Ian Nethercott's Blog (26)

The Industry Made Car Salespeople but we need to change with the times too.....

Hello Fellow Dealer Elite members and friends.

 

It has been a while since I have had the time to put together a blog post of Dealer Elite because it has been a very busy year so far and to be honest I have not had the time. I took a look at the Auto News program today and to be honest was very surprised to see that companies from Chrysler Dodge Jeep Fiat customers are reaching the CEO of the company.

 

I must say I was also very happy that…

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Added by Ian Nethercott on February 19, 2013 at 11:30pm — No Comments

Proactive has just launched our all new iPhone app!

Hello Dealer Elite Members and friends,

Proactive dealer solutions has just expanded our marketing efforts with the launch of our all new 2013 iPhone app. We also have an version available for Android phones as well. 

Download the Apple iphone one here:

https://itunes.apple.com/app/x/id589627140?mt=8

I will have a link for the Android one soon......

Happy…

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Added by Ian Nethercott on January 9, 2013 at 6:55pm — No Comments

Ask better questions and sell more cars......

Good morning Dealer Elite Members.....

As I travel around North America and speak to salespeople, customers, managers, owners and BDC reps I am always surprised by how often salespeople are prevented from selling vehicles buy not asking great questions.

The situation usually starts after a salesperson has spend several hours with the customer and asks for the order. The customer usually says something like, I need to speak to my wife, my friend, my dad, my…

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Added by Ian Nethercott on October 29, 2012 at 10:49am — No Comments

Fixing the traffic problem at your dealership with the Next Up

Good morning Dealer Elite members,



I had the opportunity a few weeks ago to speak with one of our clients who has been using the Next Up system and combining it with the Proactive BDC we set up several years ago.



Of course I had a few questions for him.



The first question was how did his salespeople and managers feel about it and more importantly did they fight it or blow back.



The surprising thing he said is they not only embraced it right away it… Continue

Added by Ian Nethercott on October 16, 2012 at 6:39am — No Comments

How distracted are your employees with smartphones at work?

Good afternoon Dealer Elite Members and associates,

I have been noticing a disturbing trend in retail lately and I am sure it is also true in other areas of the workforce as well. As we become more and more connected with Social Media, Smartphones and the internet red flags are popping up everywhere for me.

Everyone is becoming more and more distracted and this means productivity, focus and results are being affected. Of course this is happening when driving in…

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Added by Ian Nethercott on September 26, 2012 at 6:47pm — No Comments

A new way to prospect on Linked in for any business.......

Good morning Dealer Elite members,



I trust you are having a great weekend so far and hopefully selling lots of metal and creating legions of happy customers.



I wanted to write a quick blog post because first of all I love Linked in and secondly it's. great way to attract new high dollar customers.



In addition it is very simple an 100% free as well......



Interested?



Step one: start playing around with the question and answer section of… Continue

Added by Ian Nethercott on September 24, 2012 at 8:30am — No Comments

The importance of compeditive pricing and researching your competition every month!

Good morning Dealer Elite Members,



As I travel around North America I have found that dealership staff like customers are convinced that servicing their vehicles at a dealership is more expensive than Hans and Franz, Jiffy lube etc.

The competition has not only convinced our customers they have convinced our staff that we are no longer competitive in the market. This is a huge problem and needs to be dealt with.

Step…

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Added by Ian Nethercott on September 18, 2012 at 8:31am — No Comments

The importance of truly outstanding customer service and a great customer experience.....

Good morning Dealer Elite members and friends,

In my travels I visit hundreds of dealerships as a consultant and sometime as an observer or even as a consumer. Some of the things I see amaze me, some in a good way and some in a bad way. For example I was touring a series of dealership locations over the weekend and I must say that each dealership had a different customer experience.

It was saturday and it was quite warm so I was dressed casually and I visited…

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Added by Ian Nethercott on August 27, 2012 at 8:32am — No Comments

Accountability and real measurable growth is crucial to the success of any dealership or business,

Good morning Dealer Elite,



As I travel around North America I see a lot of dealerships have issues that prevent growth. The one that surprises me the most is how inaccurate the information they currently have about their business. If other retailers were in te same boat they would be out of business.



Here are a few of the problems I see all the time and how dealership owners and management can solve them.



One: Measure everything that happens at your dealership… Continue

Added by Ian Nethercott on July 30, 2012 at 9:08am — No Comments

Always look for ways to make it possible with customers. No one cares what you can't do anyway!

Good morning Dealer Elite Members,

As i visit retailers of all stripes I find an interesting problem happens again and again. Simply put it prevents the sales, service and part department from creating happy customers and generating more sales service and parts sales as well.

Here are the details:

One: No customer really cares about why a request is not possible.…

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Added by Ian Nethercott on July 17, 2012 at 9:00am — No Comments

How to "Make Sure" customers come back when they are ready to buy!

Hello Dealer Elite Members,

As always, I have been spending a great deal of time at automotive dealerships. What I have determined is that customers are still visiting dealerships but the closing ratio is declining every day. I will give you an example of why, and just so you know it's not only car dealerships that have this problem.

Here is an example from a GM dealership I was at last week

I had taken a phone call as part of the BDC…

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Added by Ian Nethercott on July 16, 2012 at 9:30am — No Comments

How to achieve real service growth and retain more customers......

Good morning Service Managers, GM, service writers and owners,



As I travel around the country and work with dealers and car manufactures what surprises me is the focus on service retention, but the lack of process and Proactive steps to get this great goal accomplished.



Dealers have service appointments every day, most car makers even have in car systems to help customers manage the service of their car and let them know. The problem is the dealer are not helping the… Continue

Added by Ian Nethercott on July 9, 2012 at 9:55am — No Comments

How to Fix One of the Largest Problems in Automotive Retail today!

Hello Dealer Elite Members,

I hope you had a wonderful weekend! I as always have been doing a lot of reading, thinking and spending time trying to solve the major problems in the Automotive industry today!

One of the most common and largest problems that I see on a daily basis in addition to "Poor Customer Service" at Automotive Dealerships is their…

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Added by Ian Nethercott on July 9, 2012 at 9:00am — No Comments

More bad news for TrueCar......

Good evening Dealer Elite members,



More details on the deal Between Internet Site Yahoo and TrueCar which has fallen through. After working with TrueCar before the industry and state Lawyers started attacking the company, the facts are finally out in the open.



Here are the details from auto news:… Continue

Added by Ian Nethercott on July 9, 2012 at 2:00am — No Comments

How to Create a "Truly Great" Customer "Experience" at your Dealership today!

Hello Dealer Elite Members,

 

First of all I am sorry I have not been more active this week. I have been burning the candle at both ends lately and it has been catching up to me. I have also had the opportunity to read several books on retailers who are the gold standard in their industry. One of them is Nordstrom’s and one of them is Apple Computer.

 

I was able to learn a great deal about why both of these retailers have not only a great reputation but also…

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Added by Ian Nethercott on July 6, 2012 at 6:30pm — 9 Comments

TrueCar tries to reboot it's concept......

Good morning Dealer Elite Members, True Car is back for a second round.....

As I mentioned in my post last week there are big changes coming in the automotive space. True Car has learned from their past mistakes and hopefully has a little more respect for dealerships this time. Their president a former Nissan executive visited the Auto News office last week and was featured on their site this morning.

Here is the link:…

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Added by Ian Nethercott on June 25, 2012 at 9:30am — 1 Comment

Is Auto Trader as effective as they used to be?

Hello Dealer Elite Members......

It looks like Auto Trader needs money much like Facebook did a while ago, and you know how that has gone so far!

As I travel around the country ans work with dealers on maximizing leads, traffic and driving more sales I have noticed more and more that dealerships are looking for "FREE" or low cost ways to promote their vehicles. Sites like Craigs's List and kijiji (Ebay), are currently changing the online marketing…

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Added by Ian Nethercott on June 21, 2012 at 12:30pm — No Comments

How to Change the Automotive Industry Step One.......

Thank You Dealer Elite Members

First of all I would like to thank Dealer Elite Members and others for taking the time to View my last Blog Post, I appreciate it. I was advised at had been viewed over 700 times so far, my sincere thanks to everyone.......

Now we all know the automotive industry needs to move into the 22st century as quickly as possible. Some of you may ask why, when some of the tactics still work.

Well let me give you some examples from…

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Added by Ian Nethercott on June 19, 2012 at 9:00am — 4 Comments

The days of the "Old School" are coming to an end in our Industry.......

Good Morning Dealer Elite Members and Car Guys and Gals everywhere.....

As an industry we have had our ups and downs, our challenges and our opportunities. As I travel around North America I see the whole range of Owners, Managers, salespeople and customers. I also see examples in our industry and in other industry of how we can move the industry forward and change the process for the better. We have spend the last 30 to 40 years conditioning customers that we can sell in…

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Added by Ian Nethercott on June 15, 2012 at 1:00am — 3 Comments

There are big changes coming in the Automotive Retail Space......

Good afternoon Dealer Elite Members

 

Change is one of the only constants in the universe. The automotive world as you all know is overdue for this change as is a number of other retail environments. I was forwarded a very interesting article from a friend today that i think everyone in the automotive retail business should read. BMW who is one of the largest high end car companies in the world is taking the…

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Added by Ian Nethercott on June 4, 2012 at 5:00pm — 20 Comments

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