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| Industry News in the Last 24 | |
| September 10, 2009 | |
 GM's CFO Likely Out GM Board of Directors, in 2-day meeting, are focusing on major issues confronting the company which could result in ouster of current CFO Ray Young. Other management shakeups may occur, along with a decision on what to do about the Opel brand. Detroit News, September 9, 2009 |
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 U.S. 'Unlikely' to Recoup Auto Outlay, Panel Finds A Congressional oversight committee concludes U.S. taxpayers are unlikely to recoup all the billions of dollars laid out to help GM and Chrysler survive; however, without the bailout the panel says the automakers would not have survived. Panel also recommends Treasury Dept act with more transparency. Washington Post, September 9, 2009 |
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 Ford Fuses Global Marketing Efforts FoMoCo has already saved millions by combining global product and engineering operations and now plans to do the same with its marketing divisions. A singular marketing campaign worldwide will be visible as the all-new Ford Focus debuts at the Detroit auto show next January. Detroit News, September 9, 2009 |
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| WHAT'S SIGNIFICANT THIS WEEK IN THE NEWS | |
Toyota loses case for patent infringements present in Prius, Highlander and Lexus RX400h hybrid. New suit claims same infringement with the Camry hybrid. The U.S. International Trade Commission could stop imports of these vehicles. |
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After years of quality issues and a contentious relationship with its supplier, Ford will build it own diesel engine for the F-Series pickup. Ford will end its relationship with Navistar International. The new engine will be built at the Chihuahua Engine Plant in Mexico. |
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Chrysler is asking ad agencies from other holding companies to present new ideas for global advertising, following Fiat's lead and considering ending its 9-year global advertising consolidation through Omnicom Group's BBDO. BBDO has been invited to bid. |
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 The 4 Easiest Ways to Make More Money1. Increase your customer base. The easiest way to gain new customers is to sell to those already in the market, those already buying the products and services you sell. If they are not buying them from you they are buying them from your competition. All you have to do is take customers away from your competition. It's not always easy to do. You never want to use the cutthroat, lower price tactics. You won't make the profit you need and desire, and a customer gained through low price will be easily lost when a competitor offers them a lower price. It's also hard to take a customer away from the competition because of the loyalty people have to their suppliers. The longer the prospective customer has been a customer of the competition, the more loyalty they have to the 2. Increase your selling price. I have never seen a business in any industry, that is providing superior service, that cannot raise their selling price 1%-3%. You do the math for your business. Take last year's profits and add 1%-3% to them. I am sure you will be presently surprised. 3. Sell more of your products and service to each customer. The easiest extra products and services to sell to your present customers are add-on’s. Products and services than enhance the main product/service. There is a rule, called the 1/3 rule of selling add-on’s -- 1/3 of your customers will purchase add-on’s if you merely mention the add-on product during your sales process, 1/3 of your customers will purchase add-on’s if you actively sell them and 1/3 of your customers will not purchase your add-on’s unless you actively hard sell them. 4. Lower your marketing and selling costs. a. Stop supporting media advertisers. b. Use word of mouth advertising. You must create your own word of mouth advertising. You already have the tools paid for. You already have the best and most effective means to make word of mouth advertising work. Your sales and sales support staff. Train everyone in your business to use the 3 ft. rule. “Anyone within 3 feet of you knows who you are and how you can solve their problems, needs and wants.” When you out-market, and out-service your competition you will out-sell them. And you do not have to spend extra and in most cases, as much of your marketing / selling dollars to do so if you sell the benefits the customer will receive when doing business with you. Even if they are the same benefits your competition offers, in most cases your competition is not selling them -- or not reminding the customers all they do for them. Contact Bob Janet, speaker, trainer and author at 704-882-6100 or Bob@BobJanet.com or visit www.BobJanet.com. |
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 I’m a Car Dealer -- Trust Me!Commentary and Opinion by Mark Dubis You’ve all seen the annual "Trust" surveys showing auto sales as one of the least trustworthy professions. The good news is we are moving up the ladder. The bad news is we, as Americans, have lost trust in many professions and institutions. We have lost trust in our politicians, our financial institutions, our medical providers (except nurses), and in attorneys who are supposed to stand for upholding the law and providing justice for all. We have observed firsthand the impact of losing the trust of your customers. GM and Chrysler and their unions for many decades had the full faith and support of the American vehicle-buying public. They built solid cars and trucks we loved to buy. Then they started cutting corners, raising prices and not paying attention or listening to their dealers and customers. They thought we wouldn’t notice. Clearly they were wrong. Consumers watched closely as Honda, Toyota, Nissan and Mazda built solid, fuel efficient and reliable vehicles. We showed our lack of trust in the Big Three by opening our wallets for the imports. The imports showed their appreciation for our loyalty by building manufacturing facilities here in the U.S. and employing hundreds of thousands of Americans, not to mention the jobs created by their suppliers. Except for a few niche manufacturers, just about every major global vehicle maker has a manufacturing presence in the U.S. By providing a quality product at a fair price they have earned our trust. GM and Chrysler have paid dearly for their actions and missteps. The recent Cash for Clunkers program showed the American public rewarding Ford (and their dealers) for building high quality vehicles and not going the bankruptcy route. The proverbial day of reckoning has arrived for the auto industry. Now begins the long and arduous task of regaining the trust of the American public. This needs to be a joint effort of retailers and manufacturers working together for the mutual goal of providing not only the best vehicles and incredible value for the vehicle, but by providing the best customer experience every time a consumer comes into a dealership. Social media combined with both new and old technology will greatly assist everyone in reaching this goal. We have to stop using technology as a crutch and start using it to build on solid networking principles that have been around for thousands of years. When we focus on helping our neighbors get what they want, we will get what we want. Each satisfied customer leaving the dealership is a new or continued relationship. Take care of your customers, listen to them and they will trust you. Mark Dubis is the Vice President of CarFolks.com, a dealer advocate, social media website for the automotive industry. He will be speaking at the Dealer Summit in San Diego on Sept 17, 2009 -- register at www.dealersummit.com -- and can be reached at 216-712-6712 or www.carfolks.com. |
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Manheim Dealer Incentive Program Open to All Buying Dealers
With the New Compliance Legislation in Effect
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