R this and R that.  Which one is the right R for our Dealership?  If we concentrate on ROI, what do we lose in ROR? Is it possible to have too much focus on ROR?

Wait. I didn’t explain what I am talking about very well.  Ok.  ROI is referring to Return On Investment.  This “Investment” can be anything. Time, Money, Parts, Labor…anything.  And when we…

Over the last ten years, anyone who has not witnessed dramatic changes in the used vehicle arena must have his head in the sand. Why is it then that so many franchised new vehicle dealers have thus far failed to effectively adjust to these changes? So that you understand what I’m talking about, I’ll just mention two of these impactful changes:  (1) the growth of the Internet as a marketing source; and, (2) the advantages available through inventory optimization technology. Even the language…

Advice From a 30-Car Guy

People often ask me what is the most amount of units I sold on the showroom floor…? 33, that is the most I ever sold in one month,…

Nearly every week someone says "What's new?" in the Fixed Ops Training world as if there is something wrong with what works.

And every week, the answer is the same. When it comes to Fixed Ops Training, Coaching and Mentoring..."Not much."

Oh to be sure, there are "new" things in Fixed Ops every day.

There are at least a zillion ways to keep in contact with the Customer. And there must be a bazillion CRM companies that can manage a "lost souls" campaign. And, yes, there…

If you were afforded the opportunity to work at a dealership under the guise that you must first invest 25, 50, or even $100,000 would you pony up? If you did elect to invest such a large sum of money, would you even be the least bit curious as to what kind of return you would earn on your investment? Once you’ve finished your latest Sportscenter analysis of…

by Tamara Lischer

The world is full of commodities.  Everything from cell phones to toothpaste.  It is the glue that binds all of us together.  We can’t live without them.  Nearly everything we use today is manufactured and produced this way.  In fact, we would collapse as a species if it was not. 

In the past 150 years we have morphed from a “handcrafted” industrial base to “mass…

Definition: Ambition is the desire for personal achievement.

As dealer principals, general managers, sales managers, parts and service managers. do we truly understand  the meaning of this on a daily basis? Are we on the same page, with every employee’s, personal achievement? We are driven…

Professional Service Advisors are Action oriented. They don’t spend a lot of time worrying about what is The Right Thing To Do because they already know what the Right Thing To Do is.

These Advisors have a sense of Empowerment and that leads to Empowered Action.

Empowered Action by definition is when one has the ability to do something with the Customers Best…

Minute details can make major differences when it comes to having a successful sales career. It’s not the mountains that break your sales career; it’s the molehills- the tiny fundamentals you have let slide throughout your career. One such technique is the write-up; every dealership has an 8-10 step Road to the Sale program that literally walks a salesperson…

What are you paying attention to? 

In case you are new to Fixed Ops, I'll give you a little clue. We are “results driven.”

There is nothing that we do that is not measured, quantified, compared, sifted through, arm chaired, discussed, metered, broken down, dissected, eyeballed or run up the flagpole.

Everything we do is subject to verification. Professionally run Fixed Operation Departments know, live, love this.

And what they pay the most attention to is "The…

As a child when your parents asked you to do something, it meant now!!! When you were asked to do something in school, it was right now!!!

If you truly understand people today, we live in an instantaneous gratification society. People decide on something, they want it now!!! Not only now, do they decide to spend money, buy…

By now you have a completed December 2011 Financial. (If you don't, all I can say is WOW)

Look in the box that says "Profit/Loss".

Are you happy with what you see? Would you say that 2011 was a good year an   average year or a "I'm gonna have a stroke!" year?

Whatever your results your EOY(End of the Year) statement is a CTA (Call To Action) for 2012.

Here are 3 Calls To Action you might want to look at if you a looking to KSA in 2012. (You can figure that one…

What would be the one word to describe what a Service Department needs these days to compete?

There are so many to choose from. However, the one word that keeps coming up when I visit Dealerships across the country is adaptability.

The Dealerships that are doing well, adapt to changing market conditions and Customer demands.

Even if this is your first day in a Dealership, you know that the ability to adapt is the key to Exceeding Expectations.

The dictionary tells…

How often do your sales consultants or sales managers have to respond like this to customers to whom they’ve just presented or demonstrated a used vehicle?

“Don’t worry about that clunking noise we heard. I’ll have a technician get it fixed in a jiffy.”

“That smell will go away as soon as the carpets are thoroughly dried out.”

“After we do a front end alignment, it won’t pull to the right…

How many times has your owner or manager announced "Changes are going to be made in regards to ....".

What do the faces of your team look like? Scared? Resigned? Amused?

Instituting change in your company is not an easy thing. It takes time, strategy and a commitment from all involved. It especially takes discipline from the top leaders to keep everyone…

Lafayette, CO (KPA, January 31, 2012) – Preliminary figures from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, as reported by The New York Times, show complaints of harassment totaled 8,341 in the 2011 fiscal year. To help dealerships with the persistent problem of harassment in the workplace, KPA has released a new online training course that…

In many Dealerships lack of Profitability in Fixed Operations starts with just 3 processes that are not getting done with every Customer that comes in the door.

Everything starts with building a relationship. It sounds easy, we say it all the time and there is not one Sales book, cd, mp3…course…whatever that does not have some chapter on building relationships.

The Service Department is no different. Studies show that Customers who do not feel taken care of find a reason to do…

Sound familiar? I’ve heard this several times during my travels the last few weeks and it didn’t matter what part of the country or what franchises.

I was at a long-time Ford client last week, started working with them in September of 1997.  They are coming off of another great profit year, but January had started off a little slow.

I noticed the Sales staff was a little down and in conversations the main topic was that there was very little traffic and that the Dealer needed…