?


Premion had some innovative solutions with OTT for dealers

Did anything with Digital Dealer 27 stand out? The greatest strength with this year's conference for me was exhibit hall, specifically with meeting current partners. We are pursuing some new solutions that we met with as a result of Digital Dealer (minimum of 3 vendors), so yes, we did bring some new business.


Did I mention there was a pet convention next door???

What about dealers? What is the feeling in the current market? Simply put - cautious. There was a lot of uncertainly entering 2019 and continues to be. Dealers are glad to see that the market is doing better than expected, but the general consensus is that we have peaked and will likely decline in the near future. As a result, dealers are cautious to spend and test. They are focused on how partners can help them be more efficient with their operations. And finally, how they can best prepare for the future.


Veronica Dunford - where have you been??? Great to see you!

My final suggestions - could we expand the networking hours during Digital Dealer to start a bit earlier? So many of us have dinner plans that we often have to leave early to get ready, as well as the vendors who are often hosting these events. And my challenge is this - how can dealers be best prepared for an uncertain market in 2020, perhaps a good focus point for Digital Dealer 28? And final challenge is for speakers - are you sharing ACTIONABLE items that dealers can return with?


Amy Hughes sharing the latest and greatest from Experian

I am excited to see Digital Dealer 28 in Orlando return to the Rosen Shingle. Call me a fuddy-duddy but I love having everything in one resort, where I can simply walk around the resort to multiple restaurants, bars, pools, and see all of my great industry friends in one place without having to travel everywhere. Maybe I can rent one of those scooters next spring, or just hijack one from the local grocery store.


Farewell from wifey and I after another great Digital Dealer

It was great seeing all of you, much love from Julie and I to the greatest people in automotive

Login to view embedded media View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_fNsvHy5sw

Could this be the 26th Digital Dealer? I remember starting at Digital Dealer 3 which was back in a tiny venue in Nashville and when I see the Orlando Conference Center now, home of DD26, it is impressive to see how far it has grown. Now remembering when I was 26 years old, that’s another issue.

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Lining up to get my Digital Dealer 26 registration on day one

Early bird gets the badge. Always an early start on Tuesday morning, and this was the first time I did not do early pickup for my badge. Was there a long line? Yes, and it took me less than 5 minutes to get through. Just a quick barcode scan, and your badge is printed out. This digital technology thing really works!


Lots of familiar faces in this photo before Shaun Raines' session

It pays to be a blogger. Maybe the nicest perk of writing this Digital Dealer review is that they let me speak early on the first day so that I can focus on getting some great content for DealerRefresh. And speaking of great content – were any of you able to attend my presentation?


CJ Depasquale, Melissa Greene, Eliana Raggio and Kate Frost = TALENT!

Fax Leads – Short Codes – Neosynergy – Flash websites – Flip Cameras: NONE of these were in my 5 Cutting Edge Strategies to help dealers be more successful in 2019, though I might have used several of those in the past (did I mention I have been around since DD3???)  My goal was to provide some advanced content and great take-aways that dealers could apply as soon as they returned from Digital Dealer to become better.


Ted Rubin, Greg Gifford and Will McGinnis representing 3 great companies

One of the primary areas I covered was virtual test drives. Online digital retailing is the big focus this year, and we asked ourselves “what is the one thing shoppers cannot do online?”  Actually test driving a vehicle. Now I am well aware that every study and survey continues to show that the majority of folks want to physically test drive a car, but what if we could allow them to virtually test drive a car from the comfort of their couch. And btw folks, almost 70% of our shoppers visited us from a mobile device last year, they ARE shopping you from the comfort of their couch.


Double trouble with Arnold Tijerina and Yago Paramo (who just ran the Boston Marathon!)

Complex problems often have simple answers. Once we installed VR test drives on our websites, the engagement was not very impressive. I looked at Google Analytics, our website layout, and more. However it wasn’t until I took the time to start asking my friends and colleagues “what do you think of the idea of VR test drives” that I found the answer. They all loved the concept, but they all shared “but I don’t own a VR headset”. Um… you don’t need a VR headset, but we failed to communicate that with our website layout and marketing efforts. A couple quick changes which emphasize pictures and videos of folks using VR test drives without a headset, and our engagement took off.


Did you know that "The Google" is printed on paper now?

Just the facts maam… We run multiple marketing campaigns each month and guess which one gets the most engagement? “Take a virtual test drive” has more engagement than the total engagement of our other 5 campaigns. Maybe it is because we are offering something that is not readily available in the market and they can utilize from their couch. Could that be more consumer facing? I also shared 4 more cutting edge strategies that were consumer facing – maybe if your friends are nice they will share their notes with you.


Chad Kirchoff with Tom Wood and Justin Byrd of Team Velocity bringing energy to DD26

Step aside cowpokes, the stampede to enter exhibit hall begins. An automotive conference exhibit hall is like a large family reunion. Well, we are in the south for this show, and it doesn’t take too long to learn about the great family of folks that work automotive. There didn’t appear to be as many vendors as usual. Sure, it is the spring show that is always smaller than Vegas, but maybe this is a reflection of vendors starting to cut back on expense in anticipation of a market slowdown, just like dealers are doing right now. Attendance appeared to be strong.


Aharon Horwitz and Ilana Shabtay with AutoLeadStar

I spent some time walking around, catching up with great friends, seeing our vendor partners, and asking folks what was on their mind with today’s market. My strategy is to do a quick walk-around to see what is new in exhibit hall, talk to others later to see what caught their attention, and then I narrow down whom I want to visit for a full demo. The most difficult part of this? The “walk-around” of course.


Spending time with Jennifer Sanford on her BIRTHDAY - no better than that

Hey Kevin! Here’s how it goes down. Trick number one  is the “first name” strategy. If you are walking through exhibit hall and hear your first name called out, NEVER slow down or stop to look. You likely do not know that vendors can target a dealer id tag from hundreds of yards away and read your first name.


David Villa and Luis Torres - the man behind the scenes helping make it happen

Avert the eyes! Sweet mother of Mary, do I have to tell you to never make eye contact on day one? It’s all about peripheral vision folks. Dealers must walk as if they see a dear friend in front of them several yards away, and only peruse the multiple booths with casual side-way glances. Vendors are taught that if they can obtain eye contact, you will be one of the 1.3 vendor booths that they will choose with a 70% closing rate.


John Woodman travels from Hawaii each conference!

It’s all about the phone. I don’t care if it means carrying around the rotary phone from your hotel room, you must carry your phone in a highly visible manner. “I just got a call” works. Nobody needs to hear a ringtone, you have heard of silent mode, right? And even though NOBODY answers their phone these days, this call is the most important call of your life.


Love these two serving as moderators - they are the best!

All kidding aside, I love to visit with our vendor friends. And jumping ahead, may I humbly ask for a change from our great Digital Dealer team? Let’s not have a “dealer only” party any more. I believe the primary benefit of Digital Dealer is building relationships with other dealers AND our vendor partners. I want to see these folks at the Digital Dealer party, and let’s face it, our vendor friends raise the attractiveness quotient by several points when they join us grizzly car folks.


Owen Moon crouching down to be seen in my pic, lol

Life is not FAIR. Gotta tell you folks, I have been watching FAIR and talking about it for over 2 years. If you haven’t downloaded this app and played with it, you need to. It is a first class example of a frictionless way to buy a car online, simple and consumer facing. FAIR has slowly been entering new markets, and finally entered ours early this year. Verdict? Simple way to move units with no marketing expense on your side, selling them at full list price plus more. FAIR was a hot topic amongst dealers and should have your attention. Was very glad to have Julie Morrelli with FAIR at Digital Dealer so that I could introduce some folks her direction.


Julie Morelli with FAIR, one of the most talked about solutions at DD26

US Navy representing! I served on the afternoon Tech Tank Panel, moderated by the beautiful and talented Eliana Raggio (one of my FAVE people and fellow Navy veteran) from Digital Air Strike and was incredibly impressed with eVN (who ultimately won the competition). Dealers strive to take actual photos of their new cars, which is costly as you pay on a per car basis, and the quality is often fair, as you cannot count on the weather, having the cars completely clean with plastic removed, you get it. Peter Stevenson with eVN offered a solution where you feed your inventory to them, and they use 3D-model technology to create VIN specific photos of each vehicle, all the way down to the stitching on the interior. Since it is VIN specific, as soon as you get the VIN for a new unit on the way, you have photos. These are photos up to 4k in quality so that you can zoom in, and they are also looking to use AI to put the photos in order of what folks want to see first (front quarter shot, then straight to interior dashboard). eVN currently only carries technology for new Ford and Chevrolet, but I hope to see this expand soon.


Some great innovation with the Tech Tank competition

Another Tech Tank solution that caught my attention was a solution to take your dealership car wash from an expense and turn it into a profit center. I would encourage dealers to take a look at their site, motorcarsconsulting.com.


Matt Gile and Trevor Gile talked about making your car wash profitable

I always strive to encourage folks in our industry, but there is one guy that excels at this – David Villa. I was privileged to join a bevy of talent on Auto Dealer Live where we talked about automotive’s pressing issues, as Frank Lopes and David Villa moderated. I want to give a shout out as well to Lou Torres who coordinates these Auto Dealer Live shows – he works hard, is incredibly organized, and always helps put together great talent into an awesome show.


David Villa and Frank Lopes moderate another great Auto Dealer Live

Putting on the Ritz. We had a wonderful dinner with the Wyler team, Alex Jefferson and the Proctor Honda/Acura team, Joe Webb and Jennifer Sanford (who was celebrating her birthday!) at Norman’s at the Ritz with Nick Cybela and the Flowfound team. While sharing 5 cutting edge strategies during my session, many dealers ask how they can innovate at the Jeff Wyler level when they have significantly less assets. The answer – PARTNERSHIPS. Nick and the Flowfound team have been one of our greatest examples, working alongside us with both our VR and AR efforts. When we have big ideas, we leverage the talent available with our vendor partners to achieve the results we are looking for. Don’t let me forget to include Cloud One who has partnered with us recently to customize our equity mining lead efforts. Do you think perhaps we were able to build many of these relationships at the conferences we attend???


Fantastic dinner at Norman's at The Ritz

Did you know that Marvin Gaye sang “Let’s DealerOn”?  My main man Alex and I stopped by the DealerOn party and enjoyed some great music and drinks, and the party was so electric that the entire block on International Blvd lost power. I am not kidding, the power did go out, but not before seeing many great friends.


Kenny Calhoun joins Ceren Isildak and Melissa Greene at the DealerOn Party

Holy Karaoke. Next up - Arnold Tijerina did a first class job putting together a great event with the annual Joe and Shaun Karaoke event. My highlight was seeing everyone sing Happy Birthday to Jennifer Sanford. What a fun night, and what a long day. Called it a night around 1 am and headed out. Day one was long and action packed.


Shaun and Joe's annual Karaoke event was packed

Play hard, work hard. Alex and I live by a strong code at these events. You can stay out as late as you want (I think 4:30 am was our latest at a Vegas event), but you are ALWAYS up and running at the first event the next day – and you will almost always find us sitting in the front row at sessions. We had great, hot breakfasts at our hotel this trip so I did not eat at DD but I hear it was good.


Julio, Elianna and Alexi enjoying Karaoke

Matt Weinberg with Drive Motors held a great session on the 5 Biggest Online Retailing Challenges. He asked “how many cars are sold completely online with Carvana?”  Technically, the answer is none, as folks still have to wet-sign a lot of forms, to include notarization in many states, you know what I am talking about. But – if you were to survey the thousands of folks who bought from Carvana and asked them if they bought a car online, they would answer yes. What do you think they are telling their friends??? Perception is reality!


Matt Weinberg talks digital retailing challenges

For every dealer that is resisting efforts to install and implement online digital retailing in their website and showroom experience, wake up. Those that work on this early and succeed, even with a partial online transaction, will benefit from the perception they communicate that shoppers can buy online with them.


Amy Hughes with Experian joined me on Auto Dealer Live

Matt shared another important perception – it used to be that your website was an extension of your dealership. This is reversing, where your dealership is now an extension of your website. You are winning shoppers at your website. Think click and pickup when you shop for groceries online, and then go to the store for pickup. Your focus should be this – the more you can get shoppers to do online on your website, the more likely they will come in to visit your dealership (hmmm, sounds similar to negotiation 101).


Peter Stevenson with eVN gives a demo of his new product

Back to Keynote Hall for Top 10 Dealers Crushing it in 10 New Ways. Superstar Alexi Venneri moderated a great panel of talented dealers and some case study results. Solid content, a little more basic for me, but very useful for most dealers looking to improve.


Alex Venerri leads a panel of dealer talent

Time to hit exhibit hall where I met with eVN for a more detailed demo. I also met Eric Hinkle, one of the co-founders of VinSolutions. This was my first time meeting him, and he should be proud for helping create one of the top CRM tools used in the industry. Eric was sharing his virtual walk-around solution, Vuwzer.


Eric Hinkle with his virtual walkaround solution Vuwzer

Caught up with David Metter, one of the folks I respect greatly in our industry, both as a colleague and as a friend. David and his wife Loni are two of the finest people I know, and are incredibly generous on giving back to our industry and much more. David recently returned from a trip to Africa where he was serving others. Humility? Service to others? Love? See the pattern? Well done friend.


Was looking for Chris Bro-man from DD25, but found this motley crew (love you Christy Roman)

Once again, Navy representing - Fly Navy! Folks, there is some very advanced technology which is game-breaking with our marketing efforts. Fellow Naval Aviator Jeff Clark shared “It’s Time to Harvest”, where dealers can leverage technology and data to know everyone that enters their dealership, to include name, address, phone number, where they work, you name it. Those smartphones that are inseparable for you? They are also a tool which can help us market to shoppers, establish better ROI reporting, and countless other opportunities. I have been watching this closely and you should to. This is very worthy of a demo as I do not have enough space in this review to share how advanced this content is.


Jeff Clark with Social Dealer shares advanced technology

My next round at exhibit hall was to meet with our multiple vendor partners – also known as relationship building. It’s also during these visits that I talk to other dealers to see how things are going and what is on their mind. The big question – is the market slowing down? Everyone seemed to have a good March, but Jan/Feb was mixed compared to previous years, and the overall sentiment seems to be that the market has peaked.


Shaun Raines was one of the very first folks I saw present at Digital Dealer - the BEST

Compressing margins has lead to dealers scrutinizing their digital spend at the highest level as those marketing dollars are becoming more scarce. Alternatives to traditional SEM spend (which is getting very expensive) were being explored, and of course digital retailing continues to be an area of great importance.



Time for a quick shower and dinner with Alex Jefferson and friends. We met with Nick Cybela and some of the Flowfound team for a 30 minute virtual reality gaming session. We suited up with VR headsets, backpacks, weapons, and proceeded to enter a virtual reality world as a team where we battled with zombies. This was all inside a very big room. It was very realistic (and no, it did not make anyone nauseous, you are not sitting on a chair on one of those platforms that moves all over the place) and the gameplay was intense. How intense? Well we were all sweat-soaked by the time we were done and we had an incredible good time. Nick shared that that this VR technology is already dated and that even better experiences are available. Wow – I am excited to see where this goes further with automotive.


Virtual Gaming - Lots of fun and intense enough to sweat

The Digital Dealer party was held at Mango’s and it was a great event – well done to Alissa Frey and her team. Awesome venue, dancing, drinks, and an overall good time that was well attended. Another late night and great time.


Great job by Alissa Frey and her team organizing DD26

Started the final day with the keynote by Gail Kasper and “Outshine the Competition Through the Power of Video”. Gail shared some great content and strategies that dealers could use as soon as they returned. Get in, make your points with your video, keep it short, fun and informative. What type of videos should you be shooting? Gail suggested PAVE – People (employees/customers), Activities (birthdays/events), Vehicles (features/models) and Education (service/sales).


The Digital Dealer party at Mango was packed and hopping

Completed my final demo’s and joined my team and Kenny Calhoun with Xcel Media Group at TopGolf for the afternoon before a flight later that day. If you haven’t gone to TopGolf – it is a great place to have fun, whether you play golf or not.


Team Wyler joins Kenny Calhoun with Xcel Media Group at Top Golf

I got some great news that next year’s Orlando Digital Dealer will be returning to the Rosen Shingle. I love that venue as everyone is in one resort, where you can walk from the show directly back to your room, enjoy multiple bars and restaurants onsite – ultimately it is easier to spend time with everyone. For me, it is all about people and relationships at these conferences. I was a bit disappointed to hear that Digital Dealer 27 will be in Las Vegas in August, but I am sure that the show will be robust as always. And better, Kenny Calhoun shared a great offsite activity that I am definitely going to check out – DigThis. Think a big outdoor playground where you get to operate heavy equipment. Who’s in with me? Until next time, cheers friends!


Vodka martini, dirty - Cheers to seeing you all in Vegas at DD27

We live in a world where new technology swirls around us at a relentless and often dizzying pace, yet as we look closer inside the automotive industry and one particular area - the CRM - the winds are very calm, and the marketplace solutions aren’t keeping pace with innovation outside of the industry. In a nutshell we are operating in an innovation rut for automotive CRM. We believe that we are about to enter a renaissance that will completely reimagine what is possible with an automotive dealership CRM solution, and we have analyzed seven areas to pay especially close attention over the next twelve months.

Lead Enhancement Data


Dealership CRMs have been receiving lead data in a standardized ADF/XML format since the late 1990s when the standard was first created. Then, about 10 years ago, an alternative format that enabled more data to be transferred to the CRM was created, the STAR format, but the CRM industry pushed back, and it never really took off.

Today the sea of data is exponential, and it can be used to help salespeople engage shoppers with more meaningful communication. Knowing how long the shopper has been in-market, the website shopping history, the specific cars that they are looking at, homeownership status, marriage status, credit, current vehicle in their driveway, hobbies and more. All of this data and more can be compiled to create a comprehensive shopper mosaic that a salesperson can use to create instant rapport and trust, which are both pillars of sales success.

I believe we will see more of this data appending to lead information over the next twelve months as dealerships realize the power of data and the financial impact it will yield. Some of this data is already in our industry; it just hasn’t found its place at the critical junction points where it will make the greatest impact. We also don’t believe that existing CRMs will remain the automotive industry’s primary CRMs - as they stand - in the market unless they bring this data picture to life for the dealership.

Automated Calendaring

This one area of CRMs has been left virtually untouched since the inception of the digital calendar. Back and forth communication with shoppers to nail down a time to view and drive a vehicle is an absolute waste of precious time for both the shopper and the salesperson, whether through email, text, chat, phone or even smoke signals. Yes, I am exaggerating, but you get the idea. This waste of time is enhanced by the fact that salespeople sometimes forget to ask for the initial appointment, almost never confirm appointments and, finally, totally forget about rescheduling them because they are on to the next opportunity.

Today our world is just entering into automation. This will usher in an entirely new experience for car shoppers and deliver a next-level time management experience for the salesperson. This technology has already been implemented in many other industries. Even my dentist is using automated appointment technology via text for a simple teeth cleaning. It also works in email, and I have personally saved so much time enabling both prospects and customers to select times that work for them to meet within my hours of work. 

We believe empowering the consumer to decide when they want to come into the dealership creates a level of control that today’s shoppers demand. This will deliver more appointments with a higher show rate that can all be automated through email, text messaging and more. By doing this, it will take a fundamental weak link in a salesperson’s process and turn it into a consistent shopper-centric approach that delivers value to the customer and instills trust at the start of the relationship.

Omni channel communication


Unfortunately, most automotive CRMs haven’t embraced open architecture and, with limited APIs and restrictive access, they have become inhibitors of innovation. Dealerships are now forced to run multiple platforms simultaneously. This causes user fatigue, or worse, lack of utilization. It also costs dealerships time, money and, in many cases, delivers a poor experience to the shopper or customer.

Today, dealerships have a base CRM then have to add additional services like call tracking, texting, equity mining, sales & service email marketing and more, creating poorly integrated solutions. After that, they need to add an entire additional layer of platforms like chat, social, website, attribution and the list goes on from there. Technology has only continued to have gone downhill making it almost impossible for a dealership to decide on which vendor to select in fear of the CRMs lacking integrations thus increasing portals to log in to.  

 We believe the only way for the advanced automotive CRMs to catch up to the generic CRMs that dominate the automotive industry is by adopting a complete open platform architecture and transparency. The automotive industry has been secretive by nature for over 100 years, and it is apparent that even the automotive dealership vendors have aligned with this strategy. It only takes one trip to Silicon Valley, however, to see how different things are done and how philosophies are completely the opposite of the automotive norm. Yet if we look at where true innovation is happening, it is painfully obvious it happens through collaboration. Over the next year, we will see a new generation of platform design emerge, similar to Slack or Salesforce, that will enable a cohesive experience for the dealership user no matter what product they wish to plug into their platform.

Mobility First


It is impossible to predict the future or the speed at which new technology will be adopted. When you look at the current top automotive CRM providers, all of their products were built at a time when desktops ruled the dealership environment. Naturally, their technology UI and UX were, respectfully, aligned to serve the marketplace, which makes absolute sense. Mobility was an afterthought with which a consumer would check a box, then the CRM would move some of the same information and functionality down to a mobile device in order to stay in the game.

Today, we live and breathe mobile. Look around at every intersection, dinner table, airport, office meeting or Starbucks, and you will see our entire behavior is mobility-driven for good reason. It enables us to be on the go, yet still be engaged, and feel we are a part of the connected Internet culture. Mobility offers us new levels of productivity enhancements that we have never before experienced all while giving us our kick of dopamine with every click. We are addicted, and we love it. This hasn’t yet played out nicely for automotive dealerships. Many salespeople are using their personal mobile devices to communicate with shoppers and customers, and none of this information is finding its way back into the dealership’s CRM. This creates a gap between the technology of yesterday and how a dealership’s sales team does business today.

We believe this mobility-first revolution is here to stay. Dealership CRM technology needs to embrace mobility to unlock its potential. Creating technology solutions that align with existing habits is a powerful way to pave the road to usability. Current CRM providers will need to completely recreate their data and communication infrastructure in order to leverage the mobile-first mentality, but doing so will pay enormous dividends. By turning a salesperson’s mobile phone into a selling assistant through more comprehensive data, including inventory, communication, training and more, the salesperson and customer will be more highly engaged and productive for the dealership. 

Inventory Enhancement


The bedrock of a dealership’s sales success are the vehicles, their products, on the lot. With the increase in the number of models and the sheer amount of technological improvements which have been made in vehicles over the last twenty years, not to mention all the supportive characteristics like safety, it is important to recognize that we have entered an era of product information overload.

Today’s environment is one in which shoppers tend to know more about a particular vehicle than the salesperson selling it. The Internet has created this research tool that is empowering shoppers like never before in the course of an automotive purchase. This shift in knowledge away from the salesperson and towards the customer hurts the dealership’s brand and the confidence its shoppers have when a salesperson can’t explain or describe the vehicle in detail in order to help the shopper either qualify or disqualify a particular vehicle from a potential purchase.

We believe this can be fixed with data that would give the dealership’s salesperson an advantage during the discussion by providing key elements of any vehicle based on extensive data from its VIN within a click on the salesperson’s phone. Through helping the salesperson keep the shopper engaged and informed, while simultaneously building trust during the conversation, a dealership will see increased sales. This data is already in existence, but it hasn’t made its way down into a CRM system as of yet. This new mashup of technology and innovation will have an amazing effect since a growing number of salespeople are new to the business and knowing everything about a dealership’s inventory is impossible.

Friction Reduction


When you log into an automotive CRM today and see TEN thousand uncompleted tasks, you have to wonder what is broken? Is it the salespeople at the dealership? Is it the processes themselves? Is it the technology? Is it the management? At the birth of automotive CRM, it was imperative to create processes that the sales team would follow. Those processes were usually developed by dealerships taking other dealer’s processes and applying them to their own CRM. By adopting processes, the expectation was that the dealership would have complete control and consistency; a shopper or customer would never fall through the cracks or see salespeople miss a step in the sales process.

Today, all of our hopes and dreams about CRMs have turned into a boiling point of frustration for dealerships across America. It seems that none of what I wrote above has become a reality. In fact, it has created an entire set of new issues that dealerships have to grapple with on a daily basis. Salespeople skating deals by entering in slight variations of the shopper’s name in the CRM or senior sales people insisting that the CRM slows them down and avoiding it like the plague has ended up creating a whole new department called the Business Development Center (BDC). In the BDC, we remove appointment setting away from our existing salespeople. This creates an additional cost center a dealership has in order to fix this problem and, hopefully, will deliver some resemblance of the consistent processes that an Automotive CRM promised dealerships in the first place. Does any of this sound familiar to you? Doesn’t it sound a little crazy to actually read about the problems adopting a CRM was supposed to fix in the first place? Do you believe it has accomplished that task?

We believe that these linear and predetermined TASKS are creating huge friction in the automotive sales process. They are also creating complete misalignment with the dealership’s shoppers and customer. What will happen over the next twelve to twenty-four months is pretty simple: dealerships will see big data make its way down to a granular level, which will finally enable the CRM to create actions points (instead of simply creating tasks) by monitoring a shopper’s on and offline behavior then aligning it with an action for the salesperson to execute. For example, John Doe sent a lead into ABC Chevrolet over a month ago but went dark before first contact was even made. Over the last three days, John Doe has visited multiple automotive websites, including ABC Chevrolet, searching for a “Chevrolet Tahoe”, “Preowned”, and “Low miles”. With an advanced CRM, this search would trigger an action for the salesperson to reach out via a phone call. At the same time, an email is simultaneously delivered to John Doe’s inbox with an offer on multiple vehicles that meet John’s shopping criteria. By leveraging machine learning in near real-time, dealerships will reduce friction points along the salesperson’s journey to complete a sale and, at the same time, deliver the right information to the shopper at the right time, so he or she can take the next step. When salespeople follow up repeatedly with shoppers who have fallen out of the market, it creates a negative feedback loop that can motivate customers to stop wanting to pick of the phone. Big data, machine learning and analytics are going to completely change that.

Personalization at scale

Do you remember all the rage in the mid-90s about one-to-one marketing and the future of personalization? It then hit the direct marketing community by storm, quickly followed by finding its way to automotive CRMs in the early to mid 2000s. The problem is that these templates that included personalized data points became an everyday thing and, as humans, we have learned to identify and quickly dismiss them. The human race is highly adaptable, and it is hard to fool any individual for any length of time when the novelty of these basic tools have worn off as people stopped paying attention to them. In addition, dealerships are constantly bombarding shoppers with flashy offers, discounts and savings, and those messages aren’t getting through like they were.

With automation being all the rage today, bots are driving us deeper into creating a vanilla robotic experience for the shopper. This will have benefits, but it will also come at a cost. You have to ask yourself a couple of important questions: How will dealerships be able to stand out in 2020? How will they reach into the soul of every shopper and customer and touch them in a meaningful and impactful way that not only moves them into conversation but, more importantly, into an experience that builds trust?

We believe personalization at scale is not only possible, but that it is also inevitable. Personalization requires taking the lifeless logo of the dealership’s brand and augmenting it with the dealership’s smiling employees’ faces. Human connection is a powerful currency that delivers every single time. The average dealership has sixty-six employees, and by curating employee’s stories, it enables shoppers and customers to personally connect and communicate with the dealership. Whether the questions are about repairing or replacing a part, keeping their car clean, removing road tar or learning about the latest features in the upcoming model, these answers will all be driven by the next generation of CRM platforms.

In conclusion, you probably understand that automotive CRM is about to enter a period of renaissance. The areas above are just the beginning of a cascade of changes in how salespeople will interact with shoppers and customers, and the tools that they will leverage to do so. While existing Automotive CRMs may still bring a level of ROI for the dealership, data, bots and personalization will start to change shopper and customer expectations and redefine how the automotive sales process will work. Stop focusing on things from the past or cobbling together technology that creates more work than reward. Ask yourself two hard questions. Is your current technology reducing friction for both the customers and the dealership’s staff? Are you creating experiences that create rapport and build trust that will last a lifetime with every single shopper and customer your dealership touches each and every day?

That is the only path that will lead to future success.

Talking about intimidation and pressure in the forums the other day, I was reminded of a deal I wrote ‘back in the day.’

I think I was between my 2nd and 3rd year of selling cars, so this would have been 1998ish.  I had “graduated” from the Honda showroom, and moved next door to our Acura showroom. I’ll never forget my first test drive with my first Acura customers:

“What’s the difference between an RL and RL Premium?”

“On a lease?  About $10 bucks a month,” I replied from the back seat.

“Well, if you have to worry about 10 bucks a month, you shouldn’t even be looking at cars.”

Absolute music to my ears; I knew I was home.  I had spent the first 15 months of my career in Honda where customers haggled over 75-cents a month.

Anyway, Acura was a low-volume showroom.  I was replacing one of the two salespeople who manned the fort along with the single manager, Bill.  I learned soooo much from Bill while in Acura, including how to desk my own deals. In time, I would cover the desk for Bill when he was off, my first desk-managing experience.

I was being considered for a promotion to management.  Bill was on vacation, and I was covering the desk. The GSM covered 9 showrooms in our auto-mall -- he was a busy guy -- but he knew I was alone on the desk and made it a point to be available.  

Susan was a beautiful soul, an absolutely wonderful woman. She had been with the dealership forever, at first as a member of our CDC (a sort-of precursor to the eventual BDC -- she called Service customers after their visit), and later, after gathering the courage, Susan ventured into sales.  She also watered the plants in the mall on Sundays. I believe to this day that Susan genuinely loved each and every one of the customers with whom she worked.

This afternoon, Susan was working with a young man named Mike on (if memory serves) an RSX, which was Acura’s sporty little entry car.  I was working the desk when Susan touched-desk, asking for the opening salvo of numbers.

“Can you get an offer, Susan?”

“Mmmm… I dunno.”

Just then, the GSM wandered into the showroom.  “Waddaya got?”

“Susan’s got a fresh one on an RSX -- first up of the day.”  Handing Susan the worksheet where I had just scribbled some numbers, I coached her up a bit, concluding with,  “Whatever you do, don’t let him leave.” The GSM pursed his lips and nodded.

In what seemed to be about 3.5 seconds, Susan was back.

“That was fast.”

“Well, he likes the numbers, but he’s not ready to buy yet.”

“Why?”  It was a simple question, but Susan was new, was still learning how to negotiate, and didn’t have an answer.  It was time for a T.O. I was excited; this (running the desk) was still relatively new to me, I liked helping Susan, and to boot, the boss was here: time to show-off a little.

As I settled into Susan’s cubicle, I became hyper-aware that the GSM had cozied right into a cube next to us, in perfect listening position.  Susan moved into the other adjacent cube, where she too could listen and perhaps learn something. I was surrounded.

“Hi, Mike?”  Extending my hand as I sat to face him, I continued, “I’m the manager on duty, and wanted to take a quick minute to make sure you’re happy with your visit today.”  Quickly sizing him up, he couldn’t have yet been 22.

“Oh yeah it was great!”

“Good, good,” I continued.  “This going to be your first new car?”

“Yeah.”

“Congratulations!  That’s awesome. And you picked a really good one!  Not everyone is able to have their first car be something as cool as this.  You must be excited.”

“Yeah... yeah I am.”  And he was. He was a young guy, got himself a good job, and he wanted something to show for his hard work.

“I see you chose the red.  Nice. You happy with the one you drove?

“Oh yeah, it was great.”

“Happy enough to own it?”

“Ummm.”  Maybe Mike could sense that I was officially moving us beyond the small-talk phase.  Just a little bit more seriously, he replied, “Yeah, I think so.”

“Well that’s great Mike.  Believe it or not, finding that perfect fit for you is often the hardest part of this whole thing.  So this is the right car. How do you like the price?”

Mike’s countenance was quickly turning from “youthful exuberance” to “suddenly sober.”  

“I don’t really know.”

“Ok,” I countered, “that’s a pretty decent discount there, I mean, that’s a fair amount of money, right?”

“Well I guess so.”

It was time; all had been leading up to the simplest of questions:

“Well Mike, you’ve got the right car, and you have a fair price, why not buy now?

And there was Number 1:  Simply, logically, ask for the sale.  No pressure, just ask for the sale.

“I just wasn’t going to buy a car today.”

And there was Number 2: No reason not to buy now.  With the GSM listening to my left, and Susan to my right, I jumped right in.

“Oh sure, I understand, Mike.  Most people don’t realize they can actually buy and be driving the car the same day when they come-in.  When were you planning to buy?”

“I’m not really sure.”

“So it could be now?”

“I hadn’t planned to buy a car today.”

“Why not now?”

“I’m just not ready to buy.”

“I understand Mike.  What do you think you need to be ready?”

A pause.  Some thought.  “I had pictured showing my girlfriend.”

“Is the car for her, Mike?”

“No, no, it’s for me”

“Oh I see.  You just want her opinion then.  Well let me ask you this -- if she were here, what do you think she’d say?”

Mike thought for a moment, cracked a smile, and nodded as he spoke, “She’d love it.”

“Of course she would!”  We both smiled and laughed.

“What I’m hearing is that you have the right car for you -- one your girlfriend will love -- and a fair price.  Why not now?”

“Can I think about it?”

“Of course you can!” I replied, chuckling.  “Mike, we’re not a high-pressure dealership, but it’s my job to make this as easy as I can for you.  May I ask, what is there to think about?”

At this point, Mike’s demeanor had physically changed.  His face turned red and sweat started to form on his brow.  His knee started bouncing as his leg started shaking. He developed a slight tick on his upper right cheek near his eye.  He started staring at the ground, slightly rocking back-and-forth. “I… I jus…. I just wasn’t going to buy a car today. I wasn’t going to buy a car today.”

“Mike, I don’t want this to be hard.  Let me make this easy. This is the right car, right?”

“Yes.  But I wasn’t going to buy today.”

“We agreed this is a fair price.”

“Well, I guess so.”

“Your girlfriend is gonna LOVE it, right.”

“Yeah.  But...”

Mike, in an hour from now, you can be pulling up in front of her place driving this car.  How do you think that will go over?”

Mike stopped twitching, stopped rocking, and paused for a moment.

“An hour?  Really? Tonight?”

“Susan can help you with the credit app right now.”

“But I wasn’t going to buy a car today.”

“Why not?  We’ll make it easy.”

Another pause.  I could see the words -- the surrender -- forming in his brain, sliding down his forehead, between his eyes, over the nose, forming his lips before there was any sound.  “Ok, lets do it.”

OK -- at this point in the story, I’d like to take a “time-out.”

1. For the sake of brevity, I’ve reduced the 10-15 minute conversation with Mike to what you’ve read above.  I’m not sure how many times Mike said “But I wasn’t going to buy a car today,” but, it was in the ‘dozens’ range.
2. I wasn’t normally “that guy.”  I did not routinely press that hard and “turn the screws” on customers like this.  I could… I was taught by the best, and there was really no objection I couldn’t overcome.  But if I really didn’t like you -- if you were a real jerk -- I’d hammer you into submission without mercy. Thankfully, that didn’t happen too often.  I was a “medium” pressure guy -- my favorite line was, “Look, I’m not one of those high-pressure guys, but why not now?” But I would normally let you off the hook if I sensed you were getting really uncomfortable.

OK -- back to the story.

Mike agreed to buy the car.

“Susan,” I call, and she appears, eyes as big as saucers, white as a ghost.  “Can you help Mike with the credit app?”

I shake Mike’s hand and return to the desk.  The GSM follows me in. “Good job, you did well.”

“Thanks,” I replied, semi-pleased with myself.  It was the right car, a fair price. He just needed a little nudge.  At least that’s what I told myself.

Susan returned to the desk with the credit app a few minutes later, still white, still seemingly in-shock.  “I could never do that,” she quipped.  

“Just a close, Susan,” I tried to say nonchalantly.  

3-4 hours later, Mike left with the car, as happy as can be, if not a little worn-out.

I have no idea how many thousands of deals I have desked over my career.  I sometimes wonder why I remember this deal so clearly, even 20+ years later.  Was that it I impressed the boss? Was it that I scared the bejeebers out of Susan?  Was it a hard-fought victory? Probably not…

My most vivid image is that of a young guy sitting in a chair, squirming, sweating, twitching, rocking, knowing that he had run into an immovable force, and had no other choice but to surrender.

Now in his 40’s, I wonder what he thinks of automotive salespeople and the car-buying process?