10 Best Types of Data for Automotive Marketers [Infographic]

News for the Week of 2.18 

New Twitter Timeline Feature

Twitter users and marketers will be happy to see the latest update, which allows them to view the best Tweets first.  Most Twitter users follow hundreds, if not thousands of people, and this enhancement…

Love him politically or hate him, Donald Trump's strategy cannot be labelled "timid".  Recently the news included a story that Jeb Bush had failed to renew or claim jebbush.com.  Though the page was blank and, thus, no cause for concern, it now redirects to donaldjtrump.com.…

Many, many moons ago I was a brand new agent at the Western Southern Life Insurance Agency.  I was given a debit book (book of customers whose premiums were collected by the agent), piles of marketing material, business cards, and a cool little desk that opened like the ones I had in elementary school.  I was also given a stack of 3x5 index cards with pre-printed fields on them complete with a metal box whose dividers allowed you to file the cards according to who was to be called throughout…

Turnover

The importance of our employees is evident with every key performance indicator in the dealership. Every customer transaction could be positive or negative, based solely on the attitude of one individual employee. In some dealerships they turn people over like clothing and believe that improves the attitude of everybody, because they are in fear of their job. Other…

From factory rebates to free upgrades to free car washes, new and used car dealerships use millions upon millions of incentives to boost sales each year. Some new car operations question why they should offer any other kind of incentive beyond the factory rebate. The answer is…

Social media provides us with a wonderful set of tools to connect and stay connected with people. In its early years, some businesses were a little slow to jump onto the social media bandwagon. However, as they recognized the potential it had to reach large audiences for little to no money, businesses embraced it.

The thing is that as use has grown, some…

Black Book announces its latest white paper from the company’s Lender Solutions division, titled “Strategies To Help Maintain Profitable Leases In Your Portfolio”. Available by clicking here, the white paper discusses the possible conflicting market pressures that may temper the increase in leasing activity for lenders, and shows how collateral data can help shift portfolio strategies to maintain robust and profitable…

Is the lowest monthly car payment always the best deal? Not lately. And not with $2 a gallon gas.

New analysis from Swapalease.com shows that many car shoppers would end up spending less on their lease if they opted for more miles when negotiating their deal in the showroom. Why? $2 a gallon gas is having a lot to do with that since more people today are spending for extra mileage at the end of their lease. In each case it would have been cheaper to take the more expensive deal in the…

Take your service department, auto body, used car, and new car sales to a whole new level. Want your best month ever? Read more: Making Your BEST Month EVER!…

Want to boost your sales 24% and add $106,000 per year to your bottom line? Well, here’s the deal: It’s all about the customer experience.

A lot has been written about how industry disrupters are currently threatening market share. These online auto buying sites provide consumers with an easier, friendlier way to buy a car. This isn’t,…

Deciding priorities when it comes to KPIs and ROI

It’s a conundrum auto dealers face in every aspect of the car business: go for ROI or most affordable?

Go with a factory-mandated…

Honesty is a winning strategy- "We are not going to sell you a dump truck when all you need is a pick up."

- James…

The latest craze to have hit automotive sales where customer engagement is concerned has been texting.  You can scarcely scan any industry blog/newsletter headlines or attend any best practices seminar without the writer or speaker reminding you that everyone is texting these days and therefore you must text your customers.…

When I look at advertising strategies in our industry, one of the most consistently missed opportunities I see is dealerships who are trying to save money by marketing to all their customers through email, and only sending mail to customers without an email address on file.

These dealers often ask me, “Now that I can email my customers, why do I have to send…

An experienced car salesperson knows the value that a good used car can bring to their paycheck. 

With car owners spending more time on the road and keeping their cars longer, used vehicles that are traded in today normally have more miles on the odometer than they used to.  At the same time, most cars made in the last 20 years can remain in…

Yesterday, my 80 year old mother, took her SUV to the local dealer for an oil change.  Even though it is a lease, she likes to treat it like she would if she owned it and have the oil changed every 3000 miles or so.  So, she pulled into the service lane of the store where she has bought a new vehicle every three years since I was 16 (over 35 years), and where she has had her car serviced every three months since then.  My mom believes that the dealer is the best…