You made it! We’ve all made it to the end of our 60 day challenge in our series, Advertising for Success. In the challenge, you’ve expanded your social media presence extensively, reached out to your real-life network of people with a newsletter, and have learned so many good things about yourself along the way.

Using the five pillars of…

You made it! We’ve all made it to the end of our 60 day challenge in our series, Advertising for Success. In the challenge, you’ve expanded your social media presence extensively, reached out to your real-life network of people with a newsletter, and have learned so many good things about yourself along the way.

Using the five pillars of…

Thank you again for joining us in our video series, Advertising for Success. We’re here to give you all the tools we have, to help you achieve the life of your dreams, and to make sure that you know it is possible. You see, there is no glass ceiling. When you believe, your life will change.

Are you still 100% in the transactional car business? Or are you…

Thank you again for joining us in our video series, Advertising for Success. We’re here to give you all the tools we have, to help you achieve the life of your dreams, and to make sure that you know it is possible. You see, there is no glass ceiling. When you believe, your life will change.

Are you still 100% in the transactional car business? Or are you…

We’ve spent the last few months closely watching the career of Carlos Huerta begin. Keep an eye on him, friends. You’ll hear more about him in the future - I’m sure of that! 

We’ve heard all about the wins so far, and the challenges he’s faced along the way. Through his hard work, he’s…

Gooooooooood Morning! And thank you again for joining us in another video in the series, Ali Reda's Road to Sales Success. Let’s get right to it. Carlos spent the first month learning all about the ins and…

Selling Dessert

When I go to a restaurant I find it interesting in…

Written By: Garry House

In the second quarter of 2012, the NCM Institute (NCMi®) formed a training partnership with Automotive Internet Management (AIM). AIM has conducted five “Bridging the Internet Sales Gap” training workshops under NCMi sponsorship. After personally auditing two of these sessions and receiving client-dealer feedback from all of the sessions,…

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…

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.…

If you haven’t already done so, it’s that time to review your 2012 performance in detail. In what areas did you fall short of your goals and why? Where could you have generated greater gains and how? Don’t allow January to slip by without these facts in writing and a discussion of how you can best move forward in 2013.

A common F&I pay plan in the automotive industry is known as the grid. It compensates managers based on their per vehicle retail performance and products sold…

In the second quarter of 2012, the NCM Institute (NCMi®) formed a training partnership with Automotive Internet Management (AIM). After personally auditing two of these sessions and receiving client-dealer feedback from all of the sessions, I’ve become convinced that dealers and their sales management teams need to “raise the bar” on their expectations for Internet closing ratios.

At NCMi, we have always believed and…

Are You Selling or Are You Buying?

Have you ever had this conversation?

You: “Hi Mr. Customer, it’s me John from ABC Chevy and I just wanted to follow-up with you to see if you are still in the market for that 2010 Chevy Silverado that you e-mailed me about yesterday? I have a 2PM appointment slot open just…

A sound Internet/BDC operation is a key component of every successful automotive dealership. The question is, what makes a sound Internet/BDC operation? When the NCM Institute decided to sponsor a dealership Internet/BDC training program earlier this year, we decided upon one of the recognized e-Commerce experts in the retail automotive industry,…

It’s probably because of my college training in industrial engineering, but I’ve always been fascinated and challenged by trying to define any meaningful relationships between “opportunities to do business” (OTDBs) and sales results. After a half-century of experience in the retail automotive business, I’ve concluded that there truly are consequential metrics associated with selling both vehicles and service at an auto dealership. 

For instance, do you know how many good vehicle sales…

You have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to build or beautify your dealership.  Your advertising budget equals or exceeds that amount.  Your inventory has been posted online, and there are plenty of choices for potential customers to make a great selection.  CSI scores have never been higher at the dealership than they are right now!

So why are your salespeople standing around wondering why there are not any customers to sell a vehicle to?  Is there grumbling going on in the…

(Please read Part 1 if you missed it)

Retention is critical for increasing your sales and continued sales growth. First, one of the important factors is designing a program (payplan) that will support a new hire for the first 90-120 days as this is the most critical time of their employment.…