Year of the COMEBACK!

With just two weeks in, 2011 will answer a lot of business questions for many of us. There is economic energy out there across America. The best thing about any challenges we face is that they are front and center. We have been with them for about two years.

Housing and employment are still in struggle mode. Steel, beef, pork, and gasoline are increasing in cost; and inflation is opening its eyelids...

But the car business is breathing with both lungs again. The Detroit Auto Show, where the cars are the stars, is seeing a renaissance of energy with awesome products that consumers want at $3.25 a gallon. Ford is leading the way with technology and with quality. Pictured is the new 2012 Escape. Detroit is less dead now and much more competitive.

Because as Detroit goes, so does our country.

Credit for small business, although tight, is available. Things are getting better. But be prepared to budget what you have in this New Normal. Gas will continue to creep up at the pumps. My guess is $3.35 or so before it slowly goes back under three bucks. There is no way gas will be four and five dollars; OPEC and most economists know the real reason why we were pushed off the financial cliff in September 2008. At four dollars a gallon, people stopped buying EVERYTHING but the essentials and confidence vanished.

This consumer behavior affects everything we do and everything we buy. No one blows $80 bucks on dinner today unless it is a celebration. We ALL clip coupons. We know what the Dollar Tree is and we want generic at the drug store.

So this indeed will be an interesting year. Everything is LOCAL. Take advantage of it. We need to know what you do and how we can help you succeed. Lots of energy goes on right on your block. And it is very simple. I help you, and you help me, and 2011 will indeed be, as my friend Brian Woomer coined, THE YEAR OF THE COMEBACK!

Runnin' On Empty

Runnin’ on Empty
The good ole days, remember them? Jumping in the V-8 coupe, and with Steppenwolf’s Born to Be Wild in the background, you got your motor runnin’ as you headed out on the highway. It was Saturday night. Gas was 35 cents a gallon. Your car was the center point of entertainment.

But this is now. 2010. Gas is pushing $3.25 in the hardest hit economic areas of the United States. Places like Upstate New York and my hometown of Detroit are injured again by the continuing rise in gas prices. And it is at $3.00 or more across the rest of the country. Is it artificially priced? I certainly believe so. Speculation and the increase of fuel usage in both India and China have created this current increase in oil prices and that has pushed our local prices pump prices way up. Speculation pushed prices up in 2008 as well. Remember those days?

This is very big country. According to Payscale.com, the average commute to work is 37.5 minutes. Americans naturally need larger, safer vehicles to drive coast to coast. This is not England or for that matter the rest of Europe. Look at this year’s sales increase in large SUV’s. Up 41% as announced today on CBS Radio; the most interestingly overlooked fact is that the small SUV is down 2.1% during that same time. This is not rocket science. We need bigger and more comfortable. We have families and extended families, business trips, vacations, kid’s baseball practice, and work. Try stuffing all that in a Prius.

We must remember that when the U.S. fell off the economic cliff in September, 2008, it was $4.00 gas that shoved the hardest. Confidence died and America stopped spending on anything. Our economy to this very day is still a big ugly rock. It will not move unless we push it with consumer confidence, lower bills and renewed spending. But that is just not happening, especially now. With gasoline hitting that “mental” mark of three bucks, we again start brown bagging more and we increase our visits to the grocery store. Most importantly, we stop spending on virtually anything else. This is again at the expense of a multitude of small businesses that include coffee shops and mid-priced restaurants. Small businesses suffer. And they are the ones who employ the majority of the workers. They are the heartbeat of America.

Now, I heard today that the reason the price of gas is skyrocketing is because of the stronger economy; the stronger the economy, the higher the gas prices.
If the economy is such a simple math game then why is that not adding up when we look at daily reality. What are these economists thinking?

Now, we are indeed at the cusp of an economic turnaround, but the rising price of gas will be the principal ingredient to keeping us where we are. This is a BIG deal. We drive less now. We drive less than we ever have before. Consumption is down. We combine trips and we carpool. Why? Because gas price increases come directly out of our wallet and our budgets. And the increases happen with real money in real time, more this week than last.

Gas prices are the biggest villain in the current hampering of the local economy. It is not about the big car or the SUV. It is not the car business this time. Drop gas back to $2.50 and the market will take off like a rocket making 2011 the “Year of the Comeback!”

As you pump that next tank and as you use your credit card because you do not have an extra 60 bucks in your pocket, remember it is because of the that stronger economy!


Jim Vogel is the owner and founder of VTR Consulting LLC; VTR is a motivational sales training company located in Apex, NC. Jim spent over three decades in the car business; first with Ford Motor Company, and then with Hendrick Automotive Group, before launching his small business to help make organizations more successful.
Visit www.vtrconsulting.com
http://twitter.com/salestherapist

Are You Feeling It Yet?

5-6-09 Apex, NC... The signs of recovery are on the horizon. The market is up. Gas prices are rising. Credit is available to those who qualify. And the Chrysler makeover coupled with the shedding in GM has created a calming effect to the economic
situation. Mr. Obama is losing his new car smell as he puts some miles on his experience as the most powerful person on Earth. Considering what we have lived through the past seven months, this peek into the second quarter has some very positive signs.

We get the car business stable and we get the economy stable. If people start buying cars at a 15 million (a year) pace as we head to Summer, things can only get better.

If the automotive industry goes upbeat so will the vendors and suppliers. And I am one of those. Small business across the United States will also benefit. Unemployment will lower and consumer confidence will rise. Both will move in different directions at about the same rate. People are not dumb. But they are worried and they are watching.

Time will tell but I really feel it coming!