To continue with my training discussion, we make all of our staff go through proper and intensive training, sometimes "boring training", get them wound up and fired up with this new found knowledge, with this great plan. Then comes the hard part.....We forget to provide the tools necessary to do the job for one reason or another. Whether it's budget, shipping or timing, sometimes we drop the ball. If "WE" are going to put forth a plan, then make our team go through the training, formula and…

Hootsuite has been on a tear over the last year. They've picked up a bunch of agreements with the various social media sites. They have a hip interface and a good reputation for quality of service, uptime, and ease of use. I like Hootsuite and use it for many of our accounts, but it's not my primary social post scheduling tool.

I like…

http://www.internetsales20group.com

The Internet Sales 20 Group

Recently the Internet Sales 20 Group just concluded in Downtown Chicago and it was a huge success! It wasn’t just a “regular” workshop or…

How many people have gotten a bad review? Yes you suck! There is somebody out there who’s going to say you suck. You don’t. You’re no better or no worse than the dealer, restaurant or hardware store down the street. I hope your better. But you are going to get a bad review. You cannot satisfy 100% of the people all the time. But, A BAD REVIEW IS A GOOD THING!!!! If all you have are good reviews you are less believable. If you went to a restaurant website and…

Are you tired of having your staff complain about "The Training"? Remind them that they aren't perfect and neither are you. If we all were "perfect" at our jobs, then none of these training companies would be in business. We do our training, and maybe if they saw us doing it they wouldn't complain about the "boring training". Make the training fun. Turn it into a competition. Have prizes or rewards of some sort. Then show them what it's like to make a good commission or cut time on the…

This is a picture of some money.

If a vendor offered you all this cash, you wouldn’t refuse it, would you? But at ActivEngage, we find that some dealers are turning their nose up at big mounds of cash. We’re asking our friends to reconsider throwing away money by neglecting a big part of their dealership operations.

I’m speaking about …

I am writing this from the airport in Manchester, NH as I head back to Wilmington, NC.  Hurricane Sandy has left her mark on the North Carolina Coast and is heading north for what forecasters think will be a huge event.  I'll be glad if I just make it home today.       Many of the homes up here are equipped with back up generators to handle loss of power issues.  Stores were selling out of extra water and batteries as folks prepared for the worst.  I think we can all agree this is just being…

How do we define “thought leadership,” or more specifically, how should the term be applied to the retail automobile industry? According to Wikipedia, the term “thought leader” was coined in 1994 by Booz Allen Hamilton, a Fortune 500 corporate consulting firm, and it was used to describe individuals or firms that introduced business ideas that “merited attention.” Without question, thought leaders tend to be the most successful people or organizations within their respective fields. However,…

No matter how hard you try you can’t control who is going to link to your website. Every site out there is going to have a few unsavory links that they want to get rid of, it’s a reality of building a website. Since Google came out with their Penguin update people have been scrambling to try to clean up their link profiles and many are resorting to some pretty desperate measures. There are even stories of sites charging to remove their links in this link un-building panic. When combined with…

For years, marketers and search engine optimization gurus have been preaching something. They've been telling the world that "content is king" and that if you put the right content on your website, that it will rank well. After all, who would deny the king, right?…

http://www.robertwiesman.com

Do Hyundai Cars Suck? Is Hyundai A "Throw Away Car"? Robert Wiesman Answers Your…

My eldest son showed up with a tee shirt to this effect one day:

 I loved the…

There’s something to be said for getting in on a trend when it’s hot, social media marketing at it’s core is all about trends. When that great, roaring and rushing storm of interest starts to brew, it pays to be right in the eye of that…

It’s A Game Changer: Start Producing Video. If You Dare

Think you should leave Britney alone? Think again.

I’m about to do a 180 degree turn on something I’ve said here a few times. Pay attention, though, because as I turn, I’m also going to be moving the circle.

Just like YouTube has.

Last week, Google announced that they…

Businesses and organizations have made strides in the last year to improve their overall understanding and strategy in social media. Many who once played in the social media realm using traditional internet marketing techniques such as posting only self-serving links have changed gears and focused on higher-visibility content such as images. Unfortunately, many are still lacking the understanding of how the networks work and how to post properly.…

New case study shows how Auto Sound teamed with AOA and dealerships to drive a 50% increase of in-dealership sales of Auto Sound products in just four months.

One year after launching, izmocars’ AOA Supplier Digital Network is generating accessories sales results for both suppliers and dealerships. A new case study released today shows how Boston area aftermarket supplier, Auto Sound, helped dealerships selling its products leverage the…

When making the perfect peanut butter chocolate pie (my all time favorite), there are several ingredients that go in to make the perfect tasting pie. When it comes to selling a new or used vehicle, there are also certain ingredients that will facilitate a sale.

With the pie baking analogy not only do you need the right ingredients, but you also need the right pre baking components in order to make the pie like an oven, baking pans, measuring cups etc. When it comes to…