I am committed to never say a number is bad without providing processes to improve it. It amazes me that when people are trained on ways to improve and want to, how quickly the result goes to the next level. You must develop standards for your company and measure them against…

Google recently announced changes to their search algorithm and included in those changes were efforts to lower the visibility of spammy websites. One of the secondary conversions was will Google lower the weighting of keyword rich domains like "www.buyviagra.com".

Matt Cutts…

I founded Thought Leadership Summits (TLS) seven years ago with the goal of developing exclusive events that enable executives to have high-quality interactions with fellow thought leaders. Having worked in the automotive industry, I knew there was a need for a Summit addressing relationships between OEMs, Dealers, Captive Finance providers, and their shared customers.

With that in mind, TLS launched the Automotive Customer Centricity…

Let me start by asking, are you familiar with Foursquare? Basically, it is a location based network where you can share places you have been with your friends by “checking in” at your favorite places. Also, you can add tips for other people to read when they check in. Then, probably the biggest social effect that happens for businesses is that once you check in on Foursquare, it asks you if you want to share that information on your Facebook and Twitter pages.

Imagine for a minute,…

There are many passionate dealership employees that attend conferences, read books, develop a strategy, and them implement it perfectly.

One such shining star in Rob Fontano from…

As one who launches three to four e-mystery shops per week, I get to see the marketplace from a perspective far different than the one I had when I worked at a store.  I’ve learned that a lot of what, in my selling days, I thought was good material actually contains a message far different from the one intended – and that the message that comes across is not always a good one. 

Judging by some of the follow-up emails I get from dealerships today, many stores still have the…

[as featured on CarChat24's blog]

We’re a live chat company. Just in case the name of the product (CarChat24) didn’t give it away, I just thought I’d state the obvious. What do you think about us?

Be honest.

Let’s say 100 people claimed we…

Last night, I had the urge to blog. I didn't have a set topic in mind. I just knew I wanted to talk about the car biz. I didn't search the web for the newest, greatest news. I didn't crawl other automotive blogs to see what they were talking about. I simply wrote. It wasn't about our product. I didn't even mention the benefits of having Automotive Live Chat (even though, guys, totally worth it.) Social Media was on my mind so that's what I wrote about. It's what I know.

I…

How it works

Gmail Motion uses your computer's built-in webcam and Google's patented spatial tracking technology…

Print classified ads are one of the main tools auto dealers use to advertise their vehicles and service but as more and more people are turning to the internet for information, online classifieds are significantly and steadily outperforming newspapers and periodicals in providing ad spaces and lead generation.

Craigslist alone, as an established leader among local online classifieds, boasts over 20 billion page views each month, besting online retail giant Amazon and multimedia empire…

I work in sales during the day. It's not car sales, (I know, right?!) but we do sell a service to folks who are interested. We get leads, they are called by the representatives.

I received an incoming call today from an angry student (I work at a bartending school), who was irate that we had withdrawn him from classes because he was out of time. 

We spoke in circles:



Him: "I didn't know I was out of time"

Me: "Because you never called."

Him: "Well, if…

Are you tired of hearing about Charlie Sheen, yet?  I definitely am. I do have a confession to make: He was having a contest for someone to be his social media intern, and I applied. I made it to the 2nd round and then they canned me. I knew from the beginning that I probably wouldn't get the position. But I never thought that I couldn't.

In his famous interview where he drops his now branded words like "Tiger Blood" and "Winning", Charlie Sheen said something that was both head…

Baseball season is back in full swing. (See what I did there?  Yes, very cheesy, I know). And spring training for the teams is coming to an end.  They’ve spent well over a month preparing themselves and their minds for the day-to-day responsibilities that go along with a season of baseball.  Trainers, managers, and coaches get together to evaluate their personnel and to get them ready for action.  Several dealers do the very same when they seek out training for their team.



Dealers…

Five years ago Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter, sent out the first tweet launching a new form of communication that became a revolution in 140 characters or less. This year, Twitter posted a blog reporting that it only takes about one week for users to send 1 billion tweets and last February an average of 460,000 accounts were opened per day. In the automotive industry, we should all ask ourselves, are we utilizing the fundamentals of Twitter to best engage current and potential buyers on…