Recruiting and hiring quality personnel for vehicle sales has never been easy, but according to most dealers I talk with, it’s never been as difficult as it is today. Even most of those in the job market with an interest in a “sales” career state that they want to stay away from selling cars!

Although the automotive sales profession has pretty much overcome the stereotyping of the ‘50s, ‘60s, and ‘70s, it is still plagued with negative perceptions, the most…

It was in late 1987, and I was conducting an in-dealership workshop focused on Financial and Operational Planning and Controls. I was describing an F&I process that I had recommended to increase service contract penetration, when the general manager said, “We used to do that.” In response to his statement, I asked, “Did it work?” “Absolutely,” he answered. I was tempted to say, “Then why did you stop doing it?”, but I was new to the consulting business and didn’t want to risk offending…

Salesperson%20Activities%20Tracker_v2.pdf

You cannot manage results; you can only manage activities. When activities are habitually performed and flawlessly executed, the results take care of themselves!

Sound activity-management requires that you do the following:

• Develop, document, and implement the processes that are critical to…

A majority of us in the dealership consulting community, together with many client-dealers to whom we provide services, have long recognized a need for changes in salesperson compensation plans. The traditional plans which have been employed over the last several decades no longer effectively match the operating strategies being implemented in many dealerships today, particularly in those stores that are committed to “market-based pricing” their new and used vehicles on the Internet. This…

On December 31^st, noted marketing consultant Dan Kennedy published an article titled “Change is a Matter of Choice.” He began his message by stating that now is the time when millions of people make utterly empty New Year’s resolutions. He went on to say, “the truth is, most are empty of resolve all year long,” and although I hate saying it, this phenomenon is far more prevalent than it should be within our great community of retail automobile dealers.

Way too many…

This article was written by Robin Cunningham and was originally published on the NCM Institute Up to Speed blog. 

Is it just me, or does it seem like so much of what we take for granted in life is a zero-sum game?…

This article was written by Steve Hall and was originally published on the NCM Institute Up to Speed blog. 

Do you ever consider how many chances you get to sell to a service customer? What I’m talking about isn’t tactics, but rather the opportunities to gain a sale, or additional sale every time a customer reaches out to your service department.…

This article was written by Steven Banks and was originally published on the NCM Institute Up to Speed blog. 

Have you ever prepared extensively for a certain event only to be caught off guard by an unanticipated circumstance? Maybe you prepared for a recital, fully expecting a Tchaikovsky piece to come out of your fingers but mid-recital a contact lens…

This article was written by Steve Hall. 

Follow this Recipe for Better Results

Summer in Kansas City is the time to smoke, grill and barbecue. The other day I was putting together my special rib sauce and it occurred to me that cooking is a lot like managing. Cooking when you have a great recipe is a lot easier –­ and the results are consistently better ­if you’re…

This article was written by Steve Hall of the NCM Institute Center for Automotive Retail Excellence. 

Is it a Knowing Issue or a Doing Issue that is holding you back?

Have you ever thought about what keeps you from becoming the best you can be? Hopefully, not only have you thought about this in the past, but you think about it on a regular basis. Though this thought…

This article was written by Bob Sloan and was originally published on the NCM Institute Up to Speed blog. 

Car count is one of the primary metrics for measuring growth in the service department. An increase usually leads to additional shop hours produced and gross profit. A decrease is a call to action to determine the cause(s) as well as develop a plan to…

This article was written byJoe Basil and was originally published on the NCM Institute Up to Speed blog. 

As the great recession started to unfold in 2008 and 2009, gasoline prices rose above four dollars a gallon, the banking and housing industry began to collapse, unemployment rose and auto sales fell off the charts. Those dealerships that came…

This article was written by Robin Cunningham and originally published on the NCM Institute Up to Speed blog.

I think it is safe to say that every business operator is planning, forecasting, or at least hoping to increase their sales and profits in whatever business he or she is involved in.

In the retail automobile business, that growth can come in many forms, such as:

• Selling more new or used…

This post was originally written by Paul Stowe for the NCM Institute Up to Speed blog. Click here to view the original article.

Mr./Ms. Dealer:

There continues to be a great deal of misconception in sales managers’ thinking about why they’re not able to increase used vehicle volume. Industry metrics confirm that those…

This post was written by NCM Institute instructor Fred O'Dwyer and was originally posted on the Up to Speed blog. 

Not too long ago as I was listening to someone talk about how fundamental clarity is in fueling growth in a…

Combat is a leadership laboratory. That laboratory is a proving ground for veterans like Leif Babin, who shared his insights on leadership and teamwork at last Fall’s Driving Sales Executive Summit. A former Navy SEAL and co-founder of management consulting firm, Echelon Front, LLC, Babin gave an inspiring keynote address where he translated his experiences as a SEAL and SEAL Officer…

Professor Carol Dweck of Stanford University believes humans have essentially two mindsets, growth or fixed, and through her research with employees of Fortune 500 companies, she found that managers with a growth mindset are more innovative.

Why is this important? According to the…

This article was written by NCM Institute instructor, Steve Hall and originally published on the Up to Speed blog.

Do you have 60 seconds to gain a service customer? Let me restate that: Do you have a structured 60 seconds to gain this customer? Why the emphasis on…

Unquestionably, the Internet has changed used vehicle shopping habits and as a result, many dealers have altered their manner of presenting and pricing pre-owned cars and trucks. Today’s successful used vehicle merchant recognizes the changed market realities and adapts accordingly. In order to ensure that our vehicle makes it to the prospect’s “short list,” we must have an aggressive, competitive pricing policy – but we must also have a sales process that effectively…

This article was written by Mark Shackelford and was originally published on the Up to Speed blog.

Do you find yourself constantly concerned about retaining your employees and trying to hire the right people to take care of your customers?

There has been an awful lot of discussion about this topic and how to become better at your hiring…