If your friends jumped off a bridge, would you as well? Is that what your mother always asked you growing up? When caught making a mistake or doing wrong, children will always look to point the finger elsewhere. They’ll blame it on a friend, a neighbor, a bully, or an instigator. They were just following someone else’s lead… even if they knew it was wrong. That’s their excuse.…

On June 5th, I will be presenting a webinar called “Beyond the Basics: 5 Myths and 10 Rules for Advanced Social Media Mastery“. It might as well be called, “Stop the madness because the social media world is going down a dark path.”…

Many sales people tend to always be chasing the next customer and worrying about the next paycheck. The good news is that this is unnecessary and can be fixed forever in two years or less. Sales people can eliminate future sales and income anxiety once and for all.

What’s the key to creating freedom? It’s marketing. If you are a sales person who is waiting for your business to provide an endless funnel of prospects and buyers, you are living in a fantasy land. Even with a ton…

Hotel chains across the country have long had problems with customer loyalty due to an  inconsistent customer experience. In researching the problem it was found that the prime reason for the disparity in customer experience was due to the growth of each major brand. Hotel chains were acquiring new properties and, in many cases, simply slapping their corporate branding on…

“Only the paranoid survive”

– Former Intel CEO Andy Grove

Things seem so good in the enterprise technology universe right now it is a little scary. The IT transition to…

Join the PCG Digital Marketing team tomorrow, May 23, at 1PM EST as they discuss advanced metrics for measuring success. Lead by Chief SEO Strategiest Matthew O'Such, this free webinar will help dealers understand how to use Google Analytics and other website platform reporting tools.

Don't miss out, click the link below to register:

https://www4.gotomeeting.com/register/994847247

My name is Chuck Brumm, with Peak National Promotions. I have been in the automotive sales, training and management for many years and have a great understanding of all aspects of the business. 

Peak National Promotions is a full service High Impact Direct Mail company that WILL bring traffic through the door and maximize every sales opportunity to it's fullest capacity with or without an experienced staffed customer retention closer. Most importantly, providing…

Take a look at those familiar little icons in the top right corner of the screenshot above. Four of the primary social media sites’ logos adorn a prominent position on the homepage. It’s not an uncommon sight. Some put them at the top. Other put them at the bottom. Some make them large and prominent. Others make them small and subtle. One way or another, most dealerships put…

We all are aware of the fact that we only have a 11-14% connection ratio when contacting Internet leads.  And we also know that the hardest part of the job for Internet Coordinators is getting people on the phone which leads to a very valid point that we must ask and that is are we maximizing all avenues for reaching out to consumers versus just calling the…

Chevrolet's Impala earned a reputation as a rental car for most of the last decade. Very few were purchased by real buyers and the Impala became the quintessential fleet vehicle.…

A common perception of what makes a business successful is as follows: the leader is a genius who has a vision, defines the strategy, and all the employees work to make that vision into a reality.

The reality, however, is far different. In the best-selling business book, “Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t,” by Jim Collins, a team of researchers discovered that the most successful leaders focus on getting the right people on board before they set…

Do you need showroom traffic? Of course you do! This week on Think Tank Tuesday learn how to drive your virtual showroom traffic. Leave Your Comments below the video and Share it Please.

Visit our website: www.ppadv.com

Like us on Facebook:…

Do you want to be more successful? You can achieve greater success if you begin to follow certain secrets that blow open the doors that are closed for you now. I am comfortable in saying that all people have some closed doors that limit their achievement. What are the doors that I am talking about and how can you open them?

The doors are a metaphor for the gateways to successful achievement. The keys are the secrets that unlock them and allow you move forward faster and with…

Speakers/presentations reviewed and selected by auto dealers; Speakers deadline June 14th; DrivingSales Innovation Cup deadline June 28th; DrivingSales Best Idea Contest deadline July 12th

Salt Lake City – May 21st, 2013 – The fifth annual DrivingSales Executive Summit (DSES) is now accepting applications for speakers and presentations, as well as for its coveted Dealer Best Idea Contest…

It’s not a new idea to have one of your salespeople working the service drive. Opportunities and circumstances exist where it may be beneficial for the customer to trade-in their car that needs to be repaired. Having someone who can not only identify those opportunities but who also knows how to present it to the customer properly is rare.

That being said,…

Lady Gaga has her Little Monsters, Justin Bieber has his Beliebers, Kiss has their Kiss Army, and your dealership has ______? Where are your fans? Musicians focus their marketingon connecting with fans, that’s nothing new, but that approach is grounded in solid business sense. A 2010 Satmetrix study found that evangelists or fans, spend 13% more than the average customer, and they refer business equal to 45% of the money they…

Here’s the sad truth about the way that most dealers are posting their inventory to Facebook. It’s not getting seen. None of it. Not at all.

Currently, there are three primary ways that dealers are posting their inventory to Facebook. The most common method is to have a tab on their Facebook page with their inventory. This doesn’t work. The…

A quick look at the current state of auto retailing would suggest that things are good. Tough times (and a couple of notable bankruptcies) have thinned dealer ranks. Although pressures are mounting, the manufacturers are still demonstrating discipline around production volumes. Most importantly, customers are returning to showrooms.

Add all factors together and the result is that volumes and margins on both new and pre-owned vehicles are strong. So strong, in fact, that many…

 Attacking an issue is one’s way of defending their position. Personal attacks and deception are one’s way of attacking when one is uncertain of their position.

Let us remember as these issues unfold and we confront these important issues who the culprits are and keep a professional and objective approach in how we react .

"Remember-…