Remember how slow the industry was to embrace the internet as a sales tool way back when? I do, I got into this business around the time the “fad” hit the noodles of dealers across the country. I found as a trainer for an automotive training company, there was a 33/33/33 factor when I would talk to dealers and management about it.   33% said the Internet was not a force to reckon with but a fad 33% said that they were “watching” to see how things developed but remained in park 33% started trying to figuring out how to engage but not really more than a little “figuring”   Then there was that 1% - they were actively moving into this new territory, making mistakes, figuring it out along the way with bumps, bruises and some pain. If someone was to do a survey of all dealerships that were around then and are still around today- I bet they would find that the 1% are the current industry leaders boasting the highest sales, largest grosses, l...Read post

With many state legislative bodies adjourning after a very busy season, we are seeing quite a few states looking at changes that will affect many auto dealerships. The special blog will be updating our members on the bills that are either in the process of being passed or that I anticipate will be active this year. These are all regarding the posting of surety bonds, a common enough requirement in most states for auto dealers. However, as we are all aware, rules change. To help everyone stay up to date on the latest, here are the bills being considered that I think have a good chance of passing or have just passed this year. Alabama and Motor Vehicle Title Lenders While this isn’t specifically aimed at auto dealerships, there is bound to be an impact on them. In Alabama anyone who is doing business as a motor vehicle title lender will now need a license for each title loan officer. As part of this license they will need to post a $100,000 surety bond, with a cap of $1million ag...Read post

Here’s the sad truth about the way that most dealers are posting their inventory to Facebook. It’s not getting seen. None of it. Not at all. Currently, there are three primary ways that dealers are posting their inventory to Facebook. The most common method is to have a tab on their Facebook page with their inventory. This doesn’t work. The click stats that we’ve studied using three different inventory types show that even the most active dealer Facebook pages are seeing next to zero traffic, clicks, or leads from this form of inventory posting. The reason is obvious – people don’t visit your Facebook page unless they get there through search, a link from your website, or an ad on Facebook. In these three scenarios, they’re either not interested in seeing you inventory (if they were, they’d just go to your website) of, in the case of referrals from your website itself, they’ve already seen it. Now they want to see you and your...Read post

Yesterday's announcement about Pinterest's new product pages and feature enhancements has me all excited about this platform. This is clearly a sign of a new direction in web design, eCommerce models and especially mobile content creation and consumption. Bottom line, I love Pinterest and you should too. Read post

Our dealership is a little behind the times when it comes to how we contract customers and get those contracts to the bank. We currently sign up our customers on a bank contract that gets mailed to the bank. The only lender that we currently do electronic contracting through is Ford motor credit. We would like to get set up with other banks/credit unions and make it to where we can electronically contract our customers and get funded faster. I was just wanting to get some pointers from dealers that are do well with this before I start making some changes. Is there a dms that works better than others in terms of pushing the customer's information? Is route one or dealertrack better? Are some lenders not even set up to do electronic contracting and I would be chasing my tail? Please let me know your thoughts.                            ...Read post

Penguin 2.0 has been rumored to be on the brink of release for a while now. Well it’s finally confirmed here by none other than Matt Cutts himself. We all know that it’s only a matter of time before all of the fear mongers start posting jargon-filled posts meant to scare you into paying for protection. Well I thought I’d attempt to beat them to the punch. Here’s what you need to know:   Original content is more important than ever. A big part of the original penguin and what’s being revised in 2.0 is how links are being built. Great content builds natural links. Period. If you are building links in any other way you are at risk of this and future spam updates. I know content can seem cumbersome but it’s not as bad as you think… Get signed up with webmaster tools! A great and much less ‘scary’ update will be the enhanced messaging through webmaster tools. If your site gets hacked, hit by this update or if any significant e...Read post

The Truth About Your Data almost always begins with contracts.   I know that dealers are often unaware of the full content and ramifications of vendor and services contracts, and that's why the vendor's sales people make a visit and explain the service delivered by the contract.  To sell you on the value.  And the dealer applies his or her trust of the vendor, weighs the value of the vendor's service, and when he or she buys then makes that decision believing the description matches the service.   The problem can come for the dealer when, in the contract, as I put it, "The Large Print Giveth and The Fine Print Taketh Away".  And that can happen with your data, where it goes, and to what purposes it is put. For example, your vehicle inventory can be syndicated to whatever additional partner websites you allowed in your contracts with any vendor handling your inventory information--and you often don't kno...Read post

​Hotel chains across the country have long had problems with customer loyalty due to an  inconsistent customer experience. In researching the problem it was found that the prime reason for the disparity in customer experience was due to the growth of each major brand. Hotel chains were acquiring new properties and, in many cases, simply slapping their corporate branding on the building to attract customers. Despite the fact that each hotel within the chain shared the same name, the quality and amenities at each varied. Some were luxurious and offered all the amenities that a business traveler could want; and some were below the standards that their loyal customers had come to expect. In 2004, the hotel brand, Hyatt decided to tackle the problem and do something different. Hyatt created the “Hyatt Place” addition to their brand offerings. Their strategy was to create a brand in which, no matter where it was located, a business traveler would have the exact same ex...Read post