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What Changes Are Here to Stay? Learn More About What Your Customers Expect.

This is a great article from the USA that focuses on understanding your customer's expectations and keeping your business current. If you can order Pizza from your phone and have it delivered to the beach, why not book a test drive or service via txt? Have you got access to DealerHub? It's something you may want to consider if sourcing stock is important to you. If you are RMVT certified and need stock Click Here and get ready for the launch of DealerHub. Written by Christopher Carlucci on 05/11/2020 More flexibility and convenience. Pickup and delivery. Spotlight on customer safety and comfort. Increased importance on used car service retention. These are all ways in which fixed ops and car dealer service departments have shifted their value propositions amidst the uncertainty of 2020. But if we fast forward a year or two, how will fixed ops really look in the "new normal"? According to Automotive News, nearly 70% of dealers said they were not at all prepared for the changes brought on by COVID-19. Despite the challenges, though, they were quick to respond, as many dealership service departments are now essentially back to pre-pandemic levels of volume and revenue. Among all the changes and adjustments fixed ops departments have been forced to make, there are a lot of things customers are getting used to when they have their vehicles serviced at the dealership. Aside from a continued focus on safety and cleanliness (which should go without saying), here are a few things you should do to prepare for the new normal in fixed ops. Go All In With Pickup and Delivery This is something many fixed ops departments were dabbling in even before the pandemic, and it’s only gained momentum in recent months. Coming to the customer’s home or workplace to get the vehicle, taking it in for service, and returning when finished has become even more important to customers. Already ranked as the #4 desired amenity in DriveSure’s recent Dealership Service and Retention Report, the accelerated adoption of pickup and delivery by most service departments has made this new level of care and convenience something customers will expect moving forward. Paragon Honda in NY repair orders aside from pickup and delivery being a tremendous value-add, it’s proven to be great for business, too. Paragon Honda in Woodside, NY, was one of the trailblazers in offering this service, and they’re currently averaging more than $500 per repair order through pickup and delivery. Optimize Your Website to Include Fixed Ops Specials If there’s one thing customers have come to expect these days, it’s a seamless online experience. From browsing vehicle inventory to ultimately pulling the trigger on a purchase, it can all be done online now. But a superior online experience should go beyond just the vehicle purchase and become an integral part of your fixed ops as well. If your website doesn’t already have a “specials” tab, you should definitely consider adding one. Next to a new and used vehicles search, customers are most apt to click the specials link on your site—which should represent all four of your profit centers (new/used vehicles, as well as parts and service). More than just having a specials section on your site that includes parts and service, customers should be able to book their service appointments online as well. Now more than ever, there seems to be a strong desire for this capability, as customers ranked it their #1 preferred amenity in the Dealership Service Retention Report. Top 3 amenities customers value Offer Remote and Contactless Payment The demand for remote payment options now exists in pretty much every industry. Order a pizza, pay in advance online. Take your dog to the vet, pay in the parking lot via a link they text you. Pick up your groceries and the delivery clerk processes payment automatically after loading you up. Contactless payment is the norm these days, and dealer service departments are no exception. Many fixed ops departments are using integrated payment solutions like Xtime to increase customer retention by transforming the ownership experience for automotive manufacturers and dealership service departments. Paying for repair orders online or through text without having to wait in line or interact with a cashier both increases customer satisfaction and boosts dealer revenue and profitability. And the ability for a quick iPad “check-in” at the car saves both the techs and the customers an immense amount of time. It’s these types of technologies and conveniences that put an emphasis on value, convenience, and trust, meeting a strong demand and delivering an exceptional customer experience. No doubt the new normal in fixed ops will be anchored in remote and contactless payment options. Emphasize Digital Communication As customers get used to more digital interaction, it makes it even more important to keep the lines of digital communication open both when they’re onsite and when they leave the dealership. Communicating via the same channels they interact with friends and family adds a more personal touch that has become not only acceptable from your customers—but expected. The results of DriveSure’s Dealership Retention Report were loud and clear regarding customers’ preferred method of communication, with 32% saying they preferred text communications between service visits, and 60% want to be communicated with via text during service. What’s more, 54% of dealer service department customers said they are “likely or very likely” to download a mobile app on their phone for service reminders. The moral of the story here is simple: staying in contact with your customers through text and mobile app marketing is a surefire way to cut through the clutter and outpace your competition in the new normal. Learn More About What Your Customers Expect Clearly, much of what’s to come for fixed ops will hinge on the ability to fully embrace the digital revolution. The good news is that many dealer service departments were headed this direction already. If you’re among them, keep your foot on the gas. And if you’re still on the fence, it’s not too late to get started and prepare for the new normal! If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s how quickly we can adapt and adjust to continue to exceed evolving customer expectations.

Watchout if importing is your future stock strategy!

This article raised a few eyebrows when it was published recently. Take a close read of the detail around future proposed import rules. It's all about the climate! First published in STUFF on Oct 24 2020 written by Tom Pullar-Strecker Have you got access to DealerHub? It's something you may want to consider if sourcing stock is important to you. If you are RMVT certified and need stock Click Here and get ready for the launch of DealerHub. 'Feebates' set to come in under another name as roadblock cleared for cap on average car emissions BP Redcliffs owner Robert Jiang, who owns an electric vehicle and has installed a fast EV charger at his petrol station, predicts fossil-fuelled vehicles will only be around for another 20 years. Labour’s election victory means that by 2025 the “average” imported vehicle that Kiwis will be able to buy in terms of carbon emissions will be something like a 1.2 litre manual Suzuki Swift GL.
With emissions of 106 grams of carbon dioxide per kilometre, the car is just a smidgen above the target of 105g/km that the Government will require new and used car imports average by 2025 under its commitment to the Clean Car Standard, spelt out in its energy policy in September.
If a Suzuki Swift doesn’t appeal, there are plenty of larger hybrids – including SUVs such as the Toyota Next-Gen RAV4 – sitting around 105g/km, and of course many fully-electric vehicles with zero emissions.
Car dealers will still be able to import much less fuel-efficient cars after 2025 under Labour’s policy, but if they do, they will need to be offset by another import, such as an EV, to maintain the 105g/km average. Tony Everett, dealers manager at the Motor Trade Association, says the Clean Car Standard will decrease the price of low emission vehicles, including EVs, and increase the price of higher-emission vehicles.

That means the policy will have a very similar impact to the Feebate scheme championed by the Greens, which a Labour spokesman confirmed prior to the election “has not been a Labour Party policy”.

Car dealers would be free to import 105 Suzuki Swift 1.2 litre manual cars without penalty in 2025 if they also imported just one EV to keep themselves under the Clean Car Standard emissions cap. The Feebate scheme had been proposed as an adjunct to the Clean Car Standard before both reforms were mothballed by the last government because of the opposition of NZ First.
It would have required buyers of high-emission vehicles to subsidise EVs and other low emission cars directly through a prescribed system of surcharges and rebates.
But the Clean Car Standard will require car dealers to do the same thing if they want to import cars over 105g/km, with the difference being that the exact shape of those cross-subsidies will be left to ‘the market’ rather than to Feebate regulations.
There will be another election before 2025, but the Clean Car Standard will start to kick in earlier.
Labour’s election manifesto committed the party to phasing-in the new target gradually, starting in 2021, arguing it would eventually save New Zealanders billions of dollars in fuel costs.
Hitting 105g/km for imported cars will be a big change for the car industry.
The Transport Ministry estimated the average emissions of New Zealand’s light vehicle fleet at 176g/km in 2018.

Drive Electric chairman Mark Gilbert says New Zealand has fallen behind and needs to be “a bit more determined”.The European Union had already brought down the average emissions of newly registered cars to 122g/km last year and has set a tougher cap of 95g/km from 2021, strongly pushing the market towards hybrids and EVs.
Labour’s energy policy noted that Japan achieved average emissions of 105g/km for vehicles entering its fleet way back in 2014.
But Motor Trade Association strategy manager Greig Epps believed that notwithstanding the problem of climate change, Labour’s 105g/km target for 2025 is going too far, too fast.
“We have been saying we should be looking at Australia where manufacturers have suggested 105g/km by 2030,” he said.
Epps believed the Clean Car Standard could even be counter-productive if it pushed up the price of imported vehicles to a level that dissuaded car owners from replacing their existing vehicles.
“There is a broader map that needs to be drawn in the transport space and this is what we are not seeing from the Government just yet.
“We need to look at the existing fleet as well,” he said.
That could involve increasing the use of biofuels and natural gas and requiring cars to have emissions tests every three years at specialist testing stations, he said.
Epps said Japan’s dramatically lower emissions figures had been helped by the fact a third of sales there were now of 'Kei' cars with very small 0.6 litre engines.

The Clean Car Standard wouldn’t impinge much on imports of the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid, priced from $43,490, which at 112g/km would also require very few EV offsets.Even though 86 per cent of New Zealanders live in cities and towns, “we don't see these cars being widely adopted in New Zealand”, he said.
“I can’t see one of those cars taking the family of four to Taupo, and people will purchase a vehicle for the biggest job they need even it is the least frequent thing that they do.”
The argument that the import target of 105g/km by 2025 is too aggressive doesn’t wash with Mark Gilbert, chairman of EV lobby group Drive Electric and a former managing director of BMW New Zealand.
“We have signed up to all these agreements on carbon emissions and we can’t just hope that it is going to sort itself out; that is never going to happen,” he says.
“We do need some ‘carrot and stick’ and we need to be a bit more determined.”
He described Labour’s manifesto commitment as “a good start”, but said he was concerned by speculation it could exclude utes, which were a large part of the New Zealand car market.

The average emissions of New Zealand’s light vehicle fleet in 2018 were 176g/km according to the Transport Ministry, which compares poorly with overseas.“There is so much bulls... in the background here.
“We should be encouraging more of what we do want on the road and discouraging what we don’t want on the roads and ‘a tweak here and tweak there’ is time-wasting.”
Gilbert said he had been told that the industry would agree to 105g/km by 2028 but believed that was “too late”.
He noted the UK was the latest country that is now expected to ban the sale of non-electric cars from 2030.
“The car manufacturers in Europe are building cars to emission standards that are way [better] than what we are achieving here,” he said.
“We just need to click-in with the rest of the world.”

Buying Cars from Customers - Everybody's doing it!

Another in our series from around the world, this time we move away from lockdown UK and shift focus to the USA. I think it's fair to consider our market conditions to be more aligned with the US at present due to the lockdown conditions the UK is in. Stock is hard to come by... everywhere! And the MEGA Centre used sale yards are finding it really hard! BUT with the right approach and professionalism around the total customer experience, they appear to be doubling down on this strategy right now. Have you got access to DealerHub? It's something you may want to consider if sourcing stock is important to you. If you are RMVT certified and need stock Click Here and get ready for the launch of DealerHub. Written by Bryant Gibby on 11/02/2020 While it’s no secret that the used vehicle market is continuing to become a primary driver of profitability for franchise dealerships, other used vehicle retailers are already ahead of the curve in terms of inventory sourcing and honing their acquisition strategies. We’ve watched auto retailing titans like AutoNation continue to focus on used vehicle operations as part of their business plan and CarMax continues to dominate the market with their multitude of locations and large inventories. Carvana, a relatively new player, has entered the space and expanded rapidly over the past two years. It’s not a surprise as new vehicle prices continue to rise, and customers hold on to their vehicles for longer than at any time in history. When we put into perspective sales numbers for automotive retail, new vehicle sales totaled 16 million in 2019 with used vehicles far outpacing that coming in at 40 million vehicles sold. The challenge a strong used vehicle market presents for all automotive retailers is inventory sourcing. Auctions purchases are more competitive than before with the aforementioned used vehicle retailers scrambling to replenish their inventories. Trade ins are a great source of inventory but less predictable in terms of acquiring the fast moving, high return vehicles. What many dealers have overlooked or are just beginning to capitalize on are “buying cars from customers” what has traditionally been referred to as buying vehicles at the “curb”. An advantage that large scale used vehicle operations like CarMax and more recently Carvana have is that they are buying vehicles directly from customers wherever and whenever it is possible. This acquisition strategy makes a lot of sense in terms of both acquisition cost, building the brand experience and providing customers with another reason to interact and conduct their business with these automotive retailers. In a recent quarterly earnings conference call the CEO of Carvana, Ernie Garcia, has repeatedly stated that Carvana is focused on buying cars from customers as their main source of used vehicle inventory. In fact, Carvana has grown this acquisition strategy over 300% in the past year. A recent Automotive News article wrote the following. As Carvana grows rapidly in size and scope, the number of vehicles the online used-car retailer buys from consumers has skyrocketed — and CEO Ernie Garcia expects that growth to continue. “Whereas traditional trade-ins are restricted to the number of customers buying from Carvana who also have a vehicle to sell, buying from consumers in general, regardless of whether they intend to purchase, is an almost limitless proposition”. Logically, there's no natural ceiling on how big it can be, Garcia said in September at an investor conference in New York.

Getting in shape for the year ahead. Should the UK be looking to NZ for a taste of what's to come?

More learnings from Dealerhub from around the world, this time we focus on how the industry in the UK is preparing for the future, post-pandemic. This article was first published on motortrader.com on 6th October 2020 Getting in shape for the year ahead Tuesday, 6 October 2020 0 At this time of year, many companies are into their budget processes, determining their priorities for the next fiscal year, what assumptions they make for their markets, and given that, how much they can afford to spend, and on what.  It is never an easy process, as there are always more ideas than can be funded, but this year the revenue line is more challenging to forecast than ever.
Some might reasonably say that it is unforecastable, at least for those parts of the business directly related to the new vehicle market.  We are in the privileged position of having good relationships with players of different types from different markets across the industry, and in the course of conversations you get some sense of what companies are focusing on, and what is going to end up on their ‘to do’ list for the year ahead

On the revenue side, the clear risk is around new car sales volume, mainly because of Covid economic effects, but also on availability and mix to meet the tightening CAFE regulations for 2021, and for those exposed to the UK market, the possibility of a Brexit-disaster in respect of import duties.

Within the total volume, it is the business market that has been most affected by Covid so far, and that will surely continue into 2021 as all sectors adjust their spending plans to conserve cash, respond to reduced face to face meetings and related business travel, and for the car rental business, resize to suit a much smaller market.

There are so many unknowns in that mix, it can only be addressed by a conservative base assumption, some downside scenarios and the planning of ‘surge’ capacity to take advantage of any upturns, however brief and localised.
The other effect of revenue side risk is that more speculative investments and tolerance for loss-making ventures are both under pressure.  Mature businesses will cut back on some of their ‘blue sky’ projects, particularly in the area of mobility, affected directly by Covid, but also with a questionable business case in the best of times according to our analysis.  Younger, growth businesses will reconsider the pace of expansion, particularly in new markets where the marketing spend to create awareness is higher than for their established markets.
On the cost side of the budget, what strikes me is that I have not seen or heard of ‘survival’ type budgets being planned.  That was definitely the case during the peak months of the pandemic, and doubtless those responses will be repeated if we enter into a significant ‘second wave’ crisis, but I am old enough to have been through a few recessions, and the response this time is different.
The difference I feel is that previous recessions have suppressed economic activity for a few years, and there was an understanding going in that this would be the case.  Now, we are all hoping – personally and professionally I think – that a vaccine, ‘herd immunity’ and better treatments will result in the immediate effect of the pandemic being more short term, and that some of the job cuts and government support measures can be reversed, perhaps by mid-2021.
What I pick up in my discussions reflects this, that OEMs are looking to improve their core business, including channel development, but perhaps putting more emphasis on aftersales and used cars as areas that are less exposed in the short term to new car market disruption.
Dealer groups are willing to invest in growth at the right price, but similarly are strengthening their used car and aftersales operations, and doubling up on digital capabilities.
The independent sector – used car supermarkets, independent repairers and parts distributors – will mainly feel the second order effects of this, as the intensity of competition increases.  Service providers – including ICDP – need to reflect these changes and ensure that their services remain relevant to this refocused agenda.
If robo-taxis and flying cars were ever on someone’s agenda, they should certainly not be in 2021, but leasing and daily rental companies in the face of decline in their traditional markets may choose to compete more directly with dealers for a share of the consumer market with bundled leases and long term subscription models.
The common theme in all of this is that the automotive distribution space in 2021 is likely to see more innovation within the core areas of new and used cars and aftersales, with competition being more intense from traditional and new directions.  Being aware of, and responsive to these changes will be key, so perhaps the first items on the ‘to do’ list should reflect an agenda of “get in shape” and “stay flexible”?
Steve Young is managing director of ICDP If you would like to be prepared for the shift in clearing and sourcing stock, then please sign up for free access to DealerHub here.

Pressure on used car margins driving more dealers to online stock acquisition

More learnings from Dealerhub from around the world, this time we focus on how the stock situation is being addressed in the UK and how that market has developed a more advanced approach to clearing and sourcing used stock. This article first appeared on in August 2020 Pressure on used car margins driving more dealers to online stock acquisition. The company says that the relative efficiency of online acquisition compared to physical auctions – speed, low cost and productive use of employee time – are all playing a part in the trend. Vicky Gardner, head of Remarketing at epyx, explained: “The swing to online is a development that has been underway for many years but, once in a while, it is possible to identify an acceleration and we believe that the market has arrived at one of those points. “While the used car and van sectors remain buoyant, it is no secret that margins are under pressure and that dealers are therefore seeking efficiency gains. Buying online is an easy gain and the platforms and choice of stock available are improving all the time. “Certainly, we have seen a jump in activity in 2018 compared to the previous year – volumes through our 1link Disposal Network platform are up something like 15% increase 17 to 18 YOY. While we believe that this figure is beating the overall market increase for online sales, it is probable that our competitors are also seeing considerable rises.” Rob added that a further factor powering the trend was that more manufacturers and leasing companies were disposing of increasing volumes of stock online to dealers. “Certainly, some leasing companies have increased the amount of stock they sell online by multiples in the last 2-3 years and this is also changing dealer behaviour. Generally, the better stock is online. “The advantages for the vendor in this situation are obvious. The cost of disposal is much lower and the speed of liquefying the asset is much faster. There is literally no downside. “Our view for many years has been that physical auctions will continue to hold a key place for many dealers because they allow them to retain a ‘feel’ for the market that is difficult to achieve through any other medium. “However, there is no reason not to expect the ongoing trend towards more online acquisition to continue. It is even possible, depending on medium-term economic factors such as Brexit, that we will see it accelerate.” 1link Disposal Network is one of the longest-established sources of trade stock in the UK, offering a large selection of stock from major leasing companies, motor manufacturers and more

Finding New Opportunity in Pre-owned Vehicle Sales

Another in our series from around the world, this article focuses on knowing your marketing numbers, understanding the cost of getting a customer to your yard and provides examples of the costs you need to look out for to avoid going backwards. First published on Automotive MasterMind ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It’s clear that used vehicle sales are going to make or break 2020 for many auto dealerships. Even before COVID-19 disruptions, auto industry sales trends reflected a growing opportunity for dealers in pre-owned vehicles. In a recent study, 64% of car buyers said they would consider pre-owned options while shopping for a vehicle. In late 2019, Kerrigan Advisors research found that dealers of all kinds were already approaching an average 1:1 new to used vehicle sales ratio; an increase of almost 10% since just 2018. For new car dealerships specifically, NADA reported a total of 14.9 pre-owned vehicles sold by new-vehicle dealerships in 2019, compared to 17.1 new light-duty vehicles. Now, considering new vehicle production disruptions, household financial shocks to car shoppers and a glut of pre-owned vehicles hitting the market, 2020 will likely see pre-owned vehicles handily outsell new cars. Dealers that embrace the reality of auto industry sales trends and adjust to take advantage of the pre-owned sales opportunities in this marketplace will be far ahead of competitors who revert to business as usual. In this post, we suggest three ways your dealership can sell more used cars in 2020, including: Identifying pre-owned buyers early in their car buying journey Improving your profitability through the smarter acquisition Boosting net profit by improving cost-of-acquisition ROI Identify & Engage Pre-Owned Prospects Early With fewer trips to the physical dealership comes fewer opportunities to engage would-be buyers early in their purchase journey. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the window of opportunity for dealers to engage potential buyers was narrowing. According to one study, from 2017 to 2019, the average time consumers spent shopping and researching for used vehicles fell from 15:07 to 14:12 – a decrease of almost an entire hour in just two years. In today’s fiercely competitive market, dealers need to identify prospects early in their purchasing journey and earn their business by delivering an exceptional dealership customer experience from the start. This means understanding and addressing each prospect’s individual wants and needs. Knowing used conquest auto sales are heavily product-driven, leverage your dealership’s DMS, CRM and dealership sales platform to identify prospects likely to be in the market for vehicles in your available inventory. With pre-owned buyers typically more nomadic, price-sensitive and credit challenged, understanding the various factors influencing their purchasing decisions can be difficult. Comprehensive predictive analytics and sophisticated outreach programs are critical to simplifying these complicated buyer journeys, empowering dealers to match pre-owned customers with relevant offers and simplifying complex sales cycles with automated, data-driven marketing. Keep Pre-Owned Car Inventory Working For You NADA’s annual dealership survey found that of the 14.9 million pre-owned cars sold at new-car dealerships last year, 40% were acquired by trade-in on a new car purchase, 27% were from auctions and 23% were from trade-ins on used vehicle sales. That mix will likely change dramatically in 2020 thanks to the year’s unique market forces, including shrinking new car inventories thanks to OEM production disruptions, defleeted vehicles clogging auction lots and an increase in used trade-ins. This presents challenges and opportunities for dealers looking to build a profitable used car inventory mix. Make sure your dealership’s used car buying isn’t just operating on a “business as usual” model but is instead ready to identify opportunities in a glutted market for high-value acquisitions on one end while ensuring you have the capacity to take more trade-ins on used vehicle sales than in the past. This is a great time to look at what pre-owned cars are in demand in your market. Once you know what’s hot and hard to find, use predictive marketing tools to identify owners of those vehicles in your marketplace and engage them with personalized messaging and actionable trade-in offers that factor the potential resale value of their current cars into the equation. Increase Dealership Profit Through Efficiency In 2019, the average new-car dealership in America made a $2,374 gross profit on every used car sale, but only $14 in net profit. Those figures are even worse for import dealers, which averaged a $50 net loss per used vehicle sale, and for luxury dealers, which posted $1,708 net losses on each pre-owned transaction despite comparable gross profits. Improving those figures requires cutting the costs that go into the difference between gross and net profit, which largely means the cost of acquisition. While NADA doesn’t track used vehicle marketing costs specifically, its dealer surveys did find that the average dealer in 2019 spent $640 in advertising per new vehicle sale. That was almost 32% of the gross per-sale profit and more than the $631 net loss dealers averaged on new car sales last year, highlighting what dealers have always known: Improving marketing ROI is critical to net profitability. With predictive marketing campaigns, dealers can convert qualified auto leads into buyers more efficiently by using the channels and messaging most likely to engage each individual prospect.

A Pandemic. No handshakes. A bad economy. These car salesmen shifted tactics — and succeeded.

As part of our mission - 'to make cars sales better' - we trawl the internet for news and tips from around the world that are relevant to our market here in New Zealand. This one we thought particularly interesting considering the state of the world today. Have you changed the way you sell cars? (First published on the Washington Post and written by Todd C. Frankel) August 12, 2020 at 10:00 p.m. GMT+12 GLEN MILLS, Pa. — Mike McVeigh had been selling cars for 16 years — honing skills that he feared were already a lost art — when the virus hit. He was 46 and out of a job. His boss at David Dodge furloughed the sales staff after all nonessential businesses in Pennsylvania closed in late March. McVeigh left the dealership that night, stopping at a Wawa to collect his thoughts and call another salesman, Brad Ross.

“We talked about what we could do just to keep our heads above water,” McVeigh said. “Between us we got eight kids, families to support.”
A month later, he was called back to work. But everything had changed. A once-booming economy was in tatters. Everyone wore masks. The showroom was closed to customers. Test drives were solo affairs. Deals needed to be done mostly online. No one wanted to get too close to anyone.

“If I can’t connect with you, if I can’t do my showmanship, if I can’t see you,” McVeigh said, “I thought I was done.” The covid-19 pandemic forced tens of millions of people to lose jobs and thousands of businesses to close, including, initially, almost a quarter of all people working for auto dealers. But the workers and companies that survived often discovered it was not back to business as usual.
And that included selling cars — perhaps the ultimate handshake deal in a suddenly socially distanced world.
McVeigh returned to a dealership that had reinvented on the fly, abandoning a formula relied on for decades to lure potential buyers into the showroom and allow the sales staff to work their magic. The pandemic meant even motivated car buyers hesitated to visit the dealership. Zero-percent financing and thousands of dollars in rebates did little to change that. U.S. auto sales fell an estimated 35 percent in the second quarter that ended in June, with a steep decline in the number of people looking to buy, according to Cox Automotive.

Just to survive, car salesmen had to try something new. The dealership started to emphasize online sales and delivering automobiles to customers. That helped find new potential customers and ease some concerns about the pandemic. But the deals still needed to be closed, the paperwork and keys secured in a yellow folder that signified a pending sale. And that’s where McVeigh came in, an old-school salesman with reading glasses trying new ways of making it work wearing a face mask.
“I didn’t know this was even possible,” he said. “But I’m never going back to the old way.”
Now, McVeigh sat at his desk in the center of the showroom on the last day of July. It was crunchtime. The last day of the month was still vital for car sales. Factory rebates usually changed with the calendar. Automakers pegged lucrative sales goals to monthly totals, although some manufacturers, such as Fiat Chrysler — supplier of David Dodge’s vehicles — suspended their incentive programs once the pandemic began and sales started to plummet. Still, every salesman judged his or her success by the month.
“Everyone is on edge,” McVeigh said.

Garry Celotto shows a car to customer Brenda Williams in Glen Mills, Pa. (Rachel Wisniewski for The Washington Post)
That morning, the dealership’s owner, David Kelleher — known for starring in his own local TV ads — told his managers on a Zoom call to stop worrying about the number of people walking into the showroom. Foot traffic was down since the lockdown — and Pennsylvania’s shutdown of auto dealers had been among the strictest and longest in the nation. Yet sales at David Dodge were up. The days of salesmen living off the front door, as it’s known, were gone.

“It’s not that world anymore,” Kelleher said. “And we’re not going back.”
In the new world, McVeigh sold zero cars in April. But he sold 58 in May — his best month ever — working deals over Zoom and text messages. He used FaceTime to join customers on test drives, since no one wanted to ride in a car with him, even with a mask.

Mike McVeigh scrolls through a list of his finalized and in-progress car sales. (Rachel Wisniewski for The Washington Post)
The dealership thrived, too, selling 216 new and used vehicles in May. Sales were even better in June: 253 vehicles.
It was a stunning turnaround from March and April when state coronavirus restrictions resulted in a $750,000 loss for the dealership. Kelleher furloughed most of his staff, but he kept paying their medical insurance and using a $1.4 million federal Paycheck Protection Program loan to pay them something.

Now, with a salesman’s ingrained optimism, Kelleher hoped to sell 300 vehicles in July — an audacious goal anytime, but especially now. With one day to go, a total of 264 vehicles had been sold.

“Jimmy,” he had said to his longtime sales director, “you don’t have 36 cars in your back pocket today, do you?”
“I don’t know,” replied Jimmy Atkins, “but don’t count me out just yet.”
McVeigh was the dealership’s top salesman. He’d sold 47 vehicles so far in July — despite a 10-day vacation. His goal was to hit 50. Three more to go on the final day. He wrote the names of potential leads on a white legal pad and got to work.
McVeigh believed salesmanship required a certain finesse and ability to instantly connect with people. He liked to pepper potential buyers with questions to keep them engaged. He hunted for common ground. He had a strong “book of business” — contacts throughout the Philadelphia suburbs, mostly blue-collar workers, police and firemen. He’s active on Facebook. He constantly texted on his phone. He made sure that people knew what he did for a living and that he could help them.

“Everyone has that guy,” he said. A car guy. A tyre guy. A go-to person for buying something. “I want to be their guy.”
He mentored other salesmen. Three years ago, he persuaded Ross — then a police detective who got hurt on the job — to join him. He took Ross under his wing, telling him, “If you can get someone to confess to murder, you can get them to buy a car.”

Brad Ross, left, submits a customer's down payment for a car last month in Glen Mills, Pa. (Rachel Wisniewski for The Washington Post)
Ross was sold. Now, McVeigh and Ross, 45, often worked as a team — together they sometimes accounted for a quarter of all vehicles sold at David Dodge.
That morning, Ross had delivered a new $44,000 Jeep Grand Cherokee to a customer, with McVeigh following behind to give him a ride back to the dealership, nearly missing out on a deal of his own.

“I was doing Brad’s dirty work,” McVeigh joked. “He’d do it for me.”
But not every salesman was finding success. McVeigh, from his desk in the centre, could sense it — part of the “kill or be killed” nature of commission sales. He saw salesmen who failed to adjust to a new way of selling cars that discouraged face-to-face contact, relied on relationships established before the pandemic and where most of the work was done online.

“This coronavirus is going to retire a lot of people in this industry — in a lot of industries,” he said.
McVeigh listened as a young salesman sat with a customer at a nearby desk. The woman had stopped in to test drive a new Jeep Wrangler. She drove a Lincoln. The woman said she didn’t like the Wrangler. But she wasn’t getting up to leave. She stayed in her seat like she was waiting to be sold. The salesman struggled to push the deal forward. A sales manager came over and the salesman got up — a “turnover,” it’s called. But the deal couldn’t be salvaged. The woman left. No sale.

“I don’t believe she didn’t like the Wrangler,” McVeigh said.
He thought the salesman had missed something. A staid Lincoln is nothing like the sporty Wrangler. That’s clear long before the test drive. The customer seemed to McVeigh like she was ready to try a different vehicle, move in a new direction. That’s what had attracted her to the Wrangler. She just needed help getting there. He thought the deal could have been saved.
During an afternoon lull, showroom talk turned to the dealership’s sales boom — seeming to defy what was happening at other dealerships and the broader economy. David Dodge was selling so many vehicles that it appeared to be taking market share from other dealers.

A whiteboard details the occupancy of David Dodge, altered because of the pandemic. (Rachel Wisniewski for The Washington Post)
Still, Ross said he couldn’t believe what folks were spending. Another salesman, Anthony Jordan, suggested people must have extra money because of all the cancelled vacations and wedding parties.

“I couldn’t figure it out,” Jordan said. “Why aren’t we getting killed?”
“It’s unexplainable,” McVeigh said.
“With 2020,” said Ross, “nothing makes sense.”
The success felt fragile. A surge in coronavirus cases or a new problem with the economy could end the good run. Kelleher now tracked not only sales numbers but local COVID-19 cases. He went online several times a day to check the status of the Philadelphia suburbs.
“There’s a bit of spike in our neck of the woods,” he warned his staff recently. “It’s not the time to get lax. We can’t have anyone get sick.”
Masks were mandatory at work. Hand sanitizer was stashed throughout the showroom. A cleaning crew wiped down chairs and steering wheels. Most of the showroom vehicles had been moved outside to provide extra room for the social distancing of desks and chairs inside. Sales staff were divided up so they alternated days in the showroom. A whiteboard by the front door tracked customer appointments for visiting the showroom.

The whiteboard also listed the dealership’s “BDC count” — business development centre, the place where the online leads came in. Three salesmen worked the computers, emailing and calling people who showed interest in a vehicle on David Dodge’s website. Kelleher had overhauled the online sales process during the lockdown.
Alyssa Pyle, 28, ran the BDC. She’d written the numbers 1 through 8 on the whiteboard. That’s how many deals she wanted to finish today — leads that she and her staff had firmed up and passed on to salesmen to finish. Just one number was crossed out. She needed seven more.
“This is the new heart of the dealership,” Pyle said.

Mike McVeigh goes over the paperwork for a customer's car home delivery with business development centre manager Alyssa Pyle. (Rachel Wisniewski for The Washington Post)
The importance of Pyle’s operation was clear from its placement by the showroom’s front door. Even McVeigh, who prided himself on traditional salesmanship, recognized that Pyle’s crew was vital. Consumers seemed comfortable staying home while doing most of the dirty work of buying a car — checking inventory, nailing down a price and lining up financing. They didn’t need to walk into the showroom at all.
Ross had closed the one deal already. He had another potential client coming at 6 p.m.
“What do you have for the month?” Jordan asked.
“Thirty-six, 37,” Ross replied.
“I’m at 22,” Jordan said. “I think I’ll get to 25.”
Jordan was responsible for finding potential sales from the service centre — a job made easier by the booming prices for used vehicles. He could offer more for a trade-in on a new car or truck.
McVeigh scratched the first name off his list in the early afternoon. A doctor took delivery of a new Grand Cherokee. A driver for the dealership had dropped it off at his home in New Jersey. It was now an official sale.
McVeigh stood at 48 vehicles sold.
“Brad going to beat you this month?” Jordan asked him.
“No shot,” he said.
“Where you at?”
“Forty-something,” he replied, being coy about a number that every salesman knows.
In the back, sales director Atkins grumbled. He counted 10 completed deals. They’d sold 274 so far. Three hundred was still a long way off. He judged the day by looking at the bank of surveillance camera screens next to his desk, which showed every inch of the dealership.
“We’re not as busy as I want us to be,” he said. “But we’ve got the night coming.”

David Auto in Glen Mills, Pa. (Rachel Wisniewski for The Washington Post)
The hours slid by, with no great rush of customers coming through the door that would have been seen before the coronavirus.
McVeigh barely left his desk, just kept working his phone and computer, switching from drinking coffee to iced tea. And the yellow folders just piled up on his desk. A Dodge Ram 3500. A Durango.
Quietly, he hit 50.
Pyle marked off her BDC numbers on the whiteboard. By 6 p.m. she’d hit her target of eight deals.
Jordan spent an hour with a customer who had a blown transmission and was looking at buying a new truck, but they couldn’t work out the financing. No sale.
Ross met his 6 p.m. appointment — a woman he hoped would trade in her Jeep Wrangler for a Grand Cherokee.
“That’s done, bro,” Ross later announced in Atkins’s office. “I’m going to put it in detail.”
A little after 7 p.m., as McVeigh neared the end of another 12-hour day, he received a text from a woman he knew. She’d crashed her 2019 Wrangler earlier in the week and the insurance company had just declared it a total loss. McVeigh was her car guy. So she texted him. She wanted a 2020 Wrangler.
“People order cars like pizza,” McVeigh said.
Fifty-one.
Later that night, with the dealership closed, Atkins sat in his back sales office and counted 289 total sales for July.
No 300. But it was still the best month in the dealership’s 15 years.
McVeigh was about to leave for another vacation.
But Ross would be back the next morning.
“The minute the month is over, it’s the bottom of the hill,” he said, “right back at it.”

Going Digital Dealership... well sort of.

The latest in our round the world look at how Dealers are evolving to meet the demands of the modern (COVID aware) customer. This is clearly an American and some of the 'scale' implied may not suit NZ directly, but the reasons and initiatives behind the actions written here are what to look out for. First published by AutomotiveMastermind in March 2020. Well before March, Americans were already shopping for new cars online, and the current environment means that trend is going to skyrocket faster than anyone could have predicted. With in-person car shopping largely being eliminated until the current crisis ends, the heavy lifting of engaging with prospects and eventually getting them in the door (or whatever that might look like in the near term) is going to be handled by your dealership’s Business Development Center (BDC) team. Now is the perfect opportunity to revisit your BDC and consider whether you have the right tools, BDC training and compensation structure in place to maximize its effectiveness. We’ve discussed how to increase dealership BDC effectiveness before, but there’s still a lot of dealerships can do to improve this increasingly critical component of their sales process. Read on to learn some dealership best practices, including: Giving your BDC the tools and insights it needs to play the critical role of connecting online car shoppers to your showroom floor Ensuring your BDC training is helping your agents be effective in turning shoppers into appointments Structuring BDC and salesperson compensation to incentivize behaviour that maximizes sales Arming Your BDC With the Right Tools How much does your BDC agent know about the shopper with whom they’re engaging? Do they have the insights they need to differentiate a quality sales lead from a weak one, or to be truly helpful by suggesting a more appropriate product or offer? This is where the data-driven insights of a comprehensive sales platform such as Market EyeQ, including the Behavior Prediction Score®, come into play. With insights like household and vehicle ownership information for online shoppers in front of them, BDC agents can be more effective than ever in customizing touchpoints and BDC sales scripts to effectively engage prospects and move them toward scheduling an appointment. However, it’s important to differentiate between “data” and “insights.” It’s not enough to only make sure your BDC agents have information about your prospects. You also need to support them with analytics-driven insights that help them make the most of the information that matters, allowing them to “get ahead” of today’s digitally savvy customers. Train Your BDC to Deliver Automotive BDC training involves more than simply running them through a few BDC training scripts and roleplaying some common customer interactions. More than anything, your dealership’s BDC training needs to be focused on making them as effective as possible in delivering scheduled appointments. It’s critical that your BDC agents understand how predictive analytics work, and how personalized marketing engages prospects with the goal of connecting them to your dealership’s online resources – and eventually getting them into the store (or for now, a virtual appointment). Mastermind offers dealership training that prepares BDC agents to play a seamless and effective role in the dealership customer experience, using all the tools at their disposal to deliver prospects to the showroom floor. Your BDC is a critical touchpoint for your overall customer experience. Even in a time when many BDC agents may be working from home or otherwise isolated from their colleagues, make sure you’re investing personal effort in engaging them to help you build a dealership culture around customer experience. Salespeople are the top driver of customer satisfaction in the dealership experience – more than the length of the process and price paid, combined – and the more the automotive sales process moves online, the more your BDC agents will be fulfilling that role in the eyes of your customers. BDC Pay Plan and Incentives Does the compensation structure for your BDC create the right incentives for your team to get high-quality prospects through the showroom door, and how does that interact with your sales team’s compensation structure to encourage them all to work together effectively? One approach we see frequently at dealerships that have effective and profitable BDCs is differentiating between BDC-scheduled appointments that have a specific time and date attached and every other appointment. From here, dealers are challenged with determining how to allocate floor sales commissions on BDC sales on scheduled appointments. One way to determine what an appropriate factor would be in your dealership is to look at what your existing closure rate is for in-person sales appointments of all kinds. If your salespeople are already closing appointments at 50% or more, then half the work of the sales process is clearly connecting with the prospect. The BDC agent who did their share of that heavy lifting should be compensated accordingly. While this might make some floor salespeople unhappy, there’s another reason to take this step: It incentivizes them to pick up the phone themselves and take a more aggressive role in the sales process. If your salespeople are getting paid more for closing their own prospect sales than they are for closing BDC-scheduled appointments, they’ll naturally put more effort into developing prospects and maintaining relationships versus sitting at their desks waiting for the next appointment to show.

How to Improve Customer Experience and Sell More Cars

The latest in our series from around the automotive world... This one is a MUST READ if you take the future of your yard and business seriously. First published on Automotive Mastermind in May 2020 In an era where your dealership’s engagement with prospects and customers increasingly takes place online, how much thought have you given to the customer experience that takes place in your “virtual dealership?” Whether it’s during the COVID-19 shutdown or afterwards, consumers are going online to research, shop for and buy cars, as well as to interact with dealers for needs like scheduling service appointments. This means dealership customer service will take place increasingly online, creating new challenges and opportunities for dealers as they work to grow consistent customer experience across their entire enterprise. In this post, we’ll share tips for assessing and improving your virtual dealership customer experience, including: Ensuring that your online dealership tools are as integrated as possible with your other operations Expanding the scope and capabilities of your virtual sales operations Connecting fixed ops to your virtual platform Integrate Your Online and Offline Dealership We’ve recently discussed the growing importance of your dealership’s Business Development Center (BDC) in virtual sales, but it’s important to recognize its impact on the overall virtual customer experience. The BDC is a critical interaction point between the virtual car dealership and traditional dealership operations – meaning it needs to be connected to not just the showroom sales staff but also marketing, F&I, service and other critical customer touchpoints. The value of integration doesn’t end with cross-department communication.  Car dealerships need to ensure the insights collected in each of their data management systems, including their CMS and DMS, are able to be compiled and analyzed in a single environment to allow for data-driven outreach and marketing. For example, if you have a customer looking at new 2020 models on your website, does your marketing system get that information? One other important integration point between the virtual and traditional world is the way in which your dealership teams communicate with prospects and customers. More than ever, it’s critical to ensure your dealership culture values sensitivity to customers’ preferred communications methods – email, text, phone or otherwise – and that your engagement with them is consistent in respecting their wishes and preferences. Improving the Virtual Car Sales Process Customers who have spent months doing their shopping online through Amazon and consuming media through Netflix, Apple and other services that leverage predictive analytics to offer personalized customer recommendations have been trained to expect a virtual dealership customer experience that is centred on their own wants and needs. They want to be recognized, they want to receive personalized information and they want you to suggest what’s best for them. As you review your virtual customer experience, it’s worth considering whether you’re offering online shopping capabilities and marketing messages that today’s consumers expect: Can they shop and compare options over multiple sessions without having to start over? Are you giving them “you might also like” model suggestions or options based on the information they’ve provided you either directly or indirectly about their wants and needs? Are they engaged with real-time inventory information – especially into used cars, which are expected to play an increasingly important role in the foreseeable future? Do you have robust video options and the tools needed to use video as part of the sales and service process? When following up with online auto leads, how much does your BDC agent know about the shopper with whom they’re engaging? Do they have the insights they need to be truly helpful by suggesting an appropriate product or offer? With 92% of car buyers researching online before they buy, ensuring these touchpoints are connected will be critical even when physical sales and foot traffic returns. Dealers who ensure they have the tools and automotive digital retailing solutions they need to adapt to changing consumer demand will be better equipped to survive for the long haul. Virtual Fixed Ops? Why Not? The very name “fixed-ops” implies that your service, parts, collision and other operations are real-world, as opposed to virtual, operations. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t critical interactions between them and your virtual car dealership operations and that you can’t find ways to use digital tools to improve your dealership customer service functions in these areas. For instance, if your customers can’t come to you, are you offering to deliver to them, as so many businesses today have begun doing? Can you differentiate yourself with parts and accessories service in the current COVID-19 environment in a way that helps your auto dealership build strong customer relationships that last after things have returned to normal? Online service appointments are nothing new, but how about online live service updates? Some of the same tools that assist in sales can also help improve your fixed-ops virtual customer experience. For instance, transparency breeds trust. For some customers, a video chat with the service consultant and repair tech that allows them to see the problem the tech has discovered may make them more comfortable with remotely approving a significant repair quote. While physical car sales will eventually and inevitably return to the dealership, consumer buying habits will undoubtedly be impacted in the immediate aftermath of COVID-19 and beyond. The virtual customer experience you offer in your virtual car dealership today can pay dividends in your online and offline relationships with your customers for years to come.

Welcome to DealerHub.co.nz

Welcome to what... "what the hell is DealerHub?" I'll cut to it... DealerHub is the centre of how we see one tiny area of the car industry developing... not just another website, not just somebody else trying to sneak a slice of margin, not just an empty promise of a magical future BUT in reality, DealerHub is what we believe is the inevitable future. A considerately structured blend of good old fashioned relationships and trust, layers of commonly known processes and agreements facelifted, blended and modernised with cutting edge, easily available, simple to use and easy to understand technology. Yes, it's new, but no it's not... You see, DealerHub is the culmination of the lessons learnt this year as well as over 50 years of combined experience across several industries & the absolute belief that the time is right for us to make the lives of seasoned 'automotive professionals' easier than it has been before. In a nutshell we want to play our part in making the life of an automotive professional: More Convenient More Considerate More Accessible More Affordable More Simple. So, who the hell is this guy and why does he profess to know so much about 'my' industry..? Great Question... Well, I'm just one of four guys, there's Mike, Andrew, Oliver and me, James. I'm one of the non-car industry members of the team, my speciality comes from more than 25 years of selling things online... either for other people, organisations or myself. Car's, TV's, Fridges, Mobile Phones, Clothes, Baby Buggies and lots more. The other non car guy is Andrew, he's what you may call a geek... he lives and breaths code and frameworks and integrations. You can see some of his outstanding work once you login into DealerHub as an RMVT Dealer. Oliver & Mike are our industry insiders... both self made men with more than 15 years each in the game. Both successful in their own right and both very well plugged in to what's happening in the industry today. These guys are the experts, it's the vision of Mike & Oliver that has been the initial driving force behind DealerHub... i.e. this is not some disconnected internet geeks get rich quick scheme. Let's talk about that driving force. If it ain't broke, it doesn't need fixing... right? Okay... let's break that one down, cause its a valid point of view. Did you know your social life and contact with friends and family, far and wide was broken? NO..? well, 10 years ago it was compared to how connected you are now if you use Social Media. When now Billionaire Mark Zuckerberg first started rating who's 'Hot or Not' in his college dorm, I'm sure he didn't realise peoples social lives were broken either, but fast forward 15 or so years and it's hard for most of us to imagine not having the convenience and ease of being reminded and then wishing somebody Happy Birthday via Facebook, or sharing your favourite family holiday photo, or Friday funny, or keeping in touch with your mates biggest fish of the season. The simplicity and ease of use of things like Facebook have changed the world we live in. Being "social" with a vast number of people regardless of location is now simple and easy. If you would like to find out how DealerHub can make your work life a little more simple, a little easier or even just to find out what all the noise is about, then click the link. Use your RMVT number to request access to the TRADE ONLY section of DealerHub and get ready for a new advantage. See you soon! James.