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I am pleased to invite Dealer Principals, General Managers, and Dealership Executive Managers to the Napa Valley Executive Retreat on September 15th and 16th, in the beautiful Napa Valley.  

First Class Educators is hosting this special event for dealership executives this fall and I will be one of the featured speakers.  I love wine and the Napa Valley so this is a perfect match for me!
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A few weeks ago, we published an article titled “Clear Expectations Set the Standard for Dealership Excellence.” In that discussion, I talked mostly about setting expectations. Today I’ll be presenting one of the processes that NCM recommends for managing expectations…the “one-on-one” meeting discipline.  Why should we have one-on-one meetings?  Because every employee needs and deservesto have quality, individual, interactive…

Over the last ten years, anyone who has not witnessed dramatic changes in the used vehicle arena must have his head in the sand. Why is it then that so many franchised new vehicle dealers have thus far failed to effectively adjust to these changes? So that you understand what I’m talking about, I’ll just mention two of these impactful changes:  (1) the growth of the Internet as a marketing source; and, (2) the advantages available through inventory optimization technology. Even the language…

In Part 1, we talked about how customer’s perceptions on Price, Completeness of the Repair, and Meeting Time Expectations leads to customer dissatisfaction, according to a recent Consumer Reports Annual Auto Survey.  Here, we’ll finish up the Top 5…

Do you remember the pride you felt when your kid hit that game-winning homerun or executed the perfect pirouette? How do you imagine close friends feel when they bag that long-awaited, much sought-after promotion? Don’t your customers deserve to experience those same feelings each and every time they trust you with their vehicles? Arming your Service Advisors with exemplary Service Advisor…

Late last year, a 2.5 million dollar lawsuit was won against Lithia Motors Inc. for sending unwanted text messages to customers without giving them the option to opt out of the text messages. According to AutoNews.com, Lithia was hit with a class-action lawsuit for broadcasting to 57,800 consumer cell phones text messages that failed to adequately allow the recipients to opt out of…

As I travel around North America I hear it again and again, the service at the dealership I went to was the problem.

I was on a plane yesterday and had a chance to speak with quite a few "real" car customers and I asked them what there experience has been the last time they were at their local car dealership. Here is what they had to say.....

One: The first person I spoke to said he had called his local Honda Dealership and asked if…

I just joined the Book of the Week Club here on dealerelite. There are only 5 members. Well, 6, now that I've joined. I noticed a couple of things.

This site is populated by members that virtually all promote continuing education for others and presumably believe the same holds true for ourselves. Apparently not when it comes to the Book of the Week Club. Todd Des Marais has done us all a service by attempting to start a group where members could recommend relevant materials…

I was just thinking about something that really amazed me about a month ago.  I was out with a friend of mine at a mall doing some shopping.  We were at Macy's and decided to take a look at their collection of sunglasses.  Both my friend and I enjoy nice things and do not play around when it comes to sunglasses.  In fact, I…

SEO, Search Engine Optimization, is how websites alter their content to improve ranking on search engines; e.g., Google, Yahoo, Bing. The higher a website ranks on a search--ideally within the first five results--the more website traffic. This is often the difference between commercial success and failure. SEO alters a website's webpages by modifying HTML, Hyper Text Mark-up Language, external and internal links, and content to improve the website's search rank.

Crawlers:

To…

http://www.dealersynergy.com …

I tend to take on a lot of things.

New project? Sign me up.

Another full time job? YES!

You need a wingman to come with you to watch the Phillies Game so you don't look like a desperate drunk? I'm there for you ,man!

Write 200 articles in a week? HECK…

Google recently released an eBook (or playbook, as they call it): "The Mobile Playbook: The Busy Executive's Guide to Winning with Mobile".  For any dealership interested in mobile websites, mobile paid search, and how to expand your brand with mobile technology, this guide is extremely concise and helpful, answering the "5 crucial mobile questions that every business executive should be asking today".

Their playbook is…

What is your reputation worth? What is your reputation? This is the essence of branding: What do people think when they think of your dealership. Branding is not etched in stone. It has to be maintained and enhanced or its value is lost.

Let's take a few mintues to understand Brand and how it can boost sales and visibility in your marketplace. Take for example a dealership that went out of business but is re-opening under new management. The old dealer was noted for high prices and…

http://www.automotiveinternetsales.com

Sean V. Bradley "On Top of The World" -  Automotive Sales is an AMAZING Career... If you make it…