I have written about the influence of Jim Lecinski's book "Winning The Zero Moment of Truth" and the data that confirms that consumers are actively researching online during the Zero Moment of Truth prior to contacting a local car dealer.

This first contact, called the…

Dealer employees can submit a video walk-around that features themselves in a video walk-around. The car featured can be new or used, but the person in the video must be a current employee of the car dealership.

The videos will be judged by an industry panel that includes …

Since we started our pre-launch of our ISR 'In Store Review' Mobile Web App a large number of dealerships have decided to participate. Unfortunately, about 2% of the dealerships were under the impression we were DealerRater. So I wanted to go on the record and let everyone know we are MyDealerReport.com, not DealerRater. We don't want the 2% to be mislead…

Word Tracks: A Proven Method for Selling Automotive Accessories

Insignia has many years of experience in the automotive industry. And, we’ve discovered a few strategies and techniques very successful dealerships use to create…

I peruse more articles per day than I can count in my efforts to remain on the cutting edge of strategy, social network management and online marketing. Recently, I found that one common, underlying theme to so many of these "tips and tricks," as they're often packaged, was actually a part of human nature; the perpetual assessment of "why."

The question of "why" isn't necessarily out of greed or selfishness, it's our brains' natural way of making choices - professional, personal,…

In today’s era, world has become globally aware on account of latest technology and customer support software. Every business is actively participating in transforming the technology of their work place to boost up their present sales and marketing efforts effectively and efficiently. The competition in business world is rising day by day, and to hammer the competition with great customer support software…

1. Your screens are blank or filled with state content. Remember when you first deployed your digital signage network? Everyone was so excited to see the new technology in action. You had grand plans to produce content on a regular basis and keep the screens engaging for viewers. Then something happened. Maybe the person who led the initiative got promoted to another position. Or perhaps the person who knew how to run the software left the company. Maybe everyone involved in the…

In doing my 2011 review, I came across some amazing sourcing statistics for our group.  We sold a huge number of vehicles with the following sources:

• Walk-in
• Drive-by
• Location
• Manual Add - meaning no actual source was selected

Does anyone really think a customer is actually a walk-in?  Are customers driving the streets of America and suddenly overcome with the desire to pop in to a car dealership and buy a new vehicle?  In the…

This Automotive Zero Moment of Truth Infographic is a great discussion piece to have with your dealership team about how the car shopping eco-system is working today.

Stimulus Investments Drive ZMOT Activity

Stimulus investments (Radio, TV, and Newspaper) for a majority of consumers do NOT create a direct beeline to the dealership (FMOT).…

ADM prides itself in being the go to social network for the auto industry. We have a rich history of providing great information for the great price of absolutely nothing. How do we do it? We do it because we have great members such as yourself that are willing to share, answer questions and help others in our…

Question: Is a sales associate’s selling responsibility complete once the customer drives off in his or her new wheels? For too many sales associates it is. This is a mistake.

Of course, the action all sales associates thrive on is, indeed, in the front of the store. After…

While (I hope) most dealership websites won’t be affected by this, Google has recently announced they will begin penalizing websites that have too many ads at the top.  It's being called the "page layout algorithm" and affects sites that "don't have much content 'above-the-fold'", according to Google's Inside Search blog.…

Prepaid Maintenance Plans (PPMs) have traditionally been used as a customer retention tool by dealers, and rightfully so. Paying up front for services is a guaranteed way to get customers back into the service lane. But the pricing and structure of many PPMs administered by third parties did not make the plans very profitable for the dealerships, and even more important, for the customers.

The new generation of self-administered, self-managed PPM plans offer many benefits…

More than 100 dealers per month added since Mid-September.

Contact At Once! (www.autodealerchat.com), the leading dealer chat provider to the automotive industry, and Kia Motors America (KMA) (www.kia.com) today announced the achievement of a milestone – enablement of the 500th…

Well, this is my first blog posting with ADM.  I joined in October 2011 before I left for Vegas, and find ADM to be a treasure trove of information.  I am looking to start taking advantage of Craig's List and started talking with a couple vendors.  Can I get some thoughts on who provides the best services for doing this.  I appreciate everyone taking a moment to help me out.

Automotive professionals planning on attending DMSC or NADA who may be looking for a career change should be aware that PCG is hiring.   The upcoming Las Vegas conferences will present an ideal time to meet with the PCG team and discuss…