The Mobile State of the Union: How Does the Automotive Industry Compare?

By David Metter

Our industry is synonymous with innovation, better yet – I believe the automotive industry defines both innovation and opportunity. Yet, everything is relative. Coming from a company that serviced the retail, hospitality and travel industries (in addition to automotive), I know firsthand that their mobile marketing is about two to three years ahead of our industry. I also know that dealerships have never been afraid of a little competition.

As the largest subcategory of retail, we need to find a way to get back in the driver’s seat of the mobile disruption. We cannot let other verticals trump our user experiences and outperform our mobile campaigns.

If you are sick and tired of hearing about mobile…get over it right now. According to a recent article from Google, mobile search volumes have officially surpassed desktop searches. Mobile is snowballing at an unprecedented rate, so much so that mobile usage statistics are increasing in almost real-time.

If I could give one theme to mobile marketing it would be immediacy. Google simplifies this in three steps: be there, be useful, and be quick. If you can accomplish these things, you will win the customers you target. There are some scary (and I mean scary) stats out there to help this set in:

·      87% of Millennials have their smartphone at their side (more or less attached to their body) day and night

·      We check our phones 150 times a day

·      We spend 177 minutes on our phones per day

·      Each mobile session averages only 1 minute and 10 seconds, but dozens and dozens of times per day

- Google’s Micro-Moments: Your Guide to Winning the Shift to Mobile

If you think that you’re ahead of the game because you have a totally responsive website, think again. This is only the first step. The second is delivering an ideal experience to your mobile audience, and a responsive site alone does not ensure a seamless, swipe-oriented, visually compelling, easy and fast interaction.

“The main issue with user experience is that on the desktop you can have some complexity, but on a mobile device the interface and experience must be about simplicity,” says Alan Krutsch, Director of Marketing and eCommerce at Apple Autos. “The mobile user must be able to find things quickly and perform functions easily.”

Even older generations report feeling “naked” if they don’t have their phone with them. Dealers should feel equally naked if their mobile strategy is lagging in comparison to other retailers. “Target and Walmart are examples of stores that do really well driving people to their locations with specific offers,” said Ray Green, VP of Enterprise Solutions at Verve Mobile. “Using a mobile ad platform, they are able to target different customers at different times, with different messages, based on those customers’ individual behaviors and locations.”

There are some key trends on the horizon to focus on over the next year to stay relevant across the screens, and in the hands of in-market shoppers. Start implementing mobile strategies that involve beacons, mobile wallets, and big-data generated customer profiles. Click links to learn more about each.

Let’s think back to 2002, when dealers started posting inventory on their websites. Many were outraged and swore to never, ever post their cars, let alone their prices online. Today, that has changed. I am confident that the evolution of mobile will override the eruption of the Internet and more importantly, resisting this trend will be detrimental to your business. Also remember you are not alone. We as an industry can, and will, come together to help each other, as we cannot let retail and travel out-innovate the pioneers of innovation!

10 Outside the Box Ways to Use AutoHook

For Those Who Suffer from Stuck in the Box Syndrome

Offering incentives to your customers is one of the best ways for both parties involved in any business transaction to get something they want. According to Verve Wireless, 85% of consumers say they are willing to visit a local dealership to test-drive a new vehicle if they were to receive an incentive on their smartphone or tablet. Targeted, incentivized promotion offers have also been proven effective in increasing showroom traffic, inventory turnover, and most importantly, dealership revenue throughout multiple departments.

At AutoHook, we push outside of the box thinking. The following are ten ways to use AutoHook’s Suite of Solutions to your benefit that you probably haven’t thought of yet – because unfortunately, you may be suffering from SBS (which of course stands for Stuck in the Box Syndrome).

1. INCENTIVIZE YOUR SERVICE DRIVE. Have a service appointment? Who wouldn’t want to get paid to take a spin in a vehicle that peaks their interest while they wait? There are several ways to utilize AutoHook’s incentive offers in the service department that dealers are just beginning to catch on to. For customers who already have an appointment scheduled, use our Bulk Coupon Generator to push appointments already on the books to test-drive one of your cars instead of sitting around waiting for their vehicle to be serviced.

Dealers can maximize the benefits of offering gift card incentives in the service department by pulling a list of vehicles within a specified mileage range, or a list of vehicles that meet certain criteria to increase your probability of conversion. If you didn’t plan ahead, you can use Issue Coupon Code or Instant Reward to customers sitting in the waiting area that may not have received a pre-generated offer to test-drive a new vehicle.

In addition, dealers can use incentives for customers who schedule service appointments directly on their website, especially for those customers who abandon the online service scheduler process. You can also offer the Issue Coupon Code to encourage customers to schedule their service appointment online, or add a test drive link to your confirmation page and email.

2. AMPLIFY YOUR SERVICE CAMPAIGNS. Another idea is to utilize AutoHook’s solutions to give your service campaigns a needed boost. Dealers can offer incentives to recent buyers who need to come in for their first service appointment. According to Automotive Digest, “The first ser­vice appoint­ment is step one in the reten­tion process that leads to future vehi­cle purchases.” Advertise a generic gift card offer and use Issue Instant Reward or Issue Coupon Code.

If you utilize Urban Science’s SSO (Service Smarts), or MMO (Market Master) contact your AutoHook Customer Service Representative to see how you can execute on that valuable service data. 

3. GET MORE QUALITY TRADE-INS. Your equity mining software can help you target customers with an incentive to get them to trade in their desirable car and purchase or lease a new one from you.

4. BOOST NEW MODEL LAUNCHES. Piggyback on OEM launch campaigns and drive those intenders into your showroom with customized offers.

5. MOVE AGING INVENTORY. Depending on your brand, we know certain models move faster than others. Use AutoHook incentives on the particular details pages of the vehicles in your inventory that need “a little help.” Target and boost any model that may be underperforming.

A few years ago, AutoHook ran a campaign for an OEM that nearly doubled the amount of cars they typically sell within a certain model. Why did that happen? Because we more than doubled the amount of customers that physically walked into the dealership. Don’t underestimate the power of getting someone past the lead form and into your showroom so that your sales team can do their job and get them excited about making that purchase.

6. GET MORE REFERRALS. Use Issue Instant Reward to customers who refer your store to their friends and family. Issue Coupon Code can be leveraged to lock in referrals over the phone in those states that allow referral payments. Check with your state Dealer Association for more information.

Actual Dealer Example:

Central Kia of Lewisville runs a strong referral program and uses our Issue Instant Reward as their fulfillment and measurement tool. We noticed a trend in multiple $25 gift cards being issued to the same people and the dealership had a very high ratio of issued rewards to their other products. After speaking with their Internet Sales Director, AutoHook built a set of special Issue Reward placements that range in value from $25 to $200 and marked each as a Referral Gift.

Central Kia loves having the ability to have the fulfillment process completely handled for them. They can also track the specific placements to see who refers the most people to buy and how much they need to offer to incent the best referrals. Additionally, this will make your accounts payable department very happy, in that they only have to write one single check for all of the output in a given month.  

7. COMMUNITY OUTREACH. The LaFontaine Automotive Group used Issue Instant Reward for a local grassroots program they sponsored. Dealers have the opportunity to get creative with this, especially during the holidays or just to give back to those less fortunate in their community through different programs throughout the year.

8. IMPROVE SOCIAL & DIGITAL ADVERTISING CONVERSIONS. Dealers can use triggered links on custom landing pages and send incentives for generic social advertising. Social also allows for many retargeting opportunities to reactivate and re-engage lost clicks. This tactic will add substantial conversion to your social and digital advertising campaigns. With AutoHook, you can provide your customer with the industry-best attribution; from ad click, to form fill, to showroom visit, to sale.

9. SAY “THANK YOU” FOR A GOOD REVIEW. Issue an Instant Gift Card as the perfect way to say thank you for writing a positive review on behalf of your dealership. You can also use AutoHook as an enticement for customers to leave reviews, testimonials, or feedback of their experience buying or servicing their vehicle at your location. 

On the flip side, you can use the Issue Instant Reward feature to any customer who complained or had a poor experience at your dealership. Not that that would ever happen at your store…but know it’s available for you to have in your back pocket, should that problem ever arise.

10. TIME OF PURCHASE PUSH. Utilize Issue Instant Reward for advertised offer with purchase. Some AutoHook clients have this turned on at the OEM level to boost last minute sales. Dealers have leveraged our incentive platform to help achieve various stair-step programs launched by their manufacturer. Customers will love the added bonus of leaving your store with a new ride and a gift card as a token of your appreciation for their business.

So there you have it. Incentives provide infinite opportunities around the various departments of your dealership and the ROI proof is in our attribution reporting.

Don’t be a victim. If you suffer from SBS please contact your healthcare provider or AutoHook Customer Service Representative before it’s too late.

8 Things Dealers Can Do To Increase Their Show Rates

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When handling Internet leads, the lack of response by customers, the appointments that don’t show and the unrealistic expectations often frustrate internet managers and dealers. Show and closing rates in the low to mid-teens is not uncommon, compared to the total number of leads received.

I thought I would share some best practices from my observations working both in and with dealerships, that can be used to increase the number of customers contacted that actually visit the dealership.

1.    Respond promptly – One of the most common setups in Internet departments is to have Internet sales managers (ISM) also serve in sales positions. A typical pay plan will see an ISM compensated by sales commissions, so that is where there focus will be. Therefore, when a customer comes in for an appointment Internet leads get ignored until the ISM is done with their customer. Which, in the event of a sale, could mean that the leads coming into the CRM are ignored for hours. A quick lead response exponentially increases the chance of contacting and further interesting the customer.

2.    Provide Information – ISMs typically use templates to contact customers once a lead is received, which usually contain information about the dealership and its value proposition, along with an invitation to visit. However, far too often the first e-mail fails to contain the one thing that the customer is expecting – vehicle pricing. It’s important to consider the source of the lead when responding. In most cases, the conversion occurred because the customer was prompted to fill out a form to get the price. If you fail to give the price, customers can perceive your dealership as unhelpful and move on to your competition.

3.    Be agreeable – We all know that some customers tend to have unrealistic expectations when requesting pricing or payment information. It’s not uncommon to find ISMs engaging the customers with reasons NOT to buy. For example, a lead comes in with a customer wanting an unrealistic payment or price. Rather than inviting the customer in to work numbers, the ISM will explain that the requested price or payment isn’t possible. Always remember that sales are a numbers game. With the proper deal structure, a payment can be as low as any customer wants it.

4.    Be consultative – Many times the vehicle that the customer requested pricing for isn’t the one they end up purchasing. Always remember that customers are looking for information and assistance. Failing to provide information puts the salesperson in an adversarial position to the customer. It’s much easier to build rapport and get the customer into the dealership if the customer feels that you are sincerely trying to assist them in finding the right vehicle.

5.    Sell the appointment – When dealing with Internet leads, ISMs will all too often try to sell the car via email or the phone. The key to increasing show rates is to remember that the goal is to get the appointment, NOT to sell the car. Using sales skills and techniques focused on selling the appointment rather than working a deal can help increase appointments set and your show rate.

6.    Go above and beyond – When a customer requests information, always give them more than they asked for. If you are offering vehicle pricing, try including an example payment. If the customer requested information about a new vehicle, include several trim levels in your response. If they are interested in a used vehicle, you may try including some alternate vehicles in your response as well. By providing more information than requested, the customer will understand that you are truly trying to assist them and therefore more likely to choose to do business with you.

7.    Make them feel special/personalize – There’s a reason why many dealers are adopting video in their email responses. If a customer wants information about the condition of a used vehicle, it’s very simple to record a personal walkaround for the customer while mentioning their name. Personalized video responses are valuable for building rapport and help put a face with a name. It’s also much easier than taking 10 pictures of a vehicle and trying to email them to the customer.

8.    Consistent follow up – It’s very easy to understand why ISMs get frustrated trying to contact customers who submitted leads, but are then unresponsive. After days or weeks of emails and phone calls, many salespeople tend to give up on the customer and move on. Keep in mind that chances are the customer is being contacted by other dealers as well. And, those dealers have ISMs who are getting just as frustrated. By not giving up on the customer and continuing to follow up, you could well be the only dealership left doing so. This exponentially increases the chance that the customer responds and ultimately ends up in your showroom.

Regardless of whether your Internet department consists of commission based ISMs, or if it has a full-blown BDC, the right processes, personalized responses and attention paid to detail, rather than simply shooting off boring sterile templates, will show your customers that you are there to help. Consider adopting these techniques into your Internet lead process. I hope that you are able to contact more customers, make more appointments and see more of them show, resulting in more sales.

Volkswagen Dealerships Using HookLogic – Performance and Results

Volkswagen is one of our first OEM partners. We've been increasing the lead-to-show rate for a lot of VW dealers over the last few years. Let's take a look at the performance for our Volkswagen dealers in 2014.

Purchase Analysis Report for Volkswagen dealerships:

24,825 Hooklogic Leads were generated and incentivized for our Volkswagen dealer clients during the months of  6/1/2013 – 5/31/2014

Of the 24,825 incentivized vehicle leads, 7807 walked into a Volkswagen dealership that utilizes HookLogic’s suite of products to test drive a vehicle after engaging with either Wed2Show or Lead2Show. That makes for a 31% Lead-to-Show rate. This is more than twice the national average (17%) Show Rate on internet leads.

Volkswagen Sales Match Data

Of the 24,825 leads that were incentivized and walked into this group of Volkswagen dealers for a test drive, 64% (nearly 6 out of 10) purchased a vehicle.

This group of Chrysler dealers are closing HookLogic incentivized showroom ups at 64% with an overall Internet lead closing ratio of  20%.

Most dealers do a good job at measuring their lead closing ratios and closing the customer once they’re in the showroom. What dealers miss out on measuring is their Lead-to-Show rate. A very important stat.

Loyalty/Defection and Conquest Sales

The Loyalty/Defection rate for our Volkswagen dealer's is 66%. Meaning, of those customers that sent in a lead for a Volkswagen, bought a Volkswagen. Our Volkswagen dealers also have a  64% Conquest Sales Rate.

*A conquest sale occurs when a consumer purchases a Volkswagen vehicle and did not already have a Volkswagen vehicle in their garage. Volkswagen's average conquest sales rate: 41%. 

Whether it’s a lead originating from your dealer’s website, 3rd Party Lead, Online Chat lead or HookLogic Web2Show – By getting more in-market shoppers to Show Up at your Volkswagen dealership, you get more opportunities to make a sale.

If you're a Volkswagen dealer and looking to increase your website leads, internet closing ratio or your lead-to-show rate and overall sales opportunities, Call 855-LEAD-2-SHOW or contact us to learn more.

Ford Dealerships Using HookLogic – Performance and Results

Yesterday we posted our Performance and Purchase Analysis results for all our Kia dealer clients in 2014. Today we are posting the results with our Ford dealer clients. Remember, we partner with IHS / Polk to acquire and validate lead to close performance. IHS/POLK allows us to track lead attribution from lead conception all the way to the sale. Not just a sale at your dealership but a sale all-together.

Purchase Analysis Report for Ford dealerships:

32,155 Hooklogic Leads were generated and incentivized for our Ford dealer clients during the months of  6/1/2013 – 5/31/2014

Of the 32,155 incentivized vehicle leads, 9838 walked into a Ford dealership that utilizes HookLogic’s suite of products to test drive a vehicle after engaging with either Wed2Show or Lead2Show. That makes for a 31% Lead-to-Show rate. This is more than twice the national average (17%) Show Rate on internet leads.

Ford Sales Match Data

Of the 32,155 leads that were incentivized and walked into this group of Ford dealers for a test drive, 68% (nearly 7 out of 10) purchased a vehicle.

This group of Ford dealers are closing HookLogic incentivized showroom ups at 68% with an overall Internet lead closing ratio of 22%.

Most dealers do a good job at measuring their lead closing ratios and closing the customer once they’re in the showroom. What dealers miss out on measuring is their Lead-to-Show rate. A very important stat.

This year we've added 2 new sections to the Performance Infographic: Loyalty/Defection and Conquest Sales.

The Loyalty/Defection rate for our Ford dealers is 71%. Meaning, of those customers that sent in a lead for a Ford, bought a Ford. Our Ford dealers also have a  57% Conquest Sales Rate.

*A conquest sale occurs when a consumer purchases a Ford vehicle and did not already have a Ford vehicle in their garage. Ford's average conquest sales rate: 26%. 

Whether it’s a lead originating from your dealer’s website, 3rd Party Lead, Online Chat lead or HookLogic Web2Show – By getting more in-market shoppers to Show Up at your Ford dealership, you get more opportunities to make a sale.

If you're a Ford dealer and looking to increase your website leads, internet closing ratio or your lead-to-show rate and overall sales opportunities, Call 855-LEAD-2-SHOW or contact us to learn more.

Lead to Show - A Consumer to Dealer Perspective

A customer bought a vehicle, but NOT from the dealer they had intended to buy from.

Find out why...

Receiving a (dealer) customer testimonial is GREAT! Just like the one below from Justin Brun from Acton Toyota.

Justin Brun, E-Commerce Manager for Acton Toyota has been a long time user of HookLogic Autohook's suite of products. Justin was looking for a unique way to incentivize their customers to not only increase their showroom traffic but to help drive and retain customer loyalty within their Service Department. Without giving up the secret sauce, Justin has utilized HookLogic's services to help Acton Toyota accomplish exactly what they set out to do.

A testimonial like this is not only motivating but reconfirms we're doing things right while offering our dealers and partner clients great customer service.

We have proven over and over with our new HookLogic Performance Reporting that Incentivizing the right person at the right time to take action, has massive persuasion and is very effective at getting more in-market buyers into your showroom.

As great as it is to receive a testimonial like Justin's, especially from someone of his expertise, there are times when we (dealers) like to hear or read something from the side of the consumer that's being influenced to take action. It's not every day we're able to read a testimonial like this.

Well, here we go. We stumbled across this testimonial from a customer on a dealer review website (dealerrater.com).

customer testimonial dealerrater

This particular customer, after researching online, had already found a vehicle they were very interested in. From the sound of it, they had mostly made up their mind to purchase this researched vehicle. Instead of the consumer going straight to the dealership that had this researched vehicle, they stopped by another dealership first.

Why? Because during their online vehicle shopping they had visited the Rusty Eck Ford dealership website. And while searching through their online inventory, they were incentivized to visit Rusty Eck Ford for a test drive. That they did.

The result...

"Was just planning on stopping by to take a quick test drive & collect my $25 gift (had already picked out a nice CPO car we wanted to buy at another dealership). But Nick was able to show a car that had just come in on a trade-in that was perfect and almost $1,000 less than the one we had set on..."

Todays market is much different than what it was even just a few years ago. Consumers have OPTIONS! Consumers are NOT as loyal to brands and dealers as they once were.

According to Google's latest report - Digital Drives Auto Shopping, cross-shopping amongst brands and segments is standard behavior and auto-shoppers are doing more research than ever before -  with more than 20 research points on average.

24 Points of Research

Dealers spend a LOT of money trying to cover as many of those 20+ research points as possible, but often do not budget around campaigns and services that increase the actual Show Rate.

If you're already differentiating yourself and using a service to influence more shows into your dealership - then you already know how powerful it is. If you're not - you may want to consider. 

*If you're not - come take a Test Drive of the AutoHook Suite of Products and get a $25 Gift Card

HookLogic vs. The Competition: A Testimonial Like No Other

Leadership vs the competition

They say competition is good.

For many reasons:

1. It helps promote growth. 2. It forces you to be more creative. 3. It promotes taking chances and trying something new. 4. It can force you to become more goal oriented.

The list goes on.

Competition IS good and healthy.

We, Hooklogic/AutoHook, of course have some welcomed competition within the automotive industry. Some may argue that they're not REALLY competition, as they have done nothing more than mimic or try to copy our Industry Leading services and technology.

One particular competitor is quite boisterous and uses several tasteless "tactics" to try and compete.

I digress, and say good for them.

We (the Hook crew) would rather stay focused on our products, technology and customers while building out the ultimate attribution model. This is why we have an extraordinary list of amazing Dealers Clients, Partners, and OEM's (like Volkswagen and Chrysler) that we work with. None of our current competition truly compares to our services and technology, no matter how they package it or what tactics they use to try and compete.

I understand that last sentence could be read as being overly presumptuousness, but I mean it as nothing more than confidence and pride in our people and services. I could go on and on about how great I think our services are, but no one says it better than our dealer clients that have given the competition the opportunity to perform, only to come back. It's a great feeling!

Below is a testimonial from one of our dealer clients...

watersautoland testimonial

Thanks for the amazing testimonial Thad. We look forward to our continuing partnership.

Digital Summit @ Mountain View: Disclosures of an Auto Conference Virgin, Part 1

Smiling Faces @ The Digital Summit, Mountain View

As a woman with years of professional exposure to predominantly ecommerce and retail, the auto industry – even as it pertains to digital marketing, is a bit foreign to me. When I was given the opportunity to attend the Digital Summit @ Mountain View last week, I thought to myself, “I’m going to feel like a fish out of water, but this is something I have to do if I really want to market AutoHook. I need to learn the industry,” And so, I went…

And yes, maybe I was a bit out of my element, but once I took it all in and had a few conversations with my fellow attendees I realized that we have a lot in common, and they are all marketers of the digital age just like me. Sure, they’re selling cars rather than technologies, but their challenges, experiences and thoughts within the digital realm are not so different from my own.  And these people are SAAVY.

On that note, I’d like to share the first 4 of my top 8 key learnings from the Summit which you may find quite valuable (or, entertaining at the least.  Keep in mind, I’m a newbie!):

1.       The key to a successful launch is a great story: Guy Kawasaki, the keynote speaker at the event, taught us all that if your business or dealership is embarking on something new, you must have a great story behind it in order to sell it well. For example, maybe your new showroom used to be a winery. Or maybe you’re running a big promotion in May because that’s the month you sold your first car. Play off of these interesting tidbits by giving people a tangible and relatable story to follow, and you’ll be sure to grab more attention and make more sales.

2.       Mobile. Do it:  Okay, we get it. Or do we really? Even though mobile is something that marketers in all industries are a bit sick of hearing about, we’re still just not doing it! The statistics are frightening. More than half of small/medium sized businesses still don’t have a mobile site. And, 40% of consumers have turned to a competitor’s site after a bad mobile experience. My last thought on this one was, “Thank goodness we have an app.”

3.       Don’t abuse your social network privileges: As a good rule of thumb, Guy says that whenever you’re sharing via social media, make sure your Tweet, Status, etc. provides 1. Information, 2. Insights 3. Assistance. For example, a statistic such as “90% of car buyers start their research online” is informative, while “Taking a test drive? Acquaint yourself with the vehicle before starting the engine.” provides assistance. Just because you have the power to reach your audience as many times a day as you want, you shouldn’t feel like you have to.

4.       Lead to Show is a crowd pleaser: As someone who only learned about the Lead to Show product suite from an internal vantage point, it was refreshing to confirm my strong affirmation that our technology drives real, strong and significant results for dealers. When speaking with me during the main day of the conference, one client asked his partner, “How many cars did we sell through HookLogic last month?” His counterpart responded, “About 20% more than we would have without.” And that kind of thing was heard multiple times throughout my visit.

Look out next week for part 2. I’ll share some key stats and insights from my “virgin vantage point.”

David Metter Leading ZMOT Panel at 12th Digital Dealer Conference in Orlando

12th Digital Dealer Conference Orlando

Are you tired of hearing that ZMOT is important to you and your dealership but not having a winning strategy to follow? Do you struggle with that elusive lead to show metric? On Wednesday April 4, 2012, HookLogic Automotive President David Metter will be moderating a panel discussion at the 12th Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition in Orlando where he and 4 other industry experts will discuss how to take your customer from that Zero Moment of Truth when they are engaged with your website or lead call-to-action and drive them into your showroom, providing your salespeople with the highest quality at-bat.

In this panel, Metter will combine great data from Google’s Automotive ZMOT study and apply it to real-world situations with our dealer panel. If you are interested in how progressive operators have figured out how to differentiate themselves in a highly competitive marketplace, you won’t want to miss this session.

On this panel are:

• Tom White, Jr., General Manager, Suzuki of Wichita
• David Kain, President, KainAutomotive.com
• Andrew DiFeo, General Manager, Hyundai of St. Augustine
• Shaun Kniffin, Director of Internet Sales & eBusiness development, Germain Motor Sales

Receive a $25 Best Buy Gift Certificate When You Visit Our Booth #414

If you are attending Digital Dealer and want to get a a sneak peek of HookLogic's AutoHook Suite of Products, including our new Web to Show 2.0 that supercharges your mobile websites and mobile apps, we would like to offer you a free gift.  Just visit www.leadtoshow.com/DD12 and fill out our simple form.  Then show up at Digital Dealer Booth #414 with your 8-digit code for your demo and we will redeem your coupon and show you how it all works.

About the Event

The last conference in Las Vegas drew more than 1,100 dealers and managers from almost every state and featured 94 sessions and workshops and more than 95 exhibitors. Combined, the last two Digital Dealer Conferences drew more than 2,100 registered dealers, GMs, sales managers, Internet sales managers, e-commerce directors, BDC/CRM managers, fixed operations managers, and pre-owned managers – every one of them there to learn more about Internet and technology-related issues from speakers and exhibitors.

The 12th Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition will continue to build on the learning and excitement from previous conferences with 94 sessions and even more emphasis on the cutting-edge topics for dealers and managers, such as using and managing social media to build business, online reputation management, effective website analytics, and more.

When: Tuesday April 3 - Thursday April 5, 2012

Where: The Rosen Shingle Creek Resort in Orlando, Florida

Save $100 on Registration: Visit the conference website www.digitaldealerconference.com for more information and to register online today. As a first-time dealer attendee, let Digital Dealer know we referred you by registering with the ID Code "DD12PEBHL" and receive a $100 discount off of the registration fee!

Is Your Customer List Safe from Employee Theft?

The notion of a dealership’s employees having ownership of the organization's customer lists or communications is a frightening one. The question of ownership of work product, email, and even actual customer lists is being called into question by to BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) policies being adopted by many businesses, including auto dealerships. A 2010 US Supreme Court ruling declared 9-0 that employees are not entitled to privacy if they use an employer’s issued device. The ruling did not, however, establish ownership or privacy rights of employee owned devices accessing corporate data or systems. The implication of this ruling could mean that employers do not have rights or ownership to company data if it was accessed and stored locally on employee computers with the company’s permission.

"Data ownership and access to sensitive customer files should be a key concern for dealerships," says Erik Nachbahr, President and Founder of the Baltimore-based Helion Technologies, a managed information technology provider for auto dealerships."Many auto dealers encourage employees to access their corporate computer systems with employee owned laptops to help control costs.

While expense control is always important, this practice leaves dealerships vulnerable to unauthorized access or theft of customer lists or even financial data," says Nachbahr.

Given the murky nature of data ownership issues, dealerships should evaluate and clarify their BYOD device policies, recommends Nachbahr.

About the Author: Erik Nachbahr
 (LinkedIn), President, Helion Technologies www.heliontechnologies.com Visit Helion at Digital Dealer 12, Booth # 330