This post was written by NCM Institute instructor Fred O'Dwyer and was originally posted on the Up to Speed blog.
Not too long ago as I was listening to someone talk about how fundamental clarity is in fueling growth in a…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on July 10, 2014 at 9:48am — No Comments
Combat is a leadership laboratory. That laboratory is a proving ground for veterans like Leif Babin, who shared his insights on leadership and teamwork at last Fall’s Driving Sales Executive Summit. A former Navy SEAL and co-founder of management consulting firm, Echelon Front, LLC, Babin gave an inspiring keynote address where he translated his experiences as a SEAL and SEAL Officer…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on July 3, 2014 at 10:30am — No Comments
This article was written by Robin Cunningham of the NCM Institute and originally published on the Up to Speed blog.
At the NCM Institute we conduct our …
ContinueAdded by Garry House on May 22, 2014 at 9:00am — 1 Comment
This article was written by NCM Institute instructor, Steve Hall, and was originally published on the Up to Speed blog.
Today’s article is intended as a wakeup call to General Managers and a profitability lesson to Parts Managers. So, I’m going to lay it on the line…
It amazes me when I see parts departments with…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on May 6, 2014 at 10:47am — No Comments
Late last year I was reading the Sunday paper and came across a story that was a collection of quotes from Nelson Mandela, who had passed away the previous week. Reading those quotes made me very reflective both personally and professionally. One of his quotes that really struck me…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on February 6, 2014 at 3:00pm — No Comments
Most of us grew up in the industry where PUVR (or Per Used Vehicle Retail) was the key metric we were looking for to determine how successful we were on each vehicle we sold. As we all know, things have definitely changed since the Internet has become the primary way our customers begin their search for a used car.
For the last two years, I have had the privilege of teaching and coaching our NCM dealer-clients’ managers at the NCM…
ContinueAdded by Robin Cunnigham on September 24, 2013 at 3:55pm — 2 Comments
Written By: Dennis Kane
I have seen a significant number of high value claims as a result of contractors or subcontractors not carrying insurance or inadequate limits of insurance.
Examples of high value claims against dealerships include:
Added by Garry House on July 25, 2013 at 12:30pm — No Comments
Written By: Steven Banks
Lately it seems I am unable to hide from the term, Big Data. I’m exposed to it in headlines, newspapers (a bit old school but I still read them), magazines and yes, even blogs. But what does big data truly mean and why are we being doused with it? The term is so new I couldn’t locate it in the…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on July 9, 2013 at 8:30am — No Comments
A quick look at the current state of auto retailing would suggest that things are good. Tough times (and a couple of notable bankruptcies) have thinned dealer ranks. Although pressures are mounting, the manufacturers are still demonstrating discipline around production volumes. Most importantly, customers are returning to showrooms.
Add all factors together and the result is that volumes and margins on both new and pre-owned vehicles are strong. So strong, in fact, that many…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on May 21, 2013 at 7:30am — 1 Comment
Written by: Steve Hall
Dealers know you must provide fast, convenient, and competitively-priced service in order to retain your customer base. They also know that oil changes and light maintenance are the most requested service items by customers. Knowing this, why do dealers continually fight express service?
I’ve heard all the excuses: it hurts my hours per repair order; it hurts my gross profit percentage; it hurts my effective labor rate; I can’t make any money in express…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on May 16, 2013 at 8:30am — No Comments
Written by: Rebecca Chernek
EMBRACE CHANGE
The glass ceiling for women’s acceptance in the finance industry was shattered over a decade ago.
According to the 2012 Catalyst Census of Women Executive Officers and Top Earners, which counts the number of women in upper management in Fortune 500 companies, women comprise over 18% of all executive officers in the finance industry, and 19% of board directors in the finance and insurance industries in…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on May 14, 2013 at 10:41am — No Comments
Written by: Thomas Bear
Realizing the dealer/general manager’s day is full of interruptions, if you could wave a magic wand and create the perfect day, what would you do during this day?
Which activities do you wish you did every day? Which activities are the top ten for you to do every day? Here’s an exercise we use in our 20 Group meetings from time to time that might be helpful for you to realign your daily priorities.…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on May 7, 2013 at 8:00am — No Comments
Written by: Gene Daughtry
In BHPH, like any other automobile dealer, you’ll start the sales process out with a meet and greet. From there you should go in a different direction from other retail outlets. If you have been on a franchise dealer sales floor I am sure you or your sales staffs have joked about wanting a screening machine that they could walk a customer through for an instant credit reading. Since that doesn’t exist, your sales process is probably similar to: 1. “up” your…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on May 2, 2013 at 8:00am — No Comments
Written By: Steve Hall
When we ask service managers how important technician efficiency is to profitability, they most often say that “it goes hand-in-hand” or “if they aren’t efficient, you won’t make money.” I agree with their comments, but am constantly amazed with how they quantify “efficient.”
It seems that we have become accustomed to thinking a technician is efficient if they hit our flagged-hours goal for the week. At times this is true. Everyone can have a bad day, or…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on April 24, 2013 at 9:36am — No Comments
Written by: Steve Hall
When we ask service managers how important technician efficiency is to profitability, they most often say that “it goes hand-in-hand” or “if they aren’t efficient, you won’t make money.” I agree with their comments, but am constantly amazed with how they quantify “efficient.”
It seems that we have become accustomed to thinking a technician is efficient if they hit our flagged-hours goal for the week. At times this is true. Everyone can…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on April 11, 2013 at 3:00pm — 3 Comments
Written By: Joe Basil
We just returned from a 20 Group meeting and it was the most invigorating workshop we have ever attended. We completed an assessment of our dealership operations and identified major sales and profit opportunities in all departments. We have benefited from the extensive experience of our facilitator and fellow members. We had the opportunity to compare our operation to other…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on April 9, 2013 at 8:00am — No Comments
Written By: Debbie Hemley
Twitter is a powerful social networking platform and one that has become a go-to choice for businesses of all sizes and industries.
In recent months, Burger King and Jeep’s Twitter accounts were hacked and became the subject of many articles and conversations, online…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on April 2, 2013 at 9:00am — No Comments
Written By: Robin Cunningham
For the last sixteen months I have had the incredible experience of being a lead instructor with the NCM Institute. I have had the opportunity to work with hundreds of dealership managers in our multi-level classes for general managers, general sales managers, used vehicle managers, service managers, financial managers, and some private dealership training, as…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on March 28, 2013 at 3:11pm — No Comments
AutoNation USA, the #1 publicly-owned automotive retailer, opened its doors as a mega “one pricing” pre-owned operation in 1997. It built elaborate showrooms; county records show one was 218,000 square feet. The showrooms included a café, a playroom and an aftermarket display platform.
Kiosks with computers were placed throughout the store enabling consumers to efficiently check out in-stock inventory or to submit a loan application. Customers were greeted at these kiosks by…
ContinueAdded by Garry House on March 26, 2013 at 7:00am — No Comments
Written by: Keith Shetterly
We talked for years in automotive retail about “The Road to the Sale,” and I’m clearly one of the many supporters of that path to sales success. However, too many of us are still on "The Road Less Profited." Why? Because we are not getting more sales (and profits!) from "The Road to Retention”!
Retention sales link the positives of variable and fixed operations together, and their teaming allows each part of the dealership to amplify the other.…
Added by Garry House on March 12, 2013 at 9:00am — No Comments
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