Like so many other Americans, I gathered up my snacks and beverages to sit down in front of a television to catch the NFL Big Event.  Having a career in marketing and sales, I paid curious attention to the messages conveyed in the 60 second spots aired between plays.  This year, I heard it loud and clear from the Automotive Industry. 

One third of all advertisements aired during The Big…

A friend shared a story about his pastor, who, wanting honest "In your face" feedback about his sermons, invited two close friends to lunch, gave each a pad of paper and pencil and invited them to “unload" with comments about the things that they did not like about his sermons.” They did.

As difficult as honest feedback usually is to hear, isn’t a truthful assessment of how others perceive us, (personally or as a business), valuable information to…

As a certified sports nut, I love big-time game-changing plays – the “Hail Mary” pass to win the game as the last seconds tick off, and the three-pointers from 'Downtown' at the buzzer, those remarkably bold plays that lift fans out of their seats...

We can learn much about sales success strategies from those who have and continue to lead their teams to championships in the sports arenas and on the fields across this great nation.

Consider the discipline,…

A few weeks ago I wrote about how Google was going to include items from Google+ in their regular search results when users were signed in, calling it “Search Plus Your World”. Now that users have had some time to get accustomed to it, I wanted to touch on how this new way of searching could benefit your car dealership’s local search…

The Data War is raging.

Automotive dealers are becoming more enlightened daily as they are being exposed at NADA and through forums such as DealerElite to the very serious matter of consumer and dealer data leakage. By data leakage, I am referring to the unrestricted polling or scraping of their dealership DMS (computer systems) by vendors providing software "solutions" that are suppose to be helping dealers organize and maximize sales. Typically, these vendors have inserted…

The 23,000 NADA Convention attendees in Las Vegas had over 1,000 booths to visit in the exhibitor hall.  The 2012 Convention broke all attendance records according to Stephen Wade, NADA Chairman.  The automotive industry is healthy and the diversity of exhibitors and products on display this year has never been greater.

At the NADA Convention I take time…

I knew there were a lot of unhappy Yelp business owners, but I wasn't quite sure how many. Seems there is a decent bunch willing to complain about it. It looks like similar issues cross industry lines when it comes to disappearing reviews, accusations of false negative reviews, review shuffling, algo filter a joke, and more. Makes for some entertaining reading and…

Summary NADA Ford Franchise Dealer meeting

February 5, 2012

• Average Ford Dealer Net Profit in 2011 was $642,000
• • Up 34 percent from 2010…

Online Dealers Claim Fundamental Rights

Bill of Rights Provides Foundation For Future of Internet Sales…

In todays Automotive news, the above article, Embarrassed Nissan lifts Sagging Satisfaction Ranking is almost laughable. The article written from interviews with Nissans Billy Hayes and Nissan dealer Mike D'Amato 2012 dealer council chairman is almost laughable. Changing light bulbs, modern facility's, and 10 thousand small improvements that Nissan has created, that Hayes says got Nissan from dead bottom to 7th from the bottom is a success is a joke. First Nissan has intimadated or forced…

Who is John Zeiglar ?

How can I find the company he is said to work for, Performance Company?

What is a “performance writer”?

Why would an author allow his name to be mis-spelled regularly in the same publication repeatedly over many months?

Has anyone seen him registered on any Automotive blogs, Facebook,…

Good morning automotive world,

There is a little company called Honda who has sold automotive products for years on it's reputation alone. In 2011 the Earthquake, stronger products from US car companies and a boring product line was changing the playing field. Not to mention heat from Hyundai and it's sister company Kia.

Ford Motor Company had also also proved that it could appeal to the traditional Import buyer as well and even Subaru was becoming more hip.…

by Motyka Johnson

Recently, I was asked to make an appearance as Ms. Florida Forestry Queen.  Unfortunately there was no clear leadership and miscommunications abounded.  Even the day of the event, it was not clear what was going to transpire.  I tried to be prepared for anything.   After the event, I received this…

I have written about the influence of Jim Lecinski's book "Winning The Zero Moment of Truth" and the data that confirms that consumers are actively researching online during the Zero Moment of Truth prior to contacting a local car dealer.

This first contact, called the…

Several weeks ago we published an article that discussed the 6 Elements of Effective Accountability Management. The second of these elements, “Clearly Defining and Communicating Your Expectations,” is a critically needed, but rarely well-practiced, discipline within the retail automotive industry. You’ve heard it before: people will rise to the level of performance and/or behavior that is set for them. Mind reading is not a job requirement, in spite of what some dealership managers…

Google has just announced that beginning March 1 2012, they will be "...getting rid of over 60 different privacy policies across Google and replacing them with one that's a lot shorter and easier to read."

The updated Google Privacy Policy can be found here http://www.google.com/policies/privacy/preview/.

Google has explained that it wants users to have an easier time of:

-Working across Google  (Youtube,…

In a recent blog post Jim states that the "Data Police" have arrived. I have to admit that while I had an overview type idea as to what he was talking about just by the title of the article, I must say that you have GOT to read…

This Wibiya toolbar thingy at the bottom of the screen is very annoying. And in case anyone cares to know. I tried this tool on my own blog because I thought (for about 10 minutes) that it was neat.

But then I did a site test and found that it slowed my site down for my visitors. It made my site load too slow. I realize that for this forum that's not that big a deal because this is a member site. However, am I the only person who…