The intention of a loyalty program is to show your customers that they are appreciated and encourage them to choose your business over any competition. These programs can create value and generate lifetime relationships with customers -- as long as the experience remains consistently pleasant.

However, a trend currently rearing its head in the loyalty…

The subject of recalls has provided plenty of fodder for some in the media. Certainly, vehicle recalls are an explosive issue that places dealerships on the front lines of consumer anger and frustration. At the same time, dealers are also positioned to resolve the situation, restoring the consumer’s confidence in the brand and solidifying or commencing relationships. …

The car business is a people business. Because of that, dealerships see customers from a variety of backgrounds, income levels and credit histories. And, for a salesperson or manager, there’s nothing more disheartening than to spend a lot of time with a customer just to discover that they are credit challenged. Despite that, many dealerships will do their best to land the…

A brand-new survey just completed by drivingsales.com gives clear insight into why you need to be ramping up your skills for selling to female drivers if you want to excel in today’s marketplace.  That and the fact that female Customers influence 80% of all car buying decisions should bring this home to anyone who makes their living…

How many times have you been driving to someplace new in your vehicle – say to a concert – and, as you get closer, you end up following the large group of cars, as you assume they are going to the concert too, and that they know where they’re going?

This phenomenon is called the “herd mentality” and is very common in the animal world. Think of the behavior of…

Promoting an exciting and informative environment for your Service Customers is a must for modern customers. Today’s service customers have high expectations when they come to your dealership.  Besides the quality of care they anticipate and demand, the service area itself must be clean, up-to-date and inviting from the moment customers…

Very few sales managers would punish a salesperson upon receiving a complaint that they are calling, e-mailing or texting a customer too much. In fact, after assuring the customer that they will have the salesperson stop, that sales manager will probably follow up by giving the salesperson a high five. And, to ensure this communication can happen, most dealerships lay down…

Dealerships are constantly working to increase their website conversion – and for good reason. Organic conversions typically see the highest closing rates. However, I frequently encounter dealerships that wonder why they aren’t getting higher conversion rates, despite adding the latest gizmo or widget. Conversion rate optimization is tricky.…

When I first started in the Automotive Industry in the 1990’s (I will not tell you how early so I don’t embarrass myself, but let’s just say it was early), I remember sitting in sales meetings and having the GM ask us over and over again “Why are they (customers) calling the dealership?” We (the sales team) would all shout out like some scene from George Orwell’s “1984” in…

One of the fastest growing practices that dealerships are utilizing to increase sales is prescreening a Service Customer that has either made an appointment to have work done on a vehicle or just shows up. In addition, there are numerous companies that offer equity calculations not only on vehicles that bought from the dealership but even those that did not. The “Auto…

If you’re on any social media platform, there’s no doubt that you’ve seen or heard of a multitude of topics where someone somewhere was offended. Not counting obvious religious, political or other volatile topics - there are many that seem, well, baffling. Take for example, the University of Ottawa’s decision to cancel its yoga class over concerns that cultural…

There is a group of people that seems to sit in limbo when it comes to dealership marketing messages, especially when it comes to service. This group of people tend to have cars in the 2-year old range. Yes, they’re probably getting the dealer’s random e-mail messages with service coupons. But, this is also the time when these vehicle owners may have to start shelling out…

When done properly, Google Ads are an effective piece in any multi-channel marketing strategy. The ability to target traffic to specific behavior and keyword searches is invaluable. Well, Google is now following in the footsteps of Facebook and Twitter and on September 27…

Recall campaigns can easily be one of the most lucrative service opportunities. Sadly, however, most dealers only reach about a third of the potential recall customers in their area. This is because they simply comb through their DMS and any information received from the factory for owners in their PMA. Personally, I feel this is a very shortsighted approach…

Dealers struggle all of the time trying to find value in social media marketing - Facebook in particular, and hesitate when deciding whether Facebook (or social media marketing in general) is worth their time, effort or money.

Perhaps it’s because they don’t see direct results? They may be looking for a straight line…

An interesting study has been going on for the last 6 month over at Twitter. As it was increasingly seeing users use the platform for brand interactions, the company decided to see just how much of an impact those interactions had. Users were identified that had at some point interacted with a brand’s Twitter account for customer service and 14,000 were…

Today’s customers are fickle creatures -- one misstep and they never return. So, how is a dealership supposed to identify true customer loyalty if it can’t simply be judged by repeat business?

According to an article in Inc., the Disney…

In today’s fast-paced world, it’s hard for businesses to cut through the noise. Consumers are bombarded with advertising messages across all mediums from companies that claim they, or their product, is the best. Generally, these messages go in one ear and out the other.

So, how do you get the attention of today’s message-fatigued…

Most dealers close between twenty to thirty percent of the leads submitted through their own website. With that kind of close rate, its no wonder the prevailing wisdom is the more leads you can get, the better. To a certain extent this is true, but the quality of your leads is even more important than the quantity of leads. The more high-quality leads you get,…

One of the key metrics to look at when gauging the health of your Facebook page is the “People Engaged” metric. This tells you how many of your pages’ fans are interacting with you, as well as those that are interacting but are not fans of your page. The higher that percentage, the more organic reach your posts will achieve. You obviously want people talking about your…