March 27, 2016

Our Pledge to Dealers

When I arrived at TrueCar in December, it was apparent to me that the biggest issue facing the company was the need to make TrueCar a more positive place for dealers to do business. Over the past decade, TrueCar has been successful in attracting car buyers, but its overall approach has alienated many…

As many Business owners and recruiters have found as they aim for hiring talent that contributes on a high level to their business, it is not often as simple as posting an ad and reviewing the first few candidates.

Recruiting, at its most effective, involves a level of direct advertisement so that the team in charge of hiring has a way of weeding out the candidates that don't meet the companies’ standards and to meet to the ones that will add value to a company.

Here are 3…

Consistency in Branding is Everything!

What does your brand say about your company? Is there a consistent look, feel or message that your customers see when they first interact with your business? Believe it or not, a strong brand can mean the difference between a sale and a missed opportunity.

On this week’s Think Tank Tuesday, I'm discussing what makes a strong brand and explains the steps you need to take to make sure your brand is engaging your customers…

Planning for Tomorrow, Today

I apologize in advance, as this column is going to upset a number of sales managers.

The biggest challenge most dealerships face is recruiting the Millennial generation who have the right skill sets to become true salespeople. 

There are a ton of qualified Gen Y’ers who could sell cars but choose less lucrative positions because they don’t like the traditional sales process and aren’t provided enough…

In a transparent, information-rich world where showrooming is commonplace, a pricing tactic used by many retailers seems strangely shortsighted. For lack of a better term, let’s call this shortsighted pricing practice “Duplicitous Pricing” or DP for short.

Simply put, DP occurs when a retailer posts one price in their store while maintaining a different price somewhere else – like the Internet. Interestingly, the practice of DP didn’t originate with the Web; as it was fairly…

In an effort to gain exposure and effectively reach Facebook fans, one of the obstacles dealerships face in social media marketing is the continuous battle against Facebook’s algorithm. Facebook rolled out its ad platform attempting to monetize its platform and satisfy shareholders. As a result, businesses experienced an extreme decline in reach and were forced to either pay…

Implementing Corporate Benefits Programs (CBP) to employees of small/large corporations is nothing new. Manufacturers have been doing it for some time -- Ford’s X-Plan pricing, for example. But, typically, these corporate discount programs are isolated to large national corporations with which the OEMs have successfully partnered. What if you could increase your market share…

In my last blog I discussed micro-moments – the critical moments, as defined by Google, in a customer’s car buying journey. I also covered the importance of having a strategy that caters to and attracts a customer’s attention at each touch point.

The 5 moments Google defines as important are: Which car is best? ; Is it right for me? ; Can I afford it? ;…

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 the full…

Are You Listening?



One of the most important skills our dealership team needs to develop is the art of listening. I am confident all of us at one time or another had our significant other question if we were listening. Many of the times my wife has asked me that question and I answered no. This just illustrates that it is an area…

It's time to increase your potential

A low self esteem and a lack of self confidence can cause you to doubt yourself, limit your potential, and even your income. You can change your outlook and your attitude by make a few adjustments in your personal and work life. 



On this week's Think Tank Tuesday, I’m sharing 5 simple steps to change your outlook and…

Stop Waiting, Help is not coming!

Are you having your best Fixed Operations year ever or at least one of your best years?  You should be. Think about it.  If people are not buying new cars then they are keeping the ones that they have, putting more miles on them, needing more services, needing bigger…

Whether it’s an unhappy customer in the service drive because the repair is taking too long; or a customer in sales for 4 long hours attempting to buy a car and less than happy as a result; or a customer making a post-purchase call to report issues with a vehicle they just purchased; dealership managers can sometimes feel as if they are constantly putting out fires and that…

Timonium, MD – March 21st, 2016-- Helion Automotive Technologies, a leading provider of information technology (IT) solutions to auto dealerships, warns that the biggest security threat to auto dealerships is the employees. International crime organizations are targeting auto dealers, among other service businesses, with sophisticated and targeted email scams designed to trick unwitting employees into performing actions that…

Siri is a virtual personal assistant that allows iPhone users to use their voice commands to operate their devices. This was first introduced with the launch of iPhone 4S and was believed…

It’s inevitable. Businesses grow and, as they do, many look for ways to automate processes. Dealerships do it with auto-responders. Many companies have automated phone trees which circle you around pressing 1s, 2s and 3s, driving you mad as you can never reach a live person for help. Customer service inquiries are responded to by e-mails you cannot reply to. Is it just me or…

How well do you adapt to new techniques for improving sales? Are you up-to-date on the latest buying trends of the ever-growing women buyers’ market segment? Are you confident your departments meet the needs of women, who now buy half of all cars and influence 80% of the purchases?

Adapting to change to Surge ahead of the Competition

Today’s information-driven world allows dealerships to collect and analyze customer intel to help fine-tune sales and service…

I left a 35 year career in automobile retail management eight months ago. I worked as a GM at Dick Hannah, one of the greatest dealer groups in the country, and I loved every moment of it.

I have had many mentors in my life, (grateful every moment for all of them) but I was told by a specific mentor to constantly look in the mirror. To take a look at our…