Ever wonder how you should handle a particular business situation? Everything in Business Situations is indexed to help you find the assistance you need quickly and conveniently. Leadership Development, Management Training and Business Ethics (among other topics) are covered in this category.
As I wrote in the previous post in this series, a button strategy that drives leads is one of the simplest changes you can make to your website that will immediately drive more sales leads. So simple to get right… and so simple to get wrong. Buttons? Really? Buttons are so important to the […]
Changing the Culture at the DMV A regular reader of my writing asked me the following question via email recently: “According to state workers, the Department of Motor Vehicles is trying to change their reputation of rude customer service. With long lines, rude customers, customers who don’t want to deal with bureaucracy, how could […]
Whether addressing a 20 Group or consulting in a dealership, I am constantly asked questions like this: “So, Steve, what cool, new digital marketing sources are you seeing out there and what do you recommend?” The answer to this question always contains two parts: First, I tell them about the cool, new stuff I’m seeing; […]
Slowing Sales? The First Expense You Should Cut Is Your Phone Training! Wait… what? Did I just read what I think I read? Yep. If you’re a car dealer looking for ways to save money in the face of current market softness, I honestly recommend (for most of you) that you eliminate your phone […]
Got Millennials? Then you need Sh*t Sandwich. Bar none, Sh*t Sandwich is the must-have book if you’ve got people in your life (children, coworkers, employees) who think the world owes them everything and/or that life should be fair. I know, I wrote it. The advice in Sh*t Sandwich is simple to follow and easy […]
There is no “rule” in your dealership more harmful to your long-term success than that asinine, unwritten guideline that basically gives half the deal for any previous customer to the salesperson who sold them the last time. Ugh. I wrote “rule” in quotes, because this isn’t so much as rule as a copout on […]
BREAKING: Fort Lauderdale, FL, June 19, 2017 – Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) jolted the automotive retail industry this morning when it announced plans to buy giant AutoNation (NYSE: AN); introducing more uncertainty into a sector already faced with massive disruption on the horizon ranging from online car sales to autonomous vehicles. The $5.33 billion deal, a […]
Did you know that some of the nation’s best dealers have been closing their appointments that show at better than 80% for years? It’s true. Moreover, it’s actually not that hard to do – provided those at the top of your organization are truly committed to implementing a simple, repeatable process that works. The […]
There’s a strangely popular and wholly inaccurate post going around LinkedIn and other social media that generates tons of likes and shares – this, despite the post’s complete break from reality. I suppose it’s liked so much because it attempts to equate the demise of every industry to bad customer service and not technology; even when […]
When it comes to online vehicle specials, I’m flat out embarrassed for more than half of the dealerships I work with. There are even times that I actually want to ask: Why do you even have links to your specials pages on your website? If you’re a typical dealer, your specials pages can be […]
Post our selling price online? Never! We’re not a one-price store!!! Posting a competitive price online – at or very near the price you ultimately expect to sell a vehicle for – doesn’t make you a one-price store; although it does make you more desirable and trustworthy in the eyes of today’s connected customers. […]
How to be the Best DMV Clerk Ever! Looking for advice on how to be a good person – one that others will want to do business with – despite dealing with the dumbest people on the planet all day? Hoping to garner some knowledge about treating others with dignity even when you hold […]
In the evolution of car dealer websites and what these should include, we’ve gone from arguing over whether a dealer should include more than a single used car photo (when I was with Dealer Specialties in 2003) to ditching configurators in favor of actual new car inventory (when I ran Reynolds Web Solutions in […]
It’s not enough to have a website that you like, or that you think “looks cool;” your website is not a brochure, nor is it merely an inventory listing service. Your website, when created and managed properly, should be the Number One lead and traffic source for your dealership. To ensure that you’re truly […]
The good news about website lead generation is that there really are just a few basic rules of conversion that you need to remember when you evaluate your website’s ability to maximize sellable leads from your existing website traffic. Rule #1: Stay Above The Fold This rule originates from the concept that visitors cannot […]
(Yes, I could’ve come up with a catchier title for this post, but this series is so damn long already, that I really felt being descriptive was the best way to get my point across on this one.) Do you want more leads and calls from your existing website traffic? Then ensure that you […]
Besides the “must haves” of online chat and instant retargeting parasites (which we’ve already discussed in detail) and the “should have” pop-ups, there are a few others that I highly recommend you add to your website sooner rather than later; as delaying their installation is just costing you sales. Trade Appraisal Applications Getting the […]
For those who’ve heard me speak on the subject, you know that most website parasites are a good thing. In fact, for some of you with locked-down OEM-approved websites, you also know that if not for a few parasites, you’d likely get very few leads. (We originally discussed parasites when we introduced good pop-ups […]
To ensure we’re all on the same page, let me be clear when it comes to buyers and transparency. First, there are two basic types of transparency that buyers want; price and transactional. And, second, providing both of these today is no longer an option. Of course, the good news is that providing price […]
Lots of you, whether you are a frequent flier or involved somehow in digital marketing and reputation management, are aware that United Breaks Guitars. That is, you’ve viewed the nearly 8-year old music video written, performed and produced by a band that claims they watched as United Airlines’ employees carelessly flung their guitars around the […]