WASHINGTON, May 19, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- U.S. News & World Report, the global authority in rankings and consumer advice, today unveiled May's list of the Best Cars to Buy Now. With car sales on the decline in 2017, car companies have ramped up incentive packages to jump-start sales. Car shoppers are in strong negotiating positions and have the opportunity to save big this month.

May 2017: The Best Cars to Buy Now

"Car shoppers are in a stronger buying position now than they have been in the past nine years," says Jamie Page Deaton, managing editor of the U.S. News Best Cars Rankings. "Oversupply and diminished demand are forcing dealers to negotiate and automakers to offer big incentives. The Best Cars to Buy Now highlights the cars that give buyers significant upfront savings and perform well in our rankings."

To be included on May's list of the Best Cars to Buy Now, a car has to fit three criteria: declining sales, strong manufacturer incentives and excellent scores in the U.S. News Best Cars Rankings. Each of the cars on the list has year-over-year sales declines of at least 18 percent, which is well over the 4.7 percent sales decline the industry as a whole saw in April.  Each of the Best Cars to Buy Now also takes advantage of rising incentive spending, with low interest rates and decent cash back offers. Industry-wide spending on incentives is now 10.5 percent of vehicle price, compared to incentive spending of 9.3 percent during the same period last year. Finally, all cars on the list have an overall score of at least 8.5 (out of 10) in the Best Car Rankings.

Deals listed are from manufacturers' sites using representative ZIP codes. Deals may vary depending on location, the buyer's credit, and other factors. Deals are valid through May 31, 2017. A full slideshow of May's Best Cars to Buy Now is available at https://cars.usnews.com/cars-trucks/the-best-cars-buy-now.

About U.S. News Best Cars

Since 2007, U.S. News Best Cars, the automotive channel of U.S. News & World Report, has published rankings of the majority of new vehicles sold in America. Each year, U.S. News publishes the Best Cars awards, including Best Vehicle Brands, Best Cars for the Money and Best Cars for Families. U.S. News Best Cars had over 45 million unique visitors over the past year, with over 65 percent of visitors actively shopping for a car. Eighty percent of active shoppers reported that the U.S. News Best Cars site influenced their car purchasing decision.

About U.S. News & World Report

U.S. News & World Report is a digital news and information company that empowers people to make better, more informed decisions about important issues affecting their lives. Focusing on Education, Health, Personal Finance, Real Estate, Travel, Cars and News & Opinion, www.usnews.com provides consumer advice, rankings, news and analysis to serve people making complex decisions throughout all stages of life. More than 30 million people visit www.usnews.com each month for research and guidance. Founded in 1933, U.S. News is headquartered in Washington, D.C.

SOURCE U.S. News & World Report

Related Links

http://www.usnews.com

Industry’s largest aftermarket telematics provider uses OnStar connectivity to deliver insights to

GM Fleet customers

LAS VEGAS, May 18, 2017 – Spireon Inc., a leader in telematics, risk management and location-based business intelligence solutions with more than 3.75 million active subscribers, today released its FleetLocate Connected by OnStar fleet management solution for properly equipped GM vehicles.

The announcement was made in conjunction with this week’s GM Fleet Solutions Summit, held at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Using the embedded OnStar 4G LTE hardware in properly equipped Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac vehicles, Spireon customers can manage their OnStar-enabled fleets without any additional hardware costs or installation. 

“GM is committed to providing customers with leading telematics solutions in order to improve driving behavior, increase business efficiency and reduce operating costs,” said Ed Peper, U.S. vice president, GM Fleet. “Partnering with innovative providers like Spireon opens up more opportunities for our customers to take advantage of vehicle connectivity in a cost-effective, streamlined manner.”

With FleetLocate Connected by OnStar, fleet managers receive comprehensive vehicle information and convenience features including:

• Real-time GPS tracking
• On-demand location and reporting
• Landmark information
• Custom driver and vehicle alerts
• Proactive maintenance alerts
• Odometer readings
• Fuel and engine oil levels
• Tire pressure
• Seatbelt usage
• Remote lock/unlock

Having cohesive, actionable driver and vehicle performance insights allows fleet operators to make better business decisions surrounding driver behavior, business operations and profitability. Fleets utilizing FleetLocate Connected by OnStar have the potential to experience increases in productivity, reductions in idle time and substantial fuel savings.

“The integration of our cloud-based NSpire platform with OnStar opens up a vast amount of valuable insights for GM Fleet customers with the push of a button,” said Jason Penkethman, chief product officer at Spireon. “With FleetLocate, businesses running mixed fleets have unified visibility to their entire fleet from one easy-to-use application. It’s the best of all worlds.”

For more information on Spireon’s FleetLocate Connected by OnStar, please visit http://www.spireon.com/fleetlocate-connected-onstar/.

About Spireon

Spireon, Inc. is the industry’s leading open connected vehicle company, providing businesses and consumers with powerful insights to track, manage and protect their most valuable assets. The award-winning Spireon NSpire platform supports more than 3.75 million active subscribers across the company’s growing suite of products for new and used car dealers, lenders and financial institutions, rental car agencies, insurers and consumers, as well as fleet, trailer and asset management companies.

Learn more at www.spireon.com

Connect with us:

Twitter

Facebook

LinkedIn

Google+

YouTube

For more information, contact

Emily Lynn Ashley
Havas Formula for Spireon

Spireon@HavasFormula.com 
619-234-0345

Spireon’s Fleet Management Solution Connected by OnStar Now Available

Industry’s largest aftermarket telematics provider uses OnStar connectivity to deliver insights to

GM Fleet customers

LAS VEGAS, May 18, 2017 – Spireon Inc., a leader in telematics, risk management and location-based business intelligence solutions with more than 3.75 million active subscribers, today released its FleetLocate Connected by OnStar fleet management solution for properly equipped GM vehicles.

The announcement was made in conjunction with this week’s GM Fleet Solutions Summit, held at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Using the embedded OnStar 4G LTE hardware in properly equipped Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac vehicles, Spireon customers can manage their OnStar-enabled fleets without any additional hardware costs or installation. 

“GM is committed to providing customers with leading telematics solutions in order to improve driving behavior, increase business efficiency and reduce operating costs,” said Ed Peper, U.S. vice president, GM Fleet. “Partnering with innovative providers like Spireon opens up more opportunities for our customers to take advantage of vehicle connectivity in a cost-effective, streamlined manner.”

With FleetLocate Connected by OnStar, fleet managers receive comprehensive vehicle information and convenience features including:

• Real-time GPS tracking
• On-demand location and reporting
• Landmark information
• Custom driver and vehicle alerts
• Proactive maintenance alerts
• Odometer readings
• Fuel and engine oil levels
• Tire pressure
• Seatbelt usage
• Remote lock/unlock

Having cohesive, actionable driver and vehicle performance insights allows fleet operators to make better business decisions surrounding driver behavior, business operations and profitability. Fleets utilizing FleetLocate Connected by OnStar have the potential to experience increases in productivity, reductions in idle time and substantial fuel savings.

“The integration of our cloud-based NSpire platform with OnStar opens up a vast amount of valuable insights for GM Fleet customers with the push of a button,” said Jason Penkethman, chief product officer at Spireon. “With FleetLocate, businesses running mixed fleets have unified visibility to their entire fleet from one easy-to-use application. It’s the best of all worlds.”

For more information on Spireon’s FleetLocate Connected by OnStar, please visit http://www.spireon.com/fleetlocate-connected-onstar/.

About Spireon

Spireon, Inc. is the industry’s leading open connected vehicle company, providing businesses and consumers with powerful insights to track, manage and protect their most valuable assets. The award-winning Spireon NSpire platform supports more than 3.75 million active subscribers across the company’s growing suite of products for new and used car dealers, lenders and financial institutions, rental car agencies, insurers and consumers, as well as fleet, trailer and asset management companies.

Learn more at www.spireon.com

Connect with us:

Twitter

Facebook

LinkedIn

Google+

YouTube

For more information, contact

Emily Lynn Ashley
Havas Formula for Spireon

Spireon@HavasFormula.com 
619-234-0345

PHILADELPHIA/CHINO HILLS, Calif. – May 18, 2017 – UpdatePromise, today announced an exclusive partnership with GoMoto, to combine the companies’ platforms into one fully embedded, DMS-connected consumer experience and engagement solution.  With this innovative solution, automotive dealers and OEMs will now be able to provide their customers with seamless omnichannel automated, mobile and self-service kiosk experiences.

“At UpdatePromise, our solutions have always been aimed at enhancing the customer experience through convenience, speed and transparency, GoMoto’s kiosk solution is consistent with that vision." Curtis Nixon, CEO and Founder of UpdatePromise said. "integrating our communications, payments and survey platforms with GoMoto’s kiosk solutions is an ideal fit for both companies." As a result of the partnership, UpdatePromise’s customers will immediately gain access to GoMoto's kiosk platform, while GoMoto’s kiosk customers will be able to incorporate the UpdatePromise Consumer Experience Lifecyle Solution.

The GoMoto Kiosk Platform is a cloud-based, customizable software and hardware system that creates comprehensive dealer-focused solutions that drives sales and provides customer captivating interactive technology in-store.

“We are thrilled to partner with a company whose vision and philosophies are aligned with ours,” Todd L. Marcelle, CEO and co-founder of GoMoto said. “Both companies have developed customer centric solutions that create demonstrable differentiators for dealers and OEMs. Together, we will be able to provide one integrated solution to accommodate all customer preferences.”

About UpdatePromise

UpdatePromise’s Consumer Experience Lifecycle Solution provides a cradle to grave service offering leveraging artificial intelligence and natural language processing to communicate with consumers. UpdatePromise’s solution is utilized by 18,000 automotive repair facilities; has been adopted by eight of the leading top 10 U.S. auto insurance companies and is approved by multiple OEMs for their integrated CSI services. UpdatePromise is based in Chino CA. For more info email marketing@updatepromise.com

About GoMoto

GoMoto develops progressive technologies for automotive service lanes and showrooms that modernize the dealership experience and drive customer engagement. The company's  turnkey hardware and software solutions complement the online shopping journey and empower customers to take control of the buying process after they arrive at the dealership. For more information visit www.gomoto.com

UpdatePromise Contact:                                                                                      GoMoto Contact:

Tiquet Wan                                                                                                                     Todd L. Marcelle

marketing@updatepromise.com                                                                   todd@gomoto.com

14850 Central Ave                                                                                                     1701 Walnut Street, 8th FL

Chino, CA 91710                                                                                                          Philadelphia, PA 19103

800-276-9107                                                                                                               507-246-6686

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I have been a little MIA from the Community recently, but I have a good reason! I had the amazing opportunity to travel to Japan and my husband and I had a fantastic time there! While in Japan I observed a few things that I wanted to share with all of you, particularly about customer service!

1. Walking In The Store. The customer service in Japan is OUT OF THIS WORLD. It was absolutely amazing and I was so impressed with every place we went to, whether it was a restaurant, hotel, or the airport. I loved how kind they were from the second we entered the room. They would say "Please come on in, thanks so much!" in Japanese the second we walked in the door (luckily my husband speaks Japanese, and could translate for me.) Everyone in the store would shout and smile at you, welcoming you in. It was a great way to make us feel recognized and at ease. I feel like we can apply this in every auto dealership by making sure that when people walk in the door, they feel recognized but not overwhelmed. 

2. Comfort Is Key. Every place we went focused on our comfort. Whether we needed water, a place to sit, you name it and they were prepared to get it for us. I could tell they would all go out of their way to make sure that we were comfortable and happy with our interaction. We can follow this lead by making sure we offer seats, water, snacks, anything a customer might want, we should be ready to give to them. 

3. Timeliness Is Valuable. One thing I loved about Japan was how timely all of our interactions with customer service individuals were. They very obviously worked their hardest to make sure our interaction wasn't any longer than it needed to be. This was really important to us as we had a lot to see and do. We can make sure we are timely in our interactions at dealerships by having processes decided and working quickly.

 4. Apologies. If anything at all was even slightly wrong, we were so quick to receive a million apologies. All of our interactions where we had concerns or questions were met with the most humble apologies. We didn't hear any sarcasm, we didn't get any eye-rolls, just genuine concern for our happiness and satisfaction. I think we can always work a little harder in our store or dealership to make sure that our apologies are sincere, and that    our focus is on ensuring the customer is happy. No matter how rude they may be to us.

5. Above And Beyond. We had so many instances where employees went above and beyond to help us. From practically pushing us in the direction of our train so we wouldn't miss it, to making sure everything was packaged perfectly so it wouldn't break, the customer service was just so wonderful. It's part of what made all of our shopping, eating, hotel, and travel interactions so perfect. 

I think it's so valuable to look at other cultures and companies and evaluate how they are handling their customers. Customer service is something we talk about ALL THE TIME, but it's still not quite where we want it to be. As long as you still have even one customer that's leaving unsatisfied, you can be working on your customer experience. I learned so many things from our trip that I want to work to implement into my customer service routines, and hopefully you've learned something too! 

LotLinx Announces Product Expansion: VS – Lead-Enabled Retargeting

 LotLinx Offers Special Memorial Day Money-Back Guarantee To Entice Dealers

May 17, 2017, Chicago, IL -- LotLinx has announced the launch of LotLinx VS - Lead-Enabled Retargeting. This VIN-specific tool for Facebook combines the power of the largest social network with the industry’s most advanced retargeting tools for dealers. The latest addition to the LotLinx Facebook product suite, VS – Lead-

Enabled Retargeting, leverages proprietary technology to deliver high quality shoppers to auto dealers. As a result, dealers can strategically target visitors to their Vehicle Details Pages (VDPs), and remarket to those who have shown interest in a specific VIN on Facebook or Instagram.

Specifically designed to market new cars, the product arrives at a time when dealers are facing a glut of new car inventory, and increased days-on-lot metrics.

As LotLinx CEO Len Short explains, “This is a powerful extension of our VIN-specific demand generation platform. Every dealer knows that a car needs to be shopped in order to sell, and now dealers can produce high-value leads on the inventory they need to move.”

The product is already having an impact for dealers. As Frank Reynolds, Corporate Business Development Director of Nimnicht Chevrolet, says, “We used LotLinx to identify visitors to our site who indicated interest in the cars we needed to move. Then, when they saw those VINs later on Facebook or Instagram, they were presented a pre-populated lead form. With one click, that contact information went into our CRM. We’re very pleased with the results - our BDC Reps are busy!”

Leah Garcia, Global e-commerce Director for Berman Automotive, stated that “Star Nissan used the product to drive email leads for 20 new VINs that had been on the lot over 200 days. In just 12 days, they had 70 leads for those new VINs. Three of those leads became purchases, with a pure profit of $6K. Several others came in for test drives.”

LotLinx VS – Lead-Enabled Retargeting is the second product LotLinx has developed for the Facebook platform. The LotLinx VS- Facebook solution focuses on shoppers who have expressed interest in a specific car, and are nearing a purchase decision. The result is a strong volume of car shoppers delivered to those VDPs in a concentrated period of time.

Twice the return for dealers.

To demonstrate the power of this best-in-class lead-enabled retargeting technology, and to help dealers clear out more new cars over the Memorial Day weekend, LotLinx is offering a money-back guarantee. LotLinx says it will drive twice as many VIN-specific leads than any other provider, or offer dealers their money back.  Click here for details and more info https://www.lotlinx.com/lx2x/

About LotLinx:

LotLinx is an award-winning digital retailing technology company, developed specifically to advantage automotive dealers and the agencies that work with them. The LotLinx TURN platform can transform dealer results, dramatically increasing online engagement and net-new shoppers while eliminating digital advertising waste. Founded in 2012 and based in Chicago, LotLinx works with thousands of dealers around the country to reach over 63 million unique car shoppers per month across more than 500 digital properties.

Norfolk, VA –April 20, 2017 – Dominion Dealer Solutions announced today that Dominion Dealer Specialties, industry leader in high-quality automotive inventory merchandising, has unveiled LiveLotTM, a fully-responsive video marketing platform that provides full-service video marketing strategies to automotive dealers.

Dealers can both create and distribute vehicle inventory videos with custom voiceovers, vehicle walkarounds, customer testimonials, dynamic video retargeting and more. The LiveLot dealer portal enables dealers to manage all video content from one location through a live dashboard. The dashboard includes in-depth analytics for consumer engagement and individual vehicles.  

“In the past several years, the car buying process has transitioned from the brick and mortar showroom to the virtual showroom. In this more competitive environment, it is imperative that automobile dealers take full advantage of any opportunity to differentiate themselves from the competition and drive prospects to their physical locations,” noted Shane Marcum, general manager of Dominion Inventory Solutions.

The LiveLot mobile app ensures that new or used car dealers are in control of their video marketing strategies anywhere, anytime. Dealers that wish to implement customer testimonial videos and even email videos can do so within LiveLot. Automotive dealers can create customizable landing pages for each video, specifically encoded into the dealership’s website for added SEO value. Each video is uniquely designed to increase the dealership’s reach and improve customer engagement.  

“Our new feature-rich video offering, LiveLot, virtualizes the traditional selection and presentation steps of the 'road to the sale' and acts as an integrated part of the customer’s virtual showroom. By helping auto dealers with the shopping process, our video offerings drive prospects to the dealership lot who are engaged with the dealer’s sales team and ready to negotiate and close,” added Shelley Hoffman, associate product manager for Dominion Inventory Solutions.

For more information on the benefits of Dominion Dealer Specialties’ LiveLot video services for your automotive dealership, please call 877-421-1040.

About Dominion Dealer Solutions

Dominion Dealer Solutions improves dealers' lives by developing advanced technologies including: reputation and social media management, responsive websites, digital advertising, SEO, SEM, multichannel marketing, and custom market reports. Coupled with award-winning lead management, inventory merchandising, equity mining, customer relationship (CRM) and dealer management (DMS) solutions, Dominion redefines automotive retail by delivering first-class customer experiences for today's automotive dealerships. Based in Norfolk, Virginia, every OEM and more than 10,000 U.S. dealers depend on Dominion's foundation of innovation, integrity, excellence and teamwork to provide them with results at every turn. For more information, visit our website, like us on Facebook, Pinterest or YouTube, or follow us on Twitter.

About Dominion Enterprises

Dominion Enterprises is a leading online marketing and software services company offering client solutions across multiple targeted business verticals.  Our widely recognized B2C web and mobile portals, including ForRent.com, Homes.com, and CycleTrader.com, generate nearly 30 million unique visits monthly. Our B2B cloud SaaS solutions directly support clients in establishing their online and mobile brands, generating leads, and managing customer relationships.  Dominion Enterprises has more than 40 businesses and 3,000 employees in our Norfolk, Va. home office, across the U.S., and internationally.


 

Media Contact:

Dominion Dealer Solutions

Peyton Hoffman

Director of Public Relations and Event Management

757.351.7271

Peyton.hoffman@drivedominion.com

​​​​​​​

Joe Webb had the top blog of April 2017 with his piece called 10 Ways Sales Managers Fail. We did a Q and A session with Joe to get his thoughts on sales managers, leadership, and how employees can work to help their managers understand them better. 

Maddy: Your blog talks about how sales managers don’t realize they are role models. Why don’t you think they get that right off the bat, and what can a sales manager put in practice today to start being a better leader?
Joe: Two great questions, and I think the first question is more of an internal question everyone promoted to sales manager must ask themselves. Truth is, the majority of those promoted to the role of sales manager earn that designation because of their consistency in selling a high volume of vehicles, often for above average gross. With that said, many salespeople have a competitive streak in them. When they’re focused on selling a vehicle to customers, they’re rarely focused on the training and monitoring of their co-workers, so the core requirement for the job of sales manager requires a muscle they’ve spent little time exercising.
Leadership is often an internal quality too. Great ones have it instinctively, while many others have to work at it, with no guarantee they’ll ever master it. However, the more a sales manager can learn to take a vested interest in the lives (not just livelihoods) of their coworkers, employers, and customers, they more they’ll be able to learn to mentor and coach those around them. I don’t believe one can take a class to be a leader. It is a decision one can embrace by showing rather than telling. By doing rather than delegating. Sales Managers need to stay busy, not with closing deals, but by understanding behavior.

Maddy: How can employees help their sales manager learn how to manage them personally, treat them like an individual?
Joe: Quite simply, talk to them. If dealerships institute weekly or monthly performance reviews as my blog indicates, it opens up a conversational setting where people can get to know others on a personal basis. If that is not a strategy employed by the dealership, then salespeople should make sure to ask for help often, approach the desk (and others), not just when they have a deal, but when there is a discussion worth having. In an ego driven business, the only way to being more coachable is to first recognize your strengths and weaknesses, and then vulnerably open yourself up to others as a means to soak up knowledge. Putting up a tough exterior or finding busy work to make yourself look useful is not the best recipe for getting a sales manager to coach you.

Maddy: You talk about performance reviews and coaching monthly, how can a sales manager start to put this into practice, and how can they find the time?

Joe: There is ALWAYS time for performance reviews and coaching. Management is not just about desking deals, crashing T.O.s and closing customers. Heck, the word “management” isn’t in any of those phrases. They should change their title if the only time they speak to their salespeople is when they have a deal working or during Saturday morning sales meetings. If you can’t find the time to help guide your own sales team and promote their growth, you aren’t going to have much growth in your sales volume. If they have to set up calendar invites for themselves and others, so be it, but weekly save-a-deal meetings and monthly performance reviews are necessary, not just for finding additional sales, but for developing loyalty among your employees.

Maddy: How can a sales manager inspect their team’s activities without micromanaging?
Joe: “Micromanaging” is nothing more than how you deliver information/tasks to your team. It is good to be aware of your team’s activities, customers, and goings-on, but you don’t need to ride them on it or needle them with it. Having the information that can help them is ideal, but holding it over their head isn’t. Every situation where a salesperson needs to be managed can be handled with a show of solidarity. Completing a task for them to show them how you’d do it is a great way to earn buy-in from your team.

Maddy: You talk about sales managers needing to get to know their employees, how can they get to know them personally without losing authority?

Joe: Champion them. That’s what coaches do. If managers simply asked questions rather than always trying to relate as “one of the guys/gals”, it would show that they’re interested in their team without being just like them. If you champion folks, celebrating their successes, you never lose authority. You gain trust.

Maddy: How can a sales manager integrate himself or herself into a customer process without overwhelming the customer, or undermining the salesperson?
Joe: Early and often. I don’t believe any shoppers shies away from shaking the hand of a manager when they first walk in. I don’t think any customers balk when they’re wished a good test drive on their way out, or asked how they liked it on the way back in. If a manager waits until the 4th pencil on a back-and-forth negotiation to show their face to a customer, they’ve already lost. They need to be welcoming from the get-go, so there is a level of respect when they step foot into the box later. Salespeople shouldn’t feel undermined when a manager shares good wishes with their customer. They should feel supported.

Maddy: How can sales managers evaluate themselves and see where they need to improve?
Joe: I’d love to say there is a magic metric, but I know most reading this might say “Did they sell more cars?” or “Was the gross higher?”, but I don’t believe that tells the entire story. What is the retention rate of your employees like? Are your store’s reviews growing? How many candidates have submitted applications this month, and how many have you interviewed that would be great fits? What would your own staff say about you?
There are few ways to truly evaluate a sales manager beyond the typical sales growth and market share metrics, but I like to think the culture they create has a profound impact more on employee retention and the utilization of showroom technology than it does on profit margin.

Maddy: What other things do sales managers, or any managers for that manner, need to be wary of?
Joe: Countless things. As a sales manager, beyond their basic job description, they should be aware of campaigns being executed by their competitors. They should ensure everyone in the store, regardless of longevity/tenure in the position, should be held to the sales standards, and that they’re not showing favoritism to one over another. They should be concerned when CRM utilization suffers because it shows their own team are willing to throw a blanket over accurate information. They should be wary of the bonafides of new technology being approved for their store without training provided for themselves or their team. Ownership should seek their managers’ feedback before making monumental, sweeping changes the same way a sales manager should lean on their sales team before rolling out a new showroom initiative. Without the entire team’s involvement, no new actions will make a positive change.

Maddy: What things do you think sales managers and other managers are doing well in our industry?
Joe: Sales managers have definitely improved their understanding of shopping behavior. From the online customer experience to the sites the shopper is navigation, managers seem to have really recognized everything that goes into a shopper’s research and decision. The more they try to think like a customer, and ensure their information/vehicles/ads are displayed properly on these sites, the more they increase their own ability to deliver a positive customer experience.

Maddy: Any other thoughts?
Joe: Dealers must realize that sales managers are more than desk managers. They shouldn’t be stuck behind a computer monitor getting deals done, scanning inventory, setting prices, and completing dealer trades. If that is all you’re tasking your sales manager, rename them “desk manager” and find someone willing to roam the floor, engage with guests, and truly mentor salespeople. That is what a good sales manager really does. There is a reason in sports that players rarely call their own plays. It’s because everyone needs a coach who is able to see the big picture, and still find the time to improve the lives of each player on the field.

Meet Kristy Elliott, the Dealer Operator at Sunshine Chevrolet and check out her dealership story. Learn how Kristy came from the non-profit world to the auto industry, how she has come to love automotive, and why her dealership is unique. 

The DrivingSales My Dealership Story series gives people in dealerships around the country the chance to meet others in the industry, learn their story, and see how they are impacting automotive. We are looking for dealers to share their story and show how they got into the car business, and what they are doing to propel it forward. If this sounds like you, sign up today! Email maddy.low@drivingsales.com or comment below to get on our list, and have our next My Dealership Story be about you!

DrivingSales was so excited to have David Mead as a keynote speaker during Presidents Club. David works at the Start With Why foundation with Simon Sinek, teaching company leaders around the world all about work culture. We sat down and chatted with him to learn more about motivating and inspiring employees, making the work environment a safe and productive place, and finding our company and personal WHY. Check out our conversation with David, and learn about your why. 

Find Your Why: https://www.startwithwhy.com/

About David:

Committed to a world in which people go home everyday fulfilled by the work they do, David focuses on helping business leaders and organizations create cultures that make that idea possible. Everything he does is designed to propel positive change so that people can live a more fulfilled life. David is a ‘serial optimist’ and believes that people who work together toward a common cause can change our world for the better.

Much of David’s early career was spent in the corporate training environment. He developed and wrote training curricula, which he facilitated in the US and Canada. Through his work he became acquainted with Simon Sinek, a world-renowned thought leader and the author of Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. David saw an amazing opportunity to pair his experience with Simon’s vision, which is centered around helping individuals and companies find their Why (purpose or cause) and then to think, act and communicate in a way that brings it to life.. Inspired by the Why movement and the opportunity of creating a greater positive impact in the world, David and his company, Propel, partnered with Simon and his team in 2009. This partnership has paired Simon’s simple, inspiring message with David’s natural ability to capture and apply it in a variety of ways to spread the message at scale.

Among other things, David creates tools and resources based on Simon’s content, co-hosts the Start With Why weekly community mastermind, and hosts the Start With Why podcast. David also works with other clients and partners in sharing the Why through speaking, consulting, coaching and workshops. He is a regular guest speaker at Rotary Clubs and Chambers of Commerce.

David is based in Salt Lake City, UT. He earned a BA in Communication from the University of Utah and graduated Magna Cum Laude from the MBA program at Westminster College, where he focused his studies in Organizational Development.

Toyota Motor North America is recalling about 228,000 2016 and 2017 Toyota Tacoma midsize pickups in the U.S. because their rear differentials may leak oil.

Differentials leaking oil could become damaged and stop working, causing a loss of vehicle control, Toyota said in a statement Thursday. Damaged rear differentials also create noise and reduce propulsion if the vehicle is driven without being repaired.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recalls page includes a complaint a driver from Honolulu who said on Dec. 18, 2015, that the differential on the his or her 2016 Tacoma needed to be replaced at less than 10,000 miles because of the noise -- which worsened over time. The driver’s service records said “silver shavings” were found in the differential, which continued to make the noise after being replaced.

Owners of the affected vehicles will be notified by mail starting in mid-June, Toyota said.

Toyota dealerships will check the recalled vehicles’ rear differentials for oil leaks. If a leak is found, the rear differential carrier gasket and fasteners will be replaced. If the differential is damaged, the entire rear differential carrier assembly will be replaced. Fasteners will still be retightened if no leak is found.

It is unknown if any injuries or crashes are related to the recall.