When I consult with dealers about service mailers, I often find that their approach contradicts what they’re looking to achieve.

On one hand, dealers know how incredibly competitive the market is, so they send out service coupons to ensure customers don’t defect due to a competitor’s offer. But on the other hand, they don’t want to send service offers too often.…

Successful service consultants in the automobile industry do the following:

1. They plan their day the night before. They review all appointments and service histories for potential sales opportunities before the customer’s arrival.

2. They show up for work early:

a. Write up “drop off” appointments.

b. Review the day’s staff, and any issues or…

Just about every consumer today is connected to friends, acquaintances, and businesses via social platforms.  In fact, it’s nearly impossible to find someone who is completely removed from online resources.  With that said, it’s important for businesses, and your dealership specifically, to focus on online feedback from consumers and…

All too often, a company gets intrigued with content marketing and decides to give it a try. But then, after just a couple of blogs, executives decide that there just isn’t any tangible return on their investment, or that it’s not measurable, and so lessen their content output, or abandon the initiative altogether.

In most cases this is due to poor planning…

The glaring mistakes of a well-intentioned sales team.

I was excited about buying a nice new car, but like many of your clients, I was dreading the process. As a service advisor trainer who specializes in teaching the differences between selling to women vs. men, I’m in car dealerships all the time. However, since I have…

Whether you like it or not, email marketing will always come in handy as long as you’re checking your email. 

This week on Think Tank Tuesday, Paul will give you 3 tips that will help you improve your email marketing exponentially.  By taking these marketing tips and putting them into action, your open rates and click through rates may increase! Watch people engage more with your business and brand by utilizing this week’s Think Tank Tuesday in…

This Week in Social Media

News for the Week of August 29

Facebook Image Recognition Software Open to Everyone

With the goal of someday applying it to live video, Facebook is open sourcing its image recognition software. …

Loyalty programs are nothing new to retail. In the beginning, most consisted of simple punch cards or other basic means of tracking customer transactions. As technology improved, many programs became digitized with key tags, cards and other ways for retailers to keep track of these transactions, aside from purely manual means.

Then came big data, enabling…

Your blog is a great avenue that you can use for effectively marketing your products and services. This is an advantage at your disposal and your competitors are already using it. What are you waiting for? Here are 5 tips you can use to increase your blog’s effectiveness in marketing your products.

•          Use Social Media Sites–…

In the past, customers were willing to bring their vehicle into a service department and wait patiently. However, with the rise of convenience and the promise of speed in the form of express independent chains such as Jiffy Lube, regular service customers began forsaking the dealership and started defecting to these chains. Manufacturers took notice and started initiatives…

One of the biggest lessons I learned when working at the dealership was that you can't do the same things on the phone or in chat that you would do when you're talking to a person face-to-face. We often discuss controlling the transaction and leading our customers down the right path, but if they're not in front of you, the control-factor is often…

LinkedIn is making moves to be one of the largest social media platforms for professionals. The shift is growing toward more members who are looking for freelance work and members who are growing into entrepreneurship.

LinkedIn has capitalized on this with Profinder. But how does this relate to you as a business or a job seeker? Watch this week's Hard Facts with Samantha for more information on how this will help you find the right career…

Social media marketing is growing every day as a result of increasing consumer activity across social platforms.  Currently, 90% of young adults aged 18 to 29 use social media—which explains why social affects nearly…

Smartphones are responsible—in a BIG way—for how the automotive market is changing. Not only are consumers more mobile, they’re also empowered to access more information than ever before while on the go.  They have the power of Google in their pockets, and they aren’t afraid to use it.  Everything from vehicle comparisons to consumer reviews to feedback about specific…

According to J.D. Power's 2016 CSI study, the key areas that dealers need to pay specific attention to are...

• Wait Time: Consumers are willing to wait 1-2 hours for service. Unfortunately, the majority of customer visits are well past 1-2 hours. I also have to believe that customer defection wouldn't be at 70% if customers didn't have to wait and be inconvenienced.
• Service with a Smile: Service satisfaction improves considerably when…

Have you ever been to a home where the host truly made you feel like an honored guest? When traveling, have you ever stayed at a hotel where every member of the hotel staff made you feel like an honored guest at their establishment? 

Do you still remember those great experiences? How did the experience make you feel? I know anytime I have experienced the "honored…

Our economic future is not going to be smooth sailing. In order to successfully navigate, the captains of the vessels are going to have to make the proper adjustments in order to weather the storm. The following is some information that supports my predictions and hopefully provides you with a map to help you steer you way clear of…

Today’s socially connected consumers have changed the tide in the automotive industry, from top to bottom. However, the dealership must also change, in the way that they collect data and use social media. Every day there is an increase to the number of consumers using social data and social media. Facebook has 1.7 Billion users, and Twitter and Instagram have almost half a Billion users. Customers are also using…

This Week in Social Media

News for the Week of August 22

Promoted Video Pins on Pinterest

Pinterest recently rolled out…