Service is an "elbow to elbow" people business. As I (we) have traveled and observed so many Dealership Service Operations, there is still one overriding factor that every Customer Service Organization must understand and adhere to. This is people business.…

The value of having one of your videos go viral is hard to measure accurately but there’s no doubt it’s a huge boon for your brand. To get that kind of spread is hard to achieve though, you could make hundreds of videos all designed to go viral and get nowhere. On the other hand, you can make one video where your star accidentally injures himself and end up going viral overnight. The problem is that you rarely can fake it. The internet has a good nose for the authenticity and can smell…

This one will be different but I am going to attempt to bring "Food for thought" using simple…

There are times when you're going to post a piece of content that is too good to post in just one place. It could be extremely informative, very timely, majorly entertaining, or perhaps you just really liked it and want to post it in…

Still haunted by the ghost of the 14 million vehicles recalled for faulty floor mats and brake pedals, Japanese automaker Toyota Motors announced today that it would be recalling another 3 million cars – including 67,000 Prius models – due to a defect in…

Go Virtual / izmocars solution provides Nissan dealers in Mexico with stable and progressive website technology while supporting Nissan Mexicana’s brand values and lead generation efforts

San Francisco, CA and Mexico City, Mexico – November 14, 2012 – izmocars (www.izmocars.com), the world's leader in interactive media content for the automotive industry, today announced…

Let me pose a question to you. If you knew what was going through your customers mind during the sales process, would you enhance your chances of selling them a vehicle ? The answer , of course, is yes.Well, NADA has surveyed 3000 new vehicle owners who recently have gone through their purchasing experience.The question posed to them was "what did you hate the MOST about your buying experience?" The number one answer was " it takes too much time".Number two was "I hate the back and forth…

If you don't PRACTICE THE PLAYS BEFORE PLAYING THE GAME, you WILL FUMBLE the ball.  Our brain learns from DOING, not just hearing.  Practice until you can't get it wrong!  Team up with a buddy and practice the selling steps every day!

Question for the forum... Please share your experiences and thoughts on third party upgrade events.  Guarantee or no guarantee???

I am exploring adding third party events to our established remarketing program, and looking for some experiences that other dealers may have had, and which companies they have utilized.  I am hoping for some cost structure and ROI expectations, as well as traffic assumptions.  Easy for the vendor to project, would love to hear the htoughts of those…

When you have a deal with a trade involved, what does your sales rep say to your perspective buyer? " Let me get your trade appraised", or words to that effect.Let's take a step back fore a moment and think about the word "appraisal" and what goes through your customers mind when he/she hears that word.What do you get "appraised"? You get your home appraised or your vehicle gets appraised after it's been involved in an accident.In either case, the appraisal is always lower than the…

Foursquare has quietly been making moves that will have a major impact on local businesses and . The service is already used to check in at a variety of places, and now their reach will be expanding.

The first new feature is the explore option for non-registered users, and the attached ratings update. Explore lets users search for specific kinds of businesses and…

Yes, the election is over and I’m grateful to not be bombarded with political ads every time my favorite show is on commercial break for the next four years. That being said, there are some lessons we can learn the race for the White House as far as brand management…

SureSale conducts comprehensive flood damage inspections in the Northeast to increase consumer confidence in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy

Venice, CA – November 13, 2012 – SureSale Certified, the certified pre-owned marketing program that is changing the way used vehicles are bought and sold, deployed SureSale certification experts to immediately assess damage and…

Despite the rise of social signals and the continued prominence of content as primary search engine optimization tools, high-quality inbound links remain one of the three big components in improving rankings. The automated processes have been devalued; low-quality posts, footer links, and sidebar links are a thing of the past…

A few months ago I wrote a post titled, "How Important Is Price Really?" in which I discuss how there is too much emphasis on price when it comes to vehicle/dealership advertising. If you haven't already…

With the holiday season coming up fast, now is a great time to think about how you're leveraging holidays to further your social media presence. 

Here's a great example of what one dealer did to celebrate Veteran's Day:

 The Best Dealers use all their resources:

• Company Website to attract talent
• Company team members to recruit
• Owner base as a source of future team members
• Social Media as a source of free advertising
• Effective Hiring tools to help make informed decisions
• Cost effective recruiting service to assist in finding talent

Hire the Winners Offers It…

Don't delay -- act today. Click this link now: http://salefest.com.au/news/the_game_changer

Largest aftermarket accessory supplier partners with AddOnAuto Digital Dealer Supplier Network to help dealers market and sell Car Toys accessories; AOA proven to generate an average of $500 per copy for dealerships

San Francisco, CA – November 12, 2012 – Car Toys, the largest independent consumer electronics specialty retailer in the U.S., has selected izmocars’(…