Sound familiar? I’ve heard this several times during my travels the last few weeks and it didn’t matter what part of the country or what franchises.

I was at a long-time Ford client last week, started working with them in September of 1997.  They are coming off of another great profit year, but January had started off a little slow.

I noticed the Sales staff was a little down and in conversations the main topic was that there was very little traffic and that the Dealer needed…

http://www.eyesonsales.com/content/article/doing_business_or_doing_business_now/

If you have salespeople, that know how to sell, but the results are not up to the stores expectations, call them out on it!!! Case in point; Just recently, I had a salesman, good guy, works every day, tries very hard when he wants to and a positive attitude when he wants to have one. I just didn’t have that wow feeling with him on a…

A consumer comes to your dealership for a reason! They have a want! and a need! also a budget! It is your job as a sales consultants to figure those three things out. During a walk around you should be building report with your customer because you now know their want, need and budget, now going off of that you can show them why a vehicle is a fit for them. This makes your customer feel like they are in safe hands.Also that you understand and care about their needs.

It's also a…

(This is part 1 in a series)



Recently a student asked me what attributes compel an individual to be a great salesperson in the retail automobile business.  As I pondered the question I inquired of the student how he would describe a "Great Salesperson."  He immediately answered, "One whose sales production always leads the board, whose grosses…

“It only takes one bug in the potato salad to ruin a picnic,” according to one of the little old ladies I went to church with as a child.  As I move further away from a precocious child and closer to being a sweet little old lady, I am realizing that she was not registering a complaint about church picnics but planting a seed of wisdom that would develop as I grew older.  One little bug can ruin the…

When I started my retail automotive consulting practice in 1987, I chose to state as my unique value proposition, "Guaranteed 1,000% Return on Investment." During my first few years as an independent consultant, I was shocked to learn that very few of my potential dealer clients had a clue about what this meant. So I would explain that, for example, if the dealer would invest $2,500 in professional fees with me, I would provide a money-back guarantee that I would assist in increasing the…

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Good morning automotive world.......

As a performance consultant for Proactive Dealer Solutions I travel around North America helping dealerships contact their customer base and help them grow their business. These same dealerships ask my advise on a regular basic on CRM's and which one they should select to maximize BDC and make it easy for their staff as well.

This is always a challenging question, but I never back down from a challenge in my life. Here are…

Right now, automotive dealerships across the globe are seeking ways to sell more vehicles in a market that appears to be on the upswing.  2012 will see a majority of dealerships dedicating more resources to their …

The issue of deficiencies and production is NOT auto dealer specific it is BUSINESS specific. The answer FOR MORE itself comes down to checking testing and then rechecking execution process of the personnel. A leaders goals or objective should be to get their people to WORK daily to attain the goals or objective of the business.

1. Does the business owner have clear goal(s)?

2. Do the employees/departments know clearly what that is?

3. Are they empowered to solve the…

Car Research, a CRM company, takes an EXTREMELY strong dealer-protective and data-protective stance--essentially, they're first to take a strong public stand that they do NOT share data with anyone and only use the data as a dealer directs. No selling of data! No remarketing to your customers!  No condescension!  ON A DEALER'S SIDE RIGHT OUTTA' THE GATE FOR YEARS NOW AND STILL GOING FORWARD!  WONDERFUL!!!!  Here's their email announcement:

January 18, 2012

You…

By Autumn 2003, I had (a meager) seven years of Internet Automotive success under my belt.  I was managing a nine-franchise Internet Sales Department that encompassed five rooftops in Portland OR and Vancouver WA.  New Car sales were really starting to get brutal.  Every other conversation…

DrivingSales and J.D. Power and Associates bridge industry's two most authoritative marketing events, offer combo-ticket prices

SALT LAKE CITY, Jan. 18, 2012 -- DrivingSales today announced that the 2012 DrivingSales Executive Summit (DSES)…

Groundbreaking program increases the number of vehicles on Phoenix lots eligible for certification; provides used car buyers with peace of mind and purchase protection

Venice, CA  -- January 18, 2012 – Mota Motors, a leading provider of online vehicle certification and selling platforms, today announced that SureSale^TM Certified, a comprehensive certified pre-owned (CPO)…

After hearing all the hoopla over true cars Ive seen nothing from a dealer, writer, or a contributor on why they dont warn about the factory as they are about TRUE CARS. First in my opinion would you give anyone or any company access to your DMS system allowing them to have access to your customer data???? Most dealers service departments are gold mines for sales and there best inventory of customers are there best service customers. Thats because in most cases 50-75% of there service…

One morning I was shaken from my deep sleep by the deep growling of the trash truck’s engine followed by the skidding sounds of my neighbor’s trash can coming to a screeching halt in their driveway. Realizing I did not push my overflowing trash can to the road; I valiantly sprung out of bed and barreled out of the door hoping it was not too late. I stood…