The “successful” pricing of labor and parts is as mysterious as the reasoning behind the stupid jacked-up buttons on the ineptly named “Smart” key, which keeps opening the trunk and windows from the pocket every time a driver sits down in a n

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

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

Even as the United States began to emerge from recession in 2010, many economists were wary. With a tepid recovery at best, many economists warned that the United States could be headed for a double-dip recession. This summer’s debt ceiling debate,

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

Third quarter is almost over and only four months left to go in 2011 before we close the books. Hopefully sales are up over last year and growing. How is your profitability year to date? Are you meeting your profitability targets for 2011? If you are

Phil Cash believes that a good Internet sales manager is more likely to sell 16 units a month if he’s working 65 leads than if he’s working 120. How can that be? Why doesn’t more leads turn into more sales? Phil, the Internet director at San Ta