For the past 15 years or so, technology has existed which enables customers to schedule service appointments online. In the beginning, the systems were very basic – the customer filled out a form online and an e-mail was sent to someone at the dealership who may – or may not – confirm that appointment.



Fast forward to today and online service appointment…

Baseball players are famous for their superstitions and rituals when performing. Some will refuse to shave. Some will wear their hat backwards. Some will wear the same pair of underwear every game. Do they know if those superstitions or rituals affected the outcome of the game? No. Does it matter? No. Why? Because the players are doing the same thing, in every game, the same…

Quick question -- do you think that advertising has changed in the last 5 years? 

On this week's Think Tank Tuesday, I talk about the path of a customer and how that can affect your marketing strategy. Watch it now and join the conversation.

Also, take a moment and register for Part 1 of our 3-part mini series by clicking here. You'll learn…

The fast growing automotive digital marketing firm Auto Ad Builder has been serving auto dealers with the marketing services that truly sell more cars.

SOMERVILLE, N.J. - March 1, 2017 - PRLog -- The retail automotive industry has been growing tired of marketing services providers that offer very little to no value. This includes offering cookie cutter services and rarely every…

When it comes to customer loyalty programs, customers like to feel appreciated and recognized for their loyalty. And, if they are not, it doesn’t take much to turn them away from being loyal customers into brand advocates.

I recently came across an interesting story about an Uber customer who wrote an open…

Consumers have plenty of choices when it comes time to buy a used car – private sellers, independent used car lots and, of course, franchise dealerships. Each have their pros and cons, ranging from price, to quality, to reliability and safety. The one edge franchise dealerships may have over all other options is that consumers, in general, believe that a used vehicle at a…

Influencer marketing. It’s an affordable way to get your brand name out there and increase your sales. But where do you start?

In order to add influencer marketing to your strategy or campaign, you have to iron out the details. In this week’s Hard Facts episode, Samantha reveals what you need to do before you take on key leaders that will promote your brand message.

Watch the video to learn more!…

Millennials are growing in number and their car buying preferences are vastly different than baby boomers or Gen X. There are so many conflicting reports and studies, so I recently read up on the subject and came across several interesting pieces of information that I thought I’d share in this blog:

1. Millennials drive more than any other…

When talking to dealers about measuring marketing results from their various vendors, I often hear them bemoaning the fact that they have to log into multiple dashboards, I refer to this as “ADD.” Perhaps not the ADD you’re thinking of – here it stands for “Another Damn Dashboard!” What dealer isn’t fed up with too many dashboards making it impossible to focus on the data?…

Change is something that is critical to your business. If you’re not adapting to the change around you, you’re bound to fall behind the ranks of your competitors!

Join Paul and Ashley on this week’s Think Tank Tuesday as they give you tips and tricks on how to conquer your fear of change in the workplace and in your personal life.…

By: Laura Madison, National Director of Sales at Alan Ram's Proactive Training Solutions

The most frequent question I get asked by salespeople who want to use social media to sell cars is, “where do I start?” Many salespeople want to leverage social…

Based on our research, the average Internet Manager, Inventory Manager, Sales Manager, GSM, and or GM spend an hour a day checking out the competition. Sure, an hour a day doesn’t seem to be too long when it comes to understanding the current market place, but what if you have 3 sales managers, 1 Internet Manager, 1 inventory manager, 1 GSM, and 1 GM, you can see the amount of time that is spent each day adds up.

Also, you must consider the amount of information you can truly find by…

One of the advantages of Pre-Paid Maintenance Programs (PPM) is that they span the generational gaps. Regardless of which generation consumers happen to be in, none of them like surprise repairs, or other expenses. That’s why dealers focus on payments – and not price – when selling cars.

Consumers want fixed expenses. When it comes to millennials, they tend…

Technology has drastically changed the way businesses and auto dealers operate. Hey, think about it. It was not too far in the distant past that we did just about everything via fax machine. Leads came in, financing was secured and, well, just about everything was via fax.

Consider this… there was once a time when radio and newspaper were the dominant media…

Over the last several months, it’s been refreshing to see more and more automotive leaders shifting their focus from quantity to quality when it comes to their website traffic and overall marketing. Rather than holding value in the number of site visits, the value has shifted to the…

This week on Think Tank Tuesday, Paul goes through some of the titles of sales events that we’ve all heard of…but may not really understand.

We’d love to hear what you have to say. Comment below and follow us on Facebook.

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In the automotive industry, as in all others, no matter whether you’re in a dealership or work as a vendor, you’re most likely part of a team. Sometimes the people on your team (or perhaps, even you) neglect an important detail or fail at something important. When this happens, it can cultivate emotions such as mistrust and anger. That lost commission, upset customer, or…

Your customer is knee-deep in the car-buying process and ready for the final part, the car financing. Finally, after hours of deal making, they sign the terms.

But in your customer’s mind, was the long process worth it?

It’s a New World Out There

The car-buying process has been turned upside down by the advent of online…

One day, while bringing my vehicle into a large, very well-known dealership for service, a rather comical scene played out before my eyes. While the shuttle driver was leaving the dealership, his mini-van full with customers, all of a sudden a strong gust of wind came through. The shuttle van’s windows were open at the time and papers started flying out of the vehicle. He…

In my last blog, I shared some reasons why dealers need to prepare for a constant flow of recall repair work for a long time to come. In this second part, I’d like to lend some further insight as to why savvy and responsible auto dealerships need to develop a strategy for recall repairs. I could not fit them into…