Wow, that’s a lot of acronyms, but you know what they all mean, right? Following are four recommendations from John Gilbert, the Fixed Operations specialist with NCM’s Retail Operations division. To increase your effective labor rate (ELR), reduce your cost of sale (COS), and improve your gross profit margin (GPM) on customer-paid repair order (R.O.) sales:

1. Check…

As I’ve been connecting with dealers over the past six years I have noticed a trend that few people truly address.

Technology is killing the car business. Your CRM hasn’t made you more money than you made 10 years ago and neither has your current advertising.

Whew…that was harder than I thought.

Before you start ranting about all the ways that your CRM helps and all the reasons that advertisers are bleeding you dry, let me just say this: it’s not technology’s fault and…

Sounds redundant, but if you have ever worked for an automotive group, you've probably actually heard those words. Meetings after meetings. The sad thing about it is the meetings usually involve only management. Walk up to any tech and ask them how many hours they have for the week and they'll tell you up to the minute. Ask them what your gross profit objective is for the month, you'll probably get a blank stare. Usually the first tech meeting I have after coming into a store, I ask "What…

That first day at the beach was always exciting.  It was a TOO day.  Too much food.  Too much water.  And way too much sun.  It often made the second day at the beach a depressing stay in the house day.  Everyone new you were burnt and would try to slap you on the back or grab your arm to watch you cringe.  Yet, we did it every year because we knew the effects would only be temporary.  In a couple of days the burn turned to a tan and then by vacation's end, you began to peel.  It was as if…

Dear Google:

You amaze and confound us daily.  You have created an infrastructure, tools and resources for accessing and organizing information that the majority of people and businesses all over the world rely on every day.  That is truly awe-inspiring.  You are pulling search, social and reviews together in envelope-pushing ways.

Nevertheless, change and innovation are rarely universally embraced as you have experienced first hand.   As the old saying goes – you can…

The world of paid search is never boring especially when Google has been testing new paid "ad units" for the automotive industry.  

I wrote last month about the Google Advisor product (aka Google Cars) and now Google is testing an ad unit that includes LIVE CHAT powered by ActiveEngage.…

Think your shot at living like an Olympian ended after your high school or college athletic career? Think again. Successful Olympic athletes employ a set of traits and techniques that you can still use to help market your car dealership. The elements that work together to create popular medalists, with thousands or millions of people rooting for them, can…

If you haven't noticed, about 14% of dealership website visitorsare coming on mobile devices with another 5% on tablets.  Your numbers may vary slightly but dealers would be remiss if they did not take mobile shoppers seriously.

Google searches done on mobile phones have a different urgency compared to searches done on mobile devices. How do I know this?…

Facebook has had their analytics tool called, Facebook Insights, for a while now, and since its conception it has grown more and more complex. Insights are now able to show Facebook Page Admins all kinds of useful information which can be a huge help when trying to hone your…

This summer has been a series of ups and downs for the hockey fan in me. On July 4th, I got to see my hometown Minnesota Wild pick up the 2 best free agents on the market, along with a few solid core players. In the weeks that have passed, I’ve gone from figuring out where the championship parade would begin, to accepting that the NHL may be cancelled this year.

That’s classic Minnesota sports luck for you: Fans get hopeful and excited about a great team, then something gums up the…

Check out this latest blog by Yasmine Syed of Potratz, as she talks all about the variations of technology users.

Information and communication technology users are as diverse as the range of technology available today. The Pew Research Center’s “Internet & American Life Project” divides technology users into two core groups: “Motivated by Mobility” and…

SEO is a like a clock, always shifting, and kept true by machinery fathomless to the general population. Even people who make a living learning these intricate machinations are, at best, constantly battling to stay relevant. The hidden algorithms utilized by search engines like Google keep us on our toes, demanding constant vigilance and supreme dedication to the craft.…

Google’s online ventures are usually anything but under the radar. Yet recently, in what may be a game-changing play, the search engine giant quietly entered the third-party lead provider business for car dealerships.

The beta version of Google Comparison Ads for Autos (which is unofficially being referred to as “Google Cars” within the industry) was launched to very little fanfare a few weeks ago in the San…

http://www.dealerelite.net/profiles/blogs/it-s-the-internet-manager-s-fault

http://dealeretraining.com/



Stan Sher of Dealer eTraining discusses the challenges that…

To many times the same person talks 90 % of the time . Sales reps say the meetings are to long , little training or good info , more of a bitch session , and they are negative . 

Meetings should be short and sweet . Twenty to thirty minutes most of the time . Have a planned training for the whole month that has others doing some of the training . The person doing the training should ask questions and answer questions .

 Make fun a planned part of the training . Single out the…

Location-based social media opportunities are everywhere these days, and they’re soaring in popularity. For anyone not familiar, location-based applications allow users to find and “check in” at various spots and share that information with those in their network. There are standalone options like Foursquare, which dominates the field, and other platforms are trying to get into the game all the time. Another alternative is location features…

Bommarito Automotive Group E-Commerce Director Awarded AutoCon 2012 Scholarship Sponsored by TrueCar^®

Matt Tucker, E-Commerce Director of Bommarito Automotive Group, Missouri’s #1 Auto Group, is one of twelve professionals…

Three Simple Ideas To Help You Sell More Vehicles TODAY

No matter where you look within your dealership there are always areas of opportunity and areas where client engagement can be amplified dramatically. It is very easy to get caught up in the day to day task and never look past what you have on your to do list TODAY. Taking that approach means that you are most likely…

Back in the 1970's, I cut my teeth in the car business pumping gas and being a mechanics (yes we were called mechanics then) helper. I learned quite a bit and it set the foundation for a wonderful career in the automotive industry. 

One of my early lessons in customer service was provided by my old boss. Our oil change cost $9.95. A quart of oil cost about $1.10 back then. The store I worked at was an Exxon franchise. Now our customer could go into the chain supermarket right next…