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Last Friday I had the privilege of conducting a mid-year review with the management team of Paragon Honda, Paragon Acura and Honda of White Plains, New York. All three of these dealerships are under the management and control of Brian Benstock. My experience with Brian and his management team on both Friday and Saturday were […]

The post Achievement, Ambition and Blind Faith with Brian Benstock of Paragon Honda appeared first on Dale Pollak.

AutoSuccess has posted a 13-minute podcast that covers several used vehicle pressure points for dealers and my views on how they should be addressed to maximize sales and profitability. You can download the mp3 or listen to the podcast here—it’s a quick refresh of Velocity fundamentals for interested dealers.  

The post AutoSuccess Podcast: 13 Minutes Of Velocity Fundamentals appeared first on Dale Pollak.

I’ve been getting more inquiries lately from dealers asking about the merits of a one-price sales environment at their dealerships. The dealers have seen reports in automotive trade press about groups like Sonic Automotive adopting this non-traditional approach to provide a more efficient, cost-effective and customer-friendly process for selling new and used vehicles. In some […]

The post A 3-Step Plan To Prepare For The Sales Model of The Future appeared first on Dale Pollak.

In the past several years, many dealers have come to understand that speed matters in their dealerships. This emphasis on speed has been most profound in used vehicles, where dealers have been aggressively working to sell a greater number of vehicles in less time. In market after market, there are dealers who have doubled their […]

The post A Three-Point Plan To Speed Up Your Sales Processes appeared first on Dale Pollak.

“If you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse.” I’ve heard this quote from Velocity dealers as we discuss their used vehicle operations. For them, the line is really a mantra that drives continuous performance improvement and ongoing gains in used vehicle sales and profitability. The quote came to mind this week while reading an Automotive […]

The post A Strong New Car Market Reveals Two Kinds Of Used Vehicle Retailers appeared first on Dale Pollak.

It feels pretty good to be a car dealer right now, particularly in used vehicles. Dealers are reporting strong used vehicle results in April, with some setting records for both volume and profitability at their dealerships. So goes what we call the “spring selling season,” which buoys dealer confidence and their bottom lines. But amid […]

The post Tempering The Temptations Of Spring In Used Vehicles appeared first on Dale Pollak.

A few months ago, I finished the biography of Abraham Lincoln, “Team of Rivals,” that inspired the award-winning movie, “Lincoln.” The book struck me as more than just a masterfully written look back at one of our nation’s best presidents. In fact, I found “Team of Rivals” offered multiple lessons in leadership, revealed as Lincoln […]

The post Who’s The “General” At Your Dealership? appeared first on Dale Pollak.

I had the honor of taking part in a program for Cars, Trucks and Bucks, an online talk radio show hosted by former Chicago Tribune automotive writer Rick Popely, who also writes for Cars.com and other auto-related outlets. The show’s featured guest was dealer Larry Mullinax, of Mullinax Ford, New Smyrna Beach, Fla. Larry is […]

The post Take-Aways From a Talk Radio Interview On “No Haggle” Retailing appeared first on Dale Pollak.

Following a debate-like exchange the other day with a few industry players about the state of today’s new car market, I did a quick search on AutoTrader.com. My goal was to see whether my assumption—that the way dealers price and promote new vehicles today doesn’t do the dealers, the factories or buyers any favors—is true. […]

The post What’s Wrong With This Picture? appeared first on Dale Pollak.

I’ve long advocated that dealers need to recognize the primacy of the used vehicle department as an engine of growth for sales volumes and profitability across the entire dealership. As a dealer friend puts it, “the used vehicle department is the only department that touches every part of the dealership. Once we understood this, it […]

The post Two Traditional Management Practices That Undermine Used Vehicle Potential appeared first on Dale Pollak.