Most dealers understand the importance of customer retention. They’re e-mail-blasting sales messages, sending direct mail, and their salespeople are combing over thousands of client records in their DMS, making phone calls to previous customers and orphan owners. The problem is that many dealers don’t realize that, all too often, those messages fall on deaf ears. Dealerships spend tons of money sending messages to customers that are mostly irrelevant because some vendor promised huge results…

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I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the next down market in automotive retail is coming. No one knows precisely when – and none of us is certain what will trigger it – but, it is coming. Moreover, given the current market realities, it might be coming a little faster than most of us in the industry imagine. Take, for example, these fast facts:

• The average length of a new car loan in 2014 was 66 months.
• The number of subprime borrowers missing payments is at…

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If you’re like most dealers I speak with lately, you’re either looking to add a Business Development Center (aka BDC) or trying to find ways to make your current BDC more successful? If so, then there are just a few simple “must haves” that are truly non-negotiable if you’d like your BDC to succeed today and over the long term.

MUST #1: BDC’s Must be Profit (not Cost) Centers

The primary reason BDCs failed in the past is they simply weren’t very successful at…

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Optimizing your website for search takes intense research, competitive analysis, deep marketing experience, skillful writing and then patient iteration to improve performance over time. There’s a reason most companies need an outside vendor: the expertise that comes from experience.…

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With the advent of Social - Media why are U.S. Auto Companies still pouring Millions of Dollars down the "Black H***" of C.S.I. Survey Programs ???? This is a Dinosaur approach completely ineffective & a total waste of resources. Dealership level "Time Current Concern Rectification Plans " must be in place 24/7/365. Nothing else is acceptable ....Agree or Disagree ?????? Let's Talk ..........

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…

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You keep hearing that dealers are making good profits in Buy Here Pay Here. You have decided that you would like to pursue the business. What is your next step? After all you may have been in the car business for years. You understand buying and selling cars. You know how to run a compliant Finance Department and a profitable shop. Isn’t BHPH or LHPH just other ways of financing cars?

The answer is not as simple as it might seem. A BHPH or LHPH operation takes…

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Back when I first started desking deals, the “seasoned” salespeople would tell me, “Let’s do this deal; we’ll make up the gross on the next one. It’s easier to get iron than customers.” I believe there was a change in that attitude in 2008. Four years later, Buy-Here-Pay-Here (BHPH) dealers are still facing the challenge of finding enough choice inventory for their business model while maintaining portfolio performance.

In my last BHPH operation we operated a little different than…

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I have the honor and privilege of traveling this great country of ours and working with all types of BHPH dealers on a consulting, training, and 20 Group basis. I am a firm believer that we learn more from our mistakes than our successes. When I first started to put this article together, I made a list of the most prominent mistakes I see BHPH dealers make. Problem was, the list was about 1,001 mistakes long. Most if not all of which I had made as a dealer myself.

After looking over…

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The following article is authored by, and reprinted with permission of, Kenneth Shilson, founder and president of the National Alliance of Buy Here, Pay Here Dealers. 

Franchise dealers enter 2012 with many of the same challenges they have faced for the last 24 months: a) excess facilities; b) needing more vehicle sales; c) declining credit scores of their customers; and d) tougher credit approvals from financing subprime sources. In response, many are looking at…

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A new year is right around the corner and before we know it 2012 will be upon us.  The New Year is typically a time of renewed commitment to better habits and personal growth.  That makes it the perfect time to focus on your compensation plan and insure that your plan rewards and encourages your staff to excel in ALL the areas you expect them to perform.  For example, you may have a staff member that sells really well on the service drive, but their retention rates and… Continue