I recently saw a vehicle advertised on a dealer website that caught my attention. This pre-owned car was advertised as a “CarFax One Owner”.  Upon further investigation, I discovered that the “one owner” was a rental car company.

Even though the “one owner” statement may have been technically true, the description of the vehicle blew my mind: “With just one previous owner, who treated this vehicle like a member of the family, you'll really hit the jackpot when you drive home…

Understanding the “F” Word

Is it bad to fail? No! (Fail is the “F” word to which I was referring.  Get your mind out of the gutter) can any good come from failure?  Yes! Dare to fail! Then learn from it.  You can’t wait for a perfect set of circumstances.  Perfect scenarios never come.  There will always be roadblocks, obstacles and unfavorable conditions. Who cares?  The time to do it is now.  Don’t wait, hesitate or look for reasons to second-guess…

Remember back in the ‘good old days’, around 2005, we wondered exactly how the internet was going to change our business. We asked questions like “is the manufacturer going to deliver the car right to the customers house?” or “if we are the fastest and cheapest on the net, will they will come from miles around?” fortunately neither one of those came true. The greatest change the internet has brought to our business is ‘Transparency’, the ability of…

Every dealership has an 8-10 step “road to the sale.” Every sales consultant from the novice to the veteran has the same step- by- step process outlining everything from the approach to the landing of a sale. Just as a roadmap (full disclosure, I cannot read one) or navigation system aid the driver in getting to a specific destination, so too does a dealership’s…

FROM AUTOTRADER 5/18/11 @ 7pm EST

We want to share some exciting news. As you may have heard, AutoTrader.com has entered into an agreement to acquire VinSolutions, a leading provider of end-to-end software solutions for dealers including Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Dealer Websites, Sales Management and Desking tools, social media and…

Here’s the challenge: we dare you to incorporate all 60 of these dealership improvement efforts into your store in the next month. Post in the comments and let us know which ones you’ve incorporated, and also chime in with your own ideas for improvement.

60 Ways to Upgrade Your Dealership’s Customer Experience

1.     Make name tags mandatory for every…

Since this month is Women's Month on dealerELITE, we want to get even more feedback from your experiences when working with female buyers. From today until the end of May, here is what we want you to do:

1. Salespeople/Sales Managers/Dealership Personnel
2. Grab a flip camera, or…

Just as 83,000 gross tons of a cruise liner is secured to land by various cables and anchors, what moors your life? The cables and anchors of your life are your values; you never know how secure those cables are until the storms of life come in and test their strengths. Tell me moor.  Have you been moored with the illusion of money? Have you lost the…

I’ll never forget one time when I was driving down a highway and noticed several state troopers alongside the road in an old service station. One stepped in front of my car and flagged me in to the parking area. The officer quickly walked around my vehicle checking all of my turn signals and headlights. He also quickly checked tire condition and the emergency brake function. He did use me to turn the switches and push the brake and the…

Teamwork is crucial for the viability of a business. Slogans have been barked from summer camp to corporate retreats shouting the mantra of Teamwork. Sales, like sports, are intertwined with “I” and “Team.” They are literally Siamese Twins- almost indistinguishable. No team can win consistently without each team member preparing and executing to the best of his or her ability. No “I’s” can sustain long-term success without the aid of their…

It's Monday morning and I'm getting ready for a new adventure.  While I'll still be working with dealers to help them staff up and train, I'll be responsible for marketing and delivering on my own.  With the market still not where it needs to be and many dealers believing they still do everything right, this is a scary endeavor.  How can one possibly compete  with companies that have been around for a while?  How can a "new kid" (even as old as I am), possibly go up against the old…

Are you still debating whether to employ text messaging in your eLead response process?  This story may get you off the fence.

One day a couple weeks ago, as I do most days, I was sitting in a General Manager’s office reviewing his store’s recent mystery shop. 

When I told him the Lead Response Time (LRT) was a disappointing 5 hours 36 minutes he immediately went to his CRM to verify.  To my surprise, the CRM said the response time was 41…

I want to invite all Dealer Elite members to consider investing in a summer intern that you can utilize over the coming years. On May 25th, the Automotive Internship Program (AIP) will start. The program is an inexpensive way to train an intern or an existing employee on important digital marketing…

I'm posting an email that my friend Shaun Kniffin (from the Germain Group) sent earlier today. He's an avid bicycle rider and will be participating in a 100 mile trek created to raise money to help in the fight to end cancer.

The ride takes place 100 days from now. He's raised more than $2,000 toward his personal goal of $10,000.

You can learn more about the cause by clicking…

I have an immediate need for a BDC Sales Manager for Infiniti in Hanover. We are moving into a gorgeous new facility soon and are getting ready to ramp things up.

Please email sdoran@primemotorgroup.com for a confidential interview.

Call: 781-962-5999