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The Ultimate Guide to Modern Sales Training

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How to train your dealership on digital processes.

The road to the sale is changing. Consumers are demanding a more modern way to buy cars, and dealerships are adapting to offer a more flexible, hybrid online and in-store sales experience. But as with any new process, you have to bring your entire team up to speed.  

In our new eBook, you’ll find resources and strategies to train your staff on your new digital sales processes and equip them with the tools they need to succeed in the new sales environment. You’ll discover how to train them in key areas, including:  

  • New ways to use technology to drive efficient digital processes 
  • How to prioritize leads using data-driven assessment  
  • Best practices for modern customer communications  

Get your free eBook and start training your team to succeed with digital sales processes. 

If a Picture is Worth a Thousand Words, What’s a Video Worth?

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Quickly and easily capture video and images with Enhanced Multi-Media, an add-on feature available with Xtime Inspect. Show your customer what the technician sees by attaching media to an ASR before you text or email it, or advisors and technicians can text media directly to the customer.

This provides an opportunity for your customer to interact with your service department from anywhere and easily understand the need for the recommended repairs while viewing pictures and video on their phone or device. You are increasing trust through transparency so that you can boost dollars per repair order and support the kind of digital experience your customer expects.

And you are making it easier and faster for the customer to say yes, with 49 percent of ASRs that include photos and videos approved in the first 15 to 30 minutes of receipt versus 31 percent with no photo or video.

Ready for faster approvals and more dollars per RO in your service department? Demo Enhanced Multi-Media.


5 Video Advertising Strategies to Drive Customer Engagement

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video advertising strategy

In today’s market, you need to be able to sell everywhere your customers want to shop. It may come as no surprise; studies show your customers are spending more time online. Consider that Akamai, the world’s largest content distribution network, is running 67% more web traffic than normal, and average daily mobile traffic has jumped from 2.5 hours per day to 4  hours. 

With more eyeballs going to the digital environment, consumption of video content is also increasing. Each day, consumers view 4 billion videos on Facebook and 5 billion on YouTube. Importantly for digital advertising, video-hosting platforms and media providers engage in-market shoppers. Nearly 4 million automotive videos are viewed on YouTube every day. 

Video is a brand awareness channel that influences the viewer’s digital behavior. In simple terms, when in-market shoppers are frequently exposed to video assets of a specific vehicle model, they are more likely to search for it. This powerful tool has the reach, targeting capability, and content richness to drive more traffic to your Digital Storefront or automotive service marketing, and ultimately help you sell more of the advertised model or service.

All things considered; it is essential for the modern dealer to cultivate a robust video advertising strategy. Here are some branding and multi-channel strategies to employ today to leverage the increase in video consumption and the automotive vertical.

1. Lead with Brand, Mobile First

Capture the viewers’ attention immediately with a strong opening. Different channels will have different criteria for video ads, such as time limits of 15 seconds, and some may allow the viewer to skip after 5 seconds. The start of your video should be engaging and recognizable, whether it’s your logo, your Why Buy, or a key message.

While developing your content, keep in mind that over 50% of traffic is from a mobile device. Think like a smartphone user, considering all the distractions they may be encountering, and select your ad formatting to length to overcome these obstacles.

2. Data-Driven Targeting

Harness your first party data and evolve your audience segments. Whether this first party data is from the media provider, or it’s data from within your dealership website, both are gold mines of opportunity. Your most qualified audience is made of consumers who have already been to your website, so start with a retargeting effort to maximize that targeting capability. Follow along with other audiences depending on their segments and goal-based priorities after that.

3. Multi-Channel Message

Develop a consistent message that is coherent with copy in your website landing page and brand marketing. Be sure this message should be clear and concise. You will build perception of brand value by repeating it in the ad copy of the video and across other channels, including email, banners, and more.

4. Integrated Marketing Approach

Avoid the silo mentality, and work to ensure your channel campaigns are integrated together. For instance, a well-planned Search Engine Optimization (SEO) program can be leveraged to drive more traffic from a video advertising campaign as well as other active channels, such as paid search. As you launch brand awareness opportunities, like video advertising, you will get more traffic and increased exposure on the other channels that are running.

5. Media Spend Allocations

It’s important to talk about budget when addressing advertising strategy. To know if you’re getting your money’s worth, develop a hierarchy of needs based on your goals. For instance, if your goal is a cost per action KPI, then you need to prioritize your channels that have the best return, such as retargeting. Historically, we’ve seen retargeting efforts have the best cost per action, depending on your cookie pool.

Branding channels are imperative in a diversified media plan. Branding from video advertising supports additional website engagement from multiple digital channels. And don’t be afraid to challenge the status quo. If you’re currently running a traditional cable TV budget, then test it on Connected TV and gauge the performance.

One of the opportunities that Connected TV offers is more reporting capabilities. Digital marketing supports a wide range of KPIs and deep, granular reports to identify success. This level of information allows you to improve what’s working, expand on what’s working, and pull down what isn’t. Over time, you will see more cost efficiencies on overall media spend.

Dealer.com acts as your dealership’s very own automotive advertising agency, powering consumer experiences from anywhere. Deliver the right message from your Digital Storefront to every customer, wherever they are, with video advertising from the industry’s only complete digital marketing solution.

*Source: Think With Google

The Value of Rideshare

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The Value of Rideshare

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As traditional transportation evolved, so did your customers’ expectations of convenience in your service department. Is your shuttle or loaner program delivering the best experience for your customers and creating efficiencies for you? Watch this webinar to learn about the power of leveraging Rideshare powered by Lyft, an Xtime and Lyft integration, in your dealership. Together we’ll explore: 



  • Service transportation evolution


  • Measurable Rideshare powered by Lyft service department benefits


  • How to use the Xtime and Lyft integration


  • Real results from other dealerships

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Enter your email to register for our exclusive webinar:
The Value of Rideshare.

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GM Bryan Smith Grew Sales per RO 20% with Xtime

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Bryan Smith General Manager at Toronto Honda and Toronto Kia shares the impact Xtime products have made at his dealerships. In a time where many are looking to do more with less, he found a way. Watch this video to see what Xtime Schedule, Inspect, and Invite, alongside Texting and Payment, have done for Bryan and his dealerships. As Bryan says, “Now all I have to do is focus on figuring out how to fine tune my message so I can get maximum return on investment.”

Ready to demo these products for your dealership? Click here to schedule.


Chapman Automotive Group Benefits from Lyft & Xtime Integration

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To make employees more efficient and stay true to its customer-first mission, Chapman Automotive Group saw an opportunity to improve how it moved its customers to and from dealerships by offering on-demand Lyft rides.

Their service departments were already using Xtime Schedule to book appointments for customers, and the Lyft and Xtime integration enables service advisors to easily arrange safe, reliable rides to and from the dealership in just a few clicks.

“You just pull up the appointment card, click ‘rideshare,’ put where they need to go, and submit the request,” shares Scott Haddock, Service Director of Honda Tucson. “Requesting a Lyft courtesy ride in Xtime is easy.”

Beyond ease, it benefits the dealership in multiple ways, including time savings and cost reductions. Read the full case study to discover the advantages your dealership could have with the Lfyt and Xtime integration.

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"With the Lyft and Xtime integration, courtesy rides take 3–4 minutes to arrive.With shuttles, customers were waiting for
1 hour or more."

Read the Case Study


Service Technology and Trends to Watch in 2021

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When we think about the future, our thoughts tend to focus on advances in technology. And at Cox Automotive Experience—a virtual event with the goal of helping dealerships find a new way forward—you’ll learn about the latest technology trends and how today’s dealerships are already benefiting from tomorrow’s technologies. As we transition into 2021, many experts agree that multimedia capabilities, flexible payment platforms, and process automation are the trends most likely to transform the automotive industry in the coming year.

Multimedia Capabilities  

Service, maintenance, and repair have always been about trust. Emerging multimedia technologies make it easy for dealerships to develop that trust, improve the customer experience, and make it easy for the customer to say “yes” to their recommendations. Express Multi-Media, a new tool from Xtime, enables dealers to easily capture walkaround and inspection videos, then send them to consumers. By helping vehicle owners visualize the need for service and understand the rationale behind a recommendation, dealerships can increase repair order volume and amount.

Flexible Payment Platforms 

Visit any website or walk into any brick-and-mortar shop and you’ll see that people have changed the way they pay for things. Especially when the economic outlook is questionable, as it likely will be in 2021, vehicle owners need more options for how and when they pay for service. A new service solution from Xtime aims to meet that need. FlexPay, through an integration with Sunbit, enables dealers to offer flexible service financing that help consumers pay for service over time. And when consumers are less worried about their budgets, dealerships earn additional dollars per repair order.

Process Automation  

Automation, and the ability to eliminate unnecessary tasks, has always been a primary goal of advancing technology. For profit-minded dealerships, few goals could be more important than increasing efficiency and doing more with less. New additions to the Xtime suite of service tools are helping dealerships do just that. Within Inspect, Common Operations is reducing technician downtime by combining the most commonly sold operations into a single catalog. Within Invite, Special Order Parts Marketing is reducing special-order parts inventory by providing automated email and text communications to consumers notifying them that previously out-of-stock parts have become available.

Naturally, technology will play a major role in the way dealerships move into the future. To avoid falling behind, your dealership will need to keep up with the latest technologies. You’ll have the opportunity to get up close and personal with these tools and trends at Cox Automotive Experience, a 10-day virtual event featuring demos, drop-in conversations, and even special offers from Cox Automotive brands. Click Here to schedule your demo today.