There is not much discussion on automotive forums  regarding Dealer Management System (DMS) innovation. 

The automotive DMS market is dominated by two companies today: Reynolds and ADP.  

So I ask dealers on this forum:

"Has the dealer community not seen a…

Family fears Mac Haik shooting suspect could bond out

SPRING -- As a boy, Rob Kuentz looked up to his dad. He even dressed like him and dreamed of one day working at a car dealership.

“I have pictures of him everywhere he went,” said his mother, Sandy Kuentz. “He had to have that tie on because he was going to sell cars.”

By 30, Kuentz was a supervisor at a Mac Haik dealership. He married his high school sweetheart, Heather, and had…

Over at Automotive Digital Marketing, there's been a long discussion started by Jim Zieglerabout Carfax and its place in the…

A few months back I attended Autocon 2012. There I learned a lot of new techniques and processes to help bring my dealership to the next level in automotive internet sales. But instead of running home and writing a review right away about the courses I attended and what they spoke about, I decided to wait about writing about what I heard and implement it…

Does Your Dealership Have a Good Incentive Based Marketing Program?

By

Jason Parman

Incentive based marketing can in large be defined as the use of motivational devices such as competitions, games, premiums, and special pricing to promote the sale of a particular…

Do you feel like you are missing out on something? Are you confused as to what the next step is in making your dealership successful? It’s a different ballgame than it was even just a few years ago. The traditional dealership is dead and you must bury it to prosper in the future.

For years, the car business could be a forgiving business. There was room for a lot of error in a dealership, and yet a dealership could still be profitable. Those days are gone. Dealerships…

Brand You: Never Trash Your Competitors

So many of the things that are important are pretty darn simple-minded truisms. And I’ve 

spent the last 35 years of my life stating and re-stating, often in very high volumes, the

obvious.

And so, here goes another one: Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, regardless of the

circumstance, regardless of your personal experience, never…

It May Be Time To Kill Your Business Model Before Your Business Model Buries You

Think about this….How often do you readjust your business model? Unfortunately, there are some dealers that are still living off the same business model that they have had twenty years ago. Not to say this is a bad thing but tends to lead to missed opportunities.  

This raises a key leadership question: Why do leaders wait too long to modify or abandon their business models?…

They say timing is everything. In social media, quality of content is almost everything. The rest of it does come down to timing.

This is Part II of the series on timing. Please read…

In the ever changing auto world, the one item that does and will always remain a constant is the necessity of quality people. This of course begs the question how do I get the most qualified and professional individuals?

Now don’t go beating yourself up looking for an answer to that question. Instead spend some time finding an answer to the following; why do I not have a file of qualified candidates to choose from already in my possession?

Does your reputation precede you? Do…

As a manager, and a business owner I am constantly amazed at how people hold themselves back.   One thing I noticed recently and I think is probably an epidemic in this country, is that people get very very caught up in their comfort zone.  I have developed a speech for these people and have had much success with it. ( especially sales managers)   Simply take your employee that is living in COMFORT and tell them that what you want them to do for the next 30 days is just focus on getting…

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Zig Ziglar passed away today after a short bout of pneumonia. Physically he may have departed, yet his spirit will endure for generations to come.  No matter where we were spiritually, personally, or professionally, we could always be assured that Zig had an encouraging word for us-the appropriate quotes coming just when we needed them most. Steve…

Univision in English? Finally It Gets in Step With the Hispanic Market

Trends Show that Spanish Is Not the Best Way to Reach Most U.S. Latinos

It must not have been an easy decision for Univision, the Spanish-language media giant, to join ABC in creating an English-language TV network and digital…

In the second quarter of 2012, the NCM Institute (NCMi®) formed a training partnership with Automotive Internet Management (AIM). After personally auditing two of these sessions and receiving client-dealer feedback from all of the sessions, I’ve become convinced that dealers and their sales management teams need to “raise the bar” on their expectations for Internet closing ratios.

At NCMi, we have always believed and…

The traditional dealership is dead but some have not had their funeral yet. It seems as though as much as some things change in the auto industry, as many things stay the same. Every week our trainers observe things in dealerships that look and feel like the 1960’s.

Let’s take a look at some things still commonly observed in dealerships that are outdated and should be changed.

1) Manager Towers – High towers built for…

When you aspire to BE MORE, make a COMMITMENT and don't quit, the money (have more) takes care of itself!

Today I'm at one of my client stores and, as an example of commitment, four of the sales people made a commitment about 15 years to leave the corporate life, take control of their own personal destiny and SELL CARS. All now sell an average of 40-60 cars a month earning between $250,000 and $300,000+ a year.  They chose to "be more", commit, and the money has taken care of itself!…

Are you taking advantage of Social Media for Referrals?

Have you ever looked up your dealership at www.socialmention.com? If you have never done this, pause and take a moment to do so now. Now that you have looked up your dealership does it come…

NEWS FROM vAUTO:

The Provision Suite: We’re renaming Live Market Suite to the Provision Suite (Pricing, Appraising, Provisioning and…

Author James Allen wrote, “Circumstances do not make the man, they reveal him;” although the essay was written in 1902, it remains a timeless proverb 110 years later. If circumstances could be grown in a garden, it would be harvested on the blacktop. In sales, we are inundated with circumstances-both personally and…