There’s a real human talent in arranging the right pressures (positive and negative), at the right time, on to the right people, to get a desired result.  It’s a hallmark of effective leadership, in fact, and the name “People Chess” is an easy way to summarize this talent.   And we all know its uses in relationships of all kinds, really, both to us by others…

Here’s my social media business development "moth light" attractor experiment:  I have a very positive personal reputation that some of you know.  I am writing about this on automotive professional/vendor social media.  And I have a strong, new message that can benefit us both.  Ready?

If you want the most business-building, field-proven “Road to the…

There's a great article here called …

HEY!  I'm going to be hosting a session at www.AutomotiveBootCamp.com next week in Las Vegas for Brian Pasch on THIS VERY SUBJECT, so I've resurrected this blog to help set the stage.  For example, do you hire the right people?  Do you know how to measure them?  Do you know how to PAY them?  And do you know how to keep them?…

Look for the "Yes!"--as "no" can find you without any help!

Do you often find yourself locking into what is wrong about something rather than what is right?  Both wrong and right are good to consider, certainly--however, what are you looking for?  A way to say "yes" or a way to say "no"? 

 

Looking for the "no" first is really…

Our colleague Stan Sher wrote a pretty good tear on the issue of searching for the Next Internet Manager to blame for sales failures.  I have to say I agree with his sketch there.  I think, however, that it is not just Internet Managers.  It can be nearly every manager…

I'm talking about Texas Direct Auto, which has $500million in NATIONAL AND LOCAL used car sales out of ONE location in Stafford, Texas (just southwest of Houston).  They opened on eBay years ago, and nearly by the time they published their book "Zero to $60million" they had broken $100million in sales.  Nowadays, they use AutoTrader and Cars.com, but they haven't…

I've been involved in the TrueCar discussions for months now, sometimes prominently.  And the idea of protecting the dealers'--nay the industry's--data has become very, very important to me.  Thank you, Jim Ziegler, for goading us to pay attention to these issues.

However, lately I've taken to also looking at these points:  Is the "Data Horse" already out of the barn?…

Is anyone reading this old enough to remember travel agents and travel companies?  The Internet eventually killed them and rolled them all into Expedia, Priceline, etc.  I met a travel company owner back when Priceline was just taking off, quite a wake-up call to the travel industry, and he was buying up companies and agents as fast as he could:  He was convinced he was…

I am who I am.  I am me!  I work as me, I advise as me, and I write and publish as me.  I am this way because, as a person, I fit the “new credibility” very well:  I am all over the Web, and you can reach me by email and phone if you go to my website.  You can find me, easily, and find out about me, because I don’t hide.  I am real.  And I don’t…

Car Research, a CRM company, takes an EXTREMELY strong dealer-protective and data-protective stance--essentially, they're first to take a strong public stand that they do NOT share data with anyone and only use the data as a dealer directs. No selling of data! No remarketing to your customers!  No condescension!  ON A DEALER'S SIDE RIGHT OUTTA' THE GATE FOR YEARS NOW AND STILL GOING FORWARD!  WONDERFUL!!!!  Here's their email announcement:

January 18, 2012

You…

1) No Dealer shall allow access by any Vendor to their business data (DMS, CRM, etc.) without restrictions to specific data needed and on the use of such data by the Vendor for only providing a clear and very strong business advantage to the Dealer.…

We are not doctors, but I love the idea of “First, Do No Harm” for working with dealers.  Even though that phrase is the common, but incorrect, quote of the Hippocratic Oath for Physicians, it still conveys a lot for the proper doctor/patient relationship—and it also means a lot for vendor/dealer,…

First, let me assert this:  There is NO such thing as “purity and sanctity” of a customer review of a business.  Of ANY business, dealership or not.  Why?

For any review "collector" (Google, etc.), trying to police reviews while thinking otherwise is Pollyannaish and is really an enormous “plate of spaghetti” (whether the reviews were performed on the business’…

Pay-per-Click (PPC) maps well to what we’ve done for years on our lots, but we don’t realize it:  We spend a lot of money getting visits and calls to a dealership, and we train our salespeople to land a customer on a car before starting the negotiation process in the store.  Get'em "lickin' the paint" as my first GSM told me.  And, once landed, do NOT lift them from the…

Yeah, I said it:  GM’s Internet lead response measurements are wrong-headed.  The age of pushing dealers to a better 24x7 response time is over, and the results are misleading.  And they are unfortunately too often focusing dealers, and therefore precious resources, AWAY from car sales.  And here’s why. 

First, the…