Automotive News periodically creates great videos showing how a dealership solved a problem. Even if you’re not in automotive, this is a good one. Like many dealerships, Chuck Anderson Ford is small, with new-vehicle inventory low and used-vehicle costs skyrocketing. Also like many stores, the dealership wrestles with buying a used car and getting it reconditioned by its Service staff …
Car designers and their loves
From The New York Times, for my automotive friends: Just enjoy the pictures, seeing people in love with their craft.
The one skill you must have to sell
I had just closed a car dealer on working with me for a second year. In the work I do, there are no salaries or benefits. You work gig to gig, retainer to retainer. Every gig was a big deal for my wife and me–nothing, including income, is guaranteed. (Actually, nothing is guaranteed even for the salaried. We all work …
Meme watch: We’re getting rough on retail employees (again)
Over the last few months, society has changed, yet again, its expectations on retail customer service. I base that statement on three things: Conversations with clients Observations while I’m shopping Recent memes. Memes only tell us how people who are online and are willing to post and express themselves feel about life. (Never get tricked into thinking that online opinions …
The shift to ordering your car: questions for any industry
I’ve been musing if this is the new normal: Is custom ordering the future of car sales (8-minute Automotive News video). The dealership mentioned, Pat Milliken Ford, is a founding member of Ford’s Consumer Experience Movement, an initiative I’m proud to serve. They are no slouches at CX–customer experience–and bring some questions to mind for any industry: How do you …
EVs: coming sooner than you think?
This article has been making the rounds with my automotive colleagues. Do you buy it? I am very interested in your comments below. (I would like to know how eliminating cheaper coal electricity and government subsidies would affect the projections.)
McKinsey & Co. on unexpected coronavirus impacts
A plethora of resources in this McKinsey update. Many of my clients are car dealers … I have to say that some of these unexpected impacts were very much expected by them.
What getting scammed taught me about trust
“Mr. Ramsay, this is American Express. Did you just spend $600 at the Levi’s outlet store in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania?” In case you are wondering, that was NOT what I wanted to hear while standing in a client’s conference room getting ready to start a meeting. Here is how it happened: The night before, I arrived at a hotel …
Three car salesmen, three unbelievable stories
This is just neat. An Indian engineer who fled Sikh persecution became a car salesman in Canada. He became so good at it that he ended up running a dealership, then owning multiple dealerships. Now a millionaire, he’s the only NBA fan ever to receive a championship ring and to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. RELATED: I learned …
Do customers trust machines over people?
The article’s title ought to give us pause: “People put more faith in computers than other humans.” I know of a pilot project where automotive service departments set up kiosks for customers to use as an alternative to talking to a professional service advisor. The kiosk outsold the humans. Perhaps people trusted that professionals programmed the kiosk to know exactly …