Best PracticesDealership Communication ToolsDealership Operations & Processes

Yes, You Should Always Use an Auto-Response

No offense to anyone reading this series: but far too many people in our industry tend to overthink everything related to internet sales and digital marketing. Perhaps it’s because so much of this is new or perhaps it’s because change is happening so quickly that it’s hard to keep up with the actual “best” practices …
Best PracticesDealership MarketingDealership Operations & Processes

Treat EVERY Lead and Call Like an Order

When I first started working closely with dealership internet teams in 2003, I was surprised whenever a traditional sales manager took any interest at all in their activities. Back then there were two primary types of managers heading up a store’s internet efforts: There was the “guy who was good with computers” and there was …
Best PracticesDealership Operations & Processes

Internet Teams and BDCs Must be Managed Like Call Centers

Because so many dealers and traditional sales managers continue to look at their internet department as this mysterious group of ex-Dungeons and Dragons players who too closely resemble the graduating class at Hogwarts, it’s important to break down the simplest of strategies that truly drive successful internet sales efforts today. There’s no need to overthink …
Best PracticesDealership Operations & Processes

Pay for the Performance You Want and Stop Overthinking “Internet Sales”

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 internet sales a befuddling mystery for the average dealer’s management team. The …
Best PracticesDealership Operations & Processes

5 Reasons Why Your Sales Department Shouldn’t Take that Phone Call

With today’s connected customer, there really are only a few types of phone calls your team will find themselves involved with. Gone are the days of a customer phoning and saying, “I need something good on gas for under $8,000; what do you have on the lot?” Today’s customer, whether a millennial or a baby …
Best PracticesDealership Operations & Processes

Here is How You Structure a Pay Plan for a Hot Mess BDC

I recently received an email from a colleague asking about a pay plan for an automotive BDC that I describe as a “Hot Mess.” Why a Hot Mess, you ask? Plainly stated, a dealership’s sales structure and associated process flows should be simple and straightforward. When these flows have multiple forks upon multiple forks upon …
Best PracticesDealership Operations & Processes

MarketShare? Why Your Record Year Might be a Bad Thing

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. Newsflash: The entire industry …