Check out this great blog by Joe Cimmino from our graphics team, as he talks about the important role of text in a graphic.

What does it take to create a ground-breaking advertisement? An advertisement that will successfully communicate a message as well as…

We all use traditional methods -- and now increasingly digital methods, such as Craigslist, Cars.com, and Autos.com -- to scout for used cars. Getting the best results can be a challenge, especially in today's economy: it takes consistent monitoring and persistent effort to find quality used vehicles.



Are any of you leveraging alternative methods to add used cars to your inventory? Most auto auction houses have evolved to now offer online auctions, and during a recent search for a…

Add up the number of hours you’ve spent waiting for doctors, dentists, a restaurant table, haircuts and auto service, etc.  That’s a lot of time with nothing to do.  Smart businesses try to keep you occupied while you wait – really smart businesses try to keep you occupied with something that helps them make more money and increases CSI.

I was reviewing customer…

I like you guys. A lot.

What I love about all of us is that we're all from different areas of the automotive biz. We all have one other thing in common (other than the obvious connection to the automotive realm), and that's the desire to help and…

One thing I've learned in my twenty-some years on this earth is that everyone I can meet either "Can do something so incredibly well" or "Can't do THAT, it's too out of my realm."

"I can do that! It's incredibly easy!"

"I can't do that, I never learned how"

"I've done this a million times before.'

"I've never done anything like this."

My answer is always: "Prove it."

Not that I don't believe what people…

Okay, we've figured out where the deals are; see "Follow Up, Follow Up, Follow Up" my previous blog entry. Here is the scouting reports on various Internet Sales models.

You, Me, and the BDC

Hire a bunch of students, telemarketers, and part-timers and let them call all your leads. Compensation is based on Shows and Shows Sold, etc. By the way BDC stands for Business Development Center. Give out weekend spiffs and realistically they can make another…

Many months ago I hired a BDC rep who proved to be one of the best I've ever had. Her name is Trish Keller, and is a dE member. She possessed very good writing and communication skills, a great personality, and excellent phone skills. But that later changed when she was plagued by something unforeseen and debilitating.

You see, Trish had woken up one day, before we ever met, with a tingling sensation in her left arm. The next day it was completely numb. She since had multiple…

The importance of vital content is immense for all online marketing professionals. The ever increasing popularity of viral content is due to the fact that it can spread extremely quickly and can create backlinks in a breeze without spending much time or effort. These backlinks play a stellar role in generating a huge amount of traffic for the website by improving the search engine ranking of the website. 



It is true that very few contents go viral over the web. However, it is…

For a brief introduction and background...I have been the Used Car Manager at Anderson Honda in Palo Alto, California since October of last year.  I came in fresh off of reading Dale Pollack's second installment of Velocity and even though I'd like to characterize myself as a humble, teachable, smart young guy, I must admit there was a good amount of hubris that I carried into this new position as I thought to myself "how hard can this really be?"  Boy have I learned a lot over the last…

VinSolutions VP of Interactive Marketing, Kendall Billman, will be speaking in Las Vegas, NV May  15 -17 for the 3^rd Annual Automotive Boot Camp. This hands-on conference will provide necessary training and skills development that auto dealers need to run their business in an Internet dominated world, a must attend for auto dealers taking their dealership to the…

So you may be wondering why I am wishing all of you a Happy 4th of July. I can hear the comments..."We are just finishing up April". "Doesn't he mean Memorial Day"

No I do not. I mean are you planning for the cars you are selling only 9 weeks from now? 

Dealers are so focused on the 30 day cycle that they…

                                                               It was January, 2011 when I first wrote about how $220 Billion Global King Kong GOOGLE goes offline with direct mail. Now, $100 Billion Global King Kong Jr FACEBOOK followed…

When a new Internet Sales Manager is hired there are usually too few leads in his queue. Mostly he gets a few "fresh" leads and then gets the last guy's old stuff--the dregs. But if he goes through the old leads a few might come to life. A few turn into deals--maybe 1-2%. How did that happen? It happened because the last guy "cherry picked" his leads; he concentrated on the few instead of the many. The last guy had a weekly strategy rather than a thirty to sixty day plan.  

Here's an…

Since I am new to the car business, i have to learn how to prospect one of my prospecting channels is calling customers that just left our service center.

so i was wondering if any one had a few suggestion on questions that i might be able to ask the customers while easing them into trying to get them back into the dealership to trade in their current car or buy a new one. any suggestions or scripts people might have would be great. 

I know each customer and situation is…

Check out this new blog post by one of our Graphic Designers Nicole Rothenberger as she talks all about the importance of QR codes and explains how to use them.

You all know how important an online presence is. But what about a mobile way to connect…