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.

A Winter Focus

In the past, the change of seasons and the move into winter saw a dramatic change in shopping behaviour.  Nowadays this change is less pronounced, as potential customers are doing more and more shopping from the couch without braving the weather.  What this winter will see however is the growing trend in what has been coined as ‘the second screen’.  This trend has huge benefits for the industry and now is a good time to review if you are ready and optimised to take advantage of this to maximise those winter sales.

So what is the second screen? Over the years we have all been bored to death with TV and have generally understood that keeping up with a Shortland Street storyline only requires 1% of a person’s mental capacity.  Now most people are using the other 99% to surf the web with only one ear and eye on the TV.  In our house it’s Facebook, Pinterest and Trade Me for her and watching the daily tech news on You Tube for me.  Laptops and the widespread adoption of personal home based WIFI networks started this trend and now with cheap tablets and smartphones which require no time to boot or connect to the internet this trend has accelerated.  People also prefer using tablets (like an iPad) because booting a laptop up makes you feel like you are still at work.

Taking advantage of this captive audience should be no harder that reviewing your current online strategy and ensuring that it is sharp and focused.  The questions to ask are these: 

• Am I maximising my current spend and how is it split?
• Is my spend giving me the maximum online exposure to potential customers?

The split of this spend is very important and depends on your overall business strategy and brand value.  If you are a highly branded business with high brand awareness, you can justify a larger spend on Search Engine Marketing (SEM).  This is rather a huge topic, but at the core, if you do gain a position on the first page of a search, there still needs to be a drive for the person to click on your website link, and generally this is the power of your brand over the others listed.  For example, I could spend a fortune on Google AdWords and SEM to become listed on the first search page on Google for banks, however due to the fact that David’s Bank has no brand recognition, few people will click on my link.  SEM can be very effective if done right and the correct search terms selected but it does put you up against the big boys in the industry with generally a little more resource.

Next is the spend in open online market places like Trade Me.  These sites are highly competitive and to a point can be manipulated in a very similar way as SEM works on the wider web.  Like SEM, it is no secret that the more you pay the more you get; the main difference is that you are leveraging the value and appeal in the vehicle along the positives that purchasing from your dealership brings.  You do not need to have high brand recognition to be successful.  I am not saying that having a successful brand on places like Trade Me is not an advantage - it is, but as a second step when it is more relevant to the buyer.  As I have just got off the phone to Richard, I will use his company as an example:  I have found a list of Toyota Vitz’s I like, one is with Richard Howell Motors.  A while back I lived in Taradale and Richard is well known and respected within the local community; now at this point his brand is really starting to work its magic.  In this case also, a little more has been spent on the listings within Trade Me to also make it standout.

If you are not sick to death about hearing about the importance of mobile and mobile web sites, you will be by the end of this year.  Last year was the year of the mobile, this year is the year it really matters for business.  Not only should you have a smartphone now for handling enquiries at 10pm on a Saturday night, I hate to say it, but you have to have a mobile web site for your business.  Many articles have been written quoting mobile usage statistics, but don’t waste your time reading them - it’s here now.

Finally ensure that you do keep your online presence updated with any marketing or sales initiatives you have planned during winter and take advantage of that second screen your prospects are holding during Shortland St!

How to write a good listing

You may be the best salesperson on the yard and be able to talk about a vehicle until the cows come home – but many salespeople struggle when putting pen to paper. Here is a checklist to help you construct an effective online listing.

Use your VMS to list the basics:

1.       Stock number

2.       Rego

3.       Make

4.       Model

5.       Year

6.       Price

7.       Transmission

8.       Mileage

Features:

Most VMS systems give you tick boxes to list features, so do load these up. However, leaving your listing at this point and adding nothing more will create a listing with nothing on it except for a list of features - most of which are stock standard - which will not entice viewers to contact you. An example of a scant listing with little information is below.

A buyer usually has a mental checklist in mind when they are looking for a car. Make a list of the things about the car you would tell a buyer on the yard, e.g.:

·         Reiterate the transmission – Auto/Manual

·         Reiterate the Colour

·         Leather seats

·         Low kilometres model

·         Economical

·         Reliable

·         Clean interior

Also tell the viewers what they should or might like to know about the car, and why they should buy it:

·         Has this car been AA appraised AA odometer verified

·         Has this car been serviced?

·         Are the on road costs included?

·         Is this car on special or reduced?

·         Does this car come with any extras?

·         How does it drive?

·         How is the exterior – any scratches, marks?

·         How many owners has it had?

·         Do you accept Trade Ins?

·         Do you offer finance options?

·         Do you help with freight if out of town?

Take these key words and points to construct a written description about the car. The key words you put into your description, as they will get picked up in Trade Me search results.

Also:

·    Load at least 5 photographs, front, back and interior/close ups

·    Don’t use capitals – IT LOOKS LIKE YOU ARE SHOUTING, is hard to read and puts people off

·    Balance information about your yard with information about the car – don’t fall into the trap of cramming your description with text all about your yard only

·    Avoid  abbreviations or industry terms that viewers may not understand to describe the car

If you do need more help, please remember your Account Manager is here to help. Email us here.

I’m Going the Distance – Are You?

How far would you go for the perfect vehicle? How far would you go to get the exact features you want in a vehicle? How far would you go to ensure you were getting the best possible value for money?

It seems that now more than ever we are no longer happy to settle for the closest and most convenient option. Now buyers will not compromise on personal preference when it comes to considering purchasing a car such as a cosmetic preference like the colour, or for others it might be something they feel more strongly about like engine size or a licensing restriction like transmission for example. 

Like many others nowadays, personally I do not have a land line phone, just my mobile. When I was looking to buy a car recently, I was not about to call 50 separate numbers to ask each seller a simple question about the car. In my opinion, this information should have already been written in the listing. I view the internet as basically a digital salesman. I would be highly disappointed and would probably leave without further question if I was viewing a car and simply told it was “petrol” and nothing more after enquiring about its features, so why should online be any different.  If I click into a listing and there is not enough information, I simply click out and into the next listing.  I do this without hesitation and never spare a thought for that vehicle again, even though it could have been the car of my dreams without me even knowing.

My most recent vehicle purchase was in November last year. I purchased my car from Waipukarau, which was a 5 hour journey each way, because this vehicle matched my criteria exactly. The fact that it was in the Hawke’s Bay didn’t bother me at all - it simply meant another beautiful part of New Zealand for me to explore - bonus! By the time I got to the stage of contacting the seller I had already made up my mind, I had done a ton of searching and short listing on Trade Me Motors to find exactly what I wanted. The location of the vehicle was one of the last things I looked at as that was a mere technicality as far as I was concerned. I didn’t need to contact the seller at all before I was ready to buy because the listing displayed a lot of good photos of the car including the interior, exterior and engine bay. Furthermore the comments told me everything I wanted and needed to know about the car, right down to the tyre tread and service history, which for me personally is a really important piece of information when buying a used car. This got me thinking - how many other people will happily go the distance to get the best vehicle to suit their needs? Was I road trip obsessed or was this now just the norm in the New Zealand market?

I am happy to say that it is the latter and I am far from alone. With a wide selection of all the vehicles (new and used) for sale in New Zealand at the touch of a button, it is now easier than ever to pick and choose and get exactly what you want without having to compromise.  The Nielsen Automotive Search Report, 2009 found that a staggering 24% of people will travel 2 hours or more not only to purchase a vehicle but some just to test drive before committing to the purchase.  Just under half of buyers are prepared to travel 1-2 hours to inspect a vehicle for potential purchase

Nielsen Automotive Search Report, 2009

Of course for those customers who do not enjoy long distance driving so much or who simply do not have the time, it is important for dealers to offer transport options to prospective customers, making their car buying experience a piece of cake.

There is a growing trend in people turning to social media and forums to get feedback, advice and opinions from friends, family or even complete strangers when researching vehicles. People are doing this as a way of getting a second opinion about a dealership or vehicle, and to reassure themselves that they are making an informed purchasing decision. Being able to read first hand from many different people who have purchased a vehicle without seeing it and their overall experience from start to finish is great for taking away the worries you may have and build trust. They will research and weed out the cowboys, as consumers are always happy to speak up if they have had a negative experience, or been treated badly. The more secure a customer is about the credentials of a dealer and the vehicle advertised, the more likely they are to travel or go out of town to buy that vehicle.

Dealers are also seeing the positive aspects of social media. They are adding testimonial pages to their websites written personally by their happy customers, creating Twitter accounts to show they are real people and not just a faceless online business, and using Facebook to build communities and encourage repeat business. The comment “the vehicle was exactly as described” reassures you that you are dealing with a trustworthy seller who has nothing to hide.

For dealers, making the most of all of the options available to them online encourages customers to buy.  If customers can find the information they want at the tip of their fingers, they WILL go the distance! 

By Natalie Beckham
Account and Administration Manager 
AutoBase Ltd
natalie@autobase.co.nz

The internet – The gift that keeps on giving

The best present we all received at Christmas was the conservatively estimated 50,000 internet capable devices opened on the 25^th.  In reality this number could be four times more as this count does not include iPad's, iTouch’s or similar devices from other manufacturers.  Within our extended family there were three iTouch's and an internet TV with all connected to Facebook and Trade Me within an hour.  Without one of us spending another cent on our business we all gained a small city of potential customers in one day.   

The truth is that many of these users may already have access to the internet; however this may be through a shared device rather than a personal device.  So does this really matter? From a business perspective it does as it increases the frequency and time online dramatically.  It is hard to say what has driven this evolution and with Apple being such a major player it could be argued that either Steve Jobs identified trends earlier, or that they were so big they set them. We have moved from one shared PC in a household to a number of internet capable personal devices over the last few years; if you add up the number of devices including smart phones in your house you might be surprised.  Both Microsoft and Apple with their cloud applications now allow ubiquitous access to the same content from many devices.

Before returning to the business benefits let me relay two personal experiences.  My son got an iTouch for Christmas but not because I thought he really needed it.  It was more a gift to me to get my phone back which always seemed flat, had the sound turned down so I could never hear it ring and was full of 4GB of games!  On top of this I was sick of being woken during the night with an alert from ‘iGun Pro’ that a new and more potent gun was available for downloading.  The second experience was the introduction of an iPad to the family; once these are setup to access all your internet applications you quickly understand that these are for personal use and not to be treated like a shared device. 

So, let’s come back to the business benefits for our industry.  Business has understood the value of educating potential purchasers at a young age and none have done this better than Vodafone in New Zealand.  Their early introduction of prepay mobile and text messaging gave them a foothold on the market that in time has followed through into business as these consumers have grown up.  Telecom has unsuccessfully tried to launch a number of youth brands over the years.  For us we now have the access required to our products and services within the pockets of most kids walking down the street; the challenge for all of us is to start the interaction that turns them into future customers. This is not as hard as you think, as we know that they all head to Trade Me and Facebook and how to be successful within both these applications is well documented. 

Not to cover old ground around measuring website performance, but it is something we need to fully understand as it is the web for catching our prospects.  Firstly we need to understand the changing behavior of internet users matched with our online offerings.  For me I am more interested in the frequency and the length of the sessions rather than any other measure. The reason for this is based on the fact that in our industry websites are essentially classified sites filled with content.  A healthy website keeps people engaged and returning time and time again.  With the access barrier dropping and the number of devices increasing, frequency must increase.  If you are not seeing this trend you could be wasting effort in attracting new customers.  Why Trade Me is winner for all of us is that the mix of auctions and classified listings keeps the content fresh and ever-changing which drives urgency for users to return in case they may miss something.

Another consideration is the old UB (Unique Browser) which is the number of individual internet browser sessions that have been generated against a website. The debate here is that one user can generate a number of UB’s and there is double counting.  For a classified website like your dealerships this is a moot point; if the same person is driven to keep returning to your website through a different browser or device at a higher frequency, who cares? This is customer engagement and the goal we are all driving towards!  Another thing not to get too worried about is device substitution where a user will swap a lesser device for a better one when it becomes accessible.  An example of this is swapping from surfing the web on your mobile when access to a PC becomes available.  Two changes have reduced this behavior; users would rather stick to a device where their personal data is located, and secondly, most customised services and applications are optimized to the device it is currently being hosted on.

Let’s hope the internet and consumer electronics companies keep on giving for our benefit.

Click HERE for a PDF copy of this article.

QR Tags - What are they all about?

Lately we have had a few enquiries from dealers about QR Tags (or Codes). Namely what are they and should you be using them? You have probably seen these black and white boxes in newspaper ads, on bus shelters and on billboards. QR stands for Quick Response, and anyone with a Smartphone can use QR tags. It is simply a bar code that is read by Smartphones with cameras. (See more about Smartphones here). QR codes were invented by Toyota in 1994 to track vehicles during the manufacturing process, designed to allow the 2 dimensional bar codes to be decoded at quickly. Now anyone with access to the internet can generate a QR code in about 5 seconds.

How do you create a QR tag?

You can easily generate a QR tag using one of many websites. The website will convert a standard URL into a QR code. Once converted, you can download the QR image file and then attach it to your e-mail signature, upload it as a Facebook profile photo, print it or post it elsewhere online. Some QR-conversion sites can also encode maps, text, phone numbers or RSS feeds. QR code-generating sites include Kaywa (below), Qurify and Delivr. I've typed the AutoBase web page into this QR code generator and ticked URL:

I can put this QR code to a brochure and once scanned, it will take the user's smartphone to our website, as below: 

 

How do you get the information from the QR tag?

To read a QR tag, you need to download a QR reader on your Smartphone. These are free to download. Here are a few that popped up when I checked the App Store on my phone.

When you see a QR tag, you can scan it using your phone. The QR code will send you to whatever has been coded, i.e. a website, text, a vcard (Outlook contact business card), a text message, a phone number or other data. Here is a listing I'm looking at on my work computer:

I then my scan the QR code in the bottom right corner using my iPhone, as below. 

Once your smartphone scans the QR tag it uses a wireless network to find the hyperlink destination. This doesn't have to be a website - it could be a create a text message or go straight to a phone number, ready to call. When scanned the code above,  my iPhone took me straight into the vehicle listing page, as below, where I can now save the page to my phone for future reference.

 

Why use QR tags?

QR tags are FAST -  instant gratification. Scanning a QR tag gives you information you need immediately, for example you may be on a PC at work, or your laptop. I have scanned QR codes i have seen as bus stops to get information on the event or product the bus stop sign is advertising.  You can scan a QR code on this listing and that listing web page will appear on your iPhone, ready to save and bookmark on your phone.

Where do I put my QR tags?

QR tags can be displayed on a website page, poster, business card, brochure, signage, Facebook, Twitter. In New York, stickers with QR tags are being distributed to bus stop which Smartphone users scan to get immediate bus timetable and traffic status updates.

You could put a QR tag on a vehicle for sale on your yard that takes viewers to that vehicle's website listing. The options are endless, but the most effective way for dealers to use QR tags would be to drive viewers to their online listings or company websites. See QR tags in action on listings and dealer pages on our website www.autobase.co.nz.

Check out this video for more information and advice on how to use QR codes within your dealership.