5 Ways Car Dealers Can Get More Website Visits and Leads

EPIC FAIL!Specials, Awards, META Descriptions, Page Titles, About Us Page

It’s amazing to me that a lot of car dealers are still not doing basic things on their website that they need to, like loading specials and completing the “About Us” page. Page titles and META tags are not effectively being used to optimize for SEO.

If your dealership doesn’t have these 5 things available on your website for potential customers to see, you’re doing both yourself and them a disservice: Continue reading

Why Many Dealerships Do Not Train Salespeople Anymore – FEAR!

Do Your Managers Train Your Salespeople?

It’s very simple. The #1 reason why people don’t get trained at car dealerships is FEAR!!! Because the dealers are afraid that those people are going to leave once they are properly trained, or ask for more money. Ownership sadly looks at training as “investing in educating their future competition.” Hence, you end up with an uneducated atmosphere with poor morale, where dealerships do not train salespeople. Continue reading

What Happened to Managers Training Salespeople at Car Dealerships?

Did you watch Car Lot Rescue on Spike TV last night? I did – it was both entertaining and inspiring!

Properly Trained Salesperson Handing Over KeysAs one who trains Internet Sales Departments in auto dealerships, it reinforced to me that without a well-trained, motivated sales team who have a positive attitude, it doesn’t matter how much money a car dealership spends on advertising or how good their business development center is at bringing prospects through the door. Continue reading

Craigslist Posting Tips for Car Dealers [Slideshow]

Learn from our latest SlideShare presentation, Craigslist Posting Tips for Car Dealers.

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Recapture Visitors Who Exit Your Dealership Website

by Adam Ross, Managing Director, Infinite Prospects, Inc.

How many unique visitors does your dealership’s website receive each month? 3,000? Site Rebound Popunder Window10,000? 25,000?

The volume of shoppers who leave your website without completing a form, calling, or any other interaction – and then never return – is staggering; sometimes as high as 75%. Continue reading

Which Social Media Posting Tool(s) Do You Use? A Brief Guide

by Adam Ross, Managing Director, Infinite Prospects, Inc.

Managing Social Media for a small business is a daunting task. In order to resonate andiStock_000012171199Large generate business opportunities, you’ve got to keep up with the an ever-growing number of platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr, WordPress or Blogspot Blogs, and more). To succeed on each of these networks requires you to keep up profiles with updated, quality, relevant content being posted consistently. Continue reading

The Importance of Positive Online Reviews To Car Dealers (Video)

by Adam Ross, Managing Director, Infinite Prospects, Inc.

5-Star Reviews Are CrucialHow many positive online reviews from customers does your dealership have on Google Plus Local, DealerRater, Cars.com and other consumer review websites? If the answer is “not many,” “not enough,”or “none,” then you’re significantly increasing your chances of being ruled out by many potential customers and losing them to your competition. Continue reading

Does Your Dealership Log Every Floor “Up”?

Tracking Traffic Is Crucial to Car Dealership Sales Success

by Adam Ross, Managing Director, Infinite Prospects, Inc.

As an expert who has helped hundreds of dealers sell more cars over the past 12 years, I’ve seen plenty of ways dealership sales departments struggle. Some of those struggles are incredibly difficult to remedy, while others, while requiring discipline, are relatively simple to address and fix. This recommendation falls in the latter category.

Not logging every prospect costs the dealership money

Not logging every prospect costs the dealership money

It should be obvious why every prospect who enters the showroom should be logged somewhere… The dealership can then thank them for coming in, follow-up to their visit, and then market to those prospects in the future. Statistics show that people who visit a car dealer without buying are often the best prospects for future sales. I am consistently amazed at how few dealerships have a process in place that enforce floor “up” tracking rules.

Too often, people go to a dealership, spend time with a salesperson, test drive a car, leave without buying – and then never hear from the dealership again. The likelihood of that scenario happening increases EXPONENTIALLY if the prospect information never leaves the salesperson’s possession. When that happens, the dealership is wasting opportunity. Continue reading

Craigslist Posting for Car Dealerships

By Adam Ross, Infinite Prospects, Inc.

Craigslist is an online classified ad website, with ads posted by category and geographic location, and major areas (i.e. New York City, South Florida,  further broken down by sub-areas to help users drill down to the goods and services for sale closest to them.

craigslist NYC Cars & Trucks By Dealer Category

Should a car dealer post used vehicles on craigslist? Why wouldn’t they? There is very little to lose, and plenty to gain. According to Alexa.comCraigslist ranks as the 8th most visited website in the USA. Continue reading

A Car Dealership’s Basic Guide to Posting on Facebook

by Adam Ross, Managing Director at Infinite Prospects

There are almost ONE BILLION registered Facebook users as of 7/22/12. You know that you need to have a presence, so you set up a fan page – but what should you be posting?

When posting as a dealership on Facebook, you SHOULD NOT just be talking about the vehicles, manufacturer and/or the dealership. Facebook is the world’s biggest cocktail party – who wants to talk to people who only talk about themselves? There’s a whole world outside your walls – acknowledge that you’re a part of it!

Keep in mind that the ultimate goal is to show up consistently in peoples’ News Feeds. That’s how the “Rule of 7” in branding can take effect, and the fan can get a feel for the personality of the dealership. Studies are showing that visits by fans to Facebook business fan pages and their custom tabs is declining. However, once someone “Likes” the Fan Page, they then have the potential to see every post of yours in their News Feed without ever visiting the page again. Do not post every car you get into stock to people’s news feeds or they will either block your posts from appearing in their feeds, or just un-like your page entirely – you just lost them. Continue reading