Managment Training for every level of Leader — from junior assistant manager to CEO — we all need leadership advice, direction and assistance.
Wanting to serve the customer – being downright eager about it – is easily projected. Customers feel this and they appreciate it. Moreover, the more eager you are to serve, the more likely customers are to forgive mistakes. You cannot hide genuine eagerness. Likewise, you cannot hide a lack of genuine eagerness. Being eager, I […]
Actually, let’s clear some things up right from the start: Chick-fil-A doesn’t provide “mind-blowingly great” customer service… and, there is no secret to what they do. In fact, the title was just click bait. The customer experience at Chick-fil-A is good. Compared to their competitors, it’s great. Compared to a First Class seat on Emirates […]
You’ve probably heard (more than once) that the customer is always right. They are not. Of course, they don’t have to be right. They are your boss’ boss. They pay the bills. The customer is not always right, but they are always the customer. Now that we understand that, let’s talk about what we mean […]
Over the years, I’ve met a number of department managers (even those making their living in the sales arena) that will openly question why the customer experience matters? Why, they’ll ask, do we need to focus so heavily on doing more than just delivering a good product at a good price? Why isn’t ‘good enough’ […]
Car Dealers Want to Know How to Attract and Sell the Millennial Buyer In 2015, I attended a meeting where I observed an “expert” on Millennial Buyers as he addressed a gathering of dealer principals. This “expert” was himself a Millennial, so the OEM who paid five figures to arrange for this “training” felt as […]
Ha, just kidding… There are no viable Pokemon GO marketing strategies for car dealers to employ in 2017 that will provide them with any kind of advantage or genuine ROI. STOP CHASING SHINY OBJECTS! If you’d like to make a difference with today’s connected customers, you should check out the recording from the Undeniable […]
Sales are flat – we need more training! Turnover is up – we need more training! Grosses are down – we need more training! We just got a bad review – we need more training! Salespeople aren’t making their calls – we need more training! I can almost hear Jan Brady now: “Training, training, […]
Cheat Sheet for Free Car Dealer Training Resources About once a week I get asked if there is a place where someone can go to see all of my free training resources cataloged in an easily digestible format. For car dealers looking for just video training, we created a Suggested Training Curriculum for Car […]
You Don’t Have Sales Managers; You’ve Got Deskers! Most dealerships I work with seem to suffer from too few managers. They don’t have enough managers to control the sales floor, monitor phone calls and other activities, oversee the basic Road-to-the-Sale, ensure the CRM is being used properly or even train their own sales teams. Why […]
No gimmicks and no tricks. In this article I am going to give you the step-by-step instructions you need to start mystery shopping your dealership’s internet sales team (and your competitors’ teams) without spending a dime (or by spending very little). In the interest of full disclosure, my company completes a comprehensive mystery shop […]
The Solution to the Never-Ending Car Dealer Staffing Problem So much has been written about the decades-long issues of turnover and staffing in automotive retail that I continue to be amazed when I read headlines like this one from Automotive News recently: Dealership turnover squeezing profits – NADA study spotlights struggles in recruitment and retention How […]
As I wrote in 2015’s Self-Driving Cars: the Winners and the Losers, new car dealers will be among the “Obvious Losers” when, not if, self-driving vehicles become ubiquitous. However, I also predicted that this evolution wouldn’t likely begin impacting new car dealers before 2025. My timeline has actually contracted a little in the last […]
I hate to break it to you, but if you run a for-profit business – like a car dealership – then your website has just two important goals: Goal #1 – Attract Visitors Goal #2 – Convert Visitors Sorry, that’s it. Attracting and converting visitors are the only real value your website provides and […]
More than a few years ago, we compiled a list of the Ten Best Decision-Making Books Ever. And while there have been plenty of other books written on the subject since then, none have been able to crack the list… until now. A few weeks ago, an author contacted us and asked that we […]
Stop Overthinking Internet Sales: 7 Simple Strategies for Closing More Deals Today! The perception of internet sales for many dealers and traditional sales managers is that it’s still a confusing area best left to those who are more “technologically proficient.” Moreover, industry vendors, other so-called experts and even some trainers continue to profit in keeping […]
I’ve often heard top process people say something like “The first step to process improvement is understanding what needs to be improved.” Knowing, they say, is half the battle. We mystery shop hundreds of dealers each year and like to think we learn something new with each shop. Certainly, the shop reports can be eye-opening […]
In a transparent, information-rich world where showrooming is commonplace, a pricing tactic used by many retailers seems strangely shortsighted. For lack of a better term, let’s call this shortsighted pricing practice “Duplicitous Pricing” or DP for short. Simply put, DP occurs when a retailer posts one price in their store while maintaining a different price […]
As some of you may know, I give away 100% of my online video training for free. I started this because I had more dealers, dealer groups and OEMs asking for my time than I had time to give. Since most managers in automotive (no offense) pay for training that they never bother to implement or reinforce, I decided […]
We recently received the comment below on our Young Managers – How Do They Lead Older Subordinates post: Hi, I am a female, 28 year older manager leading a mix team of 8 people who are 15-25 years older than me in finance operations. I have slightly different situation. I am an EXPAT from […]
Dear Car Dealer: Congratulations on a record 2015! Yippee! Now, get the slings, because you’ve likely broken your arm patting yourself on the back. If you’re an average dealership – whether privately-owned or publicly-held – you had a record year in 2015. Heck, if you’re a below average dealer you had a record 2015. […]