If you're in auto sales, the term "TGIF" - Thank God It's Friday! - probably has little meaning to you. In this industry, Fridays are spent gearing up for the weekend. Speaking of which, do you know what your weekend is looking like? 

To answer this all-important question, it's a good idea for General Sales Managers to sit down on Friday morning and review a…

While the automotive industry has seen massive technology changes in the last 5 years, there is a continuing trend where some OEMs partner with specific vendors and then take away the freedom of choice for forward-thinking dealers. Mandates are enforced where franchised dealers must choose between 2-3 vendors for a particular solution.

This practice can be…

If you're in dealership management you're probably familiar with the routine. No matter how great your intentions are to keep a steady sales pace all month, it’s month-end and you're playing catch up. Even worse, sometimes you believe it's going to be a great month until a nasty number shows up on your balance sheet during the last week.

Ultimately it's the…

At the recent Adobe Summit, executive vice president and general manager, Brad Rencher, advised businesses that if they wish to survive in the future, they have to become “experience businesses.” He feels this is what will separate market leaders from…

In the wake of the backlash from the recent United Airlines incident, it has been widely reported that many airline CEO’s salaries are, at least in part, connected to customer satisfaction scores. In the case of United’s CEO Oscar Munoz, poor customer satisfaction ratings can cost him…

Columbus, OH (April 5, 2017) – Clarivoy, the auto industry’s leading provider of Multi-Touch Attribution, today announced it has hired Benjamin M. Hadley, formerly Senior Sales Director at Dealer.com, as Vice President of Strategy. In his new role Hadley will be responsible for account growth and extension sales, facilitating…

If you are evaluating Data mining for your dealership, the technology is a profitable servant only when integrated into the correct selling process and executed by properly trained users. The right training makes this process second nature to users, which means their interaction with customers will not sound over-promising or like a sales pitch. A data mining based…

Live chat has become the leading method for online customer support. Businesses are able to engage with more and more customers through online channels. Want to know why your business should use live chat for support?

Customers simply love live chat. It is one of the best ways to enjoy instant communication with a company. It also leads to the…

An article last month in USA Today, revealed that General Motors plans to dramatically cut the warranty coverage on Chevrolet and GMC vehicles beginning with 2016 models. Additionally, GM is halving those brands’ maintenance-free programs. According to…

A lesson on building your own Digital Network, and getting away from 3rd party vendors!

Most dealerships E commerce managers believe they are at the top of the technology game when they pay for large budgets that serve up ads, based on IP addresses, or cookie based ads. With the age of revolving IP addresses and cookie awareness, this form of advertising is losing ground quickly, no one has a static IP anymore, and consumers do not even pay attention to those…

Forgive me for saying this, but from where I now stand, it is quite apparent to me that there is way more opportunity for improving profitability than most dealership managers are aware of. I certainly know looking back on my career (and I thought I was very pro-active) that there was so much more opportunity to be realized than I was able to completely grasp at the time.

Most people agree that there is more upside potential left on the table, they are just not…

Most Monday mornings I find myself standing in NCM Institute’s beautiful training facility in Kansas City, welcoming a new class of dealership managers who come to us for formalized training specific to their job responsibilities. Even before introductions, sometimes I will ask the class some questions:

“How many of you, when you interviewed for your first job in the car business were shown a written job description and job objectives or expectations that you would…

This is the second installment in a two-part series by Steve Hall. To read Part One, click here. 

This is the second installment in a …

This article was written by Robin Cunningham and was originally published on the NCM Institute Up to Speed blog. 

Is it just me, or does it seem like so much of what we take for granted in life is a zero-sum game?…

GM Releases Information On The Future Of Its Connected Car Strategy:

But The REAL Questions Are:

• What does this mean for the future of in-car connectivity?

• Why does this matter for my dealership?

Debrief ---------------

Mary Chan, General Motor’s President of the Global Connected…

This article was written by Steve Hall. 

Follow this Recipe for Better Results

Summer in Kansas City is the time to smoke, grill and barbecue. The other day I was putting together my special rib sauce and it occurred to me that cooking is a lot like managing. Cooking when you have a great recipe is a lot easier –­ and the results are consistently better ­if you’re…

Minneapolis, MN – AutoMotion, the leader in mobile apps for automotive dealers, announces General Motors iMR approval for the AutoMotion Dealer App product. All General Motors dealers can now use iMR funds with the leading mobile app solution to drive more sales and service revenue from customers on the go. General Motors approved the…

This article was written by Bob Sloan and was originally published on the NCM Institute Up to Speed blog. 

Car count is one of the primary metrics for measuring growth in the service department. An increase usually leads to additional shop hours produced and gross profit. A decrease is a call to action to determine the cause(s) as well as develop a plan to…

This article was written byJoe Basil and was originally published on the NCM Institute Up to Speed blog. 

As the great recession started to unfold in 2008 and 2009, gasoline prices rose above four dollars a gallon, the banking and housing industry began to collapse, unemployment rose and auto sales fell off the charts. Those dealerships that came…