I admit, I'm a bit of a dork. I love horror movies, I love holidays, and few things are better than a mix of both. (Can you say Silent Night Deadly Night).

That said, tomorrow is Friday the 13th and that means it is a perfect day for horror holiday marketing.

I made a fun video (fun to me at least) and created a special offer for automotive dealers that will "DIE" at 3PM on Friday the 13th (Complete with blood, hockey mask, screams and scary music).

You can watch the…

What? WHAT!?!? There have to be required fields on contact forms, right? There have been required fields on contact forms for two decades. Nothing could have changed so quickly that they have become unnecessary, right?

Actually, they're no longer necessary. In fact, they're a hindrance. Here's why:

People aren't stupid

Seriously,…

General Motors has named Mary Barra CEO recently. This is big news for anyone involved with the GM brand and the automotive industry for that matter. We want to know the DealerELITE community thoughts on this news!

What are your thoughts regarding GM's new CEO, Mary Barra?

With Mary Barra at the helm, what do you…

Here are a few scripts that you can implement immediately while speaking with prospects and while working a deal. Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays! 

Customer on the showroom while working a deal:

Customer: We're going to wait until after…

We'll take care of that.

  The Judge sits to decide, which is it? Was the car sold AS IS or as the salesman said, "We go over every car with a fine tooth comb, believe me if you have a problem we'll take care of that."

  I meet with dealers all the time who tell me they…

Just how important is social media for car dealerships? The short answer is "very!" There is just no getting around the fact that social media plays a pivotal and, some would argue, central place in people’s lives. It seems to run across age and class boundaries to varying extents as well.

A key aspect of your online presence is your social media presence. Ignore your social media presence, and you will be endangering your online presence as a whole and potentially handing your…

Do you know how it feels to be halfway through the month and your draw isn’t even covered? The last 3 customers yielded no sale. The first wanted to buy but couldn’t. The next one could buy but wouldn’t and the last one could, did, and ended up backing out at the last minute.…

YOU CAN READ THE ARTICLE NOW... CLICK HERE

CAN THE LINCOLN FRANCHISE SURVIVE?

uh-oh! This promo video I cut today accidently got released all over the Twitterverse before the article actually came out. I never dreamed when I put it on YouTube that people would pick it up and re-broadcast it on Social Media. it wasn't until the phone calls started coming in…

There was a cry that was heard amongst many in the search engine optimization world on April 24th, 2012, as if thousands of SEOs suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced. It was the day that Google Penguin broke link-building...

...or at least that's…

In the B2B world, we’re seeing a shift in importance and shopping behaviors by business buyers. What’s interesting is that business buyers are starting to behave more like consumers when making business purchase decisions. A global survey from November 2013 by Avanade reports…

No, I am not crazy and yes I am talking about the well known shock jock known for his outrageous radio show. Howard Stern is a genius for many reasons and they all apply to how you can succeed as a salesperson, manager and entrepreneur.

Let’s examine several of the reasons and the lessons that can be learned. First of all, lesson number one in business is to never be boring. Although, you may not agree with Howard Stern’s humor or persona, he certainly isn’t boring and that…

The importance of ensuring a customer has all the information and resources they need when making a big decision is crucial to turning a stand-offish prospect into a smiling cornstomer (We are in Iowa, of course we use corn references. Keep reading to learn the meaning of cornstomer). Patience, tact and logic seeds are key. 

Occasionally, OK, OFTEN we hear from our prospects about sad news that is keeping them from moving forward…

What's a better investment, a studio apartment in Midtown Manhattan or one space on your used car lot?

When is the last time your dealership had a progressive training solution?

Is your dealership handling phone calls just like the “guy” down the street?

For generations automotive professionals have been provided automotive phone training with traditional ways of handling phone calls.  These…

The merging of search, social, and content marketing into a single digital marketing strategy has been happening for years. Intuitively, many of us have been guided by this fact to create the type of strategies that bring the disciplines together appropriately. As the evolution of the three reach a tipping point that is breaking down a good chunk of the practices of…

What’s that thing in the sky, flying around to deliver presents to good little boys and girls? You’re not hearing sleigh bells but the gentle hum of Amazon’s new…

I had the luxury of being able to watch a rookie sales manager T.O. his first customer and it reminded me of a few things I've learned along the way.



He was our top salesperson for a few years and took a promotion to management recently. He's good at what he does and it was natural for him to go out and perform his first T.O. When he went out there, he went with confidence and purpose. He wore his best smile and greeted the customer professionally. Where he was located in the…

Most Of What You Write Won’t Be Read (Well… Almost)

I’d recommend you read the post, but statistically speaking half of you won’t give a s*** about…