Do you remember the AT&T ad slogan “Reach Out and Touch Someone” from the early 1980s?  It may have been thirty years since that slogan reached its peak in popularity, but it still has a similar meaning today. Our high-paced, digitally driven world has made it even easier to stay in touch with our friends and…

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…

Both automotive management and…

Some clouds are huge, with small silver linings.  Other clouds are small, dwarfed by the silver lining they bring.  This cloud snuck up on many dealers who rely upon Craigslist (CL) to generate a steady source of leads: now, all posts by dealers for their cars and trucks will cost $5 each.

Gone are they days of capriciously spamming the CTD (Cars and Trucks by Dealer) board with hundreds of ads.  And I, for one, welcome it.  Because now, gone too are the days of…

In this era of tweets, texts and Likes, the wise sales associate still recognizes and practices good phone.

Good phone means knowing how to engage others using the telephone. For sales associates, good phone means having learned how to sell by phone, practiced those skills and worked to overcome it unfamiliarity.

Most any sales associate who makes up their mind to excel at using the phone to drive business can be a success.

Yet for many, the…

We all have listened to the untrained sales professional or Internet Coordinator spend half an hour selling the car to a customer over the phone; and the worst part about it is once he/she gives away all the info the majority of the time you never see the customer show up that he/she was talking to. …

The other day I was in a dealership speaking with an owner.  He said to me "I have 315,000 VDPs" to which I responded "wow, that it is great".  He then said to me "however, VDPs do not cash checks, sales do".  I was so happy to hear that because here is someone that really gets it.  I am not saying that focusing…

Every year about this time we begin to contemplate. What was our final score for 2012? How did we end up? Did we just SURVIVE or did we THRIVE?

For most of you, that reality was written months ago and on the 10^th of January you’ll be…

Service is an "elbow to elbow" people business. As I (we) have traveled and observed so many Dealership Service Operations, there is still one overriding factor that every Customer Service Organization must understand and adhere to. This is people business.…

Many car dealers are using Google Adwords as part of their advertising strategy yet there are still some website platforms that don't natively support replaceable phone numbers for paid search campaigns.  

When a consumer clicks on a paid search advertisement, banner ad, or retargeting campaign to visit the…

Lost Sales and Declined Services Customers are in many Dealerships, the largest untapped source of additional revenue. And in most cases, the Sales has been lost because of a few words and not a few dollars.

 …

It is an age old diametrically opposed argument. On one side, we have technology. On the other side, we have personnel.

• I can't sell anything without a great Multipoint Inspection.
• I can't sell anything without a professional Sales Process.
• I must have both in…

The 3 Most Common Mistakes Salespeople Make That Cost The Dealership Money!

The good…

Clearly there is a huge gap between what "we" (old school) managers and Leaders consider useful and proper communication,  motivation and Leadership techniques and what the "new" generation responds to.

There is a choice to be made.…

Employees are the life of any organization. We spends hours recruiting, screening and interviewing them. After we have hired them, we spend more time training, coaching and monitoring them.

And when it's all said and done, we like to think that we have contributed to the Dealership's future and had a hand in weaving the very fabric of that Dealership.

And in every Dealership…

A traveling salesman had come to the end of a long day and was very hungry. He had not made many sales and was feeling a little frustrated with his results. He decided to stop and get something to eat and mull over his next step.

He stopped in town, parked on Main Street and looked around. He found two restaurants side by side.  Above each there was a sign.

The one on the left said “Food, more…