GM said "Make yourself valuable"

[Mel]

Long story short, a few months ago I was moved from sales and put in charge of the Internet Department. I was able to improve in the "sales" aspect but until now, I've been doing mostly general things: updating the inventory on the website and admin things for the department.

Yesterday, in a meeting with my GM, he said that he's very impressed with where we are, but he wants me to make myself valuable. He said he wants me to learn everything from changing the website to marketing (I have a feeling he is looking to make some big changes) but I have absolutely no idea where to start or what I need to know. Luckily, I can code and won't have a problem with any of the technical computer things, but I have no knowledge on anything else I would or should know. Of course, like a good GM, he told me to "figure it out"

Do you guys have any suggestions? I'm open to try anything and am really looking to learn and improve!

Thanks!

 

[heidiadele]

I'm looking forward to reading the replies to your inquiry, Melanie. Until 'old school' dealerships truly realize the unbelievable value, not to mention necessity, of creating an internet department, there sometimes seems to be little tolerance for the actual groundwork. Obviously we are here to make numbers, but you can't build a successful department without first organizing, setting up, etc.

 

[ddavis]

Mel, you chose not to display the name of the dealership in your profile. I wanted to look at your website so I could get a feel of what you are doing. You can send me a private message and I will try to help.

 

[Jlewis74]

Read, Read and Read some more, from good people in the bizz and learn. Attending Digital Dealer would have been very good for you. Search out some of the best dealer sites and study them, study what they are doing on Twitter, FB, Youtube, ,etc. Its not as hard as some want to make it but it is a lot to learn!

 

[GrantG]

Read, Read and Read some more, from good people in the bizz and learn. Attending Digital Dealer would have been very good for you. Search out some of the best dealer sites and study them, study what they are doing on Twitter, FB, Youtube, ,etc. Its not as hard as some want to make it but it is a lot to learn!

Jeremy, this is PERFECT advice. Learning is EVERYTHING.

MEL- This forum is the single greatest resource to my Internet Career. I encourage you to get involved in discussions AND post your questions in new threads. You will get our of your learning experience what you put into it. Let me know if you need any help with anything!

 

[ryan.leslie]

This may be unexpected advice, but HAMMER your Vendors...

Ask your GM for your marketing expenses and call every one of them. Tell them you are new to your position and you want to take some time with them for a "health checkup." Let them know that your goal is to make sure you are maximizing your spend and looking for low cost/no cost opportunity for improvement. Good vendor/partners love an opportunity to talk about what they do and how they can better come alongside you in the areas that they specialize. Make them explain to you what you are doing well and what you can do better with their tools and services. I think you'll learn a lot really quickly.

If you are paying a vendor that DOESN'T jump to be the first to spend time with you on their tools and services, you'll learn a lot by vetting their replacement

 

[MikeHaeg]

While his advice is vague, kudos to the GM for seeing your value and hoping to develop you more. I love that.

My advice is be very deliberate in how you approach this learning process. I like the idea of "Don't set goals, Form Habits". If your goal is to "Learn marketing" by July 1st, you're setting yourself up for failure.

Instead, build a habit.

* Every day during lunch, I'll read an auto marketing book for 30 minutes

* Each Sunday evening, I'll take an hour and watch a DealerOn / KPA internet marketing webinar

* Every morning, before I dive in to the grind, I'll take 30 minutes and read DealerRefresh, DrivingSales, and Automotive News

* This week, I will focus on this particular technology. Each day before I leave, I'll spend 30 minutes researching best practices, industry news, vendor profiles, and key players.

 

[Alex Snyder]

Let me play a little devil's advocate here....

At face value it may seem he's saying "please get yourself better educated for some major changes I want to make later." But what if he's really saying "I don't really understand what you do?"

The biggest value I ever brought to any of my employers was not increasing sales, reducing costs, nor designing better technology. It was simply being able to communicate what I was doing in a way they could understand. In turn, they were then able to participate in my endeavors too ....thus in turn, making us all more valuable.

Do you know how to read your GM?

 

[MikeHaeg]

Let me play a little devil's advocate here....

At face value it may seem he's saying "please get yourself better educated for some major changes I want to make later." But what if he's really saying "I don't really understand what you do?"

The biggest value I ever brought to any of my employers was not increasing sales, reducing costs, nor designing better technology. It was simply being able to communicate what I was doing in a way they could understand. In turn, they were then able to participate in my endeavors too ....thus in turn, making us all more valuable.

Do you know how to read your GM?

Alex, hopefully your conversation didn't go something like this .....

Jokes aside, you're right. Adequately describing "What ya do here" provides a framework for improvement.

 

[Mel]

Jeremy- Over the last few months, I've look at a few websites, mainly our top competitors in our area. I didn't really know what I was looking for, other than what they were advertising. Would you recommend focusing on the "Social" aspect of it for now?

Grant- Thanks, will do!

Ryan- Unfortunately, we dont have a lot of contracts that would fall to my dept... In regards to leads, right now we have cars.com, our website, and our national site (though it is something I'm in the process of changing). The only other ones are inventory and website hosting, and our Cobalt rep is pretty difficult to get in contact with. Would you recommend adding in more lead sources? A big one we seem to be missing is autotrader.

Mike- That makes a lot of sense. It also seems like a great way to stay "in the know".

Alex- Based on the conversation we had, I dont think thats the case. He made it clear he hoped I would be here for years to come and wanted me to take on more responsibility. Everything I am doing now (the admin and online inventory), the GM used to do (surprisingly) so I figure that's not what he meant. I appreciate the advice though. I'm guessing that as I take on more responsibility and figure out how things work a bit more, the communication will have to improve as well.