But highlight a dealership that charged too much for a vehicle and they are on the six o’clock news for “scamming some little old lady.”    I know that for every negative comment or video online there are a hundred or two hundred happy customers who were very pleased  with how they were treated at the dealership.  They just didn’t go out of their way to share their feelings.

Auto Retailing Heroes

After all my years in the industry I have nothing but the utmost respect for the hard working people in the automotive retail business.

In my mind, the heroes in our business are the technicians who get up at 5:30 in the morning show up at the dealership at 7AM, ready to fix Mom’s sedan so the brakes don’t fail when she takes the kids to school.

The heroes are the sales professionals that help a Dad and his teenage daughter buy a safe car to take to college and bring her home safely on weekends.

The heroes are the managers, accountants, office staff who show up early, stay late and put up with so much government regulation it would make your head explode. The hero is the dealer owner who puts up with the controlling behavior of the OEMs and their heavy handed and burdensome requirements.

The hero is the dealership that stands ready to support their community in a hundred different ways.  These are the heroes that deserve better!  And even though they face Herculean challenges every day they go out each morning and get the job done. These are the folks that have earned my undying respect.

Every time I see a negative review, or a video bashing a dealer I take it personally. I know we deserve better than that.  I want people working in this industry to have the respect they truly deserve. But we can only get that respect when we respect ourselves, exude the right behavior and take care of our neighbors.  Sleazy car sales people will always be a part of our business, but I want it to be a very, very small part of our business.  Working together with a clear vision we can make that happen.

Until we are successful in rewarding dealers and their people for doing things right we will continue to be challenged in obtaining the professional status we so badly need.

Mark Dubis
Carfolks.com

Carfolks does that for dealerships! We reward you and your employees for doing things right. As a dealer advocate site we want consumers to find accurate information about their local dealers and when problems pop up, as they normally do, we have a system for dealers to address those issues and show the world that they care about their customers.

Online Reviews Are Here to Stay

78% of consumers trust peer recommendations,
58% recommended company’s because of outstanding service,
87% of consumers said they boycotted a company after one negative experience.*

This means every auto retailer needs to be at the top of their game and offer great professional service. Participation on Carfolks.com gives you a jump start and a solid marketing opportunity to beat your competitors to the “social evidence” punch.

* Harris Interactive, “Customer Experience Report” 2008

Lets face it, car dealers are a target for every upset customer, chronic complainer and folks that want to take potshots at dealers whether they deserve it or not.

The Internet provides fertile ground for these negative comments. With millions of visitors everyday, just a few bad comments posted on sites like FaceBook, RipOffReport, YouTube and various search engines can damage a dealers’ reputation very quickly.

Carfolks is different from other review or social networks. By initiating the conversation, and working as part of a dealers’ marketing program, Carfolks provides a neighborhood where customers and dealers can resolve issues to their mutual satisfaction. Carfolks rewards pro-active dealers with a higher volume of customer (user generated) content. This means greater visibility on the Internet using proven search engine optimized strategies.

Consumers are going online and looking for dealerships that will give them a great buying experience, and by pushing more comments to the web, Carfolks helps these auto shoppers find dealers who have a record of treating customers great before during and after the sale.

Advice from friends, family members and co-workers is often a strong influence of where the consumer will buy a product or service. That’s the power of “word of mouth” advertising.

The Internet has accelerated the time it takes to build a strong “word of mouth” referral network. While there are no shortcuts to “instant brand and reputation building” company’s offering great service can leverage their happy customers to provide social evidence of their performance.

Carfolks helps you build strong “word of mouth” advertising to help you sell and service more customers. Smart, tech savvy dealers know they can’t afford not to be part of our neighborhood. We ramp up the time it takes to build your “rolodex” of clients and prospects and if every one of your customers has a sphere of influence of 33 people, that means if you sell 13 cars a month after one year you will be “connected” to 5,148 people. If you, a professional sales person, communicates with only a fraction of those people you will be successful beyond your wildest dreams.

Is it simple? NO. It takes a consistent process and diligence to “work your network.” We aren’t talking about Tweets, or wall posts. We are talking about clear concise emails, texts, phone calls, note cards and maybe even hosting a dealership reception or two to stay in touch with your customer network and introduce them to new vehicle models or other informaiton they might find helpful.

The goal is to let your network know that you are the “go to” guy or gal to work with when they or someone in their circle of friends and family need a vehicle. As the Chinese proverb says, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” Take that step and build your personal brand on Carfolks.com.