Employee training can cost a lot of money. Not training your employees can cost even more. In lawsuits, courts and regulatory agencies sometimes impose after-the-fact training requirements in addition to large monetary penalties. Consider these actual cases:



A dealership faced a wide range of complaints, including failure to disclose material defects and misrepresenting sales and extended service contract prices, and was ordered to pay $1.5 million in restitution to victims, plus…

If I had a check made out with your flat rate Technician’s name on it for $10,000 payable in 12 months would you take the time to read this article? If your answer was yes then you will find the needed processes that form “The Professional Service Technician”.

• Keep the customers car clean. Never allow a foot print, greasy steering wheel or door handle to be noticed by your customer.
• Inspect the car for damage before you begin work. At least two times per year for every…

Did you know….

• The average gross profit as a percentage of sales for Buy Here – Pay Here dealers is 37% while it is only 15.2% for franchise dealers.
• The average net profit as a percentage of sales for Buy Here – Pay Here dealers is 16.5% while it is only 1.50% for franchise dealers.
• Service & Parts (typically the most profitable department in a franchise store) average net profit as a…

We all know how litigious our society has become in the area of employment-related issues. Every recruiter, hiring manager, executive, and department manager must realize that asking illegal interview questions or making improper inquiries can lead to discrimination or wrongful-discharge lawsuits, and these suits can be won or lost based on statements made during the interview process.

Thus, it is important to incorporate risk management into your interviewing process to help minimize…

Car dealers seeking to initiate or expand their content publishing strategy, on a low budget, can leverage many FREE content publishing websites to build relevance, links, and search visibility. It is critical that car dealers add new content to their primary website each month.  In addition to on-site content, off-site content is needed to create relevance and powerful links back to the dealer's…

Automotive advertising agencies are expected to improve vehicle sales for their auto dealer clients, however, their ultimate self serving goal is to provide added value and profits to support their fees.  Philip Zelinger, the President of Ad Agency Online, L.L.C. and the host of an automotive advertising resource / networking portal -- http://AdAgencyOnline.Net -- has accepted that responsibility for his affiliated automotive advertising agencies as he…

Utilize QR Codes to Drive Leads to Your Car Dealership

If you keep up with the latest digital trends, you know about QR codes. They're similar to bar codes (only with a 2-dimensional pattern) and can be scanned by any smartphone with a QR reader. Once someone scans a QR code, he sees a coupon, special website, video, or whatever the advertiser chooses to use. The opportunities for…

Everyone wants to have a great 2011.  We will toss 2010 behind us and revel in the New Year with hope, belief, and expectancy. Will it be your greatest collective 365 days?  Will it be the best year of your life?  Will it be a “diamond” year?

The word diamond comes from the Greek word adamas, which means “indestructible.” The diamond is the only gem known to man, besides graphite, that is made of a single element, carbon. Diamond is completely made…

Anyone who has been in professional sales for more than about 30 minutes has

heard the answer NO. No, I’m not interested. No, not right now. No, thank you. No, never.

NO NO NO!!

Those who are ultimately successful in sales are those who learn the true meaning of the word

NO. It may surprise you to learn that NO seldom means no. Let…

Speaking as someone that has been on both sides of the car business, referring to retail and remarketing I have to say that I am continuously amazed.  I get to speak to used car managers, general managers, dealer principles, wholesalers and rewholesalers on a daily basis in several states.  What I have become aware of is the amount of effort, money and training that is expended in the new car environment to increase profits.  How can we get more gross in the front…

Selling slumps. We've all been in this train wreck before. You miss an important sale. You have a series of bad days. You can't sell to your potential. You can't seem to extricate yourself from its deadly grip. You're in a sales slump.



Let's take a…

Automotive advertising agencies are overwhelmed by demands from their auto dealer clients to provide more with less.  Philip Zelinger, the President of Ad Agency Online, L.L.C. and the host of their automotive advertising resource / networking portal http://AdAgencyOnline.Net, recently interviewed James Crouse, the CEO of CloudOne, on his blog talk radio show…