Simple steps to losing your loyal customers
Chris Gerber
May 16, 2012
You don’t have to give poor customer service in order to lose customers, but it certainly helps. A personal customer service saga. The easiest way to lose your keys is to leave them somewhere. The easiest way to lose your money is at the casino. The easiest way to lose your mind is to attempt to... Read more »
Taking the Top 100 online
Mike Davin, Senior Editor
May 11, 2012
This year we have moved our Top 100 Dealers application entirely online, a change we hope makes life easier for you … and, frankly, us. Let me give you an example of one way the new system will benefit our team and, in turn, benefit you. One of the great things about the Top 100 is that it allows us... Read more »
Response revs up revenue
Bob McCann, Director of Education, ARI
May 9, 2012
Online prospects expect immediate access to accurate and helpful information designed to eliminate options – i.e., choose what they perceive as the right product and dealership for them. In this context, the first expectation is a prompt, relevant response. If you don’t jump on that lead, another... Read more »
The (temporary) fallout from changing your website domain
Brent Renneke, Associate Editor
May 4, 2012
As your business stands today, you may not be happy with your website URL. Maybe your dream website domain was being used at the time. Maybe your business has changed from its original purpose. Or maybe the original URL was not as well thought out as you previously believed. For those who decide to make... Read more »
Make a long-term impact in a finite lifetime
Dan Coughlin, The Coughlin Co.
May 2, 2012
Recently I had one of the saddest and most inspiring days of my life. Thirty years ago I was introduced to a group of friends at a different college than the one I attended. Immediately I found them to be a fun and funny group of folks. For the next twenty years we got together multiple times a year... Read more »
Real Tactics to Incorporate Social Media at Your Boating Events
Rob Bowman, Dominion Marine Media, SellorDieTrying.com
April 27, 2012
Hosting events that get your customers out on the water and using their boats isn’t a new marketing tool, but incorporating social media into these events might be for a lot of marine dealers. We all know by now that social media isn’t a fad and in fact can be an extremely useful channel to introduce... Read more »
How your service department can learn from an Italian restaurant
Liz Walz, Editor-in-Chief
April 25, 2012
I subscribe to Chris Brogan’s blog, and the most recent one I received talked about a YouTube video created by Bertucci’s, an Italian restaurant. I wanted to share it with you because I think there are implications for our industry. In the video, one of Bertucci’s chef’s shows the viewer how... Read more »
5 tips (and more) to improve email marketing campaigns
Chris Gerber, Associate Digital Editor
April 24, 2012
Email marketing still stands as the most likely way to influence consumer buying decisions, according to the 2012 Channel Preference survey by ExactTarget.com. It remains the preferred direct marketing channel for consumers aged 15 and older and nets a higher daily usage rate than text messaging, Twitter... Read more »
Google search changes coming: good for businesses?
Christopher Gerber, Associate Digital Editor
April 20, 2012
Search Engine Optimization used to mean pumping out as many keywords as possible into the copy on your webpage. Google recognized that this trend was delivering users to webpages that were almost unreadable, with keywords layered so heavily that no rational users could understand them (highly understandable,... Read more »
Technology not enough without a process
Mike Davin, Senior Editor
April 18, 2012
The auto industry deals with volume on a scale that industries like marine and powersports can’t match, and because of that, it’s usually a few years ahead when it comes to getting the latest dealership technology. My local car dealership is no exception. For instance, it features an online... Read more »
