Stumbleupon is one of the most interesting social media sites around, and by interesting, I mean it is a complete and total time-sink. Essentially, it's a toolbar that has a "Stumble" button you can press that will bring you to a random page on the web based on your interests. You can also upvote and downvote pages, which is how Stumbleupon gets better at finding stuff that you'll like. If something isn't already ON Stumbleupon when you vote on it, you'll be given the option to add it. This…

There is plenty of vanilla out there. As someone who explores various social media campaigns, techniques, and strategies on a daily basis, it gets pretty boring seeing the same old things being spun in slightly different ways. When something truly fresh comes along, I normally applaud.

When I saw Fiat's attempt at being bold on YouTube, I had to watch it again. And again. Each subsequent…

Do you know what kind of population is in your area?

What is the crime rate where your dealership is located?

What is the percentage of households with college grads?

What areas have a high average household income and what areas have a low average…

Contrary: opposed, opposite in nature, altogether different.

Several Indian tribes had warrior societies called Contraries or Contrary Warriors. The contraries were different in nature as well as actions, and were thought to be wise men. While being in the automobile business my whole adult life, I have observed and been a student of some of the more successful dealers in the business and have found that a lot of those dealers take a contrarian approach to their…

For the past 40-something years, a German Wolf Researcher named Werner Freund has operated a wolf sanctuary in Saarland, Germany, where he has personally raised more than 70 animals.

In 1972, Freund acquired the land to build his Wolfspark as a loan from the city of Merzig. The reserve currently houses 29 Mongolian and Arctic wolves. Most of the  wolves were acquired from zoos…

Shoppers are looking at MORE MODELS in their quest for a new car, according to the annual "Avoider Study" by J.D. Powers. Their 2013 data show buyers consider an average of 2.13 new vehicles during their shopping cycle, up from 3.1 in 2012 and 2.9 in 2011.…

Are you good enough?  The answer, of course is NO!  No one is actually as good as they could be.  I believe that every one, in every profession, has room for improvement.  Think of the best of the best in any profession you choose, and I can assure you they have room or improvement.  It may seem like they have some god given talent and are as good as it gets, and they may be the best, but they still could be better.

Let's use sports as an example.  Name the best player in your…

I'm going to give this out in our sales meeting on Saturday. Whoever can close the deal with the highest gross gets the prize. What do you think the best close will look like?

Mr. & Mrs. Jones have a 2009 Infinity M35 with 72,000 that they are looking to trade that is financed with BOA. Their Beacon score is 710. They have very little down payment money to work with and they are trying to keep their payments in the same payment range that they are paying now which is $435…

Handling Manufacturer Communications

Mike Charapp, Author, Auto Dealer Law

With NADA quickly approaching and franchise meetings on the horizon with OEMs, the time is now for dealerships to familiarize themselves with how to respond to factory communications. Some dealers feel that it is not important to respond to communications from a franchisor. “What good will it do?” they reason. This is dangerous thinking. While you…

“Doctor, thank you for seeing me on such short notice.”

“Certainly, Joan.  Please, lie down on the couch.  Now what’s disturbing you?”

“I keep having this dream.  I don’t understand it.”

“Go on.”

“Well it’s kind of fuzzy, but it has something to do with CSI.”

“Interesting.  New York?  Las Vegas? . . . Miami?”

“No, it’s not like…

Today's Up To Speed article is contributed by Dave Anderson, president of Dave Anderson's Learn to Lead, an international sales and leadership training and consulting company. Prior to beginning Learn To Lead, Dave enjoyed an extensive and successful career in the automotive retail industry

Self-esteem is defined by the dictionary as: a realistic respect for or…

There is no question these days that your dealer site is one of the most valuable resources in your digital marketing toolbox. From your site, you have the ability to reach your largest traffic source and cater your message from page to page to meet the needs of individuals, groups and communities…

There are seven steps to make immediate change. These steps can be used to quickly increase sales by a more significant amount than you have ever experienced.

Step 1: Change the Environment

The military uses boot camp. Baseball has spring training. Football has training camp. The easiest way to bring about rapid change is to change environment. When you change environment, you change behavior. People tend to hold onto limiting beliefs and behaviors as long as they stay…

ALBANY, N.Y. – January 30, 2013 - BOOTH #333 NADA – Auto/Mate Dealership Systems (http://www.automate.com) announced today that its AMPS Dealership Management System (DMS) is fully integrated with 700Credit, the automotive industry’s leading provider of consumer credit reporting and compliance products. Auto dealerships using AMPS now have complete, seamless access to 700Credit’s web-based…

Growing up, my sister would call me a dummy. As much as I cringe to admit this, she was right. I am a dummy…..a crash test dummy!

In each incident, I was alone in the vehicle while sitting at a stop light, my standard transmission had been shifted into neutral, my foot was on the brake and I was perfectly still when….WHAM!!! Both vehicles were Japanese produced sports cars and sustained…

A doctor entered the hospital in hurry after being called in for an urgent surgery. He answered the call asap, changed his clothes & went directly to the surgery block. He found the boy’s father pacing in the hall waiting for the doctor. 



On seeing him, the dad yelled:…

My first week in the business my sales manager handed me a 12-pack of cassette tapes from Jackie B. Cooper. Those fundamentals ring as true today as 30 years ago or whenever he made them. This message is priceless AND timeless. Enjoy!

 …

There was a time when the search engines rewarded content of all types. If a website syndicated content from elsewhere on the web and exposed it to their audience, it wasn’t as good as unique content but at least it didn’t hurt. Some of the content would be de-indexed as duplicate but the overall health of the domain itself was not harmed.

Today,…