With the JD Power Internet Roundtable over, it was time to hit the trenches again.  And that means a dose of retail reality.  Being around the industry’s thought leaders, dealer groups, service providers and the rest was great, I just wish that a thousand more dealers decided to show up instead of using the budget cutting reason to stay away.

If you are not learning, you are dying.  There is no more proof needed than the auto industry.  Not just learning, you have to apply what you learn and be adept at not repeating the same mistakes over and over. So it is no surprise that talking to and visiting dealers today yields the same result as before the Roundtable.

Now, the industry needs attrition to a large extent in the form of dealerships (read: predominantly domestics). And its clearly part of the initial pain to see dealers suffering and pulling back at a time when they absolutely have to keep their operations and presence working efficiently and, among other things, spend money. What never works is burying your head in the sand.

The biggest issues at retail regarding resources are who’s handling the leads/customers and what you’re using to engage them.  This person believes that nothing will change that needs to until we truly start thinking about our business differently, planning for our business differently and staffing for our business differently.

Best practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results