He's total-wrecked three, blew up the transmission in one of my Vettes, lost his license for a year...twice.
SO, I did the logical thing any parent would do,  I bought my son, Zach another car this past week...a new 2009 Chevy Cobalt SS.What blew my mind was the fact the dealership was covered up, at least 15 sets of customers on the lot...on a Sunday afternoon in Atlanta.
Then, I performed an in-store consulting visit for three dealerships in Michigan last week. (in December, what was I thinkng?) We're talking multi-franchises... Toyota, Chrysler-Dodge, and Hyundai. Once again, business is really getting better.
It's not uncommon for me to talk on the phone or email with a hundred car people a week. The message coming from many directions seems to be, as I predicted against the grain in recent speeches and magazine articles, that; business is coming back now with the bailout assured and financing loosening up. There is a lot of pent up demand and I bel...

There's so much fluff and fantasy out there today about what practices work...or do not work in the real world with real customers. There are some people who are really making sales and income from web-based sales...and ...there are some delusionary propeller-heads making claims that their numbers can't justify.
I am speaking again this year at the NADA Convention in New Orleans for the 9th or 10th time...lost count actually. My workshop this year is titled 'Technology Enabled Sales and Marketing'. Basically, it's a similar presentation to the one I performed in Orlando at the Digital Dealer Conference. I will be using 'live Internet' to demonstrate best practices and dealer websites that are effectively using Web 2.0 applications that really sell cars and trucks. What I'm looking for is your best practices that really work. Give me some examples of techniques or things you're doing or know about. Steer me to the links and the sites and tell me about the techniques, word tr...

A major paradigm shift, nothing is ever going to be as it was before...get over it.
...trying to explain it to one of my friends in Great Britain last week...she said to me, "Sounds like you're really having a time of it Jim. I believe you're living your next book."
Car sales are not automatic any more...you've actually got to have some talent and people skills. There was a time when Honda and Toyota Sales were relatively stupid-proof. A monkey with a note in his mouth could stand in the center of the lot and deliver 10 units.
As a speaker, trainer and consultant to the retail automobile business; we've had to dramatically change the way we do business with car dealers.  http://www.ZieglerTV.com is one example of 'new thinking'.
In my travels, I interact with thousands of sales professionals, managers, and dealers on a regular basis. The truth of the matter is...we've forgotten how to sell cars. AND, technology isn't going to sell the cars, it's only going to...