Dealerships are routinely overcharged by suppliers for supplies and services – costing dealerships thousands of dollars annually. In our spend management practice, we have the opportunity to audit supplier compliance across 100-plus expense categor

Team building at its best grows the store – step 4 Recently a dealer shared with me that business with his competitors was like war. That comment got me thinking a bit about combat and how to win battles, which in turn yielded some thought provokin

Every once in a while in my profession I’ll be standing in front of a class and from somewhere mysteriously golden words will roll off my tongue. In a Los Angeles class I taught approximately one year ago, we had discussed how the “best of the be

When television icon Dick Clark passed away earlier this spring, there was a wave of nostalgia that swept through social media posts, television broadcasts and newspaper articles. What struck me most was, no matter how much the world around him chang

Any time I break the light in the door of a dealership there is discussion on the topic of leadership. Common comments include: “I don’t know who will lead the group after I am gone”, “We cannot find good people who want to lead”, “My kid

Note: This is the first of a three-part series on a subject that needs more that a single column to do it justice, because women are critical to your success. There are thousands of intelligent and well-qualified women candidates out there that could

The auto dealership business is very cyclical. It goes up and down with the economy. When the economy is strong, auto sales usually rise. Alternatively, when the economy is weak, auto sales usually fall. The most recent cycle was a particularly drama

As we anticipated, the 2010 census data has made its way through the manufacturers’ computer systems and has resulted in changes to many dealers’ areas of responsibility. Chrysler, Ford, Nissan and Toyota have already sent notices to dealers of c

Independent garages are not your enemy, and in many ways, are not even your competitors; fast lubes and tire stores aren’t, either. The customer-pay automotive maintenance and repair business is a $207 billion annual industry. Of that amount, $28.5