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…

Hey Car Dealer: Stop Letting Carvana (and Everyone Else) Define You! 

If you believe the corporate manifestos and marketing pitches of every automotive retail-related startup for the last twenty years, then you’d think America’s car dealerships are staffed by a bunch of puppy-kicking thieves providing zero value as they work overtime to deliver the absolute…

Your customer is knee-deep in the car-buying process and ready for the final part, the car financing. Finally, after hours of deal making, they sign the terms.

But in your customer’s mind, was the long process worth it?

It’s a New World Out There

The car-buying process has been turned upside down by the advent of online…

The statistics are there: car buyers spend 59 percent of their time online before they purchase car, according to a 2016 study from Cox Automotive. This same study cited 88 percent of customers used the internet to purchase their vehicle and 46 percent use multiple devices to get to a dealer’s website, with 14 percent using only a mobile statistic.

Why are…

Whether you are the biggest shipper of PCs worldwide, a local bakery, or a small Mid-Western car dealership – you need to provide your customers with the best service support – and resolve all emerging issues in almost an instant.

Why? Your clients are demanding it.

SMS and other …

Car sales today are a whole different process from how it was in the past. A few years ago it was pretty much a given that buying a car could easily encompass most of the day. In addition, little information was available to the consumer and the dealer had the upper hand in negotiations.

As the Internet has grown and evolved, and as information has become…

Facing troubles while booking a cab in the metro cities is a prevalent issue and this seems much more challenging in the rush hours. Even a few years ago, the scenario was the same, but with the introduction of an online taxi booking system, the situation has improved. Now, the people in the cities are getting habituated with the online booking…

Has Retail Automotive Failed The People It Serves?

Most dealers would disagree, but numerous studies have shown that consumers are dissatisfied with the traditional sales process and would avoid it if they had viable alternatives.

Customer Centric

In order for car dealerships to compete in an era where digital disruption is continually…

A question that often arises in talking about Multi-Touch Sales Attribution, one of Clarivoy’s core products, is: “How are you doing anything different from what Google Analytics already does for me?”

Well, Multi Touch Sales Attribution incorporates offline sales data and connects ALL the online AND offline marketing touchpoints on a consumer’s purchase path to…

Before the Internet people chose who to do business with based on their community and word-of-mouth. There were no review sites. Now, however, review sites are flourishing -- just about every third party listing service has adopted them and there are many stand-alone services too.

Consumers increasingly conduct their research online during their car shopping…

People buy everything online these days. Or do they? In reality, there are some items people simply prefer to touch, see, feel, taste, smell, or drive before they consider signing on the dotted line or forking over their credit card. Several automotive leaders have…

In my many discussions with dealers, the one question that invariably comes up is “What is online retailing, really?” They’ll then begin to tell me how consumers can already buy a car online from them. They have a widget with which a consumer can get their trade value. They have an online payment calculator. Customers can submit a lead, get a quote online and even correspond…

The automotive industry pretty much resets at the beginning for each month. I’m sure you’ve all heard the term, “hero to zero.” Well, that’s rather how it is – you are judged on your sales for the previous month.

So, what do managers do when they get nervous in the middle of the month – perhaps sales volumes aren’t on track, or inventory is making them…

  If so, I would like to explore a partnership with your company. My company is Palm Beach County Affordable Online Marketing (PBCASEO) www.pbcaseo.com ;

I am 30-year veteran of the automobile industry with successful experience in sales, F&I, Special Finance and sales management – both wholesale and retail. I now own an…

Your blog is a great avenue that you can use for effectively marketing your products and services. This is an advantage at your disposal and your competitors are already using it. What are you waiting for? Here are 5 tips you can use to increase your blog’s effectiveness in marketing your products.

•          Use Social Media Sites–…

Consumers increasingly use their smartphones to research which businesses they should patronize. These days, online reviews are a big part of that decision process. If managed incorrectly, these reviews can easily flip your prospective customer away from your dealership and into the lap of your competition. And it’s not just a bad review, it’s how you respond to them and…

There was a time when dealerships hated the internet.  I know, it’s hard to believe. What is interesting is that while most dealerships have learned to embrace the internet, many still feel it is an obstacle to overcome, a nuisance that interferes with the old adage: “Say anything you need to get them in here!” But here’s the deal- I am hearing that people are only…

The Online Perception

Perhaps Buzz is a bit naive... or... maybe Woody has had a bad experience in the past. (For those of you who don't have have kids, I am referencing the image above.) The bottom line is that you have 2 different characters, with 2 different reactions to the same activity: buying vehicles online.  I selected this image because I think it truly reflects the current state of online remarketing as we continue to transition…

I frequently talk about the current industry disrupters taking sales from dealers – the Beepis, Vrooms and Carvanas, amongst others. These companies snuck up on dealers and, with little warning, jumped into the spotlight and sucked investors into a future Nirvana of car buying bliss. They are currently blasting feel good messages to consumers portraying car dealerships as inconvenient -- pushing a message of an easy buying experiences which, unsurprisingly, consumers (and investors) have…