Over the last ten years, anyone who has not witnessed dramatic changes in the used vehicle arena must have his head in the sand. Why is it then that so many franchised new vehicle dealers have thus far failed to effectively adjust to these changes? So that you understand what I’m talking about, I’ll just mention two of these impactful changes:  (1) the growth of the Internet as a marketing source; and, (2) the advantages available through inventory optimization technology. Even the language…

Title tags should be a part of the SEO strategy of every car dealership website.  Why?  Its contents not only provide the text for the blue-links shown on search engine result pages (meaning users use them to help decide whether or not to click onto your dealership’s site), but also tell search engines what each unique web page contains.

Many auto dealers leave this important SEO aspect up to their dealership website providers.  For those…

Google+ has been promoted lately by many in the SEO industry as a "must-do" for local businesses to help their search engine optimization efforts.  While an important tool for SEO moving forward, there are other areas your dealership can utilize to keep your search engine optimization on the cutting edge.

Here are a couple of additional things your car dealership should be keeping an eye on to keep your SEO efforts top-notch as the search landscape continues to change:…

While some dealerships are successful with their email marketing campaigns, it is a task that can easily fall to the back burner or be neglected.  When done correctly, email marketing is an effective way to stay in touch with existing customers, and build a relationship with potential car buyers. 

If your dealership has let your email marketing efforts go in…

“I don’t need another book on farmin’, when I ain’t farmin’ as good as I know how right now!”

I remember that statement like it was yesterday.  That’s what a dealer told me over the phone back in 1987, in the the early days of my consulting career.  It was right after I explained the services I could offer him. He made it very clear to me that he wasn’t interested in anything new and different. He knew that “magic bullets and shiny objects” wouldn’t provide the solutions he…

By now, many of you have verified your dealership’s profitability for 2011.  As most dealers, general managers and controllers understand, until we perform a final year-end reconciliation of each asset and liability account, the YTD profitability displayed on our income statement remains an unproven number.  For some of you, this verification process will result in an upward adjustment to your 2011 profitability. However, experience tells me that most dealers…

Many professional sales and sales management trainers believe that you have not "maxed out" on a vehicle buyer until that buyer initiates one additional sale (additional household vehicle or personal referral) during his/her normal purchase cycle. Mathematically, here's how the "one additional sale" concept works:  

Assume that the normal customer purchase cycle…

Sometime in your automotive management career, I’m sure that you’ve all been asked, “How do you know whether you’re winning or losing without a scorecard?” Scorekeeping and scoreboarding is a discipline that falls within each of the following major Elements of Effective Accountability Managementas discussed in previous blog posts:

• Plan your Work and Work Your Plan!

• Clearly Define and Communicate Your Expectations!

• Measure What You…

In late December, we posted an article titled, “How Do You Increase Service Department Sales?” In that article, I noted that there are only three ways to do this, the most difficult being to increase the number of customer-paid service transactions (customer R.O. count).  Up To Speedreader feedback indicates this is a high-priority subject, so today I’ll discuss one way to increase your customer R.O. count.

What follows is a…

Several weeks ago we published an article that discussed the 6 Elements of Effective Accountability Management. The second of these elements, “Clearly Defining and Communicating Your Expectations,” is a critically needed, but rarely well-practiced, discipline within the retail automotive industry. You’ve heard it before: people will rise to the level of performance and/or behavior that is set for them. Mind reading is not a job requirement, in spite of what some dealership managers…

The labor sales potential for any franchised dealer’s service department is first dependent on the units in operation (UIOs) for that franchise in the dealer’s market. Unfortunately, very few of the manufacturers provide this UIO information to their dealers. For a fee, vehicles in operation (VIOs) are available by zip code from R.L. Polk, Inc.

Since there are other estimates used in the calculation of labor…

When I started my retail automotive consulting practice in 1987, I chose to state as my unique value proposition, "Guaranteed 1,000% Return on Investment." During my first few years as an independent consultant, I was shocked to learn that very few of my potential dealer clients had a clue about what this meant. So I would explain that, for example, if the dealer would invest $2,500 in professional fees with me, I would provide a money-back guarantee that I would assist in increasing the…

Since we initiated the Up To Speed blog, I’ve received numerous emails that suggest that one of the biggest road blocks to retail automotive success is the dealership (or department) culture. Because this is our first newsletter of 2012, I decided it opportune to tackle this thorny issue. “Culture” can be defined as the shared values and practices of the company’s (or department’s) employees, and it’s important because it can make or break your dealership. Business cultures…

Most of you are probably adding the final touches to your 2012 business plan. At NCMi, we refer to this annual planning process as budgeting. Many experts agree that automotive dealership budgeting is as much an art as a science. Because industry business cycles are not repetitious, a good budget may result as much from experience, sound instincts, and good judgment as from anything else. Nevertheless, a budget is pretty much a view into the crystal ball, attempting to…

As I’ve written previously, the two most important elements of effective Accountability Management are 1) measuring what you need to manage and 2) inspecting what you expect. In the Service Department, the repair order analysis process is one of the essential steps in executing these two accountability elements.

The R.O. analysis is intended to provide information about Customer-Paid (C-P) sales that is supplemental to that available in the typical DMS. The proactive Service Manager…

I have always believed there is a valid reason why dealership website designers include a “Used Vehicle Specials (UVS)” page in their master plan. Because if I were a used vehicle prospect cruising dealers’ websites, when I click on “Used Vehicles” and a drop-down appears with one of the choices being “Specials” (or “Featured Vehicles”), I would certainly go there first before taking a deep dive into the overall used vehicle inventory. However, most dealership managers must not think that…

I've written multiple pieces on how to properly set up and maintain your Google Places listing and account, but haven't touched on the mistakes you could be making, hurting your car dealership online marketing strategy.

Here are the places where you could really screw up your listing if you aren't careful:

Don't use a post office box. Even if this is where you get mail, make sure you use the actual address of your…

Very few dealers are both aggressive and effective in selling Extended Service Agreements (ESAs) after the new or used vehicle has been delivered. If you are so fortunate to be among this minority, you don’t need to read any further. Since most F&I departments don’t seem to have the inclination or motivation to work these post-delivery opportunities, let’s explore an alternate strategy…structuring a process to have our service advisors aggressively and effectively sell ESAs in…

Stop giving away additional, incremental sales and gross! Today's NCMi Up To Speed blog discusses how to set up an AS-IS used car sales process in your store.    

If you're not in the AS-IS used vehicle business, you should be!

By Garry House, Director, NCM…