Automotive management tasked with the job of recruiting car sales people in addition to their other duties, often find themselves underachieving in terms of production. …

Welcome to the inaugural Women’s Wednesday blog. As the leader in connecting women+families with Certified car dealers, look for brief educational tips and nuggets from us to weave into your sales and service practice to expand your sales to women. With our deep vertical expertise, we are here to assist with suggestions to make doing business with women a natural, core value and expression at your dealership. With that, let’s begin:

While women influence over 80% of all car purchases,…

Stephanie Holdahl Announces 

Release of Best Training Day Ever Presentation "Believe in It"

Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif., Feb. 28 -- The highly acclaimed "Believe In It, Live!" presentation has been released on DVD, General Manager Stephanie Holdahl of Jeff Cowan’s Pro Talk announced yesterday.

The program was originally filmed on January 24^th, 2014 at the Best…

Do you want to grow your business without working more? Find out ways to move the rocks in the road that are stopping you from moving forward. That's this week's tip on Think Tank Tuesday.

Part of my life was spent in Southeastern Oklahoma.  I remember teenage boys coming to the ranch dressed in their "good jeans" with a tucked-in "nice shirt" and driving their daddy's "dress truck".  The purpose was to show my aunties and uncles, that they were gentlemen and worthy of the responsibility of the social company of the young…

I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase “Work your pay plan.” It doesn’t matter whether you held a position in sales, service, or parts, this advice has always been considered good. Towards the end of the month, when Sales Managers need those extra units sold on the weekends in order to hit bonuses from the manufacturer, they throw cash bonuses at the salespeople. The same thing…

When Matthew McConaughey won the Oscar for Best Actor (the movie was Dallas Buyers Club) he accepted the award saying that there were “3 things he needed each day.” Those 3 things were:

If you’ve ever lost your voice, then you know what a challenge it can be to get your point across. Like orators and singers, salespeople need their voices NOW in order to positively influence their customer’s behavior. Unfortunately, we salespeople abuse our voices- instead of being an influence we become more of a nuisance because we suffer from verbal…

Customer retention is one of the biggest challenges you and your dealership face, leaving you with one simple question- How do I keep my customers? Acquiring new customers can cost as much as five to seven times more than simply retaining existing ones. To enhance your customer retention, you need to get innovative and proactive. Your first task is to find where your audience is and where it’s going. The answer is mobile. 62 percent of the population has a smartphone, and that number is only…

It's been said that you can never be completely successful without goals. We hear it constantly. But what steps should you take when setting and reaching these goals?

1. Realize the WHY:

Why are you setting this goal? What are you trying to accomplish…

Last year I took a hard look at all my processes in a attempt to find the one thing that could increase my gross over $100,000 for the 2013 year. I noticed we were falling very short on alignments. We were over charging and under selling. I focused on this and completely revamped the process. We lowered our door rate, lowered our tech pay and set goals and reviewed them on a daily basis.Each consultant has a monthly goal and we meet for 15 minutes before each day to see where they stand…

Here is this week's Used Car Market Report with analysis from Ricky Beggs and Black Book. Judging from the overall comments Black Book received this past week and the ultimate level of adjustments based on the auction results and…

ALBANY, N.Y. – March 3rd, 2014 – Auto/Mate Dealership Systems (http://www.automate.com) announced today that DealerSocket, a leading provider of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software to auto retailers, has completed integration with Auto/Mate's dealership management system (DMS). Dealers using both Auto/Mate and DealerSocket solutions will benefit from improved sales efficiency with real-time, bi-directional updates of customer, vehicle…

Even if you don’t believe, as I do, that high sales staff turnover is the number one issue facing the auto industry today; we certainly can agree it is right at the top of the list. There is not one positive thing that happens at our dealerships as a result of high turnover, and the benefits of low sales turnover are so obvious that I don’t need to list them.

High sales turnover has completely undermined training efforts. It creates the mental attitude amongst many managers…

Social marketing may be the next best thing but, like all successful next generation solutions, it is built on the foundation of proven old school wisdoms. Word of mouth advertising pre-dates today’s technology driven social marketing as a proven way to build a business.  The fact that people like to do business with people they like and that trust is the foundation for any transaction is a reflection of human nature which is the basis for long term business…

Grind it out, til you find it out

Last summer I spent a great deal of time teaching my daughter how to drive a stick shift.  Eventually she picked it up after a lot of frustration on her part and mine.  During that time the old phrase “grind it til you find it” kept playing through my head as she tore through the gears of my Jeep.  Thankfully we both survived and so did my Jeep and today she has the skill and knowledge of being able to drive a…

This morning when I got up my mind was running before my eyes were open. Let's see, check in for my flight to San Diego tomorrow, oh and I have to go here, and here, and there, and oh don't forget... I was tired before my feet hit the ground. Here is my question, where was my game plan? Was it written down last night before I went to sleep? I knew there were a lot of things to do. So did my brain. So this morning what happened next is vary important, stop and write a "to do list".  Although…

Did you ever wonder if you would be good at selling cars in today's market Or if the sales applicant in front you has the traits needed to succeed at your dealership ? Now you have an opportunity to find out!

www.dealerElite.net has searched for and found the World's Most Effective Sales Aptitude Assessment.

All dE members now have the opportunity to use "The Car Sales Simulator" until July 30th .…

About two months ago I set out on a journey to learn everything there was to know about bitcoin.  After looking at all the bad press I wanted to know why the media was so negative.  Lately, what's good is bad and bad is good for my wallet.  i came upon a Bitcoin Secret called ALT Coins.  I messed around with the open source code and bang!... I made AutoCoin. 

These coins can help identify people in market.  Customers will buy coins before purchasing vehicles.  They could also be…