First, let’s clear up a big misconception. Nobody can motivate you but you. You are 100% responsible for your own attitude and motivation. Other people can inspire you but you have to decide if their words or actions motivate you. You can just as easily choose to ignore them. Motivational speakers can’t motivate you. Oh, they can get you all excited about a new idea or…

There have been and always will be right and wrong ways to go about marketing on Facebook. The only things that change are the ways to go about doing the "right" things. While some would say there are no rules on social media, there are definitely best practices to do and poor practices to avoid.

In this infographic by…

WHY?

Don’t look at this picture from a religious perspective.  Look at this picture and ask yourself; “why is this person, at this time, causing such positive reactions and comments, and a loyal following from every corner of the globe?”  What is he doing?  Why does…

Your effectiveness in leadership will come from being around your team. You will have plenty of time at your desk to analyze reports, crunch numbers and work in your CRM, however resist the temptation to anchor down there and invest your time to the team.

You be the thermostat in your department and set the temperature every morning through your actions and by what…

As I’m sure you’ve heard, Blockbuster Video has gone out of business. DISH Network, which owns Blockbuster, officially announced last week that they would be closing all 300 U.S. Stores. There was a time when local video stores were the dominant retail outlets to rent movies from. Then along came the mega-video stores like Hollywood Video and Blockbuster, which slowly but…

The Evolution Of The Automotive Sales Industry - Automotive Internet Sales - Car…

If you're reading this, you're probably failing at social media image marketing. That's not me being cynical. By examining dozens of business social media presences every week, I get to see what so many are doing and the unfortunate fact is that 9 out of 10 are doing it wrong or not doing it at all. I'm being conservative with that estimate.

The "unfortunate"…

In business, you are what you are perceived to be.  Your customers not only have their own opinions of your business, but they can also influence other potential customers. How you actually run your business is certainly important. Just as important, however, is how customers that have never stepped foot in your business perceive you. Before they ever step foot into your…

"ROI" and "KPI" are the longest sustained buzzwords in the world of marketing. They've been around forever and while they might fade for a short period of time from the talking points in sales presentations and blog posts, they always bounce back up with a vengeance. We're on the high-buzz portion of the cycle right now and more people are asking again, "How can I…

According to Black Book data, used vehicles model years 2008-2012 overall depreciated -2.1% in October, marking a noticeable change from September data recorded at -1.3%. Domestic cars depreciated -2.5%; import cars were -2.3%; domestic trucks were -1.7%; and import trucks were -2.1%. Average pre-recession depreciation is historically between -1% and -2% monthly.



Full-size pickups and Full-size CUVs led all segments with the strongest monthly depreciation levels each at just -1.1%.…

STEP 1)

Generate a Client

When I started selling at a little mulch lot after school, I read everything I could get my

hands on. One of the first books I picked up was Joe Girard’s “How To Sell Anything To

Anybody.” Boy was I excited! I was 17 and I was going to somehow magically be able to

select any object, pick out a random person and sell it to them! Well, although there were

some good philosophical points in the book, unfortunately I didn’t ever get the…

Let's state this for the record. I am not convinced that using the new image features on Twitter is the best way to go when it comes to marketing your business. It still smells too much like spam and if it's not handled properly it could do more harm than good.

With that said, there are definitely instances when it could do VERY well,…

The following is the philosophy of Charles Schulz, the creator of the ‘Peanuts’ comic strip.

You don’t have to actually answer the questions.  Just ponder on them.. Just read them straight through, and you’ll get the point.

1.. Name the five wealthiest people in the world.

2.. Name the last five Heisman…

We are so excited to have the first ever National Dealer's Challenge launched here on DealerElite!

Winner takes all and here's the details on this contest beginning November 15th and running thru the end of the year! Showcase your dealership's public transparency and become a CERTIFIED Dealer. Its easy. Better yet -- its Free.

Check it out here and sign up:…

In July, I wrote an article that was published in Dealer magazine titled “Beam Me Up! How Service May Look In The Future.” In that article, I discussed how the trend of increasing…

Hello everyone,



I wanted to reshare this article written for Dealer20.com



The broken process in our industry is sending a templated email with one or two phone calls and then trying the next day.



I call 4x a day, with a video message, a confirmation to that video message, a handwritten card or thank you postcard, a text message and I call 4x a day.



The process closes over 20% of internet traffic.…

I know the feeling. Despite having worked every weekend for the last two years, I know the desire to let it all go and just focus on the important things in life like faith and family. I'll get there, someday, but you can get there now and still be strong at social media management.

See, the challenge is that social media for business is ever-so important.…

There isn't a salesperson alive who hasn't experienced a slump. If you find yourself coasting downhill, here are four steps to follow to pick yourself back up:

•     Call on your satisfied customers.

Look for additional ways to satisfy their needs or new needs you can meet. Learn about their new problems and challenges, and come back to them with fresh solutions.

•     Concentrate on bread-and-butter…

Most companies are using a sales process that dates back several decades. It was probably wrong then and it most definitely is wrong now. Now, don’t get me wrong. It’s not the process I object to; it’s some of the things you’ve been taught to do in it.

Let’s look at some of the bad advice you have been given over the years:

Find Their…

dealerELITE has a couple simple rules to follow:

- Be polite and courteous to each other

- Do not "self-advertise"  otherwise dE will remove that comment

If either of these two rules are broken, dealerELITE has the right to make changes to your posting, comments, photos, videos, etc, or even remove your…