INNOVATION, BRANDING AND REPUTATION
As the 2013 annual DrivingSales Executive Summit moved into high gear on October 14, attendees got a chance to hear from a variety of keynote speakers, attend breakout sessions and see who was in the running for this year’s Best Idea (dealer) and Innovation Cup (vendor) contests.
Dylan Swift
Dylan Swift, director of National Marketing at Yelp, gave an overview about the firm’s strategy and how dealers can capitalize, not only on the growing trend of mobile usage but also Yelp listings and reviews. According to Swift, 89 per cent of Yelp users in the U.S. make a purchase within a week of visiting the site. As a result, given that Yelp currently boasts 108 million monthly visitors and 40 per cent of the site’s ad impressions come from mobile devices, Swift said it was important for dealers to ensure that a store’s overall marketing strategy includes managing online reputation. He said there should be email notification set up, so that staff can be notified as soon as messages come in, so they are able to thank those who send in positive reviews and work quickly to get in touch with those customers who have had a sub par experience.
He asked dealers not to solicit schemes to generate positive reviews, pointing to Yelp’s consumer alert, which will trigger a warning when multiple reviews surface from the same IP address. He said those that will win when it comes to online reviews are the ones that excel in customer service and are able to grow their brand and reputation via virtual word of mouth.
“Provide excellent service and the reviews will come organically,” Swift remarked.
Dr. Joe Weintraub
LEARN AND INNOVATE
Dr. Joe Weintraub, professor of Management and Organizational Behavior at Babson College in Wellesley, Mass., gave a very interesting presentation in which he focused on innovation. He said that true innovation often requires perseverance, citing brand WD40 (Water Displacement, 40th attempt), as a good example. Weintraub said it can be difficult to innovate when we focus on the wrong people within our businesses. “Rarely do we spend time with those who are capable and can deliver,” he said, citing that many managers typically spend 80 per cent of their time focused on problematic employees.
He said that fostering a culture that acknowledges mistakes and failure and treats it as a learning opportunity is one of the most important predictors when it comes to real innovation. Weintraub noted that in every organization and particularly in high risk environments where a culture of zero defects are the norm, such as space technology, aeronautics and healthcare, hiding mistakes when they occur, instead of owning up to them, will often result in disastrous consequences.
Weintraub talked about how there’s often a disconnect between how senior management view a company’s position when it comes to innovation, versus those in other positions, namely that the former often paints a rosier picture of the situation than is actually the case in reality. He said that creating the right culture starts at the top, citing an example of U.S. Navy Captain Michael Abrashoff and how, via a quieter, more respectful and engaging approach to leadership, was able to transform the crew on the Navy destroyer USS Benfold from one of the worst performing to one of the best.
“Innovative companies use their peripheral vision,” he said. “Choose to create an innovative culture.”
Chris Reed
Chris Reed, chief marketing officer for Cobalt Automotive, talked about focusing digital marketing efforts on the right target. Reed said that with the explosion in mobile usage, there’s a lot of noise on the web. “We have major platform players [such as Google and Microsoft] actually working to limit the amount of information about the traffic we do receive,” he remarked.
Reed noted that today, less than one in five consumers researching online actually submit a lead, and when it comes to shopping for cars, it’s still difficult to gauge if a consumer is making the “connection” with a particular vehicle online as they do in the physical showroom.
He did however state that from Cobalt’s perspective, there’s generally a strong correlation between vehicle description page (VDP) views and actual sales. Reed noted that in most cases (63 per cent in fact), shoppers tend to have a specific brand in mind when they begin searching for a vehicle online. He said that if retailers take a more holistic approach of what shoppers are actually doing across the entire buying process, from initial research through to the final transaction, they will gain far deeper insight and be able to step up their ability to engage with the consumer.
He said that when it comes to retailing automobiles, understanding the journey an individual car’s VIN actually undertakes online, from the moment it enters inventory until it’s finally sold can help dealers better target their advertising to individual consumers, particularly when they express interest in specific vehicles. Reed was also keen to emphasize the personalization aspect in order to be successful. “All VIN views are not alike,” he said. “We see variation with brand, value, distance and the site on which it is located, whether it’s OEM, dealer, or third party.”
Bruce Kimbrell
THE IMPORTANCE OF BRANDING
Bruce Kimbrell, site leader for Disney Institute, West Coast Operations, talked about branding. Specifically, Kimbrell focused on how dealers can ramp up their brand value. “When we think about brand, there are really six stages,” he said, those six stages being unbranded goods, brand as a reference, brand as a personality, brand as an icon, brand as a company and brand as a policy. He noted that in many cases, if a brand has integrity, consumers tend to stick with it.
He cited Disney’s approach to creating “positive experiences,” whether it was re-inventing the concept of a theme park back in the 1950s from a dirty, fairly rundown affair, to a clean, family oriented venue, or transforming the idea of a cruise, from something strictly for newlyweds or retirees to a family oriented activity.
Kimbrell said it was important for dealers to value all consumers, talk about the “lifetime value effect” and appeal to them emotionally. “From a marketing and branding standpoint, when we make the emotional connection, we have got you [the consumer],” he said. Kimbrell showed attendees four different commercials, showcasing the same product (in this case Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Fla.) but aimed at different audiences (families with young children, families with older children, empty nesters and retirees).
Kimbrell said it is important to push the envelope and be consistent with it. He said it was also important to emphasize service, since that is the biggest differentiator when it comes to choosing one company’s product or service over another and to pay attention to every detail in the delivery process. “Every touch point counts,” he remarked.
IN THE CLOUD AND OUT TO SPACE
Cameron Chell, CEO of Podium Ventures, gave a presentation that was literally out of this world. Billing himself as a serial entrepreneur, Chell has founded countless startups and in 1998 created the original cloud-based computing firm, Futurelink. By 2000, he was labeled one of the richest Canadians under 40 but after being caught up in the devastating attacks on the World Trade Center in September 2001, fell on hard times before achieving success again. Today he’s pushing the envelope once again and took time to explain a little about UrthCast, a company which he co-founded that plans to provide live video feed of the earth from space, using cameras hooked to the International Space Station.
“I’m a salesperson,” he said “and for a living, I sell concepts — crazy concepts.” He referred to the fact that back in 1998 the very idea of cloud-based computing was a crazy concept, yet today it’s one we almost take for granted. Chell noted the competitiveness of the car business, how tough it can be and how many dealers still struggle with reputation and lingering stigmas regarding the industry. Chell stressed that at the end of the day, despite how competitive the market might be, people don’t buy a product or service because of technology, or even because salespeople might be good closers, they buy it based on the character of those selling it.
The final keynote speaker was Danny Sullivan, founder and editor-in-chief of Search Engine Land, an online news hub related to search engine marketing and optimization. Recognized as a leading expert in the field of search engines, even by Google and Yahoo, Sullivan talked about social and content strategies for the changing digital landscape.
“We’re searching all the time,” he said, “even when we’re on the move.” Sullivan said that in today’s world people are able to empower or tarnish the reputation of businesses via search and review services offered by Google and Yelp. He said that a big issue with SEO is that businesses often end up being victimized and because reputation management companies are clawing for attention, businesses have to play by ever-changing rules.
Sullivan said that when dealers start talking local, they have a much better chance of actually showing up in local searches and reaching those consumers that are most likely to buy from them. “Be the best business you can and look after your customers,” he said. “Search engines are trying to award good things and they are modelled after what human beings are doing — such as good buzz about a business and its reputation.”
Grant Gooley (right) with Ryan Boyer, general manager at Michael Boyer Chevrolet Cadillac Buick GMC in Pickering, Ont.
Besides the keynote speakers, the breakout sessions (with seven workshops for each of three time slots — 2:30 p.m., 3:20 p.m. and 4:10 p.m. on October 14) were well attended and proved highly informative.
UNDERSTANDING THE SHIFT
One session that drew considerable applause was The Shift: Creating a digital culture within your dealership, in which the energetic Grant Gooley had a receptive audience from the first minute. Gooley, who serves as director of marketing for the Boyer Auto Group in Pickering, Ont. talked about how the shift towards the digital culture is happening right now and how in many cases, salespeople are often reluctant to embrace the change, largely through fear of the unknown.
Gooley talked about buying into the digital culture and empowering dealership staff to do so. He said creating equality, or fairness was critical and that dealers need to create online content in-house, instead of outsourcing it. Gooley said it was the lack of traffic in the showroom that led him to this conclusion and now staff at Boyer post walkaround videos on YouTube and tell the story of each vehicle in the store’s inventory via a blog or social media. He said spiffs, where staff who post digital content about a vehicle receive a bonus when it sells can prove highly effective. “It’s content folks,” he said. “Content creates more visits, which creates more leads, which creates more appointments, which creates more sales.”
The Best Idea contest award this year went to Robert Karbaum of Weins Canada Inc., Markham, Ont.
Other highlights from this year’s event included a sizeable vendor exhibit hall, which was located in the same space as lunch on the second and third days of the conference, a data panel discussion that focused on the issue of data and why it’s important for both dealers and vendors to be transparent and work together on the same level, plus the third annual Digital Media Battle, which provided lively and entertaining point/counterpoint banter on digital topics. In the Best Idea contest, this year’s winner was a Canadian — Robert Karbaum of Weins Canada Inc.(formerly Don Valley North Automotive Group), for his Appointment Boarding Pass, while vendor PureCars took home the Innovation Cup for its SmartAdvertising.
There’s no question that it was an action-packed three days, though the general consensus seemed to be that the 2013 DrivingSales Executive Summit was well worth it, certainly based on the reactions of attendees we talked to from both sides of the border. All we can say is roll on 2014!
