There is an interesting statistic that is use when measuring customer pay sales called technician hours sold per repair order. This takes the average technician hour sold in the dealership and is used to see how good there advisors are performing. I admit to monitoring this result very closely looking for opportunities for improvement. I’ve…

Welcome to this week's edition of Black Book Market Insights, with in-depth analysis of used car and truck valuation trends and insights straight from the auction lanes. Click here to download…

 According to Black Book® data, the average price of a used vehicle for model years 2011-2015 depreciated by -0.8% in February. Cars overall saw depreciation of –0.8% versus trucks, which saw –0.7% depreciation. All vehicles are averaging a 12-month depreciation change of –17.9%.

In February, Small Pickups preformed the best, increasing their value by 0.2%. Vehicles in the Small Pickups segment include the Toyota Tacoma, Chevrolet Colorado, Nissan Frontier and Honda Ridgeline.…

As stated in Automotive News by an AdvantageTec texting client,

“Jose Hurtado, service director at Irvine BMW, Irvine Mini and Rolls-Royce Orange County in Irvine, Calif., said that after the service…

Women are more emotional. Yes, I said it!

Emotions play a big part in most women’s purchasing decisions. Yes, I said it! It doesn’t mean we are less informed. It means we use a combination of facts and feelings to make buying decisions. In case you don’t believe me - gentlemen, when was the last time you spent an entire day looking for the perfect outfit for one…

Business owners and marketers alike have long been set in the idea that in order to make money you must spend money. While this is inherently true, the amount spent and on what mediums, can drastically vary. Since 2009, before the height of social media and paid digital advertising, I have been focused on finding alternative strategies for my clients and my own companies, instead of opting for the expensive clutter-filled traditional mediums like print and radio.

While…

I'm a big advocate for sales training. I think meetings and training are important aspects of building a strong sales team. However, there's more to team building than just meetings and trainings. Sometimes your team needs to step out of their comfort zone, get competitive, get physical and have some plain…

An associate of mine recently told me an interesting story about their 75-year-old father, who purchased an import, rather than a domestic vehicle, for the first time in over 60 years. This was sometime around 2010.

When it was time to replace his domestic minivan, the first thing my associate’s father did was to check the Sunday paper to see in any big sales were…

What's your process for engaging with customer's digitally throughout the sales funnel? Far too often businesses are only focused on lower funnel engagement and conversions. 

Understanding where each customer is within the sales funnel can help you determine what the conversation should be digitally at that point. 

On this episode of Hard Facts, Samantha explains how a business can leverage digital body language to better engage with customers, which will help close the…

For the past 15 years or so, technology has existed which enables customers to schedule service appointments online. In the beginning, the systems were very basic – the customer filled out a form online and an e-mail was sent to someone at the dealership who may – or may not – confirm that appointment.



Fast forward to today and online service appointment…

How Does Car Leasing Work?

Excited about getting a new car this year? Everyone loves driving a new car but the fact is new cars are expensive. If you haven’t leased a vehicle before or have been wary to lease, take a few minutes to learn how it works and you’ll see why leasing can be a win, win, win proposition for consumers, dealers and manufacturers.

Consumers win because paying for the portion of the vehicle they use means a lower monthly payment than if you pay for all…

Your Turn To Drive discusses How has technology changed car buying online? Jim Dykstra, founder of www.vinadvisor.net, has teamed up with Joe Webb of DealerKnows Consulting and Shawn Ryder of D2C Mediato discuss the…

Chevrolet Impala was one of two Chevrolet vehicles (Cruze) to make the Consumer Reports' top-10 list of most recommended new vehicles for 2017. See the story here. I have some additional Chevrolet Impala shopper interest data that may be useful to you, courtesy of Jumpstart Automotive Media.

According to Jumpstart, the Chevrolet Impala was the most cross-shopped non-luxury vehicle across Jumpstart’s portfolio of sites in 2016.

Chevrolet Impala has…

Welcome to this week's edition of Black Book Market Insights, with in-depth analysis of used car and truck valuation trends and insights straight from the auction lanes. Click here to…

Black Book, a division of Hearst Business Media that provides new- and used-vehicle valuation services and custom data licensing solutions, made available today its latest joint depreciation report with Fitch Ratings. The report, accessible by clicking here, forecasts 2017 vehicle depreciation to reach 17.8%, slightly up from the 17.3% mark recorded in 2016. Average pre-recession annual depreciation trended between…

Baseball players are famous for their superstitions and rituals when performing. Some will refuse to shave. Some will wear their hat backwards. Some will wear the same pair of underwear every game. Do they know if those superstitions or rituals affected the outcome of the game? No. Does it matter? No. Why? Because the players are doing the same thing, in every game, the same…

Unhappy Car Dealers

If I had a dollar for every time a car dealer expressed their discontent with AutoTrader and a dollar for every time they claimed that AutoTrader failed to address their concerns, I’d be a wealthy man.

Can Dealers Merchandise Their Vehicles For Free?

They can, but most…

Quick question -- do you think that advertising has changed in the last 5 years? 

On this week's Think Tank Tuesday, I talk about the path of a customer and how that can affect your marketing strategy. Watch it now and join the conversation.

Also, take a moment and register for Part 1 of our 3-part mini series by clicking here. You'll learn…

President Trump, autonomous vehicles, and digital retailing will be in the driver’s seat for automotive disruption in 2017. The old guards of the industry continue to be challenged by new start-ups with totally bleeding edge business models. Merger and Acquisition activity in the auto space has been white hot according to Frazer McCombs Auto Ventures Summit.…