The consumer is the life-blood of any business, and franchise auto dealers must implement consumer centric solutions that will encourage consumers to conduct business with your dealership(s).

As you read a few of the customer quotes below, it's important to note that consumers are conducting business with dealers that are geographically located further away, and dealers that are located closer to the consumer aren't winning their business. Why? Dealers that provide Service Customer…

Driverless cars have captivated everyone's imagination and rightfully so. They are a true paradigm shifter and they have the potential to change the world. The vast majority of people would say for better while there are also those who say it will be for the worse.

There are also realists who see the potentially, but who see quite a few obstacles that will probably take much too long to solve and that might actually cause people to cool off the idea. The author of this article is…

Imagine that you attend a classical music concert. This concert has a 90 piece (90 musicians) orchestra and a conductor (the leader or guide) that communicates to the orchestra on how to play the next note(s). Now take a look at the sales department of an automobile dealership. The department has managers that usually consist of a general sales manager, one…

Auto dealers are well known for their huge support to local communities. Especially around the holiday season when they do many good deeds including toy drives, donations to food banks and a variety of other activities that have special meaning to those particular dealers. It’s noble not to “brag” about the great things we do as businesses. In fact, many repeat good-deed…

On-demand driver services such as Uber are on the rise. The approaching disruption of driverless vehicles shouldn’t come as a surprise, but dealers need to find a way to keep up with customers who want alternatives to owning a vehicle. It comes down to this: complacency can cause suppliers to lose touch with their customers. To remain successful and compensate for declining…

Purchasing the ideal headphones nowadays can simply turn into a nightmare since we must take into account the numerous technical specs, the selling price, usage and so forth. Even so, in order to make the investment less difficult it's essential to learn more concerning the options that come with the headphones provided these days.

This is why we have created…

So many times we talk about using video to communicate your message to your customers. But what’s the right way to make a video? 

YouTube Director will walk you through exactly what you need to do to figure out what type of video will work for you.

This week on Hard Facts, Samantha will show you the steps you need to take after you’ve downloaded the app. Watch the video for more information.…

One thing you can be certain of about life is that it will bring challenges. They come in various categories such as financial, career, family or health issues. Since we know all of us are going to face challenges in our life let’s look a little deeper as to how we can best address them.

A longtime friend of mine is facing the largest challenges anyone can face. The love of…

Everyone wants to get good results in their career and family life. We want to be healthy and prosperous, yet most of us fall short and never even set personal goals for ourselves. Beyond setting a goal you must take positive actions with the plan on how you hope to achieve your desired result.

This time of the year is perfect for developing your action plan for the…

No matter what your position is in life one of the things we all face every day are distractions. If you desire to improve your quality of life then you must learn to recognize and reduce the distractions you face on day to day bases. On a typical day you’re likely to be bombarded with people interrupting your current tasks to take care of their immediate needs. You might be…

Most dealerships want to operate in a manner that they will be considered green. Normally however, going green is costly when compared to today’s methods of operation. There is one exception I’ve been made aware of that saves time and money for dealership operations. In the near future, service departments will all be faced with the need to go paperless. Storage requirements for…

Today’s dealerships require that each department generates profit. Body shops have often been challenging as they are limited by insurance companies on what they can charge for labor and paint and materials. Body shops also get squeezed on parts gross profit and lately have additional requirements to order and price through the website the insurance company owns or manages. Body shop processes are…

I travel a lot using commercial airlines and had to share an experience this weekend with Southwest. I bordered the connection flight like normal to fasten my seatbelts only to find out the aircraft didn’t move. We sat there with no information or air conditioning for quite a while until finally the pilot came on and explained the aircraft would not be flying because of a…

Most dealers have spent many years in the car business. They know what it takes to sell cars. They know when a customer walks onto the lot, the salesperson must give a professional presentation while being able to emotionally connect with and excite the customer into making that purchase.

To this end, most dealers are really great at merchandising their…

The hiring process can be challenging. You think you're improving your chances of hiring the best person for the job by carefully reviewing résumés, planning interviews, conducting background checks, and incorporating a personality test into your hiring practice. However, not…

Chapter 3: What to Do What When You Get There

There are a few things you can do to make NADA100 a top-notch experience.  If you’ve already got a game plan and know which workshops you want to attend, then you’re ahead of the game.  If not, check out the…

Welcome to this week's edition of Black Book Market Insights, with in-depth analysis of used car and truck valuation trends and insights straight from the auction lanes. Click here to download…

This Week in Social Media

News for the Week of December 19

Instagram Releases Live Video for All U.S. Users

Instagram just announced they will be releasing a new Live Video feature to all U.S. users within…

What would you do if a customer was injured at your dealership and you were at fault? I don’t mean serious injury or anything like that. Perhaps just a bump or scrape? Most businesses would apologize or, at the very least acknowledge the mishap to the customer. Perhaps send some flowers or a gift card. You certainly wouldn’t want to ignore it, right?

Well,…

I was on a trip to New York and met up with a friend of mine (full disclosure: also a happy customer) Richard Hesse, the Dealer Principal at Mercedes-Benz of Nanuet. He has a simple mantra: “It's not business; it’s personal” -- and he means it.  I borrowed a car…