Intro to twitter for car dealerships – ebook
free ebook
Car Dealerships were asking me on a regular basis “How do I use Twitter?”. I figured the best way was to write a 10 page guide that would be a free download for Car Dealerships. It is in PDF format for easy viewing. Feel free to download it and pass it around to friends and clients.
Free Ebook - Intro To Twitter For Car Dealers Download
FaceBook SuperDealer – The Dealer Geek
Mb Motorsports in New Jersey was featured on The Dealer Geek as a FaceBook Superdealer. This independant used car lot has over 5000 fans and does a weekly video draw.
Check out the full interview: Facebook SuperDealer – MB Motorsports
Thanks fellow Canadians
I thought it would be nice to come up with a short 1 minute tribute to the Canadian dealers that have helped make CarChat 24 possible here in Canada. First time messing around with Windows Movie Maker.
Selling is Communication
“Samson killed a thousand men with the jaw bone of an ass. That many sales are killed every day with the same weapon.” – Anonymous
One simple response from the sales person to the potential buyer is all it takes to lose a sale and waste an opportunity. And in this economy every opportunity has to count! Business has been so good for the past five years that many companies have fell away from the daily commitment to sales effectiveness skills. It is critical that sales people and management get back to the basics of working on basic communication skills in order to not waste opportunities.
A poorly trained (weak salesperson) stammering with poorly thought-out responses is too costly to the company in an economy where the company is dependent upon every sale and opportunities are not as abundant as they used to be. The company must set the stage for a different experience with the sales people setting themselves apart by how they communicate creating a positive experience whereby they sell value not price. Value is quite subjective and much more important than price! When the salesperson spends too much time talking price he will not spend time building value. That is not to say you avoid price but handle it sufficiently and get back to building value! Read more
Facebook Challenge Week #4
I have to be honest, I thought Sam “the sheriff” Williams had given up on our big dream of 1000 Facebook Fans for Ernie Dean Chevrolet. The kid turned this thing into a full on dog fight when he reached out to the local press and started firing off press releases like a Jungle Commando. After a few quite days the momentum started building again. Fans started actually posting on the wall and creating the content without the Sheriff enticing them with surveys and “what would you rather?” type questions.
The Sheriff even reported a customer coming into the service department with a detailing coupon printed right off their fan page (compliments of DealerFire). I still believe that 2011 will be the official year of coupons being cool again. Throwing up a button on the Ernie Dean website that announced the movement saw some immediate results. Read more
Facebook Challenge week #3 (and a bit)
It is Monday November 15th, and I am happy to report that we are at 239 visitors on the Ernie Dean Chevrolet Facebook Fan page. We have came along way from 30, but it’s not looking good to hit 1000 by Jan.1. The dealership has upped the ante by donating $1 to every new fan that joins, to Stevenson Memorial Hospital in Alliston. A press release was launched, along with the Alliston Herald agreeing to help spread the good word.
The biggest addition to this challenge was donated by Dealer Fire, located in Oshkosh Wisconsin. They caught wind of this promo through popular social media channels Facebook and Twitter. Dealer Fire is allowing Ernie Dean Chevrolet test their popular coupon app for Facebook. This nifty little coupon is fully printable and easy to track conversion from a Fan Page.
Sam “the sheriff” will have to rally the troops in order to get over the 300 hump this week. Stay tuned, stay social.
Dealer Fire Facebook Coupon:
Dealer Fire Facebook Coupon
Facebook Challenge Week #2
I have to admit I’m getting a little worried about hitting the 1000 fan goal by Jan.1. Ernie Dean Chevrolet did pull off a big week going from 30 fans to 180. Sam “the sheriff” Williams was rallying the troops pretty hard, but we will need a huge effort from all staff to keep this thing going north. Stay tuned for some possible sponsors jumping in on this an adding some features to pimp out the Ernie Dean Fan page. Check out some tips on how to increase your dealers Facebook Fan Page. See picture below.
How to gain Facebook fans for car dealers
How many times have dealers got caught up in the Facebook rage, and quickly jumped on the fan page bandwagon only to be quickly disappointed. I’ve dived into some research while being part of the Facebook Challenge I am currently running with a Chevrolet dealer.
The easiest way to pick up fans fast is the “Suggest to friends” feature on the fan page. However, as many dealers have realized this can be a tedious process going through the entire friend list and clicking each individual person. Nightclub promoters have mastered this ages ago with getting social influencers to invite their entire list. Who is and “influencer” for your dealership???
Car Dealer Facebook Challenge
Okay, I will be the first to admit that I am no Social Media super freak. I’m hearing on a daily basis from dealers that Facebook is a waste of time and useless. I thought it would be fun to try and reconnect with the dealer that I started my career with, the Chevrolet dealer in little old Alliston, ON population 10,000.
Ernie Dean Chevrolet started today with 35 fans. I am going to work along side Sam “the sheriff” Williams to try and generate 1000 Facebook fans by 2011. I will keep the automotive marketing nation updated on the progress. Today we went from 35 to a whopping 60.
DealerRater your new Ally?
DealerRater Dealer page
Just last month my girlfriend and I made a last minute decision to drive to Manhattan for the weekend. Without months to plan the trip we needed to book a hotel quickly. After spending only one night scouring Hotels.com, Trip Advisor, Travelocity, and another dozen sites, we settled on a destination. The hotel turned out to be great and the user review sites really helped us make the right decision in choosing our crash pad for the 3-day excursion.
Enter the car dealership. When I was on the sales floor I quickly understood that referrals and word of mouth were a big part of our business. Dealers should realize that it is just as important to be aware of what potential customers are reading and writing about their dealership. If you want to do a quick test, try typing “Toronto Toyota” in a Google search and make note of the dealers that appear beside the map (7 pack in geek terms). You will see that beside the phone number, the reviews of these dealerships are showcased. Such powerful reviews are just one click away from your potential customers. Ratings can be posted directly on your Google Place page or extracted from various review sites such as DealerRater. Want to see a dealer that has hit it right out of the Rogers Center on to Front Street? Try typing “Toyota dealer MA”. The last time I checked this dealer, Acton Toyota, it had 1,019 reviews associated with their dealership listing, with the vast majority of reviews coming directly fromDealerRater. Since Google Maps is so visible, it is critical for a dealership to have their page loaded with positive reviews from their customer base.
