Featured Articles - February 2010

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  We’re Not Last on the List!  - Must Read

  

  Peter Salinas

  There’s good news! Well, sort of … According to the 2009 Gallup annual Honesty and Ethics of Professions poll, 51 percent of Americans have low or very low opinion of the honesty and ethics of “car salespeople”—translated automotive retail professionals. As near as I can determine, this is the first time since Gallup began the poll during the Carter Administration that car salespeople didn’t bring up the rear when it came to the ranking of various professions.

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• - 5 ratings

  Helping You Locate Capital  - Must Read

  

  Peter Salinas

  Gary Page, president of Small Dealers Assistance, based in Atlanta, Ga., probably said it best when it compared the buy here-pay here capital markets to airline travel. He said the rules for flying changed dramatically and forever after Sept. 11, 2001. He said the housing crisis and subsequent collapse of the credit market are akin to the changes in travel. The rules for getting money to fund your BHPH operation changed dramatically and for the foreseeable future.

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• - 3 ratings

  Time Has Come: Smart phone inventory management systems  - Must Read

  

  Peter Salinas

  There’s a lengthy Malcolm Gladwell article in the May 2008 edition of The New Yorker entitled “Annuals of Innovation: In the Air—Who says big ideas are rare?” that chronicles how great ideas are often “discovered” simultaneously in what science historians call “multiples” and, turns out the phenomenon is very common.

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  Web Presence: Tips for Taking our Web Site to the Next Level  - Must Read

  

  Staci Striegnitz

  It’s a new year, and maybe your dealership has resolved to switch up the advertising budget. Perhaps that means investing in your online presence.

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• - 9 ratings

  Bankruptcy Looms: CarBiz Defaults on Credit Lines

  

  Peter Salinas

  CarBiz Inc., the Bradenton, Fla.-based provider of training, collections and other services to independent auto dealers throughout North America and operator of 25 lease here-pay here CarBiz Auto Credit Centers, defaulted on two lines of credit totaling nearly $29 million, according to a Jan. 22 Security and Exchange Commission Form 8-K filing.

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• - 2 ratings

  Parts Time: Some dealers having trouble finding parts for discounted vehicle lines.

  

  Peter Salinas

  Current parts shortages and concerns about availability in the future, have some dealers thinking about adding Saturns, some Pontiacs and Chryslers to their “Do Not Buy” lists.

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• - 3 ratings

  Online Training Comes of Age

  

  Christine Taylor

  In today’s market, who wouldn’t want an advantage? Helping dealers gain a competitive edge is the goal behind Cars.com’s DealerADvantage LIVE, a monthly webinar focused on tips for getting the most from online advertising.

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• - 2 ratings

  Texas Quality Dealer: Industry Veteran Phil Lathrop Earn Honor

  

  Peter Salinas

  Industry veteran and activist, Phillip Lathrop, has earned the 2010 Texas IADA Quality Dealer of the Year Award during the association’s annual convention last month.

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  A Thaw in the Credit Markets

  

  Dr James Garvin

  Somewhere out there a small bud is trying to break through the permafrost and seek out the warming rays of the sun, all in hope that spring will come. That, my friends, is a picture of the capital markets at this time. Tiny things are beginning to happen. Nothing you can point your finger at and say it is the beginning of a movement, a change, but there are these just starting, peaking over the horizon, rays of hope.

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• - 3 ratings

  Forward Looking? Keeping it All in Perspective

  

  Emily Beck

  So, two lawyers walk into a bar….

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  Navigational Hazards: Watch Out for Icebergs!

  

  Thomas Hudson

  Once upon a time I was a sailorman. I did my sailing on the Chesapeake Bay, a large, usually benign body of water that can occasionally toss an inexperienced or careless skipper a real surprise. If you want to get back to your slip with boat and passengers uninjured, you learn to watch for signs.

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• - 2 ratings

  Rays of Hope on the Horizon

  

  Chris Leedom

  I am sitting here at dock watching another beautiful Gulf sunset. It never gets old. I just wrapped up a whirlwind 30-day travel run to start the year. It has been great getting back out there, meeting with our Twenty Group clients and taking the temperature as to where the market may be headed. Man, I love this job!

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• - 3 ratings

  Trip to the Mall Inspires

  

  A.J. Ager

  Recently I was walking through the mall, and it had been a long time since I had done this. I had no idea that this particular mall had turned into something like the streets of Tijuana

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• - 7 ratings

  BHPH: A Capital Idea

  

  Chuck Bonanno

  I conduct classes to educate prospective entrants into the buy here-pay here market segment every month. The vast majority of these prospects are retail new and used car dealers. It seems to be a natural extension of the retail business and an additional profit center. Or is it?

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• - 2 ratings

  You Just Don’t Get It If ...

  

  Dave Anderson

  I’m beginning 2010 in a fighting mood. One reason for this is that despite the challenges 2009 presented, leaders who “found religion” during the downturn and got back to basics, are already abandoning these disciplines and returning to their lethargy, inconsistency, lack of clarity, accountability, intensity, pervasive excuses and outright stupidity. To help you remedy this, I offer the following 21 points for self-examination. Many of these points are seemingly “little things,” but are symptomatic of wrong mindsets and a leadership deficit in your organization that must be addressed quickly, l’est 2010 finds you succumbing to mediocrity and complacency, along with the finger-pointing and whining that accompanies it.

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• - 5 ratings

  BHPH Web Sites: Five Easy Ways to Boost Performance

  

  Charles Pompey

  There are three steps to making your buy here-pay here Web site strategy work for you. First, get the traffic to the site you need…second, have your Web site handle the incoming visitors efficiently so you can sell more cars, …third, what you do with those credit applications and contacts when they send them to you. Today, I’m going to talk about the second step, making your Web site more efficient.

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