With any new product and marketplace there’s a learning curve and we’ve recently gained more knowledge about what it takes to manage the “art” of posting to eBay classifieds. We want to share the Top 5 Best Practices we’ve learned over the last few weeks with you:

1.)  New eBay accounts require some “Seasoning” similar to the historical…

Written by Paul Stowe. Originally published on the Up to Speed blog.

The rapid growth of both new and used vehicle sales over the past three years is stunning. Because of this, you need more salespeople. Recruiting, training, and retaining new sales talent into our business is difficult and challenging. But you simply have two choices: Accept this fact and take action……

Find a mediocre sales person and you’ll find him/her surrounded by peers with like views, opinions and excuses.  They will tell you why their sales volume lacks consistency and their gross profit production is far below the median.  They practice the excuses so well that they’ve become experts a closing themselves on mediocrity.

They come to this new job with…

Shortcuts and quick fix solutions

We live in a quick fix; fast solution, immediate results driven society where 24 hour news cycle and instant feedback rule our social lives.  Read a book now and you become an expert that can teach the topic.  Start a diet and in 90-days you will have the body of a super model.

The need for instant gratification prevents some people from realizing incremental long-term success. That would be the equivalent of planting a rose…

Last month, I wrote an article on how Jimmy Fallon announced during “The Tonight Show” that he was in the market for a truck. Manufacturers immediately took to social media in attempts to convince the popular talk-show host that he should choose them, including Ford, Dodge, Chevrolet and Nissan. Fallon announced last week that he had chosen to purchase a 2015 Ford F-150 King…

With Big Data and analytics having been the hot topic over the past couple of years, many dealers are recognizing that they can increase the effectiveness of their marketing. Many dealers, however, outsource much of their digital marketing to vendors that sell them on the use of their data to achieve this. The problem is that most vendors don’t really use it as they say they…

It’s been widely reported by social media experts that organic reach for Facebook pages has plummeted in the past 6 months; from as high as 15%, to the current 1-2%.  As a public company, Facebook has a need to appease its shareholders by monetizing its platform as much as possible. Facebook knows that there is a fine line between delivering relevant content that users want…

Both automotive management and…

Let’s face it, times are changing. We are in an age where technology is advancing rapidly and it’s changing the way people run their lives. The creation of the mobile app has replaced how the world uses the internet, changing businesses all over the world. People are finding apps more simple, useful, and faster than websites. Mobile apps are bringing businesses more widespread consumer mobile adoption as it enhances their corporate marketing strategies. This mobile take over isn’t just…

Hello and welcome to this week’s edition of Beggs on the Used Car Market, with the latest vehicle valuation data from Ricky Beggs and Black Book. We trust you have had a good week on the retail lots, in the auction lanes and airwaves and within the finance offices.



For those of you who have commented over the past several weeks that you expect the market to soften, you will…

A good social media advertising campaign (or any marketing campaign at all, for that matter) should be guided by science. Testing, monitoring, adjusting, and testing again are the cornerstones of a good marketing strategy.

Much of what we do in the car business comes with assumptions. We do things that we have known from past experience to be successful.…

The internet is fundamentally changed the way people find, discover, share, shop, and connect.  And, in the current digital marketplace, the automotive dealership industry has to shift their advertising strategies to make sure they move ahead of the competition.  Building an effective SEO campaign will help your dealership leverage a completely customized solution for driving traffic and generating more sales.  Marketers are shifting their budgets away from “interruption”…

A new vehicle is a big investment and calls for celebration; you are thrilled and eager to go places while enjoying the feel of your new machine. Frequent trips can cause wear and tear to your vehicle; therefore, you need to be aware of a few components that might need replacement by the end of the year to continue your smooth ride.

An automotive battery has an average lifespan of about five to seven year but in some cases…

Welcome to Women Wednesdays!

Have you ever walked into a store or visited their website and seen an award that says “Voted #1 in 2010”?

Doesn’t that beg the question and make you wonder what happened since then; who has won it this year?

This situation can be likened to when car dealers have a lapse in (getting) consumers reviews on dealer review sites

– like Google, Yelp, Dealer Rater,…

Written by Robin Cunningham of the NCM Institute Center for Automotive Retail Excellence. Originally published on the Up to Speed blog. 

In order to write this blog article I am compelled to admit that…