I visited a couple of restaurants in the last week and was not particularly happy with the service.  These are places I have been to before.  I had a particularly difficult time getting a server’s attention in both of these visits. Off and on in the past I had good service and/or good food but was not as impressed as I had been before. It made me less likely to eat there again.

Ask yourselves, how do companies produce customer loyalty if there is not a consistent basis on…

In the automotive sales industry, we sometimes get so wrapped up with adjusting/tweaking our own approach to the sales process (internal critiques) that we often forget to look at how our customers are approaching us with each potential sale.

The cliché, “…it takes two to tango...” comes to mind.

What kind of research or tips do they look for before coming to the car lot?…

Good morning Dealer Elite Members,

As i visit retailers of all stripes I find an interesting problem happens again and again. Simply put it prevents the sales, service and part department from creating happy customers and generating more sales service and parts sales as well.

Here are the details:

One: No customer really cares about why a request is not possible.…

It can be a challenge to keeping track of every visit, contract in transit, trade appraisal and every follow up call due. While technology improves our ability to manage these processes, nothing takes the place of a well structured save-a-deal meeting.

Here is…

In our business we hear the word no from our clients, managers and pretty much everyone that we come in contact every day. In life most of us growing up heard no for our parents, grandparents and teachers.  Our brains are more conditioned to the word no more than the word yes.  The mistake that most of us make is we get discouraged and overwhelmed by the word no and we either quite trying or just plain give up when no is spouted off in our direction. Have you ever heard the quote “God will…

AutoCon 2012 Announces TrueCar Sponsored Full Ride Scholarship Program

Automotive Media Partners, LLC and First Class Educators are proud to announce the creation of a scholarship program sponsored by TrueCar of Santa Monica, California. TrueCar’s pioneering sponsorship of this program provides the…

Many of the dealers I talk to are extremely concerned about the conversion rate of their dealership website, and rightfully so.  Converting website traffic into leads should be a priority of everyone involved with your site, from your vendor to your Internet Manager to your GM.  One way to affect your conversion rate is by optimizing the contact forms you use to collect leads.…

If you’ve seen AMC’s Breaking Bad, you already know about the radical transformation of Walter White, a chemistry teacher who turned into a drug kingpin when he found out about his terminal cancer. You already know about last season’s epic chess match between Walt and Gus Fring, a respected restauranteur who used his business savvy to front an extremely successful methamphetamine…

Solving the Eternal Sales and Marketing Riddle

For over 30 years I have worked more than 40 hours a week on creating, managing and measuring various strategies and tactics designed to optimize the results from sales and marketing investments in planning, people, tools, technologies, procedures and…

I was just recently out shopping at a big box retailer looking to get my wife a new tablet. When I asked the clerk the question, can you tell me the main difference between the two different tablets that I was considering?  The clerks answer was this one is made by Apple and is $200 more so I wouldn’t buy that one.

As silly as it sounds I have been in dealerships and heard very similar conversations between sales consultants and clients. Frankly, as a manager you must get tired of…

Clearly there is a huge gap between what "we" (old school) managers and Leaders consider useful and proper communication, motivation and Leadership techniques and what the "new" generation responds to.

There is a choice to be made.

A. Keep doing what you've been doing and keep getting the same results while expecting a different outcome.

B. Do something…

Hello Dealer Elite Members,

As always, I have been spending a great deal of time at automotive dealerships. What I have determined is that customers are still visiting dealerships but the closing ratio is declining every day. I will give you an example of why, and just so you know it's not only car dealerships that have this problem.

Here is an example from a GM dealership I was at last week

I had taken a phone call as part of the BDC…

Something has to give. Change is mandatory in our industry, reinvention a must! Every day I see what people are posting about dealerships all over the web. Let's face it, as a whole people hate us. Strong words I know but just look at how our customers are treated. It's not that they are being treated bad in most cases, but…

One of my long-term connections is looking for a dealership to purchase.  Location isn't important.  What is needed is a dealer with a PP of about 450 - 600 new units per year and an equal used car potential.

Cash ready and everything in place for a smooth transition.  Email me at dealerresourcegroup@gmail .com and I will pass the info along.

Confidentiality is assured.

I just returned from my nephew's wedding.  He is the first of our family's next generation to marry so the pressure was on to create a standard to follow.  Being my brother's son, I was excited to go, visit with family that we don't see often enough and most importantly, to honor my nephew and his new bride.  From the rehearsal dinner to the church, and ultimately to the reception, it was perfect.      

Not just for all it had.  It was perfect for the things that were…

Hi All,

My father and I rarely ever had confrontations while i was growing up, maybe because he was always working. The day after I…

I often have discussions with employers about their dissatisfaction with certain members of their team.   How can so many prospective employees that seem like good hires turn out to be poor performers?

We have all been bombarded with offers for additional CE! We all know what CE stands for right?...Continued Education. But not just any CE will do because "Knowledge isn't power...but rather applied knowledge". So what I'm talking about is Accelerating growth through Cutting Edge…

Check out the latest blog from Matthew Klein, a member of our video team as he talks about what you should be doing while on a production set.

Do you know what it’s like to actually be working on a production set? I’ll go over some of the quick dos, don’ts, tips and tricks about the exciting life on…