Digital dealer june 2010

What Are Your
online Ads Missing?
610-738-3313
homenetauto.com
salesteam@homenetauto.com
Inventory Online (IOL) Marketing Suite is a
complete internet merchandising solution.
Call today to see what your ads are missing.

ROY
REUTTER
Sheehy Auto Stores
page 16
June 2010
Internet Sales:
Five Must Do’s to
Reel Customers In
page 8
Mastering the Internet
Sales Process
page 10
Management
Systems:
ASP vs. In-House Servers:
Which DMS Model is Best?
page 12
Technology
Trends:
Can your CRM be your ILM?
page 20

DD 2 June 2010 DigitalDealer-magazine.com
ABLE OF CONTENTST
JUNE 2010
PRESIDENT AND CEO
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A PUBLICATION OF
C O M M U N I C A T I O N S
FEATURES
Digital Dealer Cover Story
16 Roy Reutter
e-Business Director
Sheehy Auto Stores

COLUMNS
AAISP Notes
6 Will It Help Us Sell More Cars?
Cliff Banks
Internet Sales
8 Five Must Do’s to Reel Customers In
Rob Lange
10 Mastering the Internet Sales Process
Tom Mohr
Management Systems
12 ASP vs. In-House Servers: Which DMS Model is Best?
Mike Esposito
Web Sites
14 Design Your Site to Create More Sales
Joe High
Technology Trends
20 Can your CRM be your ILM?
Sandi Jerome
Advertising
21 An e-Marketing Update
Jim Boldebook
DEPARTMENTS
4 News

To learn more:
www.bzresults.com
888-260-4906
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©2010 ADP, Inc. – Dealer Services Group / BZ Results and the BZ Results logo are registered trademarks of ADP, Inc.
How are you Handling
your online repuTaTion?
simple • online • resulTs
BZ has the sTraTegiC plan to help you:
• attract more customers • Transact quickly and easily
• Convert shoppers into buyers • retain customers for life

IGITAL DEALER TECH NEWSD
New automotive advertis-
ing network puts dealers
on top of search engines
and social networks
TheAutomotiveAdvertisingNetworkwas
launchedattheDigitalDealerConferencein
OrlandoFloridalastmonth.TheAutomotive
AdvertisingNetwork(AAN)isthefirstdealer
powered advertising network that provides
members with unlimited leads and online
promotion of their inventory on national,
regional and local web sites that are strategi-
cally positioned to appear on top of the most
popular search engines, social networks and
blogs.
Thenetworkwascreatedbyindustryveter-
ansBrianPasch,SeanWolfingtonandDavid
Boice to help dealers generate more leads for
less cost.The member dealers are using their
collective power to compete with third party
leadproviderswhohistoricallyhavehadabig
advantage on the search engines because of
their national footprint and corresponding
search authority.
Participating dealers pay a small member-
ship fee to join the Automotive Advertising
Network ($995). And they receive:
• Unlimited leads from ready-to-buy con-
sumerswhoareactivelysearchingforavehicle
in their market.
• Promotion of dealership and inventory
onCarDealerSale.comaswellasregionaland
local websites in their primary markets.
•Promotionofdealershipandinventoryon
the most popular social media sites with Live
inventorypostedonyourFacebookFanPage
• Unlimited car inventory publishing on
popular blog platforms andWordPress plug-
in for optimized inventory listings
• Banner advertising on the AAN local
websites. Also, AAN members will never
see competitor ads on their Inventory list-
ing pages. the first search optimized, dealer
centric advertising platform.
• Access to the networks automotive press
releasepublishingsystemandunlimitedpress
release publishing on national and regional
web sites.
www.automotiveadvertisingnetwork.com
ResponseLogix SmartFacts
analytics available in
June 2010
ResponseLogix, Inc. announced the June
availability of SmartFacts 2.0 – powerful
analytics to help optimize the performance
of auto dealers’ Internet sales departments.
Using state-of-the-art cloud computing
technology,SmartFactsdata-driveninsightis
now easily accessible online and allows deal-
ership owners and managers to proactively
managetheirinternetsalesteamsandincrease
productivity.
“SmartFacts2.0newgraphicsandenhanced
data analytics help general managers create
internetcarsalesbestpracticesbyidentifying,
andthenreinforcingorteachingthebehaviors
that get the best results,” said Tom Mohr,
president and CEO of ResponseLogix. “By
trackingdatasuchasresponsetimes,number
of calls or e-mails the dealer management
can compare actual results and individual
sales people can see what they need to do to
improve their own results.”
Detailedcomparisonsareprovidedforkey
data points including: time saved in quot-
ing and following-up with leads, percent of
leads contacted, number of customers with
renewed interest in purchasing a car, dealer-
ship response time to new and reactivated
leads, and tracking of consumer behavior to
communicationsfromthedealership.Dealers
with multiple franchises will have the infor-
mationavailableasindividualreportsforeach
franchise.
“I am a huge advocate of data to help set
goals and drive sales; SmartFacts highlights
our strengths, pinpoints our weaknesses and
provides us with a greater degree of account-
ability,”saidAndrewDiFeo,generalmanager
ofHyundaiofSt.Augustine.“Icandrilldown
to the individual associate and provide spe-
cific performance coaching.There is a direct
correlation between how many e-mails and
phonecallsasalesrepmakesandthenumber
of cars sold.”
www.responselogix.com
Auto/Mate eBook gives
dealers a ‘10-step guide’
for selecting, changing
DMS providers
In an effort to help a growing number of
franchised auto dealers considering a change
in their dealer management system (DMS)
provider, Auto/Mate, the highest ranked
DMS in the 2009 NADA Annual Survey
of Dealership Satisfaction, is releasingThe
Dealer’s10-StepGuidetoChangingYourDMS
eBook.
“We wanted to give dealers a quick-read
rundown of the best practices they should
consider, given a more dealers are looking to
changeproviders,”saysMikeEsposito,CEO
forAuto/Mate,oneoftheleadingDMSpro-
vidersforfranchisedautodealers.“TheeBook
is chock-full of practical insights and lessons
learned from dealers who have successfully
madetheswitch,aswellasinsightfromsome
top industry experts.”
The eBook’s publication comes at a time
whenmanyautoindustryobserverspredicta
greater number of dealers are contemplating
changing their DMS providers as a way to
reduce operational costs and provide more
in-storeefficiencies.Initsbi-annualreviewof
DMSsatisfactionamongdealerslastOctober,
NADA reports a 7 percent decline in dealers
who are “very” or “somewhat” satisfied with
their current DMS providers and 19 percent
of dealers and general managers who plan to
switch their DMS vendors.
“The eBook is our effort to help dealers
understand how important it is to approach
a DMS change with a well-assembled team
and plan of attack,” Esposito says. “It’s not
uncommon for dealers to overlook or miss
key steps that result in a DMS installation
that is more disruptive and painful than it
needs to be.”
The Auto/Mate eBook, The Dealer’s
10-Step Guide to Changing Your DMS, is
available for free downloads at the Auto/
Mate web site: http://www.automate.com/
downloads/ebook.pdf
www.automate.com

2010 Top Rated Web
Provider, DrivingSales.com
Top Awards for Websites,
SEO, and Internet
Lead Management
2009 Net Promoter®
Score Survey
Top customer service
ranking in the nation’s
software industry
2010 Diamond Award
“Best Website Provider”
Auto Dealer Monthly
2010 Dealers’
Choice Awards
2009 Automotive Search
Marketing Association
Most Comprehensive
Search Marketing
Platform Award
SEARCH MARKETING | DEALER WEBSITES | LEAD MANAGEMENT | PERFORMANCE ANALYTICS
888.785.5418 | www.dealer.com | sales@dealer.com
Tammy Darvish, Vice President, DARCARS Auto Group
Ranked 19th, Automotive News Top 125
“We have partnered with Dealer.com
because they provide us with the tools and
cutting edge knowledge to allow us to
connect with tens of thousands of customers
very competitively and effectively.”
There’s a Reason Why More
Top 125 Dealers Choose Dealer.com...

Will It Help Us Sell More Cars?
G
etreadyforanexplosionofnewtech-
nologyandnewapplications.What’s
driving all of this new innovation is
the battle between Google and Apple as they
race to bring new applications to the market.
Meanwhile,Facebookshouldbepartofthe
discussion, also. A recent article speculated
that Facebook could become the new search
engine of choice for consumers. Although, I
doubt that will happen, Facebook clearly is
intentonbecominganInternetjuggernaut–
both in consumer and business applications.
Every day, there seems to be a new spin on
the competition. Already, there are articles
about how the iPhone has lost its cool factor
andcouldbesupplantedbyGoogle’sAndroid
phoneinpopularity(Onearticleclaimedthe
Android had overtaken the iPhone in sales
last month).
Last month, Google unveiled its Google
TV application. Apple’s TV offering pretty
much has crashed and burned, but someone
is going to get it right. At some point, we’ll
be able to obtain whatever content when
we want it, where we want it and how we
want it – whether it’s on an iPad, Android
phone, laptop or TV. It has challenges, but
my money’s on Google.
As these applications hit the market the
challenge for our industryiskeeping up with
the technology and how to apply it to selling
andservicingmorecars.Theotherday,David
Metter, (he heads up MileOne Automotive’s
marketing initiatives) tweeted the following,
“Just got an iPad. Can’t wait to figure out
which business apps exist. 1 yr from now,
they will be all over our Dealerships.”
Metter’s point is well taken. During the
most recent Digital Dealer Conference in
Orlando, companies were giving away iPads
in drawings at their booths. At the next con-
ference, in LasVegas (October 12-14 – yes, I
know.It’sashamelessplug),insteadofgiving
themaway,theconversation willbehowyou
can use an iPad to sell more cars.
Again, the question is, how does all of this
help us sell more cars? Fortunately, I think
we’re answering the right questions.
For example, there seems to be a backlash
against all of the hoopla surrounding social
media in the automotive industry.
During my conversations with people at
the Digital Dealer Conference, the general
agreement appeared to be that the industry
isspendingtoomuchtimefocusingonsocial
networking – primarily, Facebook.
The one question that keeps coming up
is, does it really help us sell more cars? The
consensus appears to be no. I wrote about
this several months ago admitting I was a
“Social Networking Skeptic.” Despite that,
you have to be there. At what level?That can
bedebated.Thetrickis,findoutwhoisdoing
well with and decide whether their strategies
will work for you.
RoyReutter,ourcoverfeatureinthisissue,
saystheSheehygroupdoestheabsolutebasic
withFacebook.Meanwhile,JoeOrr,ourcover
feature in March, has found a Facebook for-
mula that works for Dick Hannah Honda.
Both approaches are right and are working.
It’s going to depend on your strategy, the
culture of your store and whether you have
the right person in place to generate sales
using Facebook. Orr works hard at it and is
focused on it.
One area you need to be playing in right
now is Google Maps. Google recently
upgraded the analytics for its Maps applica-
tion, which is in Google Places (formerly
knownasGoogleLocalBusinessCenter).The
levelofanalyticsandofwhatyoucaninclude
about your dealership is advertising on ste-
roids. It includes videos, customer reviews
and ratings, and a ton of other information
about your dealership or group.
Savvy dealers already are all over this and
are using it to capture market share. It’s
another tool to help you dominate search
results.ManagingGoogleMaps,though,isa
challengeandrequiressomework,according
to several Internet directors I’ve talked with.
Another trend at the Digital Dealer
Conference was the focus on integrating
your traditional and web-based advertising.
This still is pretty far off our radar screens as
an industry, but it is one of the most critical
areas on which you need to focus – using
TV, radio (and even print) to drive traffic to
yourwebsiteandthenmakingsureyouhave
the content on your site that you’ve prom-
ised the consumer. Hint – we’re not talking
about merely including your URL on your
traditional advertising channels, or running
yourTV commercials on your site. It’s much
more involved than that.
Thechallengeiskeepingupwiththetech-
nology and how to apply it to selling and
servicing more cars. That’s one reason this
magazine, Digital Dealer exists – along with
our twice a year Digital Dealer Conferences
Expositions. We want to help you stay
currentwithnewtechnologyasitburstsonto
the scene.
IGITAL Dealer AAISP NOTESD
Cliff Banks
Cliff Banks
Vice President and
Editorial Director

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Five Must Do’s to Reel Customers In
A
s the tools needed to compete
for Internet sales proliferate, it’s
become more difficult for dealers
to assess their digital marketing efforts,
ensuring that they are best equipped to
outsmart the competition. New tools and
features are regularly rolled out, enticing
dealers to upgrade their various services.
Dealership personnel sometimes spend
just as much time fine tuning hardware
needs as they do working with custom-
ers to sell cars. While so much time and
effort is spent assessing the marketing
arsenal, it becomes apparent that, given
time limitations, basic elements of maxi-
mizing online sales have taken a back seat.
This could cost your dealership sales as
the fundamentals are pushed aside and
given less consideration. I think others
have had the same thoughts and this was
evident as I looked through the agenda
of the recent Digital Dealer Conference
in Orlando, Florida.
While the focus of past Digital Dealer
Conferences has generally been on all
aspects of online marketing, the latest
schedule had a refreshing twist. It’s cer-
tainly important to continually learn
how to refine marketing efforts to drive
customers to the dealership and the con-
ference thoroughly addressed this topic.
However, what I arguably consider being
the most important part of the sale, and
was included in this conference, was
more sessions on communicating with
the customer.
While marketing is important and with-
out it there would be no customer, I have
to continue to stress the importance of
communication because if there’s one sure
way to improve sales, it’s by simply getting
better at working the leads driven to the
dealership. A few more sales per month,
while working with the same investment,
translate positively and directly to the
bottom line.
Remembering that it’s important to
make sure you have the basics covered,
I wanted to provide a simple checklist
to help shore up the foundation of your
online efforts.
1. Understand the buying motivations
of today’s online car shopper.
The premise of all of your online efforts
and communication is and should be
knowing what influences customers to
head in the direction of your dealership
and not to a competitor.
2. Be where the customers are.
Upwards of 80% of shoppers begin their
vehicle search online. Make sure you are
accessible on the most visited sites, your
widely used local sites and niche sites.
3. Maximize inventory distribution and
presentation, minimize time to market.
Stretch a net and provide compelling
vehicle content to set your inventory apart
and drive more interest.
4. Feature top converting web site
content.
It’s not just about getting them to your
web site, it’s about getting them to engage
and move forward.
5. Be an effective communicator to
drive more appointments, more dealer-
ship visits and sales.
Have a follow-up process in place that
customer’s are more likely to respond
to, opens doors to customer interaction
quicker and more often than ever before,
and then helps manage the conversation
by “speaking the customer’s language” and
talks in terms of “benefit to the customer.”
Rob Lange is the national sales training
director for Kelley Blue Book.
If you wish to discuss this arti-
cle with other dealers, or with
the author, please go to the
“Discussion Forums” at www.
Dealer-communications.com and
enter the “Internet Sales” forum
or e-mail him at rlange@Dealer-
communications.com.
IGITAL Dealer INTERNET SALESD
Rob Lange
While marketing is
important and without
it there would be no
customer, I have to
continue to stress
the importance of
communication because
if there’s one sure way
to improve sales, it’s by
simply getting better at
working the leads driven
to the dealership.

What are Your
online ads Missing?
610-738-3313
homenetauto.com
salesteam@homenetauto.com
Inventory Online (IOL) Marketing Suite is a
complete internet merchandising solution.
Call today to see what your ads are missing.

Mastering the Internet Sales Process
A
re you completely buttoned down in
your sales processes to manage the 12
key steps in Internet sales?
Atmycompany,forthepastthreeyearswe
havecloselystudiedtheInternetsalesprocess.
By observing our dealer customers across the
country, we have begun to discern best prac-
ticesthatconsistentlydeliversuperiorresults.
Our goal is to support the industry’s search
for best practice, and so we want to share
what we learn.
Achieving optimal sales results is a func-
tion of process execution and quality. There
are 12 process steps, and in order to drive
to outstanding results each step has to be
executed. Not just that, each step must be
executedwell.It’sthatcombinationofprocess
execution and quality that will differentiate
the winners from the losers.
So what are the key process steps?
1. Respond to an Internet lead with a multi-
vehicle price quote in 10 minutes.
2. If there is a phone number in the lead, call
the customer in 10 minutes.
3. If there is no phone number in the lead,
e-mail the customer in 10 minutes and
request a phone number.
4. If the customer e-mails back their phone
number, give them a call within 10
minutes.
5. If you reach the customer, go through a
nine-pointcallscriptleadingtoanappoint-
ment request.
6. If you don’t reach the customer, leave a
compelling,shortvoicemailandbegin2X
a day, five-day follow-up calling process.
7. Ifcustomerdoesn’te-mailyoutheirphone
number, go through nine-point script via
e-mail, and seek to win an appointment.
8. If you can’t win an appointment in five
days,leaveittoacompelling,transactional
automated follow-up e-mail campaign to
trytodrawthecustomerintothepurchase
process.
9. If an appointment is set, e-mail and call
for confirmation the day before.
10. If the appointment doesn’t show up,
e-mail and call to follow up and seek to
answermorequestionsorconfirmannew
appointment date / time.
11. If your follow-up campaignyields areac-
tivation, call / e-mail the reactivated cus-
tomer within 10 minutes and follow the
process towards an appointment.
12. If an appointment shows up, have them
askspecificallyforyouandbethereforthe
meet / greet / lot walk / test drive / sale.
Each of these steps merit more detail
The 10 minute, multi-vehicle price quote
is key. Itdifferentiatesyoufromthecompeti-
tion on responsiveness and service quality,
while changing the discussion from “can you
beattheotherguy’sprice”(anadversarialcon-
versation) to “do I want new or used, naviga-
tion system or not, what can I afford,” etc (a
consultative conversation). In achieving this
step, it is best to seek a technology solution
so you can deliver these personalized, multi-
vehicle quotes to the customer with quality,
every single time.
Make the phone call in 10 minutes! All
this talk about “call in less than two hours” is
simply off base.The consumer has expressed
their interest. They have engaged you, the
dealer. Every minute you ignore them is a
minute lost to that customer’s other priori-
ties. Don’t let them move on! Engage them
right away.
Of course, the issue is that it’s hard to
do given dealership realities. To achieve
this outcome requires structure and focus.
Structurally, a smaller dealership may give
its receptionist the assignment of making
the initial call back right away on Internet
leads, with a $10 bonus for every confirmed
appointment.Inalargerdealership,aseparate
Internet assistant or perhaps a BDC can take
onthisrole.Here’sakeypoint:it’snotrealistic
forthesalesreptogetbackthatquicklygiven
test drives and other priorities. Get someone
else to make that first contact. Then transi-
tion over to the sales rep for follow-up if the
first call results in a voice mail.
If there is no phone number, e-mail the
customer. Keep it short, to the point:
“(CUSTOMER NAME), I just sent you an
e-mail with some alternative vehicles for you to
consider. Would like to take you through these
choices while they’re still available, so I can get
a better understanding of exactly what you’re
in the market for. What’s your phone number?
I can call you right now.
Yours,
John Doe
Internet Sales Manager.”
If the customer e-mails their phone
number, call the customer right away -- no
more than 10 minutes.
If you reach the customer, recognize that a
liveconversationwithacustomerisprecious.
Don’twastetheopportunity!Authoritatively
and collaboratively, walk through the nine
key points that will tell you whether this is
a customer you want to do business with:
1. Formally introduce yourself and your
dealership.
2. Present the reason for call.
3. Explain dealership’s selling process.
4. Go over the multi-vehicle price quote in
IGITAL Dealer INTERNET SALESD
Tom Mohr
Achieving optimal
sales results is a
function of process
execution and quality.

DigitalDealer-magazine.com June 2010 DD 11
Our Users
Ranked US #1-
•
•
•
•
AutoSoft,
the Most Likely
Recommended
DMS Delivers –
Not Simply Software as
a Service, But Software
With The Service!
When asked in the recent
NADA 2009 Bi-Annual
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Satisfaction with Dealer
System Providers’
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Speed in Getting Changes
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Maintenance of Your
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Problem and Concerns
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Prompt Follow-up to
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877-427-4367
detailincludingvaluesellingthepre-owned
options.
5. Compare the features and benefits of the
alternative vehicles shown in quote.
6. Discussfinancingoptions,includingcom-
pletion of a credit app.
7. Confirm customer’s purchase time frame.
8. Confirm whether customer wants a
trade-in.
9. Set up an appointment for a test drive.
If you don’t reach the customer, leave a
compelling voice mail that goes something
like this:
“Hi this is John Doe, sales assistant from
DEALERSHIP calling regarding your request
for a quote on a _______. Our Internet sales
manager _________ sent you an e-mail a
few minutes ago with a number of alternative
vehicles, and he/she would like to go over them
with you while the vehicles are still available.
Justcall___________andaskfor________,
your Internet sales manager who can help you
with all of your questions. Otherwise we’ll try
back later.”
Then call twice a day – mid-morning and
around6:30PMworkbest–forfiveconsecu-
tive days, seeking to make contact. If you
reach the customer, walk through the nine
key points. If you don’t, after five days of
follow-up, let your automated e-mail follow-
up system take over.
If the customer doesn’t e-mail you their
phone number, you’re left to e-mail com-
munications. Seek to engage the customer
inane-mailexchangethatwalksthroughthe
nine key points. If you can elicit interaction,
you’remuchmorelikelytoleadthecustomer
to an appointment.
Ifyoucan’tgettoanappointment,it’stime
fore-mailfollow-up.Butmakesurethatyour
e-mail campaign is designed to not be pro-
motional: ISP’s consider that spam. E-mail
follow-up must be transactional – asking
simple questions, such as, “14 days ago you
sent us a request for a Toyota Prius. Are you
still interested?” Then have action buttons
that allow customers to reveal their interest
vs.requiringthemtosendyoubackane-mail.
This is best achieved through a technology
companythatspecializesininteractivefollow-
up marketing campaigns.
If you get an appointment, it’s best prac-
tice to both e-mail and call to confirm
the appointment at least eight hours prior
to the appointed date and time. In your
confirmation,besuretoremindthecustomer
why it’s good for them to show up—“I have
set aside the vehicle you requested and will keep
itavailableforyourvisit.Withthehotincentives
themanufacturerhasinplacerightnowIwant
to be sure your vehicle is still on the lot.”
If the appointment doesn’t show up, call
and e-mail the customer two hours after the
scheduled appointment time (no more, no
less). Indicate: “Hi (CUSTOMER NAME),
this is _____ from ____. I put down in my
calendar that you were going to stop by for a
test drive. I might have gotten it wrong in my
calendar and so I want to check in with you. I
stillhaveyourvehiclesetaside.Areyouavailable
later this afternoon to come by?”
Perhaps you’re in the e-mail follow-up
phasewithacustomerthatnevershowedup.
What happens when the customer responds
to your follow-up with a buying signal? I call
that a reactivation. Reactivations are more
precious than first-time leads!
Call the customer in 10 minutes.Take the
sameapproachasnotedaboveforafirst-time
contact.You’llfindthatreactivatedcustomers,
if responded to right away, will convert at a
much higher rate than first-time leads, and
therefore deserve your best attention.
Of course, it eventually all comes down to
the customer arriving on the lot. You know
what to do then.
The realities of dealership life make execu-
tion of these 12 steps difficult. It’s especially
difficult to execute these steps with quality.
The best dealerships are relentless in pursuit
ofperfection.Theydefinetheirstructure,hire,
train,monitor,coachandrewardinwaysthat
support and advance process execution and
quality.It’sultimatelyanactofleadership,and
ifyoucommityourselfandyourorganization
tocontinuousimprovement,youwilleventu-
ally become masters of the Internet.
Tom Mohr is CEO of ResponseLogix, and has
worked closely with auto dealers for 25 years.
Prior to ResponseLogix, Mohr was president of
Knight Ridder Digital, where he was on the
board of Cars.com.
If you wish to discuss this article with
other dealers, or with the author, please
go to the “Discussion Forums” at www.
Dealer-communications.com and enter
the“InternetSales”forumore-mailhim
attmohr@Dealer-communications.com.

ASP vs. In-House Servers: Which DMS
Model is Best?
T
he time has come. Your dealership’s
DMScontractwithalarge,expensive
legacyproviderisending.Yoursearch
for a new DMS partner is beginning.Which
DMS is best?
The answer is: it depends what your needs
are. One thing that’s certain is when it comes
to making such a critical management deci-
sion; there is little, if any, room for error.
This article won’t go into detail about the
process for choosing the right system (for
a free 10-step guide, dealers can e-mail the
author of this article). But assuming that a
dealership has already analyzed their current
DMSexpensesandpotentialcostreductions,
assessedthemarket,createda“needs”listand
drawnupapotentialvendorprospectlist,one
of the first choices they may be faced with is
whether to choose a DMS in an Application
Service Provider (ASP) model, or in-house
server model.
With ASP, the DMS provider maintains a
hostedenvironmentofserversattheprovider’s
location that houses all the software and data
adealeruses.Dealersdonothavetopurchase
or maintain servers
With a DMS in-house server model, the
dealership is required to purchase the server
andinmostcasestheDMSvendorwillmain-
tain the server.
Contrary to what dealers may hear from
various sales representatives, neither the ASP
nor the in-house format is the one, “best”
technology. What is best for your dealership
may depend on whether you have a single
store, multi-store franchise along with many
other factors.
Following are the primary considerations
when it comes to choosing between deploy-
ing the DMS as an ASP or in-house server:
1) ‘New’ technology vs. ‘old’ technology.
Advocates of ASP claim it’s a new tech-
nology and the future of things to come. In
reality, ASP is an evolution of a 40-plus year
old technology developed in the 1960s and
known then as “time sharing” applications.
Today, due to high-speed Internet connec-
tionsandadvancesinservertechnology,ASP
solutionsaremoreviableandapopularchoice
for businesses in many industries.
The in-house client/server model, though
hardly old but perceived by some as un-
trendy, is in reality, a tried and true technol-
ogy that is not going to disappear any time
soon. Many businesses prefer to keep their
computer operations in-house for several
reasons, including reliability, cost, control of
data, and more.
The bottom line is, both formats offer
dealerships what is needed: a low-cost, effec-
tive DMS solution. The choice should not
be made based on which technology is new
or trendy, but on which system best fits the
dealership’s needs and wants.
2) Purchase of hardware
A perceived advantage of the ASP model
is the minimum amount of hardware that
has to be purchased to get the system up and
running. In most cases the ASP provider will
require the purchase of a VPN router that is
compatible with the vendor’s network. This
router can run from $2,000 to $3,000.
With the in-house server model, dealers
are required to purchase a server. Though
legacy providers have been known to charge
anywhere from $20,000 to $60,000 for high
performanceservers,today’snon-legacyDMS
vendors offer industry standard high per-
formance servers that costs no more than
$4,000–$6,000. As servers only need to be
replacedeveryfivetosixyears,thedepreciated
cost is negligible.
3) Speed
With a broadband connection, access to
theASPserverscanbeveryefficient.However
the connection needs to be of high quality. If
the Internet connection is sluggish for some
reason,accesstothedealer’sdatamaybeslow.
In all cases access to the ASP is through a
VPN (virtual private network) which in
essence gives the dealership a secure “pipe”
through the Internet to the provider’s loca-
tion. However it is still through the Internet
and as such the response time can be awful
at times no matter what speed the connec-
tion (Did you try to get on the Internet the
day Michael Jackson died? The speed of the
Internet was at a crawl.)
An in-house server, on the other hand,
runs at a consistently high speed and will
always have a much greater response time
then the ASP. If there are problems with the
Internet connection, it doesn’t affect access
to the dealer’s data at all.
4) Dealership control of data
One potential problem with the ASP
model is the dealership does not maintain
control over its own data. No matter how
much a provider may assure the dealer it
will never happen, in the event of a dispute
between dealership and vendor, it would be
possible for the dealership to be cut off from
its own data.
On the other hand, the in-house server
model eliminates this concern. Dealerships
IGITAL Dealer MANAGEMENT SYSTEMSD
Mike Esposito
Contrary to what dealers
may hear from various
sales representatives,
neither the ASP nor the
in-house format is the
one, “best” technology.

maintain complete control of their data and
network at all times.
5) Back-up of data
Generallyacceptedbackupprocedureisto
haveafullcopyofyourdatabackedupoffsite
every night. With the ASP, since the data is
housed in servers at the provider’s location it
isthereforeoffthedealershipsite,howeverthe
dealerneedstoensurethattheproviderbacks
up its hosted site to another location just in
case there is an issue at the primary hosting
facility. With the in-house server model, the
dealershipcanchoosetoeithermanuallyback
up onto tapes every night, or have the DMS
provider do an automatic remote back up. A
remote backup is where the in house server
automatically transmits all of the data every
night to a remote facility controlled by the
DMS provider.
6) ‘Less’ vs. ‘more’ maintenance
ASP providers tout the fact their model
eliminatestheneedtomaintainaserver,saves
spaceandtakesalltheDMSmaintenanceoff
the dealership’s hands. But since in-house
solutions can run on a server the size of your
typical tower PC, it doesn’t take much addi-
tional space, and in-house vendors can also
providealltheneededmaintenanceremotely.
7) Upgrades to the software
In both cases updated software will be
needed to be loaded on the server whether
the server is hosted at the ASP site or is in
the dealership. In the case of the ASP, the
vendor will load all of the software updates
on their servers and will then notify the users
when it has been done. In the past (and still
currently with some DMS vendors) software
updates were handled by sending the dealer-
ship CDs with the update information and
thedealershippersonnelhadtoloadthemon
theserver.CurrentlymostDMSvendorswho
supply an in house server will automatically
load the software updates remotely on to the
inhouseserverandthennotifythedealership
that it has been done.
8) Remote access to network
Many dealers are under the assumption
that with ASP, they will be able to have full
accesstotheirnetworkfromanylaptop,any-
where. In reality, ASP access from a remote
location requires the installation of a Virtual
PrivateNetwork(VPN)onalaptop.Remote
access to the DMS is accomplished the same
way with an in-house server model.
9) In the event of catastrophe…
It rarely happens, but ask any dealer who
hasbeenthroughit.It’sanightmare.Whether
a mudslide, tornado or hurricane, the last
thing a dealer needs to worry about is the
DMS. An advantage of ASP is that if disas-
ter strikes, all the data is safely off site. All
the dealership needs to do is re-establish an
Internet connection. However, if there have
been widespread telecommunications out-
agesintheareaaswillhappenincatastrophic
situations, it may be impossible to quickly
re-establish the VPN connection to the ASP.
In addition the connection issue is out of the
controlofthedealershipinthattheirInternet
ServiceProvidermaybeswampedwithother
clients who are in the same situation as the
dealership.
When disaster strikes a dealership with an
in-house server, the server may be lost. This
is why the data should always be backed up
remotely, and why most DMS providers do
this automatically. In the event of catastro-
phe, the dealership can call the vendor who
should be able to ship out a new server with
alltheupdatedinformationintact,overnight,
if necessary.
Determining what’s right for you
It’s up to each dealership to determine
which DMS system is right for their needs.
Both in-house and ASP models have their
advantages. In many cases either one would
be a good choice. Ultimately, a DMS vendor
that offers both in-house server and ASP
solutions provides the most flexibility. It
give the dealer the most security, in that,
if the deployment by one method is not
satisfactory to the dealership then it is an
easy change over to the other deployment
method. As a dealership grows and its needs
change, it is good to know that your DMS
provider offers both solutions so you can
maintain your relationship with that pro-
vider yet change the method of deployment
of the DMS.
Mike Esposito is president CEO of Auto/
Mate Dealership Systems, makers of AMPS
(Automotive Management Productivity Suite),
acomprehensiveDMSwithmorethan20inte-
grated modules to service every dealership need.
the“DMS”forumore-mailhimatmes-
posito@Dealer-communications.com.

Design Your Site to Create More Sales
Y
ou probably
already know
some of the
basics of good web
design, but do you
know the reasons why those standards are
in place? Are you using the most up-to-date
best practices?
Whiletheaestheticsofdesignaresubjective
and up to each individual’s perception, there
is actually a science behind the functionality
of beautiful and effective web sites. Many
researchers have studied the way consumers
interpret content on web sites. By applying
their findings and best practices to your own
website,youcanbetterserveyourcustomers
and grow your business.
Develop your web site with these three
objectives in mind:
1. Help your car shoppers meet their goals.
2. Fit within the limitations of shopping
behavior.
3. Improve the overall shopping experience.
If you follow these guiding principles, you
will make your customers happy, and in the
process, generate more sales.
Help your shoppers meet their goals
The biggest hurdle when designing your
web site is determining your goals and how
they align with those of your site’s visitors.
Thepurposeofyourwebsiteistosellvehicles
andgenerateserviceappointmentsandparts’
requestsbyprovidingyourshopperswiththe
information and tools they need to make
informed buying decisions.
When a car shopper visits your web site,
thatpersonmaybeatanystageofthebuying
process from early research to ready to pur-
chasethevehicle.Eachshopperisuniqueand
will require different information to make a
final buying decision. Your web site should
providealltheinformationtheyneedtomake
that decision.
Here are some simple web site suggestions
that are useful to consumers in any phase of
the shopping process:
• Provide more relevant content.
Consumers want to do their vehicle research
inonecentralplace.Providethemwithdetails
suchascurrentincentives,pricing,inventory,
photos, vehicle locations, service scheduling,
and recall information.
• Modularize your content. Sectioning off
information helps users comprehend infor-
mation and recall more of the details later.
• Use specific language to describe your
dealershipandyourinventory.Broaderterms
can easily be misinterpreted, but precise
details paint a clearer picture of how your
business operates and what you have to offer
your customers.
Fit within the limitations of shopping
behavior
Your customers can only process so much
information at one time. This means that
whenyou organize contentonyourweb site,
you need to make it easy to digest and hard
to forget.
Here are a few tips on how to keep the
content simple and easy to remember:
• Include a brief introductory paragraph.
Readerswillbetterunderstandwhatthatpage
is about and remain engaged.
•Keepelements,suchasimagesandvideos
smallsothatyourpagesdon’ttaketoolongto
load. Longer load times increase the chances
that users will forget what they just viewed
whilewaitingforthenextpagetoload.Avoid
autoplayingavideo,whenloadingapage,to
prevent disturbing others.
• Offer ways to compare multiple vehicles
on your web site. Consumers are looking for
detailed vehicle information and don’t want
to use multiple web sites. Make it easy for
yourcustomerstoremainonyourwebsiteto
learnaboutmanytypesofvehicles.Youdon’t
want to lose customers to a competitor’s site.
•Improvetheoverallshoppingexperience.
Your customers live in a digital world and
havemanyonlineresourcesavailabletothem
when shopping for a vehicle. Therefore, it’s
vitalforyoutocreatethebestshoppingexpe-
rience for your customers and remove the
need to use other web sites. Work with your
websiteprovidertoensureyouareproviding
thefollowingtoimprovetheoverallshopping
experience and increase your sales:
• Timely inventory updates – give your
customersthemostaccuratevehicleinforma-
tion possible.
• Quick and targeted response to leads–
gather important details on your customers
such as keywords, referral information and
vehicles searched. Tailor your response to
these attributes.
• Accurate data–ensure you post correct
vehicle information including availability,
pricing, features and equipment. This will
guaranteeasatisfiedcustomerwhentheyvisit
your dealership.
• Engaging content–provide videos and
social media links to engage your customers
and create an ongoing relationship.
• Mobile/iPad options–savvy consumers
are shopping on their phones. Utilize mobile
technology to appeal to this group and cap-
ture more sales. It’s important to stay ahead
of the curve on new technology.
Followingthesesimplerulesfordesignand
developing quality content will allow you
to connect with your shoppers, satisfy their
needs and increase your revenue. Work with
your provider to convert your web site into a
highly effective selling tool by implementing
these best practices.
Joe High is a group general manager with
Dominion Dealer Solutions, managing the
Dealerskins and XIGroup businesses. High
started at XIGroup in 2001, working his way
up from the customer service department to
project/operationsmanager.InNovember2007
he became XIGroup’s general manager and in
March 2010 was promoted to his current role
overseeing Dealerskins and XIGroup.
the “Technology” forum or e-mail him
at jhigh@Dealer-communications.com.
IGITAL Dealer WEB SITESD
Joe High

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Social media? Prove to me it sells cars, says Roy Reutter. Mobile marketing? Not doing
much with it, he says. Instead, Reutter, who is the director of e-business for the Sheehy
Auto Stores, prefers to spend time focusing on the tools that actually help to sell more cars.
It’s that attitude instilled by the group’s president, Vince Sheehy, which has enabled the
46-year-old company to grow into one of the top groups in the country. In fact, not much
has changed since we last talked in 2006 with Reutter. The organization is using the same
processes it did then and continues to operate with a steadfast focus on using what works.
One thing has changed, however. The Internet now accounts for nearly 35% of all of
Sheehy’s vehicle sales, which is a big increase from 2006.
Roy Reutter
Sheehy Auto Stores
COVER STORY

When we last talked with you, it was 2006.
What has changed in those four years?
Well, a few things have changed. Our
advertisingbudgethaschangeddramatically.
In 2003-2004 the amount we spent on digi-
tal marketing was about 6% of our overall
advertising budget. By November 2006, it
was about 16% of the overall budget. And
now, it is close to 35% of the budget.
What do you attribute that increase to?
To quote our president, Vince Sheehy,
“The Internet has changed everything.”
What sort of things are you spending that
money on?
Of course, there are many things, but the
most significant is search engine marketing.
Wealsospendmoneyondevelopingourweb
sites.
Is that the pay-per-click?
Yes.
When did you start ramping up your SEM
initiatives?
We slowly increased it until January this
year, and then we decided to jump in a big
way. It is not like it is a crazy amount, but it
is double what we had spent earlier.
Now some people would argue that pay-
per-click has seen its best days. Obviously,
you think differently.
We certainly like the metrics. I know how
many clicks, e-mails and phone calls we get
andthat’ssolidconcretetrackinginformation.
If you tell me social networking is replacing
it, I will say you are crazy.
Are you doing anything with social
networking?
We do the absolute basic. Until someone
can show me that it drives car sales, that’s
where it will stay. Maybe in a year or two
it will be more than it is now. We have a
Facebook page, but it is mostly a fan page.
We don’t spend a lot of time doing it.
We have some really smart people that
workhereinourInternetdepartmentthatdo
not have any hesitation in doing new things
and experimenting. And they aren’t opposed
to social networking, but they don’t really
spendalotoftimeonit,becausetheyhaven’t
seen it generate many sales. However, we still
havealotofotherthingswedothatsellscars.
I remember sitting in one of your sessions
at the first Digital Dealer Conference in
Nashville, and you were showing an Excel
spreadsheet with elaborate reporting.
And that was several years ago. Have you
tweaked your reports?
I’m looking at it right now. It has really
grown to where I am able to identify things
very quickly. Let’s say I’m concerned about
our traffic, I can look at the spreadsheet and
determine the source of traffic, what hap-
pened and what changed.
Right now I am seeing that one of our
stores is down in lead volume. And they
shouldn’t be, but I can look at it and see why
it is down. So I am able to identify the issues
quickly.Itaddresseswherewearenow,where
we were in the past, what the projections
are and if we are on target for hitting our
projections.
I can look at the spreadsheet and instantly
seewhereweareoffandwhereweareselling.
Do you have someone that manages the
searchenginemarketingandpay-for-clicks
for you?
Yes, our web host, Dealer.com, actually
does it. There is no possible way I could
manage that for 16-17 stores effectively.
One of the knocks against PPC is that the
dealer often ends up competing against
himself because of Tier Two (ad asso-
ciations) and Tier One (manufacturers)
involvement.
That is a good point – it does happen. But
ultimately, if you can dominate a page, then
you’re in good shape. I’m not sure there is a
way to solve that. I just try to benefit from it.
Do you still buy from third-party lead
providers?
Yes, they have a place, although our focus
is more on our developing leads from our
ownwebsite,becausethosearetheleadsthat
close better.
However,whenitcomestothird-partyclas-
sifiedsitessuchasCars.comandAutoTrader.
com, they play a major part in our sales.
Your advertising spend has changed.What
has changed about your process?
We still have the same process except it
has become much faster today. We’re able
to get our inventory online much faster
now. Pictures and video are done faster. Our
response time to the customer is now within
minutes, not hours.The speed that technol-
ogy allows us to operate is one of the major
differences and what has changed the most.
We like to focus on the speed of the
response time, but the speed with which
wecanaccomplishtaskstodayhaschanged
the game significantly also. If a dealership
or group focuses on leveraging those effi-
ciencies, is that an advantage?
Certainly.Forexample,ifsomeoneistrad-
ing in a car today, we will get it online before
they are out of the building.
Being able to put our inventory online
much faster means we can sell the vehicle
faster. It’s helped with inventory turn.Today,
we don’t wait until the vehicle comes out of
the service shop and detail to put it online.
How do you handle the leads? Is it through
a business development center?
Each of our stores has a dedicated Internet
department.
So,therumorsoftheInternetdepartment’s
death are exaggerated?
You know, if people are saying that, they
may mean the entire dealership is involved
in Internet sales. In that case, it makes sense.
Otherwise,Idon’tknowwhattheyaremean-
ing when they say the department is dead.
How do you manage between the show-
room and the Internet?

Our CRM tool, Reynolds’ Contact
Manager, enables us to track leads separately.
We’re able to funnel them to the appropriate
department.
What is the process you use to respond
to leads? Is it same for all of your stores?
We follow the same process for all of the
stores. We have been doing it for 7-8 years
and it is a process that works. I’m looking
at our Alexandria dealership right now and
it has 38 vehicles sold through the Internet
department waiting for delivery today.
The key for the Internet department is
preparation. The web site has to be right –
includinginventory,specialsandpricing.The
phones have to be manned properly and we
havetorespondtoleadsquicklyandcorrectly.
There is a lot that goes into selling cars in the
Internet department.
The Internet department handles the pro-
cess from beginning to end?
Correct.Theyhandleitfromstarttofinish.
As your marketing budget has grown for
the Internet department, have you added
significantly to the staff?
That is another area that has changed.
We use to have one to two people in each
store. Now we have three to four people. At
least 25% of our entire group’s staff is in the
Internet department today.
What’s the optimum for the number of
leads per month?
For me it is about 100 per month. In
the past people talked about it being 80
leads per person. But with technology and
a more-skilled staff we handle more leads
while responding faster and more effectively.
Has the consumer changed at all?
The consumer has changed in a way that
the Internet has changed. A lot of people –
insteadofshyingawayfromtheInternet–are
adapting to it.
They understand they have more choices
and can get information faster. They under-
standtheydon’thavedon’thavetotravelfrom
showroomtoshowroomgettinginformation.
They can get an Internet quote in two min-
utes. It is all about convenience and speed of
doing business.
You talked a little bit about how technol-
ogy has gotten better. I assume you use
Blackberry phones or something along
those lines?
Yes, we do use Blackberry phones, mostly
for lead notification so we can respond
quickly. It is not our practice to respond to
customers on our Blackberries.We just want
our Internet salespeople to know the leads
are there. We use our CRM tools to do the
proper response, and we want to respond
quickly with videos. You can’t do that all on
a Blackberry. You can respond, but you need
to do it right.
Are you doing any mobile marketing?
Very little. I don’t believe the market is
there yet for automotive. We set up several
test mobile sites that generate about 1% to
2% of our overall traffic. We have done zero
when it comes to text marketing.
I see you have chat on your web site.
Yes, I am a big chat fan. It is a way for the
customer to communicate with us silently.
We know that a lot of people shop during
the day while they are at work. So instead of
goingonaphone,chatisaveryquietwayfor
themtocommunicatewithus.Therearealot
of features for chat that I am still exploring,
and probably will employ some of them in
the near future.
How is your chat set-up? Do you have
someone managing your chat for you?
We currently have a company that takes
care of our chat.
I see you have a Live Chat button on your
service page. Do you service chat live with
customers also?
We put the chats everywhere.
Does that then go to a service-related
person?
Yes,theyjusttaketheserviceappointment
andsendane-mailtoourservicedepartment.
It is just a convenient way for customers to
communicate with us.
Do you evaluate the type of questions that
are asked in chat the most?
Yes, along with the lead comes the tran-
script, which has both ends of the conversa-
tion. So we are up to speed with what went
on and we can tweak the scripts if need be.
What has been the craziest thing that was
asked through chat by a consumer?
Someone offered us $300 to make sure we
got their credit application approved. That
one was crazy. It’s not every day someone
tries to bribe you.
I see the Race to 4,000 videos and
promotion.
Yes, we do that every year. We have a
Sheehy 4,000 Sales Event where we donate
a portion of each sale to Race for the Cure.
We have donated over $500,000 to Race for
theCuresincewestarted.Thisyearourgoalis
$80,000to$100,000.We’vebeendoingitfor
years for the community. Everyone wins.We
have great deals on vehicles and we sell a lot
ofcarsandraisemoneyforRacefortheCure.
In your opinion, what are the most impor-
tant things for stores to be focused on
today?
I think to keep it real simple is important.
Technologyhasenhancedtheprocessbutwe
still need to do the basics.
But really, it goes back to a lot of common
sensethings,andbacktohowweinteractwith
the customers. It comes down to answering
the customers’ questions and respecting the
people on the other end of the computer or
the phone.They have questions they need to
have answered, we answer them.
Technology enables us to show the vehicle
faster,andprovidethecustomerwithabetter
view of what the vehicle looks like, and its
condition.Thisenablesthemtomakeadeci-
sion better and faster.
We’ve gotten better about the people we
hire. We definitely look for people who have
some Internet type savvy. They know how
to do things online and how to work on a
computer. That has also spread to many of
our showroom sales staff.
A lot of people say you have to look for
people with experience. I don’t specifically
look for people with car sales experience.
We have to have people that are not afraid
of technology or learning new skills. I
look at our staff today and they are very
equipped to conduct business in an Internet
environment.

What kind of turnover do you have in the
Internet department?
We have very little. The little we do have
comes from promoting people within. We
just had two Internet managers promoted –
one to finance manager and one to used car
manager. It happens often. I’m happy to see
ourpeoplemoveup.Itispartofdevelopment
and it’s good for the group as a whole.
Where do you find people?
Thebestsourcetofindpeopleisinternally.
That is where we want to start.We believe in
developing our staff. We have taken several
peoplefromourdetailshopandourinventory
management staff.
We do post on Craig’s List as well and
CareerBuilder.
How do your Internet sales compare with
the group’s overall sales?
Itusedto10%ofoverallsales.Thenitwent
to 15% to 20%. Now Internet sales are 38%
to 40% of our total sales.
Year to date, we are at exactly 38%. We’ve
sold 6,084 units and the Internet sold 2,297.
How is the interaction between you and
the general managers today? Many stores
still say that is a problem.
I am very proud of our general managers,
everysingleoneofthem.Theyseethebigpic-
ture.They understand how Internet budgets
line up. And they do a great job staying on
top of new technology.
Ialsohavetosaythesameaboutourpresi-
dent. Vince started this thing back in 2002
and was way ahead of the curve. He under-
stood the Internet was going to transform
the business and he gave us the tools and
resources to succeed.
What do you consider to be important to
your management success?
I spend most of my time in the stores.
Almost 75% of my time is spent in stores,
notacorporateoffice.Ibelievethisisacritical
element for a director to continue to educate
everyone on an almost daily basis on all that
is Internet. Not just the Internet managers
but the sales managers and GMs.
How do your grosses compare to when we
last talked to you in 2006?
They probably are a little bit less than they
used to be. And that’s probably been driven
by the fact the competition has gotten better
and manufacturer programs are changing.
Are you involved in driving business to
your service department using the web?
It has never been a major part of our busi-
ness,butwearegettingmoreinvolvedwithit.
Wearedoingmorewithserviceappointments
and parts availability online.
It is interesting to see how you have
changed.
I went back and read the article last night
from 2006 and there are some changes. But
then the process hasn’t changed a bit. Some
“experts” criticize dealers who are employing
thesameprocessesastheydidyearsago.That
amusesmebecausethat’snotourexperience.I
haven’tseenorwitnessedabetterprocessthan
whatwe’vebeendoing.Ourpeoplebelievein
theprocessbecausetheyaresellingmorecars.
Untilitdoesn’tworkanymore,we’regoingto
keep using our process.
rreutter@dealer-communications.com
Mobile xrm eCsiservice drive
control
manager
auto trade Social CRM
Internet lead
manager
Smart
Response
Real-time
integration
Showroom
control
manager
CallTrak
Automated
targeted
marketing
Web SitesRevenue finder enterprise
reporting
Dealer dialer
iCRM auto alertsonline Service
Scheduler
Auto desk unsold
research
5005 West 34th Street,Suite 200 | Houston,TX 77092 | www.CARRESEARCHXRM.com
For more information about XRM, call 888.583.0956
or send an e-mail to kkubicki@car-research.com
Hands down the best CRM tool we have ever used, bar
none. The vendors we used in the past don’t come close.
Shahin Salehoun (GSM), Fred Haas Toyota World
XRM...Exceeding Dealership CRM

Can your CRM be your ILM?
I
recently moderated a roundtable of
Internet and BDC managers at the 8th
Digital Dealer Conference in Orlando,
Floridaandoneoftheobjectivesoftheattend-
ees was to find a good ILM, DRM, ERP and
CRM software.
Formanyofus“oldtimers”outthere–some
of these acronyms puzzle us. ILM stands for
Internet Lead Management software. DRM
is Digital Response Management, and ERP
(Enterprise Resource Planning) is another
name for a DMS.
Some of the providers of combined CRM/
ILMsoftwareexhibitingattheconferencewere
AVV Web Control, Izmocars, AutoRaptor,
CAR-ResearchXRM,DealerUps,andiMagi-
cLab. Most feel that they are not only ILM
providersbutalsoaCRMsolutionfordealers.
So the question I asked my dealer friend
Tommy (who was shopping for an ILM,)
“What is the difference between CRM and
ILM?”Hegavemeasimpleexplanation(thank
you,Tommy,) “ILM is normally missing ser-
vice department information like last service
dateandfutureserviceappointments.”Ifound
that it is also a lot less money; he was looking
seriously at a product that would do all his
ILM objectives for only $200 a month for
both dealerships. Try getting CRM for that
price! But what if he needs CRM too for data
mining his service customers? Will he end up
withanotherdatabasetomaintainandanother
monthly payment?
Accordingtooneofmyroundtablepartici-
pants,CorbinWade,thee-commercedirector
for Wade Auto Centers, “Less is more when
it comes to software programs. The less you
have to manage and keep updated the more
time you have to focus on your main goal —
selling cars.” But he added, “CRM tools are
a must in our group. They offer a way for us
as dealers to manage, retain, interact, and win
customers every day.”
Autobase claims to be a “true CRM” prod-
uct. Steve Lausch, the marketing manager at
Autobase says, “Rather than simply having a
CRM component to manage its leads, a true
ILM functions as part of the dealer’s overall
CRM strategy. It naturally lives within and
flowsfromastrongCRMsolution,delivering
the many benefits of a single marketing data-
baseforeverycustomerwhohasevertouched
the dealership. We’ve seen it too many times:
CRMcan’tbesuccessfullytackedontoILM.”
Stan Thomas of DealerUps expanded on
this,saying,“ILM isatoolofjustonedepart-
mentthathandlesinternetleadswhereasCRM
encompasses a whole multitude of dealership
departments and processes, from Internet,
sales floor, phone ups, BDC/CRC, FI, and
Service. CRM takes all singular departments,
likeILMandbringsthemtogetherasagroup.
CRMhastheabilitytocrossreferencethecus-
tomers or clients from department to depart-
ment and store all data in one location.”
The answer to the question of whether or
not your CRM can also be your ILM is to
defineILMforyourdealership.Ifyou’relook-
ing for CRM of your leads, then most CRM
tools and even my DealerStar DMS handles
that. Just enter the leads into your leads/pros-
pectdatabasewithasourceof“Internet”orby
thetypeofleadprovider,suchas,“AutobyTel.”
Youcanthentrackthemlikeanyotherleadto
obtain closing ratios, gross profit by provider,
appointment tracking, etc.
If you want more DRM features like auto-
matic responses, price quotes, instant notifi-
cations, respond time analysis – then you’ll
need more than what most CRM or DMS
providers have.
After looking at SmartQuotes from one of
theexhibitors,Responselogix,Ihadtowonder
if you’d still need an Internet department, but
theyfeelyoucanreduceInternetsalesmanager
turnover by freeing time for more sales calls.
WithSmartQuotes,yousetuphowyouwant
to send a quote to a customer and it does it
allforyou—24/7.Theyworkwithabout30
CRM companies and two members of my
roundtable use it – mostly because of how
great the follow-up works.
If you’re like my roundtable members and
tryingtodefineCRM,ILM,andDRM–then
maybe it is time to make a wish list and then
the next time you’re shopping, see if one of
the great exhibitors at the 9th Digital Dealer
Conference in Las Vegas October 12-14 can
provide most everything on your list.
SandiJeromeisaformercontroller,CFO,system
administrator, FI, assistant GM, and fixed
operationsmanagerwithover20yearsexperience
in the automotive industry. She is the owner of
Sandi Jerome Computer Consulting.
the“Technology”forumore-mailherat
sjerome@Dealer-communications.com.
IGITAL Dealer TECHNOLOGY TRENDSD
Sandi Jerome
Advertiser..............................pg #
ActivEngage...............................23
AutoSoft.....................................11
AutoUSA....................................24
BZ Results.....................................3
Car Research..............................19
Dealer.com...................................5
DealerPeak (Widestorm)..........13
Homenet......................................9
IMN Loyalty Driver....................15
NADA Used Car Guide................7

An e-Marketing Update
Advertising
Jim Boldebook
I
t’s hard to believe that virtually no one
understood the concept of e-marketing
just 15 years ago. In 2010 the digital
transformationofeveryaspectofadvertising,
marketingandcommunicationismind-bog-
gling.IaskedCBC’se-marketingexpertGreg
Johnsonforacurrentoverviewof‘advertising
in the e-lane’ and for his thoughts on the
future growth of digital marketing.
Dealermagazine:Greg,whatpercentageof
total advertising budget are most dealers
spending on e-marketing this year?
There are some dealers in smaller markets
spending very little on e-media, but I would
say most of the dealers we work with are
spending anywhere from 20% to 30% of
their total budget on e-related advertising.
Dealer magazine:That’s more than double
of what was being spent just five years ago.
The growth has been exponential, and
we see it continuing to take a larger share of
budgetsinthecomingdecade.Dealersmight
be spending as much as 40-50% of their
budgetsbytheendofthisdecade.Nowkeep
in mind that I’m including total e-spends
including web site development, mainte-
nance, e-mail marketing, SEO, SEM, and
social networking.
Dealer magazine: Where did this budget
come from?
Most of the spend has come directly from
print.Priorto1975,almost60%ofdealerad
budgets went to print. In the ‘80s, through
the mid-nineties, almost half of the print
budgets slid into broadcast. Then, begin-
ning in the late ‘90s, dealers gradually shift
dollars from other categories into digital.
Today, digital marketing has replaced most
of traditional print such as newspaper ads,
yellow pages and the like.
Dealer magazine: Where is the e-money
being spent?
There are six basic sub-categories: web
site development and maintenance, digital
advertisingsuchasbanneradsandthird-party
referralwebsites,searchengineoptimization,
searchenginemarketing,e-mailandtextmar-
keting, social marketing such as Facebook,
MySpace and Twitter. Another developing
sub-category is mobile-marketing.The lion’s
share of dealer digital spends is apportioned
to web site development and SEO, but of
course it varies greatly depending on the
geographic location and size of the market.
Dealer magazine: I know it’s hard to
believe, but there are still quite a few deal-
ers out there who have not gotten aboard
the e-train. Where do you jump on?
My first recommendation would be to
get a good understanding of the investment
necessary, the potential benefits and the
importance of merging e-efforts with tra-
ditional advertising. I know Dealer/Digital
Dealer magazine puts on the Digital Dealer
Conferencetwiceayear.It’sagreatforumfor
attending workshops and meeting up with
some of the top consultants and experts in
the Internet world, specifically engaged in
the automobile business.
Dealer magazine: Assuming a dealer is
considering changing web site companies,
what tips would you pass along?
Greg: First of all, make sure you go with a
websitedevelopmentcompanywhospecial-
izes in the automobile business. There are
a number of great companies out there. A
general web site developer will not have the
tools and experience necessary to compete
in the current state-of-the-art automotive
Internet field.
I would talk with at least three different
companies before making a decision. Ask
dealer friends for their opinions including
those in your 20 group. Some of the things
you want to discuss are:
• How your web site will merge with your
existing computer system, so that consumer
searches will bring up pages of inventory on
your site, as opposed to a third party site.
• Easy-to-use self-administration areas
on your web site that will allow authorized
personnel at the dealership to upload and
updatevehiclespecialswithoutgoingthrough
the web site company.
• Robust SEO that will be built into the
website to insure the highest possible level of
recall in consumer searches.
•The ease in navigation. Less is definitely
more when it comes to navigation by e-chal-
lenged consumers. You want to make your
siteeasyenoughforabeginnertoaccessbasic
information.
Dealer magazine: What are some of the
basic elements every web site should have?
What I call basic ‘phonebook’ info. You
should consider incorporating your address
and phone number with your logo so people
don’t have to click on drop-down boxes just
to get basic contact info. Remember, many
people are using searches on the Internet
in place of traditional phonebooks. Make
it easy.
If you’re featuring vehicle specials, you
should have at least a thumbnail picture
of the vehicle (with click to enlarge and
details) along with either a price offer or an
invitation to get an instant price quote or
Internet quote.
Dealer magazine:What does it cost to get
a well-designed web site these days?
Most of the automotive web site compa-
nies have moved away from charging large
development fees up-front in favor of amor-
tizing costs over a longer contract.Typically,
youcanpayanywherefrom$1,000amonth
to $5,000 a month, depending on the com-
plexity, which includes a reasonable amount
of maintenance.
Most web site companies also offer SEM
programs,whichcanoftenbepackagedwith
the site fees. Of course that is an entirely dif-
ferent category of expense based on market
size, keywords and bidding aggressiveness
for those words.
Dealer magazine: What about web site
videos?
continued to P-22

Greg:Videosonyourwebsitearethefast-
est growing aspect of site development. It’s
easytodoanditaddsaverydynamicdimen-
sion to the site. You can use videos for basic
dealershipinformation,service,andofcourse
vehicle specials. I would just caution you to
makesureyourvideoqualityisdecent.Abad
imagehasanegativeeffectonanybrand.You
may consider working with a professional
video editor to take video shot by someone
inthedealership,andtheneditingittomake
it look a little more professional.
Dealermagazine:Whataboutsocialmedia
sites such as Facebook?
First of all, don’t jump into this unless you
really understand the technology.While you
maybeexcitedaboutthepotentialofadding
1,000 ‘fans’ to a Facebook site, you may not
be physically prepared for the monitoring of
all the activity that can occur very quickly
on a site. You have to have thick skin and
understandthatnoteveryoneisalwaysgoing
togiveyouincrediblyglowingreviews.You’ll
get the ‘warts and all’ with open authoring
on a social site. Think and plan before you
jump into it.
Dealer magazine: Any closing thoughts?
One of things you need to consider in
development of a web site is ‘optimization
for mobile applications.’ This is growing by
leapsandbounds.Mosttraditionalsitesdon’t
work well on iPhones and mobile devices.
As time goes on, this type of optimization
will be pretty much academic, but it is not
there yet.This is especially true if you have a
home-grown site that has not been updated
in awhile.
If you’d like a free copy of Greg Johnson’s
latest White Paper: “10 Ways to Maximize
Marketing E-ffectiveness” send me an e-mail
with ‘10 Ways’ in the subject line and I’ll be
happy to send along.
JimBoldebookispresidentofCreativeBroadcast
Concepts (CBC), an advertising/marketing
agency working with some of America’s most
successful dealerships.
other dealers, or with the author,
please go to the “Discussion Forums”
at www.Dealer-communications.com
and enter the “Advertising” forum or
e-mail him at jboldebook@Dealer-
communications.com.
Advertising, Boldebook, continued from
P-21
www.DigitalDealerConference.com
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