What the best of the best do when they make a mistake

11.12.2009

The following is an email exchange that occurred yesterday between myself and John Chalfant, one of the used car operators for whom I have the greatest respect.  There are two important lessons to be found in this exchange. First, in spite of this particular individual’s extraordinary past successes, he is perfectly willing to admit that [...]

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New soldier, old battle

11.11.2009

Please see the note below from Chris Irwin, one of the brightest new whiz kids in the business, yet he is struggling with one of the oldest battles.  Any insights and advice for Chris?
 
Dale- Perhaps a topic of conversation on your blog to kick around.  Once again the topic of recon costs comes up. Looking [...]

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Three complimentary Dealers Edge Seminar logins

11.11.2009

Tomorrow at 1pm Eastern, a respected consultant named Steve Nickelsen will be performing a used car best practice webinar sponsored by Dealers Edge.  I’ve been given three complimentary logins for the Wednesday, November 11 web seminar, and I’d be happy to give them to anyone who is interested.  If I receive more than three responses, [...]

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Two necessary conditions for used vehicle success

11.11.2009

Today’s used car business is varied and complex.  What you have to do in order to be successful spans a wide range of skills from traditional lot management to virtual marketing.  It is unreasonable to expect success to occur by simply working harder and faster.  Rather, specific conditions must exist for success.  So what are [...]

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Social Media – Push First or Pull First

11.09.2009

You know it always amazes me that you go to a conference, workshop or seminar and you walk away with more questions and very little answers. At DD7 social media or social networking was a big topic but no one focused on the issue of when to push and when to pull.  Simply put, when [...]

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Letter from Larry

11.06.2009

Below is an interesting letter that I received earlier this week and my response.  I’d be interested in your thoughts.  Thanks
Hey, Dale.  Enjoyed your article in Sept. and Oct. ‘09 issues of Auto Success about Volatility and Velocity.  I agree.  We don’t broaden our horizons enough, and with a shrinking market share (domestics), we will [...]

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SunStar…a way to source vehicles in a tough market

11.05.2009

On a previous posting entitled Two Old Timers Teach the Industry a New Trick on October 21, I wrote about 2 dealers in their late 60’s that were starting up a centralized buying service company called SunStar, located in North Carolina. Scott Wood, Director – eCommerce/Digital Marketing at SunStar who leads this new company, recently [...]

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Sunday school with Dale

11.04.2009

Over the past several weeks I’ve received numerous requests to meet with dealership personnel to review the basic fundamentals of velocity management. I’m finding it increasingly difficult to set dates and appointments in the near term. As a result I will be conducting periodic velocity training classes at our office in Oak Brook, Illinois on [...]

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Click to do what?

11.03.2009

OK – I just got back from Digital Dealer, and the conference was great. I did however see something that was really ridiculous. There’s actually two new companies out there that are introducing tools that allow dealers to negotiate with customers on-line.
Now maybe I’m crazy, but I’m sort of thinking that the fact that the [...]

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The only controllable and sustainable way to make money in used car operation

10.30.2009

I’d like to know if anyone can answer the follow two questions.
1) Is it reasonable to expect to make the same average used per vehicle gross profit today that we once made since the internet has taken hold in the used car shopping market?
2) Can we expect to make as much per vehicle as [...]

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