At DrivingSales we advocate that dealers operate transparently to cultivate trust with their customers. You cannot get more transparent than have a nationally broadcasted reality TV show in your dealership.

Ride Time in Winnipeg, MB (that’s in Canada for you southerners) was the backdrop for the reality show The Bargain Brothers on Business News Network (BNN). Two brothers Andrew and Doug MacIver are the stars and owners of the dealership with their family making up a large portion of their staff.

Needless to say having the camera running all the time in a family owned dealership makes for some interesting moments. However, the self declared “Bargain Brothers” see their dedication to telling their story through TV and social media as a way to stay in the forefront of their customers’ minds.

“Branding is a point of differentiation for every dealership,” says Andrew MacIver. “It's how you're perceived in the local market and often tells the tale of how you do business. We are always looking for new ways to remain top of mind with buyers in fun and entertaining ways.”

The car business has been in their family for three generations. When two of the family’s franchise stores were closed they opened a used dealership fueled by unique marketing ideas. Their experience with the TV show and social media has given the brothers a unique point of view of what it takes to create customer experience that sets them apart from their competition. An experience they’ll be sharing during the DrivingSales Canadian Dealer Forum in Calgary June 22-23.

Ride Time sees their reality TV show as a way to tell their story, a family business focused on going the extra mile for their customers. That may sound like a common theme, but few companies are willing to put their business in a national spotlight like Doug and Andrew.

 “Those are values that have made us successful. The only way someone could make us look bad is if we were doing bad things. So introducing cameras into our lives, it’s just our life, right? Through our TV commercials, our personality has already been part of our brand, and that helps customers come to us,” says Doug*. 

The Ride Time invites a whole nation into their business and makes them part of the action. Their genuine approach to taking care of family, each other and their customers isn’t just lip service. The cameras show the daily struggles of the car business (and working with your brother, sister, mom and uncle). The cameras also show how telling your unique story can cultivate business through developing trust.

Join Doug and Andrew MacIver during the Canadian Dealer Forum to hear about their experience. They will be sharing how your dealership, even if it doesn’t have a national reality TV show, can build a story that differentiates you from the competition and how you can to share it with the world.

If you'd like to see the MacIver brothers live on stage join us in Calgary. You can learn more and register here - http://canadiandealerforum.drivingsales.com/

*Source: Auto Remarketing Canada http://www.autoremarketing.com/arcanada/%E2%80%98bargain-brothers%E2%80%99-ridetime-tackle-reality-tv

At DrivingSales we advocate that dealers operate transparently to cultivate trust with their customers. You cannot get more transparent than have a nationally broadcasted reality TV show in your dealership.

Ride Time in Winnipeg, MB (that’s in Canada for you southerners) was the backdrop for the reality show The Bargain Brothers on Business News Network (BNN). Two brothers Andrew and Doug MacIver are the stars and owners of the dealership with their family making up a large portion of their staff.

Needless to say having the camera running all the time in a family owned dealership makes for some interesting moments. However, the self declared “Bargain Brothers” see their dedication to telling their story through TV and social media as a way to stay in the forefront of their customers’ minds.

“Branding is a point of differentiation for every dealership,” says Andrew MacIver. “It's how you're perceived in the local market and often tells the tale of how you do business. We are always looking for new ways to remain top of mind with buyers in fun and entertaining ways.”

The car business has been in their family for three generations. When two of the family’s franchise stores were closed they opened a used dealership fueled by unique marketing ideas. Their experience with the TV show and social media has given the brothers a unique point of view of what it takes to create customer experience that sets them apart from their competition. An experience they’ll be sharing during the DrivingSales Canadian Dealer Forum in Calgary June 22-23.

Ride Time sees their reality TV show as a way to tell their story, a family business focused on going the extra mile for their customers. That may sound like a common theme, but few companies are willing to put their business in a national spotlight like Doug and Andrew.

 “Those are values that have made us successful. The only way someone could make us look bad is if we were doing bad things. So introducing cameras into our lives, it’s just our life, right? Through our TV commercials, our personality has already been part of our brand, and that helps customers come to us,” says Doug*. 

The Ride Time invites a whole nation into their business and makes them part of the action. Their genuine approach to taking care of family, each other and their customers isn’t just lip service. The cameras show the daily struggles of the car business (and working with your brother, sister, mom and uncle). The cameras also show how telling your unique story can cultivate business through developing trust.

Join Doug and Andrew MacIver during the Canadian Dealer Forum to hear about their experience. They will be sharing how your dealership, even if it doesn’t have a national reality TV show, can build a story that differentiates you from the competition and how you can to share it with the world.

If you'd like to see the MacIver brothers live on stage join us in Calgary. You can learn more and register here - http://canadiandealerforum.drivingsales.com/

*Source: Auto Remarketing Canada http://www.autoremarketing.com/arcanada/%E2%80%98bargain-brothers%E2%80%99-ridetime-tackle-reality-tv

Summer is over and we’ve officially entered football season which means three things in the DrivingSales’ world:

(1) Our Executive Summit is right around the corner (register now BTW!);

(2) The office fantasy football league is rolling, and;

(3) The competition for our Dealer Satisfaction Awards (DSAs) is kicking into high gear.

The DSAs, for those that aren’t familiar, are the annual awards DrivingSales gives out recognizing the products and services on our Vendor Ratings platform which dealers rated the best of the best throughout the previous calendar year.  It’s a big deal!  We host a breakfast awards ceremony at NADA and all the winners show up to grab their awesome trophy.  It’s fun for us to watch how the winning companies use these prestigious awards.  Many promote this achievement on their website, some include a notation about it in their email signature, and several prominently display the trophy in their lobby and their NADA booth!

Please keep in mind that there are two award types for the DSAs.  The finalists are all considered “Top Rated”, and then from that short list a “Highest Rated” is chosen. The Highest Rated is considered the #1 product or service based on the dealers’ submitted ratings.

So, two things that most of the DrivingSales community can do to help:

If you’re a dealer, log on and rate your vendors’ products and services.  You can do this once every quarter so don’t consider this a “one-and-done” deal.

If you’re a vendor, reach out to your dealer partners and ask them to submit a rating.  This is never an awkward request because dealers “get it”.  They are constantly asking their customers to rate them on DealerRater, Yelp, etc., so this is nothing new to them.

There are less than four months remaining in 2014 and before you know it we’ll be into the holidays. We want every dealer to have a voice in the only awards program that is completely driven by dealers so what are you waiting for?

Summer is over and we’ve officially entered football season which means three things in the DrivingSales’ world:

(1) Our Executive Summit is right around the corner (register now BTW!);

(2) The office fantasy football league is rolling, and;

(3) The competition for our Dealer Satisfaction Awards (DSAs) is kicking into high gear.

The DSAs, for those that aren’t familiar, are the annual awards DrivingSales gives out recognizing the products and services on our Vendor Ratings platform which dealers rated the best of the best throughout the previous calendar year.  It’s a big deal!  We host a breakfast awards ceremony at NADA and all the winners show up to grab their awesome trophy.  It’s fun for us to watch how the winning companies use these prestigious awards.  Many promote this achievement on their website, some include a notation about it in their email signature, and several prominently display the trophy in their lobby and their NADA booth!

Please keep in mind that there are two award types for the DSAs.  The finalists are all considered “Top Rated”, and then from that short list a “Highest Rated” is chosen. The Highest Rated is considered the #1 product or service based on the dealers’ submitted ratings.

So, two things that most of the DrivingSales community can do to help:

If you’re a dealer, log on and rate your vendors’ products and services.  You can do this once every quarter so don’t consider this a “one-and-done” deal.

If you’re a vendor, reach out to your dealer partners and ask them to submit a rating.  This is never an awkward request because dealers “get it”.  They are constantly asking their customers to rate them on DealerRater, Yelp, etc., so this is nothing new to them.

There are less than four months remaining in 2014 and before you know it we’ll be into the holidays. We want every dealer to have a voice in the only awards program that is completely driven by dealers so what are you waiting for?