Are you the next Brian Benstock?
There aren’t too many people who can be the last presenter at a two-day conference with eight hours plus of speakers a day and can still energize and light up a room. Mix in all the networking, social events, late …
Category: Opinion
Year-end musings
My last publisher’s note of the year. Another year in which it’s been my great pleasure to work in and contribute to this amazing industry. So what’s on my radar at year end? I’m just back from the Los Angeles …
Get an AI information edge
There has been a lot written about how the auto retail world will be impacted and disrupted by artificial intelligence, or machine learning. With so many overly-hyped predictions, amid some self-serving promises of tech vendors hoping to make a quick …
A little bit of, well, a number of things
Iattended the Empowering Automotive conference last week in Toronto. Empowering Automotive has the mission to recruit, retain, and grow women and their allies in the auto industry. They seek to accomplish this through the annual flagship conference, mentoring, student outreach, …
The people challenge
Getting the right people in place, and keeping them happy and productive is the surest proven path to dealership success, better customer satisfaction and profitability. But why do so few dealerships get it right? Why are so few dealerships able …
It starts and ends with you
Yes, the industry is facing a wide range of changes. From ICE to EV, new retail business models, new brands, new technologies shaping (and sometimes threatening) your businesses, the pace of change on all fronts is greater than it’s ever …
Striking a balance
I was interviewed by the CBC recently for a story focused on what might seem to be competing goals: On the one hand, protecting domestic automotive manufacturing in Canada; on the other hand, supporting the drive to go green and …
Just communicate better with customers!
As an editor who covers the auto industry, sometimes I have an experience with a dealership that reminds me what it’s like being a typical consumer. Sadly, sometimes, the experience isn’t that great, and it reminds me our industry still …
Community building
I’ve worked as an editor in the business press for a while. Ok, a long while, like 25+ years, and have worked in many different markets. One of the things all magazine publishing teams will try to do is build …
Remembering Ron Porter
I received some sad news on May 15. As many of you will now know, Ron E. Porter, former SVP Automotive Finance at Scotiabank died at age 71. Ron was a true automotive guy. He spent over 30 years at …
What to do about AI?
I was having lunch a couple of weeks ago with the head of a dealer group whose company I very much enjoy, and whose views I very much respect. We have lunches like this every so often, just to trade notes on what’s going …
The event you really can’t miss
CADA Summit is the can’t miss calendar event for dealers, and increasingly for OEMs and suppliers who want to know what the auto retail industry is really going through. I’ve been to every CADA Summit and have always had an …
