10 Key Takeaways from the DrivingSales Data Discussion of 2017

by David Metter

I recently had the honor of co-moderating a dealer panel discussion at the DrivingSales Executive Summit. Together with fellow attribution frontrunner, Steve White, CEO & Founder of Clarivoy, and our dealer experts, Shaun Kniffin, Marketing & Technology Director of Germain Automotive Group and Ben Robertaccio, Marketing Director of the quickly-rising Morrie’s Automotive Group, we we’re fortunate to have a jam-packed room on the last day of the conference. I guess the panel title (or the speaker lineup) evoked some attention…

For anyone that missed it, I’ve compiled a list below of the top ten takeaways from THE DATA DOESN’T LIE: Shocking Discoveries in Automotive Attribution.

1.    Sales Attribution > Traffic Attribution

As an industry, we need to entirely shift away from traffic attribution models and really zero-in on sales attribution – that’s where the good stuff is. Traffic attribution only gives you one slice of the pizza. It looks at the traffic that comes to your website and builds marketing strategies based on that alone. Roughly 75% of people that buy cars from you visit your website – so what are you doing to account for the other 25%? Traffic attribution doesn’t tie a sale to that site traffic, where sales attribution directly ties a car sold to the path that led to the sale. Furthermore, we have to factor in the reality that 71% of online users remain anonymous.

Ben Robertaccio, Marketing Director for Morrie’s Automotive Group says, “70% of people come into your dealership without first contacting you. Less than 10% contact you or convert through your website. If we don’t have data on the mass of our customer base, then we need to find better ways to understand them.”

2.    There are WAY too many KPIs to realistically keep track of.

Shaun Kniffin, Marketing & Technology Director for Germain Automotive Group shared their recent initiative to define the most important KPIs that exist within all the profit centers of a dealership. “Together we identified 127 KPIs as the key ones to follow. In digital marketing alone, we identified 27 critical KPIs. Our GMs all agree that between 4-16 of those 27 digital KPIs should be looked at on a daily basis.” But how many of them actually do it? Dealers are reported to death. They’re inundated with data and it’s often impossible to know where to start without enlisting the right help. 

3.    In a perfect world, EVERYONE’S data would reside in CRM.

It would be in the best interest of CRM companies to take into consideration what has made Salesforce so successful and apply that same business model to automotive. For just a minute, take yourself out of our industry. Put yourself in ANY other industry and ALL of the data resides within Salesforce. There are plugins within Salesforce that collectively make it better, more powerful, and virtually indispensable. Salesforce grew exponentially when they opened up those opportunities to make corporations that use Salesforce better. We don’t see that in automotive and that’s a very frustrating thing, and it should be more frustrating to you as a dealer because you are required to live and breathe within CRM every single day.

AutoHook’s data, Clarivoy’s data, everyone’s data should reside in CRM. If we know the behavioral traits specific to the customers in our CRM, our salespeople can simply look at their screen (just like you would in Salesforce) and immediately see every digital destination that customer has passed through. That’s what our salespeople need in order to have much more meaningful, efficient conversations with their customers. 

In a perfect world, there would be an independent 3rd party overseeing the validity of everyone’s data, as we know vendor reporting has the potential to be self-serving. But if we know we have clean, accurate data, then we as marketers can easily figure out how to help GMs make much better decisions with their budget. 

4. Google Analytics is a great tool…IF it’s set up correctly.   

Google Analytics has the potential to be a phenomenal tool, but it can also be complicated, involved and difficult to derive any real actionable insights from. How many GMs go into their GA dashboard every day? Not many. So how can we expect our managers to actually obtain any real value or insights from of GA alone?

Ben Robertaccio advises dealers to have their key goals and conversions set up properly in order to measure what’s actually happening - and that includes SRPs, VDPs, leads, chats, calls, texts, map views, etc. The best reports out there take GA data and feed in multiple other data sources to deliver a clear path towards correcting the flaws in your business.

A great tool is one that’s able to synthesize all the data and turn it into something dealers can actually use. Ben recommends AutoHook’s Traffic Conversion Analysis (TCA) powered by Urban Science data. “TCA feeds in CRM data, new vehicle registration data, our sales data, and what our competitors are selling, and it’s able to show me data like I’ve never seen it before. If we didn’t have TCA, we would have continued to spend, spend, spend, when it reality it was our process that was broken, and TCA was able to make that clear.” 

5. There needs to be massive consolidation of analytics tools in the market space.

Because of the intertype competition amongst tiers and players within the automotive vertical, we need to get to the point where dealers can know (or at least have a solid benchmark) of how many cars each vendor will help them sell per month.

Shaun Kniffin reminds us of the ugly truth that, “This industry has more snake oil than any other industry,” and he’s right! Additionally, there aren’t any real standards or benchmarks to let dealers know how they are doing at any given point because of the fact that every dealer and every market is so different. We need to push for more open data sharing, partnerships, and standardization amongst vendors and at all industry levels.

Ben Robertaccio makes another great point when he says, “I see this operational divide across industries: operations vs. marketing. We see it in every industry. But what we need to do is foster an environment where I show you results, you show me results and we work together.”

6. 3rd party listing sites like Cars.com & Autotrader are NOT lead generators.

Leads aren’t everything. Clarivoy Founder & CEO, Steve White says, “Don’t ignore the cumulative effect of the journey that took place to produce that lead.” People don’t just go to Cars.com and submit their information – it’s not that simple. Autotrader, Cars.com, CarGurus all those sites are not lead sources. Their responsibility is to expose your inventory on a grand scale.

Shaun Kniffin happened to be the very first Cars.com customer in Columbus, OH back in 2001. He says, “I’ve never looked at Cars.com as a lead source. A lot of GMs don’t understand how many VDP views these sites generate for their stores each month - it’s more activity than your Search Engine Marketing could produce in an entire year. It’s our job as educators to bring them to the forefront and say let’s put this into perspective – how do you replace all these VDPs? And that’s all part of multitouch attribution. Exposing that inventory is the #1 job of Trader, Cars, Gurus, etc.”

7. Using Last Click Attribution is a lot like…

Clarivoy CEO & Founder, Steve White, made the incredible analogy of comparing attribution to a hangover. “It’s a lot like blaming a hangover on that last beer you had. But in reality, it wasn’t just that last beer, it was the cumulative effect of the 10 other drinks you had before that. So that’s what you have to think about from an attribution perspective. There is a cumulative effect to all of your different marketing touchpoints.” Making really big decisions based on last click is just not the smart thing to do.

8. Dealers suffer from A.D.D. 

Which of course stands for, “Another Damn Dashboard.” Every vendor has their own dashboard. The last possible thing today’s dealers want is another report or system to log into. These dashboards have become nothing more than complex conundrums of numbers and statistics that lack meaning and more than anything, lack the ability to execute.

Kniffin says when it comes to their vendors, “I just want to know if you’re involved in the sale. I just want to know are you part of my math, are you part of my chemistry? Are you going to help me attribute more sales? As marketers all we want to know is how can we make these numbers better? How are you who manages my paid search going to make your numbers better and help us optimize our spend?” 

9. Hold Your Vendors to a Higher Standard

Ben Robertaccio emphasizes, “We all need to hold our vendors and our partners to a higher standard to make sure they are feeding into our analytics appropriately and ensuring the data they provide us with is pure and valid. In a utopian world, all our vendors would work together openly and all agree on how to measure things.”

10.  Don’t rely on your customers (or your CRM) to help with attribution.

If dealers were to ask their customers what their click path consisted of before coming in for a test drive, most people wouldn’t have a clue. The digital journey that takes place leading up to a sale is just that – a journey. It’s something that happens organically, over time, across devices, both at home and on the go.

Kniffin adds, “Single source attribution in CRM – THAT’S frustrating! We’ve challenged every one of the CRM companies out there, and it’s a crowded space, but the truth is, single source attribution does not help us develop a strong marketing strategy, period. And how much of that is really subjective data?”

Ben Robertaccio shares Kniffin’s frustration and follows it up with a good point, "Pretty regularly I don’t remember what I had for dinner the night before so how am I going to remember what traffic source influenced my purchase?”

Thanks to our friends at DealerRefresh, you can check out this panel discussion live from #DSES2017. Click here to watch The Data Doesn’t Lie: Shocking Discoveries in Automotive Attribution on Facebook Live.

HOW TO SELL CARS IN 1939: Uncovered Documents Reveal Not Much has Changed…

by David Metter

Could it be possible that the secret to selling cars in today’s multi-touch, exponentially data-driven society is exactly the same as it was prior to World War II? I know what you’re thinking. This is either a huge stretch or some sort of joke. However, recently uncovered sales training documents dating back to 1939 tell a very unexpected story that directly parallels the fundamental methods dealers need to sell more cars today.

This handbook published by General Motors in 1939 on how to manage new car sales was recently passed along to me, and as I read through it, I was completely blown away. I think anyone who has been in the car business for a while will appreciate this…

It states, “The sales manager must have a keen desire to check such things as the number of people buying competitive cars with whom his own organization has been in contact, the reasons why such deals were lost, the reasons why any particular competitor is making headway locally, and similar vital facts to which the average dealer pays little or no attention.”

In one sentence from a 219-page book from 78 years ago, we can derive three secrets to selling cars that remain true today. Not only are these tactics relevant to the way dealers currently operate, but they are also the difference between a dealership that’s running successfully and efficiently and a dealership on the verge of failure.

Below are the three operational insights that have endured in this industry throughout generations, wars, and the age of the Internet that changed everything as we know it…  or did it? These takeaways will continue to be the foundation of how to sell cars in 2017 and into the future.

Dealers need complete visibility into:

1. The number of people buying competitive cars that your own dealership has been in contact with.
2. The reasons or sources responsible for these lost opportunities. 
3. The reasons why a local competitor may own more market share than you do.

This is so interesting to me because these are things GM recognized back in 1939 and STILL today we struggle with being able to put our finger on the number of opportunities we lose each month and the sources (or people) responsible for these losses. A sales manager that concerns themselves with not just their own dealership’s performance but also the performance of their top competitors and defection rates to other dealers or brands is a sales manager with A LOT of common sense!

If a customer is walking into your store, interacting with your staff, and leaving to purchase a vehicle from somewhere else, there’s always a story to uncover as to why. The problem in the digital world we live in is that dealers lack visibility into all the different sources, touchpoints, and online or in-person interactions that may have played a roll in a lost sale.

A lot of these operational inefficiencies are due to the fact that we can only see data from a one-dimensional perspective. What I mean by that is dealers don’t have a comprehensive, multifaceted view of all their different deposits of data – specifically, your CRM & DMS for the following reasons:

• You can only see the leads that come into your dealership.
• You only see the opportunities you’re working.
• Ultimately when leads get to your DMS you can see sales, but what you don’t see is the customers that defected and who they bought from.
• You don’t see the dealership next door and what is in their CRM and you CERTAINLY can’t see what’s in their DMS, and that’s a HUGE blind spot.

Because of the fact that no two dealers are the same and no two markets are the same, there will always be a different sickness, prescription, and remedy for each and every dealership. If you have a clear view into the ailments in your processes associated with each lost sale, you can then derive the information you need to make beneficial changes to reduce your rate of defection both to other brands or other same make dealers in your market.

Identifying the number of lost sales opportunities in your CRM is just the first step. The second is integrating technology that exposes where the problems are in your sales processes. Maybe it’s a third party lead provider with a high close rate and a high defection rate - meaning you need to go after leads from that particular source more aggressively or put more marketing dollars towards those leads to reduce the defection rate.

Or maybe you have a salesperson with a high close rate and a low defection rate that should be handling more opportunities. Maybe you have high defection rates tied to a particular model in your inventory, so you then know it would be a good idea to increase incentive offers around that vehicle.

Most vendors and digital advertisers only provide a one-sided perspective of your data, which is why big data has been so limiting at the dealership level. Dealers know they’re losing sales, but they don’t know where, to who, or why. If you can see the full picture, you can then start to put together the pieces of the puzzle around whether or not you had the right inventory, or did you have the right selling strategy against your competitors, and who are you truly competing with? The obscure, blurry picture of your market’s sales trends starts coming into focus. So in summary, what we need to do is start incorporating that 1939 mentality back into the way we operate.

AutoHook & Clarivoy Join Forces for the Most Action-Packed Dealer Panel of 2017

THE DATA DOESN’T LIE: 

SHOCKING DISCOVERIES IN AUTOMOTIVE ATTRIBUTION

Co-Authored by David Metter of AutoHook powered by Urban Science, & Steve White of Clarivoy

An unprecedented occurrence has taken place as the automotive industry prepares for the upcoming DrivingSales Executive Summit, October 22nd - 24th, at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Two vendors, two of the industry’s most recognized names in proving sales attribution, have combined forces with marketing leaders from the nation’s top dealer groups to deliver the most unbiased, action-packed panel discussion in auto conference history.  

Before we reveal why this atypical panel lineup is worth attending, we first want to inform you of what this session is NOT going to be. This is NOT a reiteration of the importance of attribution when it comes to eliminating marketing waste. This is NOT a theoretical account of big data’s potential impact on improving your daily sales operations. This is a collaborative, all boots on the ground ATTACK on the two topics that have been plaguing dealerships for far too long: big data and attribution.

AutoHook Co-Founder & President, David Metter, and Clarivoy CEO & Founder, Steve White, will be co-moderating a dealer panel that will leave attendees with a multi-dimensional, crystal clear picture of how successful dealers are already using big data and advanced attribution models to do the only thing that matters to them: sell more cars.

Attendees will get a first-hand account from Marketing Directors at the nation’s leading dealer groups about how they are taking action and selling cars using data they already have available combined with technology that they’ve already implemented.

Both AutoHook and Clarivoy have differentiated themselves in the industry for their unrivaled ability to define the path that resulted in a vehicle sale. However, these two companies go about solving attribution problems from two different angles and perspectives. But, what they both always agree on is that the dealer’s perspective is the one that matters most. Dealers are not, nor should they ever be expected to be data analysts or mathematicians. It should never be a dealership’s responsibility to scrutinize the 20 different vendor reports they receive in a typical month and find trends that point to success or failure in their marketing and sales operations. It should never be the dealer’s job to assign fractionalized credit to the multiple touchpoints that led to a sale.

Too often, dealerships are debilitated by the excessive amount of one-sided vendor reports that flood their inbox every month. What good is all this data if it doesn’t include an instruction manual that pinpoints exactly what’s working and what’s not?

If you use outdated attribution models, you’re essentially making marketing decisions based on 10% of what is actually happening. That is a HUGE marketing blind spot that can lead to tens of thousands of dollars wasted on sources that don’t convert.

Wouldn’t it be refreshing if you could get a clear view of your sales and defection trends all in one place? Or quickly identify deficiencies in both your internal and external processes so that you can more efficiently assign responsibilities to your staff and get more ROI out of your third-party lead or traffic drivers?

What dealers have been lacking is a complete, 360° view of their sales operations, as well as the sales they lost to their biggest competitors. How can you improve the way you sell cars if you’re unaware of the leads in your CRM that have already purchased somewhere else? There is a reason for every lost sale, and that reason is exactly what you should use to take action and reclaim lost opportunities.

Attend this session and you will take away a lot more than the inspiration and motivation you need to take action. You will walk away with a game plan that you know has already proven to help individual dealers and dealer groups sell more cars and increase their market share. The topics of big data and attribution will transform from headaches, confusion, and irrelevant, obscure numbers into actionable steps to improve the way you operate today.

WHAT YOU’LL TAKE AWAY:

1. Learn the fastest methods of uncovering actionable sales and defection trends hidden within your data.
2. Define the sources responsible for your greatest opportunities and losses down to an individual salesperson, lead or traffic source, competing brand or dealer, and more.
3. Eliminate “Marketing Blind Spots” and grow your market share using the automotive industry’s latest and most accurate attribution models.

Do yourself a favor. DO NOT leave Las Vegas deprived of this vital and enlightening knowledge. DO NOT return to your dealership in the dark. Join AutoHook, Clarivoy, and their panel of top dealers, to finally get a clear and complete view of your market and how to outshine the competition. 

THE ACTION STARTS TUESDAY, OCTOBER 24TH AT 9:50 AM SHARP AT THE BELLAGIO IN MONET ROOMS 3 & 4!

EXECUTION: Uncovering Big Data's Missing Piece

by David Metter

The greatest marketing trends of all time began as insignificant ideas that eventually gained enough momentum to reach a critical tipping point – the point in which uncharted tools and technologies once overlooked by the masses are adopted by the mainstream. When ideas reach their tipping point, an infectious, unstoppable domino effect goes into play. The undiscovered becomes discovered, the unfamiliar becomes familiar, and the unknown becomes universal truth.

Just as the adoption of CRMs exploded in the early 2000’s and mobile marketing reached its tipping point circa 2014-2015, I believe big data has reached its culmination in 2017. I know this because I’ve seen the distinct black and white clarity today’s automotive data has finally been able to give to car dealers. 

For the past several years, dealers have lacked significant visibility into their market regarding:

• Where and how they’re losing sales
• Who they’re losing sales to (whether the customer is purchasing the same make or another brand entirely)
• If sales are lost due to internal or external factors
• True successes, failures, and trends tied to each salesperson, lead or traffic source, inventory, day of the month, zip code, etc.
• Close and defection rates for all your leads and lead providers
• Validation that you are stocking the right inventory and marketing it in the most efficient manner

… the list goes on.

What we know now is that all of the items listed above are finally within reach. It’s also important to note that the problem has never been the data. It’s that dealers have only been able to view sales trends within their own CRM and DMS. How can you possibly improve your sales effectiveness if you’re only comparing it to yourself? The inability to see the sales and defection trends of top competing dealers and brands in your market has been a HUGE roadblock for dealers... until now that is.

Today’s big data landscape has evolved to become 100% executable. We can quickly gain insights from data using a scientific approach that exposes lost sales by source at an aggregate level. By knowing your lost sales opportunities, who you lost them to, and where you lost them, a strategic path towards increasing sales and reducing defection rates naturally comes into view – despite what your market conditions may look like.

We can even take it a step further and look at success and defection trends tied to an individual person within your sales staff. For example, if someone has a high close rate AND a high defection rate, you can break down where these lost opportunities are coming from. You can see that person is being assigned way too many leads and then you can make smarter decisions in terms of how you divide up your employees’ responsibilities. 

When you can see where you’re losing sales across the board, you can then align your conversion goals, the operational training of your staff, and the way you drive traffic and leads into your dealership – so you can have the highest quality lineup of opportunities to close.

The advent of integrating automotive data to make more profitable operational decisions is similar in many ways to when CRM and DMS technologies were first implemented. Using these tools gave you a way to organize and streamline your process to help you sell more cars. The ability to execute smarter sales strategies using data analysis is no longer alchemy. It’s the current reality of this instant gratification world we live in, and it’s the weapon dealers need to be unstoppable.

5 Reasons to Visit AutoHook at Digital Dealer 23

1. Get the Power to Cut Your Lost Sales in HALF!

Gain the power to know what you're losing. AutoHook is excited for the official launch our newest solution, Traffic Conversion Analysis (TCA) taking place exclusively at Digital Dealer 23. TCA is the first-ever report that allows you to view and compare your own sales data versus the sales you lost, and defection trends to competing dealers or brands in your market. TCA instantly delivers a 360° analysis of your CRM data - exposing your greatest areas of lost sales opportunities tied to a specific competitor, salesperson, zip code, model, lead source, traffic source, or even time frame.

Using insights derived from TCA, dealers will have full control over their sales and marketing operations. The report is revolutionary in that it allows dealers to identify detailed lost opportunities tied to an individual salesperson, using data only hours old.

Read more about TCA >>

DON'T LOSE ANOTHER SALE! See how this Morrie's Automotive Dealership recouped over 50% of their lost sales opportunities using TCA. Read the Case Study >>

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2. Channel Your Inner Celebrity & Take a Free AutoHook Limo

AutoHook is honored to once again be your #DD23 Transportation Sponsor! Whether it's your first time in Vegas or your 100th, cruise around the strip the way it was meant to be seen... from an AutoHook Limo - fully equipped with beverage service and free giveaways!

AutoHook's Limo Schedule:

• Monday - 9:00am - 1:00am
• Tuesday - 9:00am - 1:00am
• Wednesday - 9:00am - 5:00pm

TO GET A FREE RIDE: Text the word "AutoHook" to the phone number 55678. Your personal driver will then contact you and take you to the next glamorous destination of your choice.

Want even more fun? Who can take the best picture in an AutoHook limo? Tag #AutoHook & #DD23 in your Limo Pics!

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3. Join David Metter on Tuesday 9/19 to View Your Market's Sales Trends From an Entirely NEW Perspective...

On Day 2 of Digital Dealer, David Metter will present, The Uncut Story Your CRM Can't Tell You. Witness this eye-opening session Tuesday, September 19th at 2:35 PM in Versailles Room 1. David will give dealers first-time visibility into their market's sales trends and demonstrate how to:

• Define your greatest opportunities and losses tied to a specific lead or traffic source, salesperson, model, day, or zip code.
• Identify defection trends of competing stores or brands in your market to reduce lost sales.
• Continuously grow your market share by understanding what you’re losing.

Read more about David's Session Here >>

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4. Get an In-Depth Review of Your Dealership's Performance

Meet AutoHook's Client Services Team face-to-face and review the results of your test-drive incentive campaigns. We’re not just there to throw numbers at you. We also provide our dealers with full circle execution on how to reduce lost sales and grow your market share using AutoHook's custom incentive solutions. We'll even set up customized, targeted campaigns for you. Learn about our latest technology (TCA) and make sure you're getting the most out of your current solutions! 

If you're already an AutoHook client, let your Client Services Specialist know you’re heading to DD23 and we’ll have a report on your dealership’s latest results ready to review with you.

Interested in learning how AutoHook delivers scientifically proven sales and showroom visits? We know your time is both limited and valuable. Get a $25 Reward if you complete a quick Demo at BOOTH 1035!

Or just stop by to say hello and pick up some free swag...

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5. We Know How to Celebrate at Midnight

Last but not least, AutoHook is very much looking forward to sponsoring the Midnight in Paris Attendee Party - Tuesday, September 19th from 8-11 PM at the Chateau Nightclub & Gardens at the Paris Hotel & Casino. Join the team at one of sin city's most exclusive outdoor venues.

See you in Vegas auto people!

AutoHook Unleashes Traffic Conversion Analysis (TCA) to Provide Dealers with Groundbreaking Visibility Into their Market’s Sales Trends

AutoHook, the automotive industry’s frontrunner at proving sales, showroom visits, and the ROI of their private incentive offers officially released their latest dealership report, Traffic Conversion Analysis (TCA). TCA, powered by near real-time sales match data from Urban Science gives dealers an entirely new perspective of their sales operations as well as defection trends to competing stores or brands in their market.

DETROIT, MI (PRWEB) SEPTEMBER 13, 2017

AutoHook’s TCA is the first-ever report to deliver a complete, 360-degree analysis of a dealership’s CRM leads, exposing their greatest areas of lost sales opportunities tied to a specific competitor, salesperson, zip code, model, lead source, traffic source, or time frame. Using insights derived from TCA, dealers will have full control over their marketing, lead conversion, and operational processes. The report is revolutionary in that it allows dealers to identify detailed lost opportunities tied to an individual salesperson, using data only hours old.

“The problem dealers have faced for so long is that their CRM data is incomplete, one-dimensional, and only shows their effectiveness against their own sales, but it’s equally important to know how many of their customers purchased from a competitor,” says David Metter, President of AutoHook, powered by Urban Science. “The value of knowing exactly what opportunities you’re losing and why you’re losing them has been completely out of reach, until now.”

TCA matches a dealer’s existing CRM and DMS data with Urban Science’s near real-time sales database to reveal the sources responsible for the highest defection rates. AutoHook’s technology also identifies leads that have already purchased a vehicle elsewhere, thus helping reduce wasted time and marketing efforts chasing customers that are no longer in market for a car.

“In order to successfully grow market share and cut losses dealers need visibility into the source of each lost sale, whether it’s an internal challenge with sales staff or an external issue with a lead source,” says Randy Berlin, Global Account Director at Dealer Services Group, LLC, a subsidiary of Urban Science. “Having the ability to define why a sale fell through ultimately gives dealers the power they need to take full control of their marketing and sales operations.”

TCA’s multidimensional reporting pinpoints missed opportunities and AutoHook then provides the solutions necessary to transform them into showroom visits and closed sales. Based on the insights revealed within TCA, AutoHook implements customized incentive campaigns to target the areas and sources with the highest defection rates.

“We don’t just show dealers all the problems within their operations and send them on their way, we actually prescribe the solutions necessary to cure these issues and execute full-circle with our private incentive offers,” adds Metter.

TCA uses the fastest most accurate sales data available to uncover a narrative dealers have never been able to hear or see before. The value of this knowledge will result in more efficient strategies to increase market share growth even in declining conditions.

AutoHook, powered by Urban Science specializes in proving sales attribution combined with an untouched ability to deliver showroom visits that purchase. Through their network of private incentive offers, AutoHook supplies true, incremental walk-in traffic for dealers and OEMs. Powered by Urban Science's sales match database, AutoHook instantly proves their ROI with the fastest, most accurate sales validation data in existence. AutoHook's incentive solutions are scientifically proven to lift incremental sales, new to brand buyers, showroom visits, and conversion rates across channels.

For more information, please visit DriveAutoHook.com/TCA or call (855) 532-3274.

Do You Have the Power to Know What You’re Losing?

by David Metter

The number of automotive reports dealership managers receive in a typical month drastically differs from the number of reports that empower them to take immediate action based on sales data only hours old. It’s as if dealers in today’s world have to excavate through mountains of analytical ruins in hopes of uncovering a single data-driven insight that may or may not impact their sales goals. Not to mention the hurricanes and natural disasters that have further obstructed an industry in its ninth month of national decline.

Auto marketing leader, Brian Pasch recently compiled a list of all the individual reports General Managers running a franchise dealership could typically get each month. “For auto dealers, the count is over 20 reports! All separate. All with different metrics. Lots of data, not many actionable insights,” says Pasch.

The overarching problem with most reports is that they only show one perspective of a much more dimensional, much more compelling story. A lot of vendors and their unique reporting methods tend to be biased in how they present results. In other words, they focus on what they’re helping your dealership win - whether it’s more clicks, more website traffic, or more leads.

But what about all the other pieces needed to complete the story? What about all the sales opportunities you didn’t win? What about the customers in your CRM your salespeople didn’t close? What about the active leads in your system you’re wasting time, money and effort chasing when in reality, they’ve already purchased from somewhere else? Wouldn’t having that knowledge save a lot of wasted energy and marketing dollars? Wouldn’t it be helpful to know as of yesterday how many sales you lost, which competitors you lost them to, and the reason why you lost them?

Furthermore, dealers need systematic visibility into the true outcomes of in-store customer interactions. We can’t solely rely on CRM data as it can be subject to human error. So the question is, does a report exist that accurately depicts the end result of every living, breathing, human-to-human exchange that physically takes place in your showroom? Did those personal interactions result in a vehicle sold or was the opportunity lost?

AdWeek published the following statement addressing this same issue:

“Over the past 20 years, analytics for digital ad measurement have focused on digital results (including web traffic, ecommerce conversion and data collection). But even though we live in an Amazon world, 92% of commerce still happens in physical brick-and-mortar locations, so measuring digital impact is nowhere near sufficient.”

For every digital action, there should be an equal and opposite reaction. What I mean by that is that all aspects of your digital marketing should strictly be evaluated based on their effectiveness or ineffectiveness of increasing vehicle sales that occur in the showroom. What we need now more than ever is a way to accurately discern if the money we’re spending on our digital marketing AND our in-store processes results in a closed sale or an opportunity down the drain. Those are the numbers dealers need to zero-in on to know the absolute best way to spend their marketing budget moving forward.

But wait! The good news is that a report currently exists that is capable of all of these things and more. This particular report defines attribution in a way this industry has never seen before. I will openly admit, there are few aspects of this tool that others out there have the potential to imitate. However, their numbers are based on 90-day old data, not near real-time sales match data. They also don’t provide a 360-degree view of your lost sales tied to a specific salesperson, lead or traffic source, model, or top competing dealer or brand in your market (all in one single report). How do you put a price on THAT?

CASE STUDY: Morrie's Brooklyn Park Subaru Tells Lost Sales to "GET LOST" with AutoHook's Traffic Conversion Analysis (TCA)

In a down market, Morrie’s Brooklyn Park Subaru experienced a considerable decline in lead volume from April to June of 2017. In addition to a large drop off in leads, their lost sales and defection rates were significantly higher than the national sales trends. They needed a solution to identify the source of all lost sales and a strategy to reduce the rate of defection to other dealers, while growing their market share in surrounding zip codes.

SEE HOW WE DID IT! Read the full case study below.

AutoHook Integrates with Top Dealer Website Providers to Give Dealers Advanced Vehicle Targeting Capabilities

AutoHook has announced they have completed the integration process with the industry’s top leading website providers. Mutual clients of AutoHook and the affiliate companies listed below are now set up to successfully target and incentivize customers to visit dealer showrooms based on any specific vehicle of interest - down to the year, make, and model.

1. Dealer.com
2. CDK Global
3. DealerOn
4. DealerSocket/DealerFire
5. Dealer eProcess
6. Dealer Inspire
7. fusionZONE
8. Naked Lime Marketing
9. Fox Dealer
10. AutoFusion
11. Driving Force
12. RnD Interactive

For Dealer.com, CDK Global, DealerOn, DealerSocket/DealerFire, Dealer eProcess, Dealer Inspire and fusionZONE clients, AutoHook has set up additional targeting functionality that triggers based on a vehicle’s number of days on the lot - a valuable feature that will eventually be available to all providers.

All website companies participating in this shared technology solution can now ensure their dealer clients have the ability to target individual vehicles with custom test drive and private purchase offers using AutoHook’s Web2Show solution. AutoHook executes tailored campaigns both at the dealer and OEM-levels to increase incremental showroom traffic, new to brand buyers, and sales based on their unique sales goals and areas of opportunity.

Prior to combining efforts with the industry’s largest traffic drivers, AutoHook’s incentives were limited to search results pages (SRPs) and vehicle details pages (VDPs). The ability to increase offers on specific model pages was in the works, and after successfully integrating with each of these website platforms, AutoHook can now execute higher dollar test drive offers on any new or used VDP and help dealers move aged inventory in a faster, more efficient manner.

Whether you need to boost underperforming models or simply give customers a reason to visit your showroom, AutoHook is scientifically proven to deliver incremental showroom visits that purchase cars. Powered by Urban Science’s near real-time sales match database, AutoHook can attribute all sales to a specific campaign – instantly validating ROI at an industry-low cost per sale.

AutoHook is both honored and excited to work with in tangent with these automotive technology frontrunners to offer complimentary targeting enhancements for all mutual clients.

The Uncut Story Your CRM Can’t Tell You

You Can’t Win Without Knowing What You’re Losing

by David Metter

It’s hard to solve a problem you don’t know exists. Solutions become unreachable if you don’t know the root of the issue or the source it stemmed from in the first place. The same concept applies to the sales and BDC operations inside every existing dealership. Too often, we get caught up in the day-to-day routine and can only see what’s directly in front of our eyes. We lose sight of the big picture. We look to our CRM and DMS data to identify areas of success and failure. We then use that data to attempt to make decisions and changes to the way we operate. The problem, is that this data is one-sided, one-dimensional, and only one piece of a much larger picture.

It’s a lot like attempting to run a race with your eyes closed. Without the power of sight, you won’t know if your opponents are in front of you or gaining speed behind you. You won’t be able to see the finish line. What’s the point of running towards a goal you can’t see? In order to solve the problems within your sales operations, you need the power of sight, metaphorically. You need to be able to look at your entire market from a 360-degree vantage point so that you can identify sales trends along with the sources of your greatest opportunities and losses.

Sales and service data, believe it or not is the key to being able to see your market from an omnipotent perspective. It’s just a matter of where you get the data and how you use it. Ninety-day old sales metrics can be helpful, but in order to truly see what’s going on within your PMA, dealers need to know what sold and didn’t sell as of yesterday – not 90-days ago given the infinite variables that affect this industry on a daily basis. To most of us, data is just a collection of numbers, charts, and graphs that lack meaning. But what if you had the ability to detonate and mobilize data to make it work for you? That’s when data becomes valuable – when you can turn it into actions that result in more sold cars and less lost opportunities.

If you only draw conclusions based on your CRM’s sales and lead data, you can only quantify the effectiveness of your own sales. But it’s equally important to have the ability to identify defection trends to competing dealerships or brands in your market. How many of your customers purchased from somewhere else? Which dealers are you losing the most sales to? How many customers did you lose over a certain date range? Which competitors did you lose them to? How many units per day are you losing to a specific store? Can you pinpoint areas of lost sales tied to a specific salesperson or lead source?

When you have the ability to answer these types of questions, then and only then do you have what you need to take control of your marketing and sales processes. If you want to successfully grow your market share and cut your losses, you have to know exactly what you’re losing, where you’re losing, and who you’re losing to. The right data, will show you a clear snapshot of which models on your lot present the highest level of opportunity. It will show you which leads in your CRM have already purchased so you don’t waste time and money trying to reach people no longer in market for a car. The right data will determine if you are losing sales based on internal or external factors. It will show you the top 10 zip codes where you’re losing the most sales. It will show you by name which members of your sales and BDC staff have the highest closing rates, as well as who is allowing the most opportunities to fall through the cracks. It will empower you to make better decisions with staffing, training and employee responsibilities based on a more thorough analysis of your business.

From my years of experience as the General Manager of a dealership and as the CMO of a large dealer group, I am very aware of the fact that dealers are not data scientists, nor should they ever be expected to be. Your only job is to sell cars and to reduce the rate of lost sales to the competition. But you can’t stop losing sales if you don’t have the near-real time data to expose why you lost them in the first place. And it’s not only about having access to the fastest data or the best data – that’s only half the battle. It’s also about working with the people that know how to extract the most impactful, actionable pieces of that data and that possess the technology needed to execute a strategy that results in fewer losses and more incremental gains.

My session, “The Uncut Story Your CRM Can’t Tell You” at Digital Dealer 23, will provide dealers with never before seen visibility into their market conditions so that missed opportunities can be turned into closed sales.

Attend this session and learn how to:

• Define your greatest opportunities and losses tied to a specific lead or traffic source, salesperson, model, day, or zip code.
• Identify defection trends of competing stores or brands in your market to reduce lost sales.
• Continuously grow your market share by understanding what you’re losing.
• Identify defection trends even down to your individual salespeople that are in your showroom. Know more about what’s going on in your dealership and the dealerships around you.

The Digital Dealer 23 Conference & Expo will be held this Sept. 18-20th in Las Vegas, NV. Register now to start building your agenda by choosing from more than 100+ sessions!

***Article originally posted on DigitalDealer.com.