"Your Attitude Determines Your Altitude." 

Once upon a time a strong wood-cutter asked a timber merchant for a job. The timber merchant was happy to oblige. The pay was good and so were the work-conditions. Therefore, the wood-cutter was determined to do his best.

The timber merchant presented the wood-cutter with an axe and showed him where to work. The first day, the wood-cutter brought eighteen trees.

"Congratulations!" the boss said. "Go on working like that."

Motivated by the boss's words, the wood-cutter tried harder the next day, but he could cut down only fifteen trees. The third day he tried even harder but cut down only ten trees. Day after day, he brought fewer and fewer trees. "I must be losing my strength," the wood-cutter thought. He went to the timber merchant and apologized, saying that he could not understand what was going on. "When was the last time you sharpened your saw?" the timber merchant asked. "Sharpened ? I have had no time to sharpen my saw. I have been busy trying to cut trees," said the wood-cutter.

This story can relate to us in our industry through a number of ways. Are we too busy selling cars that we never have time to personally sharpen our skills in life. If you never take the time to do this, you will find yourself beginning to burn out. If you never take the necessary time to sharpen your skills and yourself you will have nothing in the reserve to give out.

Here are some ways to sharpen your skills:

1. Visit Websites That Will Support & Train You

Find sites that assist you as a dealer to help arm you with training, resources, and relevant practices to apply to your daily life in the dealership. Automotive Digital Training

2. Find Industry Current Sales Professional Trainers

This industry is changing all the time. We should never think we know all there is to this business no matter how long we have or haven't been in it. Search the web and look for reviews regarding the different trainers that are out there. Also contact other friends in the business and see the results that the trainer delivered to the store after they left. Dealer Synergy

3. Go To Conferences & Seminars

Attend conferences and seminars that will help you in the area of time management, processes, sales training and people skills. These are so valuable for your business and life in general. Franklin Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Internet Sales 20 Group

4. Sign Up For Webinars, Newsletters and Industry Emails

Go to different industry websites like AutomotiveInternetSales.Com, KBB.Com, Edmunds.Com, WeWorkForYou.Com, AutoMotiveNews.Com, Dealerelite.com, DealerRefresh.Com and sites like these to stay current on what's happening in the industry.

5. Continually Keep A Good Attitude

Your attitude is your posture, your mindset and your state of being. It can be seen on your face, in your words and how you respond and act towards others. Before talking with a customer make sure you do a check up from the neck up before you take the next up. Stay positive and keep a good attitude. Your attitude will ultimately determine your altitude. In other words, your attitude determines how high you go.

I trust this helped and if you need to contact me please don't hesitate. Be blessed!

Social Networking for Business does Work! I needed to mention that first to my readers and help them move beyond what may have already become an impossible or even expensive venture. I have been working with social and networking sites over last decade and in the last five years I have been implementing and testing a series of strategic processes and procedures designed and profitable for the Automotive Industry on a local dealer level. Today I want to bring to the attention of those who are or those who desire to utilize Social networking for business and need to see a return.

The process and the message can be the beginning of your success or the start of your failure, our approach to social networking and how we choose to market and/or advertise effectively must not contain any traditional type platforms that we may have had success with in the past. We have entered a new Paradigm and the Rules For Engagement Have Changed, I have monitored other industries, their do's, their don'ts and how they play by the rules inside this new Paradigm and many of us have taken an approach as a consumer…..here is where we go wrong!! The true connection must come through a chosen message to your customers and then that message must be placed everywhere your customers and potential customers are located online.

The viral marketing effect or the principals’ of viral marketing, for which many have already experienced success, can be manually implemented to work for your business, connecting your message and moving it across the internet, has become the end result of SCD and ASMN. The processes I have introduced to The Automotive Industry is a science, but a controlled and manageable science that can be taught, monitored and profitable through technology and the human element.

Dr. Harold Elam Jr
Bleecker Automotive Group

I found this study about how consumers shop for cars from the AutoTrader Dealer Learning Center www.weworkforyou.com. Nearly a quarter of all new- and used-car buyers use multiple devices to shop. Indeed, there's a correlation between everyday device usage and shopping behavior, and it's a trend that's becoming a way of life. In fact, AutoTrader.com expects that 52% of all car shopping will be done on multiple devices within the next 5 years.This study reveals how consumers use their devices, and what you can do to ensure that you're delivering the kind of shopping experience they expect.

Click below to see the Entire Study:

AutoTrader.com Multi-Device Car Shopping Study: How Consumers Shop for Cars

Your website provider should be able to provide you with a monthly report that lists the number of hits your site has garnered, the sources of those hits, how long the average visitor spends on your site and what they are visiting on your page.

Most dealerships now have an Internet department. Some stores have gone full speed by appointing an Internet manager, hiring representatives to follow up on leads and creating an advertising budget. Other stores have approached the digital age more cautiously, just dipping their toes into the vast pool of online media.

I visit dealerships across the country, and there seems to be no similarity at all in how Internet sales are handled and accounted for. Some dealers think they are maximizing their online sales revenue just by answering every e-mail and chat request.

There is a lot more to it. It just depends on how much money, time and resources you are willing to commit to the project. Full speed or not, from an accounting standpoint, it may make sense to set up a separate department to manage the income and expenses you derive from online sales. Here’s a six-step plan:

1. Hack Your DMS

It should be very simple to set up a new department on your dealer management system (DMS). Assign your new department a number and name, set up income and expense accounts and assign them a factory financial statement line number so they show up on your monthly financial statements. This step forces you to decide how you are going to track your Internet sales, as most factory charts of accounts don’t have separate accounts set up for Internet sales, cost of sales and expenses.

2. Track Your Sales

To properly track your Internet sales, you must set up separate sales and cost-of-sales accounts for each model of new vehicles you sell. Do this for your used inventory as well. If you don’t track these sales, cost of sales and gross profits separately — whether on a spreadsheet or in your accounting software — so you can subtract them from your financial statements, you will probably not have a clue if the money you are spending for this department is worth it.

3. Establish Your Structure

Decide whether your Internet personnel should handle the lead all the way to the finish line or hand the lead over to one of your regular salespeople. If it changes hands, you have to decide how you want to record the deal on your books. If not, note each Internet sale on the deal jacket so accounting knows which sales account to record it in, where to post the commission and where to list other costs associated with the sale.

4. Separate Your YTD Expenses

Once you have the department and the general ledger accounts set up, you can move the year-to-date (YTD) expenses from the accounts you have posted transactions to all year to the new accounts. That will allow you to start your department analysis in the current month.

Once you begin posting the sales and cost-of-sales accounts separately, you can easily see whether your Internet department is profitable. Make sure you allocate the correct payroll costs for the personnel working in this department. It should be based on the percentage of time they are spending there. Now you can calculate the average gross profit per unit sold, the commission or cost to sell it, and the variable expenses associated with it — the same as you would with your new- and used-vehicle departments.

Make sure you have set up accounts for Internet-centric expenses such as website design, in-store Internet usage, monthly web hosting maintenance fees, search engine optimization and lead-management software costs, not to mention your manager and sales representatives’ salaries and commissions.

5. Separate Your Fixed Expenses

If you really want to do it right, you should be allocating some of your semi-fixed and fixed expenses to the Internet department. How much is up to you. This can be a real pain to analyze and allocate, so you may want to have the department up and running for a while before you take this step. Your office manager or accounts payable expert can probably tell you which expenses pertain to your new department.

For the most part, your largest expenses are going to be personnel and electronic media software and usage fees for each click, etc. These are the ones you need to pay the most attention to, as they are variable and controllable costs. If the cost of each sale is larger than the revenue you are generating, you will need to decide how to drive more people to your site that may buy, or start reducing some expenses so the department is not a drain on your dealership’s profits.

6. Order Your Reports

The profitability of any department depends on performance. Your Internet manager should track how long it takes to respond to a lead and how many leads are closing as actual sales. Your website provider should be able to provide him or her with a monthly report that lists the number of hits, the source (e.g., Google search terms), how long the average visitor spends on your site and whether they are visiting different departments.

With the right information at hand, you should be able to compute your cost for each lead and unit sale. Better yet, you can make intelligent decisions on how to improve your website, your inventory mix and your process for handling Internet leads.

Under Review

Once you have set up new accounts for the income and expenses generated by your Internet department, you can determine whether the department is profitable. If it isn’t, you need to act fast. Look at your site from the perspective of a potential customer and ask yourself the following questions:

• Is your site graphically appealing and easy to navigate?
• Does it look as nice as your competitors’ sites?
• Is your inventory easy to find?
• Are your vehicles listed with good photos, videos and descriptions?
• Are your online prices competitive for your market?
• Do you know how many of the same vehicles are for sale in your market area?
• Do you make it easy for customers to contact you?

Source - http://www.autodealermonthly.com/article/story/2013/10/a-web-of-lies.aspx?utm_campaign=Enews-20131029&utm_source=Email&utm_medium=Enewsletter 

If you wanted to build a new dealership, how would you do it? Would you just grab a bunch of nails, screws, wood and material and start? Would you just wake up one day and say, "Today's the day" and go to the home depot and start buying the materials? Would you search the Internet and figure out how to do it yourself? In truth, you know as well as I, that there are a ton of steps needed to make a new building project become reality. However, I want to focus on a very important step that is needed to ensure the final product turn out correctly and that step is the creation of, "The Blueprint!"

A Blueprint is defined as a detailed outline or plan of action. It is the model to follow in order to reproduce the final product. Anything created is created 2 times. The first creation is in one's mind, as a thought and imagination. The second creation is when it is a living reality as a finished product. The blueprint is the bridge that connects the idea to the final product. The blueprint contains the steps, the plans, the map, the processes, the details, the model and the directions to cause what is not yet to become into a living reality. 

So as a dealer, as a sale professional, What is your blueprint for your position? The builder of a building can only build according to what the blueprint says. If the blueprint is a small house, the final product will be a small house. If you expect a large house and the blueprint is only for a small house, you will be very disappointed because the blueprint determines the final product.

You see many times in this industry we become upset at the end of the month when we fall short of hitting our bonuses and different commission levels but if we would be honest with ourselves, we would see that what we accomplished is directly a result of the blueprint we had for that month. A detailed blueprint takes time, takes work and takes discipline to follow, but the reward far outweighs the work. Your expectations will be more likely satisfied when you create the blueprint rather then allowing the blueprint to take shape by itself due to the default of no plan, no process, no steps and no actions being recorded. When nothing is done then you really have nothing to aim for. When you have nothing to aim for and you blindly shoot into the future month with no target in site, you may or may not hit something. You may have good results but with a blueprint you could've had GREAT results! You may have no results but with a blueprint you could've have GOOD results! 

Put together a blueprint for this up coming month. Write out the details, set the goals and put together an action plan on how to build that house! If the blueprint builds a 30 car month, then what steps, processes, actions and plans need to be implemented to build this 30 car house? How many phone calls, emails and pro-active prospecting actions need to be taken to achieve this? Create the blueprint and you will create the outcome that lines up with it. 

Remember that your house is the result of your blueprints! In order to change the results you need to first change the blueprints! Happy Selling!

http://www.internetsales20group.com 856-546-2440

The Internet Sales 20 Group's VIP Networking Party Will Be Held In Hollywood's #1 Nightclub, The Emerson Theatre

The 2013 Internet Sales 20 Group in Los Angeles California will have its VIP Networking event in Hollywood's #1 Nightclub, The Emerson Theatre!!

The VIP Networking event is being sponsored by TrueCar & Trade-In Velocity

In addition, DealerTrack will be GIVING AWAY $1,000 CASH for the "Best Idea Contest"!!

You do NOT want to MISS this event!!!

http://www.dealersynergy.com 856-546-2440
Internet Director / Internet Sales Manager Responsibilities Part 4 - Automotive Sales - Car Sales

To evaluate means to ascertain or fix the value or worth of something. To examine and judge carefully. Another word for evaluate is appraise. Now that's a word I'm familiar with. Appraise! In the car industry we use this word when we appraise or evaluate a customer's trade. What are we doing when we do this? Besides making our customers upset about what we appraise their trade for, we are examining, evaluating and looking over the trade carefully to see the condition, mileage and real time value of it. The appraisal shows us the trade as it is valued in the condition we see it. Now, if the trade has a dent in one door, is over mileage 20,000 miles and has a cracked bumper, the value of the trade will decrease. There will be deductions made for each area. But if the bumper is not cracked, the mileage is under by 5,000 miles and there are no dents at all on the vehicle the trade will be valued higher. The appraisal reveals to the one evaluating it and the one who owns it not only the actual value of it in the condition it's in now but also the reasons why it's worth what it's worth.

We do appraisals for people every day, but what about ourselves? Now, you might be thinking, "I don't need to do an appraisal on my car because I'm not trading it in!" But I'm not talking about appraising your car. I'm talking about you. Have you done an appraisal on yourself lately? Have you pulled out the "Self Appraisal" and took time to evaluate yourself? What about the "Life Appraisal"? Have you taken time to evaluate, examine and look over your life to see the condition, mileage and real time value of it? Have we been so busy working and evaluating things for everybody else that we've let ourselves' fall apart and we haven't had time to take proper care of us? Take the time to evaluate yourself today so you can fix and improve the areas that have caused you to lose self-value in your life. Here is a sample "Self Appraisal" for you to do right now:

This is just a sample but I trust you get the idea of how you can use this to evaluate your present reality whatever it may be. There are many other types of appraisals you can put together also. Here are a few more to consider:

• Leadership Appraisal
• Work Appraisal
• Emotional Appraisal
• Physical Appraisal
• Spiritual Appraisal
• Social Appraisal
• Management Appraisal
• Sales Appraisal

Now if we were to just do an evaluation and leave it at that than we'd all be depressed and in pretty bad shape. However, the evaluation is necessary to expose to us our current condition right now so we can fix, correct and adjust the value of what we see. This is where education comes in. 

Education

To educate means to provide with knowledge or training in a particular area or for a particular purpose. Once we have done our evaluation now we can fix, correct and adjust the necessary areas we have discovered.

"The great aim of education is not knowledge but action."

Knowledge + Corresponding Action = Education. When we are truly educated in an area we are no longer ignorant in that area. We have the know how to fix, change and adjust ourselves into a higher place than where we were without our education. This is called elevation.

Elevation

Evaluation + Education = Elevation. This is always the result of someone who practices these principles in any area of life. Whether it is the workplace, the sale, the close, life, leadership, management, relationships or anything else this formula will hold true.

As you focus on making it a habit to evaluate and educate yourself in every area of life you will experience being elevated to new positions, promotions and higher levels of responsibility. 

http://www.automotivedigitaltraining.com 856-546-2440
Internet Director - Internet Sales Manager - Responsibilities Part 2 - Automotive Internet Sales

So as you head into the weekend, are you setting the stage to be successful? Are we reaching people how they like to be naturally reached? When you think about the most common and effective ways people communicate today; text messaging, social media, social media messaging and cell phones; are we ignoring these avenues only focusing on sending emails & calling home and work numbers only or are we engaging people the way they naturally communicate. Here is a friendly reminder for you to get ready for the weekend so you can sell more cars, more profitably, more often!

http://www.dealersynergy.com 856-546-2440 

Sean V. Bradley has 15 years Automotive Internet Sales experience selling over 110 INTERNET units per month when he was an Internet Director at Pine Belt Automotive in NJ 

Joe Cala was the Internet Sales Manager at Nelson Mazda in Tulsa Oklahoma that took their department from 7 units - 80 units per month online. Joe then went on to Gateway Toyota, a Penske store to become the Internet Director for 6 years. Joe was delivering 150 INTERNET units per month. Cala also worked for Autotrader.com for a year.

Both Cala and Bradley have extensive Automotive Internet Sales experience and have created a 5 part Internet Director responsibilities series. 

If you would like more information please go to www.automotivedigitaltraining.com or call them at 856-546-2440 

script.wma

Practicing script training having a great time. Learning a lot of different things.

Being in the business for my short time, I've realized this one thing. Most dealerships are doing the same thing. Now I didn't say, "ALL Dealerships are doing the same thing" because I realize that there are some that really have set themselves apart from the masses of mediocrity. However, most dealerships are working to be the best of the worst instead of creating a different culture, a different atmosphere and a different experience to the customer and employee. 

I heard a dealer principal say, "Our problem as a dealer, is that we set our standards based off of what other dealers are doing, rather than setting a higher standard to doing what's right and different whether other dealers are doing it or not! If we keep using each other as a standard, then we will only ever achieve being the best of the worst!"

I love walking into dealerships that could care less about what the other guy is doing, because they are so focused on doing what they're supposed to be doing that they have no time to WASTE TIME watching the other guys. When you know your purpose and when you are attacking your mission to serve your community and client base, then you are focused and driven to reach your targets.

When you're watching everyone else, all you're doing is simply reading the temperature. You're never setting the tone or adjusting the thermostat to set the temperature because you're too busy studying, examining and watching the thermometer go up and down based on the market and the competition. 

You can't change the temperature of other stores that you are not in, but you can certainly change the temperature of the store that you're in. You can make a difference in how your customer base and fellow employees experience life in your store. Here are some easy ways to adjust the thermostat and change the atmosphere and culture of your customer employee experience:

1. Evaluate your current processes. 

You can do this by asking some very simple questions regarding them. 

• How are they working?
• Are they too complicated?
• Can we adjust them in any way to make the overall experience BETTER?
• What do the employees have to say regarding them? 
• What do the customers think about them?
• Are they in line with our mission as a company?
• Are we creating an atmosphere to cultivate customer loyalty? 
• If we've been here for 5 or more years and are not seeing a large number of repeat and referral business, then what are we doing wrong and how can we fix it and make it right?
• What does our reputation look like online? 
• How do people view their experience with our store?
• How do employees view the customer experience at the store?

If employees and their family members are not buying vehicles from your store for other reasons beyond not liking the inventory make or models on the ground then there may be some digging that needs to be done. I can come up with a bunch more but I'm sure this helps get the juices flowing.

2. Educate & Train Your Team.

Dealers spend thousands of dollars a month to beautify the grounds, the buildings, the appearance of their inventory, to advertise their inventory and bring as many people as possible to come in online, on the phone or on the lot and fail to spend any further money on training, educating and building their sales team. Many times the people are the right people for the job, but they just haven't been PROPERLY trained. I emphasize PROPERLY because if you've been in the car business for any amount of time training has always been a majority problem for dealers. The greatest asset to your store is YOU! Without you and the people you have serving and selling the products, the products can't be sold. So instead of having them shadow other salesmen, and instead of having them watch VCR tapes of training from 20 years ago, invest in a current up to date trainer and training materials to help aid them in becoming a success in their positions. As they're successful, you'll be successful! 

3. Lead From Your Feet Not Your Seat

The success or failure of a department and store falls on the leadership. Don’t hide behind your computers in your office counting beans, analyzing charts, numbers and averages all day. Get up and touch the people who are working with and for your success. Get involved. Ask questions. Interact. See and hear what your people are saying and what’s being said. Stay touchable, accessible and seen. 

I trust this will help you. Have a great finish to the end of your month and if you'd like to contact me please do so at any time. Have a great day! 

Email looks weird? View in browser Internet Sales 20 Group Discount Code CarsDirect.com is pleased to be a presenting sponsor at the upcoming Internet 20 Sales Group Los Angeles , taking place November 12-14 at the Renaissance LAX Hotel. This award-winning sales workshop is focused exclusively on Internet sales! Our seasoned CarsDirect Internet sales experts will explore the latest buying trends, the reasons customers aren't buying, and how you can change your processes to immediately improve closing ratios. Attendance at this event is limited, so secure your spot today!  Best of all, take advantage of these great benefits - a $2,000+ value! - for registering as a CarsDirect dealer:  $250 off registration costs! Simply use discount code carsdirect1112upon registration check-out. A free month of Used Car listings on CarsDirect* 25,000 free banner ad impressions on CarsDirect's leading network of automotive websites that gets 35+ million monthly visits** * with the purchase of two months of CarsDirect Used Car listings ** with the paid purchase of any CarsDirect product Connect with us: 909 N. Sepulveda Ave. El Segundo, CA 90245 1-800-260-5857 ©2013 CarsDirect Manage Subscription  |  Subscribe  |  Privacy Policy  |  Report Abuse  |  Unsubscribe

http://www.automotivedigitaltraining.com 856-546-2440