In my last blog, I shared some reasons why dealers need to prepare for a constant flow of recall repair work for a long time to come. In this second part, I’d like to lend some further insight as to why savvy and responsible auto dealerships need to develop a strategy for recall repairs. I could not fit them into…

Jumpstart Automotive Media, a leading media, insights, and marketing solutions company, today released findings of its annual Super Bowl advertising performance report, which measures the brands that drove the greatest increases in traffic to Jumpstart’s portfolio of publishers during the game.

Jumpstart monitored auto shoppers visiting its portfolio of publishers in a time-trended series to see how traffic fluctuated when ads aired.

The five brands that drove the highest spikes…

Welcome to this week's edition of Black Book Market Insights, with in-depth analysis of used car and truck valuation trends and insights straight from the auction lanes. Click here to download…

The Importance of Social Media for Dealerships

Is there such a thing as a million dollar strategy or a one-size-fits-all strategy for your digital advertising?

On this episode of Think Tank Tuesday, Paul, Ashley, and Juliana discuss brands that have attempted to utilize a million dollar strategy and whether or not it could be repeated for your business. …

A recent McKinsey podcast shared that when it comes to loyalty programs, a large part of the population is being ignored: elderly customers.

The podcast featured Jaana Remes, partner of the McKinsey Global Institute, and coauthor of…

Today’s reality regarding real-time communication is proven in the data. On average smartphone users in the United States send 764 text messages and place 164 phone calls per month. Without a doubt younger users skew the data, but even people aged 55 to 64 text on average 80 times per month and 65+ text on average 32 times per month. Based on this information we can…

Sometime in the 1890’s, marketing pioneer John Wanamaker coined the famous phrase, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.” Personally, I have always hated this phrase. My old boss and mentor would say it to me all of the time. However, advertisers have lived within the confines of this mindset ever since.…

The statistics are there: car buyers spend 59 percent of their time online before they purchase car, according to a 2016 study from Cox Automotive. This same study cited 88 percent of customers used the internet to purchase their vehicle and 46 percent use multiple devices to get to a dealer’s website, with 14 percent using only a mobile statistic.

Why are…

When someone considers buying a new vehicle, they are probably not very concerned about advertising gimmicks. Consumers are generally aware that manufacturers will say positive things about their models. Most consumers are therefore more likely to listen to what friends and family or even other reviewers have to say about a model. Word-of-mouth is more powerful than an advertisement. If an uncle says that a mechanic is reliable and trustworthy, the consumer is more likely to go there. The…

Probably the most quality gaming headset you can buy today and which will definitely last for quite a long time are Sennheiser gaming headsets. So if you want to replace your current gaming headset it is advisable to take the following tips into consideration.

The platform

One of the primary things in the process of finding the right gaming headset for you is to determine which platforms you are…

Do you say any of these?

Checkout my all new, low…

I read a BBC article recently that states that children now spend more than 6 hours of screen time per day! Additionally, adults now check their phones more than 50 times a day!

Can someone say “DISTRACTION”!!!!

Now don’t get me wrong, if you’re a smart salesperson in 2017 your mobile phone is your office. Not like the days like my father worked in, where you needed an office, secretary, fax machine, pager, etc… Now we can do it all from our mobile…

Great news! Pinterest is now testing search ads with keywords and shopping tools.

97% of Pinterest searches are not brand specific, so a lot of the keywords will have to be intuitive -- just like a Google search. This means that you can supply content to your customers based on their searches on Pinterest and not just Google.

On this week's Hard Facts, Samantha gives you creative pointers and other marketing…

Many consumers have the perception that servicing at a dealership is more expensive than at independent service providers. Whether this applies to your service department or not, independents acquire customers through consistently advertising competitive prices. Unfortunately, this seems to be working well for them as they’re capturing more and more of your…

“Playoffs? We can barely make it to practice!”

Pretty much any coach has made this statement during a losing streak, but imagine you and your favorite team getting ready for a new season. You pull out your favorite jersey and call your friends while the chicken wings are frying because you are pumped! You just know this year they are going to go…

Total Dealer Compliance (TDC), a car dealership compliance-auditing firm, today announced key findings from its latest consumer survey which found almost 90% of consumers believe that car dealers should be held more accountable for their combative sales techniques. The survey also revealed that nearly 85% of consumers said that they believe US car dealers are given unrealistic sales goals and in turn conduct aggressive sales tactics.

The survey results confirm the notion that…

     As Director of Training, I am always paying attention to the needs of dealers to see if a simple suggestion or note would solve the problem, or if it’s a larger issue, a training program to change the current practice.  As it is with most things that involve change, I’m usually met with resistance.  “If it’s so important, why are you the first to tell us?”

     Sometimes, it’s because a new practice has emerged, but most of the time, I’ve discovered that I wasn’t the first…

WHEN YOUR MANAGEMENT ISN’T

By: Alan Ram, President & Founder of Alan Ram’s Proactive Training Solutions

When you look at the picture above, what do you see? If you’re like many people, you might think this is a picture of salespeople simply being lazy and unproductive. You might very well be right on one or both of those counts but we need to look…