Most car shoppers have the opinion that car Salespeople are basically dishonest and will say or do anything to make a sale today.  It has been that way for a long time and is the reputation of our business in general stemming from decades of car…

Swapalease.com, the nation’s largest car lease marketplace, reports sixteen lease deals on popular cars and trucks in its Wantalease.com new lease marketplace with monthly offers of $200 or less in June, with six under $160 per month.

Headlining the lowest monthly offer, the Volkswagen Jetta S is listed at $139.00 per month followed by the Chevrolet Cruze LT at $147.00 and the Chrysler 200 Limited at $149.00. Lease deals are offered at 24-, 36-, or…

The service department tends to be the busiest place in a dealership, and service managers must stay in tune with what’s going on. While meetings and discussions can be useful, at times they only result in vague ideas the service staff never acts upon. Just like in any organization, a service department is only as good as its leader. Sometimes, you have to get in the…

Car advertising is heavily slanted towards price. The buying demographic has shifted to women who now make up more than half of the sales, and influence over 80% of the deals. Today, it makes sense to move advertising to accommodate this powerful market sector.

Did You Know?…

Today’s car business has many challenges such as customer satisfaction, retention, and overall profitability. One thing I find interesting is, many of the challenges that car dealerships face are self-imposed. Today let’s look at some of the challenges and areas of opportunities for growth between the sales and service…

If you were to ask today’s consumers if they’d like to hang out at a car dealership, chances are that the majority would respond “no.” When consumers do visit a dealership to purchase a vehicle or get their vehicle serviced, many times the process can be longer than desired and is not always a great experience for the consumer. Dealerships have been attempting to streamline…

You Have to Watch this Video to See Why We Were Fired

I'm sharing 3 tips to handle leads, increase sales, and how to turn more shoppers into lifetime clients. There are many shiny nickels that seem like they can solve everything, but watch this episode of Think Tank Tuesday to discover what will…

While I tend to do a lot of phone training, it’s not my favorite skill to teach.

This is not because my phone skills training lacks substance or robustness or even uniqueness – it provides all three (and you can even get most of it for free online) – it’s because that no matter how much phone skills…

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 the full report.

The Black Book editors and survey personnel have identified select trends this week that show where dealers and remarketers need to pay close attention to inventory management…

The Five Rules for Change

How do you see yourself when you consider your future? Do you have a dream for your life that you would like to achieve, but don’t know how to get there from where you are?  Are you stuck in the same rut…

An Open Letter to the Automotive Industry - Ken Potter

I spent the last three years working at TRUECar with a great team of people under me listening to dealers, industry executives, and my team on how to best serve dealers.

I first want to thank those dealers that allowed me to come visit their stores and hear their very candid feedback, concerns, and thoughts on how we could serve them better. I will be the first to say we didn't get it right for everyone, but we did grow…

Are you one of the few that blasts Social Media as a form of marketing? Maybe you just don’t believe that it works. Maybe you think it’s a huge waste of time. Well the good news is that you’re not alone. The bad news is that the numbers of non-believers are rapidly dwindling.

Let’s say that you’re on the fence about whether there’s actual ROI (return on…

What You Should Know About Managing Your Reputation 

Solid management of your reputation can result in real business growth. Word of mouth means everything in the business world, and having a great reputation can really impact that word of mouth in a positive way. You will also…

I've been pretty torn over the last few months. On one hand, I'm so pleased to see that dealers (and even some vendors) are really starting to embrace building content pages on their website. On the other hand, I'm concerned that many companies are starting to promote building these pages as their complete SEO strategy. What's worse is that many dealers are starting…

Keep your pipeline full-

Hope for the best but prepare for the worst-

We’ve all heard of or lived through the horror story of the dealer buried in turmoil and strife for six months or longer recovering from the untimely loss of key management personnel.

*Salespeople who do not “keep their pipeline full” typically incur discouraging slumps…

Has your car been involved in an accident recently or do you own a car that is near death? Maybe the cost of repairing your vehicle is so painful that you don't have the stomach to see the bill. It's probably safe to say that most people know that a car is never the same after being involved in an accident and if the car hasn't been taken care of then there could be very serious mechanical, electrical, and safety issues. Maybe your car was a victim during last summer's hurricane and floods…

You’ll have a lot on your mind when you have a serious accident and your car is declared a total loss. You or a passenger might have been injured and require medical care or a period of rehabilitation. You may have to talk to your attorney or to law enforcement personnel about the details of the accident. You’ll definitely have to contact your insurance agent, and there will be a great deal of paperwork in order to make a claim against your insurance, or the insurance of the other driver.…