We live in an age addicted to the defense, “it’s not my fault.” Consider these examples: In 2002, Edward Brewer sued Providence Hospital for $2 million. He claimed that the hospital was negligent because it had not prevented him from raping one

The economy over the past few years have presented some pretty significant challenges to the sales and profitability side of the dealership business. Most dealerships responded to the 2008-2009 recession with an array of effective headcount reduction

Experience is the best teacher. One of the greatest benefits of the automotive industry is learning successful strategies from the veterans that have perfected those strategies. Although the dealership empire is very vast around the world, it is stil

Sometimes people need to be babysat. It happens. Inevitably someone will prioritize something (from attending a wedding to socializing on the showroom floor) over the basic duties asked of them at work, or assigned to them in their CRM. Your CRM is t

Dealers are exceptional at tracking their financials. They often recite from memory their monthly new car PVRs and net income, sometimes to the penny! They know their net to gross and net to sales ratios, as well as key balance sheet figures such as

Internet sales velocity comes from attacking process failure points. There are two that all too often occur just after arrival of a lead: failure to send a multi-vehicle price quote within 10 minutes, and failure to follow up with a phone call within

Some 30 years ago, one of my best friends in the car business gave me the greatest advertising lesson of my life. “Appeal to those who don’t think they can afford a vehicle, and watch your grosses grow.” Another of his favorite sayings was “J

At Bass Sox Mercer, we are receiving more and more calls from dealer clients concerning manufacturer advertising programs. The questions range from asking whether a manufacturer can set minimum advertising prices, to whether a manufacturer can enforc

It’s peculiar that on the day I sit to write this insurance article, America is hit with a swarm of medium sized earthquakes in places where quakes are rarely reported. Plus a potentially large hurricane (Irene) has set sights on the southeast coas