When you’re at low water mark in your life, people try to rescue you by saying that the failure you’re experiencing doesn’t “define” you. And I get it; the idea is to try to isolate the failure-to treat it as a one-time event and not a life without the possibility of parole kind of sentence.

You had no…

It is widely known that Service is the lifeblood of all dealerships and, in many cases, keeps dealerships financially in the black. With the inundation of service requests by consumers, largely due to the increasing amounts of recalls that we’ve seen in the last few years, service departments are finding it more difficult than ever to accommodate all of the customers that…

Many consider Michael Jordan one of the greatest, if not THE greatest, basketball player who ever lived. He also made some thought-provoking statements. One I find really interesting and words from which we can all learn is this:

“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I’ve been trusted to…

With the fourth-quarter in sight, now’s the time to be planning for ways to end the year strong and insure you maximize your dollars and their effectiveness.  One way is to make sure you evaluate how you maximize OEM reimbursements and move more inventory.  Co-op funds can substantially improve a dealer’s ROI by reimbursing up to 50% of your marketing spend.   Think about…

Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently tweeted that he wanted to take Tesla private, which has garnered a lot of attention. Hey, I realize that Tesla as a company can be a polarizing issue in our automotive industry. But this is something you may want to pay attention to.

Here’s…

Let me start by saying that I love to surf. Back in my younger days, I was able to qualify and had the opportunity to compete on the pro tour. At one point, I surfed Mavericks in Northern California which has waves in the 30 to 40-foot range. To illustrate, the waves are so big and heavy that you can’t just paddle out. I take this boat out and paddle to ride my first…

Department Managers have an enormous impact on your Dealerships Profitability. That impact can either be positive, or negative. The choice is really up to you. We would never let the coach on the field without a playbook and a strategy, yet as an industry we let our managers “play” every day without the skills and support to manager their teams. Ask yourself “do I have a…

Pick a number and live it every day, with every deal. The target could be a volume number, gross number or both. Sure, you will have other targets such as CSI or occasional targets set by the manufacturer for incentive purposes, but I’m talking about a number that simplifies your expectations and your agreement with all…

As an industry, we’re witnessing the largest shift and money grab in history -- from the likes of Carvana, Blinker, and Fair, to the possible entrance of Amazon into car buying.

And now, another huge retail company has decided to jump in… but in a way that dealers may be overlooking.

Walmart recently launched a used-car buying service in…

If you’ve been in the retail automotive industry for any length of time, you’ve seen how inaction is thought to be the best course of action. With today's evolving retail world where consumer’s can order oil and battery changes on Amazon, I’m sure there are many more changes that Amazon is hatching for the automotive industry.  If your attitude is that you are making money…

Marketing is an incredibly complicated and convoluted field which involves everything from direct marketing, to brand management, customer communications, social media, public relations and on and on. Whether you call the person responsible for your digital marketing efforts the “CMO,” or delegate these tasks to an Internet Manager at your dealership, the fact remains that…

The buzz today among vendors in the automotive industry is all about making the car buying transaction faster and more convenient for the consumer. I get it. Consumers think it takes too long to buy a car, so technology companies are inventing ways to trim down that transaction time. Sure, it may make car buying an easier and more convenient experience for consumers which,…

The never-ending question is… what does it take to earn customer loyalty? Of course, the answer changes all the time and that is what makes loyalty so confusing and difficult.

As technology continues to develop and improve, consumers have more access to information and aggressively compare prices and services. Businesses are constantly on their feet…

Columbus, OH, March 6, 2018-- Clarivoy, the auto industry’s most trusted source for optimizing the performance of marketing campaigns, today announced that it has hired Jessica Ruth, formerly Digital Program Manager at Dominion Dealer Solutions, as VP of Product.

Commenting on the new hire, Steve White,…

The way consumers can pay for goods has dramatically changed over time. From bartering, to cash, to checks, to debit cards, all these shifts had one thing in common: More convenience and reduced friction.

Well, what are consumers doing now?

According to…