In late April, a massive F4 force tornado slammed through Alabama and western Georgia, costing lives and billions of dollars in damage. Most national news coverage of this storm’s wrath has focused on its impact on the citizenry, yet untold busines

What truly distinguishes JM Lexus?   The nine-hole putting green for customers on the rooftop of the service center? The fact that JM Lexus is the largest volume Lexus dealer in the world, and has been since 1992?   That its parent company, JM Fami

The growth of technology and particularly the Internet has made it possible for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), like car dealers, to accomplish much of their marketing and advertising without outside assistance. For example, every dealer sh

Once, service and parts were considered as one… Back when our industry began, a little more than a century ago, most dealerships were primarily repair shops or custom coach builders. service, parts and body repairs were all together and the busines

When I started in this business those were the only three things you needed to succeed: asphalt, octane and a Cross pen. It was an interesting time September 1971. I had gone to several new car dealerships in my little home town of Columbus, Georgia.

The area code on the caller ID was the same area code where the week’s consulting engagement found me. I assumed it was someone from one of the dealerships calling about something. To my horror, the voice on the other end started out with “Mr. Va

A few years back I authored an article for Dealer magazine exploring the two basic types of customers considering the purchase of a vehicle. The ‘Wanna Buys’ who are interested in trading up for no other reason than they just ‘want to,’ and t

A few times each year, I ask one of my law partners to prepare a guest article for this column. BSM partner, Robert Bass, has graciously provided an article addressing an important but often forgotten aspect of any franchise sale transaction – valu

Your prospect database is one of the most valuable marketing tools for determining what you could do to get those few extra deals per month. Let’s say you sell 200 cars a month. If you have a 30% closing ratio, which means you see about 667 prospec