Dealer Synergy

Before Dealer Synergy came in, we operated our Internet department like most dealer groups do. We had one point person taking in the leads and handing them out randomly to salespeople on the floor. We did maybe 30-35 cars a month that way. I knew Sean prior to realigning our Internet department. We had done some work on a subprime credit website and soforth. I really wasn't sure if his process was a good fit for our store. I knew it took a pretty good investment on my part in terms of hardware, personell, and so forth setting up the department, I just wasn't sure I'd get a return on that investment. Finally, Sean sat down and kinda mapped it out on paper what we had to do. He's a good salesperson. So, I bit, did the initial investment, put the hardware together in a separate room, hired personell, and had them trained by Sean's company. We had a dramatic increase at first, went from 30-35 into the 50s, then we're into the 60s, 70s, 80s, we broke 100. Two consecutive months we did an excess of 100 cars on the Internet and we've never turned back since then. We employ Sean and his group and we use his processes, his word tracks,and all of our Internet coordinators we have everything set up to Sean's business model and our Internet coordinators are trained by Sean as well as our Internet manager. What really surprised me was that the opporunity that was out there that was untapped, putting people from just regular Internet leads and phone leads coming off of websites into appointments, into shows and into sales. more

We recently moved into a new facility, we've been here for 3 years. We'd been all over the place with our Internet department. Many years ago we were recognized as the most progressive Ford dealership in the country. At that time, I think we kind of rested and got kinda comfortable with where we were. Just recently really started digging back in as we saw where the consumers were going to gather their information. I really started to question and dig in a little deeper to what was happening in our store. We always had the intent of being cutting edge and being out in front of what was happening in the industry. The Internet department, I realized, had fallen behind. At that point I kind of followed Sean at Dealer Synergy. I had been reading about him in different magazines and played around on his website. Picked up the phone and started asking a few questions and I was really surprised within the first few minutes I actually had Sean on the phone. I think we kind of hit it off pretty quick. He answered all my questions. I realized at that point that this was the company that I needed to partner with if I had any intent of taking our dealership Internet operation to the next level. At that point we contracted with Shaun, we signed up with HR, some of the different marketing campaigns that he had for training, we've had Sean in the dealership on two different occasions. He came in, he gave us an initial kickoff, he came back to the dealership about5 or 6 weeks later to pull us back in line. I'm happy to say that our very first month before he came, we increased our Internet sales by 100%. I think we've only scratched the surface with Dealer Synergy. more

The content was excellent, it was actionable. And for me it was most important, you go to a lot of different places and hear a lot of different things and you don't always get good actionable material. First and foremost it was that. It was mind expanding. It gives you ideas that you didn't have before. As a trainer, Sean does an excellent job captivating the audience and really just helping people to receive the content being presented. more

I honestly do have a hard time. I live in the BDC. I eat, drink, sleep that place. I was up late on my laptop last night reading emails. It's hard for me to differentiate work, home, fiancee, dog owner. I went home and got a text from my fiancee this morning saying 'you didn't even talk to me yesterday' and I feel terrible but it's not that I didn't even talk to him, but it's just that I didn't have two seconds to think about that, because I was so dwelling on what I absorbed yesterday. But I am very excited for that. I have a schedule, but it's all over the place right now. I am excited to iron things out and differentiate between home and work life. more

Over the last two days was kinda quick and in and out so to speak. But Sean did a great job both answering questions to our executives and directors. Giving us a mind opening experience i think to help us understand what opportunities lie in front of us. And by the same token on the second day took the time to get into the nitty gritty of process of things to help our dealership personnel really understand what they can do to go back and make it happen at the dealership today. more

I had a lot of visualizations of what I imagine the physical structure look like. But to actually go in and look at the hardware and look at the physical layout is certainly the missing piece that you wouldn't get in a classroom. And to actually see girls picking up the phone, it sparks questions. Absolutely critical. I can go nowhere but up at this point. more

Internet sales before Dealer Synergy used to average 10-15% were internet deliveries. Six months later, we are now averaging 30-32%. Sean had been with one of our sister corp a number of years ago. Sean came on a recommendation. Sean has also given us an opportunity to visit one of the presentations that he did. After the presentation, we decided that this is who we should go with. I would say the most important thing that we have received from this is the training, the parameter as to how we should structure our processes, whether it be the phone calls, emails. Really just the overall guidelines and philosophies that Sean brings to the table. The only way to benchmark the success is the increase in business, and we have definitely an increase in business. more