All Blog Posts (12,758)

Coupons, Customer Service Surveys, and A Case Study (Oh, My!)

I have

a confession.

My name is Katie Colihan, and I ignore customer service surveys and coupons.

Hi Katie

Hi.

This stems from the fact that I love shopping, so I always get the register rewards. I never use them. I throw away money on a daily basis. Sometimes, on my "lucky" days, I get an opportunity to "Take a survey online and be entered in a contest to win a… Continue

Added by Katie Colihan on August 17, 2010 at 12:00pm — No Comments

Are You Attending The 9th Digital Dealer Conference and Exposition?

9th Digital Dealer Conference

The first round of speakers for the 9^th Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition has been released. I am very honored that I will be speaking at the conference on a topic that most car dealers have not heard about.

My topic deals with the fact that car dealers are under attack and their own inventory is being used against them. Unaware of the consequences, car dealers are participating…

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Added by Brian Pasch on August 16, 2010 at 11:21pm — No Comments

Are dealers embracing technology?

To all my industry peers...How crucial is it in todays automotive environment to have a solid working E-Commerce Department? I was working with an auto group in K.C. the last two weeks and they decided to stay horse and buggy. I would like to hear your thoughts and opinions. Please accept my many thanks in advance for your time and consideration and make it a great day.

Added by Bill Goodfriend on August 16, 2010 at 6:30pm — 9 Comments

Whoops! I just clicked "SEND"

I’m often asked “what makes an Internet department successful”? To be honest, I’ve never been able to directly answer that question with a simple answer because so much must be considered when it comes to defining the steps that lead to success. One thing is for certain in my mind: there are two basic doctrines involved when it comes to starting an internet department. The first one allows technology to do the steps needed to make more sales. The second embraces technology to assist in a… Continue

Added by Mike Myers on August 15, 2010 at 8:05pm — 5 Comments

Automotive SEO Study Invites 100 Dealers To Participate

If you work at a car dealership and want utilize power SEO tools and strategies to improve your search visibility, then consider participating in a unique Automotive SEO Study which will be documented and presented at the 2011 NADA Convention.

The Automotive SEO Study will be limited to 100 dealers. Registration…

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Added by Brian Pasch on August 13, 2010 at 5:35pm — 3 Comments

Free! 24/7 Dealer Chat Support, Staff, and Leads (Dealer Elite Case Study 2 Months)

We are looking for 5 Dealers that will share their results here on the Dealer Elite forum. CarChat24 will provide 2 months of free 24/7 fully staffed live dealer chat support, and the leads/appointments our service will produce.

What you can expect: A minimum of a 50 to 60% increase in your current website lead conversion, More Sales Leads, Sales Appointments,…

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Added by Shereef on August 13, 2010 at 12:00pm — 55 Comments

What Are The Consequences Of Not Taking Action?

Yesterday I had the privilege of addressing a room of Service Managers and Factory Personnel. And I have to believe that everyone in that room was there to find or gather some new information that would help them take action on something that might be causing them some problems at their Dealerships.

Why would you attend if you had no hope of getting something, right? I hope that everyone one of them got something that they can use right away at their Dealership this week, something…

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Added by Leonard Buchholz on August 13, 2010 at 7:00am — 1 Comment

Dealerrater in Canada - Looking for a contact

Finally Finally Finally Dealerrater has started to include Canadian dealers to their database. I can't even tell you how excited I am. If anyone has a contact at Dealerrater I would love to talk to the right person about educating the dealer body here how important this type of reputation management is. My email is ryan@carchat24.ca and I am located in…

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Added by Ryan Thompson on August 11, 2010 at 6:30pm — 1 Comment

The Search Results you see are not always the results your potential customer sees?

You want to see how you rank for your name or your business name and how you rank for the keywords and phrase you target. But are you looking at the real results?

Have you ever looked to see how you ranked on the Google or Yahoo? You typed in a keyword or phrase and found yourself right away. However, when someone else searches for you, you are no where to be found. I’m not talking about results coming from someone else’s computer. WOW, I always thought I was on the first page?

I’m… Continue

Added by Eric Dean on August 11, 2010 at 6:17pm — No Comments

Success in cars.

We all know that today's economic hardships have made maintaining a career in cars quite an obstacle. With that being said, there is always something, we, the people working in the car business can change or do to better ourselves. The economy is always going to change, so we need to change how we work with people, how we communicate and how we sell the product. We need to keep training and looking for new ways to become more successful. There is no such thing as being… Continue

Added by Ramy Ahmed on August 11, 2010 at 6:16pm — No Comments

We keep growing!

We just added 4 more sales offices: Inidianapolis, IN; Sarasota, FL; Del Rey, FL; and Los Angeles, CA. We now have over 8 sales offices nationwide for local representation of our service to dealers across the country. We plan to grow to Chicago, New York, Boston, Seatle and Dallas before the end of the year. Want to join our winning team?! Call us or send your resume to hr@outsourcedbdc.com today.

Added by Don Queen on August 11, 2010 at 10:30am — No Comments

Unhappy Car Buyer Gets 110,000 Views on YouTube

I was browsing through the website of a prominent dealer-chasing law firm this morning (I know, I have weird hobbies), and came across a posting about a dealer with a link to a YouTube video. This dealership is part of a good-sized group that is very well-regarded in the area. As I am personally acquainted with this dealer group, I can attest to their integrity and dedication to customer satisfaction. So, when I clicked on the YouTube link, I expected to see another unconvincing customer with a… Continue

Added by Jim Radogna on August 10, 2010 at 7:51pm — 2 Comments

Customers and Communications...Are You Losing Sales?

The number one area that your Customers would like you to improve in is… Communicating with your Customers.

Most of you reading this would say “We do communicate with our Customers all the time! We call them; we send them emails…why we even have a monthly newsletter that we send out. What more could they possibly want?”

Maybe…just maybe…they might want you to communicate with them the way they like to be communicated with…whaddya think?

Have you asked your Customers… Continue

Added by Leonard Buchholz on August 10, 2010 at 3:28pm — No Comments

* Mark Hergert Offers Franchise Program for No Fund No Fee Client Referral Program at Auto Credit Dealer Marketing Lead Exchange

Press Release

Mark Hergert Offers Franchise Program for No Fund No Fee Client Referral Program at Auto Credit Dealer Marketing Lead Exchange

2010-05-08 20:46:11 -

if approved, a franchise can sign up their own dealers and manage their own prospects with the quality leads generation system that AutoCredit Dealer Marketing has been using for years with successful… Continue

Added by Mark Hergert on August 10, 2010 at 1:02pm — No Comments

Auto Credit Dealer Marketing No Fund No Fee Special Finance Leads

PRESS RELEASE

Auto Credit Express Acquires AutoNet Financial Web Sites…

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Added by Mark Hergert on August 10, 2010 at 12:55pm — No Comments

A Lesson in Overcoming Fears and Objections: Featuring: A Mouse

This morning, I woke up to probably the most frightening thing that could ever happen. There was a mouse in my room at the house I'm currently living in with two roommates.

Even writing that sentence gives me hives and I'm so close to doing one of those Hollywood screams with real tears.

I quickly made a phone call to my father, (yes, a girl in her late 20's still calls her dad when there's a problem), and insisted that he come and help me pack a bag to satisfy me for an… Continue

Added by Katie Colihan on August 10, 2010 at 11:00am — No Comments

A Case of the Mondays - A Lesson in Finding the Passion in your Job

Anyone else kind of slugging through the day? It's Monday in the East Coast (well, everywhere, I suppose), and it's hot. I'd like to be at the beach sipping on Gatorade and reading a raunchy novel. But, it's a work day for me.

5 years ago to the day, I was sitting in my cubicle, going through thousands of leads and sending them in for credit to our lead source vendors. 5 years ago, I was a manager/operations director of a BDC in New Jersey. The powers that be also… Continue

Added by Katie Colihan on August 9, 2010 at 12:57pm — 5 Comments

What Are You Thinking When You Start Your Day?

I was traveling recently when I noticed a young man standing in the same line as me for the San Diego flight. Like many of you traveling and spending a lot of time in airports, I become a "people watcher" to pass the time.

As I have "aged" (a kind word for getting old) I find myself watching younger people, especially the kids. I think that children, who are mostly excited to be traveling and filled with boundless and seemingly endless amounts of energy, are the most fun to watch.… Continue

Added by Leonard Buchholz on August 9, 2010 at 11:25am — 4 Comments

Employee Performance - Measuring Strategic Contribution

The strategic contribution of individual employees can and should be measured. Why? Too often, companies invest heavily in articulating their Mission, Vision, and Values, but stop short of clarifying and clearly communicating how each employee can play a roll. A company’s employees execute that company’s Mission, Vision, and Values on a daily basis by virtue of their daily activities. Those activities are the strategy…and ultimately enable the company to realize its Mission, Vision, and…

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Added by Richard W. Burke on August 8, 2010 at 1:25pm — No Comments

Automotive Advertising Agencies Promote Training To Help Them Sell More Cars And Service

To train -- or not to train -- is not the question according to automotive advertising agencies who understand the importance of investing in the people part of the sales and service process by providing training before, during and after the sale. Training has often been considered as an afterthought by auto dealers who have enjoyed the luxury of having more customers than cars with a never…

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Added by Philip Zelinger on August 7, 2010 at 1:04pm — No Comments