The Ford Motor Company’s large Social Media footprint coupled with their “One Ford” philosophy has helped the company come back from potential

bankruptcy. Ford just announced their Best Third Quarter Ever, which

marks their sixth consecutive quarterly gain. Currently the company is

on track to paying off their debt by the end of 2010, one year ahead of

schedule, and…

I am constantly surprised at what people say when the answer they are seeking is the obvious one, it's simple and they don't accept it.

It's kinda like the Customer who is buying a car and you hit them right on the number on the first pencil... they look at you like you are screwing them! "It can't be this easy" they are thinking or "I'm paying too much."

In Fixed Operations it's the same. If a Customer needs a repair done and you go back to them with a repair that obviously…

How Your Dealership Can Start Using QR Codes to Drive Traffic

There are countless ways to integrate QR Codes into your Dealerships Automotive Marketing Campaigns. QR stands for Quick Response and they are essentially a two dimensional…

Starting this week, Potratz will produce a short weekly video highlighting the latest trends in digital automotive marketing. Think Tank Tuesday will be a fun and informative source of advice…

Claim your Dealerships Venue Using FourSquare!

Geomarketing is becoming more and more viable for Car Dealers with availability of Smart Phones that come equipped with GPS. If your Car Dealership isn’t

already listed on…

The social networking and media jungle is constantly changing, and sometimes automotive dealers get lost trying to cut through the bush to

stay ahead of current trends. Although it’s beneficial to stay

knowledgeable in the shifting social media arena, using the 1,000 pound

Gorilla (Facebook) to its maximum potential will provide a dealership

with the biggest return on investment.

As we already know, Facebook is the world’s largest social networking…

Now you get your answer:

CAR BUSINESS = PEOPLE AND PERCENTAGES!

(Sure automobiles have something to do with it, but why get technical?) The message that I am trying to convey in this discussion is simplicity. As I read and partake in so many of these dialogues, I find we get so caught up in the razzle dazzle of the technological world and the various extended facets that brings to our operation, that we sometimes stray from the…

From SCAB to SCAR (part 2):

A scar is the healed reminder of the wound that was once there and what we need to do so that we don’t get another like it.

THE SCAR-…

From SCAB to SCAR:

A scab is a healing wound.

THE SCAB-…

Since Google has integrated Google Places into organic search it is clear that there is no greater search marketing priority for car dealers than to start an Internet Reputation Management (IRM) process. That IRM program cannot focus on one review site but must focus on multiple review websites.

I take the position that a local dealer needs to have at least 100 positive reviews and in more competitive markets, TWICE the number of…

Have you ever wondered why so few of us succeed? We always hear about those people that came up with a simple idea and made millions but most of us react by “oh well, all the simple ideas are gone by now”. What’s ironic is that usually every few months, we hear about another idea that seems brilliant and ridiciously simple. Why does this happen? Why do we keep limiting ourselves?

Perhaps one of the fundamental problems most of us have is thinking that many…

What did you do in "Customer Service Training" this year? Did you have an in house seminar? Did you have ongoing Training? What subjects did you cover? How did they relate to your Dealership Culture?

These are some of the questions you need to answer.

Why?

If you did not Sell as many Cars this year or Sell as much Service as you needed to and you plan on selling more next year, then the 1st order of business is to decide what worked for you this year and what did…