CBT Automotive Network Podcast

Lisa Copeland, CEO of Cars Her Way, recently joined us in-studio and discussed trends in retail automotive, enhancing work-life balance, and how dealerships can attract more female employees to the industry.

Brian Benstock on What it Takes to Drive an Award-Winning Dealership | What's Going on With Trump and Tariffs | When Slow Times Can Actually Help F&I

Today on CBTNews.com - Wednesday, February 20th, 2019:

Paragon Automotive Claims Top Honors from Honda and Acura After a Record Breaking 2018 - Brian Benstock

Coming off of a record-breaking 2018, Paragon Automotive became the highest volume dealer to take home the Precision Team Award for Acura and the President's Award Elite for Honda. We recently spoke with Brian Benstock, partner GM and vice president of Paragon Honda and Paragon Acura who walked us through their unparalleled success.

What's Going on With Trump and Tariffs

President Trump’s race to make America’s economy great again pretty much stalled from the word “go” largely thanks to the Commander in Chief’s own trade policy. From the beginning of his 2016 campaign, Trump made it clear that he planned on putting America first when it came to trade. This meant promoting American-based industries and manufacturing and incentivizing home-grown businesses by laying heavy tariffs on foreign goods.

When Slow Times Can Actually Help F&I

Downtime. No deals. Few ups and just not a lot of activity. Tumbleweeds blowing through the lot. This is every dealer’s nightmare scenario. It happens, though, and when we think of this quiet period in the dealership, everyone defaults to standing around chatting in service, taking a smoke break out behind the bays, or staring endlessly at your phone checking updates on Facebook.

Coming off of a record-breaking 2018, Paragon Automotive became the highest volume dealer to take home the Precision Team Award for Acura and the President's Award Elite for Honda. We recently spoke with Brian Benstock, partner GM and vice president of Paragon Honda and Paragon Acura who walked us through their unparalleled success.

CBT News Week In Review for Friday, February 15th, 2019:

January Sales Numbers Defy Automotive Industry Expectations - Karl Brauer, Autotrader & KBB

Despite winter storms and a long government shutdown, January sales numbers ended up better than most people expected. We explored these findings further with Karl Brauer, executive publisher for AutoTrader and Kelley Blue Book. Karl shared his insight about this month’s winners, losers, and what dealers can expect for the rest of 2019.

Sales Manager Shawn Hays Discusses What it Takes to Build a Winning Team

Every dealer knows that in order to increase your sales tomorrow, you need to start by taking more action today. This means planning and prioritizing training with your staff, and having a solid sales strategy with manageable goals. We recently spoke to Shawn Hays, co-founder of Sales Hustler and sales manager at Dan Cummins Chevrolet and Buick in St. Augustine, FL. Shawn shared with us what his sales team will focus on in 2019 as well as some tips for succeeding in the digital age.

Cox Automotive's Brian Moody Names the 10 Best CPO Cars for 2019

As we approach the halfway mark of the 1st quarter for this fiscal year, vehicle affordability continues to be a hot button issue. Which means now is a good time for dealers to start showing off their certified pre-owned cars to customers. On today’s show, Jim talks to Brian Moody, executive editor for AutoTrader and Cox Automotive, about the best CPO cars for 2019, and how to meet consumer demand.

Chevy Dealer Tim Roberts, Discusses the Challenges Ahead and Becoming a MotorTrend CPO Dealer

According to numerous projections, the retail auto industry is on track to face some tough challenges this year. Which means it’s more important now, than ever, to utilize every department in your dealership to its fullest potential. On today’s show, we have Tim Roberts, partner at Champion Chevrolet of Avon. We discuss how dealers can maximize gross profit in all areas of the dealership, and the importance of offering a certification on non-brand vehicles.

Chevy Dealer Tim Roberts on Becoming a MotorTrend CPO Dealer | Commerce Department Set to Release Report Regarding Imported Autos and National Security | 6 Things You Need to Know to Make Good Sales Calls

Today on CBTNews.com - Thursday, February 14th, 2019:

Chevy Dealer Tim Roberts, Discusses the Challenges Ahead and Becoming a MotorTrend CPO Dealer

According to numerous projections, the retail auto industry is on track to face some tough challenges this year. Which means it’s more important now, than ever, to utilize every department in your dealership to its fullest potential. On today’s show, we have Tim Roberts, partner at Champion Chevrolet of Avon. We discuss how dealers can maximize gross profit in all areas of the dealership, and the importance of offering a certification on non-brand vehicles.

Commerce Department Set to Release Report Regarding Imported Autos and National Security

After a long wait, the U.S. Department of Commerce is set to release its report regarding the national security status of automotive imports. Throughout his presidency, Donald Trump has stuck to his statements that the automotive industry is one of the industries hit the hardest by “unfair” trade practices by other countries and that steps must be taken to remedy this issue and improve the U.S. economy.

6 Things You Need to Know to Make Good Sales Calls

The cold call isn’t quite dead yet. In fact, with so many people walking around with their primary phones in their hands all the time, sales calls are seeing a revival. It is more important than ever to make sure your phone pitch game is on point. This means working on the two most important moments of any call: right before you dial and right before you hang up. Here are three tips each that should help you make the most of every sales call.

According to numerous projections, the retail auto industry is on track to face some tough challenges this year. Which means it’s more important now, than ever, to utilize every department in your dealership to its fullest potential. On today’s show, we have Tim Roberts, partner at Champion Chevrolet of Avon. We discuss how dealers can maximize gross profit in all areas of the dealership, and the importance of offering a certification on non-brand vehicles.

Cox Automotive's Brian Moody Names the 10 Best CPO Cars for 2019 | The Future of Luxury Brands | Should Your F&I Staff Sell Product One-at-a-Time or in Packages?

Today on CBTNews.com - Wednesday, February 13th, 2019:

Cox Automotive's Brian Moody Names the 10 Best CPO Cars for 2019

As we approach the halfway mark of the 1st quarter for this fiscal year, vehicle affordability continues to be a hot button issue. Which means now is a good time for dealers to start showing off their certified pre-owned cars to customers. On today’s show, Jim talks to Brian Moody, executive editor for AutoTrader and Cox Automotive, about the best CPO cars for 2019, and how to meet consumer demand.

The Future of Luxury Brands

Luxury brands are on the rise. According to MarketWatch, an increase in those belonging to the middle class has spawned new growth in the luxury car market. Increased demand for these higher-priced luxury vehicles comes thanks to increased purchasing power from the growing middle class, unprecedented advancement of technology, and a taste for more refined vehicles.

Should Your F&I Staff Sell Product One-at-a-Time or in Packages?

The decision to offer individual products or bundled packages is one that has to consider the strength of the F&I manager to figure out what the buyers needs and the importance of keeping the process consistent. Margins will likely dictate that and many dealerships succeed with both models but only if their staff is adept at reading the signals from the buyers across the desk from them. That’s the key to what will work best at your store. Be flexible, try both strategies, and simply see which yields the most PRU. Then you have your answer.

As we approach the halfway mark of the 1st quarter for this fiscal year, vehicle affordability continues to be a hot button issue. Which means now is a good time for dealers to start showing off their certified pre-owned cars to customers. On today’s show, Jim talks to Brian Moody, executive editor for AutoTrader and Cox Automotive, about the best CPO cars for 2019, and how to meet consumer demand.

Sales Manager Shawn Hays Discusses What it Takes to Build a Winning Team | One-Line ROs | Fiat Chrysler Releases Q4 2018 and Annual Report

Today on CBTNews.com - Tuesday, February 12th, 2019:

Sales Manager Shawn Hays Discusses What it Takes to Build a Winning Team

Every dealer knows that in order to increase your sales tomorrow, you need to start by taking more action today. This means planning and prioritizing training with your staff, and having a solid sales strategy with manageable goals. We recently spoke to Shawn Hays, co-founder of Sales Hustler and sales manager at Dan Cummins Chevrolet and Buick in St. Augustine, FL. Shawn shared with us what his sales team will focus on in 2019 as well as some tips for succeeding in the digital age.

One-Line ROs

A few Fridays ago at the dealership I was visiting, we had a meeting and the topic of One-line ROs over 30,000 miles was approached. This was a painful reality to comprehend because we had 77 percent One-Line ROs. The topic we landed on Friday to positively affect these numbers was “Spending Quality Time with your customer reviewing the findings of the MPI.” I wanted to review what that time spent might look like to add the most value to the customers and enhance the possibility of walking away with an additional sale.

Fiat Chrysler Releases Q4 2018 and Annual Report

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) has released its Q4 and full-year report for 2018. In an earnings call on February 7th, FCA’s Chief Executive Officer, Mike Manley, announced that the company had “delivered another record-breaking year of earnings and generated significant industrial free cash flow, enabling us to end the year for the first time cash positive.”

Every dealer knows that in order to increase your sales tomorrow, you need to start by taking more action today. This means planning and prioritizing training with your staff, and having a solid sales strategy with manageable goals. We recently spoke to Shawn Hays, co-founder of Sales Hustler and sales manager at Dan Cummins Chevrolet and Buick in Paris, KY. Shawn shared with us what his sales team will focus on in 2019 as well as some tips for succeeding in the digital age.