Carl Sconnely's Dealership Technology Blog

Work Smarter, Not Harder

Fri, 20 Mar 2009 18:36:00 GMT

I’m sure everyone has heard of the 80-20 rule which simply states that 80% of your profit comes from 20% of your customers. This rule was first formed back in 1906 when an Italian Economist Vilfredo Pareto observed that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population. Since then, this rule has been applied successfully to many different business theories including RV parts sales.

More...

To Host or Not to Host...

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 20:35:00 GMT

The positive part about an economic recession is that it forces every one of us to look in the mirror and make some long-awaited decisions. We trim the “fat” to make our businesses stronger, leaner, and well prepared for the race ahead. In a quick down-turn, we make the easy decisions: tighten up the advertising budget, delay a few purchases, and slow our hiring. But when the ebb of the market extends beyond a few months, the decisions get harder and it really forces everyone to look beyond the spotlight items, combing the P&L with a magnifying glass and an alternative way of thinking to find ingenious ways of saving.

One of the largest expenses dealers fail to look at is the time and money spent on maintaining and upgrading their server...

More...

Why bother with long-term prospect follow-up

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 18:10:00 GMT

The majority of people who walk onto your lot will end up buying an RV in the near future. Initially though, about 80% of your dealership traffic will leave your dealership without buying on their first visit. Studies have shown that in upwards of 90% of sales staff do not participate in any follow-up with prospects, even if they ended up purchasing a unit on their first visit! If your sales staff is not doing timely follow-up, your dealership is missing out on one third of those prospects that can be coaxed back to your lot. If a prospect does return to your lot, they are likely to purchase sixty-six percent of the time – a percentage that cannot be ignored.

To help curb this alarming lack of follow-up in the RV industry, there are many automated follow-up Dealer Management software systems that are available today. These systems use a variety of tools to create automated follow-up campaigns for your dealership; some of these tools include emails, letters, text messages, and reports...

More...

Start Profiting from your Online Lead Investments

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 20:54:00 GMT

If you haven’t heard of e-mail lead parsing, you are missing out on one of the easiest ways to increase closing percentages for online leads. The process of ”parsing” an e-mail lead consists of breaking down the contents of an e-mail and categorizing the data (Name, Phone Number, Unit, etc.) automatically into your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Program or Dealership Software. Thus, instead of the information just sitting as a message in someone’s e-mail inbox, it is instantly transformed into a working and trackable prospect. All lead information is instantly captured into your system and is never overlooked or lost.

Leads can be parsed from a variety of different sources such as your own dealership’s website, 3rd party lead generating websites (RV Trader, RV Search, RV123, etc.), and manufacturer websites. Without parsing, leads received from these sources typically drop into a designated employee’s inbox as a simple e-mail. Unfortunately, this puts your online prospects at the mercy of that employee. What happens when your internet manager goes on vacation or calls in sick? ...

More...

The RV Industry is moving away from being an “Off-the-Rack” industry

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 18:55:00 GMT

The RV Industry is becoming customized. Widespread product customization and personalization marketing to consumers is nothing new and was originally developed back in the early 1990s, with the introduction of personalized shopping carts and home pages on the internet. Since then, one industry after another – from department stores to restaurants – has adopted this business practice successfully and increased sales. Consumers, especially younger generations, have come to appreciate and even expect a certain level of personalized service and recognition.

The automotive industry capitalized on this expectation years ago and began allowing consumers to build their perfect vehicle on the web. Shoppers would know every feature they wanted and what they could afford before ever stepping foot in a dealership. Toyota’s Scion brand has experienced great success and taken this even further by focusing primarily on build-to-order units, based on customer specifications, that speak to the younger consumer’s focus on uniqueness and individuality.

This spotlight on personalization has since filtered down to the RV industry....

More...

Is your Pay per Click Campaign a target of Click Fraud, and what can you do about it?

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 18:29:00 GMT

For those of you who aren’t familiar with PPC (Pay per Click) ads, they are paid listings that appear as “Sponsored Links” typically on search engine results or as ads on their participating website partners. Search engines have turned PPC marketing campaigns into a huge multi billion-dollar industry. In 2008, Google pulled in $21.1 billion in online advertising revenues alone. As with any new industry without strict regulations there is a downside for its participants - click fraud. Click Fraud is an Internet crime that happens when either an individual or automated program clicks on ads for the purpose of generating a profit without having a legitimate interest in the ads link. Recent articles I have read are stating that the overall Click Fraud Rate of Search Advertising is up to 17.1% and at 28% through content network clicks. We run a fairly active PPC campaign for Systems 2000, Inc. and deal with PPC Fraud on a regular basis. Here are some pointers if you would like to get a better idea of your current PPC Fraud Rate and how to go about receiving a refund on invalid clicks....

More...

Catch me if you can - Dealership has fraudulent checks written on their account.

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 19:34:00 GMT

Everyday in the news you hear and see cases of identity or check fraud, but it always seems so far away. Recently, I spoke to a dealer located in Mesa, AZ, that had found fraudulent checks were being cashed on their account. The investigation is ongoing, so there were no specifics on how the fraudulent checks were made, but today's readily available printing technology makes creating false checks an easy endeavour.

You might be wondering exactly how easy it is for someone create and forge one of your checks these days? To answer this...

More...

Family business is good business in slow economic times

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 14:47:00 GMT

When I think of the words and phrases “strong commitment”, “loyalty”, “decreased overhead costs” and “stability” they remind me of the core values of a family run business. It’s no wonder that most RV Dealerships are family run businesses and always tend to weather and bounce back from economic down turns. To further support this theory, Texas A&M University has performed a study to compare the competitiveness and stability of family run businesses compared to non-family run businesses. The results of the study, which was conducted by Professor Jim Lee, showed that family businesses do indeed tend to experience higher employment rates, revenue growth, and are more profitable than non-family businesses.

It’s my experience that family run businesses don't stop at closing time. They continue 24/7, from dinnertime to family outings, and other get-togethers. At some point the conversation always turns to the business side of things....

More...

Consumers are trained to order so give them a menu.

Fri, 23 Jan 2009 15:34:00 GMT

Stop leaving extra money on the table. There are a variety of studies that have linked Menu selling to higher F&I revenues varying from 23% to almost 60% annually. Sadly though, I can’t even count the number of dealerships that I have talked to that don’t use a Menu Selling System and don’t offer a full line of aftermarket products for a variety of reasons.

With a good compliant electronic Menu Selling System....

More...

The technology is available you just have to use it.

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 16:15:00 GMT

Years ago in 1984 when I started in the RV industry, dealers desperately needed basic software integration, which included updated vehicle costs and accounting transactions posted from finance, parts, and service – thus eliminating double entry. Today, this basic integration is still needed but falls far short of making most dealerships successful.

More...