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What The Game of Thrones & OEMs Have in Common – the Faceless Man

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In the uber-popular television series (and books… which are way better), The Game of Thrones, there exists Arya Stark. She develops from a high-born girl into a trained assassin whose talent is to mimic anyone – a talent known as “the faceless man.” It doesn’t matter who the person is, what they want or who likes (or doesn’t) like them… only that she can imitate them so well that nobody, not even these people’s closest friends, family or allies, can tell the difference. And therein lies the problem – and connection – with the future of the automotive industry.

Times are changing. Dealers have hybrid, electric and autonomous vehicles looming on the horizon. Ride sharing is gaining in popularity. OEMs are implementing shared leases while backing Uber, Lyft and others. But those are the least of their problems.

What’s in the future for dealerships? If the OEMs had it their way, dealerships will be homogenized into something akin to Wal-Mart. When you go to Wal-Mart, do you care which one you go to? No! What about a grocery store? No! You go because it’s convenient and you like the chain, not necessarily the specific store.

OEMs aren’t investing millions of dollars to conform all of their franchises to look the same because they want any particular dealership to be more appealing. These are all ruses in disguise of help. They’re investing because they don’t care WHERE the customer buys their (insert make here), only that they buy theirs vs. the competitors… just like Wal-Mart, Target or any other retail store. Do you think Apple cares where you buy the latest iPhone? No, they don’t. They only care that you buy it… just like your OEM.

You may think that the OEM is on your side but what do they grind you about every month? Especially on the last day? RDRs. How many times a day does your DOM call you on the last day of the month asking how many new and certified (insert make here) you have sold. They could care less if you sold 60,000 non-certified pre-owned other-make vehicles for a gazillion dollars in profit. They only care about how many (insert make here) you sold.

Think about that the next time your OEM tells you to conform. Think about that the next time the OEM tells you how YOU should run YOUR dealership. Think about that the next time the OEM wants to subsidize your advertising, marketing or services. They’re not doing ANYTHING to help YOU. They spend money because it helps them. Not you. That’s just the nature of business.

Many dealers have been in their communities for a long time. Many are pillars of those communities assisting in local events, charities and other functions. If a dealership lets themselves become homogenized and become the next Wal-Mart, nobody will care about them just like they don’t care which Wal-Mart they buy their groceries from.

If Wal-Mart sponsored your local car show, community event or charity function, would that make anybody in your community (or you) loyal to a SPECIFIC Wal-Mart? No. They may like Wal-Mart more, but not any given one. Do you want to be the Wal-Mart location that nobody cares about unless you’re convenient? I doubt it.

When your OEM tells you to take down the American flag (yes, this has happened), remove the commemorative pictures or decorations because it doesn’t conform to their “vision” (this has, too), make YOUR dealership look like all of the other franchises (Yup) or ANYTHING ELSE that detracts from your dealership’s personality or uniqueness. You tell them to GET LOST.

Be who you are. Remain that pillar in your community. Retain your business personality. Take care of your customers and don’t become the next (insert make) Wal-Mart.

That’s the only way that you’ll secure customer retention, loyalty and, more importantly, your dealership’s future.

All Roads Lead To Vegas: AutoCon 2013 Edition

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WelcometoFabulousLas_Vegas_Sign_1_editIn my career in the automotive industry, I got involved in conferences fairly early. I’ve attended many conferences in my life as an Internet Director, as a vendor employee working a booth to helping with marketing and organization for the conference itself. I’ve done everything from being wined and dined as a dealership employee to doing the wining and dining for dealership employees to helping to organize the wining and dining for a vendor.

I’ve also learned that car guys/gals must have an affinity for Las Vegas. I keep waiting for someone to create a conference in Jamaica or Hawaii but, sadly, that day hasn’t come yet. For now, we have Vegas. It probably doesn’t hold the same allure for me as it does for others for several reasons: I lived within driving distance of it most of my life and I have been there as a “tourist” many times. I don’t really gamble, either. I once spent 21 days straight in hotels in Las Vegas for conferences.. I think I’m still recovering from that trip.

However, over my professional career, I have come to realize one thing: getting the education is what matters. I come across way too many dealers today that don’t have a clue. Even worse is that they don’t know they don’t have it. I know that, with a little exposure to the right teachers, they will have a “bright light bulb” moment and start to realize that some of the things they don’t think are very important actually are.

I attended AutoCon in 2012 for its premiere. I wasn’t sure what to expect but I can tell you that I wasn’t let down. The organization, facilities, networking opportunities and educational sessions were great. Many of our industry’s brightest minds were there to share a piece of their knowledge with dealers.. and share they did. All I’ve heard was positive feedback since and, for those that know me, I’m pretty forthcoming in my opinions.

I finally solidified my plans to attend this year and I’m very excited. Conferences for the last few years of my life have been more about working and less about learning and networking on a personal level since I was there working for vendors. Now that I can actually take some time for myself to grow on a professional level, learn new things from some very smart people and re-establish connections that I haven’t been able to nurture, I’m super excited. It’s quite liberating to not be limited in possibilities for political reasons.

So, since my profession is one that involves social media and writing, and, since I’ve been quite busy with both, I wanted to share some of the enthusiasm I’m feeling.

AutoCon has assembled quite a large selection of speakers and topics so it’s hard to know where to begin and, since the sessions aren’t scheduled out yet, all I can do is create my “wish list” of speakers/sessions I think (and would recommend) people attend based on my personal knowledge of them and their expertise and/or ability to convey their message to an audience in an efficient (and entertaining) way.

First, and foremost, I hope that Ralph Paglia returns to AutoCon triumphantly and reinvigorated. I know that the dealer communities all respect Ralph and value his knowledge and contributions not only for creating vibrant communities for dealers to interact in over many years but also his commitment to educating them in any way he can.

I’m also looking forward to seeing DealerElite and AutoCon co-founder, Chris Saraceno, share his secrets of the top automotive sales consultants. In addition to his endeavors mentioned previously, being the Vice President of the Kelly Automotive Group certainly makes Chris uniquely qualified to have consolidated these insights from sources at all levels: blogs, forum discussions, conferences, industry experts and, most importantly, the retail world.

Brian Pasch is a mainstay in the dealer educational arena and his contributions to that arena have been admirable. He’s in demand and seems to be at almost every conference in existence! Whether its one that his company, First Class Educators, has organized or one of the many others, I have to say that Brian is consistent in his efforts and prolific in his dedication. Hey, it takes a lot of work to write quality blogs, hold webinars, create white papers and Brian certainly does them all!

I’m looking forward to hearing the VinSolutions guys speak as well. The Energizer Bunny looks at Sean Stapleton and says “Hey man, Slow down! You’re making me look bad!” Yes, Sean is a bundle of energy and a pleasure to be around and hear speak. He always has great topics and information. Make sure to bring a video camera so you can watch it in slow motion afterwards for those of us that operate at normal speed! In addition, the double whammy is on at AutoCon with Dan Moore also being awarded a speaking slot. This man actually once did a complete session in the voice of Eric Cartman from South Park. No joke. I have video. He can also see the future. Serious. He was evangelizing Pandora when people didn’t know what they were and now they’re a keynote speaker at this conference!

JD Rucker is Yoda. ‘Nuff said.

Larry Bruce? Are you kidding me? That’s like watching a fireworks show! There’s a challenge and debate involved here so this will be exciting! The Dynamite Monkey.. Wooooooo

Jason Barrie from Dealertrack is always a great speaker. They don’t let him out of his cage enough. You should take advantage of this opportunity.

I’m intrigued to hear Aaron Schinke from DealerFire’s session on content writing since, hey, that’s what I do! Kind of hard to argue the importance of content writing when you’re a content writer (amongst other things)!

I’ve met Jennifer Boland of Simply The Best BDC and she’s not only a super person but has her finger on the pulse of BDCs. My involvement with DealerKnows Consulting introduced me to her and I’m looking forward to hearing her speak!

I’m very interested in hearing Myril Shaw of CarWoo! speak about the trust relationship between an Internet Department and a consumer. I think it’ll be fascinating to hear what a consumer-facing website thinks is proper etiquette in transactions. I personally know dealers who are very successful on their program and, while I didn’t get a chance to use them while I was an Internet Director, I certainly would have. They seem to be in tune with both consumers and dealers and this session could provide valuable insight that would help an Internet Department sell more cars online.

Grant Cardone?  Grant’s a great guy and an incredibly entertaining motivational speaker. While we haven’t always seen eye to eye in the past, he’s always a pleasure to listen to and he’s definitely someone who will pump you up! His sales training material really helped my automotive sales career explode when I was a young pup in this business. I can attest that his material works from personal experience. Don’t miss his session. You’ll thank me later.

In the attempt at brevity, I certainly can’t mention everyone but I do feel as if I would be doing an injustice by not mentioning Craig Lockerd of AutoMax Training, Ali Amirrezvani and Amir Amirerezvani of DealerOn, Eric Mitlsch of DrivingSales, and AJ LeBlanc of CAR-MERICAL all of which are excellent speakers and very knowledgeable on their respective topics.

In no way am I suggesting that any of the other speakers are not good or not worth seeing. This is only my personal “wish-list” and recommendations for those who are interested. All of the speakers included in AutoCon 2013 are highly qualified experts in their respective fields and whom you go see really depends on what your dealership’s needs are.  Only you can decide which areas you need help with in your store and that, by itself, should guide you to the right sessions.

…to be continued

The ‘Car Dealership Expose’ Book You’ve All Been Waiting For!

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In the car business, just about every dealership has “that” employee. You know, the one that complains about everything. The one that’s never happy. The one most sales trainers, consultants and managers would call “cancer”. The advice that 99% would give in regards to “that guy” who, no matter what you tried, just isn’t positive and seems to hate everything would be to fire him. The last thing you need is some jaded veteran salesman spreading dissension and negativity around your dealership.

The guy who says things like these:

“Any sales managers know if the car dealer or general manager are screwing the salespeople by using hidden packs or inflating reconditioning costs of used vehicles, but they do not have the balls to say anything. Their balls have been cut off by the dealer or his puppet general manager before they get their titles.”

“25% commission after the $500 pack means, your dealer is taking away $125 of your hard earned money on every vehicle that you sell. If you are selling 12 units, you get screwed $1500 a month which translates to $18,000 a year, just like that!”

“Car dealers do not allow salesmen in the business office not because they are afraid that the salesmen may screw the girls that are working there, they are not allowed because dealers are afraid the salesmen may look at the files and figure out how they are getting screwed on their commissions.”

Do you know this guy? Do you have one at your dealership? Have you heard of this Great White Shark who lives in car dealerships?

Well, Jaws wrote a book. No kidding.

The book, titled “Kar Guys” and written by Mehdi Roufougar is scheduled for release (according to his Facebook page and Twitter account) .. “soon”.

[Note: There are more choice quotes that I didn’t mention as well as a glowing recommendation of the book from somebody.. probably his neighbor.. on his website if you feel the need to spit your coffee at your computer monitor.]

It’s target audience isn’t consumers. It’s not meant to “educate” people how to buy cars or anything like that. This book’s sole purpose is to “enlighten” commissioned employees of car dealerships in the many ways they are, have been, and will continue to get screwed by their employer.

I was going to contact the author to talk to him regarding his book but his website advised that:

“Any dishonest car dealer,corrupted general manager,crooked sales manager or kinky closer who got offended from the kar guys book or this website feel free to call 1-800-kiss my ass.If the phone is busy,hang up and try again may be away from my desk or on the other line talking to another asshole.”

…so I changed my mind.

Someone this jaded, bitter and hostile would never believe that I really just wanted to talk to him about his book, motivations to write it, and what he hopes to accomplish.

My guess is that it was cheaper to write a book than to continue therapy.

:: face palm ::

The Only Way To Do Social Media Right

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Yeah, Yeah… I know what you’re thinking. Here’s another social media “expert” that’s going to say “this is how you do it”. Actually, I’m not. (As an aside: What does it mean and can anyone really be an “expert” in a field that’s relatively new.)

I, like any other social media person, have my opinions, methods and strategies that I believe work well. I believe these methods work well through many tests and practical implementation. These are, obviously, what I teach and advise. That being said, there are many other social media “experts” that have different opinions, different methods, and different strategies. Whether I agree with them or not is irrelevant. In most cases, when I hear other social media people say “this is how it should be done”, I cringe inside.

Because of the ambiguousness of what it means to be an expert in combination with the fact that this field is constantly changing and new, many dealers (or clients) don’t really know how to judge/evaluate whether a social media consultant/company is “good” at what they do. The easiest way (and how many dealers do it) is to judge a person or company by their own social media presence: How many “likes” do they have? How many followers? Etc.

I personally, don’t believe that either one of these things constitutes a valid assessment point when considering who to partner with in your social media efforts. “Likes” and “followers” can be bought. Does that mean they’re good at what they do? No. It just means they have money to spend. The same philosophy I have in regards to using “likes” to determine the success (or not) for a client’s social media identities applies. You can have a million followers but if none of them would ever do business with you, you’re wasting your breath and your efforts are worthless and a waste of time. If you are a dealer (or business) in Florida, would you pay for traditional advertising in California? Why not? Exactly.

I’m not going to go into what my philosophies are as that’s not the point of this blog post. The point is that there IS no single way to do it right. Numbers of likes and followers or a consultant’s/company’s Klout score don’t mean anything. If you’re looking for a social media partner, for the love of God, please do not use these factors in your decision-making process.

Find a partner who fits well into your company’s strategy, is willing to integrate with your existing marketing, collaborates with you and, most importantly, is willing to make a personalized plan and strategy geared towards your specific audience, not one who fits YOU into THEIR cookie-cutter template process.

If their sales pitch centers around how many “likes” they’ll get you and how many more followers they’ll get you and the reasons they give you for hiring them in any way involves how many likes or followers they have, run away. As fast as you can.

Keep in mind, this person/company is you in the online space. There is no differentiation from a customer’s perspective.

You better be sure that the voice they use is YOURS, not THEIRS.

Why You Shouldn’t Brag About That Pounder

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As an avid social media user and an automotive industry professional, there is something that’s been bugging me.

I see people on social media bragging about that “12-pounder” they just closed (for those not in the industry, a ‘”pound” is equal to $1,000). To me, this really screams “unprofessional” and I also see it as detrimental to the reputation of the person posting it, the dealership represented by that person as well as further contributing to the stereotype car dealers have been struggling to change.

Look, as a salesperson, commissions are how your living is made, I get that. As a dealership, profit is how you pay your non-commissioned employees and overhead, I get that as well. It’s always nice to make money. I also believe that a salesperson and a dealership SHOULD make money. The salesperson is not there to work for free and all dealerships need to make money to keep the doors open. I also believe that most customers understand that a dealership needs to make money to stay open and don’t have a problem allowing the dealership to make some.

What I have an issue with is people who brag about the insane and, some would say, inappropriate amount of profit they managed to negotiate out of a customer. You made a big sale, good for you. Don’t go and brag about it on Facebook. Don’t tweet about it.

Social networks are designed to interact with people. You never know who is listening. Do you really believe that the person in your social network that sees you bragging about these huge deals wants to buy a car from you?

I’m not talking about some high-priced or hard-to-get car. I’m talking about the Honda salesperson (as an example) who is bragging about making $12,000 profit from a single sale. Really? Great, you made money but to many consumers (including your friends and family) what you did was reinforce for them that they shouldn’t buy a car from you or your dealership.

I know many dealerships who have internal policies on how much profit a finance department is allowed to make by limiting rate markup and pricing on back-end products and I believe that is a wise (and honorable) practice. Front-end profit is restricted, for the most part, by the banks. In most cases, they’re not going to let the customer finance $20,000 over sticker regardless of whether they agree to or not.

I personally think that, while the “big fish” you catch may offer immediate gratification, they will hurt you in the long run. Do you really believe that the customer you just buried isn’t going to figure that out eventually? Do you think that person is going to tell their friends and family that they should buy a car from you?

Then to actually go on social networks and brag about it? That’s just insane. You might as well brag about how much money you scored when you mugged the old people in the alley because, excluding other like-minded auto people, that’s what you just did.

How would you feel if you signed a contract with a vendor for services and discovered a month or two later that you were paying three times the rate that other people were? What if that vendor then went on Facebook and bragged about it? My guess is that you wouldn’t be happy with them or their company.

Look, this is only my personal opinion. You don’t have to agree with me and you’re entitled to sell your vehicles for as much (or as little) as you choose to. That being said, I do think that it is important to give ALL your customers a fair deal and, should you choose to make a huge profit from a single customer, you shouldn’t brag about it on social networks.

If you feel different, please comment and let me know why.

Do Consumers Want It To Take All Day To Buy A Car?

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I answered a question posed on Quora about 6 months ago. The question was:

Why does it take so long at a dealership to buy a new car?

“Once the price is agreed on, the loan or lease is approved and they have your down payment, why do new car dealerships drag the car buying process out by making you talk to sales managers, account managers, loan managers, etc. etc.  and have you sit and wait for their people to sign paperwork.  Used car dealers don’t seem to do this.  Why is buying or leasing a new car a multi-hour inconvenience for the customer?”

My answer was as follows:

“In many cases, it only has to do with the inefficiency which that dealership is run. Typically, all these people are talking to you so that you don’t get upset for the wait so they’re just trying to keep you busy. They may also be waiting for a response from banks about the loan (keep in mind that many sales managers base the interest rate on their knowledge of what the banks will “probably” give you and not until a deal is accepted do they actually input all of your information and send it to the bank for an official approval. Whether they do this will depend on your credit.) They also have to get the vehicle ready for you to take delivery. This entails a thorough washing and detailing as well as putting gas in the vehicle. The finance manager has to get all the paperwork ready for you as well. There are many factors that could be a reason why you have to wait BUT many dealerships nowadays have made the process more efficient for customers as they know that many people feel like you so they are making their processes more efficient so that your experience is more pleasant.”

A new answer was posted a couple of days ago that floored me:

“I feel your pain… but unfortunately I think most people like the fact that it takes so long, and that’s part of why dealerships continue to do so.

Buying a brand new car is a big deal and has huge significance economically and, more importantly, culturally.  I don’t think most new car buyers would be happy if it was as simple as swiping their credit card at the grocery store (though I would be) because they might have buyers remorse immediately after… things wouldn’t add up… this is such a huge deal, why didn’t it feel like it?

By taking all day, and exhausting you, I think they lessen the chances that you will change your mind or be unhappy with the purchase… because it’s going to feel like you just ran a marathon… and no one will walk away feeling like their big day wasn’t just that.

Also they love having you in the dealership all day, it’s the perfect way to maximize their chances of selling you add-ons with your purchase and have you look at your next dream car.”

It certainly wasn’t an answer I was expecting. (The person who answered is a mechanic but it’s unclear whether he’s an independent or at a dealership.) Personally, I always wanted to complete a transaction as quickly as possible (both when I was on the floor and while in the internet department) and had no interest in being tied up with one customer all day. It never crossed my mind that a consumer may actually want it to take all day to complete the transaction.

Do you think there’s any merit to his theory that consumers WANT (or NEED) to take all day buying a car to emotionally satisfy their large purchase?

TrueCar Goes Too Far

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Look, I’ve not been a big supporter of this TrueCar lynchmob for a few reasons. I don’t believe that TrueCar is solely responsible for all of the issues pointing their way. In my opinion, they are just a very visible and convenient target for a much wider-spread problem. My position has always been that the dealer needs to police its own data, not get mad at a vendor that’s been taking it and repurposing it. If you don’t want any vendor to have access to your DMS, don’t give it to them. Be mad, yes, but at yourself.

Transparency on the internet is not going away. Consumers won’t allow it. There are many third party sites that operate in a similar way to TrueCar. Getting rid of one is not going to stop other sites from taking their place.

If TrueCar is really changing to conform to state regulations, that’s a step in the right direction. You can’t blame THEM for the race to the bottom, dealers are to blame. Steve Stauning laid out the argument perfectly in his recent blog post: “How TrueCar.com Caught Dealers Off Guard”

This post, however, is not to debate whether TrueCar is right or wrong or any of the arguments for or against them.

I read today that TrueCar has purchased some interesting domain names from Domain Name Wire.

They are:

F*ckedbytheDealer.com
F*ckedbytheDealer.net
F*ckedbytheDealer.org

Now I don’t know about you, but that certainly doesn’t seem like a “dealer partner” to me. The only reason for buying those domains is to attract consumers who are pissed off at dealers. I mean, c’mon, anyone who wants to buy a car (which is what TrueCar is supposed to help people do easier, right?) and is searching with those keywords may not be a customer I want to have. That’s pretty extreme. Even if they optimize for DIFFERENT keywords, the fact remains that if someone were to click on that URL (after reading the domain name), I highly doubt they’re going there to try and buy a car. Chances are they’re going there because they feel like they’ve been.. well.. “f*cked by the dealer”. Now you’re going to try and massage that and send them to a dealer? What?!?

That’s a CSI nightmare waiting to happen and probably on a loser deal. (Not that the amount of profit should make a difference.)

Is this a preventative tactic? What will they actually PUT on those websites and/or where will they redirect them? Time will tell.

Like they didn’t have enough heat to worry about.

[NOTE: Since this post, I’ve added a new comment feature. Comments prior to today can be seen by scrolling down further under the “About” block of text.]

Bacon + Klout = Winning!

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Wait, bacon? What does yummy bacon have to do with Klout?

For those who don’t know, Klout is a service which supposedly measure a person’s influence on social media. Some have equated it to a social media “credit score”, if you will. Klout has this super-secret, if-we-told-you-we’d-have-to-kill-you algorithm which they use to monitor a person’s connected social media accounts (or public one’s if they don’t have any connected, but we’ll get to that in a minute.) Klout seems to be an increasingly polarizing topic amongst both people I know and blog articles I read.

Take for example, this one which was re-published by CNNMoney and written by John Scalzi who asserts why “Klout scores are possibly evil”, in which he states that “Klout exists to turn the entire Internet into a high school cafeteria, in which everyone is defined by the table at which they sit. And there you are, standing in the middle of the room with your lunch tray, looking for a seat, hoping to ingratiate yourself with the cool kids, trying desperately not to get funneled to the table in the corner where the kids with scoliosis braces and D&D manuals sit.” (It really is a hilarious read.)

Or this one, by Sharon Hayes, titles “10 Reasons Why I Opted Out of Klout”, In which she lists out the many reasons she chose to opt-out of their database…

I have friends who obsess about their Klout scores and I have friends who think Klout is a crock and a complete waste of time.

Here’s my take. I look at, and use Klout in 3 ways. Two of the ways are simple amusement and one is a business tool.

1. The primary way in which I use Klout is as a game, of sorts. When you give someone a +K on a topic (which is saying they influence you on that topic), it gives you the opportunity to tweet out the gift. The fun part comes in where you can alter the tweet so that instead of saying, “I gave @arnoldtijerina a +K about the Auto Industry on @klout..”, you can modify it to say “I gave @arnoldtijerina a +K about being the super-awesome guy that he is on @klout..” (which I am, thank you). I use this “modifying tweets” in 2 ways. The first is acknowledging people in a positive, reinforcing way (as shown above) and then there is a group of us that like to modify them in a…well, more fun way.. like “I gave @arnoldtijerina a +K for knowing when to hold them and when to fold them on @klout..” Either way, it’s fun and funny.

2. Klout Perks. This is a program in which Klout teams up with companies to offer freebies to influencers. I’ve received some cool freebies through this program so, if for no other reason, free stuff is a good reason in my book to keep your Klout score high.

3. Now, here is where people get polarized. Do I think Klout accurately measures a person’s influence? Sort of. While I know that there are topics in which I am not influential (uh.. like “bacon”.. yes, this is a REAL topic on Klout that I, apparently have some influence in, according to them. The real scoop is that it’s fun to give your friends +K in oddball topics.), I do believe that you can utilize Klout to assist in identifying influencers. Basically, if I were a business and I was looking to leverage my influencers to help spread the word about my service/product and if I were to take all of my Twitter followers and try to figure out which ones are active and influential in social media, it would take 1) time I don’t have and 2) the odds of actually pegging a true influencer would be low. Now, same scenario but I take all my Twitter followers with Klout scores above 50 and target them. While not everyone I target will be an influencer, I have a much higher probability of actually identifying influencers and it took me way less time.

The thing that seems to irk the most people is that Klout is an opt-out service. What that means is that if you have public social media accounts (like Twitter), Klout will have a profile on you whether you’ve signed up for their service or not. If you don’t want one, until recently, you were SOL but now they have created an option in which you can delete your profile. Do I agree with this? Meh. I don’t care. I kind of look at it like if you put it out there publicly, you can’t really get mad when someone monetizes that information. C’mon folks, Klout is a business. They make money by finding and selling lists of influencers to other companies.

However, the one thing that I do know, as Sharon Hayes pointed out in the blog article I referenced earlier in this post, is that as employers give a person’s Klout score more weight and use it in hiring decisions, you better start paying attention. Whether that’s by making sure you have a good score or deleting your profile altogether, you need to act.

As stupid as you may believe it to be I’m fairly confident that you don’t want it to affect your ability to get hired. You may not care what your credit score is either, but that doesn’t mean other people don’t.

Can You Be A Packer Fan in Bear-Town at Work?

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Yesterday, a good friend of mine, Joe Webb, President of DealerKnows Consulting, posted a news article on his Facebook wall that got all sorts of comments from his friends.

In summary, the article involved a car dealership in Chicago who, on the day after their loss to the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship game, fired a salesperson for wearing to work, and refusing to remove, a Green Bay Packers tie.

Article: Packer Backer fired for wearing Green Bay Tie

Most of the discussion centered around whether it was legal to fire this employee for refusing to remove the tie. Some of it questioned this salesperson’s right to wear it.

Was the employer justified in firing him?

Did the employee have the right to wear it at work?

What do you think?

Originally published on DrivingSales.com

GM creates more jobs.. in Mexico

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I don’t know about everyone else but it seems to me that GM’s decision to create more jobs in Mexico is absolutely bad business. Without the U.S. taxpayer, GM may not have a business at this point.

This seems like a complete snub to Americans, who, last I heard, needed jobs. As of December 2010, thenational unemployment rate was 9.1%.

It may be cheaper to have factories in Mexico and employ Mexicans. Being of Hispanic origin, I have nothing against Mexicans.

The United States still owns about a third of General Motors and is the largest shareholder.

What are your thoughts on this matter? Does GM have any obligation to the taxpayers? Should the United States government intervene – which is its right as a shareholder?

[This post is in response to this article from 1/20/2011]

Originally published on DrivingSales.com

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