Customer Loyalty and Retention Conference to provide complimentary two-night room stay with paid registration for all dealership attendees.

INSIGHT15 Customer Loyalty and Retention Conference will be held on March 24-26, 2015 at the Rosen Shingle Creek Resort in Orlando, FL. The Insight Media Team, united with its media…

Way too often we see dealerships handing over databases to vendors to facilitate a mass email campaign to an entire unfiltered list of customers. Vendors certainly have a stake in larger email campaigns since the odds that a dealer obtains business from the campaign increases - due to sheer numbers. A smart dealer will analyze their open rates and have tools set up to track…

Automated marketing is a huge industry (and growing) and it’s also a hot topic for businesses. Is it really necessary? Will it truly benefit my business? The only way to know for sure if marketing automation is the right choice for your dealership is to try it out, but before you invest the time and money there are some questions that can help you make that decision.

Do you send out personalized…

I recently read a fantastic article that an HR Professional wrote about her experience buying a MINI. The article itself focused on lessons in leadership she had…

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…

Use automated marketing and real-time customer flow communication to effectively build loyalty and personalize the relationship between customers and the retail dealership. Automated marketing boosts customers’ conversions and response rates to marketing campaigns by 16%, because automated campaigns are more relevant to each unique customer’s needs. Just by setting up simple campaigns, the dealership can quickly cater to…

Customer retention is one of the biggest challenges you and your dealership face, leaving you with one simple question- How do I keep my customers? Acquiring new customers can cost as much as five to seven times more than simply retaining existing ones. To enhance your customer retention, you need to get innovative and proactive. Your first task is to find where your audience is and where it’s going. The answer is mobile. 62 percent of the population has a smartphone, and that number is only…

Imagine having customers so loyal that they are willing to pay you just to do business with your dealership. Do you think a customer that makes an investment in your loyalty program would be more or less likely to remain loyal to you and your brand? Three companies have successfully managed to accomplish this and in a very big way.

Movie theater chain, AMC,…

" Have you reached a verdict?"  "We have your Honor.  We find the defendant, Retention, guilty of killing Loyalty!"

The courtroom erupts.  Shouts of lies, deception, threats and finger pointing fuel the denial! 

The sentence is announced and retention gets life without…

Before you get started reading this, let me warn you that it is about twice as long as my normal posts, over 1200 words. I got started and the words just started flowing. I hope you find this useful.

I’ve been in the car business almost 30 years now and it seems like one of the topics that never goes away is customer loyalty. Every year salespeople 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…

Written By: Debbie Hemley

Twitter is a powerful social networking platform and one that has become a go-to choice for businesses of all sizes and industries.

In recent months, Burger King and Jeep’s Twitter accounts were hacked and became the subject of many articles and conversations, online…

I read an interesting quote the other day. Its a quote that I have included several times in many of my post's but for some reason this time I actually took it upon myself to meditate on it. It is found in Tim Tebow's autobiography, and it says "Hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work hard". One thing that I always found fascinating about Tim Tebow was his amazing work ethic. Here is a guy who is not built for the position of a quarterback, but adopts a take no prisoners work ethic…

Written by: Keith Shetterly



We talked for years in automotive retail about “The Road to the Sale,” and I’m clearly one of the many supporters of that path to sales success. However, too many of us are still on "The Road Less Profited." Why? Because we are not getting more sales (and profits!) from "The Road to Retention”!



Retention sales link the positives of variable and fixed operations together, and their teaming allows each part of the dealership to amplify the other.…

This article was written by: Dennis Kane

I see an increasing trend from auto dealers: slip, trips and falls are on the rise, particularly in the service department.

This uptick can be attributed to some or all of the following factors:

• Dealerships are simply more hazardous than previously, either due to changing weather patterns or because attention to safety has waned,

• Dealerships are servicing a greater number of cars because more…

Do not be afraid





As human beings we have a tremendous ability to deceive ourselves.  Jesus taught in parables so that those who thought they ‘knew it all’ wouldn't understand. Within the parable of…

Back when I first started desking deals, the “seasoned” salespeople would tell me, “Let’s do this deal; we’ll make up the gross on the next one. It’s easier to get iron than customers.” I believe there was a change in that attitude in 2008. Four years later, Buy-Here-Pay-Here (BHPH) dealers are still facing the challenge of finding enough choice inventory for their business model while maintaining portfolio performance.

In my last BHPH operation we operated a little different than…