This article was written by Robin Cunningham of the NCM Institute and originally published on the Up to Speed blog.

At the NCM Institute we conduct our …

In October, 2013, I posted a controversial article about the differences between responsive and adaptive websites and came to the conclusion that, at that time, properly coded adaptive websites were performing better than responsive…

By Brian Pasch

General Managers of automotive dealerships get anywhere from 10-20 calls a week from companies trying to sell them a new product, service, or technology concept. Some GMs have said that number is more like 10 per day, so you can understand why General…

There are probably a thousand reasons or more that customer service and retention is a valuable automotive sales training topic, but here are just nine that affect all industries that should get your attention.

1 .   86% of buyers will pay more for a better customer experience. But only 1% of customers feel that vendors consistently meet their expectations. (CEI…

Millennials are extremely tech savvy. They are a different breed that will significantly affect the customer experience, the speed of change, and your dealership’s bottom line. So, it’s critically important to develop a plan not just to deal with the buyer but your internal customers as well.

Key Point #1: Millennials multitask, walk, talk, listen and…

I had an article published in the January issue of Dealer Marketing Magazine which has generated several emails, phone calls and text messages to me by dealerELITE members.  I thought it would be appropriate to post the original, unedited version of the article I wrote, which was cut down quite a bit to fit in the space allocated by the magazine. So here it is, a story about a leader in the auto industry who had a big and lasting impact on me when I was in my early…

There was a great article published by Motoramic about the most reliable car brands which you can read here. The author determined the most reliable automotive brands by looking at almost 350,000…

The majority of consumers shopping for a new car lease are frustrated with the disconnect between advertised automotive deals and the cars they end up looking at inside the dealership. These findings were part of a joint online study between Swapalease.com and Wantalease.com from April 10 – April 24, 2014, presented to more than 1,000 drivers across North America. Complete results of the study may be found by clicking…

One of the hardest techniques to teach a salesperson is that of the turn-over (T.O.). Boiled down to simplicity, the rules for a T.O. can be…

No doubt, Tesla has become a highly successful car brand with a growing roster of fans. The company recently introduced a new, guaranteed "buy back" program that offers to buy back a Model S between 36 – 39 months at a guaranteed residual.



On the surface this is positioned as a lease program. But it's really not a lease because you have to finance and pay taxes on the full vehicle.



Why can't you just lease a Tesla? Government regulations mean the $7,500 Plug-In Electric…

Today’s Women’s Wednesday is about becoming new leaders in the growing and dynamic market of women consumers.

As competition tightens, the need for exceptional leaders at dealerships couldn’t be greater. Wayne Gretzky, the hockey legend, explained the key to his success, “a good hockey player knows where the puck is – however, a great hockey player knows where the puck is going”.

To be an exceptional leader like Gretzky, a proactive and anticipatory approach is important.…

By Brian Pasch

Dealers who have been struggling to create a consistent social media presence, may turn to third party vendors to assist with their social media. However, many of the social media companies serving car dealers use cookie cutter templates and post the same content for hundreds…

As Digital Dealer wraps up and a brief lull occurs in the major automotive conference schedule, I'd love to take some time to reflect on what has been going on in the industry and where it's all headed. Over the last several months, really since attending a conference in November of last year, I've been putting a lot of thought into how to improve the conferences in…

By Brian Pasch

There is much misinformation about changing website platforms, and if you plan properly, the transition can go very smoothly. The key is to get all the parties together to discuss integration to your dealership's DMS, inventory management tools, CRM platform, advertising…

Whether you are a football fan or not, unless you have been living in a cave you have probably heard a lot about Johnny Manziel and Tim Tebow.  What Tebow and Manziel have in common is that both are former Heisman Trophy winning college quarterbacks.  What they both also have in common is that they are both very much hated and reviled by so many.

From the outside looking in, they are polar opposites in many ways. Tebow is publicly very religious and Manziel is not. Tebow is…

I really don't know who I'm going to offend on this one. We've been researching so many vendors over the last couple of months that work with chat, lead-gen widgets, and website platforms themselves that we haven't taken the time to explore PPC vendors. Maybe that's why I was blindsided to find out that there are at least two vendors out there charging 20% and one…

Transparency is critical to Generation Y and it starts with the job posting.  Dealerships should consider posting information regarding employment directly on dealership websites to include details on job responsibilities and expectations, compensation and benefit plans,…

Last Thursday, Facebook launched Facebook Newswire. In partnership with Storyful, a social media content verifier and aggregator, Facebook has entered the business of delivering news to its community. This service is designed to identify hot news topics and articles. It does this…