If you’ve ever worked in automotive retail, you know that there are constant internal struggles going on between employees and their departments. The structure of most dealerships actually encourage this – similar to how a salesperson’s pay plan incents them to sell cars.

The most obvious friction oftentimes occurs between sales and service. While in theory,…

In the popular science fiction movie, The Matrix, the hero Neo is presented with two options by the mysterious Morpheus – the red pill or the blue pill. By taking the red pill, Neo would be enlightened into the real world. Whereas, if he chose the blue pill, he would remain peacefully ignorant of reality and continue to live in the fantasy world. If you’ve seen the movie,…

With all of the recent epiphanies that thought leaders in ours and other industries that businesses should be spending time and effort cultivating relationships, spending money and basically treating customers right, I thought it time to re-visit this whole “customer loyalty” phenomenon. Customers don’t really care about car dealers, do they? I mean, dealers are ranked below…

Have you seen these 2 features that Google has slowly been rolling out? Both relevant to your business, these features will increase your click-through rate, your mobile site traffic, and your conversion rates. Watch Samantha in this week’s #HardFacts to uncover what these features are and how it can help your business.

Price ad extensions are the most useful to every business because it has everything to do with offering a product or service…

Do you remember the days when your mailers were based on actual sales events? Let’s go back in time: back to the days when the sale ran for eight hours only or was valid for just two days—not five. The idea was to crowd the showroom and create a buying atmosphere with a real sense of urgency, as opposed to a trickle of customers over the course of a week.  Sales days…

A little over a year ago, the founder of a credit card payment processing company made an unorthodox move that resulted in some very mixed reactions and a whole lot of media attention. Dan Price, founder of Gravity Payments, cut his own salary by 93% (from $1 million to $70,000 per year). He did this so he could pay every single employee the exact same amount - $70,000,…

Why Dealerships Should be Using Facebook to Target Auto Shoppers

Shopping for cars on Facebook happens more often that you may realize. Did you know that nearly a quarter of prospective car buyers use Facebook for researching their next car purchase? According to Turning…

We live in a world where we're tricked into thinking we know the bigger picture.  In reality, we don't!

Nan Mossey takes over for Paul in this week's Think Tank Tuesday to debunk a few common misconceptions about the marketing and advertising world.  From getting more PDP views to customer reviews, Nan will teach you how all of these busted myths can affect your business.…

Occasionally at our workshops, someone will bring up the subject of “power closing phrases”. The discussions that follow are very lively, quite humorous at times, loads of fun, and they include everyone sharing their own power phrases, their ideas about closing on the final objection, and experiences when using them.

What I thought I’d do is share with you what I…

Hi,

It's me again. Me who you ask? Stan Sher, founder and President of Dealer eTraining. Yes, I know it has been a while since you have heard from me. But I am still here. I never left and I never will. I just enjoyed my peace and quiet for 2 years while working and doing my thing. But guess what...

I am here to tell you that there is a…

Let's get serious.



Stop being so irresponsible with your business! Sure, you can look up to experts for strategies, ideas, and marketing tools, but don't let them take the wheel. It's ultimately up to you to start the conversation with your customers from the content on your website to the content posted on social media.



Don't let your marketing strategy become all about selling your product. Make sure you're providing a solution to the…

Quality video content can manipulate emotions and convey meaning far beyond the capability of written words or any still images. But videos aren’t effective simply because customers can see you or view the vehicle, they also work well because another sense is stimulated – sound. In a personalized video email, your voice and message is conveyed without ambiguity. Customers…

Sick of hearing about Pokemon Go?

You might be, or you might just be itching to get back to your own game while watching this week's Think Tank Tuesday. Kristin and Ali take over for Paul and explain why Pokemon Go may actually be a good tactic to try out for your business.

But why?

It could help you get more leads, but the most important part is that it will connect you…

Consumers are constantly flooded with messages everywhere they go, from billboards to direct mail, to websites, banner ads and email. Most of these messages are disregarded, ignored or, even worse, never seen, because, for the most part, the message itself is not relevant.

So, along came retargeting, which can continue to follow the customer around the…

What are you doing on Facebook to provide value?

By creating a Facebook group, you'll be able to nurture the database that you already have, as well as increase the audience for your business.  Your new Facebook group will give you the opportunity to get feedback on products or services, engage with customers, and build top-of-mind awareness.…

So it’s been a long time since I wrote a blog (for myself, that is) but after attending Jim Ziegler’s Internet Battle Plan and watching a kid yell "I found a Pokémon!" then promptly walking into a wall then watching adult auto industry attendees, vendors and speakers choose to go Pokémon hunting rather than network with industry colleagues and dealers, it got me thinking.…

These days, for most of us at least, the term “phone call” is now synonymous with “voicemail”. If we are having difficulty getting our prospects to call us back, it’s probably because our voicemail skills suck. Here’s a few quick guidelines to suck less. A lot less.

The basic voicemail structure is: 1) Introduce…

While lead generation is important, according to this article on Inc.com, many companies would see far greater results (and better, more-qualified leads) if more emphasis were placed on nurturing, engagement, and providing value through content…

I recently attended a few conventions where I had the opportunity to meet and talk with many automotive product vendors and automotive dealer principals. Often, the conversations revolved around relationship-building between the two. When asked, both the vendors and the dealers agreed that the most important thing in any business relationship is the…

3 Birds analyzes results of more than 42,000 Digital Newsletter sends to reveal impact on engaging defectors, building brand affinity, generating consistently impressive ROI, and more

Chapel Hill, N.C., July 11, 2016 -- As the amount of time consumers spend researching dealerships online increases, so does the importance of maximizing each communication that dealers send to their customer database. Many dealers have squandered the goodwill of their customers through…