For the past eight years I have been very fortunate to provide email marketing solutions for an elite list of automotive dealers, vendors and trainers. If you did not already know, email marketing is the most cost effective vehicle for engaging conquest buyers and staying connected with current customers. It also has the highest Return On Investment compared to all other advertising mediums. If your dealership does not currently have an in-house email program (one that is measurable and…

Community members are reminded that October 31st is the last day that you can take advantage of the Early Bird Discount for the 2012 Digital Marketing Strategies Conference.  

DMSC is being held just prior to NADA in Las Vegas, so you…

What does it take to succeed in today’s automotive environment?

It takes a strong leader that combines experience, knowledge, determination and a positive attitude to make a huge difference!

It requires the ability to hold everyone in the dealership accountable. Employees need to understand that it is EVERYONES RESPONSILBILITY for the success of the business!

It takes the understanding of technology and how to utilize it to maximize growth and…

We have a web portal for connecting Lenders and insurance Carriers to payoff total loss loans and get titles to auction faster.

We are considering offering this same service to Dealers so that using a single “connection” you can get accurate payoff amounts for trade-ins from multiple Lenders, using a keyboard instead of a telephone.

A second level of service allows Dealer management to payoff trade-ins using ACH transfers.  The title comes directly to Dealer, likely faster than…

I recently read a book called The Go-Giver, authored by Bob Burg and John David Mann. It was an excellent read, but if I was to pick one excerpt to share with you, in hopes that it would inspire you to read it as well; it would've been this one (Taken from page 66 and 67 of The Go-Giver):

    Sam's eyes twinkled with warmth.  "The Old Man was right again, as usual. He…

And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Mark 11:22-24 

This is…

The difference between a good dealership and a great one

I just worked with a dealer that really gets it ! He understands that there are more customers outside the dealership ready to buy, than will ever be there during their biggest sale. He is going after them, instead of waiting for them to come to his dealership!                           

 Within two days he had his sales reps in several…

When you think about all that goes in to creating a professional in the auto industry, what comes to mind?  Usually things like, training, dedication, persistence, confidence and motivation come to mind.  All of these are important and valuable components essential for any professional, but they can't be effective without the one element that ties it all together.  You have to care.  Smarter people than I have…

Last October, I gave the keynote presentation at the AICPA conference in Phoenix (going on today and tomorrow in Orlando). In it, I mentioned the OEMs' continued insistence on of "forcing" expensive facility upgrades on their dealers.

A luxury dealer mentioned after the presentation that his OEM was forcing another expensive and profit draining…

I just wanted to say hello to all the dE members. I look forward to great discussions and all the information this wealth of members can provide. If anyone has questions about my company SMA Alliance, Please feel free to drop me an email.

Thanks and God Bless,

JC

GO CARDS!!!

What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

The rose, the symbol of love, beauty and romance can teach us a thing or five about social media. I bet you never looked at a rose and thought, wow rose that's deep. But in this post I am going to share with you five insights…

Expectations – we will perform in direct proportion to the way we see ourselves and the way that those whom we respect see us.  The expectations of the individuals wearing the title of salesperson have been evolving as the reality of a new marketplace becomes apparent. The Internet has impacted a great many things about the world that we live in to include how we work.  Gone are the days when salesmen use to go door to door carrying their wares selling them to housewives. Now you have…

MANAGING VS. SUPERVISING (“FARMERS” VS. “RANCHERS”)

Management=Participation vs. Supervisor=Observation…

Excellence in customer service is a goal all businesses should strive to achieve. There are many advantages to a business when they reach the point where great service becomes an everyday offering. The strongest benefits being customer loyalty, repeat purchases and the resulting word of mouth advertising. However, even with strict standards and detailed service programs in place, bad reviews can happen. As much as we would like to be perfect,we can’t be 100% of the time. Employees…

"Outraged - How Detroit and the Wall Street Car Czars Killed The American Dream" is now available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and on Kindle(links below). For more information, videos, photos and press releases about the book you can visit my website - TammyDarvish.com. We have a full account of the disaster created when the unilateral decision was made to take privately owned businesses away from thousands of…

Google just made a big change in how they will track organic visits to your website.  If a consumer is logged into their Google Account and does a search in Google, and clicks on your link, you WILL NOT be told which keyword they used.

This has a major impact in keyword optimization and web content strategies. Google will still show referral website traffic but not the keywords used in search to arrive at your site.

Here is the official announcement from…

Over the last several months, really since speaking at the Digital Marketing Strategies Conference in Napa Valley earlier this year, one of the themes that we've been focused on is this:

"What happens on your Facebook, Twitter, and other social media pages is not nearly as important as what happens on other people's Facebook, Twitter, and social media pages."

Every few months I…

Grand Theft Auto – How Citizens Fought for the American Dream

May 14 and 15, 2009 – two days in which Chrysler and General Motors, with the help of the government, literally stole the life’s work from nearly 2,000 business owners.

Two years later, the history from the dealers’ perspective of those days are hitting the bookstores. And they are must reads for anyone associated with the automotive retail industry.

The first book out this…