It was actually nice to be on the cover of the thinnest Digital Dealer Magazine ever.
And the article I thought read well, thanks to Laurie Halter over at
Charisma Communications. Thanks Laurie, you did a great job.

If you would like to read the entire article I have posted it below.

Jeff Kershner - Digital Dealer Magazine Interview- Internet Sales Manager- Mercedes Benz of Hagerstown - by : Digital Dealer

With an average of over 30 percent of monthly dealership sales generated from the Mercedes-Benz of Hagerstown dealer online marketing efforts, Jeff Kershner, Internet sales manager,
is doing a lot of things right to attract buyers and turn Internet
leads into sales. A passion for new Internet trends, like blogs, online
social networks, viral marketing and search engine optimization,
coupled with a solid belief in essential business practices like prompt
follow-up on leads, has led Kershner to build a growing Internet
business for the dealership. In the following interview, Kershner
explores Internet tools that have worked to pull in leads, explains how
dealerships can effectively use the new Internet trends, and tells us
why one “old-fashioned” sales technique will never go out of style.

What is your current position in the automotive business?

I am the Internet sales and marketing manager for Mercedes-Benz of
Hagerstown in Hagerstown, Maryland. I have been in this position for a
little over two years. I manage all of the Internet leads and the
follow-up activities performed by the sales team. I also desk deals,
appraise vehicles, manage our online inventory, our dealership blog,
online service coupons, incentives and everything else having to do
with our online marketing efforts.

Can you tell me more about your dealership blog?

I started our dealer blog back in September of 2005 but have just
started to get serious about it lately. We’re actually in the process
of completely re-designing it (which should be live by the time you
read this – www.mercedesdealernews.com). A dealer blog can be very
powerful because it’s a great way to communicate with your customers
and drive new traffic to your dealer web site, but dealers need to be
realistic about how much work a blog is. To be effective, a blog needs
to be updated at least weekly (at minimum), and most dealers don’t have
the appropriate resources to accomplish that. Also, for a blog to be a
true quintessential element of your dealership online marketing efforts
you need to understand how the search engines work.

How do you define search engine optimization (SEO)?

“Snake oil” – I’m kidding, of course, but dealers do need to be careful with services selling SEO and automotive search engine marketing
(SEM). SEO is used to describe the technique of optimizing your
dealership web site to enhance its chances of being ranked in the top
results of a search engine once a relevant search is undertaken. A
number of factors are important when optimizing a web site, including
the content and
structure of the web site’s copy and page layout, the HTML meta-tags on
the page, off-page optimization and the submission process. If SEO is
going to be a part of your online marketing arsenal then you need to
have a good understanding of it and dealers need to be careful with
what vendors they choose and what web site providers they work with to
host their web site. Too much flash and frames are a big no-no!

Do you think hiring a vendor for SEO will increase a dealership’s Internet sales?

Not necessarily. You can optimize your site to attract more traffic,
but that does not mean that you’re going to turn all the extra traffic
into additional leads and sales. What a dealer needs is a web site that
can convert traffic into leads. A lot of dealer web sites aren’t primed
for lead conversion. To convert traffic into leads there are many
factors to consider: the right call to actions, persuasive copy with
compelling content, navigation and layout, just to name a few.

It’s time to move dealer web sites to the next level. Rather then
using your web site to just show inventory and specials, dealers need
to use their web sites to build value in the services they provide. One
small example of including compelling content to build value would be
to hyperlink the words “certified pre-owned” when using them to
describe your online inventory. This way, the buyer can click on the
link and learn what “certified pre-owned” means. They are learning
something about your services in the process of shopping your
inventory. Along with having good content, also make sure that every
page of the web site has your phone number on it in big lettering. A
phone number can be your strongest call to action. I end every vehicle
description with our phone number; these same descriptions carry over
to my other online marketing ads. I get more phone calls by using the
phone number that I include in my vehicle descriptions than the free
tracked phone number third-party lead sources provide. Again, it’s all
about placement and persuasive copy. A great book that I recommend on
this subject is “Call to Action: Secret Formulas to Improve Online
Results” by Bryan and Jeffrey Eisenberg.

What Internet sales tools on your dealership website have worked to pull in leads?

For us, having an online trade appraisal tool
works well to bring in leads. I currently use Black Book Activator, and
because it gives a broad range of accurate possible values, I haven’t
had any customers coming in and receiving an unexpectedly low amount
for a vehicle. Plus when the customer does visit the showroom, I know
they have used our online trade appraisal and we can structure the deal
accordingly.

The biggest problem with the appraisal form is that it can produce
just as many bogus leads as good leads (especially when your web site
is strong in the search engines), therefore I personally qualify these
leads
before assigning them over to a salesperson. For some dealers it can be
difficult to get the buy-in from their used car manager because they
often don’t want to give out trade numbers before seeing and appraising
the vehicle.

Having updated specials on our web site can also produce many phone
calls and leads. It’s imperative that you keep your specials page
updated; it’s one of the most visited pages on a dealer’s web site,
however, most dealers never update their specials pages. Service
coupons can also be an overlooked but a very important factor that
keeps customers coming back to your dealership web site. In the past
when we haven’t had service coupons on our site, I’ve actually had
calls from customers looking for them. How about an RSS feed for your
sales and service specials?

Do you use e-mail campaigns to pull in leads or service appointments?

I use a separate database that is set up by customer name and
vehicle of interest that I use for e-mail campaigns. I don’t advise
that dealers use their CRM for “blasting” out e-mail sales campaigns
because when
you do, with time you can run the chance of getting your Internet
Service Provider (ISP) or e-mail blacklisted. Your CRM program is for
managing customer relationships, not for managing your advertising.
I’ve found that we can dramatically decrease our opt-out rate by
sending e-mails that are more targeted, so a customer gets e-mails
about a vehicle that they are interested in, not an e-mail containing
irrelevant information.

You mentioned that you created a MySpace page for your
dealership. How do you see dealerships jumping on the trend of online
social networks?

Social networking for dealers
can be a tricky avenue for dealers so you have to be careful. I did
create a MySpace page for our dealer:
http://myspace.com/mercedesofhagerstown. I did it for brand awareness
within the local community, and I think that it is the best thing a
dealership can use it for. It’s all about getting your name out there.
I made our page personal, with a photo of myself, photos of the dealer
and details about our business. I also upload our commercials and post
information about our current models and provide a few links to our
dealer web site and blog.

The thing to remember when using social networks for marketing is
whom you are dealing with. These are “today’s” consumers. Today’s
consumers pull the information and marketing that they see fit to
persuade their buying decisions. Today’s consumers shy away from the
old conventional “shove down your throat” advertising. Also remember
that there’s no way of measuring the value in dollars of having a
MySpace page or other social marketing avenues. This type of marketing
space is best used for dealer brand awareness, which might not get you
a sale today, but could increase your visibility and reputation for
future sales. I also make use of YouTube for public awareness and viral
marketing. It’s the idea that if one person sees your stuff and likes
it, they’ll send it to all their friends, who will send it to all their
friends, and so on. I post all of our dealership commercials and
vehicle walk around videos on YouTube.

You are definitely at the forefront of new online trends. Do you
subscribe to any “old-fashioned” techniques to bring in leads and
convert them to sales?

Fast follow-up by phone is essential to making sales. Get the
customer on the phone, build rapport like no other, and gather the
right information by asking the right questions. Know your inventory
and explain the benefits (this is why I personally take photos and
write detailed descriptions of each one of our used cars).  My floor
sales team is my “Internet sales team” (and a great team I have!). I’ve
trained them to use our CRM, best practices for Internet sales,
follow-up process and how to use the phone. When I assign them an
e-mail lead, they immediately pick up the phone and schedule an
appointment. If they can’t get the customer on the phone, they use a
crafty e-mail template I’ve created that tells the customer that their
request for information has been received, and we have tried to call.
The salesperson then follows up with another phone call to the customer
within 45 minutes. We don’t give up until we get the customer on the
phone and since we are not a volume dealer, we don’t waste any time
with people looking for no money making deals!

Most of the Internet phone calls come through me first; I then
assign the customer to the salesperson that best matches the customer’s
personality. I know my salespeople very well, so I match up my
leads/customers according to what I perceive the personality to be of
each member of my sales team.

What final piece of advice would you give to Internet sales managers out there trying to turn their Internet traffic into leads?

Know your geographic market area and the shopping habits of the
average consumer that resides in those areas. Take full advantage of
what your web site offers. If you’re using cars.com, Autotrader or any
other inventory marketing web site, use all the advantages they have to
offer. Don’t second guess yourself and make of the most of every day.
Being an effective ISM means having a rare type A/B personality, and
losing touch with one or the other can mean the difference of a good or
great month. Get out there, meet and greet and get involved with the
deals. Do not lose that personal touch that it takes to make a deal.
It’s too easy to hide behind the computer every day and take credit for
sales without shaking the hands of the customers that just bought a
vehicle from your dealership.

NOTE: This Digital Dealer Magazine interview was featured in the May 2007 Edition