Best piece of advice I have been given as a manager:  Always be teaching others how to be you.  Inspire them to be gunning for your desk and to become you.  Humbly step aside when they replace you.  Without them to replace you, the opportunities of your advancement decline. 

Right after that tidbit of wisdom was imparted on me, I was asked to spear head a rather large project.  Enjoying…

Scott Brinker, a columnist at SearchEngineLand.com recently posted an article that caught my attention.  

Many industry experts have talked about the importance of conversion but Scott's article took it a step further and introduced a new acronym to me: ZMOT

You should…

FAVORITE QUOTES

Once we rid ourselves of traditional thinking

we can get on with creating the future. 

James Bertrand

One of the nice things about problems is that a good many of them do not exist except in our imaginations. 

Steve…

"Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." - Albert Einstein

"Practice: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting BETTER results." -  Mike…

You Have Choices

When you’re dealing with something that can’t be changed, you have choices.

You can choose to struggle, battle, and cling, and remain stuck—

stuck in an…

"Compared with"

The simple word track, “Compared with” will help any Team Member overcome the Clients “too high” price objection.

In most scenarios, when your Team Member presents the initial pricing figures to your…

If you’ve ever had the joy of potty training a toddler, you can appreciate how your emotions are strained to the extreme boundaries of patience.  I firmly believe potty training is God’s shout-out to your parents for all of the hell you put them through. Why does one child grasp the concept of potty training while another looks at you as if English is a…

Once again, another dealership ruins it for the rest of us.  Recently, a customer in Anchorage Alaska was the winner of a 2009 Nissan GT-R on eBay Motors with a bid of $55,100.  Now, the dealer (Honda of San Marcos) is refusing to sell the vehicle to them.  The bugaboo:  It was a No-Reserve Auction.

This is another shining example of how a dealership participates in a platform without knowledge, training, or guidance, and gives our industry a black-eye.  The dealership is…

Fran Milbower http://www.bdcexperts.com our Director of Fixed Operations has developed a great tool that will help you and your team become more productive, more organized and reduce the service status update calls as well. We all know that customers who have a vehicle in your shop right now call your dealership for updates several times during the day. This fact makes our service BDC team and your service advisors very…

Ok, it may not be as big as NADA, but the Australian Automobile Dealers Association Convention is equally enlightening, entertaining and educational. Book now at www.aadaconvention.com.au or follow our blog:…

I've been seeing the Google +1 button appearing on more and more websites since it was released a few months ago.  Recently, I've even seen it as an option for paid search ads.

If I perform a search while signed into my Google account, the +1 button appears as a part of the actual PPC ad.

This seems to be the exact same thing as giving users…

During a department head meeting in which processes where being discussed, it became evident there was an information gap for our clients.  Our recruiting team was reporting a break down in information regarding who we are, what we do and what we have to offer.  The team shared how they answer certain questions over and over again.  They reported the funny misconceptions that they often hear.  I sat…

As a sales rep, our day started with a quick twenty minute meeting at 9 am sharp. If you were late you missed the meeting and had a talk with the manager later.    

The F&I manager started off by thanking everyone for a good job and doing all the paper work correctly. If he needed any thing he would say it and we would do it. This took about two minutes.

The used car manager was next. He told us we are doing great . He told us what was new and what was…

Fran Milbower Director of Fixed Operations for Proactive Dealer Solutions has some great thoughts on "texting" for the dealer body. If your store needs a list of email addresses for the different cell phone companies we can help.

As director of Fixed Operations, Fran has helped hundreds of dealers grow their service department. If your store has a service BDC already and wants to take it to the next level or you have your service advisor team taking the calls, we can help.

Your…

"TELL ME MORE"

The simple word track, “Tell me more” is one of the most powerful yet simple word tracks you can give to your team! This simple word track both builds rapport with the client AND defines exactly what the customer’s statement or…

A combined 73% of Dealer Elite members who voted said recruiting talent and processes are the number one challenges to improving gross profits.  When a dealership is struggling with recruiting talent, one option is to enlist the help of an outside recruiting and training firm.  Outsourcing your sales staff recruiting and training needs is not only convenient but can be a cost effective means of meeting and exceeding your objectives.  Recruiting and training firms are not created…