The following article is authored by, and reprinted with permission of, Kenneth Shilson, founder and president of the National Alliance of Buy Here, Pay Here Dealers. 

Franchise dealers enter 2012 with many of the same challenges they have faced for the last 24 months: a) excess facilities; b) needing more vehicle sales; c) declining credit scores of their customers; and d) tougher credit approvals from financing subprime sources. In response, many are looking at…

I was recently retained to "clean up" an automotive group's warranty departments at a few of their locations - they were dealing with aging claims, manufacturer reduction of claim submission deadlines, bottom right hand drawer syndrome - the normal stuff.

As the days went on, I continued to find an amazing amount of infractions to the established warranty policy and procedure guidelines for claims compliance.  I presented my finding to the head honchos and the respective general…

If a product or service is priced low, does that mean it has less value?  We've all heard the saying, "Perception is Reality", and to many, a product or service which is priced high, is automatically assumed (we all know what assume really stands for) to have more value.  However after talking with a number of clients and dealers about their current and past vendor relationships, I've found in many cases, its just the opposite, and more times than not, over promising and under delivering is…

by Kathryn Carlson

"You Don't Sell Someone Else's Cars, Why Sell Someone Else's Warranties?"

  I have been in the car business for over 25 years. Going from dealership to dealership I have seen the good, the bad and the apathetic. There are car dealers who are on top of their game, always striving to improve.…

First and foremost, if you're not on top of your other marketing priorities, there's no need to even look at Pinterest at this point. Those priorities should be:

1. Websites
2. Search Marketing (SEO and PPC)
3. Classifieds (AutoTrader, Craigslist, Cars.com, etc)
4. Google Places and Reviews
5. Facebook
6. Other Reviews that Rank for your Name (Yelp, DealerRater, etc.)
7. YouTube
8. Twitter

If all of those are in order and…

What if you could spot engaged and ready-to-buy shoppers as they browse your dealership website in real-time?  How would that transform your Internet Business?

More and more auto dealers are …

The word Jade is a heteronym (a word with the same spelling, yet different meanings) that is used in one form or another in the arena of sales. When used as a noun, Jade is a beautiful, expensive gemstone. As a verb, Jade is worn out broken down worthless and dull. If the word Jade was used to describe your qualities as a sales professional, would you be described as…

An interesting report from comScore and I think some premonitions for retail automotive.

1. Could FREE shipping break open real eCommerce for automotive? I think it is certainly a big hurdle right now logistically and monetarily. Taking away the monetary factor may go a long way toward opening this up. Of course there are still some logistics involved and there is the tactile factor. The need to touch and feel the vehicle is diminishing slowly and…

Auto sales are recovering because of the superior value offered by manufacturers -- not because of the economy. What else explains why auto sales recovered in 2011 while so many other economic indicators remain poor? Do increased sales volumes in 2011 mean that the US economy is recovering or is it indicative of the automobile's value proposition to the consumer?

While most agree that the economy is slowly improving, unemployment is still north of 8.3%, the real number is 11% when you…

There are two types of people in this world; those who tend to over think or those who tend to under think. Many people mistakenly apologize for over thinking situations. The act of over thinking is not bad, but when you over think could be-particularly in sales. Over thinking should be done in the preparation and practice stages of your sales career not…

After attending a very detailed week long training event, a group of new salespeople were starting their first day on the sales floor. They were full of energy, enthusiasm and excitement. The product is new, the environment is new and they’re filled with possibilities. Enthusiasm paired with a growing understanding of their product makes for…

Why does GM think they have to be so involved? They are like that friends parents in high school that are WAY too involved. Just get out of our way and let us sell some cars. I can't help but think that a majority of dealers have to be smarter than they let on to be. With GM buying Google ad words, and making us compete against ourselves, forcing us to have a Cobalt site, and now taking over our Yelp, Google…

“I don’t need another book on farmin’, when I ain’t farmin’ as good as I know how right now!”

I remember that statement like it was yesterday.  That’s what a dealer told me over the phone back in 1987, in the the early days of my consulting career.  It was right after I explained the services I could offer him. He made it very clear to me that he wasn’t interested in anything new and different. He knew that “magic bullets and shiny objects” wouldn’t provide the solutions he…

While at NADA, I heard quite a bit of buzz about mobile websites. Does my dealership need one?  If I already have one, do I need to actually optimize it?  Is mobile traffic really growing as rapidly as everyone says it is?  Should I be making my car dealership’s mobile website a priority to sell more cars?

The answer to all four of those questions is absolutely, unequivocally--YES.

Some…

J.D. Power 2/3/2012

“Capitalizing on Market Momentum”

- North America should have an 8% growth in 2012. Here is the breakdown:

13.8 million sales in 2012, 11.5 million will be retail.

Why the increase in 2012?

1. Production and increased demand.

2. Aging fleet / pent up demand.

3. More new products over the next 3 years.

4. Rebound in leasing.

5.…

Warm congratulations to Kelly Automotive, winners at the state level of the prestigious Dealer of the Year award given by Dealer Rater! Chris Saraceno (L)  and his team worked tirelessly this year to go above and beyond their customers' expectations, and their efforts definitely paid off!…