Now is the perfect time to begin planning for expense reductions in 2011 if you haven’t already done so. From the supplier and expense side of your business, if you are like most dealers, you have the following facts to contend with: Active managem

Imagine playing golf in pitch dark. The acrylic golf ball has a glow stick running through the middle. This hard plastic ball flies substantially less than the normal Titleist. On the good side, as long as your shot isn’t in the woods or the lake,

As we all know, we wouldn’t be where we are if we weren’t good at something. If you’re like me, you probably have one good thing that you do better than most anyone else. And, if you’re really like me, then you have no trouble telling anyone

With so much focus on generating leads for your dealership, it’s important to recognize that success isn’t measured by the number of leads generated. As always, the bottom line literally is the bottom line; the number of cars sold and total profi

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

I’ve had the pleasure to travel to or live in other cultures, mostly because of my dad’s career in the Air Force. I’ve lived in Okinawa and Germany, South Carolina and Texas, California and Illinois. Each of these areas or countries has differi

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