Chapter 2: What to Know Before You Go

So you’re all signed up to go to NADA100 and you’re counting down to January 26?  (If you missed that whole registration thing, go…

In this episode of Hard Facts, Samantha was on Facebook Live from Google Headquarters in NYC. Were you able to catch it?

Aside from learning what it means to be a Google Partner, Samantha, Candace, and Philip will give you ideas and strategies for your marketing campaigns - straight from Google.

Watch this week’s episode for more information!…

These days, Google searches are much more personalized and localized. For example, when a consumer types in a search query at their home it produces different results to the exact same search conducted at their office 30 miles away.



And, to further complicate matters, consumers increasingly shop and conduct their research using multiple devices, making it that much…

Chapter 1: Get Prepared

It’s time to get ready for NADA100!  For the automotive industry, this is one of the BIGGEST, BADDEST events around, and that means you need to be on your toes.  A convention this big isn’t for the faint of heart—and it’s not for the unprepared.  Here’s what you need to know…

In their new book, The Intuitive Customer, authors Colin Shaw and Ryan Hamilton contend that companies that try to fight declining customer satisfaction by lowering prices are going about customer satisfaction the wrong way. Instead, they state that the magic to winning customer loyalty is based on…

Not too long ago your service department could rely on seeing customers fairly frequently, but as vehicles have increased in quality, so have the OEM’s suggested service intervals – some are now as much as 15,000 miles between oil changes.

To put this into perspective, in the past, if a customer drove 15,000 miles annually they would visit the dealership on…

Dealerships that are winning in today’s marketplace have one thing in common.  They embrace innovation with enthusiasm.

Why?  Because they know that to edge out the competition and capture the attention of modern consumers, they need to consistently be a step ahead.  A step ahead of those who resist change.  A step ahead of those who insist on doing it…

Are you creating advertising opportunities in your Facebook Live videos? Now, you can have the ability to broadcast commercials or other advertisements in your Facebook Live video. 

In this week's Hard Facts episode, Samantha reveals a way that you can increase the value of your live broadcast. Watch now!…

DMPs are a topic gaining escalating attention as we head into 2017. A dark cloud of big, irrelevant data still lingers above the automotive industry, just waiting to be analyzed. What are DMPs? For those of you that don’t know, the acronym stands for Data Management Platforms. Think of a DMP…

Imagine your salespeople starting each day with the most important sales training program available? With The Mar-Kee Group’s new, revolutionary 90 Day Boot Camp, training just got a lot easier for managers…

Between endless meetings, work-related tasks and familial responsibilities it probably seems as if you’re continuously pulled in different directions. Our society has devolved into a place where we often fail to stop and notice important things, simply because we’re so busy satisfying the needs and wants from those we love, or to those whom we have to…

“There are two things you must do to get anything in life you want,” my father would tell me. After turning 15 1/2, it became time to test this strategy out.

The first part of the deal, I had already nailed; maintaining an A average throughout junior high school. This first condition, I must admit, was pretty easy to do. For years learning, and learning of any kind,…

The automotive industry has a sales department staffing problem – and a big one. In fact, NADA has placed the yearly turnover rate as high as 70 percent. Dealerships are in constant hiring mode to keep their sales floor staffed with enough employees to provide coverage for their floor traffic and to follow up with customers and prospects.

Since customer…

Car shoppers still hate to visit dealerships. Ask them why and they'll tell you they don't like pushy salespeople, they're afraid of being ripped off and that buying a car still takes too much time (among other reasons).

In an attempt to banish these customer fears, dealerships come up with marketing slogans like, "No haggle guarantee," and "Your friendly…

If you’re like most dealers, you may feel that you don’t want to inundate your customers with mail. However, the issue is that your competitors are most likely sending mail to the same customers that you’re trying so hard not to overwhelm.



It’s difficult to decide whether to mail regularly or spontaneously. You may be asking yourself: is there an equation to…

How do I keep productive at work? What should I do when there’s no floor traffic? Who should I spend time calling? I hear these questions all the time from my new clients.

Although most of us do need a little down time to stay sharp, it should never be more than a very small percentage of our day in sales. Once we accept the fact that we are in control of our own pay…

I was live on Facebook...did you catch it? Learn why change is such a necessary evil by clicking the video below.

We’d…

You already know your customers are online learning about the products and services they’re considering.  And you’re probably ready to jump in the ring and share some of your own dealership content to hook them on your brand—which is awesome.  But before you start throwing articles, pics, and videos online, there are a few things to remember. …

Have you asked yourself this question lately, is my dealership communicating properly? On average smartphone users in the United States send 764 text messages and place 164 phone calls per month. Without a doubt, younger users skew the data, but even people aged 55 to 64 text on average 80 times per month and 65+ text on average 32 times per…

Has Retail Automotive Failed The People It Serves?

Most dealers would disagree, but numerous studies have shown that consumers are dissatisfied with the traditional sales process and would avoid it if they had viable alternatives.

Customer Centric

In order for car dealerships to compete in an era where digital disruption is continually…