Digital Dealer - March 2019 - 13

Road Trip to DD26 | April 9-11, 2019 | Orlando

SELF-DEVELOPMENT IS A HUGE PART OF OUR
TRAINING. WE WANT OUR PEOPLE TO BE BETTER
PEOPLE FIRST."
feel that way still.
Secondly, I also look for people
who might have struggled in their
background. A lot of gifts can come
out of a struggle.
Thirdly, how open-minded they are
to learn and grow. Perhaps I'll ask
about the books they've read. I like
to know if they think you can change
by exposing yourself to something
positive.
DEALER MAGAZINE: Clearly,
training is mission-critical for today's
dealerships. How does Ferman
address training across its 13 stores?
BRAD: We have a management
company nearby that handles all our
training every month. Additionally,
we bring in outside trainers each
quarter to address such topics as lead
handling or used car management.
I've sent many team members to Tony
Robbins' events, which is something I
have personally beneﬁted from as well.
Truth is, we train every single day.
For instance, we do motivational
training on Tuesdays and CRM
training on Wednesdays. Our Saturday
meeting might be watching a video
of someone who overcame a huge
obstacle.
Self-development is a huge part of
our training. We want our people to be
better people ﬁrst.
DEALER MAGAZINE: On a more
personal note, what retail automotive
training have you had, or would you
recommend?
BRAD: I started with Joe Verde
training, and even today I believe in
his three principles of what's wrong
with the car business: bad schedules,
bad pay plans, and bad managers.
That's why I try to oﬀer pay plans
that work for diﬀerent backgrounds. I
encourage time oﬀ and ﬂexible work

schedules, including weekends oﬀ. We
only hire people who are multipliers;
we don't hire diminishers here. We
don't want anyone who rules with
an iron thumb, the kind of manager
who tells people what to do instead of
showing them.
The bad schedule is really holding
back the car retail business. Great
talent leaves the car business every
day. They might love the car business
but can't deal with working every
weekend and every holiday for no
guaranteed money.
I think that's the biggest
stranglehold in the auto business,
thinking there's some honor in being
open seventy hours a week or getting a
zero paycheck.
DEALER MAGAZINE: How
important is digital to your marketing
mix?
BRAD: A large part of our budget
is dedicated to all things digital. We
use Cox Media for most of our digital
initiatives. What I particularly like
about this arrangement is that our
Cox reps are interested in our overall
success, not just what we're doing in
the digital realm. Truth is, it's hard
to understand everything digital.
We have a third-party company that
provides us with metrics to show
which digital eﬀorts are working
best so we know we're spending our
marketing dollars wisely.
DEALER MAGAZINE: What is your
investment in social media and has it
paid oﬀ?
BRAD: This is an exciting subject
for me and is probably my #1 initiative
going into 2019. We do a lot of
Facebook ads, and our sales reps are
branding themselves over social media
and we strongly encourage that. But
this year I want to focus on referrals.

We all know, referrals are easier
to sell, easier to close, and generally
more proﬁtable than working with
strangers who show up on the lot. Yet,
we seem to spend most of our time
trying to attract strangers.
Here's what I hope to do in 2019.
When one of our guests takes delivery
of their vehicle, we'll give them a $500
referral coupon to share with family
and friends. We'll encourage them to
post a photo of their vehicle and the
coupon on their Facebook page. And
we'll pay them a referral fee for any
sale we can track back to their post.
If the average Facebook user has
over 300 friends, we can reach those
people at zero cost. I think most
people would give a shout-out to a
friend who bought a new car and give
him a thumbs-up. Basically, the guest
would say I bought my car from these
people and so should you, and here's a
$500 coupon for you to use. I'm very
excited to see how this idea plays out.
DEALER MAGAZINE: How do you
leverage technology throughout your
operation?
BRAD: I consider call monitoring
as an important technology for us. We
use a call monitoring company called
Call Review. That service not only
gives us the ability to listen to a call,
but it also gives us a written transcript
of the call. The transcript is sent to
managers as a text or email, who
review it to make sure the BDC has
oﬀered the best solution.
We can also follow up with a guest
with a text message video. We have
four people at the dealership who are
designated as our video marketing
specialists, and all they do is ﬁlm
content. We text message those videos
to prospects.

D I G I TA L D E A L E R . C O M

Continued on pg. 14

MARCH 2019

13
http://www.DIGITALDEALER.COM
Digital Dealer - March 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Digital Dealer - March 2019
