Hello Dealer Elite Members,

As always, I have been spending a great deal of time at automotive dealerships. What I have determined is that customers are still visiting dealerships but the closing ratio is declining every day. I will give you an example of why, and just so you know it's not only car dealerships that have this problem.

Here is an example from a GM dealership I was at last week

I had taken a phone call as part of the BDC…

Something has to give. Change is mandatory in our industry, reinvention a must! Every day I see what people are posting about dealerships all over the web. Let's face it, as a whole people hate us. Strong words I know but just look at how our customers are treated. It's not that they are being treated bad in most cases, but…

My father and I rarely ever had confrontations while i was growing up, maybe because he was always working. The day after I…

I often have discussions with employers about their dissatisfaction with certain members of their team.   How can so many prospective employees that seem like good hires turn out to be poor performers?

Check out the latest blog from Matthew Klein, a member of our video team as he talks about what you should be doing while on a production set.

Do you know what it’s like to actually be working on a production set? I’ll go over some of the quick dos, don’ts, tips and tricks about the exciting life on…

I recently had the privilege of teaching our first NCMi class that is totally focused on leadership in automotive dealerships. We began this 1½-day class talking about “employee engagement,” and the general managers attending this session began positively nodding their heads, when I started this discussion with, “Surveys show that…

                1. Less than one in four American workers say they work at their full potential.

                2. One-half say…

We have a dealeship looking to hire a trainer to spend a few days training our warranty administrator:

 Please list their name and number below or have them email me at cbskmc@aol.com

Next week, July 24-25th at the Hilton DFW Lakes Hotel, dealers from across the country who want to improve their BDC/Internet processes are heading to the Digital Warrior Academy (DWA) for training.  …

It is true.  How many customers does your service drive see each and every day?  Take a moment and ask your service manager.  When you find the number of RO's written each day on the service drive, I promise, you will want to spend all of your time out there!

It is easy and there are several ways you can make a serious impact on your bottom line if…

OAK BROOK, IL – July 11, 2012 – vAuto announced the acquisition of Auction Genius, creator of a heads-up display for online auto auctions, and the roll-out of initial product integrations between the companies.

 “This acquisition advances vAuto’s mission to help dealers become more efficient and effective used vehicle retailers,” says Dale Pollak, vAuto founder. “Auction Genius’ intuitive dashboard offers the perfect blend of sophistication and simplicity. Its…

Wow, that’s a lot of acronyms, but you know what they all mean, right? Following are four recommendations from John Gilbert, the Fixed Operations specialist with NCM’s Retail Operations division. To increase your effective labor rate (ELR), reduce your cost of sale (COS), and improve your gross profit margin (GPM) on customer-paid repair order (R.O.) sales:

1. Check…

The majority of managers today did little prospecting as a sales rep . Therefore is is tough to teach what you haven't mastered . ALL the successful sales reps today are heavy into prospecting and follow up.       I asked a dealer ,  what would you do if you had a sales rep refuse to do a demo and wait on you to do advertising to get them customers ? He said fire him . I asked why . He said because he isn't doing his job the way we want . Exactly was my answer.

 When the dealer or…

Aristotle wrote, “We are what we repeatedly do, excellence then is not an act, but a habit.” In the world of sales, everything counts; what you do daily determines what you cash monthly. Each month, selling requires a mixture of both speed and endurance-your month is determined not only by how fast you can get “on the board” (i.e. your first sale),…

Well it never ceases to amaze me on the efforts people will go to create a fake review.  It seems like the stakes of the game have gone even higher. 

Los Angeles Times writers Jessica Guynn and Andrea Chang…

Hello Dealer Elite Members,

First of all I am sorry I have not been more active this week. I have been burning the candle at both ends lately and it has been catching up to me. I have also had the opportunity to read several books on retailers who are the gold standard in their industry. One of them is Nordstrom’s and one of them is Apple Computer.

I was able to learn a great deal about why both of these retailers have not only a great reputation but also…

Automotive News on customizing...

Automotive news says its a $30 Billion business.  Manufacturers are doing little to tap the market and dealers even less. This is no longer a market to watch.  It is time to get involved.  Do something.  Do anything, but don't sit idle.  We are testing the waters with stylish leathers, matte…

Automotive Recruitment: n.The process of attracting, screening, selecting and training qualified people to work in an automotive dealership.

I started off with the definition of automotive recruitment because I thought it important to point out the…

Disclaimer: I must preface this by saying it not intended to make any enemies or friends. This is not meant to hurt anyone’s business, call out how they perform for their clients, highlight weaknesses or put stock in one product over another. This was nothing more than a simple experiment.

I was out to dinner with my wife recently when I ran into an old college acquaintance. Very quickly I discovered that she works in our industry for a startup website provider. I tell her…