There are many mistakes made by dealers on Facebook. We detail the most egregious ones here from time to time in an attempt to help others not make the same mistakes. There's one mistake in particular that is almost unforgivable for the simple reason that it's so darn easy while being pretty darn effective. Dealerships are so…

Exploring the benefits to car dealers from partnerships between website suppliers and Google...

Every salesperson is really in two businesses: the people business and the marketing business. If you are great with people but don’t have any customers to demonstrate this quality to, you’re in trouble. Marketing must become the No. 1 function of any business, including sales. Marketing precedes sales.

Begin to think in terms of leads, not sales. You need marketing that will generate leads. Most salespeople think only in terms of advertising. Salespeople either wait…

It was one of the most used made-up words of 2012 (and in many cases, one of the most annoying). Just about every marketer in and out of the automotive industry used some variation of "SoLoMo" (Social/Local/Mobile) in a blog post, video, presentation, or declaration of things to come. The underlying concept - that many people and the sites they visit are…

We human beings talk to ourselves all day long. This is also known as "thinking." We keep up a running commentary about a multitude of things each day.



If your self-talk tends to minimize or lower your self-confidence, right now you can choose to use better, higher, and wiser self-talk.



Just being aware of what you are telling yourself about your self-confidence can be very beneficial. If you already say things that are positive and helpful, choose to keep the same pattern.…

There are plenty of ways to use mobile devices to promote a business. The merging of social, local, and mobile into the SoLoMo buzzword of 2012 is starting to became a reality for 2013. With YouTube's latest app for iPhone and iPod Touch, the video giant has given a powerful tool to businesses who rely on showing people their wares before they make the…

Let's face it, Facebook advertising has been a bit of an enigma for Automotive Dealers and it has come with a lot of trial and error.

Most dealerships offer some sort of contest or offer for people who 'Like' their page but are we really getting any sales conversion from this?

I hear a few folks that swear they've sold cars because of their Facebook following, and to them I say congratulations! But I wonder how much time was invested, and if the return was really worth…

As 2012 is coming to a close I have been browsing through a ton of 2012 blog posts from industry experts and I have to say...in true Scrooge fashion...'bah humbug!

All year long so many people have been complicating the sales process for dealers. Some...(many) have been hawking technology products that are supposed to be the latest and greatest this or that but really they are just neat looking tools that add a step to the sales process.

I've seen a million and…

We simply sell again. The internet will not sell for us. If we let the internet market do our selling we will continue to drive the margin down until there isn’t any profit left. We will build value in your dealership, your product and your sales staff then discuss price.

 The internet customer is currently free to browse as they please, shopping price after price. NO ONE is selling to this market! Imagine a customer phones in and asked for price and your new salesman…

With so many things coming at us……customers demanding immediate attention……crazy regulations……tough competition, we can easily get stressed and wore out.

Watch this week’s video blog as I talk about taking a Time Out to recharge your batteries. Get refocused on where you want to take your business. Help your employees and those around you to achieve…

Experiencing joy in doing acts of kindness for others will increase the quantity and quality of your kind acts. When you enjoy doing things to help others, you will always be able to find enjoyable things to do.

The life of a person who loves to do acts of kindness will be a life of joy.

Rabbi Zelig Pliskin

There are many people in this world who would rather do time than to update the Apps on their tablet or smartphone. The conspiracy theorist in many of us feel if we elect to hit the Update All button, life as we know it will all come crashing down…and they couldn’t be more right. We may be dogmatic in working to protect our…

Let's face it. Facebook (and Google+) love pictures. It ranks at the top of the news feed food chain above text posts, videos, and links. It's the primary reason that many people visit Facebook in the first place. They want to see pictures of little Timmy sliding into third base, the places that their friends and family are…

As social signals continue to rise in prominence when it comes to search engine rankings, there has been a revival in the need for retweets. Google and Bing are assigning a certain level of importance on the sheer organic numbers that are gained when it comes to social sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Google+, and Twitter is the…

It's the Christmas season and Santa Claus is everywhere you look. It's also the time of year to reflect on the year past and look forward and plan the new year. Santa Claus is a great sales model in both cases.

First of all, Santa Claus rewards you based upon the past year. If you were a good boy or girl you get rewarded. Ask yourself if you were a good boy or girl…

This is a story about a phone call I received several months ago from a service director who had recently attended our NCM^® Institute class, Principles of Service Management I. Although not her real name, I’m going to call her “Debbie” throughout the…

The most trusted name in live chat brings the top ten blogs and news stories right to you! We monitor industry trends, current events, and the auto dealer community every week to bring you the top ten blogs and stories from around the globe. In this weekly edition –…

Like Y2K and Twilight: Breaking Dawn before it, the Mayan Apocalypse has thus far failed to bring about the end of the world. The solar flares didn’t fry us, the meteor didn’t send us the way of the dinosaurs, and Cthulhu remains slumbering his ancient slumber in the abyss. This surprising survival on the part of the human race has left many people asking, “What now?” Well, don’t…

The Handy Family of Dealerships has been around for quite some time. Established in 1952, Handy Automotive actually started out as Handy Truck and Trailer, a tractor trailer dealership. From this investment they were able to open John Deere farm equipment dealerships in Highgate Vermont. With time, they turned that dealership…

I had thought the days were behind us. Call it a hope, but I believed that the majority of businesses who were active on social media had pushed beyond the plague that once filled our feeds - the worthless post. I was wrong.

It was while auditing an…