With so many choices this fall, we hope that AutoCon 2012 will be on your conference short list.  First Class Educators is very excited to have been selected to produce AutoCon in conjunction with Automotive Media Partners (AMP).

There has been great buzz about AutoCon 2012; the exhibitor hall is full! The 70+ workshops on the…

**Contact Keith Kaiser at kkaiser@performanceauto.com**

Performance Automotive Group represents a new type of car dealership.  If you’re motivated to make a difference in the emerging space of digital media we want you on our team.  We’ve created a colorful loft work space for our digital team to provide a fun and engaging work environment, and to show our commitment to being leaders in the digital…

Have you ever wondered where Google gets some of the photos that is uses to display on Google+ Local?

When business listings were managed under "Google Places," it was very common for a dealer to call me in a panic because unprofessional photos were showing on their places page.

I recently received some clarification on this matter, and the solution requires another process that dealers should put…

Does anyone remember when car dealers thought the Internet was not going to impact their business and that they did not need it? Heck I sure do because I was behind a desk at a store and remember it like it was yesterday.  Well now we are faced although in a smaller scale a similar question, “Do I really need a mobile website”?

My goal of this blog is to give you some statistics and patterns that will certainly open your eyes as to what is happing in the automotive segment and what is…

Facebook page posts can now target multiple audiences with many more options.

Over the next few weeks, Facebook Page admins might start to notice a strange button that looks a lot like a deer-shooting-target from a rifle gun. Could this possibly be a new targeting feature? Yes, yes it is. This targeting feature, called Page Post Targeting, is similar to…

Need a good reason to get away from the dealership? How about visiting one of 5 great American cities? Or the chance for the automotive industry’s top minds analyze your digital strategy? What about a trip filled with inspiring keynote addresses and workshops to prepare you to dominate the digital landscape? Of course, we’re speaking about the GM eSummit, and the conference tour kicks off in just a few months.

Sign up…

http://www.seanvbradley.com

http://www.dealersynergy.com

Master Your Craft

Do you want to be successful in…

I love Apple products. In fact I do all of my work on Apple with a Macbook Air at home and iMac at the office. Dealers and Dealership Executives tend to love Apple too. The stores offer a different buying experience and the products are great and easy to use.

The top question from dealership executives I am hearing right now is “What about iPads for salespeople or service advisors?”

The short answer is that iPads are coming to…

Whether you are teeing off on the way to a 300+ yard drive or you hit a baseball deep to center field 420 feet. It took seeing where the ball will go before even swinging, it took practice in order to hit the ball straight toward the area you wanted it to land and it takes a continued commitment toward training to become better each and every day.

In our industry a lot of sales consultants and managers rely on luck rather than perusing their wants and desirers through dedication,…

Last week I attended NCM’s semi-annual meeting of all its divisional directors, 20 Group moderators, Retail Operations consultants, and NCM Institute faculty members, who, along with our CEO set aside two and a half days to dialogue about what’s happening around the industry and within the company, and how best to address the needs of our clients.  As usual, it was a great encounter, with far too much agenda content and discussion for the overall time allotted.

One of the topics that…

Fort Lauderdale, FL – July 31st, 2012 – AutoUSA Internet Sales Solutions (www.autousadealers.com) today introduced Payment Pro℠ powered by DriveItNow®, a payment-based conversion tool for auto dealer websites. Payment Pro is a service that provides online shoppers with instant, real car loan payments based on individual credit and inventory eligibility, generating pre-qualified, first-party leads from dealer websites.

With Payment…

Lafayette, CO (July 31, 2012) ­— KPA announced today the launch of KPA Mobile, providing auto dealers with more leads than any other mobile website provider through a combination of fast loading pages, fewest clicks, large images in listing pages, and properly positioned call-to-actions (CTA’s).

The number of online Internet shoppers using mobile devices is…

   I came accross a very interesting story the other day that I wanted to share with you. It's a story from Alexander Calandra called the Barometer Story. For those of you that have read some of my other posts (here or other forums), You know I like to keep things Simple and Fresh. This story is an intersting way on how to throw creativity on top of that.

Most of us sell / advertise in a similar way. Albeit, print, radio, TV, social, Low price leader, Give away the funny…

Hot-button topics selected exclusively for the summit by dealers include Website Analytics, Used Car Certification, Reputation Management, Gen Y Social Media, Mobile Marketing, and more; Early Bird Registration available until August 15^th

Salt Lake City, UT – July 31, 2012 – DrivingSales today announced speakers and presentations for the 2012 DrivingSales Executive Summit’s (DSES) key breakout sessions, including…

Websites that have been established for a while always have the advantage over a new website when it comes to ranking with Google. Google tends to trust websites that have been around longer, and these websites have had more time to build good back links, which can make them difficult to compete with. Fortunately there are ways to compete with good…

Friends,

In case you have not heard there is a new sheriff in town and he is not friendly to consumer facing businesses. His name is the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and his top dog is Richard Cordrey. A little about Dick, He made notoriety in the automotive industry by successfully making Adverse Action Notices…

As I’ve been connecting with dealers over the past six years I have noticed a trend that few people truly address.

Technology is killing the car business. Your CRM hasn’t made you more money than you made 10 years ago and neither has your current advertising.

Whew…that was harder than I thought.

Before you start ranting about all the ways that your CRM helps and all the reasons that advertisers are bleeding you dry, let me just say this: it’s not technology’s fault and…

ActivEngage was a finalist in the Best Places to Work in Central Florida awards for 2012 (check out slide 13). Although ActivEngage missed the top spot this year by only .03%, we still feel that we are the best place to work by far, read more here to find out…

http://automotiveinternetsales.com/group/process/forum/topics/dealer-synergy-10-step-phone

Check this video out! I watched this video a couple of weeks ago and it help to completely understand the 10 step process. It shows ways of how to get the customer use to listen to my voice, how to pace the conversation, and also how to take control of the phone call…