Putting Social Media to Work at Your Dealership

There are two opposing schools of thought regarding social media and business; some believe social media can boost your brand into orbit, while others are steadfast in their belief that no amount of social media interaction will have an effect on your success. After reading this article, you’ll not only know why this argument exists, but you’ll also finally get an answer to your questions about whether social media really can work to…

Click here to hear Mark Tewart's latest AutoSuccess Podcast discussing the role of resilience in success in both sales and life.

In this highly regulated industry, there has been some recent debate as to if dealership salespeople should be allowed to establish and control their own personal branding.

In the past, personal branding by salespeople was geographically restricted, simply because the technology didn’t exist to go much further. Salespeople would find strategic places to…

Getting people to download your Dealer App is easy and fun.  It doesn’t cost much to market your app and get customers using it.  Dealers around the nation have experienced increases in sales, customer retention and customer satisfaction when they actively promote their DealerApp.  Dealers recognize that since people love apps, giving them a Dealer App that offers an easier way to do business and communicate is a very good thing. 

There are many ways out there to promote your…

Consistency is Key: Branding with Purpose

Bruce Springsteen once said, “Sustaining an audience is hard. It demands a consistency of thought, of purpose, and of action over a long…

Quick Quiz: If you’re part of an automotive dealer group comprised of anywhere between 2 and 290 stores and you do not run a centralized sales BDC, then you’re:

• A) Wasting Money
• B) Losing Sales
• C) At a Competitive Disadvantage
• D) Not Leveraging Your Economies of Scale
• E) All of the Above

If you answered E, congratulations! You’ve recognized the downside of sending your inbound leads and phones to those black holes…

With every year that passes, we’ve seen consumers increase their research and online activity exponentially and it has become increasingly difficult to discover true attribution when analyzing exactly what drove a specific customer into a dealership.

Marketing today mandates an omni-channel approach. No longer can you simply rely on a website and traditional…

This Week in Social Media and What it Means to You

News for the Week of July 13, 2015

Facebook News Feed Controls…

MotoFuze Strategy Team Roundtable: the Evolution of Communication

Communication strategies have evolved drastically over the years, and have been moving at the speed of light over the last decade.  In this episode of the FuzeCast show, MotoFuze VP of Social Strategy, Joey Little, Content and Marketing Director, Kristin Huntley and Director of Product, Cody Garnett…

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This newsletter will help improve your quality of life. It might be you’re in the position of a father, mother, manager, service advisor, technician or anything else listening is essential. It should be considered a talent or skill that we all need to improve. I’ve heard it said that if you want to be considered a…

Black Book is proud to announce that Ricky Beggs, previously Senior Vice President, was honored as the newest member of the prestigious Ring of Honor for the National Independent Automobile Dealers Association (NIADA). The award is presented annually to an executive who has exemplified outstanding performance, leadership and has added to the growth of the automotive industry.



Beggs served Black Book for 34 years before retiring in April earlier this year. During his time with the…

It has often been said that if you don’t know where you are going the chances of getting there are not very good.  This is certainly true for someone who is seeking to set goals for their life and to make a plan on how to achieve them.  Unless you have a vision for what you want to accomplish in this business, you will probably follow a path that leads to the status quo.  This is often the cause of failure; not the lack of ability, but failure to formulate a…

 “Lead Loyalty and Intent to Buy Online” white paper from CarStory tracks used car shoppers’ brand loyalty path from online search to lead submission

• Ford shoppers have greatest lead brand stickiness
• Honda/Toyota shoppers have greatest reciprocal lead brand switching
• Luxury brand searchers least likely to submit online…

The July 4th weekend has passed, and summertime travel is in full swing. It’s a busy time for your women customers, but also the best time for them to have a safety and service check-up. Here are 4 tips for bringing your women customers into your service center.

Did You Know?

The #1 requested item from women in the service drive is a courtesy vehicle? Be sure to provide this and delight your…

Follow These Tips to Find Out If Your Digital Strategy Is Working

Is your business keeping you up at night? We want to offer ways to uncover some great opportunities in your strategy, including:

• Focusing on the handling of phone calls
• Generating more content for your website
• Emphasizing the value…

Welcome to this week's edition of Black Book Market Insights, with in-depth analysis of used car and truck valuation trends and insights straight from the auction lanes. Click here to download the full report.

In this week’s report, the Black Book editors saw data that showed a brief change in car retention in early July before car patterns quickly returned to a more “summer normal” rate of depreciation this past week.…

In a recent press release, Amazon announced that, in celebration of its 20^th birthday, July 15 will be “Prime Day” – a day on which Amazon claims it will offer more deals to its loyal Prime members than Black Friday. Amazon promises, “new deals starting as often…