Welcome to the Being Found show. We are the local business guide to being found by more buying customers.

Joe: I came across a dealers guide by  Think with Google where they looked back at the auto industry to help make sense of what’s going on for auto dealers, and they noticed a trend where disruption and problems are coming for the auto industry such as consumers interact with auto dealers brands online more than at the dealership.

Google found that 95 percent of vehicle buyers use digital as a source of information. I don’t think that’s surprising.The dealerships are doing a fantastic job at being available by putting their merchandise online as well. Remember that we are talking about the ABC’s of business right now. They know the customers micro-moments and they are adjusting to meet their customer’s needs.

What is a micro-moment?  An intent-rich moment when a person turns to a device to act on a need-to-know, go, do, or buy.

A –  Available where people want to find you.

They have their cars up on their website, they’re on Google My Business , they’re getting reviews, and they are making themselves available.

B –  Be found by the right audience.

Google Micro Moments knows when you ask what car is best for you. That is something people are asking online, and Google tracks that. To help people understand what they mean by a micro-moment, just think about the moment in your life where you ask yourself what car is best for me? Car dealers are answering those specific questions so that people can find exactly what they are looking for.

C –  Cultivate or amplify what is working for you.

Dealers are using the right platforms to be found, they pay for advertising so that when you search a specific car you find the right dealer and know if the car is in stock.

Chauncey: You don’t ask the questions at the dealership anymore, you ask the questions online after you’ve sat down with your wife and said maybe we should buy a new car. You’re at the inception of the idea there.

Joe: There are moments or steps in the buying process that we want our customers to go through. There is a funnel in which we want to shove them through to get to that sale.

There is a series of moments or steps that are going to occur within myself before I purchase that car. In a sense what Google is saying is people are using the Internet for those moments. And the reason I bring this up about being found is you can be found for  those moments and here’s are a few ways:

What are you doing to be found? What content are you creating to be found when someone’s looking for which car is best? Are you answering the questions your prospective customers are asking?

Chauncey: If you can, plant a seed at the inception of the idea. Something businesses are having a hard time with is the idea of the funnel. People can visually see it, but it is hard for businesses to understand it. A lot of business owners aren’t nearly as techie as their customers.

The way the buying process is working for people is on again, off again when you have time. For instance, I am playing a game on my phone waiting for the doctor, I pause it when he calls me in, and I play again when he leaves the room, and I am waiting for him. Later I am in line and play my game, pause to order, and pick right back up after. This is how people are shopping. So the buying process is intermittent throughout people’s lives where before it was little more of sitting down, buying what you want and moving on.

Sometimes the customer repeats some of the same actions, and that’s why it’s referred to as moments instead of a funnel because they can enter these moments at any point and they can go back. That’s why it’s the customers funnel and not the businesses.

Joe: Let’s talk about another moment that Google identifies and I’m going to read their description here because it’s done well.

The “can-I-afford-it moment” tends to be the first moment.

Are you being found when your customer is trying to find out if they can afford it? You know if you’re a business you think, I have my price set, they can figure it out themselves. What are you doing to identify what it costs if they don’t do this? What are you doing to compare prices for them? What are you doing to increase the value so that they think to themselves they can afford it? What are you doing to provide alternatives if they can’t afford it?” Source: Think With Google

They’re going to get to the place where they wonder if they can afford it, and you will want to be the person to help them figure that out. If you aren’t being found for it, they will go to someone who can help them.

Think about those things and make sure that on your website or in your digital presence that you’re helping with that question of can I afford it?

The customer may not precisely be typing in if they can afford it, but is looking at quotes for those cars or looking up better deals. Like Google always suggests, as a dealer, it’s critical to be present in these moments since they’re lower in the conversion funnel, in other words, once someone started to ask about the price they are a little closer to buying. So now how tragic would it be if you’re not being found for the price questions?

Let me just make this simpler, do you even have your product prices online? The idea here is to make it so customers can shop where they want to, and you can offer your products because they want to buy. I see that businesses still think of their website as a brochure and somehow they’re going to say how the company started and all these fantastic, nice things.

Chauncey: You do have to have that stuff on there, but nobody cares. It is this outdated concept though from like the early 2000s of marketing that if I don’t have my product out there, they are going to call me and then one of my awesome sales guys is going to convince them to buy. That doesn’t work and doesn’t exist anymore. If you’re working from that attitude of “If I don’t have my prices they’re going to contact me and then we can swindle this purchase,” You’re making a big mistake. You’re losing the 53 percent of the millennials who are going to shop from their bed alone.

Find the Google dealers guidebook we discussed in this article :  Dealer Guidebook – Think with Google

Learn about the A.B.C’s of business:  3 Simple Rules To Succeed In Business – without spending a ton on advertising  

Being where your customers are and giving them what they are looking for will ensure your business success. Check out the full show at Being Found Show Episode #43