Alexander H. Leighton says..."morale is the capacity of a group to pull together persistently and consistently in pursuit of a common purpose.

Something that has always been apart of the automotive industry is the group of tough love managers and owners... you know the ones that pull the team together for a meeting and all hell breaks loose, Screaming and Yelling and demoralizing the group like that is going to get them pumped up? I know everyone in the industry has seen it at…

I use this term alot with my managers and salespeople...I have this on my wall in my office!

I use this as a way to remind the guys that each and every person on our team has to want to be the absolute best at thier craft!

As managers we have this desire to coach things like Negotiating, or closing, or product knowledge...Now i am all about making sure these tools are…

In an ideal world, we would have the time and resources to create four types of content: converting website content, engaging website content, SEO content, and social media content.

Throw in public relations content,…

Winning is very IMPORTANT. I've done my share of winning. Finishing First. The Gold Medal Performance etc., but putting all that aside, what's REALLY the MOST IMPORTANT aspect to living life?



• Is it Winning?

• Is it Fame and Fortune?

• Is it Finding Love and Companionship?

• Is it Merely Trying Hard?



I came across this story and short video recently that drove me to answer the question: What's REALLY the MOST (or one of the most)…

Following is a "Q & A" excerpt from a conversation between Laurie Halter, Charisma Communications owner, and Brent Albrecht, SOCIALDEALER Marketing Director. In this meeting, Laurie and Brent discuss the development and evolution of Facebook into a powerful advertising platform that dealers can leverage to drive more sales and service business into dealerships in 2013.

Laurie:  So Brent, I hear you…

The most trusted name in live chat brings the top ten blogs and news stories right to you! We monitor industry trends, current events, and the auto dealer community every week to bring you the top ten blogs and automotive stories from around the globe. In this weekly edition – the Pope gets a new ride, a man kills his roommate over a pork…

There’s a problem I have been seeing a lot lately among businesses who are late to adopting social media. They are excited, just raring to go (which is admirable) but they have no perspective on what they’re getting themselves into. They look up every possible social network and just start registering. Now, I’m a big proponent of social media as part of a…

Did you ever wish you could read a woman’s mind to know exactly what car and price range she is interested in when she enters your dealership? Wouldn’t that make the selling process easier? Recent industry numbers highlight the power of women buyers and demonstrate what value they have to your dealership’s bottom line.

Let’s take a look at six characteristics that will assist you and your staff relate and understand your female buyer better.

1. Browsing – The Silent…

Let's face it. Websites are becoming a commodity in the automotive world. Most quality website vendors are putting out solutions that are good enough to work well. Few are coming up with innovations that can differentiate them, and those differences are relatively small in the whole scheme of things. The…

In the service lane, which reigns supreme: Logic or Emotion.  Check out our article in the November-December 2012 issue of Fixed Ops.  Click here for a digital version.  See you on Page 30.

Lance Boldt is Vice President and…

Take a look at your FAQ page. How does it look? Is it pretty bare? When was the last time you updated it?  Do you even have a FAQ page? The FAQ page is more important than you think. Since the dawn of the Internet, customers have been going to the FAQ page to see if their question has an answer.

A savvy …

 “The more things change, the more things stay the same.” This quote can be an accurate reflection of most industries. With all the massive changes underway in the automotive industry, the majority of the industry operates in much the same way as it did 50 years ago.

One small part of an industry begins to change and reaches what Malcolm Gladwell termed in his book the “tipping point.” That tipping point allows the change to gain momentum and become norm for an industry. This…

Tweeting is important for automotive marketing, but doing so in a way that gets you Retweeted is just as important. Retweeting boosts your original message, amplifying its reach by orders of magnitude, ensuring it’s seen by more people. Now, having good content will get your message out there, but good content alone can only take you so far. You need to be willing to sink yourself into the nitty gritty…

The new specially-made Popemobile was delivered recently in Rome, straight to Pope Benedict XVI himself. On hand was Daimler AG chairman and Mercedes-Benz Cars Head, Dr. Dieter Zetsche, to personally deliver the special vehicle to the head of the Catholic Church at the Vatican.

“It is an honour for …

Get In Early and Now… the Market Won’t Wait for You!

November was the strongest November for CPO (Certified Pre-Owned) sales – ever! This continues a string of records in the CPO market, including the best October ever last month, according to Autodata.¹ And what we are seeing at SureSale reflects this surge, with the new category of certified vehicles that SureSale covers (the millions of vehicles that fall outside the…

Most businesses understand the benefits of search engine optimization, but they waste all that hard SEO work by not having decent landing pages. Getting clicked is only the first step, once a potential customer is on your page, you need to be able to convert them into…

On Thursday, December 6th, ActivEngage received the first ever Inc. Magazine Hire Power Award. ActivEngage CEO, Todd Smith, was present in Washington D.C. to accept this award that recognizes private U.S. companies which are continuously creating jobs for Americans.

The title has published the country’s fastest…

The auto industry for as long as I can remember has been a business where many managers seem to constantly try and destroy their sales people physically as well as mentally.  Just the other day I heard several managers talking to several of their sales people using phrases like:, "Well, if you can't do it, I'll find someone who can...", "Why aren't YOU selling more cars...", "What's wrong with YOU today....", Why don't YOU....", "Well, when I was selling cars I never had that problem and if…

Let there be absolutely, positively no mistake here. "Tags" have completely different uses depending on the platform on which they're used. We're going to take a look at three of the most popular platforms and how tags affect them: Wordpress,…