Guides
Dealership Buyer's Guides
Ranked lists for car dealers: who to hire for events, mail, BDC and training, and the ideas, tools and reading worth your time.
Companies compared
Vendors for the work we do ourselves. We rank Pinnacle first on each of these and say so at the top of every list; every other company was checked against its own published information.
Best Automotive Sales Event Companies (2026)Nine automotive sales event companies compared for 2026: staffed, hosted, off-site tent and mail-driven events, with what each offers and who it suits.Best Automotive Direct Mail Companies (2026)Nine automotive direct mail companies for car dealerships in 2026, checked against their own sites: formats, data, follow-up and who each one suits best.Best Outsourced BDC Companies for Car Dealerships (2026)Eight outsourced BDC companies for car dealerships compared on full vs hybrid models, CRM and data ownership, contracts and published pricing.Best Dealership Sales Training Companies (2026)Nine dealership sales training companies compared for 2026: Pinnacle, Joe Verde, NCM, Proactive, DLA, Dealer Synergy, Cardone, Elliott Group and ATN.Best Dealership Marketing Companies in North Carolina (2026)Eight dealership marketing companies with verified North Carolina offices, from Lake Norman to the Triangle, compared on events, mail, BDC and digital.Best Staffed Sales Event Providers for Dealerships (2026)Eight staffed sales event providers compared for 2026: who they put on your floor, how the desk and gross split work, and what to settle before you sign.Best Automotive BDC Call Centers (2026)Nine automotive BDC call centers and AI voice tools ranked on after-hours and overflow coverage, service scheduling and call recording.Best Dealership Marketing Companies in the Southeast (2026)Nine Southeast-headquartered dealership marketing companies, Virginia to Louisiana, compared for multi-state dealer groups: events, mail, media and data.
Ideas, tools and reading
Lists that rank tactics, software, books and events rather than vendors. Pinnacle is not ranked on any of them.
Best CRM Software for Car DealershipsTen dealership CRMs compared from vendor sources: VinSolutions, CDK CRM (Elead), DriveCentric, Tekion, Reynolds FOCUS, DealerSocket, ProMax and more.Best Dealership Marketing Ideas for Slow MonthsTwelve dealership marketing ideas for slow months, from equity mining and lease pull-aheads to tax-refund and hosted events, with what each one needs.Best Direct Mail Pieces for Car DealershipsEleven direct mail pieces for car dealerships ranked, from buyback and equity letters to jumbo postcards and scratch-offs, with postage and compliance notes.Best Holiday Promotions for DealershipsEleven holiday promotions for car dealerships with verified 2026 and 2027 dates, from Black Friday to Presidents Day, plus planning and compliance tips.Best Ways to Increase Showroom TrafficTen ways to increase dealership showroom traffic, ranked: sales events, targeted mail, outbound follow-up, appointment confirmation and service hand-offs.Best Automotive Industry ConferencesAutomotive conferences worth a dealer's time, with dates and cities checked on each organizer's site: NADA Show, Digital Dealer, NIADA and Used Car Week.Best Books for Car SalespeopleEleven books that make car salespeople better on the lot and phone, from Joe Verde and Joe Girard to Chris Voss and Robert Cialdini, and how to use each.Best Lead Sources for Car DealershipsEleven lead sources for car dealerships ranked by intent, cost and data ownership, from your website and service drive to Cars.com, Autotrader and CarGurus.Best Social Media Ideas for DealershipsTwelve social media ideas for car dealerships, from inventory walkarounds to event countdowns and service tips, with the platform data and FTC rules to know.Best Lead Follow-Up Tactics for DealershipsTwelve lead follow-up tactics for car dealerships, from five-minute response and written cadences to consent-based texting and appointment confirmations.Best Trade-In Acquisition CampaignsNine trade-in acquisition campaigns for car dealerships ranked, from service-lane appraisals and equity mining to buyback letters and cash-offer programs.Best Service-to-Sales StrategiesEleven service-to-sales strategies that turn service-drive customers into buyers: equity lists, lane appraisals, BDC handoffs, loaner test drives and more.
Looking for how-to articles rather than ranked lists? The resource libraries sort everything we publish by topic, and Auto Industry News lists it by date.
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