When a shopper walks on to the lot, you and your sales team start working for that potential buyer. But is that buyer working for you once he or she leaves with a new ride?
James Hayes, co-founder of mobile software development company Mobials, says this may not be as far-fetched an idea as it seems.
The key? Referrals.
Dealers are all familiar with trying to capture reviews, and ensuring your Google and Yelp review score is above 4.7, but Hayes contends dealers should be turning their focus more towards capturing referrals from their happy customers.
Hayes says when starting a referral program, one must look at every customer that walks through the door as their own little marketing channel.
Though his company’s solution does provide tools to generate and publish customer reviews, Hayes says Mobials’ representatives focus on the referral side of the business even more.
“We don’t go into a dealer and showcase a one dimensional review service; we showcase our ‘Share&Earn’ referral process, which when executed within the dealership drives sales and service referrals, increases customer retention and builds great online reputation. That is where our focus has pivoted as we have listened to what our dealers have asked for,” Hayes said.
Social Word-Of-Mouth
The rise of social media has also presented a unique opportunity for dealers when it comes to referral programs.
Most dealers are familiar with traditional “word-of-mouth” bird dog programs (referral sales programs), but Hayes says they are often not systemized process within the dealership, do not leverage mobile technologies and they do not capture the power of social media, therefore, dealers may be missing out on big opportunities.
“Most of the time, it is just a program that showcases business cards; for example: ‘Please give a friend my card. If they come in and buy, we’ll pay you $100.’ But it is not a program that captures what we consider to be the most important element of a happy customer. And that is their extended social networks of family and friends,” Hayes said.
To reach this network, Mobials offers its “Share&Earn” program that consists of a training process and proprietary mobile and Web-based platform to allow dealerships to capture traditional word-of-mouth as well as social word-of-mouth from their customers in sales, service and collision.
“The Mobials ‘Share&Earn’ program supplies the dealership the training and tools to execute a referral program for todays connected customer,” says Hayes.
Hayes calls this process “recommendation marketing.”
“Our focus is on asking for referrals. Through that process, you are getting your customer to be your best unpaid marketing sales force,” he said.
First, Capturing the Content
The first key to using referrals to drive traditional and social word-of-mouth, of course, is capturing the content.
“You first have to capture that content, because personalized content from your happy customers drives trust,” Hayes said.
“A lead generated by a referral has a much higher closing rate. They tend to catch people much earlier in the sales process. So by rewarding people for sharing and showcasing their satisfaction online, you’re opening yourself up to a plethora of sales opportunities,” Hayes said.
Think about it like this.
Who would know if you were in the market for a car or if your car is in need of service? Well, probably a friend or family member.
“And if you have enlisted their help through a referral program to drive traffic passively, as well as rewarding for people telling friends to come in, you’re going to be able to generate more leads,” Hayes said.
When creating a referral program, Hayes says it really comes down to how you look at your customer base.
“In the Share&Earn referral program we call this ‘farming your customer,’” he said.
For example, in the process of a close, Hayes suggests you ask if the customer has Facebook or other social media channels — start the conversation.
“You could have someone standing in front of you that has 3,000 Twitter followers in your local market, and you’ll never know because you didn’t ask,” Hayes said.
Many in the industry would agree that the idea of sending out advertisements in the press and in the local newspaper isn’t necessarily always the best way to reach customers anymore as online and social become the primary ways to engage people and provide information.
And Hayes says this is good for dealers, because now they have access to free marketing channels across the Internet. These new channels are their happy customers, and they just need the process within their dealership to engage them.
“If you thought of every customer as a broadcaster to 50, 100, 200, 3,000 people, the question is, are you finding out what kind of broadcaster they are? Are you figuring out if you have given them a great experience they would want to tell their family and friends about? Have you earned their trust and most importantly are you asking them for a referral?” Hayes asked.
The key, he said, is figuring out how “you get those little antennas (customers) that are in your service and sales department every day to work for you.”
Social media: how important is it really? Auto Remarketing Canada chatted with Roger Dunbar, vice president of marketing at TRADER Corp., to get the skinny. You might be surprised at some of his responses, which include contending that social media should not be at the forefront of dealership marketing efforts. Dunbar also offers his top three tips for what dealers should consider when creating a social strategy.
ARC: What top three things do companies need to do more of to maintain a social presence?
RD: Create a consistent stream of content. Keep it fresh. Respond quickly to all comments regarding the business — positive and negative, and without judgment. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube accounts for more than 90 percent of social media content. These are the three platforms to spend time on. They are social media … at least today
ARC: How much attention should dealerships pay to social media in a small-business marketing effort?
RD: I believe that social is not the most important thing small businesses should spend time on. Other marketing efforts are more important. However, at minimum, efforts should be made with respect to reputation management.
ARC: Should all dealerships have a social media policy to present to employees? If so, why?
RD: Yes. Your employees represent your company and should understand the rules when speaking on behalf of the company.
ARC: How can dealerships best use social media to support existing mediums and marketing channels?
RD: Simply ensure that any current marketing, advertising or promotional messages are reflected in these channels (i.e. current). Also, create content with a sense of urgency, a reason for sharing. Social is all about the here and now. If there isn’t something interesting to say, that has no immediacy to it, then social isn’t going to work. Finally, find the “social” angle of the message you are trying to get across and use it … not the corporate, “marketing” message.
ARC: What are the best ways to engage an audience through social media?
RD: Social media platforms are not commercial platforms. Social communication needs to be “social.” Speak to people in the way people speak to each other, i.e. not marketing-speak. The content should not be a “corporate” message. Tone is critical. Make it interesting. Make it fun to share. Make your intended audience the hero.
ARC: How best can dealerships measure the return on their social media investment?
RD: You should measure the impact of all marketing efforts. Establish the objective upfront; decide what the value of the objective is and measure the response. It you think Facebook ‘Likes’ are worth $1 each in terms of building credibility than measure the time and energy in managing your Facebook site against the value you got back. If a YouTube view is worth $5, then measure it.
ARC: What are the top three things dealers should consider when creating a social strategy?
RD:
- What is the objective? What ‘social’ objective are you trying to generate? Social doesn’t work directly so don’t think about it in terms of cars sold. That will come further down the marketing funnel.
- What is the value of each key metric in the platform … a view, a like, a tweet? If you don’t see the value, don’t do it.
- What is the cost of keeping the content fresh, interesting and appropriate? If you can’t afford to do it consistently, don’t bother.
ARC: What damage can be done to a brand if the social media engagement isn’t properly executed? How can this be avoided?
RD: Like all marketing efforts, you can either build brand value or destroy it. This can be avoided by understanding each social platform (e.g. negative news travels faster than good news, so don’t lose your temper), having clear objectives, monitoring the platforms and responding to issues quickly and honestly, and having experienced social media marketers involved.
ARC: What constitutes “good content” on social media?
RD: Anything that is positive, fresh, interesting, and “social” by nature. Think about any relationship and how they work best in real life. Stay positive, upbeat, be interested and interesting.
Auto Remarketing Canada is providing our readers with another way to enjoy the latest news and stories coming out of the Canadian remarketing industry with our brand new website: Autoremarketingcanada.com.
The new website makes it easier and more convenient for our readers to access the latest breaking news.
With the launch of this new website, Auto Remarketing Canada is increasing its commitment to serving our Canadian audiences — both with editorial and with advertising that fits their needs.
“The website will be a great resource for news, information, market analysis and intelligence for the used-car industry in Canada. As our editorial team keeps tabs on the markets and the drivers of the automotive economy, respected contributors will add their knowledge and expertise to the mix of content and information,” said Bill Zadeits, publisher of Auto Remarketing Canada.
“We are excited about this new information portal and will work to incorporate the top companies, executives, dealers and suppliers within the used-car industry to bring them the most important news and relevant information for the used-car industry,” he continued.
First and foremost, this website ensures all the Canada-specific news will be easy to find and provided in one convenient location.
And as our Auto Remarketing Canada Digital Magazine is published bimonthly, the website will make it easier to subscribe to the magazine and e-newsletter.
The website has mobile capabilities, as well, for our readers on-the-go.
It is easy to get to other remarketing news from the Canada page with the global navigation to other Cherokee Automotive Group publications, including Auto Remarketing, SubPrime Auto Finance News and the new Buy-Here, Pay-Here Report.
The new website also allows for new advertising opportunities for interested companies.
A bad customer review can spark fear in the hearts of most any business owner. And dealers have their own set of issues to navigate when trying to secure reviews from happy customers. Mobials Inc., a new mobile software development company which launched this week, aims to turn the tides and help put the control back in the dealer’s hands.
James Hayes and Brad Hanebury, co-founders at Mobials, believe in thinking differently about the problems dealers face with reputation management. They say that the existing online review systems that dealers are forced to work with add little value and in some cases are quite dealer hostile.
They explained to Auto Remarketing Canada this summer that their new offering is designed to “create a innovative reputation management and review eco-system” — one that is inclusive of the consumer, the dealership and the dealership’s publishing partners.
Mobials, which stands for “mobile testimonials,” is a response to what Hayes sees as a series of problems with the current review systems. Hayes contends that traditional review systems are broken and failing dealerships in two fundamental ways.
The first issue that pushed Mobials development is the obstacles dealers face from online single-source review sites, Hayes explained.
“Syndication is key. These (traditional) review sites hold dealers hostage to drive users and reviews to them individually by remarketing dealer brands without the dealerships permission. And because they don’t share reviews, they cause confusion in the market. One of the biggest problems in reputation management for dealers is single-source review services,” Hayes said.
Also, Hayes contends that dealers should be focusing dollars spent on pushing reviews on auto portal sites.
“We believe auto portal sites are where they should be focusing their review services; any site that acts as a car service or purchase influencer. The average car shopper is spending 10 plus hours researching their purchase before the even step foot on the dealer’s lot,” he said.
Hayes asks: “Where does your car shopper research their purchase? Where do you advertise your inventory?”
With customers spending more and more time searching through classified sites, Hayes contends that they need to see something that sets your dealership apart, such as a review, while in the process of comparing similar vehicles.
The second issue that pushed Mobials development was the low review counts from consumers on traditional online review sites; a problem Hayes says can be remedied by introducing a mobile tool in lieu of more traditional review capturing processes.
“The traditional tools that the dealerships are using are dated; they aren’t easy for both the dealership and the consumer to use, and we believe that you need a mobile tool in order to capture more reviews from a broad spectrum of your customer base,” Hayes continued.
Hayes explained Mobials is designed to increase review feedback by making it easy for the dealership to ask for a review and for a consumer to complete and share a review.
“When you go into a dealership, there is a disconnect between asking for a review and asking for word of mouth. If you have a positive brand experience, you ask customers to tell friends and family. But what they don’t have is a tool to make it simple and easy to share the experience they had, whether it be a picture; a picture and a testimonial; or a picture, testimonial and a call to action that can be posted on their social networks,” Hayes said.
In an effort to address these issues, Mobials was created.
How it Works
Very early on in the Mobials development the partners worked with dealers to find out what they were struggling with. What we heard was that they wanted more than just a reputation management tool. They wanted a tool that could deliver real ROI in their sales and service departments, a mobile tool that could drive retention and referrals through solid reputation management.
The team at Mobials has created a easy to use mobile application for capturing reviews that is to be used by sales and service members and is a new communication tool for the dealership.
The application is currently available for Apple products and is soon to be available for Android as well.
In conjunction with the mobile application, the company has developed a web-based software platform for reputation monitoring and response, and review syndication to automotive publishers looking to enhance their site or app by adding dealer reviews with our freely available API access.
Currently, the reviewer has the option of sharing their experience to Facebook. Twitter and Google+ will be added to the application in the coming months.
Hayes explained the Mobials review process is a way to grow referrals and also a means to “create a retention method between sales and service.”
After the review process is done, the reviews are syndicated across all of Mobials publishing partners, which today include: Canadian Black Book, Auto123, Carsgone, AUTOandTRUCK.ca, Leasebusters and CarCost, with other publishing partners soon to be added.
Hayes added that in addition to dealer-initiated reviews; consumers are also able to complete reviews of dealerships independently on the company's partner sites, and these reviews are shared transparently across the entire system.
“If we can get dealers to work together with their publishing partners and drive a new ecosystem of review and reputation management, then I believe we can change the existing dealer hostile review process — but only if we work together as an industry,” he concluded.
For more information see the Mobials website here.
