Dealerships are jumping into Social Media and I’m excited. But who’s going to manage the beast? Back when the Internet was emerging, dealers or GM’s would assign someone in the store to handle it ‘in their spare time’. I was one of those. Today, dealers should be cautious

using this same tactic for Social Media. As we found out with the Internet, Social Media is not a fad that will be gone in a few…

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“Maintain your profit margins at 45% C/P Parts and 75% C/P Labor” says Don Reed, CEO of DealerPro Training Solutions.



Maintaining your profit margins is not always easy, and it’s not getting any easier! If you are struggling with profit margins, the first thing you must do is measure what you are getting.



The financial statement is the place to look. On your financial you will find month end data as well as year to date. What we want to take a look at it is the month end… Continue

AdAgencyOnline.Net is a networking / resource portal where automotive advertising agencies are able to review cutting edge automotive advertising vendors and their applications. Philip Zelinger, the President of Ad Agency Online, L.L.C. and host of the blog talk radio station WAAOL, All…

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Since Google has integrated Google Places into organic search it is clear that there is no greater search marketing priority for car dealers than to start an Internet Reputation Management (IRM) process. That IRM program cannot focus on one review site but must focus on multiple review websites.

I take the position that a local dealer needs to have at least 100 positive reviews and in more competitive markets, TWICE the number of…

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In our world there is a constant search for “better.”



Better personnel, better systems, better procesess, better sales…you get the idea.



Is there “better” out there in Fixed Operations?



Sure. In recent years software and computers have made getting every conceivable report possible and as easy as a press of the button.



Software applications like ASR Capture from Reverse Risk is a prime example. Here is an application that does nearly everything that old… Continue

100% of doing exactly the same thing next year as what you did this year will yield you 100% of the same results.



100% of Personnel in your Dealership who do not receive any Training will perform exactly the same next year as they did this year.



100% of the Processes you used this year to get the results you now have will give you exactly 100% of the same results next year.



100% of the of the Profit you made this year comes from 100% of the Personnel you… Continue

SEO for Car Dealers has been hugely important for years now, but the recent changes at Google have made strong SEO that much more powerful in driving traffic to your websites.



The changes really come down to three things:

• Places (the maps listings) have moved to the right sidebar and stay persistent with the page as you scroll down.
• The organic ranking algorithm now controls the rankings on Places.
• Reviews are now visible on your standard Google…

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The greatest single feeling of accomplishment you can experience as a Trainer is one where someone you are Training suddenly…Gets It.



And right in front of you… before your very eyes, there is a Change.



See, in Training, change is mostly slow, frequently subtle, hard to see and sometimes hard to measure. It requires energy, time, committment, belief, knowledge, skill, communication, background, application and mostly… Will Power.



So, when someone “Gets It” and… Continue

Yesterday I had the privilege of addressing a room of Service Managers and Factory Personnel. And I have to believe that everyone in that room was there to find or gather some new information that would help them take action on something that might be causing them some problems at their Dealerships.



Why would you attend if you had no hope of getting something, right? I hope that everyone one of them got something that they can use right away at their Dealership this week, something…

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You know I love all of you guys. Hell I have worked with all of you at one point or another.

I remember the very first training session I was instructed to go to and Give, Give, Give just pops in there.

To this day I have to say that the principles taught by Grant Cardone have always been where the reality of selling cars lives. All of you are great, not as good as me but you're good. <:)

Does anyone remember who originally had the device to beam from the lot to the…

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Do you feel like you are missing out on something? Are you confused as to what the next step is in making your dealership successful? It’s a different ballgame than it was even just a few years ago. The traditional dealership is dead and you must bury it to prosper in the future.…

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You may find this post a bit odd knowing that it is being written by a sales trainer. I believe traditional selling is dead on arrival. The days of hiring and building a well trained sales staff that executes all facets of the sale, follow up, prospecting, marketing, telephone skills and building a database of repeat buyers has for the most part been dead for a while.



Some of you reading this may be shocked or even angry at such a statement and declare that it is certainly not the…

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The traditional dealership is dead but some have not had their funeral yet. It seems as though as much as some things change in the auto industry, as many things stay the same. Every week our trainers observe things in dealerships that look and feel like the 1960's.



Let's take a look at some things still commonly observed in dealerships that are outdated and should be changed.



1) Manager towers - High towers built for managers where salespeople go to get their proposal…

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