This article was written by: Dennis Kane

I see an increasing trend from auto dealers: slip, trips and falls are on the rise, particularly in the service department.

This uptick can be attributed to some or all of the following factors:

• Dealerships are simply more hazardous than previously, either due to changing weather patterns or because attention to safety has waned,

• Dealerships are servicing a greater number of cars because more…

Drive up to a dealership and you will most likely see a lot lizard. Their species is easy to spot. They tend to congregate in front of the dealership, smoking, joking, complaining and waiting to wait on someone. Notice I said waiting to wait on. These lizards are a curious species in how they tend to look for prey. The professional is a different breed. The professional tends to not wait on much or for long. The professional has goals, a work plan and is too busy taking action…

Recently I received a emailed correspondence from a service advisor that was just fed up with all the added responsibilities piled on him and him peers in the service drive . He was asking me if the status quo has changed across the country.

Here is a snippet of that email:

“Many of the writers here feel taken advantage of because they have been asked to not only perform the functions of service write up but also cashiering and telephone answering and appointment…

NADA 2013 was a whirlwind. There was more activity, more excitement, and most importantly more hope than I’ve seen since 2008. Dealers were excited to see more, to learn how to go beyond the survival mode that has been fading in recent years and to concentrate on thriving mode. It was the most encouraged I’ve been about the industry in decade, but…

Two things keep people from being successful: laziness and the lack of leverage. The good news is that neither of these are incurable diseases, but they can be if left untreated. Let’s take a look at both and how to get rid of each one.

Leverage creates the tipping point that gets you moving and taking action. Leverage can come from wants, needs, fear, love, hate and other emotional triggers. All leverage points are good if you channel them correctly, even if they…

When’s the last time you got into a fight? If you work in the automotive industry, chances are you’re reading this in between rounds. In sales, every day we are enveloped in a triple-threat cage match-mentally beaten, battered, and bruised, only the strong survive to fight another day. Not only are we faced with the negative stigmas of our industry, but we also have…

Humans are competitive by nature. Throughout history, as a species, we’ve been competing in one way or another whether that’s with each other or nature. So it came as no surprise to us when one of our clients – Princeton Mini – approached us and said that they “had to” win a regional OEM contest being held in conjunction with a national sales event, and enlisted our assistance.

The “Not So Normal” sales event held by Mini was designed to advertise the exceptionally…

Every strategy needs a goal or else it’s just an aimless plan. We’ve covered the need to set Facebook marketing goals and described both the…

"When you think of social media, what do you think of? Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest. Being the seasoned professional that you are, you know very well that’s not it at all. Social media is about engagement, no matter what set of metrics the C-suite has you chasing. Follows on Twitter, shares on LinkedIn, likes on…

I'm a big fan of collaboration. Always have been and always will be. The idea that two heads are better than one gets multiplied exponentially as the numbers improve. The whole is greater than the sum of the parts when discussions, best practices, and trends within an industry are discussed.

It's for this reason that communities like DealerElite need to…

Setting goals on Facebook is extremely important. As I wrote last night, it’s the root cause of one of the biggest challenges businesses are facing in Facebook marketing: a lack of a proper strategy. If you…

 Be Different, Be Special and Sell Yourself.

“This would be a great business if it weren’t for the…

About a month ago I was asked when speaking before a group about what I thought the biggest mistake was that businesses were making on Facebook. I replied, “lack of coherent strategy” and went on about how too many business pages seemed like they were posting for the sake of posting, that they didn’t appear to moving in any particular…

This article was written by David Ciamballa, partner with the Rawls Group.

You may recall an accident a couple of years ago  where a pilot encountered inclement weather while attempting to land in Buffalo. Following the accident, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued a statement from which we learned that the pilots apparently lost focus as they were engaged in idle conversation while descending below 10,000 feet. By the time the pilots recognized they were in trouble…

If you ever want a crash course on the latest social media studies but don’t want to spend the money to do them yourself, just watch the Super Bowl. You have to assume that if companies are spending millions to produce and distribute 30 second spots for the big game, they’re going to research what’s working today.

This year’s…