This article was originally published on the NCM Institute's Up to Speed blog. 

Is YOUR service department’s overall gross profit growing year-over-year? The automotive industry as a whole has been in a growth mode for the last five years.  Unfortunately, too often we want to continue to look back and blame…

Greetings,  

When good things happen it is often because we are utilizing the right processes. Everyone has a process that they hope, will make good things happen for their business.

Click the link below to find out how we make good things happen for people just like you!

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Do you have a defense strategy…

Today we are looking at the Service Drive. This is the critical department where your female customers visit in between purchasing or leasing their vehicles. With all the touch points in the service department, it's also happens to be the highest gross margin department in your store. It's the place where retention happens - or doesn’t.…

It’s widely accepted that content created by third parties in general holds more value for businesses than content they create themselves. Many have felt that consumers better trusted product information and reviews written by neutral persons. According to new research by Vibrant Media, however, that thought process may no longer be the case, if it ever…

U.S. auto sales have been racing ahead on the fast track, rising by 1.5 million in the last three years. Fueling the auto industry's acceleration is the 50-plus population, which…

Anyone that knows me knows that I enjoy writing about our industry and reviewing conferences after I attend them.  Well it has been 2.5 years since I attended my last Digital Dealer conference in Orlando, FL. After 2.5 years of not attending I missed the vibe, the networking and the opportunities that this incredible conference provides to both dealers and vendor partners. From the moment I arrived felt at home, full of…

The 2015 Subaru Legacy Available in Bergen County! 

Shopping for the 2015 Subaru Legacy in New Jersey? The 2015 Subaru Legacy is available with two engine options; the 2.5L 4-Cylinder Subaru Boxer Engine (175hp) and the 3.6L 6-Cylinder Subaru Boxer Engine…

Let me start off by stressing the word social, these are going to be topics, events and days of interest that you can use to be conversation pieces with people in your online communities. None will be car specific but instead topics that might stimulate two-way conversations and recognition. People are pretty smart, they know ABC Toyota sells Toyota’s, you don’t have to tell them every day.

These topics will fall into the fun section of my 4-3-2-1 Rule of Facebook Posting. Each month,…

Persistence Wears Down Resistance

By: Alan Ram

I said this before and I'll say it again, I have learned so much about selling by being a customer. Here's a saying that we take for granted that you've heard a million times, “Persistence wears down resistance,” as a matter fact, I invented it.

That’s not really true, but it's a great saying that you need to apply to your mindset daily when you sell…

Welcome to this week’s edition of Beggs on the Used Car Market, with insight and data from Ricky Beggs and Black Book. What a week it was as Black Book was on the lanes getting the most current market insight and also attending the annual National Auto Auction Association convention, this year in historic Boston. A huge thank you goes out to all the auctions and remarketers that support Black Book as we…

In the world of online matchmaking, women express their inner feelings through their online ads more so than men. In the world of online “car matchmaking”, not so much. An analysis of gender-specific online “car ads” by national car leasing marketplace, Swapalease.com, finds that men are more expressive when it comes to details of the cars they’re trying to pair up with others.



The nationwide online marketplace helps match people wanting out of their car lease with others around…

Mike Martinez’s presentation, “Smartphones and the Purchase Game,” was selected by a panel of auto dealers; joins an agenda that also includes keynotes from digital expert and best-selling author Brian Solis; SEO ‘Wizard’ Rand Fishkin; eMarketer’s lead digital auto analyst, Mike Hudson; Kellogg School of Management marketing professor Florian Zettelmeyer, and online marketing pioneer, Bryan Eisenberg

Daytona Beach, FL – September 30, 2014 –…

New dealership survey from eLEND Solutions underscores pain points for dealers in Sales/F&I process; 80% report their Sales/Finance process takes two hours or longer

Mission Viejo, CA – September 30, 2014 – A new survey of dealerships* from eLEND Solutions underscores what most dealers know already, that the sales and finance process takes much longer than it should:  80% report their process goes on for two hours or longer and 40% report three…

Losing a friend stinks; losing a client costs you money; people unliking your Facebook page is both! Historically, people have had a somewhat negative opinion of car dealers in general, and not many of them want to be friends with a dealer on Facebook. However, when you get the chance to build that relationship, that relationship that may one day lead to a sale, so don’t…

Black Book announces the integration of its vehicle valuation data into a number of today’s leading providers of loan origination systems used by auto lenders. Recent integrations include Credex, Compass Technologies and FNI (Financial Network Inc.).



This continued expansion of Black Book data throughout industry loan origination systems allows lending decisions to be made in less time and with lower costs, thus accelerating the approval process. These operational efficiencies,…

Is your car dealership doing everything possible to keep your customers satisfied and happy?  Now, more than ever, your reputation for building relationships and retaining customers may depend on your company’s focus on providing the very best customer service.

How is good customer service defined?  There isn’t a clear cookie-cutter answer to the…

Inbound links still matter. Despite what you may here from SEO gurus around our industry, the power of high-quality, relevant, and natural inbound links to a dealer's website is still apparent. Google's Matt Cutts acknowledged that in the long run, this may not be the case.

That day, however, is not today.

Google is reportedly in the…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

ALBANY, N.Y. – September 29th, 2014 – Auto/Mate Dealership Systems (http://www.automate.com) announced today the integration of its dealership management system (DMS) with MaximTrak Technologies' F&I Suite. Auto dealers using both systems may now benefit from a real-time, bi-directional exchange of information that speeds up the F&I…

“To err is human; to forgive, divine” – Alexander Pope

Mistakes happen, people realize this. Nobody expects a business to be perfect, as everyone has bad days. However, how you handle these mistakes is the secret to formulating long-term opinions of your…