AutoSuccess: The Podcast

Bill Leek of AutoBase discusses how to increase referrals for your dealership, the best practices for mining your customer database and how best to follow up every lead.

We end the year by revisiting with some of our guests to ask them to describe a difficult time in their professional lives and how they managed to overcome it. We talk with JD Rucker, Kirk Manzo, Mike DeCecco, Al Babbington and Todd Smith.

Fran Taylor of Taylor Techniques speaks with us about the importance of training and prospecting, both for the success of individual salespeople and the bottom line of the dealership.

Responding to leads is vital to a dealership's bottom line. ActivEngage's Todd Smith shares how live chat functionality on your Web site can give your prospective customers a reason to give you their business.

While we might not have arrived at the cashless society yet, more people than ever are using credit and debt cars in business transactions. Northeast Vehicle Group's Eric Selby and Jeff Holthouse speak with us about streamlining your dealership's payment processing.

TK Carsite's JD Rucker returns to discuss dealerships and social media — how to use it with other advertising, who at the dealership should be responsible and walking the fine line between communication and spamming.

We hear a lot about social media, but just what is it? We speak with TK Carsites' JD Rucker to find out what it is, and how it can humanize your dealership.

Dealer.com's Mike DeCecco returns to discuss the benefits of pay-per-click advertising, how to align you advertising with your real-time inventory, and how to make a search for a used non-franchised car pop up in your dealership's results.

After more than two decades as a leader in the auto manufacturing field, IMN's Bill Gaudreau shares his viewpoint on the changes he's seen, and how successful dealerships will set themselves apart during the economic recovery.

OneCommand's Al Babbington discusses consumer trends in the rebounding auto market, and how your dealership can take advantage of the changing sales landscape.

Brian Menzies, founder and CEO of 1-800-Charity Cars, describes how his organization gets donated cars to those who need them the most, and how dealerships can help, and benefit from, the organization.

What separates the high-performance salesperson from the rest? Kirk Manzo of The Manzo Group describes the traits and attitude of those at the top of their field, and the importance of being able to put the failures AND successes of the past behind you.

Jason Lancaster of Spork Marketing discusses what dealers should keep in mind when designing or redesigning their Web site, how linking is like voting, and off-line activities to consider to build your on-line presence.

Managing leads efficiently is difficult enough, but when you have multiple CRMs, it can become impossible. Matt Watson, CTO of VinSolutions, talks with us about Internet Lead Management and what to look for in current and future systems.

For our 100th episode, we’ve gone back and asked some of our guests the question "What’s the best lesson you’ve learned in your professional life?" The answers were honest, sometimes surprising and, most of all, potentially life-changing if taken to heart.