There’s always a risk when it comes to aggressive advertising and marketing that many are unwilling to take. On television, radio, search, and display ads, there will be those who do not appreciate what you’re putting in front of them. On social, this is greatly amplified because people have the ability to respond.

It is nearly impossible to post…

How would you rate the skill sets of the sales staff at your dealership? Let’s review a few of those skill sets:

• Phone skills — taking inbound calls and making outbound calls

• Follow-up skills — Following up sold and unsold customers with an organized game plan utilizing multiple streams of follow-up methods

• Marketing — Utilizing a planned and sequenced marketing campaign utilizing multiple media methods for low- to no…

Fact #1: February 6, 2013, I phoned and made an appointment at local chain aftermarket shop for my bride to bring her car in Saturday, February 9th, 2013 at 9:00 a.m. for an oil change and tire rotation.

Fact…

This new Generation of buyers 80 million strong are rapidly becoming the largest driving force in the market place. They require different selling interaction than previous Generations. 

NADA has a workshop and Booth at Digital Dealer that will talk to these points for anyone attending. We have compiled a great deal of data and done consumer research to help dealers better understand these buyers and their habits. 

Here are a few thought starters:

1. 1 in 4…

“How about a magic trick? I’m gonna make this keyword disappear.”

*SMASH*

“TA DAA! It’s…It’s gone.”

The famous scene from The Dark Knight applies very nicely to black hat search engine optimization tricks today. Those who are still trying to “beat the system”…

This article was written by NCMi Instructor, Steve Hall.

Being an instructor at the NCM Institute has some definite advantages. I am blessed with an abundance of information, from all levels of the dealership. Week by week, we get to interact with owners, general managers and department managers. Not only do we share our information and best practices, but listen and learn about what is going on in your…

When putting together strategies and making adjustments (and the occasional complete overhaul) of social media pages, processes, and content, there’s nothing better than to get a client truly “plugged in” to the social media world. There’s an excitement that surrounds it, particularly after a couple of weeks when the results…

California recently joined New York in requiring that all sales commission pay plans be in writing. This may seem like common sense since many dealers realize that from a legal and practical standpoint, all commission agreements should be in writing whether it’s required or not.

Even if you already utilize written pay plans, the questions are how well are they…

On November 19, 2005, a day after having surgery, I was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma cancer. I would compare receiving the news to going to the dentist and being numbed. However, this numbed my whole body. For 20 minutes I rushed through all kinds of thoughts and emotions – shock, anger, “why me?” questions, sadness.

After the 20 minutes, I made a big decision. I decided to live. I decided that all of the emotions and thoughts I was experiencing were not supporting…

For as long as I can remember, traditional sales training has focused highly on certain sales skills such as cold calling, presentation-demonstration, objection handling and closing. This model is outdated and out of touch. The traditional model that is taught to salespeople has an adversarial and combative tone that goes against the grain of basic human communication.

Selling is not something you do to someone. By my definition, selling is assisting people in finding…

Do not be afraid





As human beings we have a tremendous ability to deceive ourselves.  Jesus taught in parables so that those who thought they ‘knew it all’ wouldn't understand. Within the parable of…

You may find this article a bit odd, knowing that it was written by a sales trainer, but I believe that traditional selling is dead on arrival. The days of hiring and building a well-trained sales staff that executes all facets of the sale, follow up, prospecting, marketing, telephone skills and building a database of repeat buyers has, for the most part, been dead for a while.

Some of you reading this may be shocked or even angry at such a statement, and declare that it is…

A top 10 nationally-ranked auto dealer called me recently and asked me to do an assessment. I said no problem, I’ll send the list of schedules that I need from your controller and we can get started. The dealer responded no, not that assessment, the management assessment that we did two years ago. Based on the urgent tone in his voice, I asked, “Tell me what’s going on?” The dealer explained that in 2011, the store had a record year in volume, market share and net profit. Based on that year,…

Maybe it's just me, but it seemed like the Super Bowl ads were a little skimpy this year, and not as creative as years past. Less companies participated, and the ones who did seemed to have either put less thought into their commercials, or are possibly reading their audience incorrectly. I didn't feel particularly inspired to try a new product this year, as opposed to being pushed to think about products in a new light in Super Bowls of yore.

This makes me wonder: was this just an…

Have you ever noticed when you only have 7 days left in the month, everything seems to matter? As the sands of the hourglass mark the passing of the remaining 168 hours, it is at that point that you miraculously can account for every one of your Ups, Demos, Write-ups, Sales, and Deliveries. First in, last to leave; fewer lunches; no more huddles-nothing…

Collaboration not confrontation

The day starts with an offer that’s hundreds below cost with a trade in that’s thousands away from its actual cash value.  The salesperson spent hours from the initial greeting to the vehicle selection process only to have their bubble busted by a ridiculous offer. Of course, the offer is substantiated by the dealer down the…

The day after the Super Bowl it seems like everyone will be reviewing the commercials and deciding which one was best. The sports channels will review every detail from the game and the players who made the big plays. The news will focus on the weird black out at the Super Dome. However, the best lesson to be learned from the Super Bowl is in the story behind the story of Joe Flacco.

There will be a lot of emphasis put on Joe Flacco’s performance in the Super Bowl but let’s…

Enough is Enough!

Haven't you had it with all of these Data Pirates using our own customer information to defame us, lower our profits, alienate our customers... while…