Dealix Dealer Newsletter July 2007 Interview

Technology and Tactics With Online Sales

A Chat With Sean Bradley of Dealer Synergy
Every so often, the Dealix Dealer Newsletter likes to check in with automotive Internet sales consultant Sean Bradley, CEO of Dealer Synergy, to see what’s on his mind. This month, he’s focused on an upcoming event: Synergy Session, a one-day training workshop scheduled for August 22. When we spoke with Sean recently, we asked for a sneak preview of some of the material to be presented.

Dealix Dealer News (DDN): Sean, thanks for the chance to sit down and talk. Is this session you have coming up devoted more to technology or tactics?

Sean Bradley (SB): Attendees will get a healthy dose of both. Anyone who thinks that succeeding with Internet sales is all about technology is wrong. The same goes for anyone who thinks they can succeed with a minimal technology investment. Part of my mission is to show dealers how technology and tactics can be brought together and used to achieve phenomenal results under a sound plan and good management.

DDN: What are some of the newer technologies that you think dealers should be leveraging right now?

SB: One big trend we’ll be discussing at Synergy Session is permission-based email marketing, which you’re probably familiar with, especially now that OnStation is a part of Cobalt. There’s nothing all that new about this, of course. But dealers who want to do this sort of marketing are faced with a number of technological hurdles: de-duping their DMS, doing email and phone appends, and then mining the data for real customer knowledge that can be the foundation for effective email campaigns. But the high close rate for repeat customers, which has been extensively documented, makes it well worth the effort.

DDN: Lately, we’ve been hearing more and more about video. Does that interest you?

SB: Absolutely. There are a lot of dimensions to this, but we like to focus on video search optimization. Most dealers are aware of the need to optimize their websites so they show up where they should in search results. But dealers are just starting to discover the techniques for getting video related to their dealerships to show up in video search results. This is all the more important as dealers find more and more uses for video. Some very tech-savvy dealers are offering video walk-arounds of certain used vehicles, but there are many applications that are much simpler. For example, some dealers are putting customer testimonial videos, locally produced commercials, and funny animations on YouTube, MySpace, and other websites - really creative thinking. Making it possible for customers to find these videos is essential if they’re going to have any benefit.

DDN: For dealers with only a small Internet operation, hearing about some of these issues must make the whole thing a little scary. How do you help a dealer go from 0 to 60 without being overwhelmed with so much unfamiliar stuff?

SB: I like to work backwards from a simple question: “How many cars would you like your Internet department to sell a month?” I try to help dealers see what a reasonable number would be, based on what they’re doing now. Maybe they’re selling 10, but 60 would be reasonable, given the store’s overall volume. And so I show them that they’re going to need 600 leads a month - given an average 10% close rate - and I help them find the right mix of sources for these leads.

Then there’s the question of staffing - how many people do you need, and in what positions to reach your Internet sales goals? And, what kind of organization and process? One issue that often gets forgotten when dealerships lay out their plans is the fact that many leads will carry over to the next month. Maybe half can still be considered active leads. Add that to the volume of new leads you’ll get the following month, and suddenly you’re having to stay on top of more leads than you thought. Part of my job is to make sure my clients put in place a system that can take advantage of this, and not let it get out of hand.

DDN: Your perspective on X number of leads representing Y number of sales really underscores how much money dealers leave on the table when they fail to stay in touch with their older leads.

SB: Definitely. As leads age beyond a certain point, the close rate is going to fall, of course. But the pile of carry-over leads is growing all the time. There’s a lot of money to be made by dealers who have a system for inexpensively working these leads while not neglecting the new ones that come in.

DDN: In closing, can you give our readers some details on the Synergy Session you have coming up?

SB: Sure thing. It’s going to be August 22 in Long Beach, California. We’ll have major speakers from throughout the industry. Presentations will be relatively short, and after each one I’ll lead a break-out session in which we explore specific ways for applying the ideas covered.

You can learn more about the event at www.synergysession.com. The regular cost of this event is $695, but I’d like to extend a discounted rate of $295 to all readers of the Dealix Dealer Newsletter. Just enter this code when you register: DLX822.

DDN: Sean, thanks so much for taking the time to talk with us.

Sean V. Bradley is the CEO of Dealer Synergy, an international training and consulting company offering a full line of products to help dealerships increase their performance by maximizing their resources. He can be reached by email at seanb@dealersynergy.com or on the Web at www.dealersynergy.com