As 2013 gets underway and dealers begin to fine tune their lead source and advertising strategies, it’s no secret that the overwhelming majority of customers use the Internet to help them determine what car to buy and where to buy it. Although new-

In a friendly ‘catch-up’ conversation with a dealership general manager I’ve known for 15 years, the subject moved to advertising, what’s working, what’s not and how things have changed in the past 20 years. That’s how I heard the story o

By the time you are at the point of considering how you want to compensate your business development center team, you have committed to the program and have decided what type of BDC you will have: A large, full service BDC that includes customer serv

I learned how to earn real money in this business years ago from a co-worker, Mario. Mario owned the sales board, but he rarely if ever took an up. Until I figured Mario out, he made my green pea life miserable. He never stood point waiting for ups o

Recently I was shown a Facebook conversation thread where a young woman was complaining to her male friend that her car was giving her problems. The friend confidently advised her that it was definitely her flux capacitor and that she should take the

Talk to any marketer, and they’ll likely tell you about the importance of customer loyalty. The axiom states that it’s much less expensive to make a sale to a current customer than it is to win a new one. No question — building customer loyalty

Nothing turns my stomach more than a retail business person who whines the old saw ‘you can’t fight Santa Claus.’ For the past 30 years I’ve worked with great dealers that turned their respective marketplaces upside down by doubling, tripling

Automobile ads give the impression that women consumers are all mid-30s, lean, attractive and married, without children. (Most ads tend to portray women this way. It’s not just an auto thing.)  The reality is that women buyers come in all differen

A customer walks onto your lot and you knock on the glass window of your store to alert the salesperson on the point to greet the customer. The minute the customer steps foot out of their car and shows their face, your sales team surrounds them in an