Strategy MOB - After Hours Clubhouse Call

Great Strategy MOB talk last night on Clubhouse! 

Jason Harris was kind enough to help me get access into the Clubhouse iPhone app, and I've got to say, I really liked the informal group call environment that really allowed for everyone to participate in the conversation. 

Last night we discussed…

1. What are the most important Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) that we should be tracking in 2021 when it comes to marketing and operations?
2. How do we create and shift from a sales process to a buying process? 
3. Who owns the data, the dealer or the marketplace? And finally...
4. Should the BDC and sales teams become one department? 

We were lucky enough to hear from many automotive professionals last night who happily offered their ‘2 cents’ as advice through experiences (some more positive than others) as well as valuable tips/tricks that I think everyone was able to learn from. 

Here are some of the things I was able to take away from the meeting...

Key Takeaways: 

1. When it boils down to marketing and operations, dealers need to be focusing more on the data and metrics that allow them to improve their results. Jason believes that in today’s date, we need to be addressing the question... “how can we engage with our customers?” Terry using one of his sports analogies put it quite well, that whether it be a digital or conventional delivery method, it’s about “Increasing your batting average”. We agreed that increasing engagement was not just about how much effort we put out, or how many leads you receive, if you are not measuring how customers are reacting to your content, the offers, the clicks, the opens, then you are missing out on insights that can help you understand your customers buying behaviors. To make this happen, Erwin Lee raises a good point that dealers need to understand how their sales center is connecting with their marketing material and make sure all communications are "aligned with the same message". Even though we are in a new age, Jason says we need to get back to the “old school routes as storytellers that people want to genuinely connect with”. Curtis Wentworth raised a point that most agree with that it is upper management's responsibilities to lead their team instead of being a “task manager” and to determine the most important KPIs we have to look to our salespeople who are in the “trenches” day in and out to tell us what matters the most.
2. Jason moves the conversation to how the traditional “12 step” sales process can be shifted into a customer-centric buying process. Felicity Marontate says we need to be evolving our mindset by focusing on "meeting the customers where they are" on their buying journey. Paul understands that the commitment to the buyer should come to life from the people we employ by maintaining the brand promise in everything we do. By selling the way our customers prefer to buy, Jason knows that sales have the ability to flow and transition the conversation to where it needs to be so the customer feels comfortable moving forward.  Harry mentions his frustration from a consumer's experience of being “ready to buy” yet “the salesperson still wants to run me through their sales process”. Durran had some great ideas to combat this by starting the conversation with the “option of how they want to buy".

Jason questions whether this is due to a lack of training, however, John Laguerre puts his point across well that when salespeople are trained, they believe that the process is the “recipe for success” but “just following steps is not going to equate to results”. Danny believes this may be because most get trained and coached in “steps” instead of “scenarios”, which may be further adding to the problem. While most believe it is the responsibility of training staff and implementing new processes to comes from the top, Bill believes we as an industry are “not evolving fast enough” as at the end of the day “it's up to the dealer principal who writes the check” to shift its mindset before real change can happen.

1. Jason raises this next topic of concern because he recently had a client dealer who had signed up for a new automotive marketplace, who asked for his advice on the 23-page data compliance agreement to which he was surprised and was worried if this policy is excessive. This was reasoned on the grounds that as the inventory is listed on this marketplace, dealers must give up their rights to any customer data being collected. The question we all pondered was... who should own the rights to this data, the dealer or the marketplace? Jon points out that every individual owns the right to their data unless they consent to their information being released. But after they consent, Erwin, who has a backend opinion on the marketplace, points out that legally, the data belongs to the creator, and in this case, the creator is the marketplace. Jason believes there is a gold mine of data that is being withheld from dealers. However, others didn’t think that dealers care much about it until they have the expertise to read and interpret this data. 

When Jason brought to light that the leading marketplace (whom shall not be named) is actively withholding this data for themselves, and then is openly reselling that data to dealers direct competitors with a smile on their face, you could tell the room was not okay (to say the least). Gary Sillman and Brian have parted their ways with automotive marketplaces all together after the sour taste in their mouths about how they run their operations. Luckily, Gary found much better results with his operation without marketplaces from a 16% ROI to up to a whopping 800% ROI through leveraging social marketing techniques. That really impressed the club members and brought to light the possibility of social being the way to go. 

1. Finally, Jason wonders if BDC and sales should just become one department. Gary says it's the dealership leader's responsibility to make sure every interaction “flows” because many dealers don't sit down and see what's best for the team. Ron tells a story within his operation that his BDC team felt isolated from sales as they were placed in a trailer outside. Feeling empathetic, he knows a good work environment is a key to making everyone feel included. In John's operation, he noticed that salespeople who did the deal from A-Z had much smoother transitions as opposed to splitting the teams. On the other hand, Erikka Tiffani shares that her dealer clients have managed to overcome the “hot potato” type interactions by implementing a supportive team relationship with all her 3 sales departments. She explains that when one team is busy with deliveries, the others are following up with their customers to fill the gaps. Her belief is that with proper coaching, inclusive pay plans, and treating everyone equally, teams can work well together. Unfortunately, others like Gary did not have an Erikka on their team to make them feel that way. 

For salespeople to really embrace the role of the “one point of contact” experience, John explains the salesperson must be trained and proficient in being attentive, handling follow-ups, and making sure everyone gets a response as soon as possible. Eric uses his BDC department to help fill in the gaps “like duct tape” and keep their calendars full for their sales teams. As long as dealers can fill, as Durran Cage says the “ultimate gap” of BDC and sales teams inharmonious interactions with customers, they can see great results. Durran ponders shifting the acronym from BDC to (CET) customer experience team to better fit the team role of helping the customer instead of fighting about who gets paid for which deal. It's clear from everyone's feedback that BDC’s can be very helpful when they are functioning like a limb of the sales organism, if not, it may be better to train your sales staff to be that single point of contact to help the customer from the first conversation to delivery. 

All in all, great meeting! It was a pleasure meeting you all and I'm looking forward to seeing how things pan out over the next few months in this evolving industry. If you have any questions or would like a copy of the minutes, feel free to contact me directly.