Fort Lauderdale, FL – May 20^th, 2013 — AutoUSA Internet Sales Solutions (www.autousadealers.com) today introduced Shop-By-Payment for Payment Pro^SM, powered by DriveItNow, a patent-pending next generation payment marketing tool that offers consumers a new way to shop on auto dealer websites. When a customer visits a dealer website with Shop-By-Payment, they are given the option to search inventory based on their desired monthly payment. The customer is prompted to enter in their name and a few details—no SSN or DOB required. Shop-By-Payment searches the available inventory based on their actual credit, the dealers’ current finance programs and returns a list of new and used vehicles that match the desired payment.

 

“Shop-By-Payment for Payment Pro revolutionizes the online auto shopping experience,” said Phil DuPree, President of AutoUSA. “Instead of searching for vehicles based on make, model or price, customers can now view and choose from all the vehicles they know they can afford based on the monthly payment.”

 

After displaying a list of vehicles that match the customer’s payment range, Shop-By-Payment allows the customer to change criteria such as monthly payment, down payment or the bottom line price they are willing to pay. The inventory displayed instantly adjusts to the new criteria selected by the customer. When the customer narrows the selection of vehicles, they click on a button with the desired monthly payment. That information then becomes a credit analyzed website lead and is sent to that dealership.

 

Shop-By-Payment for Payment Pro offers dealers the following benefits:

 

·      For the majority of car buyers, it is all about the payment. According to CNW Research, 70.5 percent of car buyers finance their vehicles. Shop-By-Payment instantly engages these customers by offering an easy, interactive and immediate way to view the vehicles they can afford, instead of viewing the vehicles they want and not knowing if they can afford them.

 

·      Because no Social Security Number or date of birth is required, Shop-By-Payment protects consumers’ privacy and credit reports. Payment Pro delivers payment quotes based on the customer’s credit without negatively impacting the credit score.

 

·      Payment Pro delivers accurate monthly payment quotes based on the customer’s credit, the dealership’s finance programs and the specific inventory available, producing high-quality, credit analyzed leads. With customers this far down the sales funnel, the next step is for the customer to visit the dealership and take delivery of the vehicle.

 

Shop-By-Payment is initially available to car dealers who are currently using AutoUSA’s Payment Pro. To see a demonstration of Shop-By-Payment for Payment Pro, visit www.AnywhereMotors.com.

 

Dealers interested in learning more about Shop-By-Payment for Payment Pro can call AutoUSA at 800-509-8714.

 

About AutoUSA Internet Sales Solutions (www.AutoUSADealers.com)

AutoUSA Internet Sales Solutions brings the best-in-class tools to increase Internet sales and lower costs for automotive dealerships. Leading products include Payment Pro^SM, a payment-based pre-qualification tool for dealer websites; ShowPro^SM incentive program, proven to turn more leads into shows; Leads&Listings^SM, providing the highest quality, new and used car email and phone leads from 100+ sites; PowerListings^SM 2.0, helping dealers increase traffic to—and leads from—their social media sites; and AVA Virtual Sales Assistant, helping dealerships manage more leads at a reduced cost. AutoUSA products are currently benefiting thousands of active dealers all across the U.S.

 

For more information, visit AutoUSA’s web site, subscribe to our blog at http://blog.autousadealers.com, follow us on Twitter @AutoUSALeads and “Like” us on Facebook at /AutoUSADealers

 

About DriveItNow® (http://www.DriveItNow.com)

DriveItNow® is a patent-pending monthly payment marketing technology service of Automobile Consumer Services, Inc. (ACS). ACS is a leader in developing innovative online shopping technology with the initial launch of LeaseCompare.com in 2000. LeaseCompare.com continues to be one of the top destinations for auto financing and leasing in the industry.

Since more than 80% of your customers are likely to finance or lease a vehicle, when is the right time to bring up this potentially touchy subject? Is it better to pre-qualify or not to pre-qualify your Internet leads? Josh Vajda, Director of Inside Sales for AutoUSA, shares some tips. www.autousadealers.com

Fort Lauderdale, FL – February 4^th, 2013 — AutoUSA Internet Sales Solutions (www.autousadealers.com) announced today that its recently launched website conversion tool, Payment Pro ℠, is transforming the customer buying experience on auto dealership websites. A vital part of the buying process for most consumers is credit eligibility and monthly payment affordability, but current website tools such as estimated payment calculators and long-form credit applications fall short of consumer needs. Payment Pro is the only website conversion tool that offers accurate payment quotes to consumers without requiring personal information, resulting in pre-qualified leads directly from a dealer’s own website.

 

“The feedback we are getting from dealers using Payment Pro is that customers really like the fact they can get a real payment quote without having their credit checked which can negatively impact scores,” said Phil DuPree, President of AutoUSA.

 

Payment Pro, powered by DriveItNow, is also the only solution offering customers a method for getting pre-qualified via their mobile device. Approximately 20% of new-vehicle buyers use smartphones or tablets close to the time of their purchase, according to the 2012 New Autoshopper Study by J.D. Power and Associates. Google forecasts that number may rise to 47% in 2013.

 

M’Lady Nissan in Crystal Lake, IL has been using Payment Pro on its website since October 2012. Soon after installation, Operations Manager Patti Scipione noticed a significant number of new leads from Payment Pro. “These leads are very qualified and we are closing them at an average rate of 40%,” said Scipione. “This month (January 2013) we received 28 leads and so far I’ve sold 14 of them. It’s the best new product I’ve tried in a couple years and I’m very happy with it.”

 

Tony Rehn, General Manager of Evergreen Ford in Issaquah, Washington, appreciates the level of transparency that Payment Pro offers.  “Car shoppers have plenty of choices when it comes to inventory and low prices, but they don’t know what will happen when they go into a dealership for the financing aspect of it,” he says. “Some dealers may surprise them with high interest rates. That’s not what we do and I want customers to know that.” He adds that Payment Pro enables customers to get further down the funnel on Evergreen Ford’s website, so that once they know their monthly payment and their interest rate, there’s nothing left for them to do but come in and take delivery.

 

In the three months prior to purchasing a vehicle, 31% of car buyers perform at least one “low-funnel” Key Performance Indicator (KPI) online; such as request a quote, locate a dealer, use a calculator, search inventory and review financing options (source: Online Shopping Behavior by Yahoo! Autos and Compete). Payment Pro converts these low-funnel car buyers into leads at a rate higher than conventional estimated payment calculators and long-form credit applications.

 

Payment Pro is powered by DriveItNow and sold by AutoUSA Internet Sales Solutions. To see a demonstration of Payment Pro visit www.paymentprodemo.com or visit Booth #274 at the NADA Convention & Expo this week in Orlando, Florida.

 

 

About AutoUSA Internet Sales Solutions

 

AutoUSA Internet Sales Solutions brings the best-in-class tools to increase Internet sales and lower costs for automotive dealerships. Leading products include Payment Pro^SM, a payment-based pre-qualification tool for dealer websites; ShowPro^SM incentive program, proven to turn more leads into shows; Leads&Listings^SM, providing the highest quality, new and used car email and phone leads from 100+ sites; PowerListings^SM 2.0, helping dealers increase traffic to—and leads from—their social media sites; and AVA Virtual Sales Assistant, helping dealerships manage more leads at a reduced cost. AutoUSA products are currently benefiting thousands of active dealers all across the U.S.

 

For more information, visit AutoUSA’s web site, subscribe to our blog at http://blog.autousadealers.com, follow us on Twitter @AutoUSALeads and “Like” us on Facebook at /AutoUSADealers

 

In October, we facilitated a panel called “The Five Things in Common That Successful Internet Departments Share” at the 13^th Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition in Las Vegas. We were thrilled to have over 200 attendees and want to thank our panelists for doing a great job. We decided to share some tips from our panelists for the benefit of all who couldn’t make it to the conference in hopes that you’ll find it as helpful as the attendees did.

 

Our panelists included:

- Greg Coleman, Director of Business Development & E-Commerce Director, Lexus Store of Lexington & Toyota of Nicholasville

- Justin Brun, E-Commerce Manager, Acton Toyota of Littleton

- Richard Tolsma, Internet Manager, Dan Wiebold Ford, Idaho

- Ray Fenster, President & CEO, RayFenster.com, LLC

- Dennis Colome, Vice President Sales & Marketing, eXteres Auto

 

Here’s a summary of some tips from their discussion:

 

1)      Boost your phone call volume without paying additional money: “Make your phone number prominent on every website page. In addition, include your phone number in the website page title and description.” – Ray Fenster

 

2)    Relevance is content, not just keywords. “Don’t ‘keyword stuff’ your website search terms, i.e. don’t go after every city in the state. Google is onto this and no longer allows it.”  – Dennis Colome

 

3)    All leads are created equal. “Our dealership uses a strict 180-day process for follow up. Once a lead reaches 60 days with no contact, then the process becomes automated.” – Richard Tolsma

 

4)    Turn your “dead” leads into service opportunities. “If a customer isn’t ready to buy a car, give the lead to fixed ops to market and see if they can get that customer in for service. Something like 80% of service customers will buy a new car from that dealership. The closing percentage goes way up.” – Ray Fenster

 

5)    Don’t be afraid to share pricing, just be smart about it. “Be up front in your pricing, but be sure to give the customer several pricing options. Give them the price for the vehicle they inquired about, then follow up with second and third pricing options that are lower.” – Dennis Colome

 

6)    Generic responses don’t add value to the conversation. “Respond to specific questions and concerns in the customers’ initial e-mails. Also acknowledge the source from where the lead came; for example, if you get a lead from ZAG American Express, mention something about the program and how exclusive it is and how happy you are to be working with them.” – Justin Brun

 

 

7)    Have a pricing strategy. “When responding to pricing questions, use a “we start as low as” strategy and show the customer the option, i.e. a Toyota-Corolla. Giving them the lowest price on the lowest model will set their expectations and they usually upsell themselves. The vast majority of our customers buy a different vehicle than they originally inquired about.”  – Greg Coleman

 

8)    Be patient. “Third party leads typically research five to six vehicles on the third-party sites because they are looking for unbiased info. When they submit leads they are often three to four months out, so work with them for a while. True ROI has to be measured over time.” – Dennis Colome

 

9)    Know Your Market. “We perform a competitive analysis via e-mails and mystery shopping websites and third-party sites, and build a pricing matrix based upon the information gathered. On new vehicles we found our competitors are just showing the MSRP; so by displaying that number minus any available rebates, we automatically show a lower price than what’s in the market.” – Greg Coleman

 

10)Trends are worth more than ‘snapshots’. “When you report to management, they want to see results. Whatever program or product you are reviewing, show 30-day, 60-day and 90-day snapshots so they can see trends as to what’s working and what isn’t. Don’t be afraid to get rid of what’s not working. Not all products work for all dealerships.”  - Ray Fenster

 

Which is your favorite “top tip?” What are you doing in your department that works? What’s your “top tip” to share with other Internet sales personnel? 

 

Justin Brun, E-Commerce Manager with Acton Toyota of Littleton, shares three tips for effective Internet lead response.

This is the third in a series of blogs I’ve been writing on metrics: in my last blog we discussed the average percentage of sales in dealerships that can be attributed to Internet leads. This week, I’d like to talk about average front-end gross per vehicle.

 

In a recent survey we conducted, we asked dealerships representing all types of makes and models:

 

These were the two questions related to front-end gross in the survey:

1) What is the average front-end gross per vehicle sold in the showroom (floor sales) in your store?

 

2) What is the average front-end gross per vehicle sold in the Internet department in your store?

 

We wanted to first quantify the difference between gross from showroom sales and Internet sales, and we wanted to compare the averages of stores in different “performance brands.”

 

Here are the survey results:

 

• 29% of respondents said the average front-end gross per vehicle in the showroom is > $1,300

• 15% of respondents said the average front-end gross per vehicle in the Internet department is > $1,300

 

At the same time:

• 9% of respondents said the average front-end gross per vehicle in the showroom is < $800

• 21% of respondents said the average front-end gross per vehicle in the Internet department is < $800

 

It’s clear there’s quite a disparity between averages in the showroom and the Internet department. We consulted David Kain of Kain Automotive on this question, because he believes (and the survey results reflect this), that most Internet salespeople tend to discount too soon. This tendency leads to lower front-end gross averages in the Internet department.

 

Regardless of what your dealership’s average gross per vehicle (PVR) is, the goal is for the showroom and Internet department averages to be the same. Why is this important? The higher the gross per vehicle, the higher your ROI and profits are.

 

We compared answers from dealerships making seven times or more ROI on their Internet spend, to those making three times or less ROI on their Internet spend, regardless of make or model. The results were compelling:

 

Internet Department ROI	Showroom PVR > $1300	Internet PVR > $1300
< 4x	21%	7%
> 6x	58%	44%

 

So how can you increase your average front-end gross per vehicle, as well as get the Internet department gross in line with the showroom gross? Here are a few tips:

 

1)   1)  Always provide the customer with choices and carefully review leads for model selection and trim levels. If you’re quoting your customer the loss leader or base model and they want the luxury model, then you’re setting them up for a price expectation way lower than is reasonable.

2)   2)  Just like when you’re face-to-face with a customer, focus on building value in the vehicles. Customers want to know what they’re buying is worth the money, and you have the opportunity to explain why the price is what the price is

3)    3) Don’t be tempted to immediately give a discount, and be wary of programs that send inventory selections to customers with quotes designed to beat your competition or that are loss leaders. Big discount quotes make the customer believe all vehicles can be significantly discounted.

4)    4) Mystery shop your competition from time to time on key vehicles to ensure you’re pricing your vehicles to market.

5)    5) Consider location. If a customer is close to you, then price in the convenience of shopping with you. If the customer lives 20 miles away and has to drive past multiple competitors in order to get to your store, you may be more aggressive in your pricing.

6)    6) Set the rules in the Internet department based on what vehicles are selling for in the showroom. If they know the ‘floor’ price, you’re less likely to have a significant discrepancy between the showroom and the Internet gross.

 

What other tips do you have to raise the average front-end gross per vehicle, and more importantly, to increase the averages in the Internet departments to be more in line with showroom averages?

Is your dealership's 'contact made' rate for Internet leads in the 65-75% range? If not, here are three things to focus on that will help. Josh Vajda, Director of Inside Sales at AutoUSA Internet Sales Solutions, gives a tutorial on how to improve auto dealers' 'contact made' rates.

Pricing competition can be fierce, but it doesn't always come down to price. Customers will buy from you as long as they feel good about the value they are getting. Here Josh Vajda with AutoUSA gives three tips for building value in your dealership.

We recently conducted a survey in which we asked Internet department personnel to share some key metrics. In one question, we asked:

How much total gross does your Internet department generate for every $1,000 spent on Internet leads from all sources (SEM, independent and third-party leads, classified site subscriptions, etc.) ?

Of the 183 responses, the answers broke down:

3X or less: 33%

4X-6X: 18%

7X-10X or greater: 20%

Don’t Know: 29%

 

These answers reveal there is quite a large disparity between auto dealers’ return on investment (ROI) on Internet spending, as well as a surprisingly large percentage that don’t even know their ROI.  So I wanted to know: what should a dealership target for a reasonable Internet marketing ROI?

 One of the experts we consulted for measuring this metric was David Kain, President of Kain Automotive. He suggested that 5X ROI was the absolute minimum that a dealership should strive for, and ideally Internet departments should be seeing 7X ROI on their Internet spend.

But how do you calculate your ROI? Basically, ROI is what you get for what you spend. Here is a simple formula:

(Gross Profit – Marketing Investment) / Marketing Investment = ROI

 This formula represents three steps.

 1)   Marketing investment should be simple to figure out as it is the total cost of a campaign. For instance, if you spend $1,000 per month on a Pay-Per-Click campaign, $1,000 per month on independent leads and $1,000 per month on a subscription site, then your total marketing spend on Internet leads that month is $3,000. For the sake of simplicity, I’m going to suggest here that the cost of overhead, while included in some ROI measurements, should not be included when figuring out ROI for Internet leads, regardless of source. So in this formula, don’t worry about including labor costs (for staff), web site maintenance costs, etc.

 

2)   Gross profit is the next metric you’ll need to figure (my first GM used to say, “Volume is vanity. Gross is sanity.”). If you can pull the actual grosses on all Internet deals, that’s great. If not, take the number of sales and multiply it by your dealership’s average front and back combined gross profits. So if $3,000 in marketing spend delivers 10 sales at an average of $3000 combined gross, then your total Internet-related gross profit will be $30,000.

 

3)   Next, you need to subtract the initial marketing investment ($3,000) from your gross profit ($30,000) for a total of $27,000.

 

4)   Divide that number by your initial marketing investment ($27,000/$3,000) and in this scenario you end up with 9X ROI, an excellent result.

 

Why is it important to know your ROI? Any time you spend money on anything, whether on Internet leads or a marketing campaign, it is an investment. Like any investment, it should be measured, monitored and compared to other investments so you know where you should be spending your money.

 

Also, knowing the ROI for all your lead sources gives you leverage. How many Internet marketing budgets were slashed in 2009 and 2010? Perhaps some cuts were deserved, but do you know which ones? Cutting back on a lead source that returns a high ROI is only going to hurt the bottom line.

 

Of course, our question focused on the overall Internet marketing spend, not on the ROI of various lead sources. But applying this formula to your separate lead sources is highly recommended and gives a better measurement of success than just closing percentage or other metrics. After all, ROI is what goes to the bottom line.

 

I’d love to hear some feedback: how do you calculate your dealership’s ROI on your Internet leads spend? What do you consider a good ROI? In my next blog, I’m going to give some tips on how to drive your team to improve ROI.

 

AutoUSA is pleased to announce that Phil DuPree and Josh Vajda have been selected to speak at Digital Dealer 13 in Las Vegas, October 23rd - 25th. In this video snippet, Phil gives a brief overview of the workshop about the "five things in common that successful Internet departments share". Focused on processes within the dealership that are necessary as a precursor to success.