PART ONE: CANADA TAKES CENTRE STAGE
Paul Potratz and Jay Radke at the Canadian Breakout session
It’s one of the most highly anticipated events on the auto retailing calendar, so perhaps not surprisingly, even considering that it fell on this year’s Canadian Thanksgiving weekend, a good number of dealers chose to make the trip to the 2013 DrivingSales Executive Summit in Las Vegas, to hear renowned keynote speakers and attend multiple workshops. On Sunday, October 13th, Canadian dealers found themselves with a unique proposition — the fact that DSES put on a fully-fledged Canadian Breakout session from 9.00 am to 2.00 pm.
It began with an introduction by Jay Radke, chief business development officer for cDemo mobile solutions, who provided an overview of the day’s sessions and encouraged attendees to get the most out of the Canadian experience at DSES. Radke’s no-nonsense approach helped set the stage for what proved to be a valuable and comprehensive day.
Robert Karbaum
THE “MADE IN CANADA BDC”
Kicking things off was Robert Karbaum, e-commerce manager for Weins Canada Inc. (formerly Don Valley North Automotive Group). Karbaum, who has grown the group’s e-commerce operation from a one man band in a filing office, to a multi-staff affair with a fully-fledged in-house business development centre in six years, said that in 2013, his department is projected to handle over 15,000 e-leads and earn over $2.5 million gross in sales and service. Karbaum talked about the “Made in Canada” BDC and what dealers need to understand to really make it work.
He said if dealers don’t have a BDC in place they should get one, even if it is just one dedicated person handling all customer communications. He noted that the Internet lead to closing ratio is always higher when dealerships have a dedicated BDC than when the process is handled on the sales floor. “The reason is that customers don’t pre-qualify,” he said. “There is also standardization in the BDC,” he said. “You can set up templates, phone scripts and you know what everybody is saying at all times. When was the last time you checked what your salespeople were sending to their customers via email?”
Karbaum noted that women often make the best BDC reps due to their generally more compassionate nature and that it’s important for dealers to pick people who don’t have any sales experience. He said somebody such as an underwhelmed receptionist would be a good candidate and he stressed the need for dealers to make sure the store has a good CRM system in place to make everything work properly. “You need something to help cultivate your customers and to grow and market to those customers. You have to sell the appointment, not the car.” Karbaum said it’s important to set both individual and group goals for BDC representatives. He noted that it is critical for dealers to set black and white goals. “Work hard, be compassionate and play moderately,” he said, “have a positive environment but also have expected performance levels. Focus on percentages and then everything remains constant.”
Aleksandra Banas
WHY VIDEO IS RAISING STORE PROFILES ONLINE
Aleksandra Banas, digital marketing manager for Lexus of Edmonton, talked about video strategies and how every single car listed on the store’s website features images, video, descriptions and prices.
She said it’s important to say why a car is priced as it is and that having a YouTube channel pop up when customers research on the dealer website has proven effective. Banas added that using Google+ is a big advantage for dealers in that video can link your YouTube channel right to your homepage and raise your profile in Google searches. Salespeople at her store, she said, use virtual brochures (incorporating video) to target customers, especially since a good deal of the store’s clientele live from 200 to up to 1,000 km away from the dealership. She noted that by being the first to add video for the 2014 Lexus IS introduction to Edmonton, the store website achieved top ranking in Google searches. In the 11 months since she took over digital marketing, Banas has seen a growth in traffic from 2,900 views on the website to over 195,000.
RESPONSIVENESS IS KEY
Brent Wees, partner and client services director at digital marketing agency Glovebox, talked about responsive websites — taking great content and getting a high level of consumer engagement from it by providing an optimal experience across multiple devices. He said that with responsive websites, the HTML code starts wrapping around the device. “It takes the relevant content you’ve chosen and keeps it on the same page, so customers can access it regardless of the device.”
He said that Google likes one domain for your content and by having just one, it improves bounce rates because you’re providing the same content and experience for the user.
Andrew and Doug MacIver
STANDING APART
Brothers Doug and Andrew MacIver, of Ridetime, a used car superstore with two locations in Winnipeg, Man., talked about their own experience and how they’ve been able to successfully compete against big, franchised dealerships in the marketplace.
“We come to three or four conferences a year,” said Doug MacIver and “we go back and implement these changes the next day.” Brother Andrew said that one reason why the MacIvers have been able to implement a lot of new technology successfully is because they grew up with it. “We know how to hashtag, we have smartphones, we know how to use them and leverage that technology.”
At one point, the MacIvers chose to go with a 100 per cent digital approach to their marketing efforts but found that it didn’t deliver the results they expected. Partnering with Potratz Advertising, they chose to get back into some traditional advertising and run distinctive TV spots and radio campaigns, using their personalities and specific themes to stand apart. Andrew MacIver said that in all of their TV spots, the brothers don’t advertise price — “everything is about advertising ourselves, our branding. Only two per cent of people in the market are looking at price.” He said they didn’t want to do what many dealers do — undercut their rivals on price to get people to come in to the store. Instead, their approach has been to boost the visibility of their brand via advertising so that when customers are ready to buy a vehicle they are more likely to visit the McIvers’ stores than rival locations. Currently, Ridetime is rated the used car dealer of choice in Winnipeg.
Al Awadia
HARNESSING THE POWER OF DIGITAL
Al Awadia, automotive account executive for Google Canada, focused on buying behaviour in the Canadian market and gave dealers tips on how to turn online prospects into purchases. Awadia, who worked at General Motors on the CRM side before joining Google, said, “I love working with dealers. And the reason I love working with dealers is because they focus on these three things — looking at the situation, analyzing the situation, making a decision and getting results.”
He said there is no such thing as a digital expert, largely because the pace of technology is moving so fast. He said the industry really is seeing a big emphasis on mobile when it comes to consumers getting their information and he encouraged dealers to appreciate the change happening around them and enjoy it.
He talked about the window of opportunity for dealers to influence shoppers and how it’s decreasing — from over 35 days in 2009 to 28 days in 2013. He also noted that the number of vehicles consumers are considering to buy is actually increasing, while the certainty of them actually purchasing a particular car or truck is decreasing.
He talked about how dealers can learn to harness the power of Google, not only by optimizing searches but also by being “fully accessible” online. He talked about the virtual dealership, using Google Maps and Google+ local to give consumers a virtual tour of the store online and provide them with real information in the local and surrounding areas, showcasing a GM store in B.C. that is doing just that. “Say I was looking for a particular car, like a Corvette. I go onto this dealership’s website and take a virtual tour. I can see they do sell Corvettes, so I’m interested.”
He said this kind of approach is really, really important since 54 per cent of shoppers Google surveyed said they actually visited less than two stores before buying a car.
Dealers and suppliers packed the room at the Canadian Breakout session
Among the attendees were Blair Qualey, president of the New Car Dealers Association of B.C. pictured here on the left with Ron Cassan and Kevin Bent of rides.ca
