Welcome - And Thanks For Stopping By!
As this is my first official post to this wonderful new blog, I feel some introductions are in order. My name is Al Amersdorfer, and I’m the CEO of Automotive Internet Technologies. AIT has been working with automobile dealership Internet sales departments for over 6 years, but before I founded this company (with the help of my 2 invaluable co-founders); I was a dealership GM for almost 20 years. I’vewalked many, many, miles in your shoes, and I can truthfully say I appreciate the challenges that you have to face on a daily basis. That’s one of the things that helps make AIT unique - everyone in our company who is involved in client operations has real-world dealership experience, and plenty of it! You’ll probably find that we have some unique perspectives on how to run your business better because, as one of my old trainers used to say; “this ain’t the factory; we’re here to sell cars!”
Although I have been asked to participate in many auto sales blogs over the years, this is the first one I’veagreed to do. I’vehad the privilege of working with Dean Evans and Kristen Stanton throughout the years we’vebeen pioneering dealership Internet sales department development, and I have the utmost respect for their knowledge of this industry, and their commitment to doing things well. I’m sure that DrivingSales.com is going to be a great source of useful information for retail automobile professionals, and I’m proud to be affiliated with it. In fact, we’veeven gotten one of my AIT co-founders to also write a blog for DrivingSales.com. Kathleen Dillon, who is our VP of Technologies, will be weighing in on some of the “latest and greatest,” and why you do or don’t need it.
As for me, it’s my intention to elucidate, educate, and sometimes infuriate. I am a firm advocate of telling people what they need to hear, and not necessarily what they would like to hear. I love the car business, I loved it from the moment I walked onto a showroom floor as a VW Audi Subaru salesperson, and I stay closely involved with a handful of dealerships that are owned by men and women that I consider to be personal friends, so I can get my fix of “the biz” when I’vebeen spending too much time in the AIT ivory tower.
If you like something I write, feel free to drop me an email. I read them all, and respond to them eventually. It just might take me a few days. And if you take umbrage with something, tell me that too! The foundation of personal and professional growth lies in challenging the tenants that experience has ingrained in us. Everything changes, certainly our business has evolved dramatically in the past five years, and if we are going to flourish today, we damn sure need to make sure we are thinking about tomorrow!
Thank again for stopping by! I look forward to hearing from you!