L. James Johnson Bio (the BayAreaCarGuy)
L. James Johnson is the owner and founder of BayAreaCarGuy.com and author of the new book:
HELP! I Gotta Sell My Car NOW! – NEW RULES For Selling Your Vehicle Online!
HELP! NOW! and BayAreaCarGuy.com provide tools for dealers and private sellers to market their vehicles online quickly and profitably.
More about James:
- L. James Johnson joined the car industry late in life after a successful career in radio and TV Journalism. He later owned and operated three companies simultaneously: a manufactured housing sales company and two property management firms.
- Within six months of joining the car industry he attained top sales status. He had one of the highest Consumer Satisfaction Index (CSI) ratings in the district – above national average.
- After advancing to Internet Manager, James drew heavily on his experience in both business and Journalism to perfect the NEW RULES of selling cars online, which led to the publication of HELP! NOW!
- This is the first time all this information has been concisely packaged together in one book that’s essential for private sellers AND car dealers.
You can visit his website at www.BayAreaCarGuy.com.
—————
L. James Johnson’s new book, HELP! I Gotta Sell My Car NOW! New Rules for Selling Your Vehicle Online! is available for download at BayAreaCarGuy.com.
HELP! NOW! is Ready for Download!
I began writing HELP! I Gotta Sell My Car NOW! in March 2009. The 142-page eBook went live on my website (www.BayAreaCarGuy.com) at 1am this morning.
On my home page you can download sample chapters to get a sense of what the book is about – or download the complete book for $27. You can even view the Sales page. This very detailed web page outlines ALL the benefits of the book and provides a link to purchase it.
Gratitude
I am so thankful to my editor, David Carr (www.MovingWords.us), and marketing consultant, Tomar Levine (www.YourTimeToBloom.com), for the endless hours each put into this project.
However, writers and online marketers reading this know that now that the book itself is finished the real work begins. In the case of HELP! NOW! my website acts as a companion resource that itself required tons of work to get up to speed. It will take ongoing effort to keep it current and on point.
The other area that, in this moment, feels like a black hole for time and effort is marketing HELP! NOW! online. Yes I have a game plan and yes, there is more work than time to do it. But what fun! What a joy to engage in this project at this level. What a thrill to be working with the caliber of people I find myself surrounded with.
And what potential lies ahead.
———————
L. James Johnson’s new book, HELP! I Gotta Sell My Car NOW! New Rules for Selling Your Vehicle Online! is available for download at BayAreaCarGuy.com.
Auto Dealer’s Camera Recommendation for Online Photos
Auto Dealers take an enormous number of photos for online postings. I mention in my new book, HELP! I Gotta Sell My Car NOW! that many dealers do a poor job of their online marketing and badly shot photos are a big part of the reason.
You can find out what pictures you should include in your online ads – and how to take them – in my book HELP! NOW!. I also teach you how to record your own video walk around – a secret weapon that brought me much business as an Internet Manager.
When you take as many pictures as most dealers do, you need a camera designed for the specific issues you face over and over and over:
- you need a wide angle lense to capture the essentials of the interior.
- you need a flip screen (also called an articulating LCD) so you can hold the camera at odd angles and still see exactly what you are shooting.
Chad Manz is a dealer marketing specialist and online photo expert. He has worked with dealers across the country teaching them how to take online photos. There is only ONE camera that Chad Manz recommends for dealers:
A private seller can get away with the least expensive digital camera available today and still take acceptable pictures. Private sellers – or dealers on a strict budget – can see my recommendations here.
A dealer is only hurting themselves if they try to get a away with a camera that lacks the necessary features. The result will either be photos that are not up to standards, or time unneccesarily wasted for the person taking them. Either one will hurt a dealer’s bottom line.
While you’re at it, get rechargable batteries and a simple charger. You’ll also need an extra large memory card, and if you plan on doing video walk arounds, get the biggest memory card available. A mini-tripod will come in handy, along with a lense cleaning kit.
Good photos often make the difference between a car selling quickly – or not. If you are curious how to get your dealership to the front of the online photo line, as well as learning the essentials of what should go in your ad copy, get my book HELP! NOW!
————–
L. James Johnson’s new book, HELP! I Gotta Sell My Car NOW! New Rules for Selling Your Vehicle Online! is available for download at BayAreaCarGuy.com.
Where to Store Pictures Online?
I recommend that you take at least 30 pictures of your car, truck, or SUV when selling it online.
Primary Exterior Photo
I often take 60 or more. Car industry pros know that the more pictures you put in front of a buyer, the better the chance of them closing the deal.
Why take so many pictures when Craigslist only lets you post four pictures, and inexpensive premium site packages (AutoTrader or Cars.com) allow less than that? In my book, HELP! I Gotta Sell My Car NOW! I recommend that you post additional pictures to an online image hosting service and send prospective buyers a link to them. This can mean the difference between making the sale or not.
Why host images online vs. attaching them to an email? It’s simpler and quicker. I state in my book HELP! NOW! that responding to emails in minutes – not hours – often makes the difference between selling your car or not. If you are on the run and monitoring emails on your phone, you can respond to a buyer immediately WITH THE LINK TO MORE PHOTOS instead of waiting hours to get back to your home computer to attach pictures to an email.
2008 Honda Civic SI Mugen
Responding with such quick service grabs a buyer’s attention and lets them know that you are following the NEW RULES of selling vehicles online. Who do you think they would rather deal with? A saavy seller who is providing quick, efficient service, or the many OLD SCHOOL sellers (including dealers) who most buyers cringe from?
Also, there’s less chance of something going wrong:
- like having your email get lost in the buyer’s spam folder
- or having it blocked by his email server because you (1) didn’t resize the photos (2) you packed the email with too many pictures.
-
If you get a lot of inquires about your car, you’re going to be spending a lot of time attaching the same photos over and over. It’s simpler to send a single link to every inquiry. In this way you can put up tons of pictures and let them view them until their heart’s content.
Buying a car is a big decision. People appreciate not having their process short-circuited to suit your timetable and needs.
Be helpful. Give buyers the tools they need to make a decision and support them in THEIR process. You’ll stand out as one of the good guys. Doing so has its own rewards AND will help sell your car faster.
PhotoBucket
I recommend the #1 most popular photo site in the country: PhotoBucket.com.
It’s free and you can sign up here: Image and Video Hosting – FREE.
Your pictures are accessible to anyone – if they have an account or not. Simply upload your pictures and send a link. You also get these features with your free account:
- organize your photos neatly into albums with a built-in organizer
- collaborate with family or friends to build group albums using hundreds of album themes
Kit S. with her Honda Civic
- lots of tools for photo editing
- you can resize your photos prior to emailing or uploading to other websites
- lots of effects to add to your pictures, from unique frames and stickers to special effects
- a scrapbook builder – simply drag and drop your pictures into one of hundreds of pre-built scrapbooks
- a slideshow builder so you can post your shows to blogs, websites, or your online profile
- want to add music: use the remix builder
To get your free account with the top image hosting website in the U.S. go to Image and Video Hosting – FREE.
—————-
L. James Johnson’s new book, HELP! I Gotta Sell My Car NOW! New Rules for Selling Your Vehicle Online! is available for download at BayAreaCarGuy.com.
Backpage.com – An Up and Comer!
With classified websites organized to provide a local service, how do you determine which free websites to use when selling your car, truck, or SUV? It’s always smart to use as many as possible. What the heck, they’re free, right? You’ll only be out the time it takes to create each post.
Which Ones to Use?
The world of online classified websites is constantly changing. Craigslist is the towering giant among current players with over 50 million visitors a month. An up and coming player in this game is backpage.
backpage is owned by the original alternative newspaper, New York’s Village Voice. Your ad may be displayed along with classified ads from the back of various local alternative newspapers including:
- SF Weekly (my local alternative choice in the San Francisco Bay Area)
- LA Weekly
- City Pages (Minneapolis)
- Seattle Weekly
The ads in backpage are free. However, you have the option of paying a fee to add your post to the local, printed newspaper, and for posting online in multiple cities.
Mud on the Wall
Remember the “mud on the wall” theory? Always throw up as much “mud” as you have time and energy for because you never know when that last post on some obscure website will generate a phone inquiry about your car. backpage is a growing player in the world of online classified websites. It could very well be the difference between your car selling or not. What the heck – it’s free, right?
————–
L. James Johnson’s new book, HELP! I Gotta Sell My Car NOW! New Rules for Selling Your Vehicle Online! is available for download at BayAreaCarGuy.com.
The Video Walk Around
The Walk Around Video
The video walk around is the secret weapon that brought me serious customers when I was an Internet Sales Manager for a major auto dealer. It was rare for someone to make a long drive after viewing a video walk around and NOT buy the car. The video and your prior conversations will make the sale. Buyers usually make the trip to simply confirm the details and pick up the car.
HELP! I Gotta Sell My Car NOW!
Use the video walk around examples on my website at BayAreaCarGuy.com/video, in conjunction with my book, HELP! I Gotta Sell My Car NOW! where I provide a step-by-step guide on how to create your own effective walk around (a great selling tool for so many reasons!) that may also make you a star on YouTube!
In HELP! NOW! I teach you how to:
- prep your car
- find a location
- the equipment you’ll need
- how to script your walk around – including what features to SELL
- how to create a general video for everyone
- how to create a video for a specific buyer
- the mechanics of shooting your video
- how to upload to the Internet
- much more
Creating your own video walk around and posting it on YouTube is both fun and easy. Want to see what one looks like? View my video walk around examples by visiting the Video page at BayAreaCarGuy.com.
Find more tools for buying and selling vehicle on my website at www.BayAreaCarGuy.com/tools.
——————
L. James Johnson’s new book, HELP! I Gotta Sell My Car NOW! New Rules for Selling Your Vehicle Online! is available for download at BayAreaCarGuy.com.
Is A “Bill of Sale” Needed To Sell Your Car?
Did you know that in most states a Bill of Sale does not actually transfer legal ownership of your car to the new buyer when you sell it privately? For those states, the actual transfer is done through the DMV.
However, some states require a Bill of Sale for a private deal to be completed. In my new book, HELP! I Gotta Sell My Car NOW! I recommend that you complete a Bill of Sale if your state requires one or not. Here is why:
A Bill of Sale makes the sales transaction explicit by identifying what is for sale, any conditions attached, and the price.
HELP! NOW! also outlines what a Bill of Sale should include in case you want to take a stab at it on your own:
- The vehicle identification number (VIN)
- year, make, and model
- odometer reading (mileage)
- date of sale
- purchase price
- be sure to include the phrase “sold as is,” unless you have agreed to something else
- names and addresses of buyer and seller
- signatures of buyer and seller
To make sure you get it right it’s actually easier to download an attorney prepared Bill of Sale online. For a small fee, you can get a professional document that has been specifically designed for you state. Go to Find Legal Forms for an Auto Bill of Sale
.
Find more tools for buying and selling vehicle on my website at www.BayAreaCarGuy.com/tools.
—————-
L. James Johnson’s new book, HELP! I Gotta Sell My Car NOW! New Rules for Selling Your Vehicle Online! is available for download at BayAreaCarGuy.com.
