Season's Greetings
 We would like to take this opportunity to wish all of our clients, friends and associates our warmest wishes this holiday season. For many in our industry there isn’t a lot to celebrate this year and to those folks, who were impacted by events in 2009, we want you to know our prayers and thoughts are with you and your families. We are hopeful that our renewed focus on taking care of our customers and a growing economy will bring some resurgence to our business in 2010. Whether you celebrate Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanzaa or any other holiday of faith, please know we are all one family and together we will emerge stronger having faced these challenges. We wish you all a more prosperous 2010.
Rich Valenta, CEO TK Carsites; Sean V. Bradley, CEO Dealer Synergy; Jim Bradford, President TK Carsites
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The Power of Long Term Follow Up
The very first thing I was told when I entered into the world of car sales was “contact them until they buy or die”. This was something that was drilled into my brain all through my first week of training and for the first 6 months of my sales career. Upon entering the Internet department I found some veterans did not look at their Internet customers in the same way. They shuffled through their leads vigorously trying to find a sale, and threw away people who were not ready to buy today. Essentially they were cherry picking their prospects. I sat back after my first month and looked at my numbers thinking there has to be more. There must be something I can do with all these leads that everyone else is tossing aside. And guess what? THERE WAS.
[FULL STORY]
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Back to Basics with Rick
Let’s start with “if you are too busy”… Please forward me a checklist? Here’s a recent email quote that I received from a ISM who was looking to make a significant online marketing decision for 2 dealerships. Can you identify with what she wants and why?
“Not sure I really have time right now for online marketing meetings and all that. I'm supposed to have a general price list for services to the owner next week so that he can make a decision on who they want to go with. We have researched a few different options and gotten pricing on a few, but we have been very bussy so I just need a price.
[FULL STORY]
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Tougher Competition Means You Need a Battle Plan
Jim Ziegler knows more about auto sales, desking deals and finance  at a level that most of us can only dream about attaining. He has been helping thousands of dealers improve performance, take care of customers and maximize profits for many years now. His Dealer Advocate column appears in Dealer magazine each month and he has a reputation for “telling it like he sees it.”
Sean V. Bradley and his Dealer Synergy team have made a major impact on auto retailing and helping dealerships leverage the “new age” technology to build powerful, efficient Internet and BDC Departments to take online marketing to a whole new level. His 3 and 5 day Internet Director Immersion programs have set a new standard for  comprehensive training and certification in the Internet arena.
Now, Jim Ziegler and Sean V. Bradley are collaborating to offer dealers a powerful workshop covering critical topics that will impact sales results, advertising expenditures, CSI scores, cost controls, and tips and techniques that will produce immediate results. This event is being held in Las Vegas on January 13-14,2010. Get more details and register on the event website.
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Winning Online
Here is a stark but simple fact: for the past year, the marketplace has offered fewer active buyers than needed to sustain the dealer community. A Darwinian fight for survival proceeded; over the past year an alarming number of dealers went out of business. Those that have survived this first shakeout have proven they can deal with adversity. Going forward, those that thrive must gain and cultivate an operationally persistent competitive edge.
[FULL STORY]
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Handling Inbound Phone Calls at Your Dealership
 There is no right or wrong solution to this challenge, and the right answer depends on your situation, budget and location. It goes without saying that training is essential for your call center and all employees who handle your inbound phone calls. While some dealerships have chosen to use third party companies for this function, I am not a big fan of outsourcing your call center for several reasons.
[FULL STORY]
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What You Can Learn from Tiger Woods
(. . . about Public Relations, not golf)
 Like a train wreck…you just can’t look away, can you? Tiger Woods, the much beloved darling of the links and most successful athlete of all time (worth over $1 Billion according to Forbes estimates), has been caught in the mother of all scandals, the full effects of which have yet to be realized. Aside from starting heated discussions around water coolers and dinner tables alike, Tiger Woods’ “personal failings” and “transgressions” have sent his corporate sponsors scrambling, causing untold damage to the brand of Tiger, Inc. and providing non-stop fodder and speculation from every news outlet on the planet.
[FULL STORY]
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| ARCHIVE |
Issue 5
November 23, 2009
Vol. 1 Issue 5
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Issue 4
October 19, 2009
Vol. 1 Issue 4
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Issue 3
September 15, 2009
Vol. 1 Issue 3
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Issue 2
August 27, 2009
Vol. 1 Issue 2
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Issue 1
July 14, 2009
Vol. 1 Issue 1
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