-BDC (Business Development Center)-

This department creates and manages the business opportunities that come in and proactively go out from the dealership.

Business Development can exist in the Sales and Service Opportunities of the dealership. While so much is always emphasized on the Sales BDC side of the dealership world, the Service BDC has been existing quietly in the background of some stores with minimal attention while many other stores have yet to enter…

A recession is coming, learn how dealerships will survive the bad economy.

I don’t like talking gloom and doom when it comes to dealing with a bad economy. On a personal level, I work very hard to be upbeat, to see the positives, and to stay focused on what is good. That said, as a person running a business, I have to research business indicators to help…

So, let's talk about the future of dynamic Facebook ads. Be prepared to reach more than just the people who have previously engaged with your content. 

With these changes, you'll be able to get the attention of customers that have looked at similar products, but not YOUR products.

On this episode of Hard Facts, Samantha will reveal when this feature is being rolled out and how it will benefit your…

Occasionally at our workshops, someone will bring up the subject of “power closing phrases”. The discussions that follow are very lively, quite humorous at times, loads of fun, and they include everyone sharing their own power phrases, their ideas about closing on the final objection, and experiences when using them.

What I thought I’d do is share with you what I…

Many dealers and managers outside of the service department don’t realize how incredibly busy a service advisor (SA) is throughout their day. Keep in mind that these are front-line employees dealing directly with your customers. They have an extremely important role in the dealership. In fact, it could be argued that a SA has more influence on a dealership’s livelihood when…

According to Black Book® data, the average price of a used vehicle for model years 2011-2015 depreciated by -2.4% in December. Cars overall saw depreciation of –2.7% versus trucks, which saw –2.3% depreciation. All vehicles are averaging a 12-month depreciation change of –17.3%.

In December, Compact Vans saw the largest drop in value at –6.1% on the month, the largest single-month drop of any segment over the last twelve months. Vehicles in this category include the Ford Transit…

As website communication tools go, chat has grown at the fastest rate of adoption on car dealer websites for years. It’s not new, but more dealers are embracing what chat can do for them to engage with people visiting their website.

There are two primary reasons that it wasn’t a fad that died away like so many other website addons over the years. First, it is…

Welcome to this week's edition of Black Book Market Insights, with in-depth analysis of used car and truck valuation trends and insights straight from the auction lanes. Click here to download the full report.

This week’s Black Book Market Insights report shows increased depreciation in luxury vehicles. Trucks as a whole had a greater average depreciation this week as compared to cars. However, two vehicle segments within the truck segment had solid retention and even increased their…

"I'm just looking, I won't be buying today." "I need to compare your vehicle with a competitors model and then shop around" .."I'm not an impulse shopper".."I just started looking."



Everyday sales people hear this exact quote from customers soon after the meet and greet.



What happens next is reminiscent of the old tale of two wolves.



An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. "A fight is going on…

On-demand driver services such as Uber are on the rise. The approaching disruption of driverless vehicles shouldn’t come as a surprise, but dealers need to find a way to keep up with customers who want alternatives to owning a vehicle. It comes down to this: complacency can cause suppliers to lose touch with their customers. To remain successful and compensate for declining…

So many times we talk about using video to communicate your message to your customers. But what’s the right way to make a video? 

YouTube Director will walk you through exactly what you need to do to figure out what type of video will work for you.

This week on Hard Facts, Samantha will show you the steps you need to take after you’ve downloaded the app. Watch the video for more information.…

What would you do if a customer was injured at your dealership and you were at fault? I don’t mean serious injury or anything like that. Perhaps just a bump or scrape? Most businesses would apologize or, at the very least acknowledge the mishap to the customer. Perhaps send some flowers or a gift card. You certainly wouldn’t want to ignore it, right?

Well,…

There is a lot of talk going on about car dealership turnover. It seems that everyone has an opinion about it but not a whole lot of solutions. I am going to do some "REAL TALK" in this post because it is time that the sugar coating stops. I have spent a great deal of time between consulting dealers and working for dealers on a case by case basis over the…

Terminating someone is never pleasant and not to be taken lightly. As a former service manager I only had to fire one service advisor -and I did not make that decision lightly. However, in most cases it is the employee’s choice to get fired. What do I mean? Certainly it’s the manager’s responsibility to train employees and develop processes. But anyone with experience…

Your dealership undoubtedly sees a lot of customers each day. Let’s say that each customer who walks into your showroom wears a different color shirt. Over the course of time, you see a trend in that every single customer who purchased a vehicle wears a red shirt. You’d probably start getting excited when you see a customer come onto the lot wearing a red shirt. In fact, you…

There are many different approaches to keeping our names in front of our clientele. Here are just some of my quick suggestions;

1) ONE school of thought is not to ask for referrals at the time of delivery. It’s their magic moment, not ours. Besides our customers won’t care enough to send us referrals until they know how much we care about them. Remember, in the long…

Welcome to this week's edition of Black Book Market Insights, with in-depth analysis of used car and truck valuation trends and insights straight from the auction lanes. Click here to download the full report.

This week’s Black Book Market Insights report shows vehicles in the truck segment with much weaker retention values than those in the car segment. However, Sub-Compact Luxury Crossovers in the truck segment have managed to maintain their value since last week.

“So far this…

Virtual Reality has been quite a craze recently with video gaming and other consumer electronics. However, the high cost of entry and expensive units limited its reach. Even Google’s cardboard VR glasses required smartphones that cost upwards of $700. The Oculus Rift Goggles were even more expensive and required high-end computers to work.

Now, however, Sony…