Shoppers are looking at MORE MODELS in their quest for a new car, according to the annual "Avoider Study" by J.D. Powers. Their 2013 data show buyers consider an average of 2.13 new vehicles during their shopping cycle, up from 3.1 in 2012 and 2.9 in 2011.…

Are you good enough?  The answer, of course is NO!  No one is actually as good as they could be.  I believe that every one, in every profession, has room for improvement.  Think of the best of the best in any profession you choose, and I can assure you they have room or improvement.  It may seem like they have some god given talent and are as good as it gets, and they may be the best, but they still could be better.

Let's use sports as an example.  Name the best player in your…

I'm going to give this out in our sales meeting on Saturday. Whoever can close the deal with the highest gross gets the prize. What do you think the best close will look like?

Mr. & Mrs. Jones have a 2009 Infinity M35 with 72,000 that they are looking to trade that is financed with BOA. Their Beacon score is 710. They have very little down payment money to work with and they are trying to keep their payments in the same payment range that they are paying now which is $435…

Handling Manufacturer Communications

Mike Charapp, Author, Auto Dealer Law

With NADA quickly approaching and franchise meetings on the horizon with OEMs, the time is now for dealerships to familiarize themselves with how to respond to factory communications. Some dealers feel that it is not important to respond to communications from a franchisor. “What good will it do?” they reason. This is dangerous thinking. While you…

“Doctor, thank you for seeing me on such short notice.”

“Certainly, Joan.  Please, lie down on the couch.  Now what’s disturbing you?”

“I keep having this dream.  I don’t understand it.”

“Go on.”

“Well it’s kind of fuzzy, but it has something to do with CSI.”

“Interesting.  New York?  Las Vegas? . . . Miami?”

“No, it’s not like…

Today's Up To Speed article is contributed by Dave Anderson, president of Dave Anderson's Learn to Lead, an international sales and leadership training and consulting company. Prior to beginning Learn To Lead, Dave enjoyed an extensive and successful career in the automotive retail industry

Self-esteem is defined by the dictionary as: a realistic respect for or…

There is no question these days that your dealer site is one of the most valuable resources in your digital marketing toolbox. From your site, you have the ability to reach your largest traffic source and cater your message from page to page to meet the needs of individuals, groups and communities…

There are seven steps to make immediate change. These steps can be used to quickly increase sales by a more significant amount than you have ever experienced.

Step 1: Change the Environment

The military uses boot camp. Baseball has spring training. Football has training camp. The easiest way to bring about rapid change is to change environment. When you change environment, you change behavior. People tend to hold onto limiting beliefs and behaviors as long as they stay…

ALBANY, N.Y. – January 30, 2013 - BOOTH #333 NADA – Auto/Mate Dealership Systems (http://www.automate.com) announced today that its AMPS Dealership Management System (DMS) is fully integrated with 700Credit, the automotive industry’s leading provider of consumer credit reporting and compliance products. Auto dealerships using AMPS now have complete, seamless access to 700Credit’s web-based…

Growing up, my sister would call me a dummy. As much as I cringe to admit this, she was right. I am a dummy…..a crash test dummy!

In each incident, I was alone in the vehicle while sitting at a stop light, my standard transmission had been shifted into neutral, my foot was on the brake and I was perfectly still when….WHAM!!! Both vehicles were Japanese produced sports cars and sustained…

A doctor entered the hospital in hurry after being called in for an urgent surgery. He answered the call asap, changed his clothes & went directly to the surgery block. He found the boy’s father pacing in the hall waiting for the doctor. 



On seeing him, the dad yelled:…

My first week in the business my sales manager handed me a 12-pack of cassette tapes from Jackie B. Cooper. Those fundamentals ring as true today as 30 years ago or whenever he made them. This message is priceless AND timeless. Enjoy!

 …

There was a time when the search engines rewarded content of all types. If a website syndicated content from elsewhere on the web and exposed it to their audience, it wasn’t as good as unique content but at least it didn’t hurt. Some of the content would be de-indexed as duplicate but the overall health of the domain itself was not harmed.

Today,…

By now, if you've been reading what I've been posting the last few months, you know that content marketing is the key to current and future search and social success. Businesses who really want to do what sites like Google and Facebook really want them to do will be using high-quality content on their websites as the hub through which they…

Training and Attitude Are the Keys to a Smoothly-Run BHPH Operation

When it comes to proper utilization of a CRM solution for dealerships, it must be accepted that every dealership has a unique customer base.  Unfortunately, in many cases, dealerships are unable to customize a CRM in order to pursue and reach their own unique customer base most effectively.  The reason for this in almost all cases is lack of training.  The advantage of having proper training on the full capabilities of a CRM system for dealerships is simple.  It leads to increased…

The great part about digital marketing is that there is no shortage of advice to be found. No matter what corner of the web you land on, people are telling you how they have cracked the Google algorithm or how they can read pagerank in their Starbucks tea leaves. The only problem is that digital marketing advice, by its very nature, has a short half-life. It doesn't…

http://www.internetsales20group.com

Secrets To Being Successful In Automotive Internet Sales / Business Development - "Relationship…