Auto Retail News

How many email addresses do you have in your DMS database?  Most have less than 25%.  You might want to do a count today to see what progress you’ve made collecting email addresses. What if you needed to tell all your customers about a rebate tha

The 10th Digital Dealer Conference & Exposition in Orlando last month was the best ever.  One major concern though:  I still hear way too many dealers and partners say, “We can’t handle the calls.”  Yes you can! Train everyone to “huma

Do you really know what your customers think about your business? In a previous article, I spoke about the growth of social networks like Facebook and Twitter as key venues consumers use to share feedback about your dealership. With over 50 million t

Heavy title, I know. As those of you who attended last month’s 10th Digital Dealer Conference and Exposition might remember, David Kain and I recently completed a nearly year-long study on what truly separates successful Internet dealers from the r

I spend as much time outside of the car business today as I do in it and many of the online marketing professionals I interact with there have recently told me small is cool to customers. Small businesses, they say, have a personality, flavor and sen

We work with multiple dealer groups, and they all have their own preferences on how inventory and leads are routed.  Some have two OEM flags under one roof and share a DMS, others have multiple rooftops and one pre-owned lot with each running their

For the first 100 years of the automotive industry, the main thing you heard about at 20 group meetings, conventions and regional dealer gatherings, was customer satisfaction. With a decline in automotive dealerships and an increase in aftermarket se

Proper documentation has been a frequent theme of my articles. Dealerships face potential pitfalls if they fail to document all customer visits accurately. I have tried to offer readers explanations as to why each and every visit by a consumer should

Interacting with informed customers can be a challenge as dealers try to overcome their concerns throughout the shopping process. In this month’s article, I provide practical tools to help salespeople conquer this obstacle. Please keep in mind that