Black Book, a division of Hearst Business Media that provides new- and used-vehicle valuation services and custom data licensing solutions, made available today its latest insights white paper: “Data Analytics: Critical For Driving Today’s Automotive Decisions”. The paper offers an in-depth look at the role data analytics are now playing for automotive professionals, and how they can be used to make more profitable business decisions.…

"As a manager, if you accept as fact that your people won't "buy into" training, they've successfully gotten you to "buy in" that it's okay for them to suck. Who sold who?" #automarketing

Franchise Dealers have the opportunity to earn hundreds of thousands in financial compensation from their OEM, assuming the dealer's service retention is at specific OEM guides. Unfortunately, a very high percentage of dealers are unable to take advantage of the financial windfall.

Let's put this in perspective. A tier 1 OEM has been offering PPM-Pre Paid Maintenance with every vehicle sold, it's inclusive in the MSRP. The metrics are as follows.

50% of the customers never show…

-Service Customer Retention (SCR) Strategy

Retention ratios are a very important part of what we do in the car business. When it comes to the Service Department we gauge our SCR (Service Customer Retention) scores on a few key areas. Many Manufacturers say that a customer is retained when they visit your service department 2 times within a 12-month span. In other words, Dealer Service Retention (SCR) measures the percentage of customers returning to the same dealer for…

Why are we obsessed with television and movies? Because, just like books, they have the ability to capture our attention and transport us into fictional situations and universes.

Regardless of whether the movie or television show is fiction or non-fiction, this is an engaging way to tell a story that we’re interested in hearing and also seeing. TV, movies and…

No professional sports team would consider going without a coach. There may be times where they terminate employment of a coach and have an interim position however, professional sports understand the need for good coaching. A good coach knows how to get the most out of individual players and inspire the team.

When things go well the coach should always…

Below are the top 17 items on women’s New Year’s list when it comes to car dealerships and the service drive for 2017. Here’s an opportunity to add some new options to market and engage to the growing car drivers and buyers and expand your business.

At The Dealership

1. Buying a car in a relaxed, zero pressure environment.

2. Child care made available during the test drive and negotiation process.

3. A 3-day return…

    Last time, we spoke about the beginning of the Inbound Sales Call, or the Phone Up at your dealership. We concluded that this is how we should answer the calls:

SMILE WITH A WARM FRIENDLY GREETING OFFERING ASSISTANCE

    Now our…

It was 2008 when it hit me. The economy had just begun to hit the skids and I was leaving a dealership after having done a live meeting. As I walked through the empty showroom I noticed four Managers on shift, sitting in an otherwise vacant tower waiting for salespeople to bring them a deal. There were no customers on the floor, and nothing happening outside beyond the huddle of salespeople by the front door, and I realized: a lot of people in our industry that we call Managers aren’t…

-BDC (Business Development Center)-

This department creates and manages the business opportunities that come in and proactively go out from the dealership.

Business Development can exist in the Sales and Service Opportunities of the dealership. While so much is always emphasized on the Sales BDC side of the dealership world, the Service BDC has been existing quietly in the background of some stores with minimal attention while many other stores have yet to enter…

So, let's talk about the future of dynamic Facebook ads. Be prepared to reach more than just the people who have previously engaged with your content. 

With these changes, you'll be able to get the attention of customers that have looked at similar products, but not YOUR products.

On this episode of Hard Facts, Samantha will reveal when this feature is being rolled out and how it will benefit your…

Many dealers and managers outside of the service department don’t realize how incredibly busy a service advisor (SA) is throughout their day. Keep in mind that these are front-line employees dealing directly with your customers. They have an extremely important role in the dealership. In fact, it could be argued that a SA has more influence on a dealership’s livelihood when…

Today’s customer will scrutinize every aspect of their customer service experience in your store. We don’t just make buying decisions based on necessity; we buy things that make us feel and look good. We buy things our friends have had a good experience with or that have high ratings and reviews. We want the best service and products we can afford and we want…

WEAK LEADS

**********

You say there's No Such Thing as Weak Leads. Sounds good! BUT, actually there is such a thing as "Weak Leads".

Leads from Lead Providers have a known probability of closing. Some leads close at 3% and other leads have a probability of up to 18%, and the lead providers know which are which.

According to Black Book® data, the average price of a used vehicle for model years 2011-2015 depreciated by -2.4% in December. Cars overall saw depreciation of –2.7% versus trucks, which saw –2.3% depreciation. All vehicles are averaging a 12-month depreciation change of –17.3%.

In December, Compact Vans saw the largest drop in value at –6.1% on the month, the largest single-month drop of any segment over the last twelve months. Vehicles in this category include the Ford Transit…