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Wondering what to do for Cash for Clunkers?
- By Alex Snyder
- Automotive News, Press Releases, and Events
- 17 Replies
Even though the Cash for Clunkers Legislation has not passed yet, there is a lot of potential business already circulating around this program. If you're the first on the scene, you can seriously rule your market for anyone trying to find more information about the bill.
First: Build your site and prepare your staff
"This bill is not official", and those should be the first words out of your mouth, followed by a big BUT. "But, when the bill is passed we want to be the dealership that earns your business. Let me tell you a bit about the bill as it currently sits - have you visited the Cash for Clunkers page on our website (Checkered Flag's Cash for Clunkers page)? We are a participating Cash for Clunkers dealership, and ready to help you with the program when it does launch. Basically, the program covers vehicles over X years old with a combined MPG of less than XX..." you get the idea.
Second: Find a site to partner with for better SEO
As this program is getting a lot of attention, chances are you will have a tough time climbing through the Google results and beating all the national news articles about the Cash for Clunkers program (tough to beat CNN). Various sites are selling leads, but one is not only selling leads, it is also helping with some search engine exposure for your own site. That's because Brian Pasch is behind it. The site is http://www.cashforclunkersfacts.com if you want to check it out - the pricing isn't bad at all! If you want to follow on Twitter, go to http://twitter.com/cashclunkers
Brian says:
Third: This is Temporary
Keep in mind that this program, if it is passed, is currently slated to run through September so we're talking 3-4 months of opportunity. You need to make as strong a run on it while you can! You don't need a long term strategy, you don't need a fancy website, you just need to capitalize on this short opportunity as fast as possible.
Fourth: Continued discussion on the forums
You're more than welcome to comment on this article here, or join us on the DealerRefresh technology forums for further discussion. Cash for Clunkers discussion here.
CRM is putting your well-oiled machine back on the assembly line
- By Alex Snyder
- Off Topic & Everything Else
- 7 Replies
Over 5 years ago I was approached by our Vice President of Variable Ops who wanted me to take what I had done as our Honda Internet Manager and spread it through all the stores in our group. He told me the job was temporary and not to expect it to last more than a year or 2. He titled me the Internet Director and my job was to train "Internet Sales Agents" on how to move a lot of cars through digital communication. His thoughts were that I would eventually find a store to call home and continue working my way up in a more traditional manner.
Since he asked me to do this job back in March of 2004, my job title has changed and I've worked my way into quite a few very different directions. Once we had figured out a good way to handle not just Internet leads, but all incoming non-physical traffic too, and we had the right people in place I was able to focus more on things like our website, new technologies, and CRM. It is the CRM that gets you!
Traditionally, dealers' only process was what to do when a customer was physically there. How to get a customer there was more of something a salesmanager talked about in those early Saturday morning meetings, but he never followed up on anything he ever trained anyway. Service Departments simply sent mail as the only form of consistent follow-up. Of course there are exceptions to my stereotype of dealership process, but this was the traditional approach. Today we have CRM to babysit instruct us on who and when we should be following up.
I hated CRM. As a salesperson that thing was stupid. It never told me the right time to call and it never told me what to say on that call either. I felt like I was cold-calling even though these were people I had already worked with. I mean, Geeeez, the guy couldn't buy 6 months ago, why do I have to keep calling him? On top of that, my monthly sales gross and volume was definitely above average, so the boss left me alone most of the time. I was under the management of a sales manager from 1999 to 2004 and that paragraph pretty much sums up my feelings toward CRM during that time (I bet some people still feel that way today).
When I finally started looking at things from the perspective of a career-minded professional who saw the interests of the entire company as something personal, my CRM views shifted. Since I was being paid on the entire organization's Internet closing ratios, in my new Internet Director position, I had to make sure contacts and follow-ups were happening amongst the Internet staff - and I had to track all of it! (still the worst part of my job). However, I was totally concentrated on the Internet department and screaming about how the sales floor was just a CRM black hole where customers were entered and left to die. It was up to the Internet Department to tackle the follow up. This is how we got into BDC's. Unfortunately, you have to over-staff a BDC to compensate for a lack of a consistent effort on the sales floor - that's expensive! And a BDC does not help with rapport building or any of those things a salesperson or service writer worked so hard to do while the customer was physically in the showroom or service drive.
It has been 10 years since we installed our first CRM and we have definitely had a rocky history with some of the companies we've contracted with for CRM services, but I believe the technology has gotten to a point where we can truly rely on it to give us good data and take care of the most basic part: follow-up process.
In 2009, I'm sitting with my boss again, to retask my concentration points (a.k.a. job responsibilities), and the focus is now on the sales floor. I feel like I've made a complete 360 since my original promotion to this job except we've shed the "Internet" part of the whole thing. We've admitted that every customer is an "Internet" customer, and we need to concentrate on making the entire company better from the ground up - just like we did with the Internet Department.
The CRM, love it or hate it, is the heart of a dealership. The DMS is the backbone. Executive staff is the brain, and everyone else are the arms, legs, fingers, mouth, eyes, and ears. So how do we get this teenager in puberty walking without tripping over his own feet? That's right, we're all teenagers again!
Just like the Internet snuck in through the back door, your "Internet person" is rapidly becoming your savior. That person understands and embraces all these changes the technology is engineering behind your back. But you already knew that!
I am simply telling my story to show how a job that is thought of as something a little extraneous and temporary can come back around to be something very central. Don't ever discount the technologies and try to keep an eye on the back door - you never know who could slip in.
If you take anything away from this article, I'd like you to think about how you're not leveraging your CRM to exercise its true potential through your own people. If you need some help in finding a CRM solution or simple CRM best practices, visit the CRM Forum on the DealerRefresh technology forums: DealerRefresh Automotive Dealer Forums