“What are your goals?” is the common question I present to clients and prospects. “We want to grow,” is the common response I get from dealers who have found a way to make decent money in indecent times. And as though we were talking about bu

How many times over the past 10 years have you heard the following words/phrases…. customer loyalty, owner loyalty, customer retention, reward programs, loyalty programs? The folks at Twitter use the term “trending” to describe popular stor

J.W. “Bill” Marriott, Jr. is chairman and chief executive officer of Marriott International, Inc., one of the world’s largest lodging companies. The successor of the highly successful hotel change is a brilliant leader who clearly understan

For better or worse, reality TV has taken network programming by storm. Like you, I have gotten hooked on “Storage Wars”, “American Pickers”, “Desert Car Kings” and others. I am convinced by the booming success of reality shows that a lot

The decline in new car sales that began in 2008 had a predictable outcome: less late-model vehicles on the road and on the service drive. The bad news: J.D. Power and Associates says there are 63 million vehicles on the road under five years old. Thi

I’ve had chocolate chip cookies on my mind lately. The reason? I can’t eat them the way I used to, thanks to a daily diet and exercise regimen I’ve adopted. I’ve come to (reluctantly) embrace the “new me” because I now understand its rewa

In my last column in the August 2012 issue of Dealer magazine “So Ya Wanna be a Technician,” I provided a dose of technician reality for the unwashed. “Technicianing,” fortunately for you Mr./Ms. Manager, is a type of physical and mental addi

Ever have a salesperson get you on the phone when you’re busy, only to infuriate you to a frazzle with “Isn’t it a beautiful day, Mr. Boldebook? I don’t want to take up a lot of your time, but I’m sure you would be interested in hearing abo

My team and I recently concluded a large number of spend assessments, across many dealerships, in various cities, under various ownership structures.  We interviewed many dealer principals and CFO’s as a routine part of our process and as such, I