Those in the automotive industry tend to live in a professional bubble. We love what we do for different reasons, but for many (such as me), it's a matter of working in an industry that is completely different and more challenging than others, particularly when it comes to digital marketing.

This is a competitive world. The competition level is draining and…

Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of Beggs on the Used Car Market, with used car market insights from Ricky Beggs and Black Book. It is great to be back with you this week. I hope you gained some insight from the thoughts of Steve Jordan of the National Independent Automobile Dealers Association. We will also share with you today another of the short interviews…

What's the most creative reason you've heard from a customer who is leaving your dealership lot without purchasing? Sure there are the typical, "have to check with my spouse," and "have to pick up my kids at their soccer game." Then there are the more atypical reasons: "I have a dentist appointment," or "My mother-in-law's in town." If it's one of the latter, warning bells should be ringing. Who would rather go to a dentist appointment or visit with their mother-in-law than buy a…

Website chat is viewed by many dealers to be an alternative method of communication, as it should be. There are some who view it as a lead generation tool and they can look at numbers to show that they're getting more leads, but to truly test their results that must take a closer look.



Properly positioned and managed chat on dealer websites can definitely be…

The internet has changed our world. The concept of "business hours" has been turned on its head. People are buying things online at 2 in the morning. They're researching vehicles after the kids are in bed. They're planning out how to drop off their vehicle in your service department and still get to work on time at 4am.

When they have questions, are you there…

When businesses ponder how to increase their presence on search engines, they typically turn to SEO strategies. Content marketing has always been a large part of any SEO strategy. It’s a given that the more fresh, relevant and unique content you produce, the better chance your online properties will have of showing in search engine results. According to an…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Urbandale, IA--August 18th, 2014--Flick Fusion (www.flickfusion.com), the industry's leading video marketing provider, today introduced the first video marketing platform for auto dealers that automates the video production process, increases organic SEO rankings, increases conversion rates and generates more leads to the dealership. With the addition of several recent and planned product roll-outs, Flick…

     I love those great months... who doesn't?.  You know the ones.. Excellent production, solid gross and great back end penetration.  Record numbers in the service drive and the parts numbers to support the RO's.

Up tick... Up tick.

Business being better at our physical place of business generally means an up tick in the web traffic.…

It's the quiet time. Just about everyone has it. Whether it's late at night when everyone's in bed or early in the morning before everyone wakes up, a good chunk of people do much of their important website surfing when there are fewer distractions of life to prevent them from their task at hand.

Buying a car or getting it serviced are two of those important…

By now we have all heard the term Geo-Fencing and have possibly benefitted in some way from this technology.  At a mall, you may have received a coupon via push notification on your smartphone when you walked by your favorite store.  Or imagine, driving past a popular local establishment and receiving a notification about a special event for that day.  

Geo-fencing is a location-based service that allows businesses to send messages to…

Do you process your used cars in the same way you process customer pay work? Are your used cars brought up to maintenance standards before they hit the lot? Has discounting internal rates become your shop policy?

Click the link below to stop cutting your gross profit margins right now!

 …

Think about the last time you visited a business such as McDonald’s, Target, or a 7-11.  Now, think about the store itself – did you select the store because of convenience, or because you were dedicated to a specific location?  Sometimes the answer is both, but more often than not, like most consumers, you are making the choice based on…

While I love to be active myself, I certainly could not call myself a big fan of watching and keeping up with sports. It seems, however, that you cannot turn on a television, read a newspaper or use any social media recently without hearing about continuous misdeeds and wrongdoings of NFL players. I’m sure that you’ve seen them as well. So this is not designed to rehash,…

Black Book expects Luxury-Level car segments will feel the largest depreciation through the balance of the year, largely driven by off-lease returns in lease-heavy segments. Luxury segments in this class will include Premier Luxury (BMW 7 Series, Audi A8, Lexus GS/LS, Mercedes-Benz S); Near-Luxury (Audi A4, Mercedes-Benz C, Cadillac CTS, Acura TL); and Luxury Level (BMW 5 Series, Audi A6, Cadillac DTS, Lexus IS, Infiniti M, Lincoln MKS).

 

Entry-level and small cars will also…

http://www.internetsales20group.com 856-546-2440

Sean V. Bradley "Money Mind Mapp" Keynote Speech - Internet Sales 20 Group - Boston, MA -…

Most Monday mornings I find myself standing in NCM Institute’s beautiful training facility in Kansas City, welcoming a new class of dealership managers who come to us for formalized training specific to their job responsibilities. Even before introductions, sometimes I will ask the class some questions:

“How many of you, when you interviewed for your first job in the car business were shown a written job description and job objectives or expectations that you would…

Across all of the Star Wars movies, the evil Imperial stormtroopers have the resources of the most powerful organization in the Universe, the latest technology, cutting-edge weaponry, and endless supplies. Yet in nearly every confrontation with a small band of rebels they never seem to be able to hit anyone when shooting!

How can these untrained rebels…

I had just finished reading this article on marketsoft.com about customer loyalty, when a business associate told me about a similar situation that happened to him. In his mailbox was a glossy, oversized postcard offering a discounted oil change for his vehicle from the dealership from…

When was the last time you tried calling into your own--or another--dealership? Chances are high that the phone went unanswered, you were put on hold, routed into voicemail or were told that the sales or service person you're trying to reach is out to lunch.

The latest data collected from our call center agents is overwhelming: car dealers are missing way too many sales and service opportunities from lost phone leads. Behind showroom ups, these are the highest value inquiries…