July 2010 – DealerRefresh | DealerRefresh Automotive Dealer Forums

2010 ASMA Awards – Applications Now Available

Applications for the 2010 Automotive Search Marketing Architecture (ASMA) study, underwritten by PCG Digital Marketing (PCG), are now available to automotive website design companies. The annual study and awards recognize the best automotive website platforms for automotive digital marketing strategies. Automotive website companies are encouraged to contact Carrie Hemphill, ASMA Award Coordinator, to request the …

Best Practices

The Ego….errrr….Dealership Home Page

Dealership Website and Home Page metrics for measuring which pages need attention on a dealer's site. Time on site, time on page, bounce rate, and form submissions or Internet Leads are good analytics to start looking at.

PR Announcements

iMagicLab Announces Automotive Industry’s First Dealership CRM iPhone App

iMagicLab DealerCRM for iPhone makes it even easier for America’s car dealerships to stay connected and engaged with customers. Baltimore, MD – July 27, 2010. iMagicLab, a technology leader in automobile retailing, today announced the submission to Apple of the world’s first automobile-dealership CRM app for use in the iPhone and iPod Touch. DealerCRM for …

Best Practices

Chat Tracks – Critiquing a Dealer Chat Transcript

Critiquing a Live Dealer Chat Transcript We have word tracks for when were face to face with a potential client. We have word tracks for becoming a Ninja like phone-up professional, moving the customer to appointment. Have the right words at the right time in your arsenal and move the customer that much closer to …

Industry News & Trends

ADP Buys Cobalt Group – Announcement

ADP Dealer Services Group is planning to buy Cobalt Group Inc. According to Dealer Communications – Friday July 9 will be the announcement of ADP Dealer Services plan to purchase Cobalt Group Inc. Apparently discussions have been ongoing for nearly two years between ADP and Cobalt’s primary investor Warbug Pincus. The acquisition is expected to …

Best Practices

I think I feel …and the Rule of Equal Incompetence

Let me introduce you to the rule of equal incompetence. It applies to many of us. When a market of competitors all hire the same people and adopt the same practices you end up with equivalency. When business decisions are not based in fact, you create incompetence. Thus, the rule of equal incompetence. If you’ve …

Best Practices

Trade-in Value: The Missing Ingredient to Holding Gross and Building Trust

Since the beginning of car sales, we have tried to find that elusive balance between holding gross and increasing volume. OEMs would love nothing more than to have an army of sales professionals whose sole focus was moving product- so much so, many of them have decreased profit margin to all time lows in the …

Industry Events

Small Screen, Big Sales – Cars.com Webinar

Date: Friday, July 9th Time: 12pm to 1 p.m. (Eastern) Location: Your Computer Cost: FREE – Register Here With your online listings, video helps to bring the car to life and lets shoppers take a virtual test drive. Customers can verify the vehicle’s condition and determine if it offers the passenger and cargo capacity they …