Who's Afraid of Paul Rushing? Would You Be Willing to Get Into a Debate-By-Blog with Paul?

Replies to This ADM Discussion

Permalink Reply by Paul Rushing on August 7, 2008 at 7:05pm

So much undeserved notoriety. Thank you oh masterful Google for your alerts.... Sigh....

Paul Rushing
912-266-1629
parulr@drivingsales.com
www.drivingsales.com

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Permalink Reply by Bryan Armstrong on August 7, 2008 at 8:22pm

undeserved???????? lolololol You ARE the master.

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Permalink Reply by Ralph Paglia on August 7, 2008 at 10:26pm

Use caution, Bryan... Do you think it is really safe to be sticking your foot into the water???

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Permalink Reply by Ralph Paglia on August 7, 2008 at 10:24pm

I love it! Google alerts are to you like an incredible sense of smell is to a Great White!!! I like the moniker of Paul "The Shark" Rushing... Yes... "Swim at your own risk".

Find more videos like this on Automotive Digital Marketing Professional Community

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Permalink Reply by Frank Davis on August 8, 2008 at 4:40am

Ok, I will jump in the water.

Paul has beat me up a little over at Deale refresh over micro sites and keyword placement. Paul does think he is very masterful at his craft and I believe that he has some good attributes to offer our profession. In defense of my micro sites they have achieved a goal that I had of pushing jimgloverchevy.com higher up into SEO rankings. It worked well and they are very inexpensive to create and maintain. What is great about this business is you learn something new everyday if you set out to. I am far from perfect but at the same time I have achieved where many have failed. Without pushing Mr. Rushing on many avenues there has been many questions concerning him and his practices. We all know how well versed he is in SEO and social networking and affiliate marketing, or do we? I was told by a very successful man that it is so hard to get a person to teach you affiliate marketing because they are to busy making and enjoying money. Now I am not sure about that, as I have watched ADM grow and Dealer refresh grow and the ads just keep growing. I have a few of my own ideas as I own a few real good domain names but I lack in website building and design and I just do not find the time for it yet. My question to you Mr. Rushing "what the heck are you doing here"? Beside beating people up on a daily basis. You sir find it very hard to say anything positive about anyone, everyone is wrong and you are right. I am sure to read all of your writings as I do a few select others and I have yet to learn anything from you as you are just beating people up, yes people are afraid of bully’s and yes you are a verbal bully. I keep waiting to see if I will actually learn something from you. Here is another question for you Paul, what is the job description of a Internet sales director? what was your primary job function? Because I had looked at your website at the store you had control over and I have to say I was very surprised to see a site that probably gained about a 2% conversion ratio. So what was the conversion ratio? From how many unique visitors per month how did you grow that number, what was the closing percentage from those visitors? How much business did the Internet department do compared to the store? Did you depend on just SEM or did you excel in SEO? How many vehicles did you sell per month? How many sales people did you manage? Can you actually sell a vehicle yourself? I suppose I could list another 50 questions here but I have other goals to meet this morning so I will move on. I know I am going to get lashed for this but so what, next. We all learn from our mistakes but when we do not make any then what? I do not believe Paul is a master at his craft but I am not sure which craft Paul thinks he is better at? It would be great to see Paul comment about some items and not beat someone up every chance he gets. We all can learn from each other (right Ralph) just as Paul has some things to teach us to make us better, but just like in school there was always that mean teacher that you just didn’t learn anything from.

Now just so you know, I have been in the automotive industry for ten years, just about all of it “selling” vehicles to online prospects and I am successful at it, more than most as I have seen so many people give up. I was asked time and time again “ Frank what are you doing selling Internet leads” Well to tell you why, I saw the future in it. And now I enjoy having five sales people work for me in a department that grows all of the time. The very successful lady that asked me question is a special finance salesperson and the funny thing is, I generate more credit applications than they can buy at any price. But I am also not yet a master at my craft, still learning everyday. But as a teacher I know and understand the value of learning a new lesson.

I challenge Paul Rushing to give credit where it is due and not beat up people that are just reaching out to express and opinion and learn what other experts have to say.

In defense of Mr. Zigler whom I have never meet, His company sent out an e-mail, so what. There is a little button it is called a delete button and the funny thing is if you push on it the e-mail goes away and you do not have to be bothered with it, wow what a concept. Try it, works great.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Rushing on August 8, 2008 at 5:51am

Frank I really appreciate your comments and I don't really mean to come across as a bully if that is how I am viewed. I found myself in a position at a store that was treating Internet marketing as an uncharted expense and really had many challenges to face. You are correct the sites sucked and I could not get the benefit of support to make a lot of changes I wanted. I was paid only for what was closed. I did not have the benefit of a salary to massage ideas and implement them. I had to chase deals. I was able to maintain a cost per sale of under $400 per tracked deal, I was not credited for anything I did not touch. There was a lot more broke there than the Internet department. Give me a call I will share it with you.

I love affiliate marketing, SEO and networking and perfect world I would have bolted from that position to I found myself in to find a dealer that gets it. However, I am very hardheaded and tried to make it as profitable as possible for the store and inspire acceptance of the internet as the huge marketing tool that it is., while at the same time meeting some personal goals of mine.

I have a 3 year old son who has some special medical concerns and my insurance premiums tripled without warning. I had to scramble to make sure he was taken care of. Perfect world I would of just increased my affiliate income to cover this shortfall if I had some advance warning, but I did not. So I put my skill set to work the best I could which is high ticket retail. I have been in that sector for almost two decades. Now my affiliate income has been destroyed due to the fact I could not maintain my properties and work 12-14 hours a day sometimes and my bride bless her heart could not help maintain them. You are correct affiliate marketers do not share techniques much but there are treasure troves of those that do. Most all do not share niches, which I have one of mine in this paragraph.

I ask for opinions and help, process is not a strong point for me at all however online marketing, SEO and SEM is. When I first came back I did exactly that and asked for some help. http://www.dealerrefresh.com/my_weblog/2007/08/should-i-kill-c.html Trying to get a handle on what was working and what was not.

I really do not mean to come across as a bully. I just don't mind calling a spade a spade. I just usually respond in kind when people take it to a level that it does not need to go. You have never seen me strike the first blow in an "attack" and really hate it that it is viewed that way. One thing I will not do is enter a conversation that I cannot contribute to or have no knowledge of. I too still have a lot to learn.

If my message was lost on you in your last paragraph I am sorry you don't see it. I respect you and what you do. I was not offended by the email in question. The message was actually comical based on how they chose to deliver it and it's contents. Please look for the irony in that.

I applaud what you have been able to accomplish, I could not do that where I was due to lack of buyin from my GM, not on a lack of performance on a lack of being unwilling to support something he did not understand. I had many people advise me to look for a different situation and I have found it. It will be more rewarding than full time affiliate marketing, even though I will still some, and hopefully allow me to contribute to this ever growing circle of people who get it.

Good Luck and Good Selling.

Paul Rushing
912-266-1629
parulr@drivingsales.com
www.drivingsales.com

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Permalink Reply by Ralph Paglia on August 8, 2008 at 6:15am

Paul,

Thank you for the insight into your experience, successes and the inevitable failures that come with trying out new tactics. One comment I would like to make is that getting "Buy In" from a GM, other managers and salespeople is as important a skill set for automotive digital marketing professionals as understanding SEO, SEM, Website design and other more technical knowledge and skill sets.

I have been delivering a series of presentations at Kelley Blue Book eNetwork seminars that have been highly rated by dealers and managers who attend the sessions. We have been to 3 cities in the past 3 months and will continue with Chicago in 3 weeks. Part of why I believe my sessions have been so well received is that I go into great detail about how to win over dealers, GM's, GSM's other managers and sales people on the floor. I built this into the presentation because, just like what Paul experienced, I see far too many highly talented individuals who end up being hand-cuffed and eventually leaving dealerships due to lack of support by the store's management teams.

Now, as much as we like to think this scenario is unique to the car business, based on many conversations with digital marketing professionals in other industries, it seems that this problem is inherent to digital marketing practitioners and not just part of the car business... So, what are some of trhe ways we can win over these other managers in our dealerships?

Amongst many ways i have found, showing our colleagues how we can get more bang for their advertising dollars by using either Google Audio, Print or TV may be hitting the bell at the top of the pole at the carnival for these people. I do not even like radio all that much, but when i was at Courtesy I won more praise and more support from the rest of an extensive management team from buying Radio spots at 20% of what they normally paid than anything else I had done to that point.

And frank, you just keep on rocking with your microsites and the network of sites you are creating for your dealership! The synergy i was able to achieve in SEO, SEM quality scores, traffic from referring articles and sites was something that absolutely amazed me in the degree of effectiveness we were able to achieve, and I am convinced that ouitside of a few people who have done it, such as you and me, that very few people in the car business understand how it all works together... I can still remember looking at my Omniture SiteCatalyst reports in one of our primary websites and seeing over 4,000 unique visitors from www.2008ChevyCamaro.com (in 2006) and then clicking on web leads submitted by those Camaro microsite referrals and seeing over 100 leads received that showed our www.CourtesyChev.com as the source, but now realizing that the microsite delivered that traffic to us and the light bulbs started illuminating... So, keep following your instincts and keep launching those microsites you have been building because you are on the right track... I know it in my heart and don't let anyone else dissuade you from that strategy! At one point, over 1,500 leads a month were coming in from the network of microsites we created at Courtesy, but not from each microsite's lead forms, but rather from the traffic into other sites driven by referring links built into the microsites!

Oh yeah... And Paul, just so you do not think I am an idiot, I know why everything you post here at ADM has so many links to other sites you either control or are involved with and that is cool with me... Live and let live and viva la differance!

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Permalink Reply by Paul Rushing on August 8, 2008 at 6:32am

---Oh yeah... And Paul, just so you do not think I am an idiot, I know why everything you post here at ADM has so many links to other sites you either control or are involved with and that is cool with me... Live and let live and viva la differance!---

Referencing above I posted some examples and were not by design to siphon traffic by any means. Even though that is a good use to drop them at times. If spiders come we need to funnel 'em where we can. :P

That is awesome that buy in is becoming part of the education process. I wish I could of attended something like that last summer. With the way the business is headed I think awareness of other alternatives should be on the fore front of every dealers mind at this point. Now you are helping others helps show them the way. BTW is this coming to Jacksonville, FL or Orlando in the near future? If so what penance must I pay to get a seat?

Paul Rushing
912-266-1629
parulr@drivingsales.com
www.drivingsales.com

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Permalink Reply by Ralph Paglia on August 8, 2008 at 8:11pm

Paul,

I will make sure that Tiffany Robinson at Kelley Blue Book has you on the email invitation list, and on the VIP guest list... It would be an honor to the event if you showed up!

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Permalink Reply by Frank Davis on September 2, 2008 at 3:02am

Paul I checked my e-mail and here is your e-mail for everyone to see. Here are some facts for you. You asked why I pick you apart? First of all that is what you do to almost every comment. Also because you claim to be an expert in the automotive industry and I believe you cannot even sell ice to an eskimo. All you harp on is Social networking etc. I know very well about the Ripoff reports written on this dealership all of which have been responded to, none of which had been ripped off.

I could make a "huge move" of my own but I have not. That is why I said it was your move. In defense of my actions I am very successful at my job, you however still need to be in ismintraining and that does not include your website. Why do you not get out in the trenches and actually become successful in what you are preaching about before you attempt it? I watched the dealership website that you had control over and I know you like for people to believe your were fired because of someones telephone call but actually the reason was because you could not get that website to perform right?

Pauls e-mail to me:

I had written a long reply to you at ADM after your caustic remarks
pointing out your negative SERP results for your money terms.

"Jim Glover Chevrolet" "Jim Glover Chevy" and "Frank Davis Tulsa"

You probably should work on fixing that on all fronts and not worry
about low volume search phrases when I am sure you know that your
dealership name is your highest volume traffic followed closely by
derivatives of Tulsa Chevrolet or Chevy.

I really don't understand you intent on picking apart what I say when
I try to give another perspective. But your replies to a consumer at
http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/261/RipOff0261016.htm#249100
are probably costing you more business than your realize. Especially
when it shows in the SERPs on page one for "Frank Davis Tulsa".

Believe it or not customers that are web savvy will google your name to
see what is out there about you before doing business with you. Would
you want to do business with you after reading that?

I will do a post about it at http://ismintraining.com over the next week.
I wont use your name or your dealership name so no worries there.

I wish you well my friend.

Paul Rushing
912-266-1629

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Permalink Reply by Paul Rushing on September 2, 2008 at 8:13am

Before you worry about launching microsites for non competitive keywords you need to get your house in order and fix the SERP results for your dealership name.

You know and I know that is probably your greatest search engine traffic source. You can measure bounce rate on your site, you cant measure bounce rate in the SERPS.

A search engine user who sees a ripoffreport listing right under your website when they are looking for you will probably click there first before they decide if they want to engage you further. A web savvy consumer will probably even Google your name before they do business with you.

You don't control your primary keywords why even bother with low traffic terms like "special finance tulsa"?

I am sure you have done a good job in your position and dealers need loyal EMPLOYEES to push a mouse for them to sell cars. Just like the teachers say in the Vo Tech department, the world needs ditch diggers too.

As far as sales ability and your misstated analogy (I don't Know why Eskimos would want to buy icecubes?) I can assure you I could go toe to toe with anyone with any product, not just cars. I am sure we could devise a wager if you want, a heads up competition?

FYI - I did not get fired for "lack of performance". I was told to leave after numerous phone calls before and after I GAVE MY NOTICE. Even today when I visit the dealership I get asked when am I coming back.

I realize you are all knowing. You do a good job at using caustic supposition to prove your point. At the end of the day in a battle of attacks you are supreme. I just hope for the sake of your family and others around you, your personality in real life is not as ill as your online interactions.

I can't believe I even took the time to respond to this. There are better uses of my time.

Paul Rushing
912-266-1629

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Permalink Reply by Frank Davis on September 2, 2008 at 8:51am

I am getting my house in order and kicking your butt out of it is part of the process which would include your squidoo. You came into this market bucko for whatever reason to prove a point? who knows.

My point was made.

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