With email and texting being the dominant forms of communication these days, we must remember that a good old fashioned phone conversation can be much more effective, helpful and personal.

Some on your staff may suffer from being a bit phone-shy, but in an industry dependent on following up on sold and non-sold customers, preparation is…

Sometimes it may feel like an uphill battle to even the strongest of salespeople when customers bestow their unrealistic expectations, desires, and constant objections during the vehicle sales process. Once it's time to make the math work and a proposal is issued from the desk manager, often a salesperson's energy and enthusiasm is zapped.

It's at this…

With women buying over 50% of the cars sold in America and influencing 85% of vehicle purchases, auto sales strategies should include certain factors that may contribute to why women choose to purchase from a particular…

We just finished up a Staffed Event sale with a HUGE Mitsubishi dealership in North Carolina where we did 407K, and pushed 97 units out the door. I get it, many of you are looking at this and thinking this is BS, not real numbers. But it is! I'll be happy to share the Manager's name and contact info if you're interested. We are replicating this model all…

Imagine feeling ill enough to visit the local hospital. Most of us identify the hospital as the one place that has the combination of diagnostic technology, patient history, the knowledge and the skilled clinicians in one location. In order for physicians to accurately diagnose your ailment, they take blood samples and conduct a multitude of tests. As a patient, it…

Dealers have leveraged paid search for years – and some spend significant budgets on it. However, whether they do it by themselves, or work with a vendor, I find many misunderstand some of the strategies, analytics and the method to the madness that is paid search.

I’d like to explain a few things and share some best practices I have learned over the years about how…

According to Black Book® data, the average price of a used vehicle for model years 2011-2015 depreciated by -0.6% in March. Cars overall saw depreciation of –0.3% versus trucks, which saw –0.8% depreciation. All vehicles are averaging a 12-month depreciation change of –17.9%.

In March, four vehicles including Compact Cars, Sporty Cars, Compact Vans and Full Size Vans, increased in value. Out of those vehicles, Compact Vans preformed the best, increasing by +2.1% in value. Vehicles in…

Columbus, OH (April 5, 2017) – Clarivoy, the auto industry’s leading provider of Multi-Touch Attribution, today announced it has hired Benjamin M. Hadley, formerly Senior Sales Director at Dealer.com, as Vice President of Strategy. In his new role Hadley will be responsible for account growth and extension sales, facilitating…

Will provide training for the right person, relocation draw when you arrive, just as I did 6 weeks ago.  Under new ownership, about to launch new website, desperately in need of a full time tech to open the bottleneck in our service department. Our 40 years old parts and service clientele in Kingman AZ, a major hub between LA, Phoenix, Vegas with 40 percent of our population full timers and snowbirds.  The climate is great here and the new owner is a stand-up guy - we need a good man…

An estimated 8.2 million new cars will be bought by women this year. It is critical that dealers’ websites cater to this substantial segment of the market.

The good news? The #1 digital resource women report using first is their local dealership’s website. In our 2017 US Women’s Car Dealership Report, 76.3% of women said it was “helpful or…

Cooper brings decades of auto retailing innovation to fast-growing tech company that created the first-ever digital license plate 

San Francisco, CA - April 5, 2017 – Reviver, creator of the rPlate™, the world’s first digital license plate, today announced that Allan Cooper has been appointed Chief Strategy Officer. Cooper brings over twenty-five years of automotive expertise to Reviver where he will work closely with…

This morning at breakfast I noticed a group of three individuals at the table next to me were speaking French. I naturally wondered what brought them to the United States and the town I was staying in however, that didn’t matter. It did intrigue me however, after a little thought I couldn’t understand a word…

Chatbots are Here, They’re Necessary, and They’re Surprisingly Inexpensive …oh, and for car dealers, chatbots are moving metal!

Time for some quick level-setting with the car dealer readers out there:

1. Facebook is not going away;
2. Most of your customers are already there;
3. Your kitten pictures and inventory vomits aren’t being read; and
4. Facebook Ads work, but you need to start communicating with these prospects!

Because…

As a business or a marketer, you can’t afford to be late to the game. Pay attention to where the market is moving and where the attention is at, and move with it! 

Watch this week's Think Tank Tuesday to find out why Dan Allen thinks marketers ruin everything in relation to product placement and movement of the market.…

Word has it that many dealers are still having problems finding and keeping 'good' salespeople. According to the 2016 NADA Dealership Workforce Study, the average turnover rate for salespeople is 67 percent, and as high as 72 percent at non-luxury dealerships.

High…

This year mobile text messaging celebrates its 25th birthday. Many things have happened since 1992 when the first text (in history) was sent.  Since then, texting truly has become a cultural phenomenon, and it has undoubtedly changed the way people communicate, both among themselves, and with companies.

But how did it emerge in the first place? Let’s…

It’s no surprise that Disney has created one of the largest groups of loyal customers in the world. Of course, this isn’t by accident. Everything Disney does is by design. According to an article in Automotive News, Porsche wants to do a similar thing…

Some dealership personnel tend to do things that really boil down to just CYA stuff. A customer comes into the service drive and is made to wait while their vehicle is inspected for scratches, dents or dings, which can take a few minutes --- time a customer doesn’t have.

The most valuable currency on the planet is time. Everyone has too much to do with too little…

I do a lot of this work.  An old domain that once was producing no longer ranks on search.  Examples:

888-929-4424 RV Financing – New or Used RV Financing 5th Wheel Motor Home Travel Trailer…