It’ Complicated: Understanding Your Love-Hate Relationship With Data
You’ve heard all the arguments. You’ve probably even joined in at times. Customer data is too overwhelming. It’s complicated. It’s too confusing, time-consuming and expensive. If you’ve been a little hesitant to dive headfirst into piles of data, you’re not alone. Many dealership professionals see data as a frenemy — both friend and enemy. It
Credit Information Emerges as Important Informational Tool to Drive Incremental Sales
The auto industry has done well the past eight years. Since bottoming out at approximately 10.4 million in new vehicle sales in 2009, the industry has attained an average annual growth rate of 7.6 percent for new vehicle sales. The near-decade momentum, which culminated in approximately 17.46 million new vehicle sales in 2017, meant growth came much easier than normal for most automotive retailers.
Data Segmentation: The Secret to Customer Satisfaction and Retention with Special Guest Mo Zahabi
Published February 28, 2017 The auto industry’s rapid growth may be drawing to a close, but there’s no reason to panic if fewer new customers come through your door. Your existing customers are a gold mine of opportunities. If you can identify which customers in your database are ready to interact with you, you can
Pulling Together: Leadership and Employee Performance, Part 3
The potential for a new employee is practically limitless. Each new hire could be your dealership’s next superstar. Reality, however, soon kicks in and reveals the truth. Some new hires do indeed rock the lot and exceed expectations. Some, however, might not immediately live up to their potential or the hopes we had for them.
Success Story: First Team Chevy Becomes No. 1 in 2016
Leading the Hampton Roads Area with a New Strategy Located in Hampton, Virginia, Hampton Chevrolet is one of 12 stores in the First Team Auto Group.[…]
Don’t Let the Modern Gold Rush Take Down Your Business
Historians credit Sutter’s Mill, near present-day Sacramento, as the epicenter of the 1849 California Gold Rush. The mill’s owner, a German immigrant named John Sutter, owned 50,000 acres in the area when one of his employees discovered gold in the river near the mill. Though Sutter tried to keep the gold a secret, word
Hope: A Magic Ingredient for Employee Retention
Today’s average car buyers go to 1.6 dealerships before they buy a car. They do not move on from that first dealership because they don’t like the brand. They move on because they don’t like the dealership. With a turnover rate for dealership salespeople of 72 percent, customers who want to become loyal to a dealership
From Extravagance to Necessity to Customization and on to Organizational Personalization
Today, dealerships need a Website that provides a personalized shopping experience and allows the shopper to have a social connection and feel they know the people with whom they are planning to do business. How did we get here and where will we go next? Let’s examine the path we took to where we are
Why Aren’t There More Women General Managers?
After a decade of progress of women gradually emerging as an important and recognized segment of contemporary automotive business, it is frustrating to see statistics from an NADA Workforce Study stating that only 8 percent of women occupy key positions in our national automotive dealerships. This study also reports that women still work in positions
Small Activities Can Bring Big Results
Technology is great, and new ideas and better processes are wonderful, but one of the best things you can focus on to improve your sales and find success in your career is paying attention to the basics. These efforts might not be the most electrifying actions you take during the day, but simple activities —
