Wednesday, November 13
9:00 - 10:00 a.m.

Graham Anderson, Kenect

When customers look at a company with low reviews, they will almost immediately turn tail and run. Unfortunately, a lot of Dealers don't put a high priority on making sure they have dozens or hundreds of 5-star reviews. As word-of-mouth marketing shifts towards an online review-based economy, online reviews have become increasingly more important. Online reviews have been shown to impact 67.7% of purchasing decisions, and this number only stands to grow as technology becomes more credible and as consumers become more vocal. For business owners, the time to start leveraging these reviews to impact your business is now. According to Harvard, a 1-star increase in your rating can mean a 5-9% increase in revenue. If you own a business, this stat should light a fire to start doing more with your reviews. So, the question becomes not whether you should use customer reviews but how to use these reviews to the biggest advantage. It all comes down to understanding how customers engage with these reviews when making large purchase decisions. This WILL make or break your dealership in the years to come. Is your dealership going to hop on the train? Or be left behind in the dust?

During this workshop, attendees will learn:

• How negative reviews and low volume of reviews impact business
• The best practices for generating 5-star reviews in the 21st Century
• How your dealership will benefit from higher reviews in units sold

Thursday, November 14
10:15 - 11:15 a.m.

Meaghan Cooper, PowerBDC

During this workshop Meaghan will demonstrate how a lead should be handled from the initial stages to the final stages of the customer’s buying cycle. We will discuss not only internet leads but also leads that are generated in any format. For example, floor traffic and referrals. Every lead, regardless of source or type, needs an appropriate follow up process. This process needs to be dynamic. There needs to multiple different mediums that are used to connect with customers but
knowing when to use each medium and how long to follow a customer for is hard and takes a lot of trial and error. Meaghan will share the processes that we have had great success with, so attendees can use our trial and error that we went through to perfect our processes and catapult them into the next level of lead management. Once we have discussed follow up chains, dealers will step into the topic of word tracks. A dealer can have the best processes but if your people say the wrong things it’s irrelevant. You need to marry the two to have great success. Meaghan will share her scripting and what we say to maintain our excellent conversion rates. The final thing that attendees will discuss is how to create call and email campaigns to the dealers existing clientele. What creative is effective, who to target, and of course what to say when you get the customer on the phone. All dealers will benefit from learning how to follow up with their traffic more effectively.

During this workshop, attendees will learn:

• How to engage with their traffic and existing database more efficiently
• Key steps to increase sales with ZERO additional marketing expense 
• Email and call strategies to better target customers

Thursday, November 14
2:00 - 3:00 p.m.

Graham Anderson, Kenect

It's the 21st Century. Americans spend nearly 70% of their media time on their cell phones and sometimes can't seem to pull their faces away from them long enough to eat! Methods of communication have evolved vastly in the past 15 years alone. Gone are the days when a voicemail is responded to or even listened to. As of 2018, the average response rate to a voicemail was 4.8%. Email open rates have dipped below 20%. If no one is answering the phone or getting on email as much, then how are businesses communicating with their customers?

The answer is they use what customers already own to their advantage. Today's consumers are "consumed" by their smartphones so why aren't more dealerships capitalizing on this prime communication tool? Social Media Platforms on almost every level have a communication tool built into the software. Instagram, Facebook Messenger, Snapchat. Texting! Probably the forerunner in communication right now, it's easy, it's fast, it's preferred. 89% of consumers prefer to text their business through these means over a phone call. 98% of messages are opened and 95% are read within the first 3 minutes after being received. The fact of the matter is that dealerships could be reaching so many more customers and making life easier on their employees and customers if they utilized these simple communication tools.

During this workshop, attendees will learn:

• How to effectively reach their customers on the most current communication tools
• Key ways to capture more inbound leads for sales through these communication tools
• Higher/faster response from customers as well as increased customer satisfaction