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A Dealership Perspective
When times get tough we all look for ways to reduce expenses. The average dealership is spending nearly $650 per vehicle on advertising. In our dealership, we knew if we could advertise more effectively and build market-resistant customer relationships, we would reduce our ad spend and sell more vehicles.
We turned to the Internet. Almost 90% of car buyers search online before they buy. As a result, we have developed a unique Web marketing strategy that focuses on two things:
- Deliver a real experience.
- Build community through the dealership Web site.
We’re in a relationship business. Although we’re developing an online dealership, the goal of Internet marketing should always be to get real people into our real dealership. We blend our eCommerce strategy into radio, TV, and print, using messaging that consistently drives prospects and customers back to our Web site. We respond quickly to Internet leads with a phone call or personal e-mail. And, we never just reply to an e-mail; we answer the question. Whether our customers are in the store, listening to a radio ad, or on the other side of a computer, our success depends on the strength of the relationship.
What do wine and cheese have to do with Web marketing? To bring the community and relationship sides of our business online, we launched the Germain Community Web pages. On these pages, we promote and encourage registration for a variety of dynamic customer and community events, including customer clinics catered by local restaurants and wine and cheese events at the dealership. We also feature customer testimonials and encourage customer feedback. Germain Community is about the ownership experience, rather than the buying experience, and gives customers a reason to regularly visit our site and our dealership.
We look for ways to continually add value to our community. We actively promote and sponsor philanthropic events, such as the annual Tour de Grandview bike race to raise money for local charity. These events are featured on the Germain Community pages, complete with pictures, details about upcoming events, and the opportunity to register. Recently, we had tremendous reaction to the launch of our Germain Green pages that provide information about how to live and drive more environmentally friendly.
Create additional value and loyalty by using your site to establish a significant presence in your community. When you partner with Reynolds and think outside the box, wine and cheese can help you reduce expenses and advertise more effectively too.
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Shaun “NIFF” Kniffin is Director of Internet Sales and Business Development for the Columbus, Ohio, region of the Germain Motor Company.
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Reynolds’ WebMakerX® helps Germain Motor Company sell more and create lifelong customers.
Germain’s Web strategy has helped increase its Internet sales as a percentage of total sales by 38%.
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| Click here to watch Shaun talk about his experience with WebMakerX. |
Click here to learn more about WebMakerX. |
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Your business success is our number one priority. We’re committed to providing maximum value for your investment in both the ERA and POWER dealership management systems (DMS). Our focus has been on creating and improving solutions that help you address your business priorities, and that’s more important now than ever.
We continue to invest heavily in both systems, listening to what you tell us is important. We’re building new solutions and enhancing existing applications to help you save money, increase profits, get more value out of your technology, and improve operations. We’re excited to share with you several recent POWER solutions, including:
- Service Pricing Guide – Reynolds’ experts recently upgraded the parts and service data, enhancing your ability drive back-end profit with accurate and easy-to-use service information.
- Deal Receivables – We’ve added an online Heat Sheet, which you can use as a single place to easily record and monitor all of your collection efforts.
- Customer Relationship Management – 17 new reports have been added, making it the best integrated lead management option for dealers on POWER.
You’re in this for the long haul, and we’ll be here to support you with both ERA and POWER. You can count on valuable products, built by people who understand your business. We’re committed to making business better.
If you would like to share feedback, success stories, or ideas, please e-mail marketing@reyrey.com – we’d love to hear from you.
Sincerely,
Jon Strawsburg
Vice President, Product Planning
Reynolds and Reynolds
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Click to learn more about:
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Upcoming Dealer Overview Classes
Reynolds’ POWER Dealer Overview class helps you lead your dealership to greater success. Learn how to get the best return on your DMS investment using reports, controls, and other system features to increase sales, control costs, and grow a loyal customer base. Dealer Overview is limited to dealers and dealership general managers. For more information on POWER software education, visit support.reyrey.com.
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POWER 25.25 Release Now Available
Your ongoing feedback continues to strengthen the POWER system, helping make business better in all areas of your dealership. Discover the new enhancements now available with the POWER 25.25 release:
- Instant Traffic Reports for Customer Relationship Management – Help your management easily monitor and track sales associates through their numerous daily tasks. POWER’s Customer Relationship Management application now includes Sales Prospect Instant Traffic Reports from Sales Prospect Control. These reports help users analyze associates, increase visibility to multiple branches, and organize report selections by supervisor.
- General Manager Reports – Allow users to view up to 20 General Manager Reports while working in any POWER application, delivering information to your employees in the applications they use the most. Also, managers can now add their General Manager Favorites card to the left pane of any POWER application.
- Management Accounting Desktop Modules – Increase user efficiency and enable management to monitor progress throughout the month. In the Management Accounting Desktop, users can now establish up to six commonly-used accounting modules, including End of Month reports, Variable Routine Entries, My Smartips, Unposted Accounting Transactions, Scheduled Reconciliations, and Divisions Closed.
If you have any questions, please contact the POWER Support Center at 888.999.6348 or click the Online Support tab on https://my.reyrey.com.
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Dealer Workshop Videos Online
Click here to watch our Dealer Workshop videos.
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By Terrence O’Loughlin
4/30 Update: The Red Flags Rule Enforcement date is now August 1, 2009.
Click here to view the FTC announcement.
Is your dealership ready to comply with the Red Flags Rule and minimize risk for costly penalties? Are you ready to protect your business from the damage of identity theft?
With this law, dealers are required to write, implement, and maintain an ongoing prevention program to help detect and evaluate red flags for existing and new customers and respond to those risk factors accordingly. Keep in mind, your program must be appropriate for the size and complexity of your dealership.
Considerations for Your Program
As you are finalizing your plan, it is important to consider the types of accounts your dealership offers and maintains. What methods do you use to open these accounts? Do you allow customers, employees, or service providers to access accounts? What are your dealership’s previous experiences with identity theft? Evaluating these findings and the following information can help you implement the most effective program.
- Sources of Red Flags
- FTC/Agencies Red Flags Rule and other supervisory guidance.
- New identity theft methods dealers will identify.
- Dealership’s own experiences.
- Categories of Red Flags
- Alerts, notifications, and warnings received from consumer reporting agencies or other providers, such as fraud detection services.
- Suspicious documents or personal identification information.
- Unusual use of, or suspicious activity related to, an account.
- Notices received from customers, victims of identity theft, law enforcement authorities, or others regarding possible identity theft in connection with accounts.
- Detecting Red Flags
- Obtain and carefully evaluate authenticity of customer’s identifying information.
- Use additional methods to verify customer’s identity when in question.
- If a credit transaction, review the consumer report for recent suspicious activity.
- Watch accounts for suspicious activity.
- Responses (based on degree of risk posed by any particular detected red flag)
- Not opening the account.
- Notifying law enforcement.
- Not collecting an account/not selling account to a debt collector.
- Not responding.
For compliance purposes, your dealership should at least attempt a basic Red Flags program and reinvigorate your safeguards program, as it complements the Red Flags Rule and is also mandatory. However, knowing how costly identity theft can be for your business, protecting your bottom line should be the driving force behind writing and administering an effective plan. For further protection, consider seeking personalized legal advice.
For information on tools available from Reynolds to help you with Red Flags compliance, please call 800.767.7879.
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Terrence O'Loughlin
Director of Compliance
Reynolds and Reynolds
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