Urbandale, IA--January 5th, 2014--Flick Fusion (www.flickfusion.com) today announced a collaboration with ZMOT Auto (www.ZMOTauto.com), a leading automotive digital velocity firm, to produce vehicle inventory videos with voiceovers in a conversational style for Spanish-speaking car buyers. Auto dealerships that cater to a Spanish-speaking clientele can now include inventory videos as part of a comprehensive…

Myths are dangerous things. They are invented from misinformation and the unknown.  For example, only a few thousand years ago it was generally believed that if you sailed too far out to sea, you would fall off the end of the earth. It was only when man dared to sail out beyond where they had previously sailed that they proved the myth wrong. There was a time when people actually believed that the moon was made of cheese. That was disproven with the aid of powerful telescopes. Or how about…

Urbandale, IA--December 22nd, 2014--Flick Fusion (www.flickfusion.com) today introduced VidMagnet^TM, a powerful addition to inventory videos that leverages Video SEO (VSEO) and drives more traffic from YouTube and other video websites to auto dealer websites. When a dealership sells a vehicle featured in an inventory video, normally that video is removed from the Internet. With VidMagnet, the video stays on the Internet indefinitely…

So I have a friend who called me up in late June and asked me for some help.  His daughter, who had graduated college the year before, was having trouble finding a job.  He knew I’m in the automotive industry and wanted to know if there might be an opportunity for his daughter. Knowing Tammy, I was thrilled to think that this bright young woman would have an interest in an industry that I love so much. 

Although her college had been paid for, Tammy, not one to be idle, worked…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Urbandale, IA--November 10th, 2014--Flick Fusion (www.flickfusion.com), today announced a partnership with Lighthouse Technology Team (LT2) to bring video marketing solutions to the commercial truck, equipment, cycle, recreational vehicle (RV) and power sports industries. Effective immediately, the Flick Fusion video platform will enable dealers in these industries to showcase their vehicles and…

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Urbandale, IA--October 27th, 2014--Flick Fusion (www.flickfusion.com), the industry's leading video marketing provider, today released InstaVid, an automated video production service that instantly creates and distributes new and pre-owned inventory videos for auto dealers. In many dealerships, the average time it takes to get photos of inventory for listings and videos is two to three days. InstaVid…

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Urbandale, IA--October 13th, 2014--Flick Fusion (www.flickfusion.com), the industry's leading video marketing provider, today launched Autoflicks^TM for auto dealers, live action videos that provide car shoppers with a virtual test drive experience for every vehicle in a dealer's inventory. Autoflicks are available for nearly every make and model and are designed to drive customers to a…

One of the many byproducts of training in so many dealerships is that you get to observe all the different ways people do things. Like how they answer the phone or talk to a customer in the service drive.

Over the years, I’ve made it a point to take note of some of the ways Advisors and Managers blow their customer up in the service drive and I thought I would share with you my observations and my Top 5.…

Today's Daily Tune Up @CarBizToday http://bcove.me/lahzhkit on the effects of being negative around customers.

Uncle Carl, who owned a chain of stores in Indiana, said it best. "Show up to work right on time and set yourself up for mediocrity. Show up 5 minutes early and you create job security; 15 minutes early and you will likely someday be in management; 30 minutes early and you will likely own the company someday."

Uncle Carl's advice is sound. How many times have you shown up early and had people waiting, or witnessed someone pulling in at quitting time, as the rest of the staff…

Happy Fourth of July!

I love the 4th of July and everything it stands for. It is the pinnacle of summer. It’s family, it's friends, and it's fun.

From the celebration of the very first one, our forefathers new the 4th of July would be a date that would be celebrated indefinitely. As a matter of fact, John Adams, in a letter to his wife Abigail, said this about the 4th of July, once the declaration of independence was signed and passed by the continental congress. "I am…

There was a recent article in "Automotive News" regarding the Lithia group's success with service drive VSC sales.  Here is a link to that article  http://www.autonews.com/article/20130408/RETAIL07/304089992/service-lane-focus-lifts-lithias-f&i-sales# 

Our agency, AGS Direct, introduced service drive VSC sales to this dealer group in 2009.  We realized, after…

During the analysis and evaluation we conduct prior to starting a training program the question of ethics and standard business practices we train on usually requires some explanation. In other words, Dealer Principals and General Managers want to hear from us that we conduct our training programs ethically and professionally.

If I were to stand in a room full of Dealer Principals and ask "Who in here believes that the best way to take care of a customer is to sell extra or un-needed…

ALBANY, N.Y. – December 16th, 2013 – Auto/Mate Dealership Systems (http://www.automate.com) announced today that its dealership management system (DMS) is integrated with two of the five modules in MOC1 Solutions' Fixed Ops SDS^TM (Service Drive Suite) technology platform. Auto/Mate has completed full integration with MOC1 Solutions' Track and Schedule products and is in the process of integrating with their three remaining modules…

Helpful…or Professional…which of these sound better?

If you are like a lot of Dealers and General Managers hiring “helpful” people always seems to be the right call. The belief is that you can develop someone into becoming a Professional. While I don’t disagree with this practice, what I find all across the country is the opposite of helpful or Professional.

Because we train all across the country, we have exposure to every make and model of vehicle in every kind of Dealership,…

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…

A new report released by Maritz Research recently claims that four in 10 customers are not even test driving their cars before purchasing. This is an astounding number of consumers, even if half of them didn’t tell the truth.

This phenomenon of customers bypassing the test drive can actually cause a backlash of issues…

A new study shows that a new breed of “digital test drivers” are completely skipping the dealership sales process. More than 10% of new-car shoppers are buying vehicles without even seeing them in person. To me, this seems like buying a…

How many times have I asked a sales person, "Have they driven the car?" Do you have any idea how many times I hear, They drove it at the other dealer or they don't have time to drive it or my favorite. They already own one that is three years old.  Really?  You are going to waste all that time on a write up when your chances of closing a deal without a demo…

The 2012 NADA Convention exhibitor hall was very active this year making the selection of the PCG SpotLight Award winners even more challenging.

This year five companies that attended the 2012 NADA Convention were selected by PCG as having outstanding products that will benefit the dealer community.

Dominion Be Back…