The View From The Cheap Seats

When you live and breathe the internet and emerging trends each day it is easy to forget that from the outside it can seem ever-changing and confusing.  Sitting in the back row of the recent Autotalk Digital Dealer conference in Auckland and listening to the presenters and feedback from the floor, you can see why sometimes messages can appear to be a bit mixed.  However, when looking at the essence and trends presented, they were all very similar and relativity easy to understand.  Let me step through a couple as I saw them.

The internet and online selling is becoming more and more competitive and as a dealer you need to take two clear basic steps to ensure that you remain successful.

 

Step one is your overall web presence and for most of us this is centred on a company website.  As we all know a website alone means little without customers viewing its content.  To drive the public towards your website there are a number of options; two options which were discussed during the Digital Dealer were:

·         Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) - This allows any search engine like Google to view and understand the content of your website. The better search engines understand your website the more chance you have of being found by customers searching for content, or in most cases, vehicles or company details. Don’t be scared to ask your current website host about SEO and how they have optimised your site. The answer should not sound complicated.

·         Search Engine Marketing (SEM) – This is generally “paid-for” promotion of your website through the use of Google Adwords where your website is listed as an advertisement above or beside the organic/nonpaid search results. To not waste money on SEM you really need to seek expert advice or do a lot of research. The tools available are very good but can take a while to get your head around.

 

Step two is leveraging a market place like Trade Me to drive customers towards your website and ultimately in the door.  Just like the broader internet, Trade Me is highly competitive but there are a number of simple tools and features that can be used to guarantee a strong presence.  To achieve a similar result as SEM gives you on the web, products like Super Features guarantee top of search presence at a fixed priced with a large format.  As per any sales cycle, from this point you need to start closing the options down for the customer. This was presented by AutoPlay in that moving the customer back to your own more controlled website with the offer of additional information or video is advantageous.  By making this a simple link you remain far more in control of the customers experience.

 

Neither of the two steps above can be run in isolation and how you balance your spend across both is a tactical decision for your business and one it would be difficult for me to be seen as unbiased on.  In essence it comes down to calculating the best value for money and if you are an AutoBase customer ask your Account Manager for a full breakdown of your listings statistics to understand what traffic your spend is driving. Your website provider should also be able to similar information.

Is your business 24-7 or 9-5?

What happens if someone contacts your yard after hours? Do you have systems in place to answer and follow up with that lead, be it an email, text message or phone call?

Texting and emailing dealers rather than picking up the phone is more common place these days.  As our GM David discussed in our previous Autofile article, more people spend after hours relaxing watching telly as well as surfing the web at the same time.  There are currently more than five million mobile phones in New Zealand – that’s more than the
entire population!

35% of mobile phones in New Zealand are Smartphones

 

Kiwis are using their Smartphones to surf the net. When researching vehicles if they see something that piques their interest, contact is usually a click of an email, call or text away.  Customers are after instant gratification, and the internet provides this.  

I was chatting to some dealers recently about the trend in people texting them after hours re. vehicles. The general consensus was that short one sentence texts re. a vehicle are possibly from time wasters or tire kickers, and that texting on a weekend evening was a little rude. However, one dealer said he was home watching telly on a Saturday night when he received a text from lady re. a vehicle at 9.30pm. He thought that was a little weird, but decided to reply. Long story short – that lady was on the yard the next morning and bought the vehicle. A quick survey amongst my friends aged approximately 25-35 showed that they would rather email or text a dealer than call because they think that they will be “sold to” on the phone. 

Last year a US study¹ concluded that 88% of adults ages 45 years and younger prefer text message communication over a phone call or email.

Not only is texting non-confrontational but often, people are at work and can’t talk on the phone. Even at weekends you have shift workers and those who work unusual hours surfing the net but unable to pick up the phone and call a dealer.  Given that by the time a person actually makes contact with the dealer they are way down the research process and ready to test drive and buy, these emails, calls and texts are GOLD. Dealers must be open to texters.  Continuing to remain competitive in an age of increasing text-based communication means that dealers need to be accessible, as well as comfortable communicating in this way.

9-5 dealers aren’t only competing with those dealers operating ’24-7’, but also with privates. If a private seller gets a call, email or text about their vehicle for sale at any time of the day, you can bet they will reply immediately and move heaven and earth to arrange a meeting with the prospective buyer. They are motivated to sell and therefore put blood, sweat and tears into their listings and into following up on every single lead.

There is now software available to capture appointments with potential clients that can be lost be not being able to answer calls or emails after-hours, dealers are using online service scheduling software. This means that customers who don’t have to wait on hold to get someone to speak to and can immediately lock in an appointment with the dealer at a time that is available and suits them – job done.  Un-answered calls largely go to voice mail, and the customer hangs up. By offering customers the ability to schedule appointments, this avoids the potential loss of a sale - plus keep the customer happy.

To stay ahead of the game there are a few key tools to ensure that your dealership is operating 24-7:

1.       Make your website mobile

Websites are 24-7.  Stats show that by 2013, 50% of web traffic will come from mobile devices. Mobilising your website will make it easier for customers to search your stock, find the vehicles they like, and contact make contact. 

2.  Have an after-hours contacts available

More and more customers are surfing the net at weekends and after hours and when they call a mobile number, they expect a response. Make sure your website has options where customer can contact you after-hours.

3.  Treat all Leads as valuable - don’t dismiss texts or emails to Facebook or tweets.

It is worth bearing in mind that 75% of adult Internet customers use social media – you may get leads from your company Facebook, Twitter or YouTube accounts. Is someone from your company checking interaction with your social media websites?

4.  Have a good Lead Management  process

It’s fine having an after-hours contact, but make sure that these after-hours enquiries are being checked, and actioned, before the customer gets tired of waiting for a reply and moves on to the competition, be it another yard, or a private seller.  Website visitors need to be converted into qualified leads wherever you can.  

5.  Keep your stock up to date

Update your stock regularly, keeping information fresh.

Stay ahead of the game and embrace the technology that your customers are using. Remember:

 “Once a new technology rolls over you, if you're not part of the steamroller, 

you're part of the road.” 

 (Stewart Band, Creator The Whole Earth Catalog)

1.        Potratz Partners Agency

Choosing a Domain Name for your Website

1. What is a Domain Name?

A domain name acts as a unique address for your website E.g. www.acmecars.co.nz. No two domain names can be the same. Once you've registered your domain name it's yours for as long as you keep paying the yearly renewal fee (usually around $60 per year). Th­e only way it can be taken off you is if you've managed to register a trademark name like www.nike.com.

2. What's the best name to get?

For example, if you’re selling a BMW Compact, you could use words in your Comments box like ‘small, sporty, safe hatchback’. ­This will mean that if someone searches for a ‘safe hatchback’, your listing will have a chance of showing up even though they haven’t specifically requested a BMW.

Using your Business Name (e.g. www.BobsCars.co.nz)

For your average business it's usually best to stick with your business name. Especially if you're going to be advertising your website mainly through offline advertising like building or vehicle signage, business cards, print adverts. ­This will help reinforce your businesses brand and if your customer remembers your business name then they can easily find your website.

Using a Generic Industry Name (e.g. www.usedcars.co.nz)

Another common option is to choose a well known word that explains what the business does. While this can be short and simple, don't be fooled into thinking that people will remember it just because it's obvious, like www.builder.com. Generic names are often forgotten faster because the customer doesn't make a conscious effort to try to remember it.

One benefit of a generic name is that it may help you get placed higher in the search results. For example, the words 'used cars' are pretty much the most common words typed into search engines by people looking to buy a used car. If you have the name www.usedcars.co.nz, you've got a head start at being 1st in the search results.

Note: Th­ere are many more things you need to do to be found by people using Search Engines, but a good domain name definitely helps.

Avoid using Abbreviations

If your business name is too long, avoid using abbreviations. For example if your business is called 'Bob's Quality Plumbing Services', resist the temptation to use www.bqps.co.nz. Just because it's short, doesn't mean people will remember it. You'd be better off using something like www.BobsQualityPlumbing.co.nz, it's not too long, and it uses most of your name.

Avoid Hyphens and Underscores

If your business name (or the name you want) is already taken, avoid using hyphens. For example, if your business is 'Quality Plumbing' and www.qualityplumbing.co.nz is taken, don't get www.quality-plumbing.co.nz.  Nine times out of ten, people will forget to type the hyphen and you'll lose that customer to whoever owns the domain name www.qualityplumbing.co.nz.

One benefit of using a hyphen is if you're trying to do everything possible to get your website found in Search Engines. If you wanted to have the words 'Used Cars' in your domain name, the Search Engines will recognize them better with a hyphen, (E.g. www.used-cars.co.nz) and show your site higher up the list of results. If you're going to do this, always make sure you have the non-hyphenated version too.

3. What Dot?

Should you get .co.nz or .com. All domain names end in dot-something. Most countries have a specific ending, for example New Zealand is .co.nz, and Australia is .com.au. While the .com ending is essentially related to America, it's widely accepted as an international ending that can be used in any country. Basically, if your customers are local or national, go with .co.nz, because it shows that your business is also local (or at least operates locally). If your customers are global, then go with the .com ending as it has a bit more respect in the international marketplace.

Avoid the second-choice endings

For your average business it's always best to get the main domain ending for your country. For example, in New Zealand .co.nz is the main ending used. This is what people will naturally type in if they are trying to remember your domain name. Also available are endings like .net.nz, .org.nz and many others, but if you use these you will lose visitors to the business who owns the .co.nz version.