Much of what employees learn in the car business is from watching and listening to their co-workers.  This type of education can be invaluable in many areas such as sales presentation, demonstration, and closing techniques. Of course, it can also lead to picking up bad habits like pre-qualifying customers by appearance or shortcutting the sales process.

An area that is frequently learned more by osmosis than by formal training is legal compliance.  Dealers often assume that their…

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Aussie ‘trust survey’ shows car sales ranked lower than the 'oldest profession'

 

The credibility of the Australian retail motor trade is at an all time low it seems. But why?

According to the findings of the annual ‘Trust Survey’ 2010 carried out by Reader’s Digest Australia, the car sales sector was rated less trustworthy than the oldest ‘profession’ in a poll that asked respondents to rank forty professions in order of perceived…

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There are some very interesting things happening in dealership showrooms right now.  The days waiting for Ups while reading the newspaper and drinking coffee are over.  They’re so over, we need a new word for over!

I recently pointed…

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The OEMs and the vendor/consultant marketplace are more and more teaching dealers all about modern marketing, and I get why:  Generating good traffic these days requires lots more than a newspaper, radio, or TV ad.  We’re all being shopped on the Internet by customers, and we need to be there, and be there strong, in order to win sales.

And, so, if we train and execute…

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Before I get into what this blog is about I think it might be better to tell you what this blog isn't. First, I won't be discussing why you should be blogging, I'll take the fact that you are reading this as a sign that you already know you should. Second, it won't be a technical how -to-manual of setting up and maintaining blogging software. In this post…

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I feel fortunate to see so many different dealerships and how they do business. One of the things I hear often is the staff doesn’t have the time to perform processes correctly. The reality is without the right processes so much time is wasted with no way to place the cost of doing business that way. The advisers scramble to put out the latest fire pulling a technician off this job to work on that job. They feel the battle of their job is to act…

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We all have our dreams and goals. Sometimes they are a long way out of sight and we know, deep inside, it's going to take a long time to get there. So perhaps it's best to settle for something that's less than perfect rather than struggling for something that may be unattainable? Yes, we all think this way at times but It implies failure: a weakness on one's part to achieve some aspiration.



Never settle for second best when the BEST is out there waiting. Keep this in mind when hiring… Continue

Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov famously tantalized his dogs by ringing a bell to alert them that food was about to be served. The dogs, soon wise enough to associate the sound of a tinkling bell with a big juicy steak, began to salivate each time the bell tolled.

This associated behavior is known as “classical conditioning,” and the parallel between the doghouse and the dealership cannot be clearer. Obviously, the incoming…

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THOUSAND OAKS, CA, APRIL 12, 2011 – IntellaCar, LLC announced today the release of IntellaCar™ 2.0, the next generation of the ground-breaking iPad/iPhone app that has proven to increase dealership sales effectiveness within weeks, revolutionizing the car sales experience for both dealerships and consumers. A mobile sales tool, IntellaCar empowers Sales Consultants with instant “anywhere” access to crucial information. From vehicle specifications to inventory…

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While enjoying the warmer weather with my buddies this weekend, I made a new car enthusiast friend out of a complete stranger.  The conversation got started when he asked me if I had ever heard of the Nissan GTR.  I looked at him and exclaimed, “Of course!  I have a near meltdown every time I see one.”  We both go on and on about where we…

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As one who launches three to four e-mystery shops per week, I get to see the marketplace from a perspective far different than the one I had when I worked at a store.  I’ve learned that a lot of what, in my selling days, I thought was good material actually contains a message far different from the one intended – and that the message that comes across is not always a good one. 

 

Judging by some of the follow-up emails I get from dealerships today, many stores still have the…

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