The retail automotive world demands a lot, including long hours, working holidays and little flexibility in schedule. Most dealerships require 1 or 2 “bells” per week, (working open to close) and don’t include many weekends off, as Saturday and Sunday are typically busy days, when consumers have time to shop for a vehicle.

 A recent blog post on the…

This Week in Social Media

News for the Week of July 18

Improvements for YouTube Ads

Google recently announced improvements for YouTube ads, which will give retailers more control over the branding experience for viewers.  Available globally wherever TrueView for shopping is available, the new features will help shoppers pinpoint what they’re…

Consumers are constantly flooded with messages everywhere they go, from billboards to direct mail, to websites, banner ads and email. Most of these messages are disregarded, ignored or, even worse, never seen, because, for the most part, the message itself is not relevant.

So, along came retargeting, which can continue to follow the customer around the…

Company culture is a hot topic recently, and with good reason. Companies with a great workplace culture enjoy increased employee and customer retention rates, as well as higher profits.

But how do you know if your dealership's…

Unprecedented, Yet Simple Tracking Worksheet Helps Build Your Business

There remains an untapped opportunity in your sales plan now to implement. This will make a huge impact just by tracking and measuring a few new metrics.

Follow this: While half of car buyers are women, and that percentage increases to 53% for millennial women. 1 in 3 women out earn their husbands.

But how successful is your dealership in converting…

Across the business world today, there is a mad race going on to select and develop HIPOs within an organization. In case you're not familiar with HIPOs, they are the high potential employees, the rising stars in a company. There is an even more dramatic event taking place as talent management experts and HR specialist are trying to delineate the best time to tell a…

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…

I recently attended a few conventions where I had the opportunity to meet and talk with many automotive product vendors and automotive dealer principals. Often, the conversations revolved around relationship-building between the two. When asked, both the vendors and the dealers agreed that the most important thing in any business relationship is the…

When you think of all the things that go into making your dealership a success, communication ranks at the top of the list. In fact, without good communication—both inside the dealership and with your customer base—you’ll likely suffer unnecessary losses in sales, employees, and customers. And while it’s one of the most integral pieces to your success, great communication can also be one of the most difficult things to achieve. Why? Because your dealership is a complicated machine with many…

As I walked into one of my client's education rooms recently, I was immediately inspired by their approach to conducting training and "Get Up" meetings. There were positive phrases all over the wall that promoted their culture. High-energy music played from a selected playlist intentionally used to elevate the moods of those in attendance. Leaders greeted every person…

Take Control of Your Dealership’s Communication

If you want to capture the attention of shoppers in today’s market, communication should be one of the sharpest tools in your toolbox. Remember the days of desk phones and tangled cords? The me-to-you approach of salespeople who told customers all about the cars on the lot?  The newspaper ads that detailed the “special invitations” to save?  Say good-bye to all of that, because dealership communication has come…

At the start of every month, I look back over the last 28-31 days of my life and ask myself, “Did I hustle my tail off? Did I give all my sweat, blood and tears to the goals I was trying to achieve?”

What is your perception of the word “hustle”? Is there a positive or negative thought running through your brain? Many people who have never hustled, view it negatively.…

We have all heard the saying, "referrals are the lifeblood of a salesperson's business." This statement is true, and it's true for many different reasons. When a trusted friend refers you, your opportunity to sell is amplified. Referrals must be earned before they are to be expected, yet salespeople often do not know how to build a referral network. When a salesperson asks…

When I speak to sales groups, the subject of rejection comes up often during our Q and A sessions. Rejection is a natural part of the business of sales, and it is critically important to learn how to make rejection work in your favor. The way you view rejection will determine how you respond to each "no", "not yet", or "maybe" during your sales career. Your outlook…

PCG Research is conducting a new research project on auto dealership's utilization and experience with Google advertising. Since U.S. dealers are shifting more of their marketing dollars to online advertising strategies, the data from this survey will spark new conversations on how Google agency partners can better serve the franchise dealer community. 

PCG is collecting feedback from U.S. franchise…

When shopping for anything, especially big-ticket items like cars, shoppers compare prices. It’s natural to try and find the best deal and save as much money as possible, however, times have changed, and the best price is no longer the sole determining factor when it comes to where and when consumers purchase. The ability to comparison shop online has made it necessary for dealerships to compete in areas other than price alone.  Instead, they must specialize in many of the other things that…

I hate to break it to you, but if you run a for-profit business – like a car dealership – then your website has just two important goals:

• Goal #1 – Attract Visitors
• Goal #2 – Convert Visitors

Sorry, that’s it. Attracting and converting visitors are the only real value your website provides and the ONLY goals you should be…

You have done your research on prices, the best dealers, the car you want and everything else but what about the inspection? The car might look nice on the outside but you never know how good it is in the inside. If you are satisfied with your results after the inspection, don’t be afraid to walkaway. Sometimes even though the car might be cheaper, with all the repairs and maintenance you will have to do, you will be spending money more than you thought. So, inspecting the used car…

Search engine marketing is valuable tool when used correctly. But it's not the be all, end all of digital marketing. You need to be able to step outside of your comfort zone if you want to achieve digital marketing success.



If you haven't already begun experimenting with other tools; now is the time. The first tool you should start with is email marketing. Tap into your current database and gather more information about your customers.

On this episode, Paul explains how you…