As I write this article, I am in literally sitting at an Internet Sales 20 Group where my colleagues and I are sharing best practices with over 50 dealers.  It seems that auto dealers are concerned more about their online reputation now than ever before.  While it is great to see dealers place a focus on it there still needs to be a structure in place that will create a strong reputation for the dealership.  Once a structure is in place, managing an online reputation is actually a very…

According to a new survey by Career Builder, 51% of employers have hired an applicant with a criminal history. Since more than 92 million individuals have a criminal history on file in state databases, according to the Justice Department?s Bureau of Justice Statistics, employers will have applicants that have a criminal past. The key for employers is to run a background check so that they know about any criminal past activities and can make an informed hiring decision. Having a past…

We've all seen the slogan: "safety is everybody's business." No argument there. A positive safety culture requires teamwork. But there's a funny thing about teams: if no one's in charge of the action items, everyone assumes that it's "someone else's business" to take care of them. And nothing actually gets done.

Every effective safety program has a safety coordinator. In some cases, the coordinator is a GM or high-level executive. If that approach works for your dealership, stick to…

Most of the articles I write are directed toward dealership senior managers or toward managers within specific departments. My content today is directed at all dealership department managers…or, rather, to those department managers who have a major sales responsibility. And guess what? Once again I’m going to talk about what’s not happening that should be happening in your department.

I am surprised by how few dealership departments have developed…

Social media is a visual experience. Sure, there are great links. There are insightful comments. There are cool videos. All of these are important, but for the most engagement, photos rule.

The video below is a short portion of our webinar titled, "…

The basic Law of Reciprocity states: To give and take mutually.

I have thought about this a lot over the last few months. We use this concept very effectively in conversion optimization by giving white papers, special…

Over the past 20 years we have asked less and less of our salespeople. They don't handle phone calls,they don't handle internet leads,they don't network or prospect for new business and in some cases they don't even deliver the cars they have sold.

I feel the main reason for this is that the high salesman's turnover have left us with, at best nice greeters. We all know the old adege "you get what you pay for". A quality person who wants to try automobile sales leaves because he…

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<p>JD Rucker Calls Out Ralph Paglia!! Its On Like Donkey Kong LOL! Internet Sales 20…

It's a question that is raised from time to time, particularly by sales managers and internet managers. Should employees, in particular the sales team, be allowed to connect with their customers through Facebook and other social media sites? It's not a question of whether or not they should encourage their customers to like the…

We all have giants or obstacles that try to keep us from succeeding in our profession every given day. Obstacles seem to try to always get in the way of our dreams and aspirations. In life we all have two choices; we can quit and live in mediocrity and deal with that, or we can rise up and claim the victory that we deserve because we choose to take action.

So…

Social media is about conversations. It's not a broadcasting platform like traditional advertising, search marketing, or other forms of internet marketing. Conversations on social media happen all over the place and are pertinent to your dealership's local area. YOU should be involved in as many of these…

Here’s your dilemma: One of your top performers--maybe a vehicle sales consultant, maybe a service advisor, maybe a technician, maybe an F&I producer--just advised you that he really wants to become a manager. Although you don’t really want to lose his production, you know that if you don’t appropriately address his request and desire, he might quit and leave, or maybe worse, he might quit and stay.

Here is what else probably bothers you about this situation;…

 I gamed it from 30 to 70. Never registered for or received perks.  My stats go a long ways to proving that at worst, Klout has no credibility and at best, it is a game that should not be used for anything other than entertainment. I became…

How many hours do your sales people spend at the dealership on a daily basis?  If you're like most dealers, there will be days when the staff works key to key.  Those 12 hour days can drag for some.  But, for those who have customers, it seems to speed by.

That said, how can dealers tolerate the speed merchants who call themselves…

A salesperson’s favorite letter in the alphabet is the letter “X;” as a salesperson, there is nothing better than the ability to bark out a Hat Trick (3 sales) in a Monday morning sales meeting to the sneers, jeers, and claps of your fellow victim-laden salespeople. If the word confidence could be abbreviated with one letter, it would be…

"Why"?

This is the single most difficult concept for most marketers in automotive to understand.  “Why” is the reason AutoTrader and Cars.com run millions of dollars in ads on TV, then put only a fraction of…

In the second post of this series, Kathryn Carlson discussed two methods to address employee theft once it has taken place. This segment of the series advocates two preventative methods:



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This is the one thing that the…