In my early years in the auto retail industry a dealer told me, “You cannot cut your way to a profit.” At the time, the comment perplexed me. It seemed to ignore a fundamental business fact. Specifically, profit is simply the difference between y

Dealers need to be wary of “warranty repair shoppers.” Sometimes, for various reasons, a car owner has decided he or she wants out of the vehicle. The disgruntled consumer is convinced the car is a “lemon” and nothing will change that person�

If you ask 10 service managers to define the perfect pay plan for service advisors, you will get ten different answers. Few topics stir the emotions of management and employees more than that of personal income. Over the years, I have worked with tho

If process is the foundation of superior Internet sales performance, then structure and people are what leverage that foundation to create success. Implement the right structure and people and your sales will soar. What structure and people optimize

While I was on a conference call with a dealer-client the other day, the Dealer Principal commented on the fact that his Internet sales manager had just reported that last month was “a record month for the BDC.” The dealer principal responded ver

I was making a 20 group presentation not long ago and someone said to me, “We need technicians and we can’t find them.” Wow! That was music to my ears. We are really starting to turn the corner it appears. Hopefully, we all have learned one thi

Bass Sox Mercer (our law firm) handled arbitration filings for 74 GM and Chrysler dealers seeking reinstatement of their franchises. Almost one-half of those dealers were reinstated very early in the process, primarily by GM. The remainder of those m

Are you as amazed as I am that the year is almost over? The good news is you still have ample time to pump up the volume in 2010 but you may have to re-think your traditional advertising mindset. In some markets the political ads for this mid-term el

The Jeff Wyler Automotive Family, one of the top 50 dealer groups, has been a mainstay in the Cincinnati area for several years. Straight talking Kevin Frye, a former naval pilot and the group’s e-commerce director, shares his perspective on today�