In The Spotlight - Archive

The Australian Franchisee Rights Petition - 12/03/10

We are pleased to offer you a way to consider supporting and then signing the The Australian Franchisee Rights Petition. The link is HERE.

This Petition is asking the Senate to support Franchisees having increased protection in their Franchise agreements.

The Petition Heading is: The Petition of the undersigned shows: A desire to amend and or introduce law to provide a higher and more assured level of protection to Australian franchisees and assure franchisees of reasonable dealing by a franchisor.

You may have seen the issued described by John Mellor in GoAuto recently and after reading that article is reasonable to form the opinion that every dealer, no matter how well established, how successful, how passionate about their brand could end up on the wrong end of a clause in a franchise agreement.

Townsville and Cairns Get A Visit - 01/03/10

Continuing our tradition of supporting our clients with face to face support and service, Clare (Client Service Liaison) and Meagan (Relationship Manager - QLD) were in North Qld last week visiting current clients and welcoming some new ones.

They have returned this week with many pictures of the trip to share.

In the coming weeks they are off to visit clients in Mackay, Rockhampton and Gladstone. Keep your eye on this space in the coming weeks to view the pictures of their trip.

Click here to view pictures from the trip.

Saleshighway Comes to Sydney - 09/02/10

Saleshighway is the new choice with Internet lead management and has been selected by The Dominelli Group and Vision Cars in Sydney to manage their internet results.

After extensive and long term development in partnership with two of Australia's most successful dealerships groups Saleshighway is now in limited release and available to selected dealerships across Australia.

Saleshighway delivers new levels of Lead management, reporting. accountability and flexibility and has been a instrumental in delivering savings of over 200K PA to one of our development partner dealerships.

Finally the Australian dealer marketplace has a real and independent choice in maximising the value of their internet leads.

Digital Dealer Conference - 01/02/10

Following the success of our Digital Footprint Tour, held last year, we are excited to announce our first Australian Study Tour to the Digital Dealer Conference (DDC) to be held in Orlando, Florida this April!

Now in its eighth year, the DDC will give you the latest methods to improve and maximise your internet strategies. A variety of speakers from both within and outside of the automotive industry will provide you with useful and thought provoking insights into the American Automotive internet space, as well as offering tools and strategies that are easily applied to the Australian market.

Click here to register or find out more information.

YouTube Hits Your Stock List! - 15/12/09

You now have the ability to incorporate YouTube videos within your Dealer Solutions Stock System.

This vital addition to your stock list will allow potential buyers to get a virtual tour of the vehicle before stepping into your dealership.

To get some assistance on uploading your YouTube videos to your stock list contact technical support on 07 3633 3601.

Click here to view a live example!

Digital Footprint Seminar - 07/12/09

During the middle two weeks of November Dealer Solutions along with guest speaker Chris Polites from Google Australia held a National Seminar to help dealers learn about their Digital Footprint.

The National tour included visits to Perth, Adelaide, Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne with a turnout of around 230 dealers from across Australia.

We offered Dealer Principals and General Managers the opportunity to meet with and learn from Chris Polites, Industry Manager – Automotive for Google Australia.

The seminar was a success with the response and feedback on the content being positive. Many topics were discussed throughout the seminar including the car buying process today and how important your online presence as an automotive dealership really is along with understanding the activity that happens on and off your website.

Thank you to Chris Polites for giving his time and knowledge and helping our dealers understand more about their Digital Footprint.

Tokyo Motor Show - 26/11/09

Thanks to David Hanlin of the Norris Motor Group for sharing his photos of the Tokyo Motor Show. Look how many cars have a power lead hanging out of them ...

Click here to view the images.

Q400 Business Awards - 16/11/09

The Q400 is Queensland's premier Business awards and has for many years been a benchmark that measured privately owned Queensland companies. The awards are for privately owned companies only and bring a degree of recognition that rewards effort and results.

The 1st step is to make it into the top 400 and then see what your position or ranking is in the short list of the 400.

We would like to congratulate some of our clients on their achievement in making it into the top 400.

Pickerings Auto Group (6)
Bryan Byrt Holdings (30)
Westpoint Autos (50)
Ross Llewellyn Motors (51)
Ian Boettcher Motors (59)
Bruce Lynton Group (74)
Tropical Auto Group (100)
Bell & Moir Toyota (211)
Filby’s Motors (237)

Photography Competition - October 2009 - 01/11/09
The results for October are in and the winner is ... Stacey Bryan from QLD.

Dealer Solutions is committed to the highest possible standard in automotive photography and has a monthly competition for our professional photographers across Australia.

Each month they are asked to submit a specific image in accordance with the Dealer Solutions standards. These images are then judged and marked by our National Training and Standards Manager along with our state Team Leaders.

Click here to view all the entries including the WINNER.

1300 4 Dealers Gives You The Answers! - 05/10/09

Want the power to know why prospects and customers are calling?

Choose our new 1300 4 Dealers service and we'll provide you with unique 1300 phone numbers. By using different 1300 numbers in your print media and on your website, and then tracking what numbers are being called, you'll know what's working – and what's not.

Every aspect of the performance of your 1300 numbers will be managed and analysed. Calls will be tracked real time 24/7 with our on-line dashboard, so you'll see calls coming in as they happen. You'll see the numbers of calls answered and missed. You can arrange to record calls for training purposes and with detailed Google map reporting, you'll have specific reports on who's calling – and from where.

Townsville Gets A Visit - 21/09/09

This week our Support Ambassador and Queensland State Relationship Manager visited current clients in Townsville and welcomed some new clients.

With beautiful views and lovely weather it could have almost been a holiday however Clare Scott our Support Ambassador and Meagan Forbes our QLD SRM were hard at work.

Click here to view some pictures of the trip.

Sell Toyota – Look like Toyota - 07/09/09

Butlers Toyota is Toyota ready with their new Brand Compliant website.

Our thanks to Rob & Des Butler for choosing and trusting us to help with the revamp of www.butlerstoyota.com.au

Photography Competition - August 2009 - 31/08/09
The results for August are in and the winner is ... Krista Mollica our NSW Team Leader.

Dealer Solutions is committed to the highest possible standard in automotive photography and has a monthly competition for our professional photographers across Australia.

Each month they are asked to submit a specific image in accordance with the Dealer Solutions standards. These images are then judged and marked by our National Training and Standards Manager along with our state Team Leaders.

Click here to view all the entries including the WINNER.

Damian Jones Celebrates 10 YEARS with Dealer Solutions - 24/08/09

Damian Jones, General Manager – Director started with the company on the 23rd August 1999.

Ironically enough when Damian started 10 years ago he actually took the total staff count up to 10. Throughout the years of managing, the company has grown from 10 staff located in QLD to 73 staff nationally.

Prior to Dealer Solutions Damian worked as the General Manager (member services) at MTAQ for 12 years. Needless to say his extensive knowledge of the automotive industry has helped the company grow and expand.

Dealer Solutions visit the Leyburn Sprints - 17/08/09

Leyburn is an extremely small country town located 203 kilometres southwest of Brisbane and about 78 kilometres from Toowoomba. Every year this small town’s population grows from a few hundred up to approximately 15,000 as motor enthusiast travel from far and wide to share their love of cars.

As part of the automotive industry we felt it was necessary that we attended this year (or at least that was our excuse).

You can view some of the classics on the start line at the Dealer Solutions YouTube site here.

Photography Competition - July 2009 - 10/08/09
The results for July are in and the winner is ... David Kippen from Dealer Solutions QLD office.

Dealer Solutions is committed to the highest possible standard in automotive photography and has a monthly competition for our professional photographers across Australia.

Each month they are asked to submit a specific image in accordance with the Dealer Solutions standards. These images are then judged and marked by our National Training and Standards Manager along with our State Team Leaders.

Click here to view all the entries including the WINNER.

HomeDrive - 27/07/09
When is a test drive not a test drive ... when it is a HomeDrive.

We are delighted to be helping HomeDrive with their website and web positioning. This innovative twist on one of our industries most essential sales tools has been really interesting to be involved in and work on.

To have a deliberate and independent strategy for a particular part of the sales process is bold and pre-release results show this investment is likely to work. Stay tuned.

Our Very Own Twins (unrelated) - 20/07/09

Two of our longest standing staff members celebrate their 8 year anniversary in the same week this month and now they are due to get married on the same weekend in September.

For most of you the names Angie and Bronwyn should ring a bell ... Angie and Bronwyn started with us within the same week in 2001 both working the support lines. They have now both progressed within the company and have taken on new roles, Bronwyn is the Assistant Support Coordinator and Angie has become our Accountant (aka The Pay Fairy).

Without planning or even knowing they have booked their wedding for a day apart, Bronwyn is due to marry her partner Paul on September 5, 2009 and Angie is all set to marry her partner Danny on September 6, 2009.

ICDPA - 13/07/09
This month at ICDPA (International Car Distribution Programme Australia) members wondered if they were indeed looking at the future of cars.

Better Place Australia showed us zero emission motoring and generated lively discussion particularly amongst those of us that grew up in the land of aussie V8s.

In line with the ICDPA strategy of providing members with research on the Australian market Nicole Winosky provided a presentation that compared the used-vehicle markets in Germany and Australia. The pervasiveness and use of the internet was a key in the presentation.

Dealer Solutions gets great value from its ICDPA membership. You can read more here.

Victor Colcott (Honda), Talal Yassine (Better Place Australia), and Chris Vening (Dealer Solutions).

Wally Pastuch (Mitsubishi), Nicole Winowsky, and Derek Stingfellow (Harley-Davidson).

Photography Competition - June 2009 - 06/07/09
The results for June are in and the winner is ... Jared Rowe our WA Team Leader

Dealer Solutions is committed to the highest possible standard in automotive photography and has a monthly competition for our professional photographers across Australia.

Each month they are asked to submit a specific image in accordance with the Dealer Solutions standards. These images are then judged and marked by our National Training and Standards Manager along with our State Team Leaders.

Click here to view all the entries including the WINNER.

Titan DMS and Dealer Solutions Announce Integration - 29/06/09
Dealer Management System provider Titan DMS is pleased to announce completion of the Level One integration with the Dealer Solutions product suite.

Managing director of Titan DMS, Matthew Kroll was cited as saying "Every day we see current or prospective customers relying on the specialised products from Dealer Solutions and it was obvious to us that they are the perfect complement to any modern Dealer System. We are genuinely excited about working together. At the end of the day, dealers will benefit." Dealer Solutions CEO Chris Vening agrees. "Open systems with approved integrators save dealerships time and money and are now the minimum standard. Dealers don't want to have their data held captive or not have the freedom to deal with specialist suppliers. Dealer Solutions is looking forward to helping Titan DMS dealers make the most of their data and information the way they want."

Welcome from across all parts of Queensland - 22/06/09
Thank you to all our dealers and their staff who show such a strong commitment to training and compliance when they come to the Dealer Solutions Training Centre in Brisbane. We always look forward to helping our dealers get the most out of their Dealer Solutions Software and service.

This week we would like to say thanks to Amanda (Pacific Ford Currimundi), Samantha (Southern Cross Ford Roma), Diane (Pickering’s Townsville), Amanda (Pickering’s Townsville), Lena (F.R. Irelands Cairns), Ashlee (Southern Cross Ford Dalby).

Photography Competition – May 2009 - 15/06/09
The results for May are in and the winner is ... Jun Lu NSW

Dealer Solutions is committed to the highest possible standard in automotive photography and has a monthly competition for our professional photographers across Australia.

Each month they are asked to submit a specific image in accordance with the Dealer Solutions standards. These images are then judged and marked by our National Training and Standards Manager along with our state Team Leaders.

Read more...