Southern Tinsel!

THE PEAK CITY FILM FESTIVAL – FAMILY STYLE
If you blend one of the best small towns in America with a heavy dose of tinsel, add the flavor of the start of the Holiday Season, and mix in the correct amount of family entertainment, you have a spectacular menu of community treats for cinematic audiences of all shapes and sizes.
And that indeed is exactly what is happening in Apex, NC, from November 20 to November 22 as Historic Apex, known by many as the Peak City, celebrates a film festival with global magnitude. The Peak City Film Festival- Family Style is truly a defining moment in town history. Consistently named in numerous articles across a variety of media as one of the best towns in the United States to raise a family, Apex is ready to grow in international exposure, just as the town’s population has over the past decade.
Wonderful, enriching family films from around the country and around the world are starting to come in for review. The Festival’s focus of a general audience theme creates a unique opportunity to review a wide segment of the Arts. And the commonality of such films will bring budding cinema artists and students to this event. This Film Festival is creating exciting educational opportunities as well.
And of course, everything that shouts, “Lights, Camera, Action”, involves sponsorships and funding.
“We have an eclectic array of local businesses who want to get on board quickly and take advantage of this unique grass roots marketing opportunity. There is a variety of sponsorships available for local and regional businesses and the sponsor’s corporate logo gets immediate exposure on our website (www.peakcityfilmfestival.org)”, states Bob Crowley, Peak City Film Festival Producer.
He comments further, “It seems that so far the most successful businesses in town want to be involved with this family- themed event. And it makes sense. Apex has always been known for its focus on parents and children and the town features family-based functions during holidays like the Fourth of July and Christmas. So this is a natural. We even have a mascot, Crew the Raccoon, who is starting to get very busy as the news of the Festival grows. The kids love him. And so do adults. He even made a recent appearance in front of the Apex Town Council!”
Jerry Mathers, the star of “Leave It to Beaver”, will be present during the celebration and he will be receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award for his years of work entertaining family audiences.
Please call or SMS 919 533 9069 for sponsorship information or contact info@peakcityfilmfestival.org
You can send a film in for review to Peak City Film Festival, Inc P.O. Box 2186, Apex, NC, 27502 USA.

The deadline for entries Thursday October 1, 2009

1969 Idle Thoughts

8-15-09 Apex, NC

Yes, I have a confession to make to my friend Bob Butler… I was a Democrat back then.

Forty years ago, my Dad took me by my collar, and out of the pick up bed of Dean’s 1964 El Camino… The guys were heading to Woodstock. I had a satchel, eight bucks, and a pair of jeans with me. My Mom had called my Dad at work. I was 16.

To this day, the music of Woodstock is by far the best collection of Rock n Roll ever recorded.

1969 is my favorite year. It was a year of fun, girls, and so much potential. As I look back those 40 years, I realize it was a truly extraordinary 365 days. 1969 was special.

Not only was Woodstock the Diamond of this year to remember, there were other very memorable jewels that made ’69 what it was.

There were so many firsts. Apollo 9, the ATM, Seiko’s first quartz watch, Wal-mart, the Pontiac Trans Am, the microprocessor, the first human eye transplant, bell bottoms, Sesame Street, and Abbey Road.

People we cannot ever forget. President Richard Nixon’s first year in the White House, Clint Eastwood, and Goldie Hawn among others instantly famous in 1969, and Charles Manson’s vicious murder of Sharon Tate making headlines in unbelievable fashion.

Funny Girl and Easy Rider were great flicks.

Cars cost, on average, $3200. Apartment rent was $135. Gas was 35 cents.

Who could forget the Draft Lottery?

Chicago and Blind Faith were brand new bands.

The number one song was “Sugar, Sugar” by the Archies.

And finally, Zager and Evans singing “In the Year 2525″.

Our past is so reflective of our future. And our future depends so much on our past.

That’s heavy man… Heavy…

Idle Thoughts Politico

Apex, NC… 8-13-09

The Clunker Law is no clinker. Many estimates state new vehicle sales will increase by 200,000 to end up at around 10 million. 16.2 million were sold in 2007; 13.2 million last year.

The Apex Town Council will be a heck of a race in November. Look for Scott Lassiter to have a successful campaign and become an outstanding councilman. Scott, former President of the Student Council at Apex High, and Student Council Treasurer at NC St., is positive and high energy. Go to www.votescottlassiter.com for additional information.

John Edwards. He is a mess as they say in the South.

David Bowden, the Cary resident who put “screwed by the town of Cary” on the side of his house, is finally getting used to his home being a destination for drivers passing by with their thumbs up in agreement.

Michael Vick is now an Eagle? Houses are popping up in Philly with messages similar to the one in Cary.

Let the people vote on Health Care. It is “We the People” isn’t it? Don’t put it to the people. Put it to a vote.

Neumann’s Spiral of Silence is a great theory that will help many of you understand the emotion of the Town Hall Meetings. The implosion of deviant opinion is here. Google it. it is all about Grass Roots.

Woodstock. From Richie Havens to Janis, what would the Boomers be like if there never was a Woodstock?

I love Twitter. It has changed how we communicate. And it is a great tool. Direct messages are replacing e-mail messages in many cases.

Consumers still are not spending money unless it is for need. Economic growth will be slow and gradual. It is not surprising. With all the instability in our political future, it is normal that people are holding on to cash. If indeed they have any.

I love Google Voice. It gives me a phone number on steroids. Mobility is the key. With one number all my phones ring. I get a text of the call to my Blackberry. And I never miss business. I am a big fan!

Remember the Kiwanis is having a Blood Drive Wednesday the 19th, near the fire station in Historic Downtown Apex. 10 a.m through 2 p.m. The community needs blood big time. They have free cookies!

Politically Incorrect Idol Thoughts

8-9-09 Apex, NC

It is hot outside. Extreme heat should be a Town Hall Meeting not the temp.

Real people getting real mad is at the heart of the health care scare.

Low taxes and high growth are the ingredients of a solid economy. What do you call the opposite? August 2009.

Most of us are considering unpartying ourselves. A third party focused on getting new talent into every cranny of government is not a bad idea.

The polls show the President with low ratings. Keep pushing this agenda and it could get worse. He is the only one who can fix it.

I read Clinton was going to Africa. I wondered which Clinton.

September 1, taxes go up and services get cut. Yes. You read it right.

I know a lot of people who are not in the same income bracket they were last August. Read above the revenue enhancement strategy one more time.

Paula Abdul quit Idol and did not want to settle for five million a year. Five million sounds good to me.

I see a lot more Fords driving around. The new Fusion and the Edge along with the Focus are at the heart of the Ford success story.

The tax free weekend started as a success as well. Until people realized it still cost big money to send children to school, right through college.

Josh Hamilton defines being human. I wish him luck.

The Rex/Kiwanis Blood Drive is August 19th near the Apex NC fire station Downtown. Ve vant your blood! Bela Lugosi will be making a special appearance. 10 am-2 pm.

Things are gearing up for The Peak City Film Festival-Family Style, November 20-22.
If you are a business in town, you will want to be part of the Festival in a concrete way. Sponsorships are a marketing plus for the visibility you need to increase revenue and traffic to your location. Give me a call at 919 533 9069 for details. Put your name in lights! www.peakcityfilmfestival.org

Inside Idle Thoughts

Apex, NC 7-15-09

I just realized that I have lived in NC for 10 years. On Tuesday July 13, 1999, we rolled into Apex with our stuff. We soon discovered our new home still had wet hardwood. The builder forgot to tell us. We have been Marriott people since that day.

North Carolina is so fun. Street signs change as you drive as often as the direction does. Have you been on 55 West and noted your compass says south?

Where else can you be where getting lost is an integral part of the commuting experience?

I would like to get lost for 2.5 hours and end up somewhere in Carolina Beach. I like East.

The President took his whole family on a whirlwind; Russia, Italy, Ghana. Wow. I read that the President spent 30 minutes with the Pope, one-on-one. I actually know priests who live near the Vatican. If I want to talk to them I use SKYPE. Do you know how much Skype you can buy if you don’t throw in the Secret Service?

I love writing restaurant critiques. I just need to stop doing it for free. I will always do it for food though.

I have not watched the Sotomayor hearings. She is in. What is there to watch?

How come the more the government spends, the more they want to tax. In this economy they have all they can get from us. I wish I could print money, spend it and call it stimulus.

The Administation announced that community colleges will be getting $12 BILLION over 10 years for job placement. I want that plan to succeed. I am in the career services business, but where in the heck is that money coming from?

I am on a diet. It is working. I have too much weight. I can eat anything green and drink anything brown. Brown coffee, what were you thinking?

This country should be on my diet. It has too much debt. And the stimulus is not working. The government eats anything green as well. But the thought makes me want the other brown liquid. People can you say Lager?

I love Ice Road Truckers. How about you?

Geely Holding Group Inc. is a name soon to be remembered. This Chinese automotive group will soon have Detroit office buildings. And there will be others moving to Michigan. HUMMER is undergoing Chinese ownership. I remember when radios and televisions were made in the USA. Zenith comes to mind. Now they are made in China. No doubt the car business is changing with brutal lightening speed. Which is why my company (VTR Consulting LLC) now does non-automotive retail sales training and career services. The car business is just not using vendors for process improvement like they have in the past. Hopefully things will be better in 2010. The business needs stability and strength, not instability and weakness.

We added a new 2009 Ford Edge SEL AWD to the family fleet. 25 mpg on the highway and striking looks; nothing like Detroit sheet metal. Oh yeah. We had a great experience at Pittsboro Ford. Call Rene, the sales manager, and tell him you want the Vogel discount.

The All-Star game last night was pretty exciting. The Tigers played a major role in the win. Granderson and Jackson did well.

How about Nicole Bobek? Involved in a drug ring, she could spend 10 years in jail. She was awesome in the 1998 Winter Olympics. You just have to scratch your head.

When Madoff gets out of Butner in 2159, I am there to see if he will buy me lunch.

He will be ready after 150 years of jail food.

On Tuesday, the first flight of Pet Airways took off in NY. Animals get dinner, playtime and bathroom breaks. Where is my bear suit?

Check me out at www.vtrconsulting.com

Service is the New Sales

July 6, 2009 Apex, NC

If you think about it, a fixed operation (service) has to drive every sale for both the dealership and the customer. The days are long gone when the customer left with a vehicle, never came back and we simply didn’t care. We’d just go get another one. With sales way down in the car business, June was considered a sales “success” because numbers were just plain bad instead of horrific; these still are times for the automotive record books. The last time the car business had nowhere to go but up was way back in 1981. And we also know nothing happens until a vehicle is sold, but that second buy, from an owner- based client, is based solely on that experience in the service lane.

I was in Knoxville TN over the weekend and I drove past the GM “ghost town” dealerships; yep, the ones that are done for good. In Knoxville, like in every town, the dealerships that survived this sales tsunami are combining efforts for marketing and advertising and they are working hard to achieve outstanding customer service, during and after the sale. The good stores get it when it comes to service and customer pay.
Service is the key term here. People are holding on to vehicles longer and they are considering pre-owned vehicles as they assess their transportation needs. It is the service and parts departments across the country that keep the business afloat. The service writer and the parts counter person are integral to this success. I take four vehicles in for service at the GM dealership closest to me. I trust them to do the job I need and to do it right. But sometimes they are jammed full of oil changes and rotations and I get lost in the shuffle. When eight people show up at 8 a.m., someone has to wait.

Waiting around when there is disorganization and overbooking is the death wish of any service department. The dealerships are leaner than turkey burgers now and one solitary advisor might be the only one in the lane as the customers line up on a Monday morning. People often get whizzed, and CSI suffers. In service, CSI is now the only raise the employees will ever see. These employees are commissioned –based and pay themselves. So it is a double-edged sword when service breaks down. The customer and the service department both suffer.

I ran across a product for Fixed Operations that works for the customers and the advisors. I endorse it 100% because it works. It is simple, and easy to understand. That is why I want to mention it here. It is called SHOPTRAK and can be assessed at www.shoptrak.net
If an old sales guy like me endorses a product for simplicity, it is something you just have to assess for yourself. Drop SHOPTRAK an e-mail. sales@shoptrak.net

I am into the customer big time. It is the only thing to focus on. I like making a profit and I like saving my customer time and money. And I love SHOPTRAK as a software tool for both ends. It is win-win in today’s market. Let me know what you think.
You can reach me (Jim Vogel) at www.vtrconsulting.com

Idle Thoughts- Believe It Or Not

6-30-09 Apex, NC

It is the end of the month and the end of the quarter. I should be in a dealership helping out but I am not…

Only in the South; Carpenters working on a house, cutting wood outside in the driveway, wearing flip flops.

People are getting the flu. Isn’t July like tomorrow?

I got a letter from the IRS this week. And it was a nice helpful letter concerning some tax changes with my business.

The First Lady wore a pair of Lanvin’s $588.00 tennis shoes at the Capital Food Bank April 29th.

Although every politician elected in November PROMISED no new taxes, guess what is about to happen?

With all the famous people passing in the last week, I am asking myself who is next?

Have you checked out the snack food aisle lately? The BIG FAMILY SIZE bag of chips is now full of air at a whopping 11 ounces total weight.

I am still surprised there is still a dozen eggs in a dozen eggs.

If it doesn’t rain soon, Governor Perdue will be doing drought commercials. I hope Mother Nature spares us soon.

Mrs. Easley will fight her NC State firing. Huh?

The brand new McDonald’s in Cary is 100% green. And it cost a ton of green to build it.

Bernie Madoff got 150 years. Is that all?

The NY Times recently raised prices: two bucks for the daily and SIX bucks for the printed Sunday paper. Who said Liberals didn’t love capitalism?

Check me out at www.vtrconsulting.com

Idle Thoughts One More Time

6-17-09… Apex, NC

I went on a website recently that features a “Customer Experience Manager”. Every business should have a person focused on the experience. Common sense.

Virtually every time I gas up and click to a round number, the pump always adds a dang penny. Instead of $22.00 it ends up being $22.01. We don’t think about it but man, it adds up to profits big time.

Here is the power of Twitter. In Iran, it is the only conduit to the world after the election.

In baseball, most teams have the daffiest away jerseys. The uniforms look like pajamas. At least the Tigers and Yankees look good home and away.

Now that GM sold Saab, looks like they have no more Saab stories to share.

People are calling me and asking me if this is a good time to buy a car. YES! It also is a great time to buy anything. Notice the price of a 40″ T.V.?

The President talks of deficit-neutral policies. I thought we were two trillion in the whole. I do love the term deficit-neutral. I think that is on my credit report.

David Letterman, he is a mess. How can you mess up an apology?

Everybody today in my business is an alleged social media expert. Really now?

Had my first teaching gig at the University of Phoenix last night. It is refreshing to see students who actually want to go to college. Success comes in so many categories.

Yesterday morning it poured so hard that Noah was building an ark on 64.

NC St. is an acronym for no comment; see taxpayer.

Two things no one can take away from you, your education and your purpose in life.

You know your favorite website has made it. You use it as a verb. So Facebook me!

Count your breath, your luck, and your cholesterol.

Weapons of Mess Disruption

Apex, NC 6-14-09.

Here it is, the last two weeks of the first quarter. July is coming fast. Yes I know times are tough. Gas prices are up. Dealerships are more than challenged with day- to- day issues, so many things coming and going. Lost your focus yet? Think about it.

If you are not 100% mentally present at work, completely focused on your job, you will lose buyers. People buy vehicles every day regardless of the economy and they are not at your store for the fresh coffee and neat small talk you provide. If you mess things up and do not focus on their needs, they will leave. The customer’s weapons of mess disruption are two-fold, their feet. If they leave, you only have you to blame. When you stand there and the manager does all the work, and you just hand the customer the keys, you get the number and the full commission, all of it. So when there is mess disruption happening and the customer walks, run to the mirror. It is all yours too. You can only blame yourself when the customer purchases down the street. You simply did not do your job.

So, Meet and Greet with enthusiasm and excitement. Bring your customers inside and help choose the correct vehicle, the one they want and they need. You must have both ingredients. Mentally close them before you do any paperwork or talk numbers. I do not care how long it takes. And ASK for the sale. The customer always appreciates a professional. They probably did not buy their last vehicle from one.

Work hard. Have fun. And stay focused.

Be a salesperson not a fails person. You have just one shot and one opportunity, so keep focused, follow your process, and do your job.

When there is a turn signal, a right turn, and happy customers, you can head back into the showroom with a big smile. Now go get another one!

A Career Entrepreneur

Apex, NC… 6-11-09

Everyone has ideas. Our brains work 24-7-365. But getting those ideas to evolve into action that results in success is one tough cookie!

Think out of the box, the car, near the fridge, at your friend’s house; it is critical to think out your plan.

A Career Entrepreneur takes ideas, creates action, and makes results. It is up to you. You are the only one who truly gives a dang about your success. You are your own brand. You are the business. Finding opportunities in a challenging economy is critical. If you have an idea, WRITE IT DOWN. I do not care if it is at 3 a.m. A lost idea is useless. You will act on a written idea much faster than one that is rolling around in your skull.

Failure is the avenue for the implementation of ideas. Yep. You have to fail to succeed. What? You are reading it right. I want you to screw up. Success is never easy. My hero is Thomas Edison. Did you know that Edison failed more than you have? He messed up some big stuff. But he was persistent and LEARNED from the error of his ways. If not for Mr. Edison, your quality of life would be way different… Movies would not exist for gosh sakes.

If you are reading this you are in transition. So put that personal business plan together immediately. Be a career entrepreneur even while sleeping, and fail, fail, fail your way to success!