Please see below a transcript of the article I wrote for MIM magazine in the UK

Q I heard my Manager stressing the importance of establishing “Needs and Wants”. How can this information be useful?



A When customers are looking for a new vehicle, they have 2 things that need to be satisfied to in order for them to buy a car. These are Needs and Wants. Needs are things/items the car must have, ands Wants are things/items the customer would like their new vehicle to…

           The best investment is absolutely FREE… Yet Priceless!

                                        You owe You!!!

   Let us not forget the reason we entered this “Industry” to begin with!!!

        To “Earn our Worth”  “Control our Destiny” “ Financial Freedom”

  “Gain our Independence” “Change Your Life” …

Hello Everyone....I have an opening for 2 Sales Trainers.  Candidate must have automotive sales training experience, or extensive automoitive management experience. 

If interested please foward a confidential resume to me personally at dlewis@davidlewis.com.

Sweepstakes, contests, and giveaways have become increasingly popular among dealerships. These promotions can be a great way to get word out about your company, increase your social media presence and develop leads. However, entry into a poorly considered sweepstakes or contest can be a trap for the unwary dealer.  These promotions are governed by a variety of federal and state laws as well as social networking sites’ terms of service.  The FTC receives thousands of complaints from consumers…

I recently wrote about how important it is to keep the NAP (name, address, phone number) the same across all local listing sites.  Typically this isn't a problem, but if your dealership wants to use tracking numbers for auto dealer website, you usually won't be able to keep your NAP the same across the board.

Luckily, a call…

Satisfy Me!

It’s what every customer wants, to be satisfied!  The point became very evident to me one day during a recent business trip. 

On my way to visit a client, I found myself at the Atlanta airport searching for a quick bite to eat.  I jumped in line at a Sbarro, ready to order a slice of pizza.  There were several people in front of me and I noticed things were not moving very quickly.  The pizzeria was staffed with four people, but only one person was…

Have you ever noticed that the type of vehicle that a person buys reflects their character or lifestyle?

People buy certain vehicles for a reason!

People buy pickup trucks for work or play….and maybe a little of both!

People buy minivans mostly because they have children.

People buy sports cars mostly…

For as many dealers that are gung-ho about Automotive Live Chat and having dealer chat software on their website, there are just as many dealers who are reluctant to add this feature. The reasons range from price, to doubting its effectiveness, to just plain not wanting to accept that we live in an internet based world. Are some of their reasons legitimate?…

I was watching CNBC this morning in a Chicago hotel this morning and I was pleased to see a commercial that advertises that Ford Dealers will beat any locally advertised price on tires!  

This is exactly what local franchise dealers need from their manufacturers.  They need a message to fight back against independent…

Hi All

Please see below a copy of an article I have just written for MIM magazine, the magazine of the Insitute of the Motor Industry in the UK.

 



Q) How can I do a cash conversion?



A) Following from last months cash conversion, here’s another popular technique for those customers whom have been saving a regular amount for some time.



Let’s assume an arbitrary purchase price of £10,000, and the customer has been regularly saving £300 month.…

Over the last few years, many of my military fans have begged me to create a story that tells their story – why they serve. After careful forethought, I have created a very compelling story wrapped around one woman, the main character, Kendra Doyle.





In “Last Wish,” Kendra has had a hard life since the day she was born. Kendra is the daughter of a Marine, who…

Sometimes it is not the skills of your people that cause your store’s numbers to flatline.  Sometimes your BDC is fledgling, not because their phone scripts are poor or that the technology is weak, but for the fact that they just don’t see the full impact  their role plays in the organization.

When I train a dealership on-site, the first thing I do is impress upon their BDC and Internet Managers that their daily duties are greater than the tasks built out for them in the…

Now that Dealer Chat services have had a chance to penetrate the business, chances are that you've heard all about the service and its ability to generate high quality automotive sales leads.

Maybe you've already signed on and are already reaping the benefits of dealer chat.

Maybe you're…

Now it’s time for the Wizard – service advisor – to approach me with recommendations.  We appreciate knowledge and confidence in a service advisor.  This is not an excuse for arrogance, condescension or dismissiveness. 

This article is the third of a three part series on building trust with customers. …

A sales person has to have a certain ego, and confidence about them and they like to win in every deal, but sometimes you have to appear to lose to win the sale.

You never lose in sales when you make the sale.

Our job in sales is to get the customer to bob their head up and down, telling you “we will take it.” This is the outcome we are looking for with every prospect/customer we face. Sometimes we get demanding customers who are so afraid of sales people, they…

Most people tend to focus a lot of their local search engine marketing for their auto dealer website on Google Places.  While it's true that a lot, if not most, of your search traffic comes from Google, it's still important to make sure your dealership is properly optimized for the other major players as well.

Here are…

The Passion Fruit is named after the plant it comes from - the Passion Flower.



The Passion Flower is so called, because it’s very distinctive appearance was very symbolic to early missionaries, of Jesus on the cross. Or - the Passion of the Christ as it is known.



There are spiky structures sticking out from the center of the flower, which symbolizes the…

The world is getting smaller everyday and today's consumers have access to more information about your company with just a few clicks or taps on their computer.

To highlight the importance of all this check out the Zero Moment of Truth website with videos and an ebook to help you get the message out.  http://bit.ly/nIM72o 

Our company, Carfolks.com has been getting…

“At first people refuse to believe that a strange new thing can be done.

Then they begin to hope it can be done.

Then they see it can be done.

Then it is done………. and all the world wonders why it was not done centuries…

Yeah, I said it:  GM’s Internet lead response measurements are wrong-headed.  The age of pushing dealers to a better 24x7 response time is over, and the results are misleading.  And they are unfortunately too often focusing dealers, and therefore precious resources, AWAY from car sales.  And here’s why. 

First, the…