It's understandable that customers often need our help to find closure on a specific vehicle. The most common and vague objection is agreeably "I want to think about it."

These are the five reasons why we believe the customer says that.

1. Uncomfortable with price issues

2. Uncomfortable with you or the other staff

3. Not…

Knowing all the facts about a buyer makes a desk manager's job much more effective. A more successful outcome can be engineered from discovering the customer's motivations, desires, and if there is much competition for a particular deal. Having your sales team implement the Customer Assistance Sheet in a comfortable and consistent way every time they speak with a…

Ready to make your Facebook Live game even stronger? As a business, it’s important to have brand ambassadors or other individuals to help promote your products and content. With this latest Facebook update, you can do just that.

Facebook has given business pages the ability to add individuals as contributors without giving full admin access to the page. This will allow them to go live on behalf of your business page right through the Facebook…

We have all herd the stereotype of the used car salesman. Now that we live in the information age the attitude of just slinging out junk cars all day and surviving as a car dealer in the long run is pretty much a thing of the past.

So, what’s the best approach to selling used cars and doing so indefinitely? The answer is really like any other business. Work with integrity and honesty and deliver a quality product that you can stand behind. At…

A question I often get asked is, “When is the right time to cut a marketing source if it does not seem to be working?”

Almost every vendor and/or marketing source requires time to perform – whether that’s PPC, SEM, SEO, TV, radio, newspaper, email, lead providers or third-party listing sites – it’s all the same. Give any source a mere 30-day judgement call…

Those of you with spouses have probably heard this at least once: "It's not what you say, it's how you say it!" Whether at home or at work, miscommunication can cause plenty of problems.

Have you ever misinterpreted the tone of an email that a colleague wrote to you? Perhaps you thought a tersely written email meant that person was angry, but in fact, they…

Jumpstart Automotive Media, a leading media, insights, and marketing solutions company, today announced an exclusive ad sales representation agreement with CarStory®, a website and app that matches car shoppers with the right vehicle using patented technology and industry-leading datasets.

CarStory, the automotive brand of big data company, Vast Inc., leverages data and analytics to provide customers the information they need to make educated car-buying decisions.…

Black Book, a division of Hearst Business Media that provides industry-leading used vehicle valuation and residual value forecast solutions, announced today it will power the online trade appraisal resource for NsightLive, a leading content engagement company that delivers quality leads to dealers through its pioneering Live content platform.

With Black Book’s trade appraisal engine, NsightLive is filling the void for independent auto dealers who currently do not…

Welcome to this week's edition of Black Book Market Insights, with in-depth analysis of used car and truck valuation trends and insights straight from the auction lanes. Click here to download…

At the recent Adobe Summit, executive vice president and general manager, Brad Rencher, advised businesses that if they wish to survive in the future, they have to become “experience businesses.” He feels this is what will separate market leaders from…

Texting has become a leading technology in B2C communication. Email and voicemail are long forgotten, and texting and text messaging apps are starting to reach their fullest potential. Customer support is using texting for numerous reasons, some of which include a…

Do you measure up? We spend so much money on television, radio, coupons, and other broadcasting for our marketing campaigns that we don't have a ton of attribution for.

So how do we track these results? 

On this week's Hard Facts, Samantha is giving you a tip to better measure how your campaigns are performing. By using UTM codes and Google Analytics, you'll be able to decipher where your traffic is coming…

Last year it was reported that the automotive industry would experience a shortage of 25,000 technicians in the coming months. This was based on a recent survey that showed the demand for auto mechanics is expected to increase by 9% within five years.

This shortage affects vehicle service operations across the board from boats and RVs to buses. Often dealers…

Make sure your salespeople stay on your customer’s radar through a scheduled follow-up plan. Don’t leave your monthly earnings up to chance by hoping for the best. Evaluate your current follow up process. Here is a sample schedule of what we’ve seen work well:

10 “Touches” Per Year

• Set up calendar…

Get potential customers to be less combative and more receptive to their trade-in value with a planned trade walk prior to serving them the proposal.

It’s said that around 65% of potential automobile customers have a trade-in to discuss, and most all of them have a higher price in mind that they want to get for that trade-in.

As we get into the…

The rapid development of communications technologies in the last quarter of a century has indeed transformed how people interact with each other — unfortunately, sometimes new technologies introduce inappropriate behavior. Sending sexually explicit text messages is one of these behaviors, it is called sexting.…

Convenience is one of the biggest factors that influences customers when choosing where to take their vehicles for service. For the younger generation it even trumps price. Independents know this and it is one of their key marketing messages, along with speed of service.

Dealers tend to fall behind in this type of messaging in general and have to fight…

Black Book, a division of Hearst Business Media that provides industry-leading used vehicle valuation and residual value forecast solutions, announced its latest Used Vehicle Retention Index figures, with the index listed at 113.0 at the end of March, a 0.8% decrease from the previous month’s mark of 113.9. Click here to obtain a copy of the latest index data.

The Black Book Used Vehicle Retention Index is calculated…