Original post is from Used Car University's Blog and is written by Harlene Doane. 

Dealerships sometimes take the time to look at their sales demographics (e.g. zip codes, age, gender, ethnicity) and adjust their marketing for prospects based on those demographics. No surprise it’s called target marketing.

But does you salesperson do the same with their…

Perhaps this is the beginning story of the rise and fall of the big 3, for surely we are not who we think we are.  We are much more!

The rise of individualism, hedonism and minimalism has reached its crescendo and the fall will be fast and…

Written By: Russell Grant

One of the best things about my job is the fact that I get to talk to so many owners, GMs, dealers, sales managers and service directors about their dealership’s owner marketing strategy. Or, in some cases, need for one. That’s when I find my work the most rewarding, when I’m speaking with dealers who are ready to reap the benefits of developing and implementing a strong, sustainable owner marketing strategy.

Because remember, there are only three ways…

In the last several years, I have had a revelation about the art and science of sales. The answer to sales success is within all of us. The answer is simple but the key to unlock the answer is elusive.

If you were to go back to the late 1800s, the first formal sales training provided by the likes of J. Edward Douglas and others, you will find teaching geared toward techniques — tie-downs, inverted tie-downs, etc. For more than a century now, sales people have been trained…

When did you last share with someone important why you enjoy him or her? We’re fast to convey disappointment or dissatisfaction with others, but uplifting the attributes in them we like feels rather strange.

Yet when it comes to building loyalty, whether in customers, coworkers or family members, nothing will engage their attention – and draw them to us in…

Let's forget for a moment that the overwhelming majority of SEO companies the average small business owner will encounter provide a service of no value whatsoever. Let's pretend that the majority of SEO providers are not outright scam artists. I'm only going to address the small percentage of us…

Customers don’t buy vehicles, and sales people don’t sell vehicles. Customers buy solutions to problems they can feel emotionally. Sales people are the conduit that helps customers discover those emotional solutions.

People buy from people. Customers generally do business with people they like and trust. Your customers don’t walk out of your dealership telling you that they bought from you because you are a jerk. Customers can get vehicles anywhere. Most of you are not…

Hiring and maintaining a strong sales staff can be one of your greatest challenges as a manager. And with the available pool of talent shifting to a new generation - Generation Y - the old ways of doing business are changing. Gen-Y employees require different approaches to attract, retain, and motivate them within your dealership.

Everyone is quick to point out Gen-Y's shortcomings and idiosyncrasies, but they…

How confident are you that your digital marketing campaigns are delivering incremental sales each month?  Are you aware of the most common mistakes dealers make when using Google Adwords?  



What is new in digital marketing that is helping dealers jump to the next level in monthly sales?



If you would like sneak peak from leaders who will be sharing their…

Facebook has been a promising venue through which to market a dealership ever since it reached a high level of popularity back in 2008. Back then, it was just breaking the hundred million user level and was showing signs that it would be able to be business-friendly in contrast to its rival MySpace. Now, it’s 10 times bigger and commands more time of humans than any other website.

The problem is that it’s not the…

The other day I was in a dealership speaking with an owner.  He said to me "I have 315,000 VDPs" to which I responded "wow, that it is great".  He then said to me "however, VDPs do not cash checks, sales do".  I was so happy to hear that because here is someone that really gets it.  I am not saying that focusing on VDPs is not important.  In fact it is one of the…

The statistic or something similar to it has dominated the sales pitches and marketing materials of search engine optimization companies for a very long time. I…

All businesses are built on two areas of competency – people skills and marketing skills. Many sales people who are more than adequate in their sales and people skills are struggling today. The reason is most sales people lack enough opportunities with customers. Lead generation = dollar creation

As a sales person you are in business for yourself. Having a mentality of being the CEO of your company is crucial to developing your business. The dealership signs your check, and…

Written by: Steve Hall

When we ask service managers how important technician efficiency is to profitability, they most often say that “it goes hand-in-hand” or “if they aren’t efficient, you won’t make money.” I agree with their comments, but am constantly amazed with how they quantify “efficient.”

It seems that we have become accustomed to thinking a technician is efficient if they hit our flagged-hours goal for the week. At times this is true. Everyone can…

Over the past couple years, the pagination of content has become a popular tactic. For those of you who don't keep up with asinine marketing terms, pagination in this context just means spreading your content out over multiple pages. This is usually done to increase views and lower bounce rates, both of which are great things for the advertisers on your…

Auto industry’s leading event for progressive auto dealers to be held October 13^th – 15^th in Las Vegas; pre-sale discount tickets available through April 30^th

Salt Lake City, UT – April 11, 2013 – DrivingSales today announced that the fifth annual DrivingSales Executive Summit (DSES) will be held Sunday, October 13^th through Tuesday,…

Okay, you got me! This article has nothing to do with me, and everything to do with you.

On a daily basis I analyze dealer websites which I’m convinced had the same content writer. Have you ever seen websites with sentences that read like this, “Our team of…

Today’s world is full of review sites and social media- the epitome of information at your fingertips.  And because of this, reviews have become that much more important for customer retention and new client business. Search engines are becoming increasingly savvier by routinely displaying reviews (and review sites) very high in search results. Many dealerships are…

I was recently invited to be a guest lecturer for an entrepreneur class at the University ofCincinnati. In the question-and-answer portion of the program, the professor asked me to sum up what I felt was the most important message I could stress to the class. My reply was one word – ACTION.

At a sales seminar I was giving, I was going over low- to no-cost marketing strategies designed to increase leads for sales people. At the first break after the marketing section, one of…