Everyone, even the most committed and successful visionary, may take a shortcut from time to time. It's in our DNA. It's hard to resist. It's a recipe for disaster. It's one of the status quos of automotive retail and it'll undoubtedly be the death of more dealers. So why is it that we live in […]
Let's face it, we still live in a marketing-based world. And nearly all of it still screaming for attention, sales, mass following, validation, acceptance and more while typically ignoring what matters most. Yes, it's morphed and transitioned and (partially) gone to the place called online but it is created and delivered in the same way […]
It's the end of the year and the heart of the holiday season, right in between being thankful for everything we have and swearing off more than half of it (mostly weight) for the coming year. It's the time of the year when a few minutes on the automotive networks and news sites gets the […]
You're back but your bags (and head) may still be packed from your Las Vegas departure. The whirlwind of powerpoints, data, applications, widgets, speakers, vendors and pitches that opened October 12 with Digital Dealer and ran through DrivingSales Executive Summit at Encore, came to a close mid-day last Friday with the departure of over 1,000 […]
So we're in what many call the automotive industry's event olympics, digital dunking chair, online opinion onslaught, guruexpertvendorspeakerconsultantpitchyouintosubmissionsession and more (is that a word or an insult?!?!). Anyway, last week's Digital Dealer was one heck of a kickoff with around 750 dealers in attendance. Over the three days, we heard both the good and bad, […]
We're considering making a big alarm clock. No, a BIG %^&*#$@ alarm clock. That way instead of waking up 10-100 dealers at a time, we can wake up 10,000. And folks, we all should know how big that clock has to be. 14 years of the automotive Internet, over 6 years for most OEM website […]
So, what's your newest carrot? What new shiny object has you mesmerized? Which vendor's widget has you seeing extra dollar signs? What in the heck are you thinking?!?! Two things are working against you: automotive industry digital/online marketing conferences and the deluge of pitches as the "health" of the automotive industry continues its slow creep […]
It's very telling, especially today, when a supplier doesn't deliver. Over-commit, under-deliver. While there is no such thing as 100% delivery, 100% of the time when there are variables like creative, interpretation, third parties and even technology changing at a breakneck, daily pace. However the fundamentals should never change: communication, expectation, examination and verification. Being […]
Reading a number of great posts recently (while trying to ignore the blatant self-promotion via a popularity contest glorified by a number of industry members last week), all focused on getting dealers to make the shift to digital or social media, it hit me once again what we're all trying to do: get people in […]
After the recent seminars and events in the Los Angeles area it seems more clear than ever: dealers want to do more, are mostly eager to address new opportunities (or old ones sold as new), are baffled by new technology including social media, are looking at the factories for direction and don't seem to have […]