How to make your website function like your own direct employee.

Let's see if any of this sounds familiar. You have a small to midsize franchise dealership with limited ad budget and a factory mandated website via dealer.com.Your website brings in traffic, but nothing too remarkable and on DDC analytics you rank below the 33rd percentile. You end up going the traditional TV, Radio, Direct Mail campaigns to get results because getting the website to work is daunting or that its not necessary. You see results from traditional media, but its expensive.

Dealer.com is a great company with robust solutions, but your inside rep at DDC has a high workload of dealership accounts of various competing brands to manage. Sometimes your requests fall through the cracks due to the way they prioritize their work flow. They want to take care of you, but because of staffing constraints and workload flow, your requests go into a black hole and your website ends up looking like a hodgepodge with grammatical errors, bad graphics and an impersonal experience for your potential consumers.

Additionally, if you look across the websites of other dealers of the same brand, you will see the same content and look-mistakes and all. DDC's focus is from a top down manufacturers view, not necessarily your local market view. I remember a time that really illlustrates this. I was working on used car listings to personalize to the store I worked at. A level 2 DDC tech rep told me on used cars people don't care where they are buying from, they just want the car and that I was wasting my time. Needless to say when I reported that to the owner of the store, he wasn't very happy.

If your in a smaller market, you are well aware that people want to have a level of trust with the dealer they buy from. You've got to instill that trust before they walk in the door. Needless to say this started several conversations with DDC management that yielded no results.

Compounding that, you have to wear multiple hats spending time trying to close deals, put out fires and manage your staff. So, you end up taking the course of least resistance out of necessity. The website and social media management gets delegating to your internet sales team. In some cases you get very lucky and have a tech savvy person who can make it work. Most of the time, you get someone who is "winging it." Then, because of how their pay is structured, their focus is on selling, not optimizing the website and the website gets a lower focus.

How many times have you said "We've got up on the lot, no floor staff is available, I need you to go take care of them." Being good soldiers and wanting to make a commission, they stop what they're doing, take care of the up and a good portion of the time, they succeed in closing a sale as they are usually your best sales people. They have good intentions of making your online presence great, but like the old saying the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

You end up with a website that gets neglected or is haphazardly put together with band-aids on top of band-aids leading to the frustration of your online audience due to bad information, outdated material or the inability to find what they are looking for. The end result-your store loses the opportunity.

I've sat in many sales meetings where out of frustration/desperation, the sales staff are told to grab the yellow pages, had a card out wherever you go, etc. Shouldn't your website be doing a lot of the heavy lifting? You want the relationship built with your store more than the salespeople so that your customer base is loyal to your offering, not walking away when, not if the salesperson leaves.

Fortunately, there agencies that work with specifically with small to midsize dealerships that offer affordable solutions that are focused on your success. Don't make the mistake of going with an agency that does general work in your area, but rather focuses on your specific industry/product.

The benefits for you are:

• Your dealership and website get focused attention using knowledge based on the product and market you are in.
• You are working with a talent that you will see you in person.
  
• They have skin in the game, they only work with a limited number of dealers and their success is directly tied to your success.
  
• When an issue arises, you get their focused attention on your needs/requirements that get you the results you deserve.
  
• Your website becomes a 24/7 employee nurturing leads, generating sales, dealership profit and good will with your surrounding community.
  
• Your digital presence becomes like honey to bees. Everyone hates the traditional car buying process, by concisely optimizing your stores online presence, you create an atmosphere that is welcoming rather than daunting.
• The solutions are affordable and the upside for you is huge.