The evening news is so depressing. I barely have the heart to turn on my television and listen to the overwhelmingly sad and catastrophic stories of the day. (It’s not as depressing since moving out of Chicago, but still most news makes me cringe more than take notice.) Like most, I get my updates about the goings-on in the world from online resources. Some is relevant to me and some isn’t.

For industry news, I need to visit multiple sites, read many publications, and search Twitter hashtags like a crazy person. Finally, there is an online news broadcast designed specifically for the automotive industry that, I feel, everyone in the dealership should be watching every day: CBT News (otherwise known as Car Biz Today).

I asked Jim Fitzpatrick, Founder/CEO of Fitzpatrick Advertising and Car Biz Today, about the goal of the program and he stated, “It is a tool for which automotive retail dealers can get up-to-date information and training tips from the nation’s top trainers that will help them run their dealerships better.”

Knowing CBT News was designed as a means to give short bursts of information to the masses about the state of the industry, along with best practice tips, it needs to keep growing its audience. Here are four reasons you should be watching CBT News:

1) Hear from the Experts.
CBT News has dedicated itself for being a platform for our industry’s leaders, allowing them to share tips, tactics, and strategies that can be implemented at the dealership level. Opposed to hunting for information through magazines and blog content, you can have daily sound bytes from the top experts in a myriad of topics emailed to you every day. From sales to service, there is something for everyone. It is a program that dealers can utilize as a means to keep their entire team well-rounded about the workings of multiple departments within their stores.

2) Learn of Industry Trends.
Beyond the experts, the CBT News team shares industry data regarding purchase trends, sales data, OEM statements, national forecasts, and more that should be heard by anyone claiming to be a student of automotive.

CBT News Team

3) Worthy Anchors in Small Doses.
The typical dealership employee (or owner) doesn’t always want to invest the 20 minutes necessary to educate themselves by reading a few articles. Moreover, they don’t know where to look, who to believe, or what content to take seriously. Now, they can be brought up to speed in a daily 5-6 minute video while watching a great tandem of anchors in Russell Brown and Bridgett Everett. They’re a skilled news team. (How Russell Brown isn’t a Sportscenter anchor is beyond me.) Don’t ask me how they do it, but they actually appear excited about the information they’re delivering. That’s something a few of our industry’s so-called “professional speakers” can’t even do consistently. They keep it entertaining, have a great rapport, and honestly seem to love what they’re doing.

4) Unclaimed content.
We all know how this works. The moment a great resource for automotive starts gaining some traction and attention, it is immediately bought/sponsored/overrun/duplicated/swallowed-up/(or worst of all) censored by a deep-pocket company in an effort to control the content and “brand” the messages. As it stands, CBT News plays no favorites. They reach out to experts across the board – even those bickering with each other, and keep their ears open to all information, not only choosing what is relevant to their cause – as they don’t have a cause other than to educate dealers. Being able to retain your integrity in the media game, without bending your standards to someone else’s imposed will is difficult. Yet, CBT News has the respect of many and doesn’t serve multiple masters.

Just like any news broadcast, it is meant to inform and entertain. CBT News anchor, Russell Brown, said “CBT brings dealers across the country the news that is important to them through high energy news video reports, interviews, and daily newscasts.”

We’re all students of the game and if we can’t invest 5 minutes of ourselves every day to hear about news and best practices of our industry, it is time we close up shop. CBT News is just one available resource that can help you and your team keep abreast of news focused on the fascinating world of automotive. You can subscribe to their daily shows right at https://cbtnews.com.

Now only if there was a late-night talk show I could host…