In auto dealerships when managers hear the question "How's your week going?" they know it's not always a personal question. Someone--usually the General Manager--wants to know whether they're on track to hit goals.

The most reliable source to find out how it's going is to drill down into Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). We all know the usual; gross profit,…

As consumers increasingly shift their shopping online, choosing to skip visits to traditional retailers, it’s become difficult for businesses to get that all important relationship-building face-to-face time.

In the automotive industry, a similar shift is happening. Industry disrupters are taking the whole purchasing process online, forcing major automotive…

I sat down recently with one of our Digital Performance Managers, Kelly, to get an inside look an inside look at her daily life and best practices.

Kelly was asked what she feels as the most important aspects of her job, which she stated, “I think the most important part of my job is helping our clients. We play a role in generating leads for them. It's just…

Like any well-run organization, success in the dealership environment is interdependent on how clear the processes are and how efficient the associates perform within that system. There's an old business axiom that states “it’s either a process problem or a people problem". Each department is linked together through a myriad of different…

What do I have to do to develop a great sales team?

An ideal sales team of veteran salespeople would allow each dealership to maximize revenue.  In reality, sales departments experience a high level of turnover.  As a result, there is no easy answer to this question.

Focusing on what we can’t control while ignoring what we can is a pathway to frustration and declining success.  Fearing turnover is no excuse for not investing in training your sales staff.  A…

Sales letters are important tools for interactive marketing, lead generation and nurturing sales opportunities.  In the age of digital marketing, usually one of the earliest experiences a potential consumer will have with an organization is some impersonal written for the masses word format.

Selling is like dating.  Imagine you are on a first date; would…

Sometimes our focus on growing profits can lead us to make decisions that have us working harder and not smarter. For example, cutting corners in regards to recruiting and training sales personnel. The fear of loss of investment if the employee leaves, can spiral into an evolving sales team in which more and more members lack the necessary skills to increase profits.

The…

On August 28, 1963 in front of Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a speech that became a pivotal turning point in U.S. history.  What made Dr. King’s dream a reality was his literally devotion to being in action.  He acted despite adversity, ridicule and criticism.  His thoughts and opinions were not popular and were considered not acceptable at the time.  What would…

A brilliant and successful businessperson recently shared why he loves his angriest customers. Phil Libin, CEO and co-founder of Evernote, wrote an article for Inc. where he explained that customer feedback is essential to the growth of any business. All companies solicit…

Since it is that time of year, here are some ideas for commitments you may wish to make for 2013. As you’ve heard me say many times, “If you measure it and then scoreboard it, performance will improve!” Many of you are probably measuring and scoreboarding some of the following key performance indicators, but I doubt if any of you are measuring all 11 (a “lucky” number) of them:

1. Actual flat rate hour Productivity per Technician against objective on a daily,…

Last week I attended NCM’s semi-annual meeting of all its divisional directors, 20 Group moderators, Retail Operations consultants, and NCM Institute faculty members, who, along with our CEO set aside two and a half days to dialogue about what’s happening around the industry and within the company, and how best to address the needs of our clients.  As usual, it was a great encounter, with far too much agenda content and discussion for the overall time allotted.

One of the topics that…

The NCMi faculty members and the NCM Retail Operations field consultants have learned that managers who effectively manage the elements of “controllable profitability” within their respective operating departments normally produce a significant departmental net profit. This, of course, assumes that the majority of dealership expenses (limited-control and fixed) are fairly distributed to each operating department.

Many managers, however, lack the proper focus on controllable…

Your Customers are Mad as Hell, and They Won’t Take It Anymore!!

Conquest and Retention are both driven by the Caller’s Journey

Great new is...we are clearly in recovery. The risk is, as Jack Jackintelle, President of the Rick Case Automotive Group, recently stated in his presentation to the Automotive Leadership Roundtable, is that we go back to reading our financial statements from the bottom up. There has…

As "Official sponsor and exclusive automotive partner" for wildly popular entertainment group Cirque du Soleil, Infiniti Automotive group is effectively reaching a very broad range of possible customers. Their luxury vehicles are well known in the auto sphere, but by partnering with Cirque du Soleil, Infiniti is hoping to draw even more attention to its latest models, in a far showier space than, well, the showroom. They are debuting their all-new 7 passenger crossover with the performance…

As I’ve written previously, the two most important elements of effective Accountability Management are 1) measuring what you need to manage and 2) inspecting what you expect. In the Service Department, the repair order analysis process is one of the essential steps in executing these two accountability elements.

The R.O. analysis is intended to provide information about Customer-Paid (C-P) sales that is supplemental to that available in the typical DMS. The proactive Service Manager…

Military, Law Enforcement, Medical Professionals, Teachers…what do these occupations have in common?  Each provides a highly valued service to our local and global community at large and does so as a result of education and extensive on-going training.  As a result, society can depend on these individuals to protect humanity, face danger, save lives, educate our youth, improve health and welfare and do…

Seldom does some one board an elevator from an upper floor to ride the elevator up.  Most of the time, if someone boards the elevator from an upper floor it is to ride back to the first floor.  Therefore, when considering progress, why let someone impede your progression by not being on the project from the ground floor?

Please allow me to further develop this concept for you with a real…

When I was a teenager, I had to have some extensive surgery that landed me in a wheel chair for a few months.  Recently, one of my physical therapist from that adventure found me on Facebook and was compelled to share his story of that short part of my life.  He was a new therapist when he took on my case and had heard how hard teenagers can be in cases like mine.  He braced himself for a healthy dose…