During the analysis and evaluation we conduct prior to starting a training program the question of ethics and standard business practices we train on usually requires some explanation. In other words, Dealer Principals and General Managers want to hear from us that we conduct our training programs ethically and professionally.

If I were to stand in a room full of Dealer Principals and ask "Who in here believes that the best way to take care of a customer is to sell extra or un-needed…

I currently work as the Marketing Director and Training Center Coordinator for a leading Automotive Consulting Firm but my first experience operating a business was when I was nine years old - I worked with my family owned production company. During those years ahead I started a professional career in the beauty industry. By the age of fifteen I knew what lay in store and by eighteen years of age I was managing a nail salon and later became regional “Nail Educator for Wanamaker’s Salons.” …

The biggest news of automotive M&A came at the end of the year as Dealertrack has agreed to acquire Dealer.com. Following their…

The excitement has been building for a little while now and we're finally here. 2013 was awesome for many of us on all three sides of the ball - dealers, vendors, and OEMs - and 2014 is trending towards being even better for many. On the other hand, the dangers popping up in many marketing disciplines are also casting some doubts on the future of a good chunk of the…

Do you know how it feels to be halfway through the month and your draw isn’t even covered? The last 3 customers yielded no sale. The first wanted to buy but couldn’t. The next one could buy but wouldn’t and the last one could, did, and ended up backing out at the last minute.…

An SEO, one of the most common questions from potential clients goes something like this: “If we target keywords X, Y and Z, what kind of return can we expect on our investment? We need to know the potential ROI before we invest.”

Did you catch that? The keys to that question are the…

Here is the latest Used Car Market Report from Ricky Beggs and Black Book. There were definitely some interesting results from the market study and detail analysis. The initial chart I looked at shows the level of change in…

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As the holidays quickly approach, many companies are giving back to their customers. Through toy drives, volunteering at local charities or fund-raising, businesses across the nation are pooling their resources to help the needy. Some businesses, however, have chosen to direct their resources to the people that help them remain successful: their customers. And it’s paying…

As I've said on many occasions, there are only a handful of social media websites that you need to focus on at your dealership. Despite claims that you need to be on dozens of them, the real ones that are making an impact today and in the near future are Facebook, Google+, Twitter, YouTube and Pinterest with Instagram, Foursquare, Tumblr, and LinkedIn sitting comfortably in…

Now is the time of year when everyone begins thinking about the New Year and what 2014 will bring.  It is a time when people think about how and what they can change to make the new year better than the last. They resolve to make changes to improve their lives in the coming year.

Here are 3 resolutions you can make to improve your level of success in 2014.…

When is the last time your dealership had a progressive training solution?

Is your dealership handling phone calls just like the “guy” down the street?

For generations automotive professionals have been provided automotive phone training with traditional ways of handling phone calls.  These…

When you log into www.gmail.com today, you will be greeted with a new feature that has been long overdue. For years you have been hitting the link, show images.  Today, Google has opted you in to their new feature which allows images to be displayed in each email from any sender without approving it to happen.  How huge is this???…

Many people wonder how they can effectively use SMS (text messaging) in the dealership without putting themselves at risk of:

A. Offending the customer with too many messages

B. Being sued for inappropriate use of SMS messaging

In this week's episode of my Automotive Sales & Marketing HOA I shared 3 ways to use SMS at your dealership.

This week's video is below. Tune in EVERY Monday morning at 9AM Eastern to …

I’m not a big fan of redundancy, especially on social media. Under normal circumstances, if you have good plugins and widgets properly placed on your blog, there’s no reason to have others. If you want to annoy me with a blog post, put an inline plugin, a floating plugin, and another one at the bottom. Oh, and throw in a “Share It” widget just in case three ways to…

‘Death By A Thousand Cuts’ originally referred to an ancient Chinese form of torture. It was often used in interrogations and it doesn’t take much imagination to understand how it was conducted.

In the modern business world it has taken on a different meaning. In that context, it now refers to the loss of production, sales and/or revenue over time as…

What? WHAT!?!? There have to be required fields on contact forms, right? There have been required fields on contact forms for two decades. Nothing could have changed so quickly that they have become unnecessary, right?

Actually, they're no longer necessary. In fact, they're a hindrance. Here's why:

People aren't stupid

Seriously,…

I admit, I'm a bit of a dork. I love horror movies, I love holidays, and few things are better than a mix of both. (Can you say Silent Night Deadly Night).

That said, tomorrow is Friday the 13th and that means it is a perfect day for horror holiday marketing.

I made a fun video (fun to me at least) and created a special offer for automotive dealers that will "DIE" at 3PM on Friday the 13th (Complete with blood, hockey mask, screams and scary music).

You can watch the…