You may be right to some extent. However, the reason dealerships integrate a seperate internet department with an ISM is to improve and track sales volume. Not all salespeople like to follow up on leads they don't get in touch with after the first, second, or third call. I have just started a new internet department for our dealership and can vouch for the importance of consistant follow though. Many dealerships allow their salespeople to follow up with leads, and maybe you should get their success rate and compare it to a dealership with an internet department. I've sold vehicles from leads that I found in trash cans left by salespeople who was not able to contact them after the first call. As for the article, Integrated management is good if the dealership wants to spend and train employees on logging every service, parts, sales, and phone message lead on the computer. Every ISM knows that internet lead to sales ratio is very small, and a proffessional trained to specifically deal with this is needed in the dealership.

If you are a dealer and you are using PPC with either google or Overture/Yahoo you are wasting your money. It is not that hard to optimize your site for your keywords and with over 30% of all clicks being fradulent why would you even think of spending the money. I have over 200 profitable website and I use PPC on less than 10 of them. Of those 10 they are big keyword sites so my SEO takes a bit longer. Save your money, buy 3rd party leads, or spiff your sales staff but do not spend money on PPC.

I think this takes place more often than people think. I've been a web developer for YEARS and have witnessed this many times over. It's sad, but what are you gonna do? You can only combat it by tracking IP's and clicks, there's always a workaround.

We use AutoUSA, and other 3rd party LP's, but I tried to cancel them (AutoUSA), but my GM said just have them cap leads at 50 per month. I am not impressed. If their 11% so called closing ratio is the best in the industry, why even use anyone else, and proves how our thinking for getting leads online is changing. Read on! That is still $1000+ a month we can use towards our "AdWords", yes, AD WORDS and killer landing page program we've implemented. We appear in the top 3 on the right of a google search. People SEE OUR URL , people see our toll-free#, they see our name, over and over again, then once they click on the ad word link, we pay .50 cents and they get sent to a killer landing page that encourages them to send OUR DEALERSHIP the tip that , hey I'd like a quote. In addition to the free exposure on the searches, the $1000 I have to pay now to get AutoUSA leads, could be an extra 2,000 clicks into my landing page/form - which I might ad, includes my toll free number. Even at the worst possible scenario, I can create more opportunities for the money than a lead provider with a "purported"11% closing ratio. Hey, I get AutoUSA leads... they're not that great. I think I know where the future is, and AutoNation and AutoUSA are not it.

Hi Jeff,

I just started working with AutoUSA and I am very pleased with my decision to join the team. I am glad that you have been pleased with the services so far. This is my first week on the job and I am overwhelmed by the levels of support this company has. I believe this company is really out to provide the best customer service there is in this market.

The way I came about working for the company and choosing to invest my time and livelihood in them came after very careful consideration. One of my dear friends and fraternity brothers is also the Internet manager for a local dealership here. When he told me about how well he has been treated by the company and his methods to maximize the use of the leads generated by AutoUSA, his conclusion was that working for the company should be a "no-brainer." In addition, another very important person in the life of my family works for AutoUSA and has been very pleased with the corporate culture and the strides that AutoUSA takes to make sure that its people are taken care of. Furthermore, I have done some really neat research on my own have discovered some pretty awesome facts about the company from Phil Dupree, VP of eCommerce for AutoUSA in an article at AutomotiveDigest.com ( http://www.automotivedigest.com/FollowTheLeaders/Dupree_Phil_AutoUSA.asp ). Check it out.

Jeff, I am still learning the in's and out's of things here, and so I cannot offer any explanation for the discrepancy that you astutely pointed out, other than to say I am sure it is the exception and not the rule.

Hope things go well with you and your use of the services.

At Your Service,

Nick Covanes
AutoUSA Newbie
;0)

Good Day Jeff Kershner;

Asking a question is always a means to generating the lead into another. You may know, or may not know already that AutoUSA is a division of the largest retailer of automobiles in the U.S., AutoNation. Being that the leads generated at AutoUSA are facilitated by AutoNation staffers, I have wondered for sometime if there were any really good leads in their packages. I am glad to know they are among the best of your 3rd party lead providers, Mr. Kershner, and I would like to further the discussion. Are there others of your subscribers who have shared your overall experience with the AutoUSA brand?

Yikes...that's a nasty image right there.

Happy Holidays to you too Jeff! See you in 2006!

As I agree with David... there are a few things to remember when sending e-mail to your prospects and clients. Rule #1 - Always send plain text. Most people do not have html email accounts and though they look nice they rarely get seen. Rule #2 - always add an http:// in front of your www. this way it will automatically create a hyperlink back to your site. Rule #3 - Get them back to your site! By publishing your message or special on your site you have a much greater chance for them to respond to submit a finance application or select a vehicle. For more money making ideas visit: http://www.internetautomarketing.com

We've just recently created a virtual showroom and have seen a spike in sales. We are a small time dealer in the INW, just a few cars a month - but the internet has been an amazing, cost effective tool for our small operation. We're looking forward to a very profitable year in 2006 with tremendous growth. *crosses fingers*

KBB's popularity should not be a surprise if you consider what they do- sell us leads. Most customers I encounter with KBB, know what their trade is worth and from Edmunds, KBB, Consumer Reports or some other website "know" what invoice is on a new vehicle.

This is easy to understand. For the new vehicle, customers will gravitate to the lowest "invoice price" on the Internet and conversely will gravitate to the highest trade value on KBB. The desire is to entice the shopper to submit a lead so I can pay $20 for the privilege of contacting the customer.

Interestingly enough, when a customer has held stubbornly to his researched trade value, and I have taken him through the appraisal process (this is critical since all customers rate their car as excellent-good), explained why his vehicle is really not worth as much as he thinks, I simply ask him if HE would pay that much for his vehicle from me, and the answer is generally "no". It is critical the education be done professionally, and "together" so you don't disparage the customer.

At first, I hated KBB, but with a little thinking and work, I have been able to turn it to my advantage.

I don't think that KBB is nearly as accurate as NADA, at least not here on the west coast. I am VERY surprised to see that.

Since this was a nationwide NEW car shopping study, it shows how influential kbb.com is for those types of buyers. The JD Power USED shopper study shows KBB to be even more dominant. For both new and used car buyers, kbb.com was the first visited and most visited for the 8th straight year. In fact, according to the studies, kbb.com gets more buyers than any other 2 sites combined.

Also, kbb.com attracts nearly 1 in 3 of all car buyers (both online and off) each year.

Reyrey just won the Phoenix award
At digital dealer they finally got up to date and the sales force is pumped up to sell they are going to keep selling as long as the product is good.

Call or email me for more information. John Zarlino - Your Car Guy jzarlino@bobboyd.com or 614-759-3390

In your search of dealership web solutions & hoping to find something new with all the right elements, perhaps you may want to look at a company called Red OnX Software (www.redonx.com). Red OnX has all those elements you say need to be in a dealership website, and we also understand completely how to develop a search engine friendly site for dealerships so that they are getting the most out of their investment. We have found that many providers of web sites and web solutions for automotive dealerships today are designed by companies providing applications to dealers that aren't intended for the web and the buying public (such as DMS applications). Many of these companies don't always know how to maximize the power of the web and thus the dealers loose out.

I agree with you, in that I too have noticed that increasing number of dealers are switching to ADP and ReyRey websites. This could be in part to a few things, namely the major blitz by both companies who are definately getting aggressive with their sales pitches. I know of a few occassions where I have heard that ReyRey Sales Reps have told the prospective dealership that the only solution that will work with their DMS is one from Reynolds. That however is not the case. Additionally as has been previously noted in other comments on your site, Reynolds also uses their Compliance sales pitch to the dealership and if they do not use their system they will not be compliant, which scares the dealerships in to signing with them.

The bottom line to me and the secret to success for an Auto Dealerships is not just having a nice looking website (especially one with the over-use of flash or java), but having a web solution that is effective in turning visitors into qualified leads, with a system that will drive traffic to your site and make it easy for you to convert that traffic and those leads into satisfied buying customers. Red OnX Software ( as well as several others besides Reynolds & Reynolds & ADP) will give you all that and more.
I too agree that in looking at a lot of Reynolds sites, that they are sloppy, difficult to navigate and hard to follow, their vehicle details and homepages lack call to actions and multi photos.

One of the biggest things that these companies have failed to realize in developing sites was pointed out in a recent Gartner Group study, which stated that "50% of web sales are lost because visitors cannot easily find content, products or services they’re looking for on websites". This is especially true for Automotive Dealership sites. A Red OnX Solution, offers dealers a wide range of “call to action” Lead Generation Marketing tools that focus in on what the various types of visitors to your site are looking for. I am also sure too, that there are several other solutions that do to.

The bottom line for a dealership today is that in order for them to be successful selling via the internet, they don't need a website in a box, they need a holistic solution that covers everything from search engines, lead capture, follow up, website, tracking, monitoring, processes and accountability. Additionally, that solution needs to flexible, easy to use, be able to grow with their business and grow with the market and be affordable. That kind of solution, unfortunately I don't see a dealer getting with Reynolds & Reynolds or ADP.

Richard R. Pancoast
Red OnX Software (www.redonx.com)
Vice-President of Sales & Marketing
888-332-6875 (Voice & Fax)
562-209-5534 (Cell)

I would not use an ADP site or ReyRey... by the way wasn't BZresults just acquired by ADP. That could be a really ugly combination.
Being locked into a BZresults contract, I agree wholeheartedly with the negative comments posted here concerning BZ. I have zero faith in the abilities of the BZ's support team, and BuzzTrak is the worst thing I ILM I have ever used. After 4+ years of WebControl and ADP/ReyRey working with a BZresults signed Dealer Group has been a true headache for over a year personally. I had to develop my own reporting program, and bounce in and out of 4 databases to get an educated guess of where we are... Boy do I miss the Daily Operation Control report and Internet Walk-in report from AVV Webcontrol. I would have left for greener pastures by now if I wouldn't be afraid that ownership would actually resign the BZ contract at the end of the term.
BZ's support team recently approached me with a website revision...Wow 2.0! This does nothing to change the way the site is viewed by the search engines, and the site is still the same hard to navigate flash based eye candy they already offer. They will not allow me to add 3rd party tools to the site to better my traffic conversion ratio. Instead they offered a distraction of the promise of a better backend, and a scrolling ticker on the home page of the websites. Well, the backend revision still isn't as good as Dealerskins was over 3 years ago, and a scrolling ticker is so 1999. I feel badly for dealers who get trapped in the BZ program and it makes Internet Sales Pro's have to work harder to convince dealers the web is the only way to go.

I recommend using a DealerOn website, iCarMagic, Jumpstart Automotive or Dealer.com Dominator for SEM and a tight follow up process for success and maximum return on investment.

Do you do any API key code programs?

John Zarlino
614-759-3390 WK #
614-204-2009 CELL #

Jeff,

I know why dealers are going to Reynolds and ADP in droves. In a word; searchability. When you try to search the flashy websites on Google or Yahoo you get mediocre results. These search engines have gone to organic relevance for the search criteria and flash technology is invisible to these search engines, the only two that really matter. Reynolds and ADP are building their sites to attract spidermaze searches which drives more leads. It does not look as nice but gets many more leads. BZ is left in the dust compared to ADP and Reynolds when it comes to search results. These two companies will almost always dominate the search results and they have the advantage of seamless integration with the DMS of the company they were designed by.

These companies do not throw these products in, they charge a premium for the sites. If you are on ADP or Reynolds and using another website provider you're missing not only the integration (these two bitter rivals also integrate with each others systems very well) but the best search engine performance available.

I think the major problem is there are too many small auto dealer service companies out there lacking the financial backing to really expand. They might have great design service but lack a usable CRM and vice versa. After a couple of years of trying to bring their technology to the forefront, they seem to abandon their business model and try to mimic a ReyRey or ADP solution.

However, some wise developers, including myself have hooked up and starting planning a robust suite of tools. Alone, we are very innovative, but always lack something. I myself have designed and maintain some of the Highest SEO ranking High Line dealerships, but I couldn't poll an inventory if my life depended on it. I'm sure you can see where the problem lies. After about 6 years of all of us working independently in the industry as CRM, Website Designers and Dealer Employees we have all just recently met and started our planning.

We gathered all the intel on the competition, worked over their tools and revised with major improvements. Mission Accomplished!

All I can really say is big companies will come and go. In the next year, we'll release the most innovative Online Dealers Services, we'll grow, get commercial, forget our roots, laugh to the bank and come to sites like this to see people complain about us. Or, atleast that's the plan.

Just my 2 cents, maybe just a penny.

Jeff-
Reynolds is in its second year of their WebMakerX 4
product, and considering the leap in technology made from the Third Coast Media WebMakerX 3.7 platform, this application is running quite well! From an SEO's perspective, WebMakerX is a great choice when looking to drive up your site traffic and increase qualified leads. Dealer.com has come a long way, and so has DealerOn.com. It will be interesting to see how these companies position their products at NADA

Mark-
It's great to hear Dealer.com is expanding their business model to include marketing services. ADP and Reynolds both are information service providers, and are aware that their core lies in building technical solutions. I wouldn't be surprised if either company ended up reselling the services of an established SEM/SEO.

I think the previous two commenters are full of BS. The only REAL solution for a dealership is something either tailor made or easily customizable.

A personal friend of mine programmed the front and back end for Dave Smith Motors in Kellogg Idaho (#1 Dodge Dealer in the World). They do a massive amount of internet sales, perhaps the most in the country. The program is very impressive and it's tailor made for THEIR needs, not the needs of 'most dealers'.

You guys have alot of time on your hands. I am always amazed by how below average people sit around and talk about other people rather than just improving themselves. Have a nice time around the water cooler while the winners cross the finish line!

It is interesting that you are noticing a trend or dealers switching to Rey Rey, ironically we have seen a huge jump in dealers switching from Rey Rey to us! Just last month alone over 50 dealers switched from Rey Rey and Cobalt to Dealer.com! This trend has been consistent over the past year and is increasing as every month passes. As for BZ, I can only state that most dealers have been locked in to long 3-5 year contracts and it has only been just recent that they can finally "get out" and pursue other vendors. We have had over 30 dealers contact us with regard to switching from BZ in the past 60 days alone. Some of these dealers are from large groups that are looking for a much more versatile solution without such a huge monthly price-tag. Additionally one of the big reasons we have seen so much switch-over from these vendors is that we provide an integrated SEM (search engine pay per click) marketing solution called Dominator that drives qualified customers to our dealer client websites. This cutting edge solution is already the talk of the industry as seen in last weeks International Roundtable in Las Vegas. A recent example of a large dealer group moving from Rey Rey is www.darcars.com

I welcome any further questions you might have.

Sincerely,

Mark Bonfigli
President, CEO
Dealer.com, Inc
888.895.2990
Mark@dealer.com

I think a few things are interesting. Certainly the OEM's are doing a much better job at getting traffic to their sites, and also creating content that adds to the consumer experience. This is the main thing that is separating the third party sites from the OEM's. I think all 3 segments can improve by combing content with price, in different ways of course, to better direct the process. Dealers should try to understand what buyers are looking for, and make sure they have that content on their sites also. The study gives some good direction in that regard. As an industry, we need to work on moving the dealer's own website farther up in the first visited, last visited, and most useful categories to further help GM's etc. see the light, and draw a clearer picture of just how much impact the internet is having today. From a dealers' perspective, there's power in controlling the process. We need to continue to work on getting truly local, in-market buyers to a dealer's site. This will continue to push the internet's influence on dealer selection, which is one key area which JD Power says is moving the most.

In regards to your comment on dollars being moved online by everyone except local dealers, I see it slightly differently. Today there just aren't many options for dealers. I mean, if you had 'extra' money (try not to laugh) and wanted to spend it advertising online... what would you do? Sure, you have some local "news" and entertainment sites, but dealers have discovered that those are not truly targeting in-market buyers, and laser targeting is the most compelling thing about interactive ads. News sites just don't pencil. Classified sites are good, but they are limited to just used car shoppers. The lead sites (Dealix, ABT, etc.) are forced to hide the dealer branding/web site ad components for the sake of their model, and who knows what they are really doing with the leads, or where they are coming from anyway. SEO seems to hold the most promise, but only because it's the new kid on the block. I can fast forward to a time where paying $20 for an unqualified "click" will sit about as well as paying $20 for a Donald Duck lead does today. So, there aren't too many choices available today for the dealer who actually believes the internet is affecting his business, and wants to move more dollars to the medium. I see that most dealers are seeing traditional media not reaching people like it used to, and are instead just not spending as much. We at kbb.com think we have it (mostly) figured out, but moving the needle with the old dogs takes time.

Stay on course.. there is light around the corner...

Best-
Joe