With this Women’s Wednesday we will focus on the Service Drive at your store.

Women buy a car about once every 6-7 years, but they visit the service lane several times a year. The good news? This is where on-going loyalty is developed. The not-so-great news is that 42% of women report they no longer go to the service department where they purchased their vehicle. And, you will never know it is their LAST visit, because they may smile, pay the bill, and never say a word, even…

I read a whitepaper recently by The Training Associates comparing the cost of staff trainers to contract trainers. Because in the NCM Institute Manager Training Survey several respondents cited their use of staff trainers as to why they do not use outside training providers, I was eager…

I recently read a very thought-provoking article asking this very question; “Is the simple fact that the customer has money enough to make the purchase a determining factor for you?” Too often the customers dealerships try and attract aren’t necessarily the customers they really should be…

A few weeks ago, I was training a ten-store team while facilitating some very ground-breaking and paradigm-shifting conversations about the phone. The Director of Operations preached to a team of new hires—some thoughts most dealers have become all too familiar with:

“We’ve been flying by the seat of our pants too long,” said the director to the newbies. 

“Pick up the phone, find out what they want and…

Rejection is part of the sales professional experience, but selling is a personal experience for both the salesperson and the buyer.

Long sales cycles, endless follow ups via email and phone and no-after-no cannot only be brutal on the morale of a salesperson; it is often not much fun for the buyer either.  Now when a salesperson is able to bring to the table a human…

One of the hardest techniques to teach a salesperson is that of the turn-over (T.O.). Boiled down to simplicity, the rules for a T.O. can be…

Black Book, a division of Hearst Business Media Corporation that provides new- and used-vehicle valuation services, custom data licensing solutions, as well as lender origination and risk analysis, has partnered with Chicago-based Cars.com to become the company’s official vehicle valuation service.



“Cars.com is a leader in providing consumers with the resources they need during the buying and selling process,” said Black Book’s Jared Kalfus, vice president of data licensing. “We…

In 2004, the Lego company was on the verge of bankruptcy. Kids had started to focus on less traditional forms of play and were surging towards electronic toys. Plain old interlocking bricks just weren't as cool as they had been before the computer age. Instead of folding, Lego decided to go a new direction, trying a new form of kid-centered marketing. They started the Lego Magazine, directed to kids in their new Lego Club, launched design competitions and introduced Mindstorms, the…

Facebook is about as crowded as any marketing venue on the internet. There might be hundreds of sites vying for keywords that pertain to you on search (and no, having millions of results does not mean that they're all going for that keyword) and dozens of dealers selling cars in your local area on the classified sites, but there are thousands of businesses…

Did you know that last year, women purchased an estimated 27 million vehicles? That is the equivalent of 75,000 cars a day at new and used car dealerships. Women are now the fastest growing segment of vehicle buyers and car dealerships are taking notice. To that end, there is much more flexibility when buying a car more than ever!

It seems that women are still more reluctant than men when it comes to the advantages of leasing a car. With the car industry back on its feet…

How I can prove Direct Mail is still the strongest advertising ROI there is in the Auto Business BAR NONE!

A short back story: 

I started in the car business back in 1987 as a young kid who wanted to learn all I could about this business. One thing I caught on to quickly was that whenever we had a “Mailer” sale going on, I wanted…

It’s just after 5 A.M. and I’m really questioning why I am doing what I am doing-now that I’m too far from home to turn back, I might as well swipe my gym membership card and pay my penance for last night’s meal consisting of crawfish etoufee and fried fish. As I walk through the front doors, I can tell immediately that spin class is in…

I really don't know who I'm going to offend on this one. We've been researching so many vendors over the last couple of months that work with chat, lead-gen widgets, and website platforms themselves that we haven't taken the time to explore PPC vendors. Maybe that's why I was blindsided to find out that there are at least two vendors out there charging 20% and one…

Apple’s recent announcement of CarPlay which will integrate the iPhone, Apple maps and Siri into the car dashboard, is a move meant to compete directly with Google’s Open Automotive Alliance (OAA), and Microsoft’s Sync platform. This means big changes are in store for how shoppers driving, commuting and traveling by car will find and learn about your business.

The fast moving map space plus local-search is attractive areas for innovation for software developers. One of the more…

"Who's The Boss" was quite the popular TV show years ago. But in the workplace? The boss is not very popular at all. In fact, if you have a "boss" in your business, you could be running into drama and disaster if not determined and resolved.



You have probably seen this before, but really let each one sink in:



Leader's Attributes

Inspires employees

Depends on respect and honor

Cares for your…

Science rules in digital marketing.

Social media is a place of vanity. Those of us who use social media often get to see flattering images of just about everything - people, places, food, cars, whatever. Have you ever seen a picture of a friend posted as their new profile picture and thought, "Wow, that's a good picture of them."

One might believe that…

Welcome to Women Wednesdays!

Dealers who “get it” know that the key distinction in optimizing sales to women is having exceptional sales advisors who offer exceptional service. But what does that really look like? 

Women tell us directly through our car dealer review platform what works for them when interacting with a sales agent.  Below are their top 5 reasons for buying a car from…

Kelly Ford Named Top 2014 Women-Drivers Friendly Dealer

Reviews Show Consistent, Extraordinary Experiences by Women 

Congratulations to Kelly Ford! Here is the press release that was sent out. Wanted to showcase this on dealerElite!

Last year, women purchased an estimated 27.5 million vehicles – an impressive 75,000 units a day at new and used car…