Annnnd we’re back! I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas, a happy Chanukah, and/or a pleasant other seasonal holiday. Now that we’re all back to work, I figured we could ease into things by thinking about the future, namely 2013. It’s only a week away, and this is the perfect time to take a look at your strategies for SEO, …

The answer, of course, is an Instagram. Listen, I’m not going to tell you that’s a great joke, simply a relevant one, because the social picture sharing and food-photo-filtering site has been making waves this week with their announcement that all your photos will soon be theirs. Everywhere, millions of voices are crying out against the image of Instagram CEOs…

The SPCA has teamed up with Mini Cooper in New Zealand to teach three dogs how to drive. Why? The Auckland SPCA hopes to dispel the idea that abandoned pets are second-rate with the social campaign.The chosen doggies-- Porter, Monty, and Ginny -- are learning to drive in rigs with paw-activated accelerators and…

The election is over, political ads are removed from television, and we can all rest easy for four more years. WRONG. It’s time to vote again, in the Facebook Site Governance proposed documents. Voting started 2 days ago, but fear not, you can vote up until December 10th at 12pm (PST). You can vote here.…

People often times ask if they should schedule their social content posting when marketing with Twitter and Facebook. The short answer is yes, you should certainly schedule. For every industry, including automotive, there are times of day that see more activity…

Do you know the one thing you can do on your dealership's website to increase leads? In this week’s Think Tank Tuesday, I’m going to show you the importance of strong web panels and how they increases customer conversions on your website.

The questions “How do I drive more leads to my website?" and "How do I increase conversions?” are always asked. We’ve done the research so you can implement the strategy in your dealership. You can do it completely free and in house; create custom…

I was amazed to learn that, during the research phase, customers spend 17 to 19 hours, on the internet, before visiting a dealership.  Much of that involves vehicle comparisons but anyone is naive if they don't think that price is a chief consideration.  A recent Cobalt study stated that the average consumer visited eight dealership websites.  These customers tend to be at the bottom of the sales funnel.  At this point, they should have narrowed it down to a…

Over the past 20 years we have asked less and less of our salespeople. They don't handle phone calls,they don't handle internet leads,they don't network or prospect for new business and in some cases they don't even deliver the cars they have sold.

I feel the main reason for this is that the high salesman's turnover have left us with, at best nice greeters. We all know the old adege "you get what you pay for". A quality person who wants to try automobile sales leaves because he…

Did you catch the presidential debate this week? It was of the more intense events from any recent election. The candidates appeared as though they might drop the mics and go for blood any second. Luckily, it didn’t come to that, but there was another group waiting in the wings, poised to pounce at the first opportunity. Of course we’re talking about the cyber-snipers, the…

5 Popular Aftermarket Accessories and How to Sell Them

If you are in a dealership that has an accessories profit center you already understand the revenue potential. The fact is consumers are constantly looking for ways to personalize everything from their electronic devices like…

Does your car dealership have a plan in place for marketing its service center? You need to encourage people to return to your dealership after their vehicle purchase for service, and you also need a strategy to pick up new leads just for service.

13 Tips for Automotive Service Center Marketing from…

Think Tank Tuesday- Are You Missing Sales With The Wrong Messaging? from Potratz on Vimeo.

Are you missing out on sales because your marketing message is focused only on price points?  If you're only focused on price, you are not connecting with customers who are…

Google announced this week that they would be making further adjustments to their algorithms, specifically with the Penguin and Panda parts of it. If you’ve been reading our blog and following our advice you should have nothing to worry about because you will already be creating good content. If not you might want to pay attention because the adjustments to the algorithm are…

At last week’s semi-annual meeting of NCM’s divisional directors, 20 Group moderators, Retail Operations consultants, and NCM Institute faculty members a good discussion developed around the topic of Service Advisor Compensation. The common questions that several on our staff were seeking answers for were as follows:

1. Has there been any significant change in advisor compensation…

At the conclusion of the NCMi webinar on “Finding the Missing Pieces to Improve Service and Parts Gross Profit,” one of the attendees questioned our recommendation as to the necessity for sub-accounting for automotive dealerships. Robin Cunningham, the NCM Institute faculty member who presented the webinar, suggested that our next Up To Speedarticle attempt to clarify this recommendation. So, here we go!

A meaningful sub-accounting process is a primary ingredient of…

Solving the Eternal Sales and Marketing Riddle

For over 30 years I have worked more than 40 hours a week on creating, managing and measuring various strategies and tactics designed to optimize the results from sales and marketing investments in planning, people, tools, technologies, procedures and…

Do You Have An SEM Strategy For Service? from Potratz on Vimeo.

Search engine marketing is an excellent tool to increase awareness and profit for your service department. Why focus only on those looking to purchase a vehicle when you can also target…

When I was teaching the Sonic Dealer Academy from 2001 through 2008, my co-instructor, Steve Hallock, became famous for asking each class why they thought we spend so much time talking about the service department. He would explain that it’s because, at a 75% gross profit margin on labor sales, the service department offers, by far, the greatest incentive to increase sales. "So why bother?" Steve would ask. "Because it’s only75…

Good morning Dealer Elite Members, True Car is back for a second round.....

As I mentioned in my post last week there are big changes coming in the automotive space. True Car has learned from their past mistakes and hopefully has a little more respect for dealerships this time. Their president a former Nissan executive visited the Auto News office last week and was featured on their site this morning.

Here is the link:…

Hello Dealer Elite Members......

It looks like Auto Trader needs money much like Facebook did a while ago, and you know how that has gone so far!

As I travel around the country ans work with dealers on maximizing leads, traffic and driving more sales I have noticed more and more that dealerships are looking for "FREE" or low cost ways to promote their vehicles. Sites like Craigs's List and kijiji (Ebay), are currently changing the online marketing…