The four bases that make up a baseball diamond can be directly related to the car shopper’s journey. We all know the path begins online. The final destination, or home base, is the dealership. The goal is to surpass all your bases and arrive back at home, or rather, get…

5 Tips on Successful Email Marketing for Car Dealerships

Email marketing continues to be one of the most effective online marketing strategies that dealerships can conduct. In fact, nearly 75% of adults say that email is their preferred method of communication (Apogee Results).

According…

Use Twitter to its fullest potential! In this week’s Hard Facts, Samantha talks about how you can use Twitter to search for potential customers and engage with clients. Using this resource will ensure that you’re expanding your brand and business.

If you're an advertising or marketing…

Imagine coming into work one day, firing up your computer and seeing the following message pop up onto your screen:

Your files have been encrypted by TeslaCrypt. Your documents, photos, database and other important files have been encrypted. Private…

Each month, I get one or two requests similar to the one I received from a salesperson named Phil who works at a dealership in the northwest. I thought it would be a good idea to share with you his particular e-mail and my response.

Phil wrote:

In my sales meeting today we were told that getting cash down is our biggest problem. I understand that cash down…

For dealerships that are considering video marketing, or in the early stages of developing their video marketing strategies, we recommend starting with inventory videos. Inventory videos are a great way to attract and emotionally engage car shoppers. According to a recent Gallup study, “businesses that optimize this (emotional) connection outperform competitors by 26% in…

Take new actions to implement these steps and be the Destination Dealership for Women. Really. Here are 8 ideas that will drive business and your bottom-line:

1. Engage each one of your female ups in a respectful manner, or they will…

Index from Kerrigan Advisors shows high inventory levels, gross margin compression, and weak sales forecasts depressing public auto retailer valuations

Irvine, CA, May 18, 2016 – Kerrigan Advisors today announced that The KAR Index™ (The Kerrigan Auto Retail Index) has dropped 9% - from 496.82 to 452.49 – in just the last two weeks, indicating depressed public auto…

What's Your Why?

We all need a reason to get out of bed in the morning and do what we do. For a lot of us it might be to provide for our family, while others have a greater vision or…

What are you doing to make sure your business stands out? On this week’s Think Tank Tuesday, I spoke with Andy Heck about what makes Alpin Haus such a distinct brand.  It’s more than a slogan or the logo that comes with any business. Watch now to see what Andy had to say about branding: …

Key Insights into Understanding the 2016 Car Buyer’s Journey

Car shoppers today are online before they ever step onto your dealership’s lot. And while this trend is not new news, a study commissioned by Cox Automotive through IHS Automotive confirmed that this is new normal for car shopping. Although dealerships may understand this, many have not made the switch from…

Black Book, a division of Hearst Business Media that provides new- and used-vehicle valuation services and custom data licensing solutions, unveiled its May residual forecast illustrating the downward pressure on prices that increased supply will continue to have over the next few years.  

Black Book forecast data show that residuals on an average three-year-old vehicle will dip from the current three-year retention of 52.0% in 2016, to 47.8% by 2019. Retention values on a…

Dealers are in for a wild ride. The next 5+ years will be filled with revenue from recall work; a shortage of technicians; shop capacity that can’t keep up with demand; parts availability issues; and, as a result, irate customers.

Recalls certainly challenge consumers’ patience and dealers can find themselves in a constant battle, fighting to put out fires,…

Loyalty is a fickle thing. While your customer has consistently serviced their vehicle with you, when they get that $19.95 oil change coupon from your competition, will it go in the trash, or will they choose to take advantage of it and defect to the competition?

Most consumers love sales and discounts. In fact, the whole reason negotiation exists in…

The first thing most people do when meeting someone new is to introduce themselves. This first meeting can quite easily dictate the future outcome of the relationship. If you come off as insincere or indifferent, the other party will probably not engage you again. However, greet someone with genuine interest and sincerity and you just…

       It’s always better once to see the actual result of someone else than study a long list of guidelines how to make the whole work. And if you think that following a term paper example is necessary only on the stage of writing you make a huge mistake.

       With the help of it, you can easily develop your perfect outline. And if you make this first step right,…

Are you looking for ways to improve employee productivity and boost morale? Consider creating a culture of health in your dealership.

Many studies show the correlation between healthy employees and higher productivity. Research from the Health Enhancement Research Organization (HERO), Brigham Young University and the Center for Health Research at Healthways shows:…

 

Appointment of key marketing and sales execs, Robin Schweitzer and Bill Bauwens, adds 35+ years of sales and marketing expertise to leading call management company

 

Westlake Village, CA – May 12, 2016 – CallSource today announced the appointment of two veteran sales and marketing executives to its management team. Robin Schweitzer brings a 20-year record of marketing success to her role as Marketing Director for…

For some reason, the widespread use of text messaging by American smartphone users has only begun in recent years. Compared to Latin America and Europe, the United States is just starting to take advantage of the diverse functionality of Short Message System (SMS) marketing.



It was not until 2014 that Americans really embraced text messaging. Whereas mobile phone users in Europe essentially grew up with advanced SMS…

Think it's not possible to spend just $25k for an Aston Martin that was originally priced at $130k? It is, and there are several other "super cars" going for cheap these days, as well.

Black Book's Collectible Cars editor, Eric Lawrence, offers up the following bargains on exotic, high-end luxury and overall fun cars. Here is a listing of several cars, what they were originally priced at and what they're now going for at auction.

Here are some cheap…