Sconda

Sconda's Social Media Study: Part 2 - The Facebook

Of the three social media outlets I will critique, Facebook was the only one I had any familiarity with beforehand.  I have my own Facebook page and have enjoyed the benefits of easier communication with friends and family and it seemed a logical and free place to exercise my marketing abilities with little risk and a large potential reward.

I began by creating a Scott Honda Group Page and was very enthusiastic, recruited a bunch of folks to join, uploaded some photos...and then I hit a wall.  I would discourage car dealers and other business owners from spending too much energy on the group page because it is very limited in form and function.  You cannot import pictures or video as easily and most of all the page is nothing like a normal Facebook page, which means visitors are confused and most likely will not spend much time there.

So after a little research I decided a Fan Page would fit us just fine and 121 fans later I still agree.  This type of page is more editable and has a nice wall for promoting the blog and the dealership, which are essentially one in the same.  In addition to better visibility, the Fan Page provides "Insights" into page hits, clicks, posts etc., which are great for understanding your fan base.  Though they are not broken down to an average per day basis like the Typepad based Sconda Blog numbers, I can still estimate about 15-20 page views a day.

People always ask, "have you had any success stories?".  I would say we have had three. 

In the first example I took advantage of the sites inter-connectivity to promote our "After Prom Accord Winner" Shelby Weber.  Through Facebook I was able to contact Shelby, acquire pictures and promote the giveaway in a way we were never able to do before.

The second success story involved a skeptical young lady who asked on our "wall" whether or not becoming a fan could save her money, as I purported.  So I immediately sent her an E-coupon for a free oil change, to which she replied with a huge thank you and let me know her lease was up in a couple months and she will be coming to us for her next Honda.

The final success story involves a positive interaction with a young lady while she was in the process of buying her new Scott Honda.  She wrote on our Wall, "I am so excited! I just got my new civic today and I am picking it up tomorrow!! Thanks everyone at Scott!"  We had a nice back and forth and I gave her a free Scott Honda hoodie and hat, just for being a good customer and she loved it.

Moving forward I am planning on creating Facebook specific coupons to further add real value in being a fan.  I also see the possibility for contests to be based out of Facebook as well, although I have seen other dealers try to little success.  There are also advertising opportunities within FB that I would like to pursue to increase our fan base as well.

In short Facebook is a free, convenient way to communicate to and interact with our ever growing customer base and according to their numbers, if Facebook were a country it would be the 4th largest in the world, why not take advantage of such a resource.

Cash for Clunkers, a Sconda Post-Mortem

The madness that was the Car Allowance Rebate System, a.k.a. C.A.R.S., better known as Cash for Clunkers has officially, maybe, definitely ended and we have photos of the aftermath. 

The rules were confusing, the monetary risks were (are) all on the dealer, the complaining in the the sales mangers office was loud...and then we started selling Hondas, and then some more and then the government's money ran out, then the government gave more money, then we really started selling and selling and then at 4:13 p.m. on Saturday, August 22, the program ended with one announcement over our loud speaker by Used Car Manager, Matt Nergart.

    "If you are here to take advantage of the Cash for Clunkers Program...we are sorry, but due to the huge volume of deals we will not be accepting any more Cash for Clunker deals after 4:30 pm."  There were easily 100 people in the showroom, but you could hear a pin drop Nergart recalls.

At that point there was a stack of 30 deals still to be delivered and while our store hours state that we close at 5:00 p.m. on Saturdays, we knew this Saturday would be an exception.  It wasn't until a stroke before midnight that Finance Manager Kevin Shoemaker turned the lights, locked the front and waved goodbye to the last of 49 customers to drive in in a clunker and home in a Scott Honda.

All tolled Scott Honda did 192 Cash for Clunker deals, with an outlay of over $700,000 total.  We have been paid on 10 clunkers to date, which from what we are hearing is actually really good.

"The program had its quirks, but as long as every dealer gets paid on properly submitted deals, it will have been a huge success," says Vice President, Duke Scott.  "But if two months go by and dealers are still waiting for funds or have been refused funds, all the good will created by this program will be destroyed, just like those clunkers."

Sconda's Social Media Study: Part 1 - The Blog

Hello readers, it's your faithful blogger Douglas P., here and it feels like a good time to reflect on the time, energy, resources and outcomes I have observed since I pressed the "publish" button on my very first Sconda post nearly five months ago.

The concept of a blog for our dealership sprang from a conversation about giving our salespeople a digital platform they could use as a sales tool while working in the showroom with customers, an online "Evidence Manual" as we call them. I was so enthused by this idea I literally had a blog in formation 30 minutes later.  I had no idea what it would look like, how I would really use it or if people would read it, but for $89 the risk seemed minimal.

Well, 55 posts and nearly 4500 visitors later I can truly say this has been one the most fun and challenging ledges I have stepped out on in a while. 

A little background on your humble blogger, I was a journalism dork at Emmaus High School and Colby-Sawyer College and my first job after graduation was at the now defunct Suburban & Wayne Times in Wayne, Pa.  So this venture has rekindled my writing itch and given me a great new avenue through which to share the story of this dealership.

Saturday is Last Chance to get Cash for your Clunker

The writing is on the wall, or the door in this case.  Scott Honda made the official announcement on Twitter at 11:14 a.m. when we tweeted , "Scott Honda's last days of accepting Cash for Clunkers are today and Saturday! Do not wait until Monday! take advantage of this $ now!" with 6 characters to spare.

After the government announced last evening that the hugely popular Car Allowance Rebate System, as it's known by no one, or Cash for Clunkers, as it's known by everyone, will come to a halt on Monday evening at 8 p.m. many dealers had to scramble to decide how they would close out the program.  The Monday night deadline is for the digital submission of the deals, a time consuming process that has frustrated many dealers to say the least.

Scott Honda's upper management made the decision to close the books on the program at the end of business Saturday, based purely on the time needed to properly submit these deals in order to get reimbursed by the government.

"There is no doubt we have done more business because of Cash for Clunkers," said Vice President, Duke Scott.  "But I am not sad to see the program end and get back to the business of selling cars the old fashioned way."

Currently Scott Honda has been paid on six of the more than 130 "clunker" deals sold since the program launched in July.  With a conservative estimate of 30 more deals to be done by tomorrow, that's over $575,000 we have floated, in hopes of a government payback.  Scott made the decision to keep our clunkers instead of crushing them, until payment is received so that we can at least guarantee some money for our old, beat up cars if the payments never come.

It is currently, borderline pandemonium on the sales floor as customers stream through the door trying to take advantage of the program before it ends.  As one sales person told their customer, "Bring a book, a pillow and a blanket, because it's gonna be a while." 

Final Branding Ad, Best of the Bunch

Our fourth and final ad, created via a collaboration between Bozeken and Douglas P. Scott, were created to set Scott Honda apart from the competition on multiple levels.  We care about and service our customers on a higher level then even luxury dealers in our opinion, so we feel our commercials should be on that same plane.

This commercial ties together all 4 of the ads, pulling in the vast history, the vision of our founder, the meaning behind our famous sailboat logo and our commitment to doing the right thing.  We spent a lot of time crafting these mini-documentaries and we hope their quality shines through your computer monitors and TV screens.

Google Eye's the Car of the Future: Imagine your Family Room on Wheels

Our friends at Google have decided they like a good challenge?  If that's their rationale for building the  car of the future, might a suggest creating a decent airline to compete with Southwest.

Google’s Solar Powered ATNMBL (Autonomous Automobile) might not win any awards for looks, but what it lacks in visual appeal it more than makes up for in others.  This vehicle is more focused on comfort, safety and efficiency than, speed, power and sleek lines.

Having "blogged" now for four months I have noticed that naming sources at all in a post has become a lost art.  It is more a case of whisper down the alley, than true journalism.  Bloggers skirt this issue by saying they aren't journalists and that information gathered on the in digital super-highway is prevalent, free and the source of it all matters not...well I disagree.

So instead of taking pieces of info from 5 blogs, I was able to find the original post from the actual designers of this vehicle and who better to tell you about ATNMBL than the designers, Maaike Evers and Mike Simonian, the folks who brought you the Google G1 Phone.  It's a great post that really gets to the heart of their inspiration of their passenger based, couch on wheels.

Stay tuned for Google's coming announcement of the near Earth Planet that they currently have under development.

Duke's Personal History Highlighted in Ad

Vice President Duke Scott discusses where and when he began working at the dealership, the answers, cleaning the floor at age 13.  He literally learned this business from the ground up. 

His father and Scott Honda founder, Craig C. Scott would have it no other way.  He'd seen far to many family business's ruined because the next generation just had the keys to the kingdom handed to them.  This was not so for Duke, who knows he is a better owner now due to the lessons he learned on his way up the ladder. 

New Commercial: Focuses on Customer Service

Artist of the Month: Congratulations Andrew, Great Job!

Our Artist of the Month for August is Andrew G., an 11-year-old from West Chester, who will be a 5th grader at Pocopson Elementary School this September.

What sealed the deal for Andrew was the detailed outlining of his sailboat and the "Scott", followed by the nice, soft coloring of the interior of those same areas.  His well placed wave, fish and island were a great touch too!

I think this winner will start a new trend in the colorings of our well known logo amongst the youngest Scott Honda customers. 

I have also noticed a new theme, we now have some adults submitting their colorings well, sorry adults you can't win AOTM if you are over 13...but you all did a wonderful job :)

Meet the Scott Honda Lock n' Rollers

Front row: Bryan O'Mara, Mike Beans, John Cross, Tim Andrzejewski (goalie), Stephanie Bahnatka, Kyle O'Mara.Back row: Anthony Keretzman, Dave Brown, Kevin Andrzejewski, Mike Bahnatka. Not pictured: Dane Hopwood

Scott Honda Technician, John Cross had such a great time playing roller hockey with his 7-year-old son last winter, he decided to form a team of his own, despite having no real hockey experience.

Cross recruited fellow technicians, Dave Brown, Dane Hopwood and Tim Andrzejewski, and eventually found more team members from the Service, Parts and Sales Departments to fill out the 11 person roster.

"I like spending time with my friends outside of work in a fun, competitive environment," Cross says.  "As a team, we're actually building better relationships with each other, which will benefit us on the job as well."

The "Lock 'n Roll" team, who play in the Summer Inline D Division at the United Sports Training Center in Downingtown, use the famous Scott Sailboat as their logo and have rolled to a record of 1 and 5 so far, but that record hasn't dampened their spirits.

"We're not the best team in the league, but considering we're brand new, we are doing very well and improving every week," says the team's second leading points scorer, Stephanie Bahnatka.  "We're having fun and staying fit and that's what matters most."