What’s Your Time Worth?
We spend a lot of time in our offices talking about how to maximize our time each day to get the most value possible. And it should be an important focus for you as well. In your business, there are lots of jobs that people do for around $10 per hour. Washing cars,...
January 2017 Dealer Confidence Index
The Dealer Confidence Index fell drastically in the final quarter of 2016. The Index now stands at -2, down from 17.7 at the end of October 2016. The Present Situation Index fell from -1.3 to -15.3, and the Expectations Index also fell from +36.7 to +11.3. Present...
What Networking Can Teach You About Selling Cars
When we were first getting started in our business, we went to A LOT of networking events. The other week, we were reflecting on these experiences and we realized that there’s a lot about networking that applies to selling cars. For example, imagine you and four other...
The Buzz From NADA100
Last weekend more than 23,000 auto executives and solutions providers gathered in New Orleans, Louisiana for the 2017 NADA Conference and Expo, bringing dealers and vendors from across the country together and kicking off the celebrations for the trade association’s...
Stop Accepting Satisfactory
Dealers and managers who accept that satisfactory is…well…satisfactory are going nowhere fast. The minute that you start accepting that doing “okay” and “getting by” are enough is the moment you surrender yourself and your business to oblivion. You’re never going to...
COACHING: A Whole New Way To Sell Cars
Last time we showed you how you can use ideas from football to coach your salespeople into a championship squad. But the coaching doesn’t have to, and shouldn’t stop with training your sales staff. You can, and should, also coach your customers toward victories as...
What Football Can Teach You About Training Salespeople
If you love sports, particularly football, January is one of the best months of the year. Things start off with great college Bowl games and the National Championship and then the NFL playoffs kick into gear. More than any other sport, football involves detailed...
The Problem With No Pressure Sales. (HINT: It’s Not What You Think)
Stop for a minute and consider the car-buying experience from the customer's point of view. How do your customers think about you? Imagine what they see when they hear the phrases "car salesperson" or "used car dealer." It's not a pretty picture, is it? Decked out in...
Here’s A Question: Are You Asking The Right Questions?
Last week the family decided to do a little post-holiday shopping for a new television. We went to a big box electronic store and were immediately confused by all the technical jargon and buzzwords. We knew we wanted a bigger screen, but had no idea about resolution,...
Here are the results of the Weekend Traffic Poll for December 30-January 1.
Many dealers are reporting that the beginning of 2017 created a huge jump in traffic Reports of good traffic rose from 44% to 71% this week, with only 29% of respondents reporting slow traffic. These reports in conjunction with the US light vehicle market reaching a...
The Balance Between Value And Price
Last month in an interview with The Associated Press, Ford CEO Mark Fields said, "It always has to start with the customer. The customer demands a certain level of price and value.” And Fields is right. We must meet (and occasionally exceed) customers’ expectations in...
Here are the results of the Weekend Traffic Poll for December 23-25.
We saw a slight uptick in traffic last weekend as 44% of respondents reported good traffic and 56% reported slow traffic. That’s down from 66% of dealerships reporting slow traffic the week before, but is still trending well below expected rates. Indeed, this...