Virtual Reality 

The car-shopping journey has become primarily virtual. Consumers now do most of their research online and learn about dealerships via the internet, and in turn, 70% of the buyer journey is complete before shoppers even…

If you haven’t heard, it’s getting harder for businesses to reach their audiences on Facebook unless they’re willing to spend some money. Estimates are that the average reach for a company post on its Facebook page is around 2-6 percent organically. There are only two ways to increase that. First, by paying for Facebook ads. And secondly, through interaction…

Consumer Experience Meets Technology 

Consumers are continuously putting information and data about themselves into the online world, and in order to take your dealership to the next level, it’s important to focus on what’s being said.  Creating a positive overall customer experience is integral to the success of your dealership, and that begins where shoppers are…

Making a Difference

 

This is the time of year that companies illustrate their compassion for the less fortunate, team members, and their customers. There are so many ways for individuals to make a difference while we’re at work regardless of the…

Ever wonder why CarMax is the largest seller of pre-owned vehicles, selling more than any other company?  They retail 160,000 used vehicles just about every quarter and make approximately $2,200 per unit front-end profit -- over $350M.  If you do the math on 153 locations, each store averages 348 unit sales per month and grosses right at $800,000. In addition…

As we head into 2016, one of the most exciting new technologies that some dealers are experimenting with are beacons. Beacons are small, inexpensive hardware devices that can be attached to a wall in the showroom or placed around a dealership's lot. Using Bluetooth technology, the beacon detects nearby smartphone devices and can send customers push notifications with a welcome…

Patent covers “similarities engine” that enables CarStory Market Reports to automatically generate relevant and ‘like’ vehicle recommendations to car buyers, helping facilitate a better, more informed car selling/buying experience

Austin,…

News for the Week of 12.9

Facebook Messenger Arrives at a Website Near You 

Facebook recently introduced new Page plugins for Messages and Events, allowing users to message your business easily and check out what’s going on with your Events directly from your…

 Prize winning, methods the Jedi's use to avoid the SLUMP.

by Roger Williams 



Prevent, avoid, and escape from the dreaded sales slump.



There’s a 100% chance of meeting face to face with the dreaded slump at some point in your sales career. It’s highly likely you will face a slump many times over. A mini slump, a prolonged slump, any slump can have brutal implications in an environment where people notoriously earn above average incomes yet live check to…

Content Marketing is one of the fastest growing forms of digital marketing employed by businesses in 2015. Where traditional advertising (even online) has its limits, content marketing's only limit is your business's creativity.

But with all sorts of options out…

Swapalease.com, the nation’s largest car lease marketplace, has new data that shows where men and women are paying different monthly prices for the same exact car.



While conventional wisdom has often thought of women as having less negotiating power than men, a recent analysis of car payments shows women often have lower monthly payments on similar vehicles.  Although monthly payments…

Recently Auto/Mate received a 'Best Places to Work' award from the Albany Business Review for the sixth year in a row. We have also been voted a 'Top Workplace' by the Times-Union multiple years in a row. Focusing on employee happiness has long been one my top priorities. People often ask me how I do it, but before I answer that, I'd like to explain why I do it.

This is a fact: your customers will never love your company unless your employees love your…

There’s little doubt that the experience provided by auto dealerships in the past has jaded consumers into a stereotype and perception that isn’t necessarily accurate any longer, yet continues to persist. Because of this perception, companies such as Beepi, Carvana and more are creeping into the automotive space and threatening to snatch sales away from dealerships. (how? by…

December is here, which means the holidays are right around the corner. When we think of Christmas, several things come to mind, one of them being good ol’ Saint Nicholas—or Santa for short. 

The holidays are the perfect time to appeal to consumers and find innovative ways to bring in-market shoppers into your dealership. A simple way to attract more business…

By now, pretty much everyone has heard about the power of social media and the effect it can have on businesses that are leveraging it to enhance their bottom line. What may or may not be known—even by the businesses that are using social media to their advantage—are the actual numbers that are churning behind the scenes of specific social campaigns. So how can…

One of the fastest growing practices that dealerships are utilizing to increase sales is prescreening a Service Customer that has either made an appointment to have work done on a vehicle or just shows up. In addition, there are numerous companies that offer equity calculations not only on vehicles that bought from the dealership but even those that did not. The “Auto…

Yes.

Now let me explain.

In our industry – as well as life – we continuously talk about transparency. Let’s be brutally honest here. Sometimes honesty isn’t the best policy. Is it always that way in real life? If your wife asks you whether she looks fat, you know you’re always going to say “No.” How about those times you go to a friend’s house…

According to Black Book® data, the average price of a used vehicle for model years 2010-2014 declined -2.8% during November, reinforcing the notion that cars and trucks face their heaviest depreciation toward the end of the year. Cars declined -3.1% while trucks declined -2.6% during the month. Average pre-recession annual depreciation was continually recorded between -15% and -18%, and Black Book expects 2015 depreciation near -13.0%.



For the second straight month, cargo mini…