The difference between cheating and playing smart is often a very thin line. In social media, the line gets a little thicker.

This is an exercise that I wish I had time to perform more often. There’s probably a proper name for it somewhere in the social media blogosphere, but I simply call it “Profile…

Every business in the world is looking for that marketing silver bullet – that one big idea that will give them the edge. Developed after extensive market analysis, consumer research and in dealership trials, this revolutionary program will deliver more repeat sales, more referrals and more income to dealerships than any advertising strategy currently in use. What’s…

Here are the facts about the impact Obamacare will have on your store and what you can do to start preparing now as well as compliance issues before the law is implemented on January,1,2014.As of January,1,2014, dealers with 50 or more full-time employees ( the law has re-defined "full time " as averaging 30 hours per week) must offer essential coverage and "affordable" care defined by this law. "AFFORDABLE CARE" is defined as the dealer paying at least 60% of the cost of coverage with the…

One of the biggest misunderstandings surrounding social media is that it's a distant cousin of search engine marketing or that it's goals are similar to other forms of internet marketing. This isn't quite true. There are definitely tie-ins; social media can help improve search rankings, it is a valid follow-up component to email marketing, and…

Sydney, the CEO of a mid-size advertising company was sitting in her office, when she got a call from one of her vendors. Her sales rep, Mike wanted to talk about his new offering. Sydney was busy and didn’t have time to talk right then. She was interested in hearing more, but didn’t have the time at that moment. She politely asked Mike if they could…

Welcome to Part 3 of a live dealership case study in which I am working on.  It has been two weeks since Part 2 was published.  I was away in Chicago consulting another client and also handling the Internet Sales 20 Group.  I came home to a major hurricane which slowed things down considerably.  But here is what we were able to…

Every manager tries to convince their sales team to "treat the non-buyer like a buyer".Here is a compelling reason to do so that you can share with your people. What does an Attorney do for a living? He/She practices law.What does a physician do? He/She practices medicine. What do world class athletes,those making millions of dollars a year do every single day of their careers except on game day? THEY PRACTICE !!!! When is the ONLY time a Sales Rep gets to "practice"their trade? WHEN THEY…

Oh Magoo, you've done it again!

Who can…

There's a big, fat lie in the automotive industry that has been circulating for years. The idea that many hold onto is that conversion rate is the most important number when trying to determine the quality of a website. This couldn't be further from the truth.

Here's a fact - the worse your search marketing is, both for SEO and PPC, the higher your…

If you've watched my other video's, we have discussed the following:

→ What role gratitude plays in your success

→ What is the definition of success

→ Developing a 99.9% WHY statement

Now we move on to the recipe. With so many people wondering how to be successful, I suggest that success comes from following a process. It's no different than baking a chocolate cake. If you want to end up with the proven result of chocolate cake, you'd…

Facebook is aggressively pursuing its goal of being completely ubiquitous. Every time it seems that they have started to plateau, they find a new spire to climb. The social network’s newest stunt is their most interesting yet, with wide-ranging implications for the future of public internet access, and for businesses…

   To the casual observer a day of fishing seems like aimlessly dragging baits and lures around the ocean until you get a bite, when you charter a boat and finally catch fish at the end of the day you feel like you got lucky. If you could only see what happened behind the scenes while you were waiting for the fish with your fingers crossed. You cannot imagine how much pressure was on the Captain (GM) after you researched and selected him above all others not to mention the…

1. You have no sense of urgency.

Hint: If tomorrows always come, what use is today? There are no tomorrows in the car business. Once your customers leave, you must believe they will never come back. You have one shot to earn their business; your customers may have seen other shows, but they haven’t seen yours. Give them…

There are plenty of articles out there telling you when to post. This is designed to point out the times when not to post.

The goals of most businesses on social media normally fall into two categories: marketing and communication. Many use social media strictly as a marketing tool to get their message out and to encourage others to help them do the…

We are now accepting applications for Speakers, Panelist & Sponsors For The Upcoming Internet Sales 20 Group

Itʼs pretty much a universally known fact in the industry that blogging is a vital part of any search engine optimization strategy. Everyone understands you need a blog, the trouble comes from figuring out just who exactly is going to write it. Should you handle…

D on’t fight it dealers. Mobile email is here to stay, "According to a study by Litmus, more email is now read on mobile (36 percent) than on a desktop (33 percent) or via webmail (31 percent), and opens in mobile devices have increased a full 80 percent in the last six months," notes Stephanie Miller in…

Once your Sales Rep has completed his/her job outside(meet/greet,pre-sell info,presentation,demo) they should be initiating a "Trial Preliminary Close".  "Other than price Mr. Customer,is there anything stopping you from taking this vehicle home with you right now?".This trial close will generate one of two responses.If the response is "no,let's see what we can do", then they proceed with your sales process. If not, they will hear either an objection or an excuse. The key to developing an…

The Question: What do Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Sierra Mist, SoBe, AMP Energy Drink, Propel, Mug, and Aquafina have in common with your Sales Team?

The answer: They are all Brands within a Brand! It doesn’t matter to PepsiCo, the parent company, whether your Sales Manager grabs a Mountain Dew or an AMP Energy drink…

Chris and Mike's hot topix this morning on the super storm hit home with me, too. As a vendor/supplier on automotive content based in Delaware I worked through the weekend prior to storm hitting to advance client files.

Today we posted a story on the nationwide impact this storm may have on industry. What do you think?

Entire U.S. Car Market…