All Dealerships Should Have This For Their Service Department

April 1st, 2013

I spent the better part of 15 years cutting my teeth in the Fixed Ops (service & parts) side of things at the dealership. There are times where I wish I was back in that game, especially now that we have consumer technology at our fingertips.

If you were to rewind the clock 8 years ago, you would hear a customer say “I have to bring my car to the dealership for repair, it’s too complicated to fix on my own and I can’t trust my local mechanic because he doesn’t have the tools to fix it properly.”  These same words are hardly spoken today from the same consumers. Things have changed. Local mechanics no longer exist, and large chains such as Firestone and Pep Boys have made a major comeback to gain consumer confidence once again. Dealerships today are losing more service business to independents than ever before and it’s happening because independents utilize technology in marketing and in service better than the dealer does.

Now that I am on the vendor side of things, I can’t tell you how frustrated it has been to listen to the excuses from dealerships to not embrace technology for their service departments. The majority of dealership owners and general managers will spend countless hours figuring out their next “internet sales strategy” while spending minutes at best to address  their next vehicle service strategy.

I’m going to introduce you to a “no brainer”  that ALL DEALERSHIPS should have as part of their daily business strategy for the service department.  This is also something the large chains are currently not utilizing.

Before I tell you what it is, let’s identify the main reasons why customers don’t like bringing their vehicles to the car dealership.

  • Dealer prices are too high
  • Dealer sells me things I really don’t need.
  • Dealer does a poor job keeping me informed of status on my vehicle.
  • Dissatisfaction with the difficult warranty claim.

There are two things that will help this problem.

  • Quality of Service
  • Transparency

There is one way to accomplish it.

  • Live Repair orders

Live Repair Orders in its simplest format is a mobile app used by the dealership mechanic to visually explain care repairs to consumers. The entire process happens in four steps.

  • Capture photos with camera
  • Wireless  image or video transfer
  • Images posted dealerships website
  • Images text messaged & emailed to consumers for review

Watch This Technology In Action Below

See it in use at a dealerships website here.

Here’s The Tip: If you want to keep servicing customers after the warranty period ends, try making quality of service and transparency your focal point!

Dave Page -Owner of Dealer e Process

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Increase Credit Inquiries Through Your Dealer Website By 300%

February 28th, 2013

Statistics show over 75% of Americans have a credit blemish that may adversely affect their ability to get an auto loan. This has caused an increase in the number of consumers turning to online credit applications to get prescreened prior to visiting a new car dealership and starting the shopping process.

The typical online credit application on a new car dealer’s website is overwhelming and cumbersome, causing most consumers to leave the site and search for a user friendly alternative. Take a look at an example below and yourself this question, would you spend the time to fill this out?

9.5 out of 10 customers who visit a page like this WILL NOT take action. Do yourself a favor and take out the analytics on your dealer website and take a look at how many people visited this page last month, and then take a look at how many leads were generated. Pretty sad isn’t it?? To throw a little salt in your wounds, try and find the credit application on your mobile website and let me  know who in the right frame of mind would ever fill that out?

Customers are looking for engagement!

Here’s The Tip: In order increase leads for finance, you have to remove the default credit application from your website and insert an engaging tool to convert; The Virtual Credit Consultant.

Dealer e Process Virtual Credit Consultant

 

Virtual Credit Consultant, powered by Transunion, provides consumers with a simple and easy to use application to get pre-approved for financing for a vehicle.

Virtual Credit Consultant does not ask for a social security number and utilizes the “soft pull” method, meaning the credit check will not show up on the consumer’s credit report. These two factors alone will increase the number of credit applications a dealership receives.

The Virtual Credit Consultant program walks potential buyers through three simple steps of getting financed with instant pre-approval and no embarrassment involved. Fully customizable and 100% mobile adaptive, virtual credit consultant automatically reads a consumer’s device and adapts to it specifically for optimal performance.

For more information, visit Virtual Credit Consultant.

Dave Page -Owner of Dealer e Process

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A Must Have Lead Button For All Car Dealer Websites

February 27th, 2013

For the better part of 7 years, I have A/B tested more lead forms on a car dealers website than one could possibly imagine. As a vendor, car dealers are expecting us to come up with new ways to ask for a customers information (a lead) without doing so bluntly.

This called for some research into all the websites that Dealer e Process has on the internet to first determine which lead form was producing the most leads. After all my research was done, the number one lead form by lead count on all Dealer e Process websites was “Get ePrice”.

However, this is not the lead form that we are talking about as being the “Must Have Lead Button For All Car Dealer Websites”. 

I want you to put your thinking cap on for a second while I ask you a question that will unveil the biggest no brainer in the history of earth. What is the number one question that all customers ask before they are willing to drive down to the dealership? Is This Car Available is your answer!  Given this answer, we have created a new lead form button that asks,  Is This Car Available?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ever since releasing this new button, we have A/B tested exactly where to place it to get the biggest impact. After moving this button into 10 different places, we came to our conclusion. The most leads generated by this button was confirmed by placing the button above the vehicle pictures, the main attraction to any customer browsing a website. The Confirm Availability Button, has now become the #1 lead form on Dealer e Process websites.

Here’s The Tip: If you are a car dealer looking to increase leads through your website, add the “Confirm Availability Button” to your website today!

Dave Page -Owner of Dealer e Process

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Dealer E-Process releases the online Virtual Credit Consultant to provide consumers with an easy and confidential way to apply for an Auto Loan.

February 26th, 2013

CHICAGO — Statistics show over 75% of Americans have a credit blemish that may adversely affect their ability to get an auto loan. This has caused an increase in the number of consumers turning to online credit applications to get prescreened prior to visiting a new car dealership and starting the shopping process.

The typical online credit application on a new car dealer’s website is overwhelming and cumbersome, causing most consumers to leave the site and search for a user friendly alternative. Virtual Credit Consultant, powered by Transunion, provides consumers with a simple and easy to use application to get pre-approved for financing for a vehicle.

Joe Gillespie, Dealer E-Process Owner and Founder of Virtual Credit Consultant, has been building websites for dealers for over 8 years. He explains that The credit application page on a dealership website is the 2nd most viewed page, but for most dealerships it is not generating online leads because consumers do not fill out the complicated form.

The Virtual Credit Consultant is a new process that provides the consumers with a hassle free way to get pre-approved. They do not have to provide their social security number and the application does not negatively impact their credit score.

Gillespie said, “We found consumers turning to online credit applications before stepping foot in a dealership to buy a car. Understandably, consumers are embarrassed when they take a car home only to receive a call from the dealership two days later saying their credit wasn’t approved and the car needs to be returned.”

Statistics show that leads generated from a dealer’s actual website are 50% more likely to buy than those bought from a third party, and Dealer E-Process’ ultimate goal is to increase form completions.

Virtual Credit Consultant does not ask for a social security number and utilizes the “soft pull” method, meaning the credit check will not show up on the consumer’s credit report. These two factors alone will increase the number of credit applications a dealership receives.

“Our innovative program will help you retain web searchers and convert them to buyers. It is a fully interactive and responsive program that will dramatically increase the number of credit applications you will receive on your website,” Gillespie said.

The Virtual Credit Consultant program walks potential buyers through three simple steps of getting financed with instant pre-approval and no embarrassment involved. Fully customizable and 100% mobile adaptive, virtual credit consultant automatically reads a consumer’s device and adapts to it specifically for optimal performance.

For more information, visit Virtual Credit Consultant.

About Dealer E-Process:
Dealer e-Process builds car dealer website marketing tools that effectively provide stronger traffic, leads and sales for auto dealerships. Dealer e-Process maximizes leads through effective SEO and SEM management. Dealer e-Process leverages car dealer search marketing techniques to transform SEO hits into qualified traffic and sales leads for your auto dealership website. These tools can help reorient the focus of dealership staff from dealing with constant website maintenance and help generate improved sales performance and enhanced profits for the dealership.

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SEM to Dealer VDP Pages Is Like Throwing Money Out of The Window

February 26th, 2013

SEM (Search Engine Marketing) has really taken off  in the auto industry the past few years. With all the changes happening in Google from Pandas to Penguins and Google Place Pages to Google Local, dealers have now been pushed against the wall to get traffic to their website the old fashion way, PAY FOR IT.

This brings me to a major problem happening in the industry today. Car dealers are not aware of  MOBILE SEM to the VDP (Vehicle Details Pages) of their website.  Car dealers must realize that 30% to 35% of all traffic comes to their website from a mobile device. What car dealers do not know today is how much of their SEM budget is being spent on mobile marketing.

Our industry has been educated/or persuaded by industry experts such as Dale Pollak ( Founder of V-Auto) to measure the amount of VDP views per month to determine success. This type of thinking has paved the way for Vehicle Details Page Search Engine Marketing. A very successful company by the name of HAYSTACK has revolutionized this concept for auto dealers that want to get more aggressive online and advertise inventory specific vehicles on Google, Bing & Yahoo. That being said, what is being overlooked here is the “mobile spend” portion of this strategy and whether car dealer website vehicle detail pages are mobile compatible and ready to take on this strategy.

We tested this strategy on a car dealer using this type of  strategy below, and as you can see the results were not good!

Lets put this problem on display:

Customer goes onto Google to search for a 2012 Kia Sorento on a mobile device

After Clicking on www.zieglerchevroletschaumburg.com, you will notice the customer is sent to a NON-COMPATIBLE MOBILE WEBSITE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see from the screenshot above, the image to the right prominently displays a website that is not optimized for this type of SEM, so basically this car dealer is throwing money out of the window!

A mobile optimized website should look like the picture below when looking for a Kia Sorrento.

This is what a mobile optimized website should look like when an ad is clicked from a mobile device. – Platform by Dealer e Process

Here’s The Tip:  If you want to test your website to determine whether or not your VDP pages are mobile compatible, all you need to do is copy the URL to one of your VDP pages, place it in the subject line of an email, send it to yourself as an email, and try to open that URL from your mobile device and you will have your answer!

Dave Page, Owner of Dealer e Process

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DEALER E-PROCESS PRESENTED WITH DRIVINGSALES DEALER SATISFACTION AWARDS

February 12th, 2013

DEALER E-PROCESS PRESENTED WITH DRIVINGSALES DEALER SATISFACTION AWARDS

 

Dealer e-Process receives “Top Rated” and “Highest Rated” Honors for Dealer Satisfaction in 6 Categories including Websites, SEO, SEM/PPC, CRM Fixed Ops, Live Chat, and Mobile Sites.

 

Chicago, Il– February 11, 2013 – Dealer e-Process cleaned up at the annual DrivingSales.com Dealer Satisfaction Awards, receiving a “Top Rated”  award for their Live Chat feature, CRM Fixed Ops, and SEO and the “Highest Rated” for Websites, SEM/PPC, and Mobile Sites.  The fourth annual  ceremony was presented at a special event in conjunction with the 2013 National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) Convention & Expo.

Dealer e-Process is honored that these awards, voted for by industry professionals, continue to give spotlight to all their hard work.  In previous years Dealer e-Process has walked away with top honors for their website platform, including Live Chat, SEO, and so much more.  Dealer e Process uses car dealer website marketing tools that effectively provide stronger traffic, leads, and sales for auto dealerships. Dealer e Process also maximizes leads through effective SEO and SEM management, so car dealers’ SEO results can consistently rank at the top in their respective markets.  Dealer e-Process is excited to continue their award winning tradition and hopes to keep going in the years to come.
“We congratulate Dealer e-Process on winning a ‘Top Rated’ and “Highest Rated” Awards and for being recognized by its dealer customers for high levels of excellence and customer satisfaction,” said DrivingSales CEO and Founder Jared Hamilton. “Dedicated dealership service providers like Dealer e-Process continue to step up and pioneer innovation, performance, and customer service that meets – and exceeds – the expectations of its dealer customers.”

The DrivingSales Dealer Satisfaction Awards measure dealer satisfaction with vendor products and services, and are based on cumulative ratings tallied and verified over the calendar year (January – December) at DrivingSales.com Vendor Ratings.  DrivingSales.com Vendor Ratings is the industry’s only neutral, comprehensive vendor rating forum featuring real-time peer reviews and honest competitor comparisons, and provides dealerships with important information from actual customers who have hands-on experience using vendor products / solutions in their stores. Each rating is verified as coming from an actual dealership employee.

Full award results are available online at http://dealersatisfactionawards.com/. Award winners are showcased in the Q1 2013 issue of the DrivingSales Dealership Innovation Guide which, in addition to being distributed at the 2013 NADA Convention and Expo, is delivered to every new car dealership nationwide, as well as to the top 100 used car dealerships. For more information on the Dealership Innovation Guide, please visit: http://drivingsalesinnovationguide.com/.

 

About Dealer e-Process

Dealer e Process is focused on innovative websites and integrated online tools that engage consumers and generate leads for automotive dealers.  They are committed to creating more opportunity and conversion for auto dealers than any website provider in the industry.  Check them out at www.facebook.com/dealereprocess and on Twitter at @Dealereprocess. 

 

About DrivingSales

Founded in 2008 and dedicated to the dealer community, DrivingSales is a business intelligence and performance improvement company that delivers unbiased*, profit-building information to make automobile dealers more successful through three distinct channels: DrivingSales Data, DrivingSales University and DrivingSales Media. DrivingSales Data houses the largest database of cross-vendor, dealership performance data in the North American auto industry and provides dealerships with the most statistically accurate performance benchmarks and metrics for their marketing and technology investments. DrivingSalesUniversity is a fully interactive online university that offers advanced profit-building strategies to automotive professionals through hundreds of classes taught by world-leading experts. DrivingSales Media connects dealers to peers and information through its global media assets, including DrivingSales.com, the world’s largest automotive social network; The DealershipInnovationGuide, an industry leading quarterly publication; DrivingSalesExecutiveSummit, the top automotive conference for progressive dealers, and DrivingSalesTV, Web TV covering everything car-dealer related. Approximately one in every three dealerships in the United States has a registered member in the DrivingSales community.

 

*Vendor Neutral Policy: Dedicated solely to making dealerships more profitable, while also providing benefit to automakers and the industry as a whole, DrivingSales adheres to a strict vendor neutral policy through each of its channels. This means the company only provides unbiased information, not ‘pay-to-play’ follow up services — and never accepts payment in exchange for media coverage or lets potential advertisers dictate messaging or create bias in any of its channels.

 

DrivingSales Media Relations:
Melanie Webber (melanie@mwebbcom.com), mWEBB Communications, 949.307.1723

Angela Jacobson (angela@mwebbcom.com), mWEBB Communications, 714.454.8776

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Dealer e-Process Sponsors Internet Battle Plan XIII

December 26th, 2012

Dealer e-Process is proud to be a sponsor of Jim Ziegler’s Internet Battle Plan XIIseminar in Atlanta, Georgia running January 16-17 2013. Dealer e-Process’ own Dave Page will deliver a speech titled Exploding Website Conversion: An Insiders Road Map to Benchmarking & Converting 50% of Website Visitors to Leads. Dave will join the long list of established industry veterans like Paul Potratz, Myril Shaw, Ed Parksinson, and Jim Ziegler. Dealer e-Process continues to make waves at industry events nationwide and the Internet Battle Plan XII seminar is no different.

In the seminars, dealers will have the chance to learn from genuine automotive website award winners like Dave and other automotive industry digital vendors.  Dealers will have the chance to bring home strategies for High Profit BDC, Fixed Ops, SEO, Social Media, and everything in between.  Dealers that attend Internet Battle Plan XII will leave with the tools to create a top performing auto dealer website and will have the car dealer marketing tools to take things to the next level.  On top of that dealers will learn how to perform their current tasks at peak efficiency.  Ziegler’s Internet Battle Plan XII has one simple motto, “Grow or Die” and everyone involved wants the dealers in attendance to avoid the latter.

Dealers in attendance will have an opportunity to, over this 2 day period, create a detailed battle plan for increasing profits and maximizing efficiency. Dealer e-Process and the other companies involved want to create a real world strategy that someone can take back and implement at a dealership.  Check out more about Internet Battle Plan XII at www.internetbattleplan.com. 

About Dealer e Process
Dealer e Process is focused on innovative websites and integrated online tools that engage consumers and producers.  They are committed to creating more opportunity and conversion for auto dealers than any website provider in the industry.  Check them out at www.facebook.com/dealereprocess and on Twitter at @Dealereprocess.

 

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Dealer e-Process Is A Proud Sponsor Of Digital Marketing Blitz 2013 Along With Cars.com

December 19th, 2012

Dealer e-Process is excited to be a part of Digital Marketing Blitz 2013 at the Reliant Center in Houston, TX.  The event, taking place January 23rd, 2013, is a huge opportunity for general managers, sales managers, and dealer principals to meet industry experts and get a peek at all the great new tech coming from Dealer e-Process in 2013.

Among the guest speakers and industry leaders at Digital Marketing Blitz, Dealer e-Process’ own Dave Page will hold a lecture about improving website conversion.  Dave joins industry leaders like Brian Pasch, Ralph Paglia, Jim Ziegler, Jim Flint and many more.  Check out www.digitalmarketingblitz.com for more details and to register for this event.

Dealer e-Process is happy to work with Cars.com, and First Class Educators to create this one day event jam packed with great opportunities for auto dealers to get a foothold on a competitive marketplace.  Digital Marketing Blitz 2013 is a great opportunity for automotive dealers from all over.

Cars.com is one of the leading automotive websites in the industry with over 11 million visitors every month.  They are routinely ranked amongst the top 500 most visited websites according to Alexa.com’s monthly rankings.  Dealer e-Process is excited to partner with them to create a huge event that will bring in dealers and vendors from all over the United States and more.

 

About Dealer e Process
Dealer e Process is focused on innovative websites and integrated online tools that engage consumers and producers.  They are committed to creating more opportunity and conversion for auto dealers than any website provider in the industry.  Check them out at www.facebook.com/dealereprocess and on Twitter at @Dealereprocess. 

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Dealer e-Process Announces Launch Of New Tennyson Chevy Website

December 18th, 2012

Livonia, MI – December 18th 2012– Dealer e Process is excited to launch the new custom auto dealer website for Tennyson Chevy, part of the Feldman Automotive Group.  Tennyson Chevy has upgraded their site in an effort to remain competitive and take advantage of the great lead generating websites  and SEO strategy that Dealer e-process has to offer.  Their new website includes not just a custom dealer page geared to their specific market, but mobile websites, and our award winning Auto Dealer SEO platform. Dealer e Process will also be further powering their website with a unique search engine marketing strategy specifically for auto dealers.

Their new, easy-to-navigate, Dealer e Process websites give them the advantage that will put them over as the cutting edge dealer in their market.  On top of that, Tennyson Chevy is launching their brand new mobile site that will allow them to leap into an entirely new market in style.

In a difficult marketplace like the Michigan area, with Detroit just a few miles away, Tennyson Chevy needs a site that can stand out from the crowed.  Dealer e-Process gave them a unique looking site that highlighted their brand’s identity and gives them more exposure than ever before.

Tennyson Chevy is located in Livonia, Michigan just west of Detroit.  They can be found at  www.tennysonchevy.com   You can like them on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tennyson-Chevrolet-.

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About Dealer e Process
Dealer e Process is focused on innovative websites and integrated online tools that engage consumers and producers.  They are committed to creating more opportunity and conversion for auto dealers than any website provider in the industry.  Check them out at www.facebook.com/dealereprocess and on Twitter at @Dealereprocess. 

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Dealer e-Process and Penske Auto’s Partnership Running Strong

December 12th, 2012

 

Chicago, IL –December 12th 2012–  Dealer e-Process is excited to continue their partnership with Penske Auto.  Thanks to Dealer e-Process’ award winning live chat Penske’s sites have already seen an increase in lead generation and lead conversion.  Their leads saw a huge uptick in just the first week with Dealer e-Process live chat on their sites.

Penske Auto is one of the country’s leading nationwide automotive dealers, coming in at number 2 on the 2011 autonews.com Top 125 Dealership Groups.  With more than 300 stores across the country, Penske has been a nationwide leader in automotive sales for over a decade.  But with sales and stock prices dipping in 2010 and 2011 Penske found themselves in need of a boost and a way to stay on the cutting edge of new trends and technology in the automotive industry.

Dealer e-Process was ready with the solution.  Focusing on a few of the Penske stores in the Cleavland, Ohio area that needed some help, Dealer e-Process is using their award winning pro-active live chat feature to give them new opportunities for new leads and better lead conversion.  On top of that, Dealer e-Process created a custom SEM strategy to help drive more traffic to their websites.

Penske has partnered with Dealer e-Process on their Ohio dealerships including: Audi of Willoughby, Audi of Bedford, Honda of Mentor, Porsche of Beachwood, Mercedes of Bedford, Toyota of Bedford, and Infinite of Bedford.  The Porsche site alone saw a major uptick in both lead traffic and lead conversion right off the bat.  In the crowded luxury vehicle marketplace Porsche of Beachwood now has a huge advantage over the competition.

Toyota of Bedford has also seen their leads skyrocket with huge gains week to week during the hard winter sales months.  Not only are more people visiting the Penske Ohio sites, but thanks to Dealer e-Process’ proactive live chat they’re turning into paying customers like never before.

Dealer e-Process’ award winning proactive live chat has helped Penske’s Ohio stores reach the next level.  By having a managed chat running 24/7 Penske’s Ohio locations don’t waste any time in getting and converting new leads.  Penske’s Ohio locations that currently feature Dealer e-Process live chat are creating new sales opportunities 24/7.

 

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About Dealer e Process
Dealer e Process is focused on innovative websites and integrated online tools that engage consumers and producers.  They are committed to creating more opportunity and conversion for auto dealers than any website provider in the industry.  Check them out at www.facebook.com/dealereprocess and on Twitter at @Dealereprocess. 

 

 

 

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