SOCIAL MEDIA, USED CARS AND EMPLOYEE BENEFITS TACKLED AT ANNUAL CONFERENCE
The spectacular Nita Lake Lodge provided the perfect backdrop for the 2013 B.C. Auto Industry Conference in Whistler, B.C. in September.
Organized by the New Car Dealers Association of B.C. (NCDABC), the event featured a mix of social and networking events for dealers and industry suppliers. The conference sessions dealt with everything from employee benefits and health and safety issues to new digital marketing practices for dealers.
Blair Qualey
Blair Qualey, President and CEO of the NCDABC kicked off the event with an update about the association’s projects, and its plans for the year ahead. The biggest news was a new online portal partly owned by the association, www.rides.ca, that was built to help dealers and consumers buy and sell used cars. (You can read a separate story about www.rides.ca here).
As with many dealer conferences across the country, social media and digital marketing were hot topics as dealers grapple with how best to implement these new strategies.
SOCIAL MEDIA OVERVIEW
Social media expert and author Shane Gibson told dealers that it takes time to build up an effective social media community. But it’s worth the wait.
“Social media is an asset you are building up that you own permanently,” says Gibson, author of Sociable! How Social Media is Turning Sales and Marketing Upside-down. “It takes time to build up real community.”
Gibson says it can take as long as 12 to 18 months to build a meaningful community, although dealers often tell him that’s too long for them to wait to see results.
He also said dealers need to be realistic about how hyper-connected and engaged all their potential buyers are. Some are highly-engaged, and others just won’t be inclined to react, retweet, like you or share your content. But it doesn’t mean you aren’t reaching or influencing them.
He says you need to focus on being a differentiator for your community and to produce content to make you a thought leader online. “You have to give people a better reason to connect with you,” says Gibson.
Gibson presented what he calls his new rules of engagement:
1. Stop pitching and start connecting;
2. Doers win in the game of social media;
3. It’s not about you. The 90/10 Rule;
4. Be fearless in your contribution to the community;
5. Don’t be a social spammer, engage;
6. Be authentic;
7. Be consistent; and
8. Leverage through staff and community.
Gibson says today’s consumer is highly mobile, very active — and highly impatient. “There are no more marketing gurus,” says Gibson. “Just staff and customers with megaphones.”
Part of a dealer’s strategy should be to use the Internet to “get off the Internet” and connect with customers face to face, he says. You can learn more about Gibson at: www.socialized.me.
CADA PRESENTS
On the second day of the event, Alex Baum, Chairman of the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association (CADA) briefed dealers about the work the national association is doing on behalf of dealers.
He started by thanking dealers for their generous support in contributing to a flood relief fund for dealership employees in Alberta whose lives were disrupted by the province’s devastating floods. “We love the auto industry,” says Baum.
Baum outlined several projects CADA is working on including how the association went to bat for Suzuki dealers who had their franchises terminated. CADA is also working with the Canada Revenue Agency over tax payments on finance income, and the association has undertaken its own Canadian facilities research study.
Baum says CADA wants to use the study’s findings to engage with manufacturers in a more constructive dialogue about what they can do to help dealers with their costly facility upgrade programs.
The biggest news Baum delivered, though, was the start of a new process that CADA is undertaking to “reinvent the federation” of provincial and national associations.
Because of changes to the dealership landscape, with some groups now operating dealerships across multiple provinces, there is a need to revisit the types and levels of service that members are provided across the country by their national and provincial associations.
Baum says dealer groups in Canada currently sell about 60 per cent of the cars and trucks with single dealership operators accounting for about 40 per cent of sales.
Baum says CADA has created a special national working group to focus on the issue, that includes dealers from across the country including B.C. dealer Christian Chia and NCDABC president Blair Qualey.
“We need to remain relevant in the eyes of our dealer members,” says Baum. “The times they are a changing and it is no longer business as usual.”
Baum says dealers can expect to hear more about this in the months to come.
THE HIRING GAME
Farid Ahmad, President and Founder, of Auto Careers Group Inc. gave dealers tips on how to recruit and retain top sales talent.
Ahmad said that over his career he has interviewed more than 8,000 people and has been involved in placing more than 2,500 hires. From that vantage point, he has seen some interesting patterns emerging.
For starters, he says the old way of recruiting just doesn’t work anymore. Managers need to make time to recruit the best and brightest. “I think sometimes we wing it in an interview,” says Ahmad. “But hiring is a serious issue and needs some serious attention.”
Some of his hiring tips include:
• Write a hiring process — and stick to it!;
• Always be on the lookout for new talent;
• Actively use social networking sites;
• Include your phone number — take the call;
• Send them a package on your organization;
• Same day interviewing;
• Be prepared for your interviews.
FULL ROSTER OF SPEAKERS
Other conference speakers included Paul McGeachie, the Executive Director of the Vancouver International Auto Show, who presented an update about the 2014 event; Catherine Jay, Governance and Plan Management, with the Canadian Automobile Dealers Association, who presented on HR best practices; and Dr. Mark Gelfer, a family physician with the Copeman Health Centre, who presented on health and resiliency in the marketplace; Carlos Gomes, Senior Economist, Industry Research, Scotiabank Economics, Toronto who presented an economic overview, Shaun Raines, Executive Director of DrivingSales University who presented on digital marketing, and Michael Campbell, Senior Business Analyst for BCTV on Global and host of Money Talks.
Mark Cohon, the Commissioner of the Canadian Football League (CFL) presented an entertaining keynote that talked about the importance of football as part of Canada’s social fabric. Cohon also generously volunteered two seats to his private box for the 2014 Grey Cup in B.C. to help raise money for the Special Olympics BC (SOBC), which the province’s auto dealers have been supporting for almost three decades.
Cohon’s gift was just part of the generosity on display that raised more than $25,000 through a variety of auctions for watches, iPads and other assorted donations.
