When you build trust with your teams, you have teams focused on delivering the best experience to the customer. That leads to both short-term and long-term profits for your dealership. Listen to Brian Kramer, GM at Germain Toyota of Naples, talk about how he works with his teams in sales, finance, and service to achieve success.

In this episode of Culture of Value, Drew Delaware, CMO at Gubagoo, talks with us about digital marketing vs. digital retailing. We discuss how the two are not synonymous but can work together to provide a frictionless customer experience if implemented properly.

Through more than 40,000 assessments and hundreds of interviews, John Eades and his team at LearnLoft have discovered the most important job a leader has today is to elevate others. That's exactly what we talk about in this episode. Leadership is more than having a C-level or management title. For any entity or group to succeed, there must be a leader who truly believes in servant leadership, elevating each member of the team to be their absolute best. So, if you're struggling in your leadership role, not getting your team to "do what you want them to do," listen to what John has to say and take it to heart. You'll be amazed at the results.

"Great Leaders Ask Questions," "Now That's a Great Question," and "339 Questions Jesus Asked" are fantastic books authored by our guest, Bob Tiede, Director of Global Operations Leadership Development for Cru. Bob reminds us that "Leadership is not as much about knowing all the answers as asking the right questions."  Just listen to some of the simple questions great leaders have asked that have given insights to improve teams, cut costs, improve efficiencies, reduce turnover, and change cultures. Is it worth your time to listen? We'll let you be the judge of that.

Sabrina Erskine, Digital Sales & Service Director at Napleton Auto Group, shares with us the importance for dealership leaders to keep track of all the moving parts involved in digital marketing. She points out that dealer principals and general managers need a better working knowledge of digital marketing as a whole as well as getting the entire dealership team involved in the digital marketing strategy. Sabrina highlights the fact that digital marketing impacts every department in the dealership and how breaking down department silos will help everyone better contribute to success throughout the customer journey.

Doing things the way you've always done them is not a great strategy when change is constant. Dennis Ephlin, Automotive Partner with IBM, shares a number of the changes he sees coming in the automotive industry and how customer experience will become your dealership's unique value proposition.  Dennis talks about how every process, engagement, and guest experience needs to be a dealership's North Star.

The complexity of marketing strategy & execution should not be left to "whoever has some extra time" to keep an eye on it. Today, Glenn Pasch, CEO at PCG Digital, shares why having (or hiring) a marketing director is so important.  Successful marketing is not a set it and forget it program. Someone must understand the goals and KPIs that need to be measured, and not just once a month. Managing the relationship with outside agencies is critical. And having a single point of contact to maintain consistency while focusing on a changing business landscape is a must. Many ask if there is enough work to justify a marketing director in a dealership. We ask if there is enough marketing director to effectively handle all of the work.

Generations Digital Founder, George Nenni, stops by to share insights on the importance of local search, Google My Business, and what strategies and tactics dealerships need to employ to make the most of local search. We talk through a number of the topics in his books, “A Car Dealer's Guide to Google My Business” and “A Car Dealer's Guide to Digital Marketing”.  George also shares ideas on how to achieve the best results from your digital agency and how to eliminate ad waste to maximize your dealership's marketing dollars.

Dane Saville, with Reunion Marketing and host of the KPI Cafe, stops by to discuss some of the ways in which local dealerships and businesses can rank above 3rd party sites in organic search. Understand, there is no one silver bullet, and it will take strategic thinking and work. Just take a listen, though. Dane has some great ideas to share.

Joe Overby, Senior Editor at Automotive Remarketing, talks with us about what he's seeing with new car and pre-owned sales as the auto industry deals with chip shortages. We talk about some of the strategies and tactics dealerships can implement to continue to grow revenues on the front-end, back-end, and in service.