Note–> The text version of this interview has only been slightly modified for easier reading. I wanted to preserve the integrity of the interview without making too many changes and I want you to be able to feel the conversation, not just read it.
Kenny: In this interview you’re going to hear from a gentleman who has spoken at dealer conventions in Dallas, Las Vegas, and all over the country. During one of his recent speeches, one of his coaching clients came up on stage to talk about how his company surpassed all of their quarterly sales goals for the first time in their company history. My guest today will share that same story with you, including how that dealership was able to accomplish such a feat. He is the author of three books and, for more than 25 years, this motivational expert and keynote speaker has been coaching sales leaders, businesses, sales people and teams to reach their sales goals. His name is Jim Jackson and he’s with us on the line. Jim, how are you today?
Jim: I am doing very well, thank you very much. Thanks for having me.
Kenny: Absolutely. Jim I would like to ask you a couple of questions and then I want you to share that story – I know it’s going to be exciting. I think a lot of people will get a lot of value out of understanding how you were able to do that with that client. So, let’s get started. At a recent convention, another convention, you walked up on the stage and pulled out your iPhone. You spoke into the iPhone and said, “Car dealers in the area.” Then you held your phone up to the microphone as the phone verbally listed all the car dealers in the area. So, I am curious and I am sure other people hearing this would be curious, why did you do that? What’s the point?
Jim: Well I wanted to emphasize the message that most of the dealers in the room were working off of what I would call an “old model.” For the last 25 years I have been working with all kinds and types of dealers. Everything from the big franchise dealers to the small Mom and Pop dealerships, buy-here-pay-here dealers, sub-prime. Everything you can possibly think of including Toyota, Ford and some of the major manufacturers, and Mannheim and Odessa. One of the things I have noticed over the years is that the dealers and most car people do what they have always done. Whatever model they used five years ago, they still use the same model to drive traffic to their showroom.
I believe the number one task is to sell cars, and to be able to do that you’ve got to get people on your lot and the showroom floor. Most car dealerships do the tried and true. For example, they have an ad in the Yellow Pages. If you ask any one of the people in a large group of 500 people, how many of those people have gone to the Yellow Pages in the last 90 days, maybe two or three hands will go up. Most people today use technology. They use the web to search for everything from dry cleaners to where you take your sick dog.
People are doing the same thing whether it’s used cars or new car service repair, they are going to the web, they’re going to the internet. Most people have access to the internet today. My point was/is that most people have used Yellow Pages, TVs, and radios in the past, and some of it is still good because you still need some exposure on TV or the radio just to keep your name in front of people.
One of the challenges is that most people in the car business are of an age where they don’t quite understand all of the new technology; and that’s not a criticism. Kids growing up today and young adults in their 20s always have a computer in front of them – they don’t know anything different. So I try to help them understand this new reality by pulling out my new Apple 4S phone, which has a little button you can push to ask a question. The question I asked was: How many car dealerships are nearby? I think the response/number was 20. The interesting thing is there wasn’t one dealer in that room who was listed as one of the 20 dealers from the search. I had done my homework – it was a great message.
I then asked them: Do you know you aren’t on Google local? I heard a lot of responses and mumbling about having a website. Okay, but you’re not marketing to your local people. You’re not driving traffic into your dealership. I think I illustrated quite nicely how or why you need to be updated with the latest, greatest technology and how to use it. Actually, you don’t need to know how; you just need to know how to hire the right people. I was real clear about that as well, Kenny. And then I gave them some guidelines on what they need to do to hire the right people.
Kenny: I can imagine some blank faces when they realized their name wasn’t one of the listed local dealers. Jim, you mentioned something else I want to ask you to go into a little further. You said that the dealers felt that having a website was enough. I get that a lot, too, when I’m talking with someone about their marketing. When I ask them what kind of marketing they are using, they almost always respond that they have a website! I try not to chuckle out loud because that’s not marketing. Relying on a website is like throwing a business card on the ground somewhere and calling that marketing. Nobody finds it and picks it up and does anything with it, so it’s not marketing. So, why do you think people have the idea that a website is the same as marketing? I mean, did somebody tell them that, did they stop short of getting all the necessary information, or are they just completely uninformed?
Jim: Well, I fell into the same trap. I spent a lot of money hiring people who told me that all I needed was a website. Then I spent several thousand dollars having a website built with flashy bells and whistles to tell all about Jim Jackson. I have a car dealer up in Seattle who had a flashy website. The first two pages of this dealer’s site wear entirely about the history of his company. And you know what? Nobody gives a crap about the history. Nobody cares about how a dealership was formed or who thought of it first! The website should be built with the persona or the image of your customer; the brand. I mean who is your customer? So, if you have six different customers, there’s got to be six different quadrants on your page, each applying to the different types of customers. If you go to my website right now, which is http://www.jimjacksonlive.com/, you’ll see from the first page that I am going after a targeted brand/audience. Every question and every thought, everything on that page is directed to them. They don’t care about the personal details of Jim Jackson, they want to know if I have credibility and the credentials to do what I suggest and recommend – they want to know what’s in it for them.
First, every website should be built for and about your customer and not for you. I worked with a used car dealer who once put Lamborghinis on the front page of his website. I asked him if he actually sold Lamborghinis. He admitted he didn’t, but he liked them on the page because the cars are cool. Well, right off the bat and without doing another thing, a potential customer simply looks at those pictures and knows they can’t afford a Lamborghini and immediately decides not to shop at that dealership. In order to have a successful website, whatever a customer is looking for (information about a car or whatever), that person has got to be able to relate to what they see on your website. The copy, the pictures, everything about what they see they have to be able to relate.
The second part of a good website is the inclusion of a call to action. A call to action gives the person viewing your web page something to do; it gets them involved. First and foremost, there needs to be a way for you and the potential customer to get in touch with each other – a place on the web page for them to leave a callback number or subscribe to a newsletter, how to get a quote, an application, make an appointment to look at cars, or even request somebody to call them or bring it over to their house.
Whatever it may be, you need to have a call to action and it has to be all over your website. And understand, I’m not an expert in this; I only figured it out because it wasn’t working for me. I did a lot of research and I’m happy to help prevent the inevitable frustration for someone else who might not have figured it out yet. It’s not that complicated – a website should be built for your customer and not for you.
Kenny: Great points. Alright, I’m dying to hear and I’m certain other people are dying to hear the story about one of your clients, you know which one I’m talking about, they reached or surpassed all of their quarterly sales goals for the first time in the entire of their history. How did it happen, what did you do and what can people take away from this so they can do the same thing?