Trending Auto Retail News
Improve your Bottom Line with Purchasing
To survive 2009, you probably cut costs by eliminating positions and reducing salaries and benefits, curtailing spending on supplies and services while renegotiating pricing and terms with vendors. But is that effort organized in a way that will yield sustainable...
How to Break Free from Mediocrity!
Mediocrity is a common business topic. We speak of having mediocre departments, leaders, employees and standards. But where does mediocrity come from? How can you identify it in yourself and others? And very importantly, how to you break free from mediocrity when you...
Personal Identity Theft – Is your Dealership Covered?
The idea that a dealer may be held liable for personal identity theft began to come up about 10 years ago. At that time most policies were silent on the matter, which meant that there may or may not be coverage depending on how the claims adjuster interpreted the...
Protecting your Ad-sets: Part II
Back in 2005 I wrote an article on issues involved with protecting your valuable intellectual property, in particular marketing and advertising themes, trademarks and slogans. We continue to receive inquires from readers on copyright protection as well as other...
Leadershift is the Fuel for Success
If your store doesn’t have it, better get it Coaching an individual by influencing his view of CRM processes into a positive growth potential is one of the most valuable investments leaders can give their team. “Cosmetic managers” (old school) quickly need to get a...
Out with the Old – In with the New
As we start a new year, many of us will perform a system “year-end” for the prior year. Before you run your DMS system year-end process, it might be a good time to find out what happens to your data and is there any way to prevent it. As an explanation, there are two...
Consumers Hold the Key to Continued Certified Pre-owned Sales Growth
By all accounts, as long as a supply of eligible vehicles is available, the growth in certified pre-owned (CPO) sales numbers is predicted to follow recent growth patterns of approximately 21% per year. Consumers are becoming more aware of, and confident in, the...
How Can you Impact Conversion?
Imagine a dealership that only tracks closing ratios against write-ups. That team may or may not be doing a solid job. If the write-up percentage against walk in traffic is good, then the team is performing. If the write-up percentage is poor, the dealership is...
Word of Mouse
You have bad breath. It hurts you to hear that, I am sure, but someone had to tell you. I think it is better that you hear about it from me now, rather than from someone talking about you behind your back. God forbid you find out that all of your friends and relatives...
All Roads Lead to Rome (Washington, DC)
I was recently on a trip to Sao Paulo, Brazil doing a used car school for Fenabrave (Brazil’s NADA). On the way to Brazil, while waiting in line at the food garden in the airport, I met a gentleman from Germany also traveling to Brazil. He and I struck up a...
Telephone Techniques to Improve Customer Retention
Telephone Techniques to Improve Customer Retention A service advisor’s ability to communicate effectively on the telephone can positively impact the dealership and improve customer retention. According to JD Power & Associates, 74% of all customers that visit a...
Motivating Technicians to Sell Service!
There is only one way to increase your retail (customer-pay) service department revenue: sell more service! After reading the previous sentence my friend and co-worker, Ray Carter, would say, “ya think?” I realize this strategy of selling more service is stupid...
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