marketing

Live Video, The New Normal to Sell More Cars and Service

By Tim James

Every penny spent on advertising and marketing is to get more people into the dealership. Dealers also make a significant investment in the salespeople themselves, training them to help develop the person-to-person skills needed to sell to all the prospects marketing dollars drive into the dealership. Those person-to-person skills are where most automotive salespeople excel, it is what they are best at. Phone calls, emails, text messages, or online chats may not be their biggest strengths. However, put them face to face with someone and they excel. But how are salespeople supposed to ‘get them in’ when countrywide shutdowns and capacity limits are encouraging shoppers to stay home as much as possible? The answer is video conferencing, also known as video calling or video chat.

It is a different world now – today doctors conduct many patient appointments via a live video conference. Many doctors are scheduling video appointments, our children are using video conferencing to go to school right now, and most of you reading this are utilizing video conferencing at your workplace to replace onsite meetings.

Live communication in this way is becoming the new normal– all kinds of shopping is accelerated to the next level via a live stream. Well, guess what, vehicles are no different. During the pandemic, and even before, dealers have been utilizing tools such as Zoom to engage with customers via live video and it is not hurting sales, in fact far from it, it is helping to sell more cars than ever before by making it easier to shop the way today’s customers want to. And it is a safe secure, method, for practically zero budget!

There is one thing that I know for sure and that is video sells. An unfortunate misconception is that vehicle details shared outside the dealership walls can demotivate shoppers from visiting a dealership. You cannot sell them a car if you don’t “get them in”, right? This misconception may prevent some dealers from realizing the full potential of video in nearly every department from sales to service to F&I. Selling a consumer is, was, and will always be about getting the consumer emotionally attached to The Dealership, The Sales Person, and The Car. The pandemic has pushed more shoppers than ever before into shopping online. COVID-19 certainly has motivated more dealers to incorporate video into their sales and service processes. Now, a way to trump your competition is to go one step further and embrace live video conferencing to inspire the emotional connection.

In fact, the most immediate benefit of live video calls is that salespeople now have an opportunity to use those natural person-to-person sales skills they have spent their entire careers perfecting. Even the most technophobic salesperson can engage with the most cutting-edge technology utilizing live video calls. If they can answer a phone, they can answer and make a live video call. It really is that simple, it’s safe, and consumers love it!

It is easy to incorporate live video calls directly from your website. Think about how many website visitors you have every day and imagine being able to instantly engage with them on their terms. It is like having a live service or sales window on your website Today’s customers have grown used to being serviced on their terms, not yours. Also, your sales and business development staff can ‘cut to the chase’ and get into direct contact with customers, eliminating hours of back and forth via calls, texts, and emails.

Live video for a vehicle demo enables a salesperson to guide a consumer through the vehicle features and benefits in real-time, just as if the customer were standing right on the lot. With some platforms, the salesperson can text the customer a Personalized URL and all the customer has to do is click on the link to instantly be engaged in a live one-way or two-way video conference.

Live video calls can also compliment the post-sale delivery process as part of a cautious and contactless sale. The salesperson can simply go over the delivery walkthrough as they always have, but now they can do it through a live video call.

The sales department isn’t the only branch of a dealership that can boost profits with live video. A typical service department experience involves a customer dropping off a vehicle and waiting at the dealership or leaving and awaiting a call for a diagnosis.

Using live video to discuss a vehicle diagnosis is a powerful way for service advisors to explain and demonstrate repairs while keeping the customer engaged during the decision-making process. Having a live video call with a customer after sending service recommendations increases acceptance rates and will quickly become your service advisor’s favorite tool. Live video can eliminate hours of annoying phone tag back and forth by the service department. The customer can also see the recommended service in real-time which reinforces the recommendation and can easily elicit a response of “yes,” rather than “let me think about it,” so that they can go and ask a friend, family member, or price shop the repair with an independent facility.

The F&I department can benefit too. The F&I Manager can advise the customer that they are recording the video call, record the full F&I presentation with all disclosures, and do the entire deal remotely. They can even send the entire recorded presentation to the customer.

Live video calls keep a customer fully engaged with you. Facetime did not gain it is huge popularity on Apple devices because consumers did not like it, but rather the contrary. By using live video at your dealership, you quickly build rapport and earn the customer’s trust. And that is how you increase revenue.

Patrick Lands His Dream Job with Video

By Tim James

Are you searching for a new career opportunity, or do you know someone who is? One of the most challenging aspects of searching for a job is making yourself stand out in a crowd. When you apply for a job online, your resume could be one of hundreds for the same position. There’s no way to know whether the person screening all these resumes will forward your resume to the hiring manager.

That’s why more job applicants are creating video resumes and sending them directly to the hiring manager. If you think about it, applying for a job is very similar to marketing cars! To be in consideration, you need to send the right video message to the right person at the right time, and make them realize why you’re the best choice.

I want to share a story with you about someone that recently landed his dream job with a video resume hosted on Flick Fusion’s video marketing platform.

A few months ago, I was invited onto the Auto Converse podcast to talk about video marketing. A young man named Patrick Block was also a guest on the show, and he told me that he was having trouble finding a job.

He had been laid off from his job at a vehicle software company in February (prior to the pandemic), when the company was acquired by Lyft. At first, Patrick wasn’t worried about finding a new job, since he had quite a bit of experience in the auto industry. But in early March a tornado destroyed many businesses in Nashville, where he lives. Shortly after that, businesses everywhere were shuttered due to COVID-19. All of a sudden, job prospects were dim.

Patrick sent resumes to dozens of companies but didn’t receive any interview requests. He struggled with finding ways to make his resume stand out from all other job seekers. A videographer friend suggested that he develop a video resume.

Patrick agreed to try it. He developed a short video resume, posted it on YouTube and emailed the link to some hiring managers. The problem was, he didn’t know whether the videos were actually getting through and being watched.

When Patrick told me this, I invited him to use Flick Fusion’s video marketing platform to host his video resume. Our platform sends the creator/sender of the video a notification every time someone watches their video. In addition, I recommended that Patrick develop more videos to include on his resume landing page; including recommendation videos and videos that answer common interview questions.

Patrick followed my advice and created a page that hosted several videos. Here is a link to that page https://bit.ly/311sKxY

Patrick’s dream job was a position as a sales consultant with Lexus of Nashville. He believed that a high-line dealership was well-suited to his personality, and that car sales rewards hard work more than many sales positions in other industries. Patrick emailed the General Manager his newly enhanced video resume on our platform.

Shortly after he emailed the video resume, Patrick received a notification that the GM had viewed it. He was called in for an interview the very same day, and spent three hours at the dealership. While he was in an interview with a second hiring manager, Patrick received a notification that someone else in the dealership was viewing the video as well. It turned out it was the Internet Sales Manager, who then joined Patrick during his second interview, and raved about the video.

Shortly after this interview, Patrick was told that Lexus of Nashville was interested in hiring him, and he began the hiring process that included background checks, two more interviews and a drug test.

Patrick began working at Lexus of Nashville in July. Needless to say, Patrick is a huge believer in the power of video and he uses video in his new position to respond to leads and connect with active car buyers. When I asked him whether he thought his video resume was the reason he landed his dream job, Patrick claims it was 100%, absolutely the reason.

“I was nervous about using a Video platform during my job hunt. Flick Fusion was an awesome tool for me to use as it generated very professional emails, gave me visibility into how excited the recipients were, and allowed me to see myself presenting via the platform,” said Patrick. “Every person I shared this with was blown away at the idea of integrating video into the job hunt, especially during COVID. I was immediately separating myself out from the candidate pool with a small amount of extra effort. The impact it had landed me the job I had said I wanted for a long time. After what I’ve learned, I use video even more now in my job on a day to day basis.”

This story is just an example of how ubiquitous video is becoming in the auto industry; and I think it’s a good story of how a person used video to make themselves stand out in a really tough job market.

Your salespeople can easily use videos to make themselves stand out in the same way that Patrick does. When leads come in, have your sales team use pre-recorded videos, and/or live-streaming video calls, to connect with prospects. Video instantly captures and engages attention in a way that regular emails and phone calls simply can’t duplicate.

And if you’re ever searching for a new career opportunity, use a video resume to market yourself! You may land your dream job, just like Patrick.

Seeing is Believing!

By Tim James

Some dealers miss opportunities to gain acceptance of service recommendations or upsells simply because consumers do not know why they are needed or important. Many advisors share the “canned” description. However, if the customer is not right in front of you it can be hard for them to understand what you are going on about and so they decline the recommendations.

Well, there is an easy solution to better communicate with your customers so they can see why the recommendations are necessary. That solution is video.

Since COVID-19 arrived on the scene video communications have dramatically increased as a way to engage with customers. Think about how norms have changed. A majority of employees are still working at home using video platforms to communicate with colleagues, such as Zoom. And, in those states where the only way to sell a car is remotely, video is a great tool to help build that relationship and sell the car. Video has become a necessary item in any dealership’s arsenal for both sales and service.

When it comes to service recommendations, using either recorded or live video, you can easily show the customer the issue and clearly describe it to them. The customer can then see what the problem is and better understand why it needs to be repaired. Also, they will feel more confident about accepting those repairs and approve the recommendations. Recommended service acceptance rates can increase by as much as three times from an average of 20% to 40% and sometimes even as high as 60%. Recorded or live video recommendations can also help prevent your customers from shopping the competition and ending up at an independent shop.

Use video technology to communicate with customers – whether that be now during the pandemic or afterward once it passes. You will see an uptick in service recommendations as well as increased customer loyalty and improved CSI scores.

Nobody knows how long we, as a nation, will be home-bound. Some people say it will be months, some are saying years.

No matter how long it is, the results of video are timeless and well-proven. Communicating with your customers via video can help you weather this storm and help boost profitability.

3 Video Marketing Applications for a More Profitable New Year

By Tim James

Video has historically played a major role in car dealerships; from training with VHS tapes, to video messaging, text and Live Video Calling. As 2019 draws to a close and we approach 2020, it is clear that when it comes to consumer engagement and digital marketing, video is center stage.

There are many video marketing statistics and trends floating around currently. It is easy to get lost and it can seem a daunting task to stay head of the trends. In this short blog I have put together 3 practical ways to successfully incorporate video into your 2020 marketing strategy.

Communication

Why struggle wondering if your emails are opened and read? According to multiple reports an engaged audience will drop what they are doing to watch a video. In fact, email open rates increase by 7% if you include the word “Video” in the title.

Focus on quality! I always hear people saying, “keep your video short”. The fact is you should put your stopwatch away and focus on delivering high-quality information in an upbeat and emotional presentation. Too often people try to rush their presentation and simply don’t provide an educational or emotional presentation.

Nothing will lead to someone closing your video sooner than if you sound like you are just trying to rush through it, versus truly trying to assist them. If you are providing a great experience in your video message, what’s the worst thing that could happen?  Yep…someone stops watching.  But what about all of those who are truly interested in your message? If you are providing good (relevant) information, and delivering it in an emotional manner, the numbers show that a significantly high percentage of your email (and text) recipients will watch 100% of your video message.

Another good statistic to know is that adding video to your emails can increase click rates by 300%.

Vehicle shoppers appreciate the informational and emotional value of video. Live video calls and video chat are effective at increasing engagement and convert more website traffic to lot traffic as shoppers can now talk to one of your professionals “live,” from wherever they may be.

This does wonders for customer experience by offering a truly unique perspective of transparency. Consumers don’t need to wonder about availability if they can see the vehicle in a video behind you in real-time.

Website Conversion

Users spend 88% more time browsing a website if it has video. Video content humanizes your dealership, builds trust, and inspires higher funnel shoppers to actually pick up the phone and call you with their questions. Video on your landing page or VDP will increase conversion by 80%.

Inventory videos transfer more information. In addition, they help your VDP pages create more emotion from potential car buyers, much more than pictures and text alone. Website videos increase organic search traffic by 157%. You are then far more likely to appear on Google’s page one, driving more online shoppers to your website and into your sales funnel.

Social

For all social platforms , video has 12 times more shares than text and image alone and engagement is 13.9% higher if your posts include video.  How long should your videos be on social media? 30 to 90 seconds is the ideal length for social video marketing. But again, remember that this is because the viewers aren’t there just for your video.  They are socializing and have a short attention span (oh look, a squirrel). But you still don’t want to sacrifice quality for time.  The quality of your content always comes first.

What about the future? 360 degree interactive presentations and Augmented Reality are predicted to be areas with the most growth as marketers enjoy the ease of creating this type of content and it is becoming less expensive.

If your dealership isn’t using video in its vehicle merchandising or customer interactions, you could be missing out on opportunities. Let the consumer experience your inventory they way they want to experience it.  If you limit their options, you will also be limiting your leads.  It’s all about selling more cars and increasing service revenue. Video can help any dealership accomplish both with very little time, effort and cost.

If you don’t believe me, give it a try. I promise you will see the results and will continue to use video marketing at every possible customer interaction opportunity.