Jason Ezell - As dealer Web sites grew in number, popularity and robustness, Web space got crowded—especially on search engines. The solution for more visibility amidst the crowd was to buy your way in front of competitors to position yourself closest to the shopping audience. It’s the ultimate auction with no ceiling on pricing, and the more you spend the ...
Read More →Harlene Doane - As consumers shy away from purchasing new and pre-owned vehicles during this difficult economic cycle, customer relationship management efforts should be solidly focused on service opportunities. From any 100 customers who purchased a vehicle, from a retail dealer, data base management system information indicates about 30 of those customers are ...
Read More →During the many years he’s been selling cars, Don Owen has most definitely seen some ups and downs. “More ups than downs,” he stated. “[Last year] was the worst year I’ve seen in the car business in the 60 years I’ve been in [it].” However, he pointed out, “It was also a learning year.” The store went from selling 50 to 60 units per month in 2006 and 2007 to selling ...
Read More →Thomas B. Hudson - So, your dealership’s employee dummies-up a credit application with bogus income information in order to get the bank to buy the deal, enabling the employee to earn his commission. No one else at the dealership is aware of the fraud. Then, the employee’s acts are discovered ...
Read More →Tom Herald - Full-spectrum financing is an absolute necessity for car dealers today. It affords them the ability to offer vehicle-purchasing options to every customer who visits the store, regardless of their credit and with less emphasis on down payment. It removes an important limiting factor from the typical sales process and, if done correctly, will help dealerships create ...
Read More →Howard Polirer - The goal of automotive Internet marketing is not to sell cars online; it’s to get potential customers to see your car, click on your car, come in to your store and ultimately purchase the vehicle. To get consumers to move through this process, your online presentation must create value ..
Read More →Many people relate CRM to customer follow-up. While follow-up is an integral part of CRM, some believe managing your customer relationships long before the sale is just as crucial. At Anchor Subaru and Anchor Pre-Owned, customer relationship management (CRM) begins as soon as a potential customer ...
Read More →... the one thing I’ve noticed all dealerships have in common is the weakness of their staff... they can’t hire great people. It’s as though a long-winded response justifies (or obscures) poor hiring practices. You can’t find good people and if you do, you can’t keep them! People don’t mind being the president or manager, but no one wants to be the ...
Read More →Much of the talk regarding the slowdown in car sales and the recent difficulties in special finance has come from the viewpoint of either the dealer or the finance company, each looking back at the other. However, there’s another unique viewpoint to consider ...
Read More →Nestled in a small cabin with a fireplace, one wouldn’t expect to find an up-and-coming special finance department, but that’s the locale of the Audubon Credit Center, the newly-opened special finance department at Audubon Chrysler Center in Henderson, Ky. Mind you, the dealership did not build the cabin for housing ...
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