With prices of late model used vehicles at a near all-time high, one of the greatest challenges for used car managers is acquiring enough inventory to meet the current demand. I’ve talked to used car managers who are traveling further distances, attending more auctions and paying more than they ever have before. Unfortunately, used car [...]

When you’re planning your dealership’s online marketing strategy, is location a factor? Maybe you’re located near a river, mountain or near the border of a state with no sales tax. Maybe you know there are desirable customers who come from a zip code near you, but those customers have to drive by another same-brand dealership [...]

A friend of mine lives in Arizona and was recently telling me about the state’s Stupid Motorist Law. I thought it was pretty amusing and it made me wonder what other funny driving laws are on the books. These are just a few that I found and thought they would make for good comic relief: [...]

Urban Science recently analyzed its lead management data and, according to these recent articles in the Sacramento Bee and by CBS Detroit, is offering several rosy projections for auto dealers in 2012: A projected Seasonal Annual Adjusted Rate (SAAR) for vehicle sales of 13.95 million and J.D. Power & Associates estimates annual sales will surpass [...]

For automotive retail workers, the holidays are one of the busiest times of the year. The week between Christmas and New Year’s can represent a third or more of the business for the entire month of December. And during this week, the number of online leads that a dealer receives can even exceed the number [...]

As the end of the year approaches, it’s a good time to take stock of how successful your dealership’s Internet marketing plan is and how you want to attack the market in 2012. So what should you be looking for when evaluating your Internet success? When it comes to Internet leads, it’s important to map [...]

It’s often the early adopters that reap the biggest benefits – look at the dealers who saw, early on, the value in using the Internet as a tool to expand their sales. Now, those who seek out technology as an accelerator are getting another jump on their competition by improving the efficiency of their Internet [...]

Recently I heard from a dealer who received “too many leads from across the river.” His dealership is located in Washington, D.C., and due to the limited number of bridges spanning the Potomac River, they rarely get customers from certain areas in Virginia. However, he was receiving leads from these areas because geographically these customers [...]

Though SEO and social media have received the lions’ share of hype lately, independent Internet leads are still a critical part of many dealerships’ Internet marketing strategy. Just as dealers know that NOT investing in SEO can be detrimental to their lead volume, most dealers know that to NOT have any presence on consumer research [...]

Few topics are hotter today than mobile apps for auto dealers, and whether you like them, hate them or feel indifferent, it looks like mobile apps are here to stay. According to a recent study by the Pew Research Center, 85% of adults in the U.S. own a cell phone with the percentage owning a [...]

I’d say nearly every Sales Manager has come across the “cherry picker” salesperson – on the front line or in the Internet department.  The one who’s smarter than the process and who only needs to see the customer, or the lead, to make a decision on whether it’s a sale or not. And as a [...]

Whether it’s a shift in the market due to rising gas prices or an interruption in supply due to a natural disaster, at some point you’re likely to experience a shortage of models in your new vehicle inventory.  When that happens, will you shut the showroom doors on customers looking for those hard-to-get models? Of [...]