Dealerfire Blog

Recycle...your old internet leads that is

Do you have some fairly recent internet leads that haven't panned out?  Update the information you have by running it through a data company. I would suggest W3 Data, the company that also does whitepages.com. Whitepages.com is a great to tool for verify phone/address info or getting an address if all you have is a phone or doing reverse phone & address lookups. Now for the recycling part..If your have a name and home address it is a one step process to get income, median home value, owner/renter and other demographic information appended that can help you zero in on the right vehicle/price point for that lead. If you have only a name and home phone number it is a two step process. First you update the name/phone list with with the address, then update the demographic data. Going through these steps allows you to get better info on a lead and turn an internet lead into a direct mail prospect as well. You can give it a look yourself at W3's website under their update customer list and profile customer lists.

Let’s Play Jeopardy!

The category is "Auto sales in the U.S." for a huge increase in monthly sales volume.
Answer: Women

Well Chuck that would be, "Who influences 80% of all vehicle purchases in the U.S.?"
Correct! We would have also accepted:

• Who buys 50% of all new and used vehicles in the U.S.?
• Who buys 40% of trucks in the U.S.?

Unfortunately for auto dealers they tend to have a bad reputation in most female buyers. Deserved or not it is there and the dealer who ignore it loses sales. The dealer who changes that perception will sell more vehicles.

There is a solution though for both the dealer and female buyers, the solution is Askpatty.com. Askpatty.com offers women advice car purchasing, maintenance and the whole range of automotive issues. Askpatty.com does this through the use of  their website, blogs, podcasts and partnerships with  organizations such as Autotrader.com and ASE Certified. The even recently open a venue in the online virtual world Second Life putting them along side other Second Life pioneers like Scion, Pontiac and several Presidential candidates. NOTE: To view Askpatty.com's Second Life venue you will need to download the Second Life software. You can view a YouTube video and pictures of their spot in Second Life though without it.

For the dealer, Askpatty.com offers a certified dealer program where dealerships can become "certified female friendly". The program offers everything from co-branding opportunities to monthly training on how to sell to women. Dealers are listed in their Female friendly Dealer sear engine and whole lot more.

80% is one hell of reason to check them out.

Best practices for marketing vehicles online

I was speaking with a dealer today, and they are completely new to the arena of online marketing. They were asking a lot of questions about best practices, and one of the tools I provided for their education was a presentation developed by Autotrader.com. If you're new to selling/promoting vehicles online, or even if you'd just like a brief refresher course, this tutorial should be well worth your while. It discusses everything from the importance of writing good descriptions to taking appropriate photos.