Auto Retail News

Today’s progressive auto dealer faces three difficult challenges: limited scale, broad span and significant marketplace shift. How he responds to these three challenges will determine how successful his dealership will be. First there’s the issue

So, you’ve been assigned the responsibility to write the vehicle comments on behalf of your store. While this may be Internet Sales 101, it is more than apparent that dealers can use a refresher course now and again. As I research dealership after

With the end of 2010 in sight, it’s time for proactive dealers to begin finalizing their plans for 2011. Where will you be this time next year? What new products, services, processes or procedures will you pilot? What will be the makeup of your tea

One of the first tasks that I had in a dealership was typing the daily heat sheet. The fact that I “typed” the heat sheet indicates how old I am and that I still remember this task shows how much of an impact this daily heat sheet had on me. For

I hear this all the time, “If the dealer doesn’t buy in nothing happens.” Is it any surprise? The vendor or the manager inundates the dealer with all kinds of details he or she can’t process with everything else – and it takes a three-hour

Jim Flint, Director of Interactive Sales & Marketing for the John Eagle Group, in Texas, talks about how the group on track to sell 9,000 vehicles out of the Internet department this year, up from 7,000 in 2009. Tell us about the history of the J

Prior to becoming a dealer, Mike Reichenbach was a factory guy working at Ford Motor Co. After deciding automotive retail was the place to be and going to work for Tim Stewart Ford, Ford called on him three different times to act as interim general m

In my last column I wailed about free or dirt cheap oil changes, no appointments, and ridiculous commitments impossible to meet, which are too often creating the “perfect service storm.” Only this week I witnessed customer after customer

“Servant leadership” has been a business buzzword the past three decades. But in the 1,000 leadership presentations I’ve given in 14 countries over the past decade, I’ve discovered that many leaders have a misguided understanding of what it i