Cross training and team building are critical Are your business development and Internet sales teams integrated with your experienced sales team, as documented in your store’s playbook? If you do not have a defined process with a back-up plan for e

‘Tiny’ wrote me a great letter recently on the ABCs of common sense advertising. ‘Tiny’ is a lawyer-turned-car dealer who married into an ‘automotive’ family in 1985. His real name is Pete but most of the world knows him as ‘Tiny’ fro

Business development seems to have many perceptions of its functionality. From my experience, Business development is more than a department. It is a mindset translated into a team’s actions or process. The foundation of business development is bas

Many dealerships perform bodywork and mechanical repairs on vehicles which have been in accidents. Generally these repairs are paid for by insurance companies who are doing their best to repair a consumer’s vehicle for the lowest possible cost. One

One of the first tasks that I had in a dealership was typing the daily heat sheet. The fact that I “typed” the heat sheet indicates how old I am and that I still remember this task shows how much of an impact this daily heat sheet had on me. For

Prior to becoming a dealer, Mike Reichenbach was a factory guy working at Ford Motor Co. After deciding automotive retail was the place to be and going to work for Tim Stewart Ford, Ford called on him three different times to act as interim general m

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�

Every time I do a 20 group, dealer state association meeting or anything where a group of dealers are gathered without their managers, I start hearing what used car managers will not do or adhere to, or what they want as policy. I have some recommend

What is the impact of word choice on sales? In a word, dramatic. When a customer submits a lead to a dealership, it is best practice to execute a multi-vehicle price quote within 10 minutes. It is also best practice to follow with a phone call in 10