This year’s Black Friday chaos and record-breaking Cyber Monday sales created quite the stir around the Potratz lunch table. Sharing pictures of our weekend steals and comparing our shopping lists, my co-workers and I discussed 2013’s hottest items over our cups of soup and sandwiches. Remembering the Tickle Me Elmo craze and iPod madness of holiday’s past, we each pointed out our favorite “must haves,” but were sure to mention that the best gifts were the ones we didn’t even think to ask for. There will always be big-ticket items to market each holiday season, but retailers and dealers need to remember that those forgotten wants will also sell. For dealers, this means promoting service.
It’s important to focus both on sales and service when creating incentives for this upcoming holiday season. You might not find a mother looking to buy three new vehicles for her sons, but she could go home with Oil Change certificates as stocking stuffers. Promoting both vehicle specials and service specials provides gift options for all price-points. This season, take the time to create a menu of services that your dealership would be willing to offer for gift-hungry customers, bonus points go for creativity. Bundle together a fuel injection and throttle service for the ultimate Gas Saver or “Holiday Brake” Special for college students home on break. From snow tire deals to a detailing package, busy holiday shoppers will understand the value of these needed gifts, especially if they are being offered at a discounted rate.
When it comes to planning these specials, be sure to keep your customer’s schedule in mind. For example, the day after Christmas finds many scheduling the “to do” items that they never have time for. Why not offer a free state inspection for those who need to get their vehicles renewed? Doing a little extra work in tailoring your specials will stand out in a sea of flashy “hot item” advertisements and it adds value to your dealership. As we’ve discussed in past blogs, service is what builds customer loyalty. Maybe when that lucky gift recipient brings in her oil change coupon, she realizes she’d like to browse the New Year models or get her tires rotated. Service allows customers to interact directly with your sales team and technicians and opens up opportunities for future sales or services. Like a perfectly knotted bow, those small service specials can create lifelong customers and make the holidays merrier for dealers and customers alike.
SCHENECTADY, NY- On November 22, Paul Potratz, founder and COO of Potratz, and Cory Mosley, Principal of Mosley Automotive Training, will be hosting Closing Ratios: A 20% Increase in 7 Steps. Held at 2:33pm EST, the Friday webinar will showcase all that dealers need to know about closing ratios, the figure that determines how many leads are turned into sales. Every month, dealerships analyze their overall sales as a means to measure their progress. However, if a dealership wants to accurately gauge a sales team’s success and determine a plan to get a higher closing ratio, they must configure a few different numbers. Highlighting the formula needed to calculate a closing ratio as well as the seven steps necessary to increase this ration. The webinar will feature insight from Potratz and Mosley on how dealers can improve their bottom line and determine what part of their sales funnel needs adjusting.
Both Potratz and Mosley boast noteworthy careers in the automotive industry. Paul Potratz is COO of Potratz, the industry leader in automotive advertising and Cory Mosley is the Principal of Mosley Automotive Training, a nationally recognized automotive training and consulting company. Throughout their careers, both men have participated in all aspects of automotive sales and marketing, making them knowledgeable and reputable leaders in the industry. Together, they have crafted this webinar to equip attendees with the tools to improve customer loyalty and draw in additional sales with minimal effort.
For more information on Closing Ratios: A 20% Increase in 7 Steps, click here or to receive more tips from Paul, click here.
The CPO Forum announced that, Paul Potratz, founder and COO of Potratz, headquartered in Schenectady, NY, will be speaking as part of the 2013 Used Car Week Conference when it meets November 11-12 in San Diego, California.
Paul’s topic, “13 Creative Ways To Increase CPO Sales, That No One Told You About…Till Now!” is slated for November 11, 2013, at 2:00 PM. It will teach attendees the best selling message to generate leads and sales, where to spend ad dollars and how to measure the results and reallocate efforts to increase the sales.
Paul is very excited to be a part of the CPO Forum’s 2013 Used Car Week Conference and looks forward to helping dealers learn how to sell more cars. If you have ever thought, “What else could I do to sell just 8 more vehicles that would not cost a lot of money?” then this is the workshop is for you!
For more information on the CPO Forum 2013 Used Car Week Conference, click here. For additional information on Potratz or to receive announcements of future speaking engagements, click here.
On October 24, 2013, Instagram announced that they would become the next social media giant to offer up advertising space on their mobile platform. From the consumer’s perspective, it’s easy to understand the resentment towards the announcement. One of the biggest perks of the platform was that users could actually choose the content they were exposed to. You didn’t have to worry about an overabundance of promoted posts or news stories getting in the way of the information you were truly concerned with information pertaining to our friends and family.
On the business end, however, Instagram’s announcement provides branding opportunities for companies worldwide. According to Instagram’s website, there are currently 150 million active users with over 60% of that population lying outside of the United States. To date, there have been 16 billion photos shared, 1.2 billion daily likes, and an average of 55 million photos shared per day. There is no arguing that Instagram has become one of the most popular social media sites to date, but how will users react when advertisements pop up in their newsfeeds?
Instagram users got their first taste of what can be expected from Instagram advertisements when the platform released its first official ad by Michael Kors. While the ad did receive mixed reviews amongst Instagram’s population, the results were visible within just a few hours. According to Mashable, “as of mid-morning Friday, the ad had more than 65,000 Likes and more than 540 comments,” a statistic which speaks for itself. Over the next few weeks, it will be interesting to see how consumers react to more businesses adopting advertising on Instagram, as well as how businesses incorporate Instagram into their existing digital marketing strategies.
Throughout the automotive marketing industry we have seen potential buyers adjust their shopping trends. Buyers have begun to migrate from traditional desktops to their smartphones and mobile devices. To support this trend, it is crucial to have a mobile strategy in place for all automotive dealers.
Danny Brown of American Express OPEN states that, “ Seventy-two percent of small business owners planned to increase or maintain their mobile ad spend this year, with 65 percent of these increasing their spending by up to 30 percent.” This trend is not just for small businesses. Brown continues, “Google and Facebook have now begun to shift more of their revenues to mobile devices.” Your digital strategy should have a robust digital presence. With competition on AdWords becoming increasingly competitive on mobile devices, you must tailor your campaigns to appeal to mobile searchers. An example of this can be editing your keyword list to include terms more likely searched on mobile devices (short terms & abbreviations.)
Let’s face it: mobile advertising is beginning to sweep the marketing world. Due to its convenience and accessibility, it is now the preferred way to do business. Before you know it, this inevitable change will be here in full swing!
Often I find myself having a recurring conversation with my dealers. The topic? Website Chat. Chat is essential to a dealership if they want to capitalize on all potential leads. Many argue, “It’s a waste of money…it’s a waste of time… and it requires too much attention.” This is where I beg to differ. The average chat provider charges about $250 a month. Even if your dealership only sells three cars in a month directly from chat leads, wouldn’t you say that it’s worth it? As far as managing the chat leads, it’s really not that tasking. Most chat providers allow you to have the leads sent directly to your Droid or iPhone. Let’s be honest, if you work in an automotive dealership, you’re most likely glued to your phone anyway.
Still not sold? Consider the traditional car shopping experience. A consumer visits your brick and mortar store and is immediately greeted by a salesperson to determine their needs and answer any questions they may have- right? So how would you expect a consumer to react if they came to your dealership and there was no one around to assist them? In today’s world, the shopping experience begins online. Your website is a virtual showroom, and live chat serves as your sales person.
With all of the money spent trying to get consumers to your website, what are you doing to engage the prospect once they’ve arrived? Usually they have come looking for information, so give it to them! Over time, shoppers have become increasingly needy and seek instant gratification. Even I want to be able to keep my shopping time to a minimum. I could be shopping for product at 7PM and by 7:15pm, I’m out walking my dog. Although responding to chat leads may take a few minutes, it’s certainly a worthwhile use of time if your goal is to move inventory and appease shoppers.
On October 3rd, 2013, Paul Potratz, founder and COO of Potratz, will be joining Grant Cardone and Mel Robbins in the 10X Your Business Seminar in Orlando, FL. The event is set to gather some of the best in social media, marketing and PR, offering inside knowledge on industry-proven strategies for growing a business.
Grant Cardone has a history of pumping new life into businesses suffering from some of the side effects of economic downturn. His show, “Turnaround King” was responsible for saving companies on the verge of extinction. Syndicated Radio Host, Mel Robbins has made a name for herself as a media and technology expert. Together, the two promise to put together an event that will be guaranteed to increase business and sales for all attendees.
The 10X Your Business Seminar will feature experts from many different business backgrounds. The list includes PR expert for Axia Public Relations and Emmy Award Winner, Jason Mudd, Jack Jackintelle, President and CEO of multi-billion dollar company, Rick Case Automotive Group and best-selling author as well as personal financial expert, Christopher Music.
For more information on 10X Your Business Seminar, click here or to receive information about Paul’s speaking engagements, click here.
By: Jenn Mayer
Previously, Google Places was always on the “SEO checklist” for dealerships and other businesses that were interested in climbing to the top of the search results page. Creating a Google Places page for your business was fairly simple and required little attention afterwards from the business owner.
All that has changed. Google recently announced its new platform for businesses, called Google+ Local. Those businesses with Google Places pages will automatically be merged to the new platform, but the time-frame for this to happen is not certain. Now, your Google presence is not just a vertical listing, but also a social media page. Google+ Local is a necessity for SEO value, but it also enhances your social media presence. However, with this new development, businesses looking to stay ahead of the competition can no longer “set it and forget it” as they could before.
Google+ Local Pages will give businesses a method to communicate with users in much the same way businesses can use Twitter and Facebook, and therefore needs to be maintained in order to keep pace with the competition. The new layout is part of Google’s mission to expand it’s own social platform, Google+. Google+ users will be able to see local businesses on their sidebar, and you must have a Google + account to review a local business. Google hopes that this will prompt people who have previously avoided Google+ to create an account and become more active users.
Google+ Local Pages will be much more visible than its predecessor. Google+ Local Pages will get precedent when a user makes a Google search for a place. So, if you have a Google+ Local Page, you will automatically get an advantage over the competition. In addition to being integrated into search, Google+ Local pages will also appear in Google Maps, the mobile version of Google and as a new tab in the Google+ sidebar. In essence, it’s crucial to build and grow your page as quickly as possible in order to appear at the top of the search results and above your competition.
A new and integral feature of Google+ Local pages is the scoring system. Since Google bought Zagat last year, they have integrated their famous reviews and scoring system into all Google+ Local pages. Because Google+ users can now leave reviews that are seen on your page and affect your score, it is essential that you are constantly monitoring your page and its content.
Another intriguing thing about Google+ Local is that Google has actually scarified a large part of its ad revenue in order to promote these pages. Now, there is only one paid aid showing up on these local searches. Now, the top organic, or unpaid, listings are even more valuable – and completely free!
Your Google+ Local page is now a vital part of both your social media and SEO efforts, and it is indispensable in placing you on the first page of the Google search results. Google uses an extremely complicated algorithm that takes hundreds of factors into account. While you can’t control all these factors, the number one driver of ranking results is a strong presence on Facebook and other social media accounts. Effectively, search is now social. If you want to be successful in search, you have to be successful in social media.
Does this new platform seem like a lot of work? Let us manage your social media presence. Contact us today!
SCHENECTADY, NY- Last month, Potratz, the industry leader in digital automotive marketing located in Downtown Schenectady, releases Version 8 of their website platform. The enhanced platform builds new features such as multiple video integration on “every last page” on top of an already advance user interface, enabling the platform to increase conversions and ease navigability.
In the beginning stages of the platform’s creation, Paul Potratz, COO of Potratz, sought a different approach to its design. He offered, “Think about a new sales member. They don’t feel like they’re making a sale unless they’re talking. That’s what other platforms do.” Instead, Potratz believes in the power of listening to the consumer by tracking their website interactions. “By utilizing mechanisms to lead visitors through the sales funnel, our website is listening; we are listening.”
Among the updates includes website and homepage sliders that utilize video content based on post-click analysis. The Potratz web team has also amped up the already-robust analytics dashboard, which gives clients the ability to view data on all devices including mobile phones, tablets, and desktops. Moreover, the dashboard precisely indicates which specific vehicles have the highest viewer interest. With access to every aspect of a site at one’s fingertips, the updated platform minimizes maintenance time, leads to increased customer satisfaction, and helps boost conversions. By taking the time to “listen,” Potratz aims to provide a unique and engaging web experience for dealers and visitors alike.
Potratz is a full-service automotive advertising agency specializing in digital marketing. The agency was founded in 2003 by Paul Potratz in Schenectady, NY and received a Dealer Satisfaction Award from Driving Sales for Search and Behavioral Marketing every year since the award’s inception. Paul has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, NY Post, and CBS and has been a featured speaker for NADA, Driving Sales, Auto Dealer People, Dealer Elite, and Automotive Digital Marketing. You can see Paul every Tuesday on the Think Tank Tuesday series available on iTunes.
Who went the extra mile for our clients or a fellow team member? Who had a great attitude all week? Who was able to brighten up everyone’s day?
During our weekly staff meetings, each team member votes for the Fish Award winner. The criteria? They display one or more of these four principles:
Play: Have fun! Make our clients feel as though they can have fun while they’re here too.
Make Someone’s Day: When a client stops by, make them your main focus. Is it a day where it’s just the Potratz team at the office? Always find out what you can do to make your coworker’s day easier or to make them smile.
Be There: At some workplaces, people will be there in body but their mind will be elsewhere. ‘Be there’ means there’s no disconnect. You should be completely focused on your work and others around you. Don’t hesitate to help your coworkers maintain a positive attitude too.
Choose Your Attitude: When you wake up in the morning, you choose whether to be nice and friendly, or to be mean and surly for the rest of the day. The right answer, of course, is to ‘choose’ to be nice and friendly every day. That good feeling will spread to others!
